- First name
- Herman Dircksz
- Last name
- Homan
- Date of Birth
- 1602
- Date of Death
- 1669
- Born in
- -
- Died in
- -
Herman Dircksz Homan came from Enkhuizen. He married Jannetjen Gerrits on 26 September 1627 in the Amsterdam Zuiderkerk (Enkhuizen, Westfries Archief, DTB, inv. no. 1707-09,45, fol. 76). He married (sometime before 1664) in second wedlock Geertgen Jansdr Verruyt.
Five years after his expulsion (27 July 1656) from the Portuguese-Jewish community, Spinoza decided to leave Amsterdam and start to live an entirely different and independent life. In the summer of 1661, he settled close to Leiden in the tranquil backwater of Rijnsburg, an important centre of the Collegiant movement. There, he rented rooms in a small domestic dwelling (Katwijkerlaantje, also known as Kwakkellaantje or Paradijslaantje), owned by a surgeon called Herman Dircksz Homan. In all likelihood, Johannes Casearius also lodged in the house of surgeon Homan. How and when relations between Spinoza and Casearius were established remains uncertain. It is also unknown how long they lived under the same roof at the Katwijker Laantje. Spinoza only mentions Casearius in his reply to De Vries (see > 1663.02.24, Ep 9).