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.
Antwerp had fallen to Spain in 1585. At the Spanish-Habsburg court in Brussels, the publications of historical works were meticulously controlled. This made it very difficult for works that were critical of the Spaniards and their policy in the Netherlands to be published. This ended the Protestant influence in Antwerp and Antwerp’s leading role in Humanist printing. Instead, many printers turned to Catholic works and specialised in Counter-Reformation publications. The Verdussen firm, which published Van Meerbeeck’s chronicle, was one of these printers. In its first generation, under Hieronymus I Verdussen, they printed mainly devotional literature and historical publications. Van Meerbeeck’s work falls under the popular category of historical publication, but as we can see from the aforementioned, a religious aspect is also present. Furthermore, Hieronymus I mainly produced works for the local market, as two thirds of the publications were in Dutch. Again, Van Meerbeeck’s work falls in this popular category. However, Van Meerbeeck’s work is unique for this firm because of its format. It was a folio format, while Hieronymus I published mainly octavo and quarto formats (65%) and barely folio format (15%).
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Antwerp had fallen to Spain in 1585. At the Spanish-Habsburg court in Brussels, the publications of historical works were meticulously controlled. This made it very difficult for works that were critical of the Spaniards and their policy in the Netherlands to be published. This ended the Protestant influence in Antwerp and Antwerp’s leading role in Humanist printing. Instead, many printers turned to Catholic works and specialised in Counter-Reformation publications. The Verdussen firm, which published Van Meerbeeck’s chronicle, was one of these printers. In its first generation, under Hieronymus I Verdussen, they printed mainly devotional literature and historical publications. Van Meerbeeck’s work falls under the popular category of historical publication, but as we can see from the aforementioned, a religious aspect is also present. Furthermore, Hieronymus I mainly produced works for the local market, as two thirds of the publications were in Dutch. Again, Van Meerbeeck’s work falls in this popular category. However, Van Meerbeeck’s work is unique for this firm because of its format. It was a folio format, while Hieronymus I published mainly octavo and quarto formats (65%) and barely folio format (15%).
The other 21 portraits were added on separate sheets between the main printed text. They are portraits of well-known people, mostly rulers. Each portrait contains a page indication and a figure number. However, although the page numbers are correct, there are some mistakes in the figure numbers, like missing or double numbers in the sequence or portraits without figure numbers. But the figure numbers that are correct are so numerous that it seems highly probable that they were added particularly for this book, especially because the page numbers are correct as well. The indications were probably added later, as they were added to the portraits in whatever place would fit nicely; the portraits themselves did not allow for the indications necessarily. Furthermore, the style of the portraits differs throughout the chronicle. As engravings were durable and often used in multiple books, previously made engravings were probably used in this edition. At the end of the book, a page was added with instructions for the binders on where to put the pages with the portraits. However, not all portraits are included in this list, as there are two unmentioned portraits on page 919.
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Adrianus van Meerbeeck’s Chroniicke vande gantsche werelt, ende sonderlinghe vande seventhien Nederlanden is a Dutch book printed in Antwerpen in 1620 by Hieronymus Verdussen. According to its title page, which says “Begrypende De Tweedrachten, Oorlogen, Veltslagen, Belegeringen ende Inneminghen van landen ende steden, ende alle andere ghedenckweerdighste saken, die geschiedt zijn van de tijdt des Keysers Caroli V. af, M. D. tot het jaer onses Heeren M. DC. XX,” it aims to tell the history of the whole world and in particular of the Netherlands, with special attention to the Dutch War of Independence, covering the period from 1500 until 1620. The chronicle is a folio divided into gatherings of four sheets of paper, giving every gathering a total of eight pages. Every page of text is divided into two columns. At the top of each column is written which year it is about, and the subjects of specific parts of the text are in the margins too. This makes it easy to find specific events in the book. Furthermore, there is an alphabetical index of 35 pages at the end of the book. The combination of the dates and subjects in the margins and the index at the end make it clear that this book was made with the intention of enabling the reader to easily find specific things in it.
Silke Karsenberg
Van Meerbeeck’s chronicle was a Catholic one. It was written in reaction to a popular Protestant chronicle, Historie der Nederlandscher ende haerder Naburen Vorlogen ende Geschiedenissen, tot den Jare 1612, written by Emanuel van Meteren, who was against the Spanish regime and for a moderate policy on heretics. Van Meerbeeck, on the other hand, took a more moderate position against the Spaniards, placing instead the blame of the war on the side of the Protestants. Although his work was not as pro-Spanish as some other historical works published during the same time, like Franciscus Haraeus’ Annales ducum seu principum Brabantiae totiusq. Belgii, published in 1623, his moderate stance with regards to Spain made it possible for his work to be published relatively easy, the reason for which can be found in the historical context.
1 - Meerbeeck, Adrianus Van, Chroniicke van de Ganstche Werelt ende sonderlinghe van de Seventhien Nederlanden (Antwerpen: Verdussen, 1620), author's page.
The book has pagination up to 1286, though the portraits are not included. Neither are the title page and the index. This brings the total page number of the chronicle to 1351. Although the index at the end is not included in the pagination, it is included in the signatures, and continues the signature of the previous pages. This means that it was known before printing the work that it would be included and was not added later.
As paper was expensive, books published in folio format were usually costly. Combined with the fact that the work is also illustrated, adding both the extra work of printing the portraits and binding the pages in the correct order, this means Van Meerbeeck’s chronicle was probably an expensive work. This probably reduced the size of the readership, as only wealthy people could afford to buy it. Likely as a consequence, there were relatively few copies of the chronicle published. This could be a good reason for the rareness of the book, of which only fifteen copies are known in the USTC.
A Catholic history in Spanish-occupied Antwerp
an analysis of Adrianus van Meerbeeck’s Chroniicke van de Ganstche Werelt ende sonderlinghe van de Seventhien Nederlanden with special attention given to the engraved portraits
Bibliography
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Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren. “Adrianus van Meerbeeck.” Auteurs. Accessed 08-12-2021. https://www.dbnl.org/auteurs/auteur.php?id=meer038.
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Dijstelberge, Paul, and Piet Verkruijsse. De Archeologie van het Gedrukte Boek. Leiden: Saru Uitgevers, 2010.
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Meerbeeck, Adrianus van. Chroniicke van de Ganstche Werelt ende sonderlinghe van de Seventhien Nederlanden. Antwerpen: Verdussen, 1620.
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Reijner, C. “Italiaanse geschiedschrijvers over de Nederlandse Opstand, 1585-1650.” PhD diss., Universiteit Leiden, 2020.
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Rossem, Stijn van. “The Bookshop of the Counter-Reformation Revisited. The Verdussen Company and the Trade in Catholic Publication, Antwerp, 1585-1648.” Quaerendo 38 (2008): 306-321.
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USTC Record. “1001574.” The Bibliographical details. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/1001574.
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Vermaseren, Bernard Antoon. “De Katholieke Nederlandsche Geschiedschrijving in de XVIe en XVIIe eeuw over den opstand.” PhD diss., Radboud University, 1941.
2 - Chroniicke van de Ganstche Werelt ende sonderlinghe van de Seventhien Nederlanden, p. 5.