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Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
and one of the founders of modern cultural history.


Life

Born in
Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of
physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...
, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two years after his birth, he started out as a student of
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, ...
, earning his degree in 1895. He then studied
comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their history, historical relatedness. Genetic relat ...
, gaining a good command of
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the role of the jester in
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
n drama in 1897. It was not until 1902 that his interest turned towards
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
and
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
history. He continued teaching as an Orientalist until he became a Professor of General and Dutch History at Groningen University in 1905. In 1915, he was made Professor of General History at Leiden University, a post he held until 1942. In 1916 he became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
. In 1942, he spoke critically of his country's German occupiers, comments that were consistent with his writings about
Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...
in the 1930s. He was held in detention by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
between August and October 1942. Upon his release, he was banned from returning to Leiden. He subsequently lived at the house of his colleague Rudolph Cleveringa in De Steeg in
Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
, near
Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It i ...
, where he died just a few weeks before Nazi rule ended. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Reformed Church at 6 Haarlemmerstraatweg in Oegstgeest.


Works

Huizinga had an aesthetic approach to history, where art and spectacle played an important part. His most famous work is ''
The Autumn of the Middle Ages ''The Autumn of the Middle Ages'', ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'', or ''Autumntide of the Middle Ages'' (published in 1919 as ''Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen'' and translated into English in 1924, German in 1924, and French in 1932), is the best ...
'' (a.k.a. ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'' or ''Autumntide of the Middle Ages'') (1919). Worthy of mentioning are also ''
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...
'' (1924) and '' Homo Ludens'' (1938). In the latter book he discussed the possibility that play is the primary formative element in human culture. Huizinga also published books on American history and Dutch history in the 17th century. Alarmed by the rise of
National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
in Germany, Huizinga wrote several works of cultural criticism. Many similarities can be noted between his analysis and that of contemporary critics such as Ortega y Gasset and
Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best k ...
. Huizinga argued that the spirit of technical and mechanical organisation had replaced spontaneous and organic order in cultural as well as political life. The Huizinga Lecture (Dutch: ''Huizingalezing'') is a prestigious annual lecture in the Netherlands about a subject in the domains of cultural history or philosophy in honour of Johan Huizinga.


Family

Huizinga's son Leonhard Huizinga became a well-known writer in the Netherlands, especially renowned for his series of tongue-in-cheek novels on the Dutch aristocratic twins ("Adriaan en Olivier").


Bibliography

*''Mensch en menigte in America'' (1918), translated by Herbert H. Rowen as ''America; A Dutch historian's vision, from afar and near'' (Part 1) (Harper & Row, 1972) *''Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen'' (1919), translated as ''Herbst des Mittelalters'' by
Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg (1879 – 1958), also known as Tilli, was a German-born writer and translator. She was the seventh child of Johann Georg Mönckeberg, a lawyer and Lord Mayor of Hamburg. After her education at school in Hamburg, she tr ...
(1924), ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'' (1924), as ''
The Autumn of the Middle Ages ''The Autumn of the Middle Ages'', ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'', or ''Autumntide of the Middle Ages'' (published in 1919 as ''Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen'' and translated into English in 1924, German in 1924, and French in 1932), is the best ...
'' (1996) and as ''
Autumntide of the Middle Ages ''The Autumn of the Middle Ages'', ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'', or ''Autumntide of the Middle Ages'' (published in 1919 as ''Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen'' and translated into English in 1924, German in 1924, and French in 1932), is the best ...
'' by Diane Webb (2020) *''Erasmus of Rotterdam'' (1924), translated by Frederik Hopman as ''Erasmus and the Age of Reformation'' (1924) *''Amerika Levend en Denkend'' (1926), translated by Herbert H. Rowen as ''America: A Dutch Historian's Vision, from Afar and Near'' (Part 2) (Harper & Row, 1972) *''Leven en werk van Jan Veth'' (1927) *''Cultuurhistorische verkenningen'' (1929) *''In de schaduwen van morgen'' (1935), translated by his son Jacob Herman Huizinga ''In the Shadow of Tomorrow'' *''De wetenschap der geschiedenis'' (1937) *''Geschonden wereld'' (1946, published posthumously) *''Homo Ludens. Proeve eener bepaling van het spel-element der cultuur'' (1938), translated as '' Homo Ludens, a study of the play element in culture'' (1955) *''Nederland's beschaving in de zeventiende eeuw'' (1941). Translated by
Arnold Pomerans Arnold Julius Pomerans (27 April 1920 – 30 May 2005) was a German-born British translator. Arnold Pomerans was born in Königsberg, Germany on 27 April 1920 to a Jewish family. Because of growing antisemitism in Germany the family left for ...
as ''
Dutch civilisation in the seventeenth century ''Dutch civilisation in the seventeenth century'' (Dutch: ''Nederland's beschaving in de zeventiende eeuw'') is a book published in Dutch by the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga in 1941. It was first translated into English by Arnold Pomerans in 196 ...
'' (1968) *“Patriotism and Nationalism in European History”. In: ''Men and Ideas. History, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance''. Transl. by James S. Holmes and Hans van Marle. New York: Meridian Books, 1959. *''Men and ideas. History, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance. Essays'' (1959). Translations by James S. Holmes and Hans van Marle of parts of Huizinga's Collected Works *''America: A Dutch Historian's Vision, from Afar and Near'' (translated, with introduction and notes, by Herebert H. Rowen) (Harper & Row, 1972).


See also

* Courtly love * C. S. Lewis and his '' The Allegory of Love'' * D. W. Robertson, Jr.


References


Further reading

* Willem Otterspeer: ''Reading Huizinga''. Amsterdam University Press, 2010. * Jo Tollebeek: "At the crossroads of nationalism: Huizinga, Pirenne and the Low Countries in Europe," ''European Review of History'' (2010) 17#2 pp 187–215 * Donald R. Kelley: ''Fortunes of history. Historical inquiry from Herder to Huizinga''. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003. * ''Johan Huizinga 1872-1972. Papers delivered to the Johan Huizinga Conference Groningen 11-15 december 1972''. Ed. by W.R.H. Koops ... t al.The Hague, Nijhoff, 1973. * Sean Farrell Moran "Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages, and the Writing of History," Michigan Academician XLII (2016): 410-22


External links


Johan Huizinga The Waning of the Middle Ages
* * *

at ''The Dictionary of Art Historians''.

* ttps://rkd.nl/en/artists/88436 Portraits of Huizinga in database of Netherlands institute for art history {{DEFAULTSORT:Huizinga, Johan 1872 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Dutch historians 20th-century Dutch philosophers Historians of the Netherlands People from Groningen (city) Leiden University faculty Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of Teylers Tweede Genootschap