Mytho-Poetics at Work: A Study of the Figure of Egmont, the Dutch Revolt and Its Influence in Europe

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English translation: Christopher W. Reid. In 'Mytho-poetics at Work' Rengenier Rittersma offers an account of the posthumous fame of the Count of Egmont (1522-1568), whose public decapitation triggered the Dutch revolt. Drawing from numerous European sources – pamphlets, chronicles, and literature – this monograph tries to unravel why and how the alleged freedom fighter became an icon in European thought. It demonstrates that Egmont unfurled an evocative power over several centuries and cultural regions, as his name could be deliberately instrumentalized by different groups of people in order to corroborate their own confessional and political programs. In addition, this book offers the very first systematic study of the phenomenon of mytho-genesis and provides a conceptual model that can be applied to analogous historical myths. Preface to the German Edition Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1. To Order the Unprecedented: Egmont in Proto-historiography Section 1. Prolegomena Chapter 1. Preliminary Remarks on the Source Corpus Chapter 2. Biographical Information on the Eyewitnesses and Authors Section 2. The Various Layers of the Early Egmont Reception Chapter 3. The Atavistic Layer Chapter 4. The Particularistic Layer Chapter 5. The Theocratic Redemptive-historical Layer Chapter 6. The Religious-confessional Layer Chapter 7. The Person-centered Layer Intermezzo: The Sacred Layer Continuation of the Person-centered Layer Chapter 8. The Anti-Spanish Layer Chapter 9. The Anti-Spanish Layer in the Early Foreign Egmont Reception Concluding Remarks: On Dealing with the Quirks of History Part 2. To Exploit the Anachronism: Egmont in Historiography Chapter 10. Preliminary Remarks on the Source Corpus Chapter 11. A Historiographical Subgenus: Herography Chapter 12. The Struggle for Preponderance: Historiography in the Wake of Sectarian Wrangling Chapter 13. The Target: The Supremacy of Northern Dutch Historiography Chapter 14. In the Wake of Politics: Grotius’ Historiography as “Certification” of the Republic’s Birth Chapter 15. In the Name of the Search for Truth: De Thou’s Historiography as an Irenic Manifesto Chapter 16. Under the Spell of Prudentia: Strada’s and Bentivoglio’s Historiography as a Political Lesson 1. The Baroque: More than a Transitional Stage between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment 2. “Quell’Aiace e questo Ulisse.” Egmont and Orange in Strada and Bentivoglio Chapter 17. In the Spirit of the Enlightenment: Wagenaar’s Historiography as an Empirical Analysis of the Past Concluding Remarks: On Dealing with the History’s Latecomers Part 3. To Eulogise the Unfeigned: Egmont in the European Age of Revolution Section 1. The Dead End: On How the German Baroque Left Behind No Trace of Egmont Section 2. “The Path to Glory:” Egmont’s Finest Hour in the Revolutionary Era Chapter 18. Defining the Problem, Delineating the Theme Chapter 19. The Development of the Chosen One: On Goethe’s Sources for His Egmont Tragedy Chapter 20. The Development of the Chosen One: On Schiller’s Sources for His Egmont Treatment Chapter 21. “Under Similar Constellations:” A Star Over Brussels, Rome, Weimar Chapter 22. Egmont, or: The Excess of Noble Mindedness Chapter 23. Egmont, the Man of Integrity, or: Praise for an Honest and Undisguised Man Chapter 24. Synopsis: The Afterlife of Count Lamoral of Egmont since 1800 Concluding Remarks: Dealing with the Patterns of History Afterword: On the Writhing Carcas and the Homo Amplificator Appendix 1. The Element of Chess in Goethe’s Egmont Appendix 2. Illustrations of the Mycorrhiza Process Appendix 3. Textual Comparison between the Ypres Eyewitness Account and Pieter Christiaenszoon Bor’s Nederlantsche Oorloghen (…) Appendix 4. Schematic Overview of the Transmission of the Egmont Material between the Proto-historiographical and the Historiographical Phases of the Egmont Reception Appendix 5. Summary of the State of Research on Goethe’s Egmont in German Studies Appendix 6. Complete Passages on Egmont’s Noble Mindedness Appendix 7. Extensive Citation from Fugger-Zeitung Published Primary Sources Unpublished Primary Sources: Manuscripts and Pamphlets Secondary Literature Index of Names