Becoming an Antwerp Humanist: The Culture of Friendship and Patronage in the Circles of Benito Arias Montano (1568–1598)

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-298
Author(s):  
Guy Lazure
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Emblem Books ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Vast Network

Abstract When the Spanish humanist Benito Arias Montano (c.1525-1598) arrived in Antwerp in1568 to work as editor of the new Polyglot Bible printed by Christophe Plantin, he was introduced to some of the leading members of the Republic of Letters of his time (such as Abraham Ortelius and Carolus Clusius), with whom he exchanged letters, books, portraits, and other tangible tokens of friendship until his dying day. From this hub of intellectual and typographical activity, Montano circulated devotional emblem books across a vast network of Catholic and Protestant scholars, politicians and ecclesiastics. These “instruments of friendship” established his reputation as a man of letters while serving the interests of both king Philip II and Plantin that ranged from cultural diplomacy to editorial and commercial strategy. This study highlights how, in addition to correspondence, the circulation of books, images and objects were essential tools of early modern scholarly practices and learned sociability.

Circles of Confidence in Correspondence

Nuncius ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles van den Heuvel ◽  
Scott B. Weingart ◽  
Nils Spelt ◽  
Henk Nellen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Technological Knowledge ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Religious Conflicts ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
The Republic

Science in the early modern world depended on openness in scholarly communication. On the other hand, a web of commercial, political, and religious conflicts required broad measures of secrecy and confidentiality; similar measures were integral to scholarly rivalries and plagiarism. This paper analyzes confidentiality and secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchange via letters and drawings. We argue that existing approaches to understanding knowledge exchange in early modern Europe – which focus on the Republic of Letters as a unified entity of corresponding scholars – can be improved upon by analyzing multilayered networks of communication. We describe a data model to analyze circles of confidence and cultures of secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchanges. Finally, we discuss the outcomes of a first experiment focusing on the question of how personal and professional/official relationships interact with confidentiality and secrecy, based on a case study of the correspondence of Hugo Grotius.

Modern Biblical Criticism and the Legacy of Pre-Modern Interpretation

2019 ◽  
pp. 703-722
Author(s):  
Michael C. Legaspi
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Changing Attitudes

Although biblical criticism in the early modern period is often identified with the rejection of tradition, a closer examination reveals a more complex effort to investigate the literal sense while retaining the authority of Christian culture and Antiquity. This chapter traces the development of early modern biblical criticism in relation to changing attitudes toward early Christian interpreters. Focusing on the Republic of Letters and figures such as Erasmus and Hugo Grotius, it also examines the pivotal contribution of French Oratorian Richard Simon. Simon is important not only for his critical histories of biblical literature but also for his articulation of the relation between criticism and traditional authority. Finally, this chapter considers the ways that Simon’s conception of criticism paved the way for academic interpreters in the eighteenth century, notably Johann Salomo Semler.

Was There a Scientific Revolution?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Heilbron
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
René Descartes ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
The Republic

This article asks whether there was a Scientific Revolution (SR) at anytime between 1550 and1800. The label ‘Scientific Revolution’ to indicate a period in the development of natural knowledge in early modern Europe has carved a place in historiography. This article suggests that there was SR, if SR signifies a period of time; perhaps, if it is taken as a metaphor. It illustrates how the deployment of the metaphor to seventeenth-century natural knowledge might be accomplished. It also considers the physics of René Descartes, the influence of Cartesianism throughout the Republic of Letters, and the academies. The metaphor can be useful if it is taken in analogy to a major political revolution. The analogy points to a later onset, and a swifter career, for the SR than is usually prescribed, and shows that Isaac Newton was its counter rather than its culmination.

What he may seem to the world: Isaac Newton's autograph book epigrams

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-452
Author(s):  
George Gömöri ◽  
Stephen D. Snobelen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
The World ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Scholarly Projects

This paper identifies, describes and analyses Isaac Newton's known inscriptions in alba amicorum (autograph books). It begins with an introduction to the early modern autograph book and its social utility for travelling students. Each Newton inscription is contextualized with brief biographies of the individual album owners. The potential reasons for Newton's use of his chosen epigrams are considered, as are possible reflexive dynamics between him and the album owners that may have helped to inform these choices. An allied consideration is the degree to which Newton's epigrams relate to scholarly projects with which he was engaged when he penned them. A special feature is the identification of the owner of an album from which a Newton inscription was stolen more than half a century ago. This study offers a glimpse of Newton's intellectual reputation across several decades, both on the Continent and in his native England. More broadly, this paper makes contributions to our understanding of Newton's personal life and the strategic use of alba amicorum in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries within the Republic of Letters.

Leibniz’s Network

2018 ◽  
pp. 562-590
Author(s):  
Howard Hotson
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Digital Infrastructure ◽  
Major Subject ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
New Generation

Leibniz’s network is a major subject of study in its own right, exemplifying the centrality of the ‘republic of letters’ to the intellectual history of early modern Europe.  Yet the primary reason for discussing it here is that understanding Leibniz’s network is also indispensable for understanding his thought.  Leibniz’s thought is not a fixed product, immortalized in a small number of polished publications.  Its content and expression evolved constantly in a long series of fragmentary statements, many penned in dialogue with contemporaries.  To understand these fragments, we must understand the hundreds of people with whom Leibniz was interacting, and the networks and communities for which they spoke.  Grasping the complexity of these interactions surpasses the limitations of print technology.  Obtaining a synoptic understanding of Leibniz’s network therefore requires a new generation of digital infrastructure capable of assembling and exploring the relevant data in a highly collaborative and interactive fashion.

The Interests of the Republic of Letters in the Middle East, 1550–1700

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Brentjes
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
The Republic ◽  
West European

The ArgumentThe “raison d'être” of this paper is my dissatisfaction with current portrayals of the place and the fate of the so-called rational sciences in Muslim societies. I approach this issue from the perspectives of West European visitors to the Ottoman and Safavid Empires during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I show that these travelers encountered educated people capable of understanding and answering their visitors' scholarly questions in non-trivial ways. The travels and the ensuing encounters suggest that early modern Muslim societies and their institutions, their ways of producing knowledge, the types of their knowledge, and their material resources contributed important elements to various early modern West European approaches to gaining knowledge about nature, history, and politics.

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