Rubens was born in Seigen in the Holy Roman Empire in 1577. His father Jan was a Calvinist womaniser (a complicated combination) from Flanders, even more so when he seduced the wife of William the Silent whilst working for the future leader of Holland. Peter's mother Maria Pypelinckx got Jans out of the clink but when Jan died not long after, Marie moved to Antwerp with her family to stop Germans making further fun of her name.