*** 'Catalogus van het oosterse legaat van Josephus Justus Scaliger 1609', K. van Ommen and F.A. de Wolff, can be found at : http://hdl.handle.net/1887/123271 ***In 1593 the eminent scholar... Show more*** 'Catalogus van het oosterse legaat van Josephus Justus Scaliger 1609', K. van Ommen and F.A. de Wolff, can be found at : http://hdl.handle.net/1887/123271 ***In 1593 the eminent scholar Josephus Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) arrived in Leiden to accept the position as honorary professor in Latin language, antiquities and history. Scaliger had taken a part of his library, including many Oriental books and manuscripts, with him to Leiden. In 1609 Scaliger bequeathed by testament the part of his library to Leiden university that consisted of ‘[…] tous mes livres de langues estrangeres, Hebraics, Syriens, Arabics, Aethiopiens, lesquels livres sont contenus dans le Catalogue que i’ay adiousté a la copie latine de ce mien testament […]’. The governors of the university acknowledged the importance of this bequest, immediately recognized the potential of this collection of rare printed books and manuscripts and realized that this collection could make a substantial difference in acquiring a prominent position amongst the other European universities that were competing for scholarly supremacy during the seventeenth century. The governors stressed the importance of compiling a catalogue of the bequest, but subsequent catalogues from the period 1612-1674 all provide an incomplete overview of the bequest. In this thesis Scaligers bequest containing all his printed Oriental books is reconstructed and presented for the first time. Show less
For centuries commentaries have played a fundamental role in the formation, transmission and use of knowledge in many fields of scholarship and science, especially in fields in which the starting... Show moreFor centuries commentaries have played a fundamental role in the formation, transmission and use of knowledge in many fields of scholarship and science, especially in fields in which the starting point for knowledge or information is the study of an (authoritative) text – e.g. theology, law, literature. This dissertation discusses a selection of early modern Latin commentaries on the Aeneid. The early modern Virgilian commentary can be seen as a nucleus of scholarship and learning, encompassing information from a broad range of disciplines (e.g. rhetoric, cultural history, the sciences), and is therefore crucial for the understanding of early modern learning and scholarship. Moreover, the early modern Virgilian commentary stands in the centuries-old tradition of Virgilian scholarship, which runs almost continuously from classical antiquity. In this study the Virgilian commentary is used as a lens to look at the complex developments taking place in early modern learning and scholarship (e.g. the rise of the sciences). Each of the case studies of this dissertation provides insight into an important research question in modern Renaissance studies through the perspective of the Virgilian commentary. Moreover, this study presents and translates a wealth of commentary lemmata from early modern Latin Virgilian commentaries. Show less
Considering that early modern scholars often referred to the Middle Ages as an uncouth period of darkness and ignorance, it is surprising that humanist historians by no means neglected the era. The... Show moreConsidering that early modern scholars often referred to the Middle Ages as an uncouth period of darkness and ignorance, it is surprising that humanist historians by no means neglected the era. The central hypothesis of this book is that the ways in which historians such as Reynier Snoy, Adrianus Barlandus, Petrus Divaeus, and Janus Dousa Sr described the medieval past can be explained by the political context from which their writings originated and in which they were often directly involved. This context was marked by upheavals caused by factors such as the Habsburg centralization policy, the Reformation, and the Dutch Revolt. This book brings forward key characteristics of early modern medievalism, showing how concepts of the medieval were used as rhetorical tools, how medieval forms and ideals were appropriated, and how the classical heritage was involved in the representation of the medieval. This analysis is informed by an approach to historical writing that differs from what is common in the study of sixteenth-century historiography. Historiography is regarded not as a means to uncover the historical truth, but as narrative rhetoric. It deploys narrative techniques and intertextual allusions and plays with genre expectations in order to convey its message. Show less
Johannes Drusius (1550-1616) spent a large part of his life as professor of Oriental languages at the university of Franeker, namely from 1585 to 1616. He was a philologist whose works were... Show moreJohannes Drusius (1550-1616) spent a large part of his life as professor of Oriental languages at the university of Franeker, namely from 1585 to 1616. He was a philologist whose works were reprinted far into the seventeenth, and even in the early eighteenth century. Drusius stimulated research by Christian scholars in the northern Netherlands into Jewish writings. His scholarship in Hebrew and in Jewish works played a vital role in the development of the pedagogical ideal of humanist education with philological stamp. A prominent feature of Drusius' work is his study of Hebrew and Jewish sources for the benefit of explaining passages in the books of the Bible. This research paper constitutes an analysis of Drusius' New Testament commentaries. Chapter one offers a historical sketch of Christian Hebraist studies and in doing so gives a contextualization of Drusius' labours. Chapter two comprises a biography of Drusius. Chapter three clarifies the genre of the 'annotationes', as the contents of Drusius' commentaries consist mainly in philological notes. In chapter four are Drusius' New Testament commentaries discussed. Chapter five is devoted to the relationship between philology and divinity as Drusius saw this. Show less
