Pieter Gillis

Pieter Gillis (28 July 1486 – 6 or 11 November 1533), known by his anglicised name Peter Giles, the gallicized Pierre Gilles and sometimes the Latinised Petrus Ægidius, was a humanist, printer, and secretary to the city of Antwerp in the early sixteenth century.^[2] He is most famous as a friend and supporter of Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More.^[3] He seemed to have recommended the painter Hans Holbein the Younger to the court of England, where Thomas More received him delighted.^[3]

Pieter Gillis as Pet. Aegid. talks with Thomas More, Raphael Hythlodæus and another character in an illustration by Ambrosius Holbein for Utopia.

Peter Giles
Born	28 July 1486 Antwerp
Died	6 or 11 November 1533 (aged 47) Antwerp
Nationality	Brabantian
Other names	Petrus Ægidius, Peter Giles, Peter Gilles, Pierre Gilles
Occupation	magistrate of Antwerp[1]
Known for	friendship with Sir Thomas More and Erasmus
Spouse(s)	Cornelia Sandrien, Maria Denis Adriaensdochter, Kathelijne Draeckx[2]

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 and Cuthbert Tunstall to Antwerp.^[1]