historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

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Chapter 1. Introduction
Second, we need to get to know the man behind the name. Who was Boxhorn?
Where did he came from? Who were his family and friends? Where
did he live? Where did he study, with whom, and, especially important for
our investigation, what did his teachers taught students like Boxhorn about
history and politics? The answers to these questions can be found in chapter
3 that holds a biography of Boxhorn’s life in which special attention is paid to
his educational background.
Third, after we have acquired a broad overview of Boxhorn’s life, we need
to go deeper and investigate his scholarly activities more attentively. Of special
interest is to find out how Boxhorn looked at the events and themes that
played an important role during his lifetime. We begin in chapter 4 by looking
at the period from the early 1630s to 1648. Two major themes are discussed
in this chapter: Boxhorn’s defence of Dutch maritime activities, and his view
of the Dutch war with the king of Spain and its conclusion with the peace of
Münster in 1648. Why did Boxhorn deem Dutch maritime activies important
and how did Boxhorn perceive the war with the king of Spain are important
questions we will try to answer in this chapter. In chapter 5 we concentrate
on the period after the peace of Münster. In this chapter we take a close
look at how Boxhorn reacted to the execution of king Charles I of England
(1600-1649), what he thought about the English Commonwealth, and how he
thought about the nature and structure of the Dutch Republic.
Fourth, in 1647 a scholarly dispute erupted at Leiden University over
Descartes’s ideas, the publication and reception of which constituted one of
the most important intellectual events that occured during Boxhorn’s lifetime.
What Boxhorn’s position in this scholarly dispute was is a question that will
be answered in chapter 6. In this chapter we will also look at Boxhorn’s linguistic
work and how it is connected to the ‘first Cartesian war’.
Fifth, chapters 7 to 9 form the intellectual core of this study. In these chapters
we attempt to get a thorough understanding of Boxhorn’s historical and
political thought. Questions relating to Boxhorn’s historical thought are discussed
first. How did Boxhorn thought about history and how did he himself
conduct history? These are the two central questions we need to answer if
we want to understand Boxhorn’s historical thought properly and to which
chapter 7 provides the answers.
The discussion of Boxhorn’s political thought is divided over two chapters.
Chapter 8 contains a thorough investigation of the Institutiones politicae (Political
Instructions, 1656) and deals with the more theoretical aspects of Boxhorn’s
political thought. How did Boxhorn define politics, what was his view of
man, and which form of government did he prefer are some of the questions
that are treated in this chapter. Then we focus on Boxhorn’s practical political