The Banishment of Beverland: Sex, Sin, and Scholarship in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic

Description

In 1679 Hadriaan Beverland (1650-1716) was banished from the province of Holland. Why was this humanist scholar exiled from one of the most tolerant parts of Europe in the seventeenth century? To answer this question, this book places Beverland’s writings on sex, sin, and scholarship in their historical context for the first time. Beverland argued that sexual lust was the original sin and highlighted the importance of sex in human nature, ancient history, and his own society. His audacious works hit a raw nerve: Dutch theologians accused him of atheism, he was abandoned by his humanist colleagues, and he was banished by the University of Leiden. By positioning Beverland’s extraordinary scholarship in the context of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic, this book examines how his radical studies challenged the intellectual, ecclesiastical, and political elite, providing a fresh perspective upon the Dutch Republic in the last decades of its Golden Age. Acknowledgments Tables and Illustrations Abbreviations and Translations Note on Translations Introduction 1. Studies on Beverland 2. The Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic 3. Sin, Scripture, Scholarship, Sex Banishment (1650–1680) 1. Early Life and Student Years 2. First Publications 3. Trial and Banishment Sin 1. The Fall of Adam and Eve 1.1 Before the Fall: the Creation of Humankind 1.2 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 1.3 After the Fall: the Punishment of Lust 2. Ideas on Sex and Sin 2.1 Early Christian Views 2.2 Medieval and Early Modern Ideas 2.3 Beverland in Context 3. Beverland and the Dutch Theologians 3.1 Ignorance and Hypocrisy 3.2 From Criticism to Exile 4 Conclusion Scripture 1. The Bible in the Seventeenth Century 1.1 Biblical Criticism 1.2 Beverland and the Bible 2. Philological Criticism 3. Composition and Conservation 3.1 Moses and Ezra 3.2 The Flaws of the Text 4. A Spinozist? 4.1 The Authority of the Bible 4.2 Beverland and Spinoza 5. Conclusion Scholarship 1. The Humanist 1.1 Social Network 1.2 Humanist Interests 1.3 Neo-Latin Style and Satire 2. Sex and Humanist Scholarship 2.1 Sex in the Classics 2.2 The Expurgation of the Classics 2.3 Beverland’s Contra-Expurgation 2.4 The Frontier of Friendship 3. Conclusion Sex 1. Bars, Brothels, and Obscenities 1.1 In the Service of Girls 1.2 Obscene Collections 2. Enticing Texts and Images 2.1 Sexual Descriptions 2.2 Images 3. Truth and Liberty 3.1 Truth and Hypocrisy 3.2 Sexual Liberty 4. Conclusion Exile (1680–1716) 1. Studies and Services 2. Return to the Dutch Republic 3. A Broken Man Conclusion Bibliography Index