De Frisiorum antiquitate origine : Libri tres

Full title: De Frisiorum antiquitate origine: Libri tres: in quibus non modo eius gentis propriæ, sed & communes Germaniæ totius Antiquitates multæ, hactenus incognitæ, produntur; & obscuri veterum scriptorum loci plurimi illustrantur: Auctore Suffrido Petro Leouardiensi Frisio V. I. C.

8vo. ff. [3] (blank), [15], pp. 335, [1] (blank). Signatures: [dagger]-2[dagger]⁸ A-X⁸. Vellum. Manuscript spines. Ties apparent, tooled boards, red edges. Printer's device on title page. Engraved initials. Printed annotations. Manuscript ownership inscription of “dr. A. Fannenborg” on title page.

Bound with Petri’s De scriptoribus Frisiæ, Decades xvj. & semis: in quibus non modo peculiares frisiae, sed et totius Germaniae communes antiquitates plurimæ indicantur, & veterum Historicorum ac Geographorum loci hactenus non intellecti explicantur: Causæq[ue] redduntur dilucidæ, cur veteres Germani præter meritum ruditatis & imperitiæ à quibusdem in re literaria arguantur. Authore Suffrido Petro Leouardiensi, utriusque I. C. Historico Frisiæ, Canonico ad SS. Apostolos. Cologne, Apud Henricum Falckenburgh, Anno 1293 [i.e. 1593] (see Bib# 4102807/Fr# 279 in this collection).

The quasi-Annian pseud-historical account of the colonization of Friesland by three Indian intellectual mercenaries (Friso and two friends) in the fourth century BC. The work was written by the classiscist Sjoerd Peeters (1527-1597) but was tainted with spuria. Although subsequently defended by Petri’s acolyte Bernhard Furmerius (Annalia Phrisicorum, Franeker and Leeuwarden, 1609-17, see Bib# 4102809/Fr# 281), the tall tales of early Frisian civilization were effectively demolished by Ubbo Emmius, in De origine atque antiquitatibus Frisorum, contra Suffridam Petri & Bernardum Furmerium (Groningen, 1603, see Bib# 4102808/Fr# 280)). See Grafton, Forgers and critics: creativity and duplicity in Western scholarship. London, 1990, pp. 121-123, 149-150; H. M. Adams, Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1501-1600, in Cambridge Libraries. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1967, P856.

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