This thesis asks: what was the intellectual attitude towards nature in late Renaissance Europe? To this end, it finds that De Boodt’s illustrated albums throw fresh light on an old question. It is...Show moreThis thesis asks: what was the intellectual attitude towards nature in late Renaissance Europe? To this end, it finds that De Boodt’s illustrated albums throw fresh light on an old question. It is the intention of this study to explore the relation between developments in empirical and emblematic approaches to natural history, especially in visual representations, through the examination of the work of an individual who was involved in all three. The works of Anselmus de Boodt demonstrate that he drew on a variety of approaches to the study of the world and is therefore representative of the late Renaissance intellectual ideal of the polyhistor. The polyhistor as an ideal derived from the desire to achieve a holistic understanding of the world by taking into account its physical as well as symbolic attributes. The study of these attributes is seen retrospectively as the object of empirical and emblematic methodologies respectively, methodologies that are understood as being in conflict. Nonetheless, they are united in the work of De Boodt, as asserted by this study, on the grounds that vision was the point of convergence and departure for both.Show less
In the present Javanese society, the sacred flower Widjojo Koesoemo is considered to be a myth with no reference on the once-existed court tradition to obtain the flower for Javanese king. In this...Show moreIn the present Javanese society, the sacred flower Widjojo Koesoemo is considered to be a myth with no reference on the once-existed court tradition to obtain the flower for Javanese king. In this research, I demonstrate the role of Widjojo Koesoemo flower and the ritual mission to obtain the flower in the court of Surakarta during the Dutch colonial period. Based on Javanese manuscripts, the mission to obtain Widjojo Koesoemo flower was an important tradition and could be traced back from Javanese mythology as early as 12th century. In the 19th century, both the flower and the mission were needed to build the legitimacy of the king of Surakarta. After coronation, a new king of the court of Surakarta would send a mission to obtain Widjojo Koesoemo. Due to the spiritual matters of this mission, Juru suranata, the court ritual leader, and kyai, the court’s religious leader from Masjid Agung of Surakarta were the key members of this mission. Certain challenges to the flower and the mission appeared when the Dutch scientists in the 19th century tried to demystify the sacred foundation of this flower by looking for it and then classified it into Linnaean taxonomy. I argue that the “silent” rejection of the Dutch finding by the court of Surakarta and continual missions to obtain the flower from 1830 - 1939 are evidenced of Javanese cultural persistence. From this tradition, the king’s rightful cultural authority over the entire kingdom of Surakarta remained unchanged even in the period of its political subjugation to the Dutch colonial government.Show less
The thesis examines the attempt of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to establish a trading post on the mainland of China from 1660 to 1690. It tries to explain the reasons why the Dutch suspended...Show moreThe thesis examines the attempt of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to establish a trading post on the mainland of China from 1660 to 1690. It tries to explain the reasons why the Dutch suspended their direct trade in 1690 to rely on foreign shipping, mainly carried out by Chinese junks. It considers political, economical and cultural impacts as well as the Dutch and Chinese/Manchu mentalities.Show less
This thesis studies a seventeenth-century Dutch travel account titled Vervarelyke schip-breuk van‘T Oost-Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling written by Frans Jansz. van der Heiden. The book was first...Show moreThis thesis studies a seventeenth-century Dutch travel account titled Vervarelyke schip-breuk van‘T Oost-Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling written by Frans Jansz. van der Heiden. The book was first published in 1675 and had numerous editions between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Van der Heiden was a Dutch East India Company sailor made his journey to India in 1661. His journey was an unlucky one: within few days of his departture from Batavia, the former principle trading settlement of the Dutch east India Company, their ship Ter Schelling encountered a terrible hurricane and subsequently the author and his shipmates got shipwrecked on the coast of Bay of Bengal. After endured so many plights they managed to reach an island of Bengal. But Van der Heiden and his shipmate’s bad luck did not end there. In the course of the journey they had to join the Mughal army as conscripted soldiers and served the army for fifteen months. However, this fateful journey enabled Van der Heiden to visit some parts of eastern and north eastern India that is, Bengal, Assam and it’s neighbouring regions. During his journey he experienced the local culture, religion and society. He also made a close observation of the Mughal army and warfare. Upon his return home Van der Heiden published his book based on his travel experience. The book was written in a popular style of the period which offers sensational description of his journey and practical and real information of the areas he visited. The book has so far been largely neglected by scholars. Some scholars discard the importance of the book terming it as fictitious and unreal. They argue that the book does not provide real, interiesing and new information on Asia. The thesis demonstrates that apart from its sensational description,Vervarelyke schip-breuk van‘T Oost-Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling provides real, important and new information on Asia, particularly India, which can be used by the historians writing on these regions. The thesis shows that the book provides information on the Mughal army and Mughal warfare which very few European and even Asian sources could supply. Apart from army and warfare the book gives valuable information on the rural economy and life of ‘subaltern’ people of these regions which may offer a new perspective in studying the early modern history of India.Show less
