Ellen van Heteren
A mystery traveller
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Dutch city of Haarlem was a centre of culture, learning and art. In this city lived Theodorus Schrevelius, humanist and poet. Born in Haarlem in 1572, Schrevelius studied the classic languages. He became conrector and later rector of the Latin School in his home city. After twenty-four years of service, he was fired because of his remonstrant religious orientation and moved to Leiden, where he also filled the role of rector. Later, he was able to move back to Haarlem. Nearing the end of his life, he wrote the Harlemias, which added to a long list of publications by his hand. After over three hundred years, a copy of this book ended up in the special collections of the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome (KNIR). What is the story of this mystery traveller?
The Harlemias, printed in Haarlem by Thomas Fonteyn in 1648, was written because of Schrevelius’s love for the city in which he was born and raised. The author wrote a history of this city from its first building blocks to his own time. In doing so, he covered many different aspects of this history, which he divided into six ‘books’. The first book tells the tale of the city’s origins, the second of the famous siege of Haarlem, and the third that of the Dutch Revolt and reformation that followed. From the fourth book on, the subjects get more thematic: The fourth book summarizes all the city’s privileges and nobility; the fifth describes the rise of institutions such as the military, schools and police; the sixth book is all about the civility of Haarlem, its important magistrates, learned men, artisans and artists, and all other workers. The work was originally written in Latin and published in 1647, but soon it was rewritten in vernacular Dutch, because the author wanted to share his love for his city with everyone and not just the learned elite, as Schrevelius shares in his foreword to the reader. The books are accompanied by several poems and laudatory speeches.
After this engraving follows the typographical title page on which it, of course, states the entire title, the author and the impressum. On the back of this folio, someone has left their initials or some type of illegible signature. The engraving was an intricate part of the book as the same engraving is found in all other books from the print of 1648. A reprint from 1754 shows a different engraving. The larger part of the book is printed in a gothic letter, but some exceptions occur when names, poems or any type of citation is written.
Overall, the book and its paper are in excellent condition. There are no tears or breaks and no signs of biological infestations except for a little bookworm who left tiny holes in pages 247-383. With the exception of the end leaves and title pages, not a single marginalium can be found. These first few pages do carry interesting information about the provenance of the book. Most of these are, unsurprisingly, stamps and pencil-written signatures of libraries that held this book. Far more interesting, however, is a loose piece of paper that was put between the pages of the book. It contains an invitation for two persons to a concert that was organised by the Acedemie de France a Rome. A previous owner thus was somehow related to the French Academy of Rome. The catalogue of the KNIR library only reveals that the object was added to the collection in 2018, although I find this somewhat unlikely. Unfortunately, the KNIR does not seem to keep any other information about when or how this book came into the possession of the KNIR, whether it has ever been in the French Institute, or when it was bought by or donated to either institution.
Monsieur Le Petit’s Grande Chronique
The work was printed in Dordrecht in 1601 by Jacob Canin and consists of two volumes. Canin was active as the city printer of Bergen op Zoom from 1602-1607. He inherited his printer’s mark, the lion of Juda, from his father. The engraved print on the title page is a woodcut by Christoffel van Sichem the Younger (1580-1659). Both volumes are bound in leather with gold-tooled spines and the pages have sprinkled edges. There are historiated initials at the beginning of chapters and many engraved portraits of nobles.
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A big part of La grande chonique consists of an edited version of the Divisiekroniek (1517) by Cornelius Aurelius (ca. 1460-1531), a canon regular and writer. The Divisiekroniek has been described as a “keystone of medieval Dutch historiography”. This chronicle was very influential and served as an inspiration for many history writers in that period. Aurelius is one of the main inventors of the Batavian myth: a reinvention of the foundational narrative of the Dutch as heirs of the ancient Germanic tribe of the Batavi. The myth tells that the Dutch were culturally united against tyranny during the national struggle for independence. This myth then seeped into popular history writing and the narrative was often used during the Dutch Revolt.
Furthermore, on the second page of the second volume there is a direct message written by Le Petit addressing Maurice of Orange, the then stadtholder of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except Friesland. The message addresses Maurice of Orange as “a, tres-illustre, haut, puissant et Redoute seigneur, Maurice de Nassau, né Prince d'Orange… (to [the] very illustrious, tall, powerful and Revered Lord, Maurice de Nassau, born Prince of Orange..)” which colours this book as not only nationalistic but specifically assuming a royalist known in Dutch as Oranjegezind (Orangist). This message is signed by Le Petit personally. Le Petit’s nationalistic and Orangist stance is further affirmed by the Blason (coat of arms) of the writer which is included after the title page along with his portrait. His portrait includes a laudatory quote, saying: "D'un homme qui a veu & roddé mainte terre, qui beaucoup a pati, (Soit qu'a peu de bon heur,) Jean François Le Petit en emporte l'honneur, Estant autant utile à la paix qu'a la guerre." (From a man who has seen and rode [through] many lands, who has suffered a lot, (which is little happiness,) Jean François Le Petit takes the honour, of being as useful to peace as to war).
The rare book I have selected for this project is quite a mouthful: La grande chronique ancienne et moderne, de Hollande, Zelande, West-Frise, Utrecht, Frise, Overyssel et Groeningen, jusques à la fin de l’an 1600 by historian and poet Jean François le Petit (1546-?). It is a richly illustrated book about the history of the Dutch Republic compiled at the turn of the sixteenth century. La grande chronique describes the general history of the Republic along with the genealogy and ‘memorable acts’ of its earls and leaders until 1600. The writer, Jean François le Petit, is listed on the title page as a notary of Béthune, France. Le Petit was a Calvinist who had been in the service of the then sovereign of the Dutch Republic, Francis, Duke of Anjou, for some years and defended his ‘French’ politics at the time. After the French Fury (a failed attempt by Francis Anjou to conquer Antwerp by surprise) he resigned. After that, he worked as a notary in Middelburg from 1595-1598. In 1601 he signed the commission of his La grande chronique to the States General. Because of his many travels it is not clear where and when he died.
Before, and during the compilation and publication of La grande chronique, the Dutch Republic was going through a politically tumultuous period, with the Act of Abjuration signed just 20 years before La grande chronique was published. This was a time in which the print industry was booming as printed material including books, posters, broadsides and most significantly pamphlets played an integral role in the political discourse. While La grande's chronique is not explicitly a political text, it is unlikely it was not influenced by the political identity crisis in the Dutch Republic at the time. Especially because it is a historiographical book written about the Republic by a writer who had close ties to the Dutch crown and the States General.
Bibliography
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Biografisch Portaal van Nederland. “Jacob Canin.” Biografischportaal.nl. Accessed 8 December, 2021. http://www.biografischportaal.nl/persoon/45921906
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Blouw, Paul Valkema. (2013). Dutch Typography in the Sixteenth Century. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
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Cruz, Laura. “Turning Dutch: Historical Myths in Early Modern Netherlands.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 39, no. 1 (2008): 3–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/20478749.
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Geyl, P. “De Opvattingen over onze Oudere Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis bij de Hollandsche Historici der XVIe en XVIIe Eeuw”. The English Historical Review 35, no. 138 (1920): 275–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/550839.
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Haitsma Mulier, Eco, O. and Anton van der Lem. (1990) “Repertorium van geschiedschrijvers in Nederland 1500-1800”. Nederlands Historisch Genootschap (1990)
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Petit, Jean François Le, La chronique ancienne et modern: de Hollande, Zelande, West-Frise, Utrecht, Frise, Overyssel et Groeningen, jusques à la fin de l’an 1600. Dordrecht: Jacob Canin, 1601.
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Tilmans, Karen. Aurelius en de divisiekroniek van 1517: Histografie en humanisme in Holland in de tijd van Erasmus. Groningen: s.n., 1988.
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USTC. ““The Bibliographic details, No. 1505669.” Ustc.ac.uk. Accessed 11 December, 2021. https://www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/1505669
Lotte Willeboordse
1 - Engraved title page
2 - Portrait of Le Petit
The majority of La grande chronique is a description of Noble houses, their ancestry and their deeds. It is apparent that it is a tale about nobles for nobles. This can be concluded from the facts that the books are not cheap, as they are big, leather bound books with many engravings, elaborate historiated initials, gold tooled spines and speckled edges. Furthermore, they are written in French with some Latin quotes. These were the languages of the higher classes at that time in the Dutch Republic. A lot of the portraits show the head of the noble house, armoured, or with a weapon of some sort. Furthermore, they show the nobles with their coat of arms alongside the text which describes their many deeds, in war and in peace, performed in service of the Republic. For example, the portrait of Guiliemus Secundes, which is also the only coloured image in the books, in which he is in full armour with his shield. It is an affirmingly nationalistic, powerful and militaristic picture of themselves that is presented to the nobles. This picture unites them as a proud collective as warriors, in line with the Batavian myth.
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In conclusion, La grande chronique ancienne et moderne, de Hollande, Zelande, West-Frise, Utrecht, Frise, Overyssel et Groeningen, jusques à la fin de l’an 1600 is a work of historiography that responds in a nationalistic, Orangist way to the political tumult of the Dutch republic at the time. It is a work aimed at noblemen that presents them in a strong, militaristic light and unites them by associating their origins with the Batavian myth.
3 - Portrait of Guiliemus Secundus.