Nederlantsche antiquiteyten met de bekeeringhe van eenighe der selve landen tot het kersten gheloove, deur S. Willibrordus, Apostel van Hollant, Zeelant, Sticht van Utrecht, Over-ijssel, ende Vrieslant, met oock eenighe deelen van Gelderlant [...]

Full title: Nederlantsche antiquiteyten met de bekeeringhe van eenighe der selve landen tot het kersten gheloove, deur S. Willibrordus, Apostel van Hollant, Zeelant, Sticht van Utrecht, Over-ijssel, ende Vrieslant, met oock eenighe deelen van Gelderlant, Cleve, Gulick, Brabandt ende Vlaenderen.

8vo. pp. (8), 112. Signatures: †4, A-G8. Contemporary vellum, with engraved vignette on title page (of St. Willibrord) and seven engravings (by Verstegan himself, derived from his ‘Restitution’ of 1605 (see Bib# 4926163/Fr# 203.1 in this collection)) in the text.

Extremely rare first edition of Verstegan’s ‘Netherlandish Antiquities,’ an amalgamation of Catholic historiography, hagiography, anti-Protestant polemic, and creative linguistic. The work includes in chapter 4, material reworked from his Anglocentric primary ‘Restitution’, dependent on Annius, discussing the common Germanic descent of the Anglo-Saxons and the Dutch, and offering philological evidence for the common ‘Teutonic’ origin of the English and Dutch languages. In the same chapter, Verstegan presents parallel texts, in Dutch and English, of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and the first chapter of John’s Gospel (p. 38-42). The work then goes on to detail how, having received the Gospel of Christ, the English, and in particular St. Willibrord, the Northumbrian who became the first bishop of Utrecht, proceeded to obtain papal license to share the Good News with their cousins in Germany and the Low Countries. The fifth chapter is largely devoted to the well-attested evidence for the miracles performed through St. Willibrord during his apostolate in the Low Countries and after his death. Finally, Verstegan provided a guide to religious controversy for those Catholics in the Northern Netherlands who were living under Calvinist pressure without the benefit of clerical guidance. The immediate cause of publication for the work was undoubtedly the commencement of the rebuilding of the church of St. Willibrord in Antwerp, destroyed by fire in 1579.

Richard Verstegan was a recusant, bookdealer, historian, translator, journalist. A Catholic who fled Antwerp, Verstegan long served as the head of Spanish secret intelligence in the Netherlands. At the heart of his Counter-reformatorian ‘Nederlantsche antiquiteyten’ is the figure of St. Willibrord, whom Catholics promoted as one of the founders (along with St. Boniface) of the Church in the Netherlands. “Since the tract is written in the vernacular, dedicated to the mayors and aldermen of Antwerp and explicitly addressed to the inhabitants of the Low Countries, it was probably intended for a class of magistrates and merchants who had adequate leisure time and an adequate level of education to appreciate such historical exposés.” (See Coen Maas, “Willibrords wijnfles. Autorisatie en memorisatie van de contrareformatorische boodschap in Richard Verstegens Nederlantsche antiquiteyten (1613),” In: De Zeventiende Eeuw. Cultuur in de Nederlanden in interdisciplinair perspectief, 29 (2013), 2). “After the initial Antwerp edition, three further editions of this book were published in Brussels in 1641, 1646, and 1662, followed by seven 18th-century ‘revised’ editions (toning down the Catholic content but keeping the antiquarian, philological, and historical sections.” (P. Arblaster, Antwerp & the World: R. Verstegan and the International Culture of Catholic Reformation. Leuven, 2004, pp. 98-99.).

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