GRUTER or GRUYTERE, JAN a critic and scholar of Dutch parentage by his father's side and English by his mother's, was born at Antwerp. To avoid religious persecution his parents while he was still young came to England ; and for some years he studied at Cambridge, after which he went to Leyden. In 1586 he was appointed professor of history at Wit tenberg, but as he refused to subscribe the Formula concordiae he was unable to retain his office. From 1589 to 1S92 he taught at Rostock, after which he went to Heidelberg, where in 1602 he was appointed librarian to the university.
Gruter's chief works were his lnscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani (Heidelberg, 1603) , and Lam pas, sive fax artium liberalium (Frankfurt, 1602-34).