Een verzameling Nederlandstalige kronieken uit de periode 1500-1850. Het gaat om 204 lokale kronieken, geschreven door particulieren, en bijna 24 miljoen woorden. Ongeveer de helft van deze teksten... Show moreEen verzameling Nederlandstalige kronieken uit de periode 1500-1850. Het gaat om 204 lokale kronieken, geschreven door particulieren, en bijna 24 miljoen woorden. Ongeveer de helft van deze teksten was nog niet eerder gepubliceerd. De manuscripten werden gefotografeerd in 39 archieven en bibliotheken in Nederland en België en vervolgens getranscribeerd - deels met automatische handschriftherkenning - en handmatig geannoteerd door vrijwilligers. De annotaties bevatten onder andere persoons- en plaatsnamen, datums, bronvermeldingen en toeschrijvingen.We publiceren zowel scans als transcripties met diverse zoek- en filteropties.De verzameling kwam tot stand met hulp van De Nederlandse Bibliotheek der Nederlandse Letteren (DBNL) heel veel vrijwilligers, de medewerking van tientallen archieven en bibliotheken in het kader van het onderzoeksproject Chronicling novelty. New knowledge in the Netherlands, 1500-1850, dat tussen 2018-2023 werd uitgevoerd aan de Universiteit Leiden en de Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Deze publicatie kwam tot stand met steun van de Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), de Gratama-Stichting en het Leids Universitair Fonds (LUF). Show less
This paper discusses the role of ‘towns’ in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on insights from the discipline of archaeology. How did the Chronicle depict... Show moreThis paper discusses the role of ‘towns’ in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on insights from the discipline of archaeology. How did the Chronicle depict these places? Can we discern changes over time? Through an analysis of the Chronicle texts as a living set of documents, the paper comments both on the role of ‘towns’ in early medieval England and on the function of the Chronicle in contemporary society. It concludes that ‘towns’ in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle existed between material reality and literary topos: their physicality carried as much symbolism as their literary depictions. Show less
Historians have hypothesised that the increase of medical knowledge in the early modern period led to a shift away from religious towards ‘scientific’ explanations and prophylactic measures. The... Show moreHistorians have hypothesised that the increase of medical knowledge in the early modern period led to a shift away from religious towards ‘scientific’ explanations and prophylactic measures. The writings of contemporaries belonging to the ‘middling’ ranks of society tell a different story. This chapter presents a long-term perspective on how 104 non-medical experts coped with and reflected upon epidemics in the Low Countries. By using the corpus of the Chronicling Novelty project, I demonstrate that the middling sort used both religious and non-religious practices side-by-side. I show that between 1500 and 1850, natural explanations became more detailed and complex, but they remained in service of, or subordinate to, divine explanations. Moreover, although the idea of an angry and vengeful God was never far away, the notion of a benevolent God gained prominence in the seventeenth century. Show less
The eighteenth-century passion to order and systematize as well as to measure and calculate has been explained as a result of both the Scientific Revolution and the emergence of centralized states.... Show moreThe eighteenth-century passion to order and systematize as well as to measure and calculate has been explained as a result of both the Scientific Revolution and the emergence of centralized states. The first, enabled the new experimental philosophy that quantified the 'sciences', while the latter created the need for statistics (e.g., demographic data). This paper explores the diffusion of the ‘quantifying spirit’ among the wider public in the eighteenth century and offers alternative explanation for the interest of the population at large in structured quantitative data. Using a corpus of 188 handwritten chronicles, produced by a heterogenous group of middle-class authors from the Low Countries, between 1500-1800, it analyses how early modern chroniclers used Western/Hindu-Arabic numerals in their writings, and under which circumstances this changed in the eighteenth century. From the analysis it appears that chroniclers used meteorological measurement and demographic data for different purposes than natural philosophers and (centralized) governments. Moreover, it transpires that the collection of quantitative data was initially stimulated by local governments, subsequently made public by various media, and picked up by the society at large and higher authorities. Show less
For innovation to happen, it is not enough that new ideas and technologies are being invented. Cultural factors play an essential role in their acceptance and appropriation. Recent scholarship... Show moreFor innovation to happen, it is not enough that new ideas and technologies are being invented. Cultural factors play an essential role in their acceptance and appropriation. Recent scholarship hypothesises that Europeans after 1650 became more receptive to new technology and innovation than their ancestors, and so enabled the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. The spread of new knowledge and techniques among scholars and experts between 1500 to 1850 is indeed well-documented. Yet since acceptance by experts does not guarantee wider acceptance, I will demonstrate how and under which conditions, new knowledge was actually appropriated among society at large, and provide a new perspective on how cultural change anchored in the early modern Low Countries.I will do so by using the Chronicling Novelty-corpus of more than 300 chronicles, written by a heterogeneous group of middle-class citizens from the Low Countries between 1500 and 1850. The topics subjected to diachronic analyses in my dissertation are epidemics and diseases; weather aberrations and climate change; dearth and inflation; and the increasing use of Western numerals and structured quantitative data. By using digital methods and close reading techniques, combined with cultural evolution theory, I examined how, and under which circumstances the knowledge, beliefs and practices of chroniclers changed in each topic. As a result, it became possible to examine cultural change at a concrete level but also to challenge hypotheses and theories at a more abstract level. Show less
One of the reasons why early modern people chronicled current events in their communities, was to search for patterns. Chroniclers frequently recorded odd weather patterns (scorching summers or... Show moreOne of the reasons why early modern people chronicled current events in their communities, was to search for patterns. Chroniclers frequently recorded odd weather patterns (scorching summers or frigid winters), famines, troop movements, wars, epidemics, prices, prodigies, monstrous births, and other premonitions to search for elements that could help them to comprehend current, and to anticipate on, future events. In this paper I will explore how chroniclers from the Low Countries constructed causal relations between various phenomena and events, and how that changed between 1500 and 1850. I will do so by combining computational and historical methods to analyse 250 early modern Dutch chronicles, focusing especially on authors of the middling sort (e.g., farmers, merchants, and local officials). As a result, we gain insight on how they tried to get grip on current events in their attempt to limit future harm.In this paper I will focus especially on how chroniclers collected data on epidemics, meteorological phenomena, and food- and fuel prices, knowledge which they regarded as useful. Using this evidence, I will argue that throughout the period, this group continued to believe in the idea that disruptive events could have both human and natural but also supernatural origins. Both faith and reason conditioned responses to potential hazards, and the solutions chosen were discussed side-by-side, usually without an apparent sense of conflict. However, natural explanations became more complex over time, which resulted in more detailed explanations on the causes and consequences of (future) hazards. By focussing on the information that chroniclers regarded as useful, and studying the causal relations they constructed, we can not only reconstruct how chroniclers coped with contemporary hazards and crises, but also how they used their chronicle as a compass and anchor to get some grip on events as they sailed into an uncertain future. Show less
In recent decades, historians have made significant contributions to the understanding of the production and circulation of knowledge in the early modern period. This article aims to go further, by... Show moreIn recent decades, historians have made significant contributions to the understanding of the production and circulation of knowledge in the early modern period. This article aims to go further, by demonstrating how a non-medical expert acquired and applied new medical knowledge, and how chronicles can be used as a source to study the reception of (medical) knowledge in the early modern period. To do this, I have used the corpus of the research project Chronicling Novelty which contains 311 early modern chronicles from the Low Countries, written by a heterogenous group of authors from the ‘middling’ ranks of society. The farmer and alderman Lambert Rijckxz Lustigh (1656–1727) tried to make sense of the rinderpest outbreak that spread across the Low Countries in 1713. In contrast to most of his contemporaries, he combined a corpuscular theory of medicine with other forms of knowledge to demonstrate how God’s ‘invisible particles’ caused an epidemic. This paper presents how expert knowledge became part of a complex chain of cultural translation and retranslation in society. Moreover, by examining Lustigh’s explanations in relation to his contemporaries and other chroniclers, this paper offers an additional perspective on the preconditions for the acceptance of new knowledge and change among the middling ranks of society. Show less
This article considers the Dutch translation of the section on the emperors of Martin of Opava's Chronicon in the so-called 'Berghse kroniekenhandschrift' within the Latin tradition of this text... Show moreThis article considers the Dutch translation of the section on the emperors of Martin of Opava's Chronicon in the so-called 'Berghse kroniekenhandschrift' within the Latin tradition of this text and the various ways in which it appeared in manuscripts produced in the Low Countries. Particular attention is awarded to the 'glocal' tendencies in these manuscripts: in the continuations the universal history of popes and emperors is complemented with local and regional events. Additionally, the structure of the Bergh manuscript is compared with similar multi-text manuscripts with Latin texts and Latin compilations. Show less
