Historiography

   During the early Middle Ages, several kinds of historical works were written in the countries that only subsequently constituted the Low Countries and the Dutch Republic, for exam ple, the chronicles of Alpertus Mettensis, Melis Stoke, Emo and Menko, and Johannes de Beka. In the later Middle Ages and the 16th century, the types of historical writing as well as their numbers rap idly multiplied, including local, regional, and even world chronicles. During the Revolt, many comprehensive histories were written from a Spanish or a Dutch perspective, for instance, those by the Italian Jesuit Famiano Strada (1572–1649), the Italian cardinal Guido Ben tivoglio (1579–1644), Pieter Christiaensz Bor (1559–1635), Emanuel van Meteren, Ever(h)ard van Reyd (1550–1602), and Pieter Cornelisz Hooft.

   Historiography gradually became more objective and “scientific” beginning in the mid-18th century with large-scale works such as Dutch History by Jan Wagenaar, History of Dutch Government un til 1795 by Prof. Adriaan Kluit (1736–1807), and Dutch History by poet Willem Bilderdijk. The systematic publication of series of his torical sources was initiated by the 19th-century historians Guil laume Groen van Prinsterer and Reinier Bakhuizen van den Brink. One of the most prominent historians of that century was Robert Fruin, who was appointed in 1860 to the newly created chair of Dutch history at Leiden University. During the 20th century, historiography was quickly professional ized and specialized; some of the better-known Dutch historians are Johan Huizinga, PieterGeyl, Jan Romein, Ludovicus Jacobus Rogier (1894–1947), Ernst Kossmann, and Bernard Slicher van Bath.