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Important history of the Low Countries (1334-1477) from a Catholic point of view

HEUTER, Pontus de.
Rerum Burgundicarum libri sex, in quibus describuntur res gestae Regum, Ducum, Comitumque utriusque Burgundiae; ac in primis Philippi Audacis, Ioannis Intrepidi, Philippi Boni, Imperij Belgici conditoris, Caroli Pugnacis; qui è Valesia Francorum Regum familia apud Burgundos imperarunt. Quorum postremus liber, qui est sextus, continet genealogias familiarum eorum maximè principum de quibus in universo opere sit mentio, docens quoque rationem stemmatum per avita insignia disponendorum.

Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut genealogical tables and initials in text.

Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1584. 2 parts in 1 vol. Folio. Contemporary limp vellum with title in ink and pasted old shelf marks on spine, red speckled edges, rests of ties. Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut genealogical tables and initials in text. (8), 192, (11, 1 blank) pp. [Collation: +4, A-R6].

With:
Book six with seperate title-page and pagination: IDEM. Genealogiae praecipuarum aliquot e Gallia Francica, ac Belgica familiarum, de quibus in praecedenti historia mexime agitur, ac ad eius intelligentiam plurimum conducentes. Liber sextus.
Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1583. Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut genealogical tables and initials in text. (12), 99 (1) pp. [Collation: +6, A-B2, C4, D6, E2, F4, G-H2, I4, K-M2, N4, O6, P2, Q4].

Original edition of the history of the Burgundian Netherlands in five books, from Philip the Bold (1334) to Charles the Bold (1477) (=books 2-5), with an introductory chapter on Burgundy (book 1). This copy is one of variant Bb, as stated by Voet, i.e.:
- on p. (2) the title of the poem 'Carmen in historiam' some 3 mm. lower than the words 'libri sex' on the title-page; on p. (2) the word 'scriptum' is now printed correctly. In variant A it is printed as 'scriptam'; the quire signature of leaf +3 is now printed correctly. In variant A and Ba signature +2 was repeated on this leaf; on leaves +2r-3v the dedication to Philip II is printed. Voet mentions only one copy of this variant in the Jesuit College in Louvain.
A sixth book (announced on the title) - treating the genealogy of a number of important French and Belgian families, on one way or another related to the history of the Low Countries or to the medieval rulers of the Netherlands, and of prominent Dutch families and indigenous rulers -, forms an integral part of the Rerum Burgundicarum libri sex, but is formally presented as a separate edition. The collation of this part in our copy differs from the collation mentioned by Voet (by mistake?). The latter calls for the collation +6, A-O6, P2, Q4, while our copy collates as mentioned above. The pagination, however is right and the same mentioned by Voet.

The Genealogiae has on the title-page the year 1583, the Rerum Burgundicarum 1584. They were in fact both finished in 1583. The Genealogiae was composed and printed from March 16 until July 23 1583. For the Rerum Burgundicarum the indications are less clear. The larger part, if not the complete work, seems to have been composed and printed in September-October 1582. In any case, the complete edition came on the market in July 1583. The most plausible explanation for this discrepancy: because the edition was finished too late to be shipped to the September Frankfurt Fair of 1583, the date of 1584 was put on the title-page of the Rerum Burgundicarum in order to make the work not looking outdated when it appeared on the Frankfurt Fair of Lent 1584. The date of 1583 on the title-page of the Genealogiae can have been preserved to indicate that no references later than that year had been included. Abraham Ortelius was the first to buy a copy of the work, on August 9, 1583.
Pontus de Heuter (Heuterus, De Huyterm, Heviter) was a Dutch priest, humanist and historiographer who was born at Delft on August 23, 1535 and died at Trond on August 5, 1602. He escaped the execution of priest and monks in Gorkum by Calvinists in 1572 and went to Malines. The following years he fulfilled several positions, a.o. priest at Jabbeke (1573-78), canon at Deventer (1587-91) and finally in 1598 priest at Trond, where he died in 1602.

Good copy with contemporary ownership's entry of 'J. van Doernick 1596'.- (Binding soiled; some water staining throughout; margins of first leaves frayed, corner of p. 5 repaired; quire G misbound; quires A-B, E, G, P & Q of book 6 loosening; some marg. wormholes).

Voet 1325 (mentions only one other copy of this variant of the Rerum Burgundicarum in the Jesuit College in Louvain), 1326 (different collation); Belg. Typ. 1448 & 8487-8; Machiels H-195 (same collation of book 6); Adams H-525.

Related Subjects: 16th Century History Low Countries Plantin

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