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Johan Huizinga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johan Huizinga (December 7, 1872 - February 1, 1945), a Dutch historian, was one of the founders of modern cultural history. Born in Groningen, he started out as a student of Comparative linguistics, gaining a good command of Sanskrit. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the role of the jester in Indian drama in 1897. It was not until 1902 that his interest turned towards medieval and Renaissance history. He continued teaching as an Orientalist until he became a Professor of General and Dutch History at Groningen University in 1905. Then, in 1915, he was made Professor of General History at Leiden University, a post he held until 1942. From this point until his death in 1945 he was held in detention by the Nazis. He died in De Steeg in Gelderland, near Arnhem, and lies buried in the graveyard of the Reformed Church at 6 Haarlemmerstraatweg in Oegstgeest.
Huizinga had an aesthetic approach to history, where art and spectacle played an important part. His most famous work is
Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen (1919), translated as The Waning of the Middle Ages (1924) and as The Autumn of the Middle Ages (1996). He here reinterprets the later Middle Ages as a period of pessimism and decadence rather than rebirth."
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This is the original Dutch text, based on the 5th edition of the book. I included hundreds of hyperlinks to translations of the numerous French, German and Latin texts which you'll find in the book. I also modernised the language as far as spelling goes... I did not change the writing style of course (!) but i merely made the text match the newer editions.
I realise most of you will not be able to read this specific book because it is written in Dutch. I wanted this book for myself however, and i thought i might as well share it with this community.
I strongly encourage you to find the English translation though, preferably the 1996 version. I know it's on the internet somewhere, at least the 1924 version is...This is a true Classic.
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