Ambitious antiquities, famous forebears : : constructions of a glorious past in the early modern Netherlands and in Europe / / Karl A.E. Enenkel, Konrad A. Ottenheym ; translated by Alexander C. Thomson.

• Superior document: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History; volume307/41
• VerfasserIn: Enenkel, K. A. E.,; Ottenheym, Koen,
• TeilnehmendeR: Ottenheym, Koen,; Thomson, Alexander C.,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden Boston : : BRILL,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English; Dutch
• Series: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History; volume307/41.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (443 pages).
• Notes: "This volume is a revised and augmented translation of Oudheid als ambitie: De zoektocht naar een passend verleden, 1400-1700, published by Vantilt, Nijmegen (ISBN 9789460043253)"--Title page verso.

This monograph studies the constructions of ‘impressive’ historical descent manufactured to create ‘national’, regional, or local antiquities in early modern Europe (1500-1700), especially the Netherlands. This was a period characterised by important political changes and therefore by an increased need for legitimation; a need which was met using historical claims. Literature, scholarship, art and architecture were pivotal media that were used to furnish evidence of the impressively old lineage of states, regions or families. These claims related not only to Classical antiquity (in the generally-known sense) but also to other periods that were regarded as periods of antiquity, such as the chivalric age. The authors of this volume analyse these intriguing early modern constructions of appropriate “antiquities” and investigate the ways in which they were applied in political, intellectual and artistic contexts in Europe, especially in the Northern Low Countries. This book is a revised and augmented translation of Oudheid als ambitie: De zoektocht naar een passend verleden, 1400–1700 (Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2017).

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Introduction / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Thinking about the Antiquities of Europe / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Antiquity, a Source of Power and Prestige: the Competition for Antiquities in Early Modern Europe / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Supposed Ancestors / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- The Origin Legends of the European Nations / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- What Is Antiquity? The Early Modern Chronology of History / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- A Malleable Past: On ‘Proof’, Interpretations, Errors and Falsifications / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Humanists and Antiquities in the Northern Low Countries / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- The Batavians as Ancestors in Early Dutch Humanism: Erasmus, Aurelius and Geldenhouwer / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Attempts to Find the Origins of Architecture in the Northern Low Countries: On Romans, Batavians and Giants / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- The Chivalric Past of the Dutch Republic / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- From Chivalric Family Tree to ‘National’ Gallery: the Portrait Series of the Counts of Holland, c. 1490–1650 / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Living as Befits a Knight: New Castles in Seventeenth-Century Holland / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- The Mediaeval Prestige of Dutch Cities / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Conclusion / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Notes / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Back Matter -- Figures / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Bibliography / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym -- Index / Karl A.E. Enenkel and Konrad A. Ottenheym.