Throughout his reign, Christian IV (1588-1648) distinguished himself as a remarkable patron of the arts and sciences. One of the projects to which he and his chancellor paid most attention was the promotion of an up-to-date account of Danish history in Latin. Considerable resources were spent on the project. As a result no less than two histories of Denmark appeared in the 1630s, the Rerum Danicarum historia by Johannes Pontanus and the Historia Danica by Johannes Meursius. They were to serve as standard works on Danish history for European politicians, diplomats and intellectuals.
Historiography at the Court of Christian IV presents a comparative study of the two histories. The interplay between the authors and the Danish government is a central theme. Important political issues, such as Denmark's relations to Sweden and the quasi-hereditary nature of the Danish monarchy, are shown to be reflected in both works. Their relation to contemporary trends in European historiography is explored, and it is argued that they are surprisingly different, in style as well as in subject matter.
In modern scholarship, the official national historiography has been a neglected area of the cultural programme of Christian IV. In Historiography at the Court of Christian IV, Skovgaard-Petersen demonstrates that these monumental national histories deserve a more prominent place within Danish intellectual history than they have hitherto been given.
Karen Skovgaard-Petersen er seniorforsker på Det Kongelige Bibliotek i København. Hun har bl.a. skrevet A Journey to the Promised Land: Crusading Theology in the Historia de profectione Danorum in Hierosolymam.
Indhold
I. Introduction
The Scope of the Present Book
Editions
II. The Promotion of a New History of Denmark in the Reign of Christian IV
III. The Authors
III. A. Johannes Pontanus
1. Pontanus’s Career before his Appointment as Danish Historiographer
2. Preparations for the 1631 Edition
3. Pontanus's Activities as Danish Historiographer in the 1630s
III. B. Johannes Meursius
1. Meursius in Leiden
2. Meursius in Sorø. The First Volume of his Historia Danica (1630)
3. The Publication of the Second Volume (1638)
4. The Personal Relationship between Meursius and Pontanus
III. C. A Note on Stephanus Johannis Stephanius
IV. Pontanus's and Meursius's Predecessors. Danish Historiography
after the Lutheran Reformation
1. Introduction
2. Johannes Magnus's Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus (1554)
3. Hans Svaning
4. Anders Sørensen Vedel
5. Niels Krag
6. Arild Huitfeldt
7. Jon Jacobsen Venusin
8. Claus Christoffersen Lyschander
9. Poetical History
10. Swedish historiography after Johannes Magnus
V. Opening the books
1. The Title Pages
2. Size
3. The Dedicatory Prefaces
4. Dates
VI. Pontanus's Rerum Danicarum historia
VI. A. The Chorographica Regni Daniæ Descriptio
1. Survey of Content
2. The Antiquarian Tradition
3. Etymology and the Classics
4. Written Sources
5. The Influence of Tacitus's Germania
6. Gothicism Dismissed
VI. B. The Chronological Narrative of Pontanus’s Rerum Danicarum Historia
1. The Introduction
2. Books I-III (The early history, up to c. AD 750 )
2. 1. An Alternative to Saxo
2. 2. The Abbreviation of Saxo's Earliest History
3. Book IV
3. 1. Sources
3. 2. The Reign of Ericus Barn
3. 3. The Origin of the Normans
4. Book V
4.
Pressen skrev
"A doctor in both Latin and History, Skovgaard-Petersen is highly qualified for the double task of scrutinizing the texts and interpreting their role in a perspective of early nation-building. Little attention has been devoted to the work of Pontanus and Meursius, making the book a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of humanism and the use of history in early modern Scandinavia."
- Maria Ågren (Uppsala University, Sweden), CHOICE
"Petersen has diligently and comprehensively laid out the content and significance of these two works, leaving little to criticize. [...] Most appreciated, however, is that she has chosen to publish her book for an Anglo-phone audience."
- Joel F. Satterlee (Arizona State Univ.), The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. XXXIV, no. 4, Winter 2003
"...humanistisk videnskab når den er bedst. Den giver nye indsigter, er reflekterende og stringent komponeret. Både sagligt og formelt er niveauet højt."
- Steffen Heiberg, Politiken
"De to lærde herrer fra 1600-tallet og deres værker beskrives med fin symmetri. Bogen er opbygget, så de skiftevis bliver holdt op mod hinanden som paralleller og som modsætninger, dels spejlet over for samtidens samfund og sat i forhold til de tidligere kongelige historieskrivere. Med imponerende stringens og dygtighed fører Karen Skovgaard-Petersen sin forskningsplan igennem, velskrivende, engageret, så læserne får lyst til at følge med."
- Kristian Hvidt, Berlingske Tidende
"minutiøst artikuleret, velstruktureret og støttet af et massivt, velbrugt fodnoteapparat"
- Massimilliano Vacis, HIST
"It is an important volume of Danish history and readers will find a valuable source for the two histories of Denmark."
- Educational Book Review
"Skovgaard-Petersen, herself both a Latinist and historian of the book, engages in the kind of critical analysis of the substance, vocabulary and style of the two works that will allow historians to appreciate their real significance as part of the self-conscious imagery of the early seventeenth-century Danish monarchy. Her analysis is aptly intended for an international audience, but also breaks genuinely new ground in terms of Danish research focusing on this crucial period."
- Thomas Munck, History. The Journal of the Historical Association
Det er et af værkets mange fortjenester, at det sætter den historiske videnskab under Christian 4. ind i en kontekst, som kunsten også indgår i.
En analyse af neolatinsk historieskrivning hører specialisterne til, og det er derfor kun logisk at bogen er (vel)skrevet på engelsk, så den kan komme den internationale forskerverden til gavn - lidt i samme ånd som de værker, der analyseres af Skovgaard-Petersen. Med denne omhyggelige og solide fremstilling i hånden, vil fremtidens danske historiografer få afgjort lettere ved at indsætte Pontanus og Meursius på en mere retmæssig fremtrædende plads mellem koryfæerne Huitfeldt og Holberg.
Morten Fink-Jensen, Historisk Tidsskrift, bind 107, hæfte 1, 16. juli 2007
Samtlige udgivelser på forlaget med -
Karen Skovgaard-Petersen som forfatter
A Journey to the Promised Land
2002, ISBN 978-87-7289-714-1, hft
Karen Skovgaard-Petersen som redaktør
Olavslegenden og den latinske historieskrivning i 1100-tallets Norge
2000, ISBN 978-87-7289-616-8, hft
Friendship and Poetry
2004, ISBN 978-87-7289-961-9, hft
200 Skatte i Det Kongelige Bibliotek / 200 Treasures in The Royal Library
2004, ISBN 978-87-635-0001-2, cd rom
A Journey to the Promised Land
2006, ISBN 978-87-635-0606-9, e-publikation
Historiography at the Court of Christian IV
2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0614-4, e-publikation
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