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

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Chapter 7. The mistress of life
was a constant stream of publications that centred on Holland’s newly won
prosperity, or that of one of its towns, and that tried to give them a respectable
historical background in order to provide them with the two attributes that
counted the most in the seventeenth century: antiquity and continuity. 49 Boxhorn’s
Theatrum Hollandiae can be counted among these publications. 50
Like many of the regional studies that appeared in the seventeenth century,
the Theatrum is a historical-topographical work along the line of the Italia
Illustrata (Italy Illuminated, 1474) of Flavio Biondo (1392-1463) and the Descrittione
di tutti i Paesi Bassi (Description of the Low Countries, 1567) of Ludovico
Guicciardini (1521-1589). These historical-topographical works, or chorographies,
tried to combine a ‘Livian narrative’ with a ‘Varronian erudition’,
that is, a historical narrative written in accordance with the literary standards
of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century humanism mixed with the scholarly
approach and findings of an ‘erudite antiquarianism’. 51 The most distinctive
characteristics of this antiquarianism can be briefly summed up as followed:
a concern with origins, in particular of customs, languages, and peoples; a
specific interest in non-political subject-matters, such as church or monistic
history; a search for, and use of, ruins, coins, inscriptions, and the like; the
importance of knowing, using, and studying primary sources such as church
inventories, eyewitness accounts, and town charters; and an endless endeavour
for reliable documentation. 52
The Theatrum is a typical product of this mixture of ‘humanistic narrative’
and ‘antiquarian erudition’. It consists of two parts: the first eight chapters
deal with topics such as the origin of the name of Holland, the topography of
the province, and the character of its inhabitants. The remainder of the work
is devoted to the descriptions and histories of some thirty of Holland’s most
important towns, discussed in the traditional order of seniority and impor-
49 See, for example, E.O.G. Haitsma Mulier, “De zeventiende-eeuwse stadsbeschrijvingen van
Amsterdam”, in Amstelodamum: maandblad voor de kennis van Amsterdam, Vol. 85 (1998), pp. 107-15.
50 Initially Boxhorn had thought of another name: ‘Amphitheatre or Accurate Description of the
County and the Towns of Holland’. Boxhorn, Epistolae et poemata, p. 9. ‘Amphitheatrum, sive Accurata
descriptio Comitatus et Urbium Hollandiae.’ In 1634 a Dutch version of the Theatrum appeared at
Amsterdam, whose full title reads: Toneel ofte beschryvinge Der Steden van Hollandt Waer in haer Beginselen,
Voortganck, Privilegien, Historie ende Gelegentheyt vervat worden int Latyn beschreven by Marcus Zuerius
Boxhornius Int Nederlandts ouergeset uyt de Copye, by den Autheur uerbetert, ende merckelyck en vermeerdert,
door Geeraerdt Baerdeloos.
51 Kelley, “Humanism and History”, p. 242; Haitsma Mulier, “De zeventiende-eeuwse stadsbeschrijvingen
van Amsterdam”, p. 108; Langereis, Geschiedenis als ambacht, pp. 174-75.
52 See Ernst Breisach, Historiography: Ancient, Medieval and Modern (The University of Chicago
Press; Chicago/London, 1 st ed. 1983, 1994), pp. 193-95; Parry, The Trophies of Time, pp. 9-12; Langereis,
Geschiedenis als ambacht, pp. 25-52; Reginald de Schryver, “De eruditie: betrouwbaarheid door geleerdheid”,
in Tollebeek, Verschaffel and Wessels (eds.), De palimpsest, Vol. 1, pp. 45-62. For early modern
antiquarianism in general, see chapter 2.