UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) An eloquent enigma: the dramas of Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus à Marca (c. 1580 - c. 1628) and their contexts Gruijters, R.J. Publication date 2010 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Gruijters, R. J. (2010). An eloquent enigma: the dramas of Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus à Marca (c. 1580 - c. 1628) and their contexts. Eigen Beheer. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:24 Sep 2021 AN ELOQUENT ENIGMA AN ELOQUENT ENIGMA THE DRAMAS OF JACOBUS CORNELIUS LUMMENAEUS À MARCA (c. 1580 - c. 1628) AND THEIR CONTEXTS ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 2 december 2010, te 10:00 uur door Ron Johannes Gruijters geboren te Mierlo Promotiecommissie Promotor: prof. dr. J. Bloemendal Overige Leden: prof. dr. K.A.E. Enenkel prof. dr. M.B. Pranger prof. dr. D. Sacré dr. J. Jansen dr. J. Koopmans Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen © R.J. Gruijters, 2010 v Acknowledgments The research for this PhD thesis has been conducted as part of the project ‘Latin and Vernacular Cultures, Theatre and Public Opinion in The Netherlands, ca. 1510-1625’, supported by a Vidi-grant of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and hosted by the Huygens Institute (The Hague) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the University of Amsterdam. I would like to thank these three institutions, as well as the Institute of Culture and History of the University of Amsterdam for providing the support and infrastructure necessary for keeping up a steady work pace. During the three years that I have worked on Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus à Marca and his Latin tragedies, I have become indebted to many people who, in one way or another, have contributed to this thesis. Some have provided useful suggestions by means of stimulating debate or have generously shared texts and resources which would otherwise have been difficult to procure. Others have contributed immensely by just being there. Their support is beyond words. First and foremost my sincere thanks are due to Prof. Jan Bloemendal, the initiator of the project and supervisor of this thesis. Together with Juliette Groenland and Verena Demoed, we have spent many pleasant hours discussing the enigmatic world of neo-Latin drama. I would also like to thank Michiel Verweij of the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels, who provided me with invaluable advice and assistance, not only while I was conducting research at the manuscript department, but also afterwards. I am grateful to Heidrun Führer of Lund University, whose enthusiasm and expertise I greatly appreciate. A particular word of thanks goes to both Lia van Gemert of the University of Amsterdam and Hubert Meeus of the University of Antwerp for sharing their extensive collections of texts. Most of all, however, I am indebted to Frans Steyaert, who, as a PhD candidate of the University of Louvain in the 1970s, had built up an extensive archive related to Lummenaeus à Marca. I have profited in particular from his numerous copies of manuscripts from the Vatican Libraries, which were closed during the period of my research. If it were not for Frans’ magnanimity in unselfishly providing me with his archive, it would have been impossible to gain access to crucial information in many of these documents. vi During the past few years, I have had the pleasure to meet many young researchers. This was made possible first and foremost by the Huizinga Institute, the Research Institute and Graduate School of Cultural History. I cherish the friendships with some of the most intelligent and friendliest people I have ever met, most notably the Amici Gandavenses: Arjen, Lieke, Matthijs, Nina, and Tim. Similarly, the leesclub – tirelessly headed by Katell Lavéant and Arjan van Dixhoorn – made for many pleasant discussions and good ideas. My co-inhabitants – Arabists, Grecians, and what not – of room 3.37 of the PC Hooft building in Amsterdam were always there to supply good company, and coffee. A final word of thanks goes to my family, especially my parents, who have always supported me during my studies. Geria, I have always tried to leave Lummenaeus at the office – but he came home with me more than once. Thank you for being so patient. To my grandfather, who taught me my first Latin, I dedicate this work in grateful and loving memory. Non scholae sed vitae. vii Contents Acknowledgments v List of abbreviations viii Introduction Religion and rhetoric 1 PART ONE Chapter 1 ‘Lumen Belgarum’: a biography 13 PART TWO Chapter 2 ‘Est et minoribus smaragdis sua gratia’: Lummenaeus’ dramatic principles 89 Chapter 3 ‘Dux ignaro catus in populo’: Topicality and Carcer Babylonius (1610) 137 Chapter 4 ‘Commendatissima Deo Virginalis pudicitia’: Iephte (1608/9) in context 171 Conclusion The enigma exposed? 207 Appendices I: Concise bibliography of J.C. Lummenaeus à Marca 221 II: Synopsis of the tragedies by J.C. Lummenaeus à Marca 226 III: Necrologium and eulogium of Ludovicus à Marca SJ (1662) 239 IV: Letter from Erycius Puteanus to Columbanus Vrancx (April 30, 1612) 244 V: Elegy by Carolus à Marca (1570) 246 VI: Letter from Antonius Sanderus to Lummenaeus (April 30, 1620; copy) 248 Works cited 251 Nederlandse samenvatting 273 viii List of abbreviations Ambrosiana Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, Milan ANSI Jesuit Archive the Netherlands, Nijmegen BNFr National Library of France, Paris Fondo Borghese Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, fondo Borghese KBBr Royal Library Brussels RABr State Archives Brussels RAG (S.P.) State Archives Ghent (Fonds St. Pieters) SAG Municipal Archives Ghent Vat.Barb.Lat. Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, fondo Barberiniana Latina INTRODUCTION RELIGION AND RHETORIC Flanders, early seventeenth century. The Catholic attempt to suppress Protestant fervor had resulted in a full-frontal Counter-Reformation, led by the religious politics of the Archdukes Albert and Isabelle. Those who did not embrace the Catholic offensive, had for the most part fled, or were at least keeping a low-profile. Those who shared the Archdukes’ enthusiasm, among them many gifted literates of the day, actively joined the offensive. Religious essays, political pamphlets and educational treatises served in the ranks alongside philosophical theses, poetry and drama. Perhaps especially drama: was there a better way to reach and teach the ordinary people? Thus, a play on the religious disobedience of the Jews in ancient Jerusalem mirrored the sinful rebellion of the Northern Protestants – and, of course, their subsequent punishment. A play on that fatal vow of Jephthah, who sacrificed his only child to God, illustrated the Calvinists’ errant fanaticism. How could it not? Such, at least, has been James Parente’s interpretational point of departure in the 1980s. 1 The contextual interpretation of a number of exceptional Neolatin tragedies by the Ghent Benedictine monk Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus à Marca (c. 1580 - c. 1628) he considered to be something that could be easily passed up on in such general terms, in order to move on quickly to any further questions that might arise with regard to these plays. Without any substantiation, thematic aspects were linked to specific contextual circumstances: thus, Parente also states that Lummenaeus’ play on the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus served to raise funds for the author’s impoverished Benedictine abbey in Ghent. And the scholar could easily have extended his interpretational efforts, had he wished to do so. He might as well have recalled the fervent Catholic persecution of witches up to 1615:2 surely, Lummenaeus’ Saul, which staged a necromancer and a ghostly apparition, might have been directed against such perilous heresies. It is clear why such an approach can be tempting. The major Biblical themes deployed by Lummenaeus could indeed easily be used to press home one’s argument on polemically charged subjects. Yet these very same Biblical themes were not only used to serve the Catholic cause: Protestants in fact employed the very same Jewish parallel to illustrate their own 1 Parente, ‘The Paganization of Biblical Tragedy’. 2 Cloet, ‘De gevolgen van de scheiding der Nederlanden’, 73. 2 position as God’s chosen people; the very same Jephthah-theme to highlight the military successes of the Northern Provinces, or to criticize the Catholic position on vows, celibacy in particular.3 But this wide-ranging diversity in interpretational possibilities in itself already suggests that any claim on the topical use of such themes requires thorough substantiation. Parente, however, dispensed with such an analysis, since he essentially needed these contextual parameters as one of the solid foundations for his discussion on Lummenaeus’ supposed paganization of Biblical tragedy. He first of all needed Cornelius’ drama to be essentially counter-Protestant, which could highlight even more the unwished-for side-effect of paganization that Parente claimed to have discovered.4 But whatever the necessity, the critical scholar is not released from his obligation to at least provide a basic substantiation to his claims.