At the crossroads of nationalism: Huizinga, Pirenne and the Low Countries in Europe1

  1. An earlier version (in Dutch) of this article appeared in the Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis.

Abstract

Johan Huizinga and Henri Pirenne belong to the most prominent historians of the twentieth century. The fame of the former is most of all based on Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen (1919), a fascinating study of the Burgundian culture; the latter is widely considered as the innovator of the economic and urban history of the Middle Ages. But both historians were equally highly preoccupied by the question as to which position their countries – the Netherlands in the case of Huizinga, Belgium in the case of Pirenne – should take up in Europe and what were the responsibilities of these engagements in an international community. This preoccupation is the subject of this essay. It tells the story of diplomats from small countries, of disappointment through war and of national pride, a story also in which positions changed repeatedly.

Keywords:

• nationalism
• historiography
• the Netherlands
• Belgium
• Johan Huizinga
• Henri Pirenne

Notes

  1. An earlier version (in Dutch) of this article appeared in the Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis.

  2. For biographical details: Lyon, Henri Pirenne: A Biographical and Intellectual Study and Van der Lem, Johan Huizinga. Leven en werk in beelden en documenten (for critical comments on both biographies: Blockmans, “Mandarijnenhulde en wetenschapsgeschiedenis,” 27–38 and Tollebeek, “Het ethisch teveel. Kanttekeningen bij twee recente Huizinga-beelden,” 27–37). Excellent overviews are given by Ebels-Hoving, “Henri Pirenne (1862–1935)” and Krul, “Johan Huizinga (1872–1945),” 26–40 and 94–109; Kossmann, “J. Huizinga (1872–1945),” 225–51 and Boone, “Henri Pirenne (1862–1935): godfather van de Gentse historische school?,” 3–19.

  3. Van der Lem, “Johan Huizinga (1872–1945). Voorbeeld zonder school,” 104–30.

  4. Huizinga, Verzamelde werken (Haarlem, 1948–1953), 9 vols [henceforth VW] and idem, Briefwisseling, ed. Hanssen, Krul and Van der Lem (Utrecht and Antwerp, 1989–1991). 3 vols [henceforth BW].

  5. This is demonstrated inter alia by Van Caenegem, “Henri Pirenne. Naar aanleiding van de honderdste verjaardag van zijn benoeming te Gent,” 85–105, but also – more literally – by the use of the wrong photo in Pomian, “L'heure des Annales. La terre – les hommes – le monde,” in Nora, ed., Les lieux de mémoire, vol. 2/1, 406, no. 64. However, much of Pirenne's work has now been assembled in the Digithèque Henri Pirenne, which is being created by the libraries of the Université libre de Bruxelles: see http://digitheque.ulb.ac.be/fr/digitheque-henri-pirenne/index.html

  6. BW, vol. 1, 93–4, 99–100, 105 and 202. Cf. Huizinga, “Henri Pirenne (Verviers 22 December 1862 – Ukkel 24 October 1935),” in VW, vol. 6, 501. For Huizinga's ‘workshop’: Leiden, University Library (Special Collections), Huizinga Archive [henceforth LUB], 122.

  7. , “De l'enseignement de l”histoire en Allemagne,” 88–100 and A Godefroid Kurth à l’occasion du 25e anniversaire de son cours pratique d'histoire. See Gérin, “La condition de l'historien et l'histoire nationale en Belgique à la fin du 19e et au début du 20e siècle,” 64–103 and Tollebeek, “De machinerie van de geschiedenis. De uitbouw van een historische infrastructuur in Nederland en België,” in idem, De ijkmeesters. Opstellen over de geschiedschrijving in Nederland en België, 17–35.

  8. , L'origine et les développements des cours pratiques d'histoire dans l'enseignement supérieur en Belgique and idem, L'enseignement supérieur de l'histoire. Notes et impressions de voyage. Allemagne – Ecosse – Angleterre – Hollande – Belgique. For the relationship between Fredericq and Pirenne, who were not ‘kindred spirits’: Van Werveke, Paul Fredericq in de spiegel van zijn dagboek, 49–55 and 81–82; Coppens, Paul Fredericq, 167–77 and Tollebeek, Fredericq & Zonen. Een antropologie van de moderne geschiedwetenschap, passim (see also Pirenne, “Notice sur Paul Fredericq,” in Annuaire de l'Académie Royale de Belgique [1924]: 311–72).

  9. Pirenne's most important studies of urban history were collected posthumously in Pirenne, Les villes et les institutions urbaines, 2 vols; Pirenne himself published a synthesis under the title Les villes du Moyen Age. Essai d'histoire économique et sociale. See Van Uytven, “Les origines des villes dans les anciens Pays-Bas (jusque vers 1300)” and Prevenier, “Henri Pirenne et les villes des anciens Pays-Bas au bas moyen âge (XIVe–XVe siècles),” 13–26 and 27–50, and Verhulst, “L'historiographie concernant l'origine des villes dans les anciens Pays–Bas depuis la mort de Henri Pirenne (1935),” 107–16.

 10. Inter alia Huizinga, “De opkomst van Haarlem,” in VW, vol. 1, 208–9 and BW, vol. 1, 214. On Huizinga as an urban historian: J. Kossmann-Putto, “Huizinga als mediaevist in Groningen” in the collection of essays on Groningen medievalists edited by Santing, De geschiedenis van de Middeleeuwen aan de Groningse Universiteit 1614–1939.

 11. Pirenne, La nation belge.

 12. In a postwar lecture he would explicitly deny any responsibility for the popularity of this concept: Pirenne, Le pangermanisme et la Belgique, 19, n. 1. See Stengers, “La Belgique, un accident d'histoire?,” 19–20.

 13. Cf. De Schryver, “Vlaams bewustzijn en interpretatie van het Belgische verleden. Vragen rond wederzijdse beïnvloeding,” 87–90.

 14. Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, vol. 1, viii–ix.

 15. Stecher, Flamands et Wallons. See Vercauteren, Cent ans d'histoire nationale en Belgique, vol. 1, 186–7 (where other ‘forerunners’ are also discussed at 142–4 and 150–3) and Prevenier, “Pirenne à Gand,” 33–4 and 44.

 16. For an overview of these older histories: Tollebeek, “Enthousiasme en evidentie. De negentiende-eeuwse Belgisch-nationale geschiedschrijving,” 57–74 (with further bibliography) and Peeters, Het labyrint van het verleden. Natie, vrijheid en geweld in de Belgische geschiedschrijvinig 1787–1850.

 17. Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, vol. 1, viii and xi; the term ‘microcosme’ also appears in idem, La nation belge, 2–3.

 18. Lamprecht, Deutsche Geschichte, vol. 3, 190. For the relationship between Lamprecht and Pirenne: Lyon, ed., “The letters of Henri Pirenne to Karl Lamprecht (1894–1915),” 161–231 and Sproemberg, “Pirenne und die deutsche Geschichtswissenschaft,” 407–26.

 19. Inter alia , “Onze gouden eeuw “sociaal-psychisch” bekeken,” in VW, vol. 2, 404–11 and idem, “Review of K. Lamprecht, Einführung in das historische Denken (1912)”, in VW, vol. 7, 233–4. For Huizinga's own ideas on the theory of history: Tollebeek, De toga van Fruin. Denken over geschiedenis in Nederland sinds 1860, 197–257 and Krul, “Huizinga's definitie van de geschiedenis,” 241–339. See also Oestreich, “Huizinga, Lamprecht und die deutsche Geschichtsphilosophie: Huizingas Groninger Antrittsvorselung von 1905,” 1–28 and – more generally – Dorsman, “Periodisering als integrale benadering. Nederlandse historici in het fin de siècle,” 277–96.

 20. A view of Pirenne's years of foreign study is given in Rion, ed., “La correspondence entre G. Kurth et H. Pirenne (1880–1913),” 147–255. The choice of the auxiliary disciplines and the motives behind that choice are dealt with at considerable length by Dhondt, “Henri Pirenne: historien des institutions urbaines,” 53–119, a demythologising article originally dating from 1966 (see the response of Lyon, “A reply to Jan Dhondt's critique of Henri Pirenne,” 3–25).

 21. Ebels-Hoving, “Pirenne,” 33.

 22. Pirenne, “Une polémique historique en Allemagne,” 50–7 (for the essay on urban history, see the collection referred to in note 9).

 23. Lyon, Pirenne, 205, n. 10.

 24. Erdmann, Die Oekumene der Historiker. Geschichte der Internationalen Historikerkongresse und des Comité International des Sciences Historiques, 71 and 92–3.

 25. Quoted in Lyon and Lyon, “Maurice Prou, ami de Henri Pirenne,” 99.

 26. See Uyttebrouck, “Henri Pirenne et les ducs de Bourgogne,” 87–111. Cf. also Prevenier and Blockmans, De Bourgondische Nederlanden, 207–10.

 27. Carlier, “Contribution à l'étude de l'unification bourguignonne dans l'historiographie nationale belge de 1830 à 1914,” 1–24.

 28. Pirenne, “The formation and constitution of the Burgundian state (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries),” 477–502. A German version appeared in the Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft, 33 (1909), 895–925; the French original was only published in 1986 (in La fortune historiographique, 155–82).

 29. Krul, Historicus tegen de tijd. Opstellen over leven en werk van J. Huizinga, 152–3 and 243; the lectures notes in LUB, 27.

 30. “Verslag van de vergadering der leden van het Historisch Genootschap, gehouden op Zaterdag 1 april 1911 in het gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen te Utrecht,” in lxxiv–xci. Cf. Bos et al., Oud Fonds. Systematisch overzicht van alle uitgaven, mededelingen en bijdragen verschenen in publicaties van het Historisch Genootschap, 1845–1969, nos 11 and 1092. See also BW, vol. 1, 202–3.

 31. Huizinga, “Uit de voorgeschiedenis van ons nationaal besef,” in VW, vol. 2, 97–160. See , “Une génération d'historiens devant le phénomène bourguignon,” 73–90 (also in Jongkees, Burgundica et varia. Keuze uit de verspreide opstellen, 131–49; cf. idem, “Johan Huizinga 1872–1945,” 307–9).

 32. Inter alia , “Een geschiedenis van België” and “Een Nederlandsche geschiedenis van België.”

 33. Quoted in Dorsman, G.W. Kernkamp. Historicus en democraat 1864–1943, 61.

 34. , “Un grand historien belge. M. Henri Pirenne,” 116–20 (esp. 118–19) and – for the essay of 1907 – idem, “Hedendaagse geschiedschrijvers,” in idem, Historie en leven, vol. 3, 186–213 (esp. 209–10 and 213).

 35. Articles by H.Th. Colenbrander (La Gazette de Hollande), S. Muller Fzn. (De Amsterdammer), H. Obreen (Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant), H. Brugmans (Propria Cures) and G.W. Kernkamp (Vragen des Tijds), all reprinted in Manifestation Pirenne, 116–20, 120–7, 148–52, 161–5 and 192–216. Kernkamp's article also appeared in his Van menschen en tijden, vol. 1: Studiën over geschiedschrijvers 206–40 (cf. also the fragment in Henri Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs (Brussels 1938), vol. 1, 78–80).

 36. Huizinga wrote: “He who forges a new and living picture from history of the growth of a nation enriches and strengthens the life of the nation itself. Belgium has reason to pay tribute to Pirenne in circles wider than those of scholars alone.” (Manifestation Pirenne, 78). From the Dutch side, the jubilee issue of L'Appel also contained contributions from C.H.Th. Bussemaker, Gb. Brom, H. Brugmans, H.Th. Colenbrander, H. Obreen, P.J. Blok and R. Fruin (ibid., 66, 69, 72–3, 81, 88 and 90–1).

 37. BW, vol. 1, 120 and Manifestation Pirenne, 3–7 and 101. Incidentally, seats on the honorary committee were also occupied by P.J. Blok, Gb. Brom, H. Brugmans, H.Th. Colenbrander, R. Fruin, G.W. Kernkamp, S. Muller Fzn. and O.A. Oppermann – in other words anyone who counted for anything in the Dutch historical world.

 38. Manifestation Pirenne, 46–8.

 39. Manifestation Pirenne, 32–3.

 40. See Pirenne, Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 2, 612 and 614. Both wrote a contribution to the commemorative volume compiled by Pirenne's former students in 1937 (Obreen, “De oorsprong der Middelburgsche abdij. Een kerkhistorisch onderzoek” and Unger, “Aanteekening over den tol van Iersekeroord,” 217–27 and 351–6). For biographical details: Zilverberg, art, “Obreen, Henri Guillaume Arnaud” and Kluiver, art. “Unger, Willem Sybrand,” vol. 2, 1985, 409–10 and vol. 3, 1989, 604–6 and recently van den Oord, W.S. Unger (1889–1963). Een eigengereid economisch historicus (’s-Gravenhage 1996) (on his relationship with Pirenne: 17–21).

 41. Manifestation Pirenne, 51–58 (quotation: 56–7). For the Fondation Pirenne: ibid., 217–30 (with Huizinga as a subscriber, 222). He would explicitly take back these optimistic words about his life in 1917: La destinée s'est vengée. (See Lyon, Pirenne, 195, n. 95 and 265).

 42. See BW, vol. 1, 162. For the celebration of the tricentenary: Academia Groningana 29 Juni–1 Juli 1914. Verslag van de herdenking van het derde eeuwfeest der Universiteit te Groningen uitgegeven in opdracht van den Academischen Senaat.

 43. Lyon, ed., “The letters of Pirenne to Lamprecht,” 228.

 44. , “Geschiedenis der Universiteit gedurende de derde eeuw van haar bestaan,” in Academia Groningana MDCXVI–MCMXIV. Gedenkboek ter gelegenheid van het derde eeuwfeest der Universiteit te Groningen uitgegeven in opdracht van den Academischen Senaat (Groningen 1914) 1–238 (VW, vol. 8, 36–339) and idem, “Over de geschiedenis der Universiteit te Groningen,” in VW, vol. 8, 340–50.

 45. BW, vol. 1, 164. An outstanding general overview of Belgium in the First World War is offered by de Schaepdrijver, De Groote Oorlog. Het koninkrijk België tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog. A narrower focus on the events in Ghent is provided by Vanacker, Het activistisch avontuur.

 46. Lyon, Pirenne, 108–11 and 197 (cf. 142, the letter to Prou).

 47. See Schwabe, Wissenschaft und Kriegsmoral. Die deutschen Hochschullehrer und die politischen Grundfragen des Ersten Weltkrieges and, specifically on the historians, Klein, “Die deutschen Historiker im ersten Weltkrieg,” 227–47.

 48. Blok, “Duitschland en Nederland,” 418–37. For Blok and Lamprecht: Blaas, “De prikkelbaarheid van een kleine natie met een groot verleden: Fruins en Bloks nationale geschiedschrijving,” 286–7.

 49. Vom Brocke, “‘Wissenschaft und Militarismus.’ Der Aufruf der 93 ‘An die Kulturwelt!’ und der Zusammenbruch der internationalen Gelehrtenrepublik im Ersten Weltkrieg,” 649–719.

 50. Van Werveke, “Karl Lamprecht et Henri Pirenne,” 39–60 (for the quotation: 58) and Chickering, Karl Lamprecht: A German Academic Life (1856–1915), 433–41. Cf. also Lyon, ed., “The letters of Pirenne to Lamprecht,” 230–1 and Sproemberg, “Pirenne und die deutsche Geschichtswissenschaft,” 427–38.

 51. See Pirenne, “Souvenirs de captivité en Allemagne (Mars 1916–Novembre 1918),” 539–60 and 829–58, also issued separately (Brussels 1920), and Lyon and Lyon, eds, The Journal de guerre of Henri Pirenne. See also Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 1, 111–14.

 52. Kataloog van de tentoonstelling Henri Pirenne , 15–16. On the Histoire de l'Europe: Violante, La fine della ‘grande illusione.’ Uno storico europeo tra guerra e dopoguerra, Henri Pirenne (1914–1923). Per una rilettura della ‘Histoire de l'Europe’.

 53. , Flamenpolitiek en aktivisme. Vlaanderen tegenover België in de Eerste Wereldoorlog, 162–63. See also idem, “Het activisme na 70 jaar,” 5–30.

 54. Brugmans, “Prof. Henri Pirenne,” 2; Colenbrander, “Fredericq en Pirenne,” 206–9 (originally published in De Gids, April 1916) and Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 1, 112–13 and 123. Muller's significance for the deported Pirenne has been testified to by J. Cuvelier among others (“Souvenirs,” in ibid., vol. 1, 62–3).

 55. In the edition of Huizinga's correspondence, the first letter from the war years dates from 11 March 1917 (BW, vol. 1, 200–1, apart from vol. 1, 164); however, in his war diary Pirenne mentions as early as 5 April 1916 that he has received a letter from Huizinga (Journal de guerre, 54). For the relationship between Huizinga and Pirenne during these years, see also M. Boone, “Henri Pirenne. Pinda-kaas, vakidiotie en ‘belgitude’: een Belgische held?,” 291–9.

 56. On this latter: BW, vol. 1, 223. Colenbrander was appointed professor of colonial history in Leiden in 1918.

 57. On Huizinga and Jolles: Krul, “Huizinga in zijn brieven. Beeld en zelfbeeld,” 193–211.

 58. BW, vol. 1, 205, 207, 208, 209–10, 214, 220, 223 and 233, and , “Mensch en menigte in Amerika. Vier essays over moderne beschavingsgeschiedenis,” in VW, vol. 5, 249–417. On Huizinga and America (including his American trip of 1926 and his second book on America, “Amerika levend en denkend. Losse opmerkingen,” in VW, vol. 5, 418–89): idem, Amerika dagboek 14 april–19 juni 1926, ed. A. van der Lem; Kammen, “‘This, here and soon.’ Johan Huizinga's esquisse of American culture,” 252–81 (also in Schulte Nordholt and Swieringa, eds, A Bilateral Bicentennial: A History of Dutch–American Relations, 1782–1982, 199–226) and Krul, Historicus tegen de tijd, 177–207 (also in Van Berkel, ed., Amerika in Europese ogen. Facetten van de Europese beeldvorming van het moderne Amerika, 86–108).

 59. BW, vol. 1, 208. Cf. the polemic article from 1923, Huizinga, “Noodwendig vertoog,” in VW, vol. 2, 22–34. On Oppermann as ‘a niggler over documents’: Hugenholtz, ““Bella diplomatica Brandtiana und kein Ende.” C.D.J. Brandt en de mediaevistiek,” 1–20 and Van Bavel, “Een verbeten jacht op de valse oorkonden. De diplomatieke studiën van Oppermann en zijn school,” 245–51.

 60. Pirenne's lifelong friendship with Oppermann is apparent from Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 2, 462.

 61. BW, vol. 1, 200, 214, 233–4 and 271, and Lyon, Pirenne, 269–70. See the detailed treatment in Tollebeek, “Middeleeuwen en Renaissance. Over de aantrekkingskracht van het moderne,” 41–54 (cf. idem, “De Middeleeuwen dromen. Huizinga, Herfsttij en de esthetiek van de geschiedenis,” 184–93) and Boone, “L'Automne du Moyen Age: Johan Huizinga et Henri Pirenne ou “plusieurs vérités pour la même chose”,” 27–51. Cf. also Krul, “Johan Huizinga und das Problem der Renaissance,” 7–15.

 62. Lyon, Pirenne, 211–12. These activists also included former students of his, such as Leo Picard.

 63. Pirenne, Le pangermanisme, 25–34 and idem, Histoire de Belgique, vol. 5, IX–XI (XI: Les résultats de l'érudition se trouvaient confirmés par le sentiment national. Ce que la recherche patiente avait découvert dans le passé, le présent en démontrait la justesse.)

 64. The dedication read: A mon fils / Pierre PIRENNE / volontaire de guerre / caporal au Ier régiment des grenadiers / né à Gand le 19 janvier 1895 / tombé glorieusement aux bords de l'Yser / devant Oud-Stuyvekenskerke / à l'attaque de la ferme “Den Toren” / le 3 novembre 1914. Cf. also the notice in the Journal de guerre, 15 June 1916.

 65. See Prevenier, “Pirenne à Gand,” 35–40. Cf. also his support for the Ligue national pour l'unité belge (Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 1, 124–127).

 66. Pirenne, Le pangermanisme, 17.

 67. Pirenne, Le pangermanisme, 3–6. His attitude towards England had already changed before the war: his initial antipathy (exemplified by the letter to Prou at the time of the Boer War, quoted in Lyon, Pirenne, 137) had been dispelled through contacts with English historians.

 68. For the denial of the nationalistic character of the Histoire de Belgique: Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 1, 121–2; on Pirenne and the Union Académique Internationale: J. Bidez, “Henri Pirenne à l'Union Académique Internationale,” in ibid., vol. 1, 86–7 (see also vol. 2, 429–30 and 566–70; cf. Erdmann, Oekumene, 99–102).

 69. Pirenne, Le pangermanisme, 14. Cf. Lyon, Pirenne, 217, 219 and 237, n. 10.

 70. Pirenne, “Ce que nous devons désapprendre de l'Allemagne,” 5–21. On the expulsion: Van Werveke, “Lamprecht et Pirenne,” 53–4. See also Schöttler, “Henri Pirennes Kritik an der deutschen Geschichtswissenschaft und seine Neubegründung des Komparatismus im ersten Weltkrieg,” 53–81 and other articles by the same author.

 71. On Pirenne and the Annales: Lyon, “Henri Pirenne and the origins of Annales history,” 69–84 and Reyntjens, “Henri Pirenne en de ‘Annales d'Histoire économique et sociale’,” 43–61. On the discussions about the Vierteljahrschrift and German involvement: Lyon and Lyon, eds, The Birth of Annales History: The Letters of Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch to Henri Pirenne (1921–1935), XVII–XVIII, 4, 5, 7, 12, 29–30, 36–7, 40, 66–7, 75, 78, 79–80 and 101.

 72. Des Marez and Ganshof, Compte rendu du Ve Congrès International des Sciences Historiques, Bruxelles 1923; M. Lhéritier, “Henri Pirenne et le Comité International des Sciences Historiques,” in Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 1, 88–89; Koht, The Origin and Beginnings of the International Committee of Historical Sciences and Erdmann, Oekumene, 97–162. At this same Brussels congress, Bloch and Febvre proposed their ‘Projet de création d'une Revue internationale économique’; they too faced criticism for their policy of exclusion, according to Fink, Marc Bloch: A Life in History, 131, mainly from the Dutch side (cf. Erdmann, Oekumene, 132). Pirenne became vice-president of the Comité International des Sciences Historiques.

 73. Van Dillen, “Het vijfde internationaal historisch congres,” 303–4. Cf. Erdmann, Oekumene, 114–15, 462 and 470. From the Dutch side a proposal was also made in 1923 to hold the next congress in Amsterdam.

 74. Bos, “Kind van vele ouders. Ruim een eeuw Repertorium van (boeken en) tijdschriftartikelen betreffende de geschiedenis van Nederland,” 184 and Dorsman and Jonker, Anderhalve eeuw geschiedenis. (Nederlands) Historisch Genootschap 1845–1995, 80. Huizinga was in America at the time.

 75. BW, vol. 1, 102 and 418.

 76. See Dorsman, Kernkamp, 191. Cf. Huizinga: BW, vol. 1, 235–6, 238 and 245.

 77. On Brugmans: Schuursma, Het onaannemelijk tractaat. Het verdrag met België van 3 april 1925 in de Nederlandse publieke opinie, 99; on Muller: Lyon, Pirenne, 312–15.

 78. Huizinga, “Pirenne,” in VW, vol. 6, 506. For Huizinga's lecture: idem, “Grotius' plaats in de geschiedenis van den menschelijken geest,” in VW, vol. 2, 382–9 (see also BW, vol. 2, 62–3).

 79. BW, vol. 1, 164, 214, 248 and 271.

 80. For the request to the Leiden University Fund (1916): BW, vol. 1, 182–3; on the address to the American students: Hanssen, “Versteende bloemen en vervloeiende grenzen. Huizinga en de cultuurkritiek,” 709.

 81. Inter alia Van Sas, “De kracht van Nederland: nationaliteit en buitenlands beleid” and Boogman, “Achtergronden, tendenties en tradities van het buitenlands beleid van Nederland (eind zestiende eeuw – 1940),” 9–15 and 16–35.

 82. Van Vollenhoven, De eendracht van het land (on the ‘pure and sovereign goal of global justice’ and the Netherlands as Joan of Arc). On Leiden and international law: Stuyt, “The science of public international law in the first century of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1814–1914.” On De Gids (on whose editorial committee Huizinga had sat since 1915) and Grotius: van der Lem: “‘Onze grijze tempeltjes.’ De historische bijdragen in De Gids tijdens het redacteurschap van Colenbrander en Huizinga,” 447; cf. more generally: Aerts, De letterheren. Liberale cultuur in de negentiende eeuw: het tijdschrift De Gids. For Huizinga's friendship with Van Vollenhoven: De Beaufort, Cornelis van Vollenhoven 1874–1933, 126–34.

 83. Kossmann, “Hollandse middelmaat: De Gids 1837–1987,” 47–59 (esp. 56).

 84. , “De invloed van naburige volkeren op de ontwikkeling der Nederlandsche maatschappij,” and idem, “Nederland en de mogendheden” (reference to Pirenne: 179). See Tollebeek, De toga van Fruin, 88–90. Cf. also Blok's paper at the international historical congress in Rome in 1903 (Blaas, “Prikkelbaarheid,” 292–3). On Blok as a mentor of Huizinga: Krul, “Archiefwetenschap of cultuurgeschiedenis? P.J. Blok en de Groningse leerstoel voor geschiedenis in 1905,” 208–23.

 85. LUB, 103 and 107.

 86. See Krul, Historicus tegen de tijd, 154. On Huizinga and Germany: Hanssen, “Die Reizbarkeit der Nachbarschaft. Huizingas Betrachtungen über das Verhältnis zwischen den Niederlanden und Deutschland,” 65–78. On Colenbrander, see inter alia his “Hedendaagsche geschiedschrijvers,” 213, where the Netherlands is distinguished from Belgium on this point.

 87. Huizinga, “Duitschlands invloed op de Nederlandsche beschaving,” in VW, vol. 2, 304–31 (quotations: 320–21 and 331). He opened a lecture given in the United States in 1926 with the observation that Dutch historians occupied a middle ground between English-speaking historians, who were excessively preoccupied with factual material, and their German colleagues, who worked with general concepts too much (LUB, 113: America and the Romantic Movement, 1).

 88. Van Hees and Puchinger, eds, Briefwisseling Gerretson–Van Eyck, 96–7 and 201–2. On Gerretson's crusade, see inter alia: Henssen, Gerretson en Indië, passim.

 89. In January 1932 he spoke in Cologne, Marburg and Munster, in January 1933 in Berlin.

 90. See Huizinga, “In memoriam W. de Sitter 1872–1934,” in VW, vol. 6, 499–500.

 91. Huizinga, “Die Mittlerstellung der Niederlande zwischen West- und Mitteleuropa,” in VW, vol. 2, 284–303 (on De Sitter: 301–2). The lecture also took a remarkably polemic approach to Pirenne. Huizinga agreed with Pirenne that the Netherlands was predestined for a mediating role of this kind by its geographical position and the particular ethnic composition of its population, but rejected as deterministic – as he had in “Uit de voorgeschiedenis van ons nationaal besef” – the notion that this Mittlerstellung had also inevitably led to the emergence of an independent (Burgundian) state (esp. 290–4).

 92. Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 2, 545–6.

 93. Cf. Krul, Historicus tegen de tijd, 250–1.

 94. LUB, 27: Bourgondische cultuur, 1–2.

 95. Huizinga, Holländische Kultur des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts. Ihre sozialen Grundlagen und nationale Eigenart. In 1930, Huizinga had also given his audience at the Sorbonne an “Aperçu de la civilisation hollandaise au XVIIe siècle.”

 96. Huizinga, “Die Mittlerstellung,” 295–98: die Zeit (…) ihres effektivsten Mittlertums (295).

 97. On this ‘Pirenne thesis’: Havighurst, ed., The Pirenne Thesis: Analysis, Criticism and Revision; Lyon, The Origin of the Middle Ages: Pirenne's Challenge to Gibbon; Hodges and Whitehouse, Mohammed, Charlemagne and the origins of Europe. Archaeology and the Pirenne thesis and Lyon, “Le débat historique sur la fin du monde antique et le début du moyen âge,” 135–45 (in which, 7–134, Mahomet et Charlemagne is also reprinted).

 98. Huizinga, “Koning Eduard IV van Engeland in ballingschap” (VW, vol. 4, 183–94; see LUB, 40). See Des Marez, “La remise des ‘Mélanges Pirenne’,” in Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 2, 369–71. On the depiction of Pirenne (together with E. Lavisse and Fr. Meinecke) as a model: Krul, “Huizinga's definitie,” 281.

 99. Cf. Huizinga, Herinneringen aan mijn vader, 120–1 (with 1926 – the trip to America – as the “year of the rift”).

100. Huizinga, “L'Etat bourguignon. Ses rapports avec la France et les origines d'une nationalité néerlandaise,” in VW, vol. 2, 161–215. This text likewise contained an explicitly possibilistic credo (see e.g. 162 and 167).

101. Huizinga, “Pirenne,” 504 (cf. also Jongkees, “Une génération,” 90).

102. , “[Review of La Fin du Moyen Age],” in VW, vol. 3, 563–7 (esp. 565–6). Cf. idem, “La physionomie morale de Philippe le Bon,” in VW, vol. 2, 220. Pirenne had – naturally – a great predilection for the conditor Belgii expression: see inter alia Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, vol. 2, 159 and idem, “The formation and constitution of the Burgundian state,” 490.

103. BW, vol. 2, 491–2.

104. , Een historische legende. Het Zuid-Nederlandsch Tarief van 21 december 1680, reprinted in idem, Kernproblemen van onze geschiedenis. Opstellen en voordrachten 1925–1936, 135–46. On Geyl's ‘Greater Netherlands’ historiography: Blaas, “De visie van de Grootnederlandse historiografen: aanleiding tot een nieuwe historiografie?,” 197–220; Tollebeek, De toga van Fruin, 324–41 and Wils, “De zogenaamde Grootnederlandse geschiedschrijving,” 384–428. For the attack of 1927: Geyl, “Belgicistische geschiedschrijving,” 56–90. On the damage limitation attempt: Lyon, Pirenne, 422–5 (esp. 423, n. 10); on Pirenne's congratulations: Prevenier, “Pirenne à Gand,” 40–4 (esp. 43, in connection with Van Werveke, “Een geschiedenis van de Nederlandsche Taalgemeenschap,” 5–13 and 134).

105. BW, vol. 3, 49–51 (see also 51–2 and 54). See Tollebeek, De toga van Fruin, 218–19. For an appraisal by Geyl of Huizinga: Van Hees and Puchinger, eds, Briefwisseling Gerreston–Geyl, vol. 1, 136. A double portrait is offered by Kossmann, “Huizinga and Geyl: A portrait of two Dutch historians.”

106. Van Hees and Puchinger, eds, Briefwisseling Gerretson–Geyl, vol. 2, 189, n. 10.

107. BW, vol. 2, 463–4, 465–7 and 469. Huizinga was made president of the Literature section of the Academy in 1929.

108. BW, vol. 2, 414. See the detailed treatment of this in Von der Dunk, “De Prins weergekeerd onder professoren. De Colenbrander-affaire van 1933,” 536–54. It was – again – Geyl who had let the cate out of the bag, along with P.N. van Eyck.

109. Otterspeer, Huizinga voor de afgrond. Het incident-Von Leers aan de Leidse universiteit in 1933 (on the words recalling “Die Mittlerstellung”: 15 and 20).

110. Huizinga, “Burgund. Eine Krise des romanisch–germanischen Verhältnisses,” in VW, vol. 2, 238–65 and the editorial “Erklärung,” Historische Zeitschrift 148 (1933): 1–28 and 228.

111. BW, vol. 2, 468–9 (cf. 476–7) and Kienast, “Henri Pirennes ‘Histoire de l'Europe’,” 527–37 (esp. 531–2).

112. For Pirenne: BW, vol. 2, 492: for Bloch and Febvre: Bloch and Febvre, Correspondance, vol. 1: La naissance des Annales 1928–1933, 442 (cf. BW, vol. 2, 484–5). On the reactions of other French scholars: Van der Lem, “‘Ils sont vraiment civilisés’: les correspondants français de Johan Huizinga,” 37–8.

113. On the rift with Jolles: BW, vol. 2, 486 and Huizinga, “Mijn weg tot de historie,” in VW, vol. 1, 30. On Verwey's petition: BW, vol. 2, 441. On the German historical philosophers and historians: Krul, “Huizinga's definitie,” 281–3 and Blaas, “De schuld van Tachtig. Huizinga in zijn briefwisseling,” 525–7.

114. Sproemberg, “Pirenne und die deutsche Geschichtswissenschaft,” 440–6 and The Birth of Annales History, XVIII–XI, 105, 126 and 169. After Pirenne's death, Sproemberg was approached by his widow and his son Jacques with a request to translate the posthumously published Mahomet et Charlemagne (1937). In 1939, a German translation of Pirenne's last work did in fact appear, under the title Geburt des Abendlandes. This was, however, an unauthorised translation which was the work not of Sproemberg, but of the national-socialist Westforschungsgruppe led by Franz Petri. On this, see the website http://www.henripirenne.be which was created on the occasion of the international Pirenne congress on March 27–28, 2009 in Ghent and Brussels, and the associated exhibition.

115. Huizinga, “Pirenne,” 501–507 (originally in Handelingen en Levensberichten van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden, 1934–1935, 179–84). See also Unger, “In memoriam Henri Pirenne,” and the “Levensbericht van Henri Pirenne” by G.W. Kernkamp, originally written for the Jaarboek der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen and the newspaper articles by H. Brugmans and W. Mulder, all reprinted in Pirenne. Hommages et souvenirs, vol. 2, 398–401, 511–13 and 514–17. Huizinga may also have met Pirenne in Brussels in 1934, at the centenary celebration of the Commission Royale d'Histoire, which had been chaired by Pirenne for decades; a reference to this appears in Van der Lem, ed., Een zweven over de tuinen van de geest. Leven en werk van Johan Huizinga. Catalogus van de tentoonstelling gehouden in het Academisch Historisch Museum te Leiden van 18 december1991 t/m 14 februari 1992, 75, no. 331g.

116. Huizinga, “Over vormverandering der geschiedenis,” in VW, vol. 7, 203 and BW, vol. 3, 431.

117. See, from as early as 1930: Huizinga, “C.I.C.I.,” in VW, vol. 7, 607.

118. In 1933 a French translation of “Die Mittlerstellung” was published: , “Du rôle d'intermédiaire joué par les Pays-Bas entre l'Europe occidentale et l'Europe centrale.” Comparable ideas from the Italian publication dating from 1935: idem, “La formazione del tipo culturale olandese,” in VW, vol. 2, 508–23 (521: La posizione dell'Olanda non è soltanto centrale, ma anche mediatrice); also published in a Spanish translation in Revista de Occidente, 13 (1935), 31–57. See the references in VW, vol. 9, 30 and 36.

119. Huizinga, “Nederland's geestesmerk,” in VW, vol. 7, 279–312. Krul, Historicus tegen de tijd, 259 related this to the image of the enclosed Garden of Holland. Cf. Lademacher, “Nederland en Duitsland: een moeizame relatie in Europa,” 673.

120. On Huizinga's cultural critique see inter alia: Bodar, “Huizinga's cultuurkritiek,” 8–35; Lademacher, “Zur Pathologie von Kulturverlust. Johan Huizinga als Kritiker seiner Zeit,” 119–32; Hanssen, “Versteende bloemen,” 699–712; Van Deursen, Huizinga en de geest der eeuw and, in response, Otto, “De kwade wil als motor van de geschiedenis. Verschillen en overeenkomsten in de cultuurkritiek van Da Costa, Huizinga en Van Deursen.”

121. Huizinga, “Denkbeelden en stemmingen van voor honderd jaar,” in VW, vol. 4, 408. See LUB, 76.

122. Idenburg, De Leidse universiteit tegen nationaal–socialisme en bezetting, 14–7.

123. Van der Lem, Huizinga, 269–74. See also Blom, De gijzelaars van Sint Michielsgestel en Haaren. Het dubbele gelaat van hun geschiedenis, 34.

124. Huizinga, “Nederland's beschaving in de zeventiende eeuw. Een schets,” in VW, vol. 2, 412–507, esp. 414–17. Cf. Kossmann, “Postscript,” 232–4 (also in idem, Politieke theorie en geschiedenis. Verspreide opstellen en voordrachten, 404–7). On Nederland's beschaving: Van Deursen, “Cultuurgeschiedenis bij Huizinga en in de oude Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden.” A late echo of Huizinga's idea of the seventeenth-century Republic as a miracle is provided by Davids and Lucassen, A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective.

125. Quoted in Hanssen, “Versteende bloemen,” 703–4.