Herfsttij Der Middeleeuwen by Johan Huizinga

1 The Waning of the Middle Ages, as hereafter it is referred to, has been read by great numbers of undergraduates for generations. Huizinga’s Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen: Studie over levens- en gedachtenvormen der veertiende en vijftiende eeuw in Frankrijk en de Nederlanden. The question following Huizinga’s writings have centered on whether or not he is a “real” historian. I refer to the Dutch historian, Johan Huizinga (1872–1945), the recurring subject of robust debate over matters of art and scholarship. Left: Huizinga and a group of students.In the pages that follow, we will explore a celebrated example of one scholar who strove, with ambiguous success, to put aesthetics-the “artistic”-into serious collaboration with scholarship. He became one of the founders of cultural history in the Netherlands. Huizinga's skill and power lay in his ability to clearly depict forms of culture.

This book was translated into many languages and gained him international fame. Huizinga was held prisoner from August to October 1942, for warning against the Nazi ideology and the effect on the freedom of historical writing.ĭuring his tenure in Leiden, Huizinga completed his most famous work Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen (The Autumn of the Middle Ages) in 1919. Huizinga remained at his post as a Professor until the German Occupation closed Leiden University in 1941. He also was editor of the monthly cultural magazine De Gids, chairman of the Advising Commission for the various State Museums.

In 1905 he became Professor of General and Dutch History in the University of Groningen and in 1915 Professor of General History and Political Geography at Leiden University. From 1987 till 1905 he was a teacher in Haarlem and Amsterdam. He received his doctor's degree in 1897 in Groningen, for his thesis on the 'Vidûsaka' (the Fool) in Indian theatre. He studied Dutch and Eastern languages at the University of Groningen from 1891 until 1895 and linguistics at Leipzig from 1885 till 1896. Johan Huizinga was born in 1872 in Groningen.

Herfsttij Der Middeleeuwen by Johan Huizinga