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

Chapter 7. The mistress of life
erlantsche historie are there much traces to be found of the ‘Batavian myth’ that
was so popular in the Dutch Republic at the time. Boxhorn’s silence on the Batavian
past may have something to do with the third feature both works share,
namely the great value Boxhorn attaches to primary sources. He discusses them
extensively and he relies on them to provide him with the materials for his narratives.
As a consequence, both in the Theatrum and the Nederlantsche historie the
focus lies on the Middle Ages rather than antiquity. As Boxhorn’s comments
in the Theatrum make clear, the great attention that he pays to the medieval
history of the Netherlands is partly born out of necessity. The lack of primary
sources that contain reliable data about the earliest of times makes it very hard
for the historian to obtain certain knowledge about the distant past and forces
him to seek safety in later times that are better documented. This is one possible
explanation for Boxhorn’s silence on the Batavian past. It is, however, only
half the story. Boxhorn’s interest in the medieval past of the Netherlands seems
to be genuine. It is in the Middle Ages where he locates the origin, economic
growth, and political emancipation of the towns of Holland. It is in the Middle
Ages where he locates the transformation of the people of Holland ‘from
rather simple’ peasants and town folk to clever and diligent businessmen. And,
most telling of all, it is in the Middle Ages where he locates the origins of the
changes that brought forth the Dutch Revolt. This brings us to the fifth feature
the Theatrum and the Nederlantsche historie have in common, namely that in both
works Boxhorn draws not a static picture of Dutch history, but a dynamic one,
in which long-term changes play an important role. Boxhorn does not judge all
these changes as negative; he clearly views some of them in a positive light, like
the economic growth and the political emancipation of the towns of Holland,
or the spread of the true faith. For Boxhorn Dutch history constituted a mixture
of continuations and changes, both good and bad, which had a profound and
lasting effect on Dutch society and its political structure. In this sense, Dutch
history reflects the history of ancient Rome, as we will now find out.
The history of Rome
Although Boxhorn criticised the ancient Romans for being arrogant and selfcentred,
the history of Rome did occupy a very important place in his work
and thought. 124 Therefore, it is only fair to give Boxhorn’s view of Roman his-
124 As mentioned before, Boxhorn had edited and published the works of Caesar and Tacitus. He
had also published and commentated the works of Suetonius, Caii Suetoni Tranquilli qvae extant (Johannes
Maire; Leiden, 1632); that corpus of biographies of later Roman emperors that is known to us as the Historia
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