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

Chapter 3. Biography
insight into what they taught students like Boxhorn about history and politics.
In addition to this, we can add that Boxhorn became Heinsius’s protégé and
was, according to one source, ‘intimate’ with Burgersdijk. Thus, there is also
talk of a personal bond between Boxhorn and these two teachers. 65
Besides the work of Heinsius and Burgersdijk, I will also briefly consider
the work of the poet and antiquarian Petrus Scriverius, a private scholar who
became Boxhorn’s patron when Boxhorn was still in his younger days. 66 The
work of these three men represent, as it were, three strands in Boxhorn’s educational
background: a ‘classical’ humanist approach to history and politics
(Heinsius), a philosophical approach to politics (Burgersdijk), and an antiquarian
approach to history (Scriverius).
I. The value of history: Daniel Heinsius
Daniel Heinsius was perhaps the brightest star of Leiden University when
Boxhorn matriculated there in 1626. Born in Ghent in 1580, Daniel Heinsius
moved to Leiden in 1598 to study at the town’s university. At Leiden
obitus”, iv-v. ‘In cujus notitiam non modo, sed & familiaritatem assumptus, hoc Magistro sic profecit
ut anno 1629. aetatis vixdum decimo septimo, in victorias insignes & varias ejusdem anni, nominatim
ob captam ab Arausionensium Principe Frederico Henrico Sylvam Ducis triumphos tres cecinerit.
Quos cum quatuor Academiae tum primariis Professoribus dignos & Avus judicabat publicam lucem
adspicere, & Lugduni eodem anno editos omnium applausu lectos fuisse non semel audivi. Inter ea
temporis Philologicum & Philosophicum studiorum cursum absolvit, & ad Theologiam, cui destinabatur
animum applicuit … Sed cum ingenium ad litteraturam quasi natum videretur, illam deserere
nequiit etiam tum quando cum fructu coepta Theologia studia absolvere poterat. Hinc illa ipsa non
intermissa modo, sed plane relicta, solum Philologicum tractatum fuit. Cujus mox alterum specimen
publicum edidit, scriptione Encomii Granatarum, horrendae, ut titulus habet, & stupendae in bello virtutis.
Quod anno sequenti editum & Patriae suae, Civitatis Bergobzomanae Magistratui inscriptum ivit.’
The two publications Baselius is referring to in this text are: Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn, Triumphi (Godefridus
Basson; Leiden, 1629) and idem, Granatarum horrendae, & stupendae in bello virtutis encomium (J.
Navius; Leiden, 1630). That Boxhorn was a student of both Heinsius and Burgersdijk can be inferred
from Baselius, “Historia vitae & obitus”, iii-iv. ‘Qui simul ac Lugdunum Batavorum venit, annos vix
tredecem natus, publicas, lectiones Academicas cum fructu audivit, & sic biennium ferme ante tempus à
Curatoribus recipiendis studiosis Academicis constitutum, inter studiosos illius Academiae adscriptus,
sedulo sese in Philosophicis, sub magno illo Philosopho Francone Burgersdici exercuit, in literatura
usus institutione πολνμχϧέҩ illius Gerardi Johannis Vossii & Danielis Heinsii, Academiae ocelli.’
65 Barlaeus, “Oratio funebris In Excessum Clarissimi Viri, Marci Zuerii Boxhornii …”, p. 152. ‘Inter
eos praecipue coluit summi & ingenii & doctrinae virum Danielem Heinsium, maturae jam aetatis
senem & emeritum, Academiae nostrae & Graeciae, dum floruit singulare fulcimentum, à quo cum
plurimis beneficiis esset affectus Noster, non ingratus esse voluit, sed de tanto heroë, & Euergeta suo
nusquam non bene mereri. E cujus etiam ipse lectionibus & dissertationibus eruditissimis plurimum
profecerat … Franconi item Burgesdyckio intimus fuit, philosophorum, ut dictum, in hoc Athenaeo
nostro tunc celeberrimo.’ Personally, I do not believe Barlaeus’s claim concerning Boxhorn’s intimacy
with Burgersdijk. First of all, to my knowlegde, Barlaeus’s funeral oration on Boxhorn’s death is the
only source which mentions this specific characteristic of Boxhorn’s relationship with Burgersdijk. Second,
in Boxhorn’s letters that are published in the Epistolae et poemata Burgersdijk is not mentioned once;
in them we do not even find any reference to, or lamentation on, Burgersdijk’s death in 1635.
66 Ibidem. ‘Petrum quoque Scriverium maximi fecit ob raram scilicet illius viri in historiis & omni antiquitate
peritiam, tum quod promotionis suae auctor & patronus apud Curatores & Magistratum Leidensem
fuisset haud postremus: ne jam tanti Maecenatis prolixum in omnes doctos affectum & candorem eloquar,
quibus & hunc & alios sibi devinxit Musarum cultores.’ Langereis, Geschiedenis als ambacht, p. 143.
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