Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Cultural Nationalism and the Rise of Dutch Studies
- 1 Matthijs Siegenbeek in Defence of Dutch
- 2 Barthold Hendrik Lulofs: A ‘Learned Dilettante’
- 3 Poet and Professor: Adam Simons
- 4 Johannes Kinker: A Kantian Philosopher Teaching Dutch Language, Literature, and Eloquence
- 5 Caught Between Propaganda and Science: Ulrich Gerhard Lauts, the Forgotten Father of Dutch Philology in Brussels
- 6 Pieter Weiland and his Nederduitsche Spraakkunst
- 7 Moralist of the Nation: Johannes Henricus van der Palm
- 8 ‘I am Revived as a Belgian’: The Work of Jan Frans Willems
- 9 Adriaan Kluit: Back to the Sources!
- 10 ‘Can Grander Skulls be Crowned?’: Jacob van Dijk’s Posthumous Literary History
- 11 Hendrik van Wijn: Pioneer of Historical Literary Studies in the Netherlands
- 12 The Founding Father of Dutch Literary History: Jeronimo de Vries
- Afterword: Gert-Jan Johannes
- Index
11 - Hendrik van Wijn: Pioneer of Historical Literary Studies in the Netherlands
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Cultural Nationalism and the Rise of Dutch Studies
- 1 Matthijs Siegenbeek in Defence of Dutch
- 2 Barthold Hendrik Lulofs: A ‘Learned Dilettante’
- 3 Poet and Professor: Adam Simons
- 4 Johannes Kinker: A Kantian Philosopher Teaching Dutch Language, Literature, and Eloquence
- 5 Caught Between Propaganda and Science: Ulrich Gerhard Lauts, the Forgotten Father of Dutch Philology in Brussels
- 6 Pieter Weiland and his Nederduitsche Spraakkunst
- 7 Moralist of the Nation: Johannes Henricus van der Palm
- 8 ‘I am Revived as a Belgian’: The Work of Jan Frans Willems
- 9 Adriaan Kluit: Back to the Sources!
- 10 ‘Can Grander Skulls be Crowned?’: Jacob van Dijk’s Posthumous Literary History
- 11 Hendrik van Wijn: Pioneer of Historical Literary Studies in the Netherlands
- 12 The Founding Father of Dutch Literary History: Jeronimo de Vries
- Afterword: Gert-Jan Johannes
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Hendrik van Wijn (1740-1831) is considered a pioneer of historical literary studies in the Netherlands. This chapter investigates how he gained his reputation. The first part gives a concise outline of his life and the place he occupied in contemporary associational and scholarly life. The second part discusses van Wijn's most important books: Historische en letterkundige avondstonden (1800) and Huiszittend leeven (1801-1812).He received ample recognition for his efforts as a groundbreaking medievalist, including an appointment as the first National Archivist of the Low Countries. After his death, he was seen mainly as a meritorious collector of a large number of valuable historical sources, who had nevertheless not gone on to produce more comprehensive surveys or scholarly editions.
Keywords: Hendrik van Wijn, historical literary studies, history of philology, medieval studies
Introduction
In the cultural history of the Netherlands, Hendrik (or Henrik) van Wijn is known as an historian and literary scholar, as the founding father of Dutch literary history, as the co-founder of the Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (‘Society of Dutch Language and Literature’) and as the first National Archivist. He was highly respected in all of these capacities. In 1809, Willem Bilderdijk, secretary of the Koninklijk Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten (‘Royal Institute of Sciences, Literature and Fine Arts’) addressed him as ‘our oldest, most famous and worthiest fellow member, a man that every one of us honours, appreciates, and esteems as our Leader, Teacher and Adviser’. Some years later, Bilderdijk declared that a letter from Jacob Grimm had also made him aware of ‘how much your profound linguistic, historical, and archaeological studies and great literary knowledge are valued in Germany’. And in 1822, Bilderdijk urged the now elderly van Wijn: ‘Continue, my Noble and Severe Gentleman! and continue to grace our language and history with your vast investigations, causing everyone to admire you more and more […].
To a great extent, the admiration that van Wijn drew concerned his groundbreaking work in the field of historical literary studies. In this chapter, I investigate how, and on what literary-historical grounds, he gained his reputation as a founding father.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018