Holland's Influence on English Language and Literature

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Chapter XXII Hadrianus Junius, 1511-1575

‘Next to Erasmus, the most learned man in Europe,’ that is what the well known philologist, Lipsius of Leyden, said about Hadrianus Junius. Another, viz., Lucas Fruterius, called him ‘aeterni felix successor Erasmi’ (the happy successor of the immortal Erasmus), and several others made a comparison between Junius and the great scholar of Rotterdam. And, indeed, there is some reason for comparing these two great humanists of European fame. They had in common (1) the same devotion to the revival of Greek and Roman literature, (2) the same attitude towards the religious movement of their time in keeping themselves outside of the terrible struggle, and (3) the same international life and international significance in their work.

We know that Erasmus spent about seven years in England. Junius as well - strangely enough - lived about seven years in England, and dedicated some of his works successively to King Edward VI, Queen ‘Bloody Mary’ and Queen Elizabeth. Was Erasmus invited to England by one of his pupils, the young Lord Mountjoy, Junius was invited to Britain by Bonerus, the Bishop of London. To Erasmus were offered lucrative positions by several European sovereigns and Prelates; Junius was tutor to the son of King Frederic II of Denmark; the University of Rostock offered him a professorship, and the King of Poland, as well as the King of Hungary, offered him lucrative positions. Erasmus published numerous

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works to foster the revival of classic literature; Junius' list of publications, among which we find a great number of Greek and Latin authors, amounts to the number of forty-two. A young man of twenty-five years at the time when Erasmus died, the fame of this great compatriot must have been a stimulus for Junius to follow in his steps. And although Junius studied philosophy and medicine at the university, and later, in order to make a living, always practiced as a physician, yet he devoted the greater part of his life to the study of languages and literature; all his books are on philological subjects; and his European fame is that of a philologist. It often happens in history that a man, after the short years of his life in the University gets his degree in one branch of knowledge, and later produces his best works in another branch. The great philologist, Franciscus Junius, the father of comparative philology (not a relative of Hadrianus Junius), took his degree in theology, and in our own time the Rev. W.W. Skeat, although a clergyman, gave us the great etymological dictionary of the English language. For the real scholar it means little how he is labelled at the end of his short college life. What distinguished Erasmus from Junius was (1) that none of the writings of Junius, because of the special character of his work, became as popular as the Praise of Folly and the Colloquies, (2) that in Erasmus we find a decidedly Christian humanism, while in Junius the humanist stands so much in the foreground that the Christian nearly disappears altogether.

Hadrianus Junius, whose original Dutch name was Adriaen de Jongh, was born in the year 1511 at Hoorn, one of the old cities on the Zuyder Sea, studied at the Latin school at Haarlem, and later at the Uni-

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versity of Louvain. At Louvain he studied philosophy and medicine, and after two years he went to Germany and later to Italy, where in the year 1540, at Bologna, he got the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Medicine. From Italy he went to Paris to take the courses of some famous professors in medicine.

About the year 1543 - the exact date is unknown - the Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, invited him to cross the Channel and to live in England. Soon afterwards Junius became the family physician of the Duke of Norfolk at Kenninghall, near Norwich, and at the same time the tutor of the Duke's son. In 1547, however, his protector fell into disgrace with King Henry VIII, and was beheaded, and Junius lost not only his office but also the property, including books and manuscripts, which he had with him. After this disaster, he became the physician of a noble lady, and we know that at that time he was much esteemed both as a physician and as a scholar, for he received several calls. To the new King, Edward VI (1557-1553), he dedicated his Lexicon Graeco-Latinum, and this lexicon was one of Junius' most important works, which made his name immortal in the field of lexicography. He added more than six thousand words to the best Greek dictionary existing at that time. What that meant for the study and the fostering of Greek literature everybody can easily understand. But now his heart was longing for his native country, and after an abode of more than six years in England, he went back to Holland, probably in the year 1550. Four years later we find him again in England, under the reign of Bloody Mary (1553-1558), and after this queen married Philip II of Spain, Junius wrote a poem entitled ‘Philippeis sive Epithalamium in

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Philippi et Mariae nuptias, which was printed at London in 1554, and dedicated to Queen Mary and Philip. Several years later in the year 1568, Junius was in England for the third time, now dedicating one of his works, entitled Eunapius Sardianus, printed at Antwerp, to Queen Elizabeth (1550-1603).

The rest of his life Junius spent in the Netherlands, first as physician and as rector of the Latin school at Haarlem, later as historiographer of the States of Holland. In this capacity he wrote his ‘Batavia,’ or a history of Holland and its cities. In this book he gives his well-known narrative of the invention of book printing by Koster at Haarlem, a narrative which since that time has been one of the arguments in favor of Koster and against Gutenberg of Maintz as the inventor of printing.

During the siege of Haarlem in 1573, Junius was present, but he fled in time to Delft to assist Prince William, the Silent, as physician. Nearly all his books and manuscripts, however, were destroyed by the Spaniards after the surrender of Haarlem.

The next year, 1574, after the conquest of Middelburg by the sea-beggars of the Prince, Junius, on the recommendation of the Prince, was made physician of that city, but the next year, 1575, he died, and was buried in the great church, where a monument indicates the place of his grave.

A biography of Junius was written by P. Scheltema - ‘Diatribe in Hadriani Junii vitam, ingenium, familiam, merita literaria. Amsterdam, 1836. One of the best articles on Junius is that of A.G. Hoffman in Ersch und Gruber. A list of the works of Junius is given in the Dutch Biographical Dictionary of Van der Aa, containing not less than forty-two titles, all written in Latin. A great number of his

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works are editions and commentaries of Greek and Latin authors, among whom we find Seneca, Homer, Juvenalis, Horatius, Virgilius, Martialis, Plautus and Plinius. Very few of his works, except the ‘Batavia’ and the ‘Emblemata,’ were translated into Dutch. The Emblems were translated also into French. One of his most important works in the field of Lexicography was his ‘Nomenclator omnium rerum propria nomina variis linguis explicata indicans.’ Antwerp, 1567. This work was often reprinted, and in 1585, in London, was published an English edition, with the title ‘The Nomenclator or Remembrancer of Adrianus Junius, Physician, divided in two tomes, containing proper names and apt termes for all things under their convenient titles, which within a few leaves do follow. Written by the said Adr. Jun., in Latine, Greeke, French and other foreign tongues, and now in English by John Higins - with a full supplie of all such words as the last enlarged edition afforded.’¹

As a poet, he is known for several poems in Latin, brought together long after his death in one volume, as ‘Poematum liber primus,’ in 1598.

Continuing the work of Erasmus, he published ‘Adagiorum ab Erasmo omissorum centuriae octo cum dimidia,’ Basel 1558; reprinted in 1598.

His influence in introducing the riches of Greek and Roman literature into the national literature of several countries, and in fostering the study of Greek and Latin, has been appreciated by the best philologists from his time till the present day. And not the least part of that influence he exerted in England, where during seven years the circles of the higher class at London and at Norwich enjoyed the privilege of his personal acquaintance and conversation.

1 The ‘Nomenclator’ has been reprinted at least in ten editions: in 1557, 1567, 1576, 1596 at Antwerp, in 1590 at Frankfort, in 1606 at Paris, also a French translation in 1606, in 1611 and 1619 at Geneve, in 1671 at Bois le due, in 1585 at London.