Visions of Virtue

Both lyrically and visually, Amsterdam born and bred Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert (1522-1590) was a real pioneer. His extensive oeuvre includes the first ethics in a European vernacular, a groundbreaking treatise about the treatment of prisoners, and a unique language guide aimed at both boys and girls. In addition to a great number of prose texts, he also wrote poems, songs, and plays. As a visual artist, Coornhert created hundreds of top-quality engravings, enabling him to also reach an illiterate audience with his ideas about tolerance, freedom of expression, and the importance of correct knowledge for the good life. The anthology Visions of Virtue is the first to bring together a rich selection of Coornhert’s work, largely translated into English for the first time. The texts and engravings in this book offer an insight into one of the first advocates for tolerance and freedom of conscience in Europe. At the same time, they shed a surprising light on pressing contemporary issues such as truth versus lie, democracy versus autocracy, and rational thought versus gut feeling.

Ruben Buys is a philosopher and historian of ideas. He has worked as a Marie Curie fellow at Utrecht University and the University of California, Los Angeles. His PhD thesis was awarded the Praemium Erasmianum Research Prize. He publishes on late medieval and early modern Dutch philosophy.

• Introduction 9

Part I Man and morals

Good by nature 17

• Only the Creator! Letter to a friend, late 1580s 21
• A Conversation Instead of a Foreword. Between Coornhert and His Conscience. Preface to the text On the Ignorance of People, 1585 22
• Making One’s Own Will Die in order to Always Live According to the Will of God. Letter to Dirck van Montfoort (?), somewhere late 1580s 26
• A Strong Weakness. Between a Mother and Her Son. Conversation, probably sometime between 1568 and 1577 27
• Pretend Humility. Dinner talk, sometime between 1568 and 1577 28
• The Origin of Sin, According to Plato. Short philosophical treatise, year unknown (c. 1564?) 30
• Ethics or the Art of Living Well. Moral treatise (fragments), 1586 33
  • Book i, Chapter 5. The difference between inclination and desire 33
  • Book i, Chapter 6. Concupiscence or sexual desire 34
  • Book i, Chapter 7. Love 36
• That We First and Foremost Need Self-Knowledge. Letter to Dirck van Montfoort, 1576 or 1585 41
• Remaining Ignorant is Man’s Only Sin and the Cause of All Error. Moral philosophical treatise (fragments), 1564 42
• A Short Description of Pain and Sorrow. Moral treatise (fragments), 1556 48
• Equanimity at the Loss of a Virtuous Woman. Letter to his younger friend Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel, 1584 55
• In Adversity One Has to Practice Patience and Against Illness One Should Protect the Body. Letter to a friend, 1590 56
• Self-Renunciation and Following Christ. Letter to a friend, year unknown 58
• 14 Letting the Evil in Yourself Die. Moral philosophical dialogue, somewhere between 1568 and 1583 59
• Can Someone Be So Perfect that They Never Sin Again? Letter to a friend, date unknown 64
• Gossip and Tittle-Tattle. Dialogue, between a and b, somewhere between 1568 and 1577 65
• Whether Irritability is an Inherent Trait. Between a Stargazer and a Steward. Dialogue, somewhere between 1568 and 1583 68

Part II Church, faith, and religious freedom

Everything is love, love is everything 75

• The Unconsecrated Wafer at the Mass. Between a Lazy Priest and an Astute Woman. Conversation, somewhere between 1568 and 1577 79
• Staying Away from Church Services. Between an Exile in Xanten and a Conservative Bishop. Correspondence, somewhere between 1568 and 1583 81
• Medicine for the Soul. Between Two Brothers and Representatives of the Different Denominations. Conversation, year unknown (after 1573) 83
• The Unwise Counsellor. Between a Theologian and a Layman. Dialogue, somewhere between 1568 and 1583 96
• Ethics or the Art of Living Well. Moral treatise (fragments), 1586 98
  • Book iv, Chapter 3. True religion 98
  • Book iv, Chapter 4. False religion 101
• Whether Heathens Can Be Saved. Dialogue (fragments), somewhere between 1568 and 1583 103
• About Whether You Can Know the Truth. Treatise (fragments), 1565 110
• Design of an Impartial Church. Letter to a friend (fragments), 1578 112

Part III State, freedom, and living together

Freedom for all citizens 117

• Complaints about the Government. Letter to a friend, year unknown 121
• Death Penalty for a Heretic. Short story/dialogue, somewhere between 1568 and 1577 122
• Should Young Aristocratic Girls Be Put in the Convent? Dialogue, somewhere between 1568 and 1577 124
• Synod on the Freedom of Conscience. Socio-political treatise (fragments), 1582 127
  • First Book 128
  • Second Book 132
• Always Remained Friends. Letter to Nicolaes van der Laen, after 1588 140
• Removing Statues from Church. Between a Roman Catholic and a Reformed Protestant. Conversation, somewhere between 1568 and 1577 141
• Never Again Constraint of Conscience! Letter of dedication for Trial About the Killing of Heretics (fragments), to the magistrate of Leiden, 1590 145
• Trial About Constraint of Conscience and the Killing of Heretics. Socio-political treatise (fragments), 1590 146
• About Freedom of Religion. Letter to Dirk Canter, Utrecht city council, 1590 155
• “Boeventucht,” that is Disciplining Criminals, or the Means to Reduce the Number of Criminal Idlers. Socio-political essay, 1587 157
• The Entrepreneur. The Art of Doing Business and How You Can Deal with Profit and Loss without Becoming Unbalanced. Conversation between Gerry Merchant and Dirck Coornhert (selection), 1580 171

Part IV Language, poetry, theatre, and printmaking

“Constructing the temple of dutch eloquence” 185

• Coornhert as Visual Artist 189
  • Artistic studies and prints 191
  • Biblical scenes 199
  • Old and contemporary history 207
  • Allegorical and moralising prints 217
• Songs & Poems 223
  • Song 23, probably c. 1538/1539 224
  • Song 22, year unknown 225
  • Poem from Ethics, 1586 227
  • Song 18, year unknown 230
  • Song 30, year unknown 232
  • Song 14, year unknown 233
  • The sixth rhyme from Coornhert’s translation of Boethius’ De consolatione
  • philosophiæ, 1585 234
• Theatre 237
  • Comedy about the rich man. Educational theatre (fragments), 1550 237
  • Comedy of Israel. Educational theatre (fragments), 1575 240
• Coornhert as Language Reformer 243
  • De officiis, Which Explains How to Behave in Every Situation. Translation, 1561 243
    • Letter of dedication 245
    • Foreword 246
  • Foreword for Dialogue about Dutch grammar, 1584 248
  • A New abc. Language guide for boys and girls (selection), 1564 251

Literature 254
Index 256
Bibliotheca Dissidentium Neerlandicorum 258