Isaak Vossius, sometimes anglicised Isaac Voss (1618 in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...
– 21 February 1689 in
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...
) was a Dutch scholar and
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...
collector.
Life
He was the son of the
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
Gerhard Johann Vossius. Isaak formed what was accounted the best private
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...
in the world (Massil 2003). He had a contemporary reputation for eccentricity, refusing the
sacrament
A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the rea ...
on his deathbed, it was reported, until reminded that to do so would reflect unfavorably on the
canons of
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gart ...
, to which chapter he belonged.
He was raised in the atmosphere of a scholarly household, familiar with
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, ancient geography, and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
from an early age. In 1641, he undertook a European tour, in which he visited England, France and Italy (notably
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
), making the acquaintance of scholars of the elder generation such as
James Ussher
James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his ident ...
and
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright.
A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...
and beginning his lifelong collecting of manuscripts and books before he returned to Amsterdam in 1644 to take up a position as city librarian.
In 1648, he went to Sweden, summoned by
Queen Christina to take up a position as her court librarian, and was accompanied by
Cornelius Tollius as his amanuensis. There he enriched the library that had been founded by
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
, partly as booty of war from the library of
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, with judicious purchases, but incurred the enmity of the French philologist
Claudius Salmasius
Claude Saumaise (15 April 1588 – 3 September 1653), also known by the Latin name Claudius Salmasius, was a French classical scholar.
Life
Salmasius was born at Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy. His father, a counsellor of the parlement of Dijon, se ...
. At the death of his father in 1650, he returned briefly to Amsterdam to oversee the shipping of his father's library to Stockholm. He determined to leave Sweden in 1654, and after Christina abdicated upon her conversion to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, he followed her to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, where he took his leave of her. The impecunious queen paid her former librarian's outstanding back pay in books, among which was the ''
Codex Argenteus''. In 1664 Vossius was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
in London.
After his brilliant, though at times controversial, career of scholarship in Sweden, Vossius went to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
in 1670, received a degree in
civil law from
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, and became residentiary canon at Windsor in 1673, a post he held until 1688, shortly before his death. In the later stage of his life, his interests turned to mathematics and natural history.
After his death, his heirs sold his library of books and manuscripts to the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
. Still today, the 729 ''Codices Vossiani'' are catalogued under shelfmarks identifying his collection:
*VLF, VLQ, VLO – Latin folio, quarto and octo
*VGF, VGQ, VGO – Greek folio, quarto and octo
*VMI – miscellenae (mixed Latin and Greek)
*VGG F, VGG Q – Germano-Gallico (Germanic and Romance languages) folio and quarto
*VCF, VCQ, VCO – medical, pharmaceutical and alchemical manuscripts, folio, quarto and octo.
Works
He was the author of ''De septuaginta interpretibus'' (1661), ''De poematum cantu et viribus rhythmi'' (1673), and ''Variarum observationum liber'' (1685).
*
*
*
See also
*
Coenraad van Beuningen
Coenraad van Beuningen (1622 – 26 October 1693) was the Dutch Republic's most experienced diplomat, burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1669, 1672, 1680, 1681, 1683 and 1684, and from 1681 a Dutch East India Company director. He probably was bipolar ...
Notes
References
*
''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature''(1907–21). Volume VII. xiii Scholars and Scholarship, 1600–60: § 2. Close relations between English and continental scholars.Brief sketch of Vossius' intellectual milieu.
Steven Massil, 2003. "Immigrant librarians in Britain: Huguenots and Some Others"(pdf file)
*
Further reading
* F.F. Blok: ''Isaac Vossius and his circle, His life until his farewell to Queen Christina of Sweden, 1618-1655''. Groningen, Forsten, 2000.
*P.R. Sellin, 2004. "Isaac Vossius and his Circle: His Life until his Farewell to Queen Christina of Sweden, 1618–1655" in ''English Historical Review'', 119, June 2004, pp. 720–722.
*Jan Willem De Crane, ''Oratio de De Vossiorum Juniorumque Familia'' (Francker, 1821)
*
J. E. Sandys
Sir John Edwin Sandys ( "Sands"; 19 May 1844 – 6 July 1922) was an English classical scholar.
Life
Born in Leicester, England on 19 May 1844, Sandys was the 4th son of Rev. Timothy Sandys (1803–1871) and Rebecca Swain (1800–1853). Livi ...
, ''A History of Classical Scholarship'', volume ii (Cambridge, 1908)
External links
''Castigationes ad scriptum Georgii Hornii de ætate mundi''(1659) - full digital facsimile from
Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
The Correspondence of Isaac Vossiusi
EMLO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vossius, Isaac
1618 births
1689 deaths
People from Leiden
17th-century Latin-language writers
Dutch classical scholars
Dutch librarians
Dutch music theorists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Canons of Windsor