Pieter Gillis


Pieter Gillis, known by his anglicised name Peter Giles and sometimes the Latinised Petrus Ægidius, was a humanist, printer, and secretary to the city of Antwerp in the early sixteenth century. He is most famous as a friend and supporter of Rodolphus Agricola, Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More.
Thomas More's Utopia, although fictional, includes Pieter Gillis as a character in Book I. More dedicated Utopia to Gillis, who may have designed the Utopian alphabet. They first met when diplomatic business brought More to Antwerp.