Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

attached meanings than one would recognize in our present day: connecting oneself to
another could mean being seen or mentioned together, “brokering” a different or higher
position for someone (while thus gaining status oneself too) or creating a direct economic
relationship (through gifts or straightforward payment). In a world where honor and
status came to count as socio-professional measures, “linking” or “attaching” oneself to
another person was a precarious enterprise, for one’s network co-determined one’s status.
However, apart from some more recent works, much of the work on Constantijn
Huygens (and on his son Christiaan too, as I will argue later) seems to show a certain
“linguistic literalism” or, in other cases, a certain “presentism” or “essentialism”.
The literalist approach seems to take the actors’ language too much for granted,
not (always) taking in account the directly connected economic and political mechanisms
behind it. 101 Take the following quote of Hofman – from what is one of the better historical
works on Constantijn Huygens:
From the outset, the performance of this Stadholder [Frederik Hendrik] characterized
itself by a high measure of loveliness. Traits like patience, courtesy and tact adorned
his character. This way, the Stadholder won the sympathy of many, also that of
Huygens, and used this respect to build up his power further. 102
This statement – based on statements of contemporary witnesses – is true within the actor’s
categories of the early modern courtier Huygens and the Prince of Orange. It does not,
however, access a level of explanation to make the quote fully understandable to the present-
day reader. A plain reading has its reader thinking that the Stadholder was just a nice man
with a decent set of manners, handling his political contacts tactfully – just like a cautious
politician may do nowadays – and thus making a lot of friends. It looks like no translation is
needed for the early modern terminology (“frankness,” “courtesy,” “sympathy,” and
101 ASCH, R. G. (1991) Introduction. Court and Household from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth
Centuries. IN ASCH, R. G. & BIRKE, A. M. (Eds.) Princes, patronage, and the nobility : the court at the
beginning of the Modern Age, c.1450-1650. London, Oxford [England] ; New York, German Historical
Institute London, Oxford University Press., p1-2: “Neglected by political and social historians the court
often became a subject for a type of cultural history that concentrated exclusively on the 'pomp and
circumstance' of courtly life, ignoring the court's real functions.”
102 HOFMAN, H. A. (1983) Constantine Huygens (1596-1687) : a christian-humanist bourgeois-gentilhomme in
service of the House of Orange, Utrecht, HES Uitgevers., p148-9: “Het optreden van deze stadhouder
[Frederik Hendrik] kenmerkte zich vanaf het begin door een grote mate van beminnelijkheid.
Eigenschappen als geduld, hoffelijkheid en tact sierden zijn karakter. De stadhouder won daardoor
veler sympathie, ook die van Huygens, en gebruikte dit respect voor de verdere opbouw van zijn
machtspositie.” My translation. Cf. also HOFMAN, H. A. (1983) Constantine Huygens (1596-1687) : a
christian-humanist bourgeois-gentilhomme in service of the House of Orange, Utrecht, HES Uitgevers., p163-4
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