Czy Erazm z Rotterdamu był Niemcem? : o tożsamości zbiorowej humanistów północnych

Czy Erazm z Rotterdamu był Niemcem? : o tożsamości zbiorowej humanistów północnych

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Czy Erazm z Rotterdamu był Niemcem? : o tożsamości zbiorowej humanistów północnych

Bibliographic description

title:	Czy Erazm z Rotterdamu był Niemcem? : o tożsamości zbiorowej humanistów północnych
alternative title:	Was Erasmus a German? : on the collective Identity of northern humanists
author:	Koryl Jakub
editor:	Niedźwiedź Jakub
book title:	Literatura renesansowa w Polsce i Europie : studia dedykowane Profesorowi Andrzejowi Borowskiemu
date of publication :	2016
place of publication : name of publisher:	Kraków : Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
pages:	201-250
ISBN:	978-83-233-4024-9
eISBN:	978-83-233-9486-0
series:	Terminus. Bibliotheca Classica. Seria 2; nr 6
notes:	Streszcz. po ang. Strona wydawcy: https://www.wuj.pl
language:	Polish
book language:	Polish
abstract in English:	This article aims to describe the development of spatial, religious and political self-consciousness as the key attribute of Northern collective entities raised in the first part of the sixteenth century. Desiderius Erasmus was chosen here as a central figure, since his longtime struggles with establishing his spatial and national status provide both a point of departure, often a trouble spot, as well as a transferable blueprint of how the other Northern intellectuals were establishing their own place within the particular communities. The article consists of introduction where the meaning of an early-modern Germanness is explained, and four chapters that discuss the different facets of a Northern identity in the sixteenth century. First chapter, The Gallo-Germanic Borderland, is focused on the topographical and geographical ambiguities, being an obstacle for establishing one’s own spatial and national status. For according to ancient and early-modern geography, Erasmus’ native Holland had inclined towards both Gaul and Germany. Consequently both collectivities, albeit mostly Germans, were keen to consider Erasmus as their fellow-countryman, or even, when disappointed by his national indecisiveness, a Gallo-German. In the following chapter, entitled Batavian Issue, the question of Batavian origins of Hollanders is taken into consideration – whether county of Holland was a legitimate heir to ancient Batavia, and whether its inhabitants can justly call themselves Batavi. In neither case was Erasmus able to give a clear answer. Third chapter, Erasmus as Batavian Man and Orator, discusses encounters between Erasmus and Diego Stunica and later with Erasmus’ Italian and French adversaries in the debate over the imitation of Cicero. Erasmus was searching through them for an uniquely Northern and thus appropriate, or even valuable form of religious life and language, called philosophia Christi and dictio Batava respectively. In both cases it was a matter of religious, cultural and political revaluation of Northern barbarity, Batavian in particular, deliberately juxtaposed by Erasmus with the Mediterranean model of culture, inappropriate to homo Batavus. In the last chapter, Romana lingua, Lutheranism, and Linguistic Criterion of Germanness, the author indicates understanding of a language as a means of distinguishing national features, and co-establishing self-conscious collective beings. Erasmus’ Latin, as a religiously and politically incriminated or at least dubious tongue, turned out to be insufficient, since it was only Luther’s German (Hochdeutsch) that was capable to overcome the Roman supreme religious and secular authority. The author shows that Latin ceased to be a socially indifferent tongue and as a lingua Romana stood for non-German instrument of domination over the genuine Germans. Closing remarks provide the answer to the question raised in the title of this article. By way of using the categories of collective beings (natio, genus) introduced and carefully described by Erasmus himself, the author argues that Erasmus was indeed a German, but merely by jurisdiction. While according to his birth and origins he was a Hollander. In brief, Erasmus was natione Germanus, genere Hollandus (i.e. Batavus). Despite being a German by jurisdiction, already in the early twenties Erasmus distanced himself from his Upper-German milieu (including former Erasmians). He had no understanding of anti-Roman Germanness advocated by Luther and his German followers who ultimately outlived the previously shared image of Erasmus as Germaniae decus.
keywords in Polish:	Erazm z Rotterdamu, Marcin Luter, tożsamość zbiorowa, geografia, Batawizm, erazmianizm, humanizm i nacjonalizm niemiecki
keywords in English:	Erasmus, Luther, collective identity, geography, Batavism, erasmianism, German humanism and ntionalism
number of pulisher's sheets:	3,3
affiliation:	Wydział Polonistyki : Katedra Historii Literatury Staropolskiej
type:	chapter
subtype:	academic paper