APSEL (ABSEL), WILHELMUS van. - Pious Carthusian writer, born at Breda (Holland) at the beginning of the 16th century; died at the Charterhouse of La Chapelle on 4 August 1471. He entered the Charterhouse of La Chapelle, near Herinnes-les-Enghien (Belgium), around 1430; and was prior of that of Bruges from 1462 to 1465. Highly learned and of rare virtues, he also distinguished himself in the art of engraving. Arnoldo Beeltsens, in the Chronica domus Capellae, wrote: « Fuit vir magnae scientiae et egregius librorum ligator atque operarius in aere et lignis ». He was the oldest engraver of the Flemish school; he engraved not only on copper, but also on wood.
Among his numerous manuscript works, the following deserve special mention: Tractatus de amore Sponsi super Cantica Cantic; De amore Sponsae in Canticis Canticorum, in the Vatican Library (in Migne, Diction. des Manuscrits, II, cols. 1135-1222); Tractatus elegantissimus ad semper candidam coeli reginam Mariam; Opusculum de vera pace; Tractatus super oratione Dominica; Super Genesim, Psalterium et Canticum Canticorum.