ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in History of Ideas 42 Cover: Johan Skytte af Duderhof (1577–1645). Oil painting by Jan Kloppert (1670–1734). Uppsala universitets konstsamling. Jenny Ingemarsdotter Ramism, Rhetoric and Reform An Intellectual Biography of Johan Skytte (1577–1645) Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Auditorium Minus, Gustavianum, Akademigatan 3, Uppsala, Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 10:00 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in Swedish. Abstract Ingemarsdotter, J. 2011. Ramism, Rhetoric and Reform. An Intellectual Biography of Johan Skytte (1577–1645). Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in History of Ideas 42. 322 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-8071-4. This thesis is an intellectual biography of the Swedish statesman Johan Skytte (1577–1645), focusing on his educational ideals and his contributions to educational reform in the early Swedish Age of Greatness. Although born a commoner, Skytte rose to be one of the most powerful men in Sweden in the first half of the seventeenth century, serving three generations of regents. As a royal preceptor and subsequently a university chancellor, Skytte appears as an early educational politician at a time when the Swedish Vasa dynasty initiated a number of far-reaching reforms, including the revival of Sweden’s only university at the time (in Uppsala). The contextual approach of the thesis shows how Skytte’s educational reform agenda was shaped by nationally motivated arguments as well as by a Late Renaissance humanist heritage, celebrating education as the foundation of all prosperous civilizations. Utilizing a largely unexplored source material written mostly in Latin, the thesis analyzes how Skytte’s educational arguments were formed already at the University of Marburg in the 1590s, where he learned to embrace the utility-orientated ideals of the French humanist Petrus Ramus (1515–1572). Moreover, the analysis shows that the expanding Swedish state administration in the early seventeenth century was in urgent need of educated civil servants, and that this basic demand favored an ideology based on education, skill and merit. It is shown that Skytte skillfully combined a Ramist and patriotic rhetoric with narratives of individual merit and rewards, conveying not least himself as an example. The thesis argues that Skytte’s rhetoric reflects the formation of a new professional category in the Swedish society, one that was distinguished from the royal courtier, the clergyman, the merchant, the warrior, and the scholar. This category is the professional civil servant whose identity was dependent on skills and education. Keywords: Johan Skytte, history of education, Ramism, Petrus Ramus, utility, merit, humanism, Late Renaissance, Sweden, Age of Greatness, patriotism, Hesse-Kassel, the University of Marburg, Uppsala University, Charles IX, Gustav II Adolf, Vasa, Neo-Latin, dissertation, oration, rhetoric, reform, the mathematical arts, eloquence Jenny Ingemarsdotter, Department of History of Science and Ideas, Box 629, Uppsala University, SE-75126 Uppsala, Sweden. © Jenny Ingemarsdotter 2011 ISSN 1653-5197 ISBN 978-91-554-8071-4 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-151487 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-151487) Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, a climate neutral company, Västerås 2011. Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE- 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden. www.uu.se, [email protected] To the memory of my grandfather Einar Österlind 1910–2001 Contents Acknowledgements.......................................................................................11 1. Introduction...............................................................................................13 1.1. Background .......................................................................................13 Why Study? .........................................................................................13 Education in an Early Modern Swedish Context.................................15 Ramism, Rhetoric and Reform ............................................................18 1.2. Aim of the Study and Questions........................................................19 1.3. The Biographical Format...................................................................20 1.4. Previous Research .............................................................................22 Johan Skytte.........................................................................................22 Humanism and the History of Education.............................................24 Ramism................................................................................................27 1.5. Central Concepts ...............................................................................31 Theory, Practice and the Utility of Education .....................................32 Patriotism or Nationalism? ..................................................................37 1.6. Methodological Remarks ..................................................................40 Interpreting Early Modern Text...........................................................40 1.7. Source Material .................................................................................43 1.8. Translations .......................................................................................46 Language and Style..............................................................................47 Latinized Names and Titles .................................................................49 Editorial Principles ..............................................................................51 1.9. Disposition ........................................................................................52 2. Early Life, Education and Career Vectors ................................................53 2.1. Origins and Education.......................................................................53 2.2. Educational Ideals and Political Realities .........................................60 The Attractions of Ramism..................................................................60 The State of Education: Sweden’s “Iron Years” .................................65 2.3. On the Theatre Stage of the World....................................................70 2.4. Conclusions .......................................................................................75 3. Motivations: The Weeping Muses of Sweden ..........................................77 3.1. Education and Merit ..........................................................................78 The Education of Commoners .............................................................78 The Education of Noblemen................................................................83 3.2. Education and Patria.........................................................................87 Patriotism in a Humanist Context........................................................88 The Beginning of a Swedish Patriotic Agenda....................................89 Skytte on the Accomplishments of Swedes.........................................91 The Gothic Heritage ............................................................................96 The Weeping Muses of Sweden ........................................................101 3.3. Education and State Utility..............................................................103 The Concept of “Res Publica”...........................................................103 The Utility of Eloquence and Mathematics .......................................105 The Education of the Head of State...................................................109 3.4. Conclusions .....................................................................................112 4. How to Do It: The Method of Ramism...................................................115 4.1. The Question of Method..................................................................115 “…no word is more popular in our lectures these days”...................115 Petrus Ramus’s “Golden Method”.....................................................119 4.2. Ramism in Marburg and Kassel ......................................................126 4.3. Skytte’s Defence of Ramist Method ...............................................129 On the Importance of Eloquence and Good Practices .......................129 On Order and Truth in the Arts..........................................................133 Philosophizing Freely ........................................................................136 On Methods of Teaching ...................................................................141 4.4. Conclusions .....................................................................................143 5. What to Learn: Utility and the Mathematical Arts..................................146 5.1. Towards a Renaissance of the Mathematical Arts ..........................146 5.2. Petrus Ramus’s Critique of the Ancients ........................................148 5.3. Mathematical Studies in Marburg and Lemgo ................................155 5.4. Problems from the Circle of Mathematical Arts .............................160 5.5. On the Utility and Nobility of Mechanics .......................................167 The Renaissance of Mechanics..........................................................167 Skytte’s Oration on Mechanics..........................................................171 Teaching