The sixteenth-century Dutch spiritualist and controversialist, Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (1522-1590), is increasingly recognized as a pivotal figure in the cultural and political life of the early Dutch Republic. With the appearance of Henk Bonger’s widely acclaimed biography (1978), the first complete account of Coornhert’s life became available in the Dutch language. Today this biography is still the starting point of any serious research on Coornhert and his circle. This translation now makes this standard biography available in English for the first time.
The translator profited from Henk Bonger’s comments on the translated chapters, and the author approved of adaptations and changes where these were deemed necessary. The structure and most of the chapters of the book are as they were in the original. The chief changes are: the abridgment and combination into one chapter of the two original chapters on Coornhert’s creative work and his translations. The ample quotes from Coornhert contained in the text enable the reader to attain a first hand acquaintance with Coornhert’s profound thought and inimitable style.
References have been updated and some explanatory remarks intended for a non-Dutch readership were added. The translation is complemented with a full bibliography of Coornhert’s writings, as well as an up-to-date bibliography of the secondary literature; with 25 illustrations.
Translator’s foreword
List of illustrations
Author’s preface
Part I: The life and times of Coornhert
1 1522-1562 Youth, Marriage, Stay at Batestein, Etcher and printer in Haarlem
2 1562-1567 Notary, Secretary of the Municipal Government of Haarlem, Secretary of the Mayors
3 1567 Imprisonment, Interrogation, Flight
4 1567-1576 Exile, Secretary of the States of Holland, Second Exile
5 1576-1584 The Period of Public Debates and Polemics
6 1584-1590 Last Exile, Residence in Delft and Gouda, Polemics with Lipsius, Death
Part II: Coornhert’s Ideas
7 Ideas on Man’s Perfectibility
8 The Struggle for Freedom of Religion
9 The Struggle against the Dogmas of Original Sin and Predestination
10 Coornhert’s Place in the Religious Life of his Times; Criticism of the “Godded Prophets”
11 Social and Political Ideas
12 Creative Work and Translations: Plays, Poems, Translations
Appendix I: Coornhert in History
Appendix II: Main Events in Coornhert’s Life
Appendix III: Time Table
Bibliography
I Primary Sources: Unpublished sources, Works by Coornhert, Translations and adaptations by Coornhert, Other published primary sources
II Secondary Sources
Index of Names