Panegyric for a Prince

Belgium: Panegyric for a Prince -Erasmus’ Joyous Entry into Political Culture

by Maarten Vermeir, Free University of Brussels

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, painted by Hans Holbein	Philip the Fair, painted by the Master of the Magdalena Legend

Desiderius Erasmus, Opera Omnia Des. Erasmi Roterodami, Tomus IV-1, O. Herding and F. Schalk, edd.., North-Holland Publishing Company, 1974, Amsterdam, p. 64.
You are reading a fragment of Erasmus’ Panegyricus, one of the earliest political writings of this great European thinker. This work was first printed in February 1504 by Dirk Martens in Antwerp as a revised version of the oration spoken out in the ducal palace of Brussels on the feast of the Epiphany, one month before. Erasmus orated there his Panegyricus as part of a welcoming ceremony, offered by the Estates of Brabant to their sovereign: Philip the Fair, Duke of Burgundy and Ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands, including the Duchy of Brabant from 1430. They arranged this ceremony to celebrate Philip’s return to Brussels after a long stay in Spain, home country to his wife Joanna of Castile.

Itidem^1 tu ne postulas quidem a tuis, ut tibi pareatur^2, nisi parueris ipse legibus neque protinus maiestatem lesam^3 existimas, si quis verbo refragetur^4, quin gaudes magis admoneri religionis et iurisiurandi^5, quo temet in suscipiendo principatu obstrinxisti^6. Non ignoras quantum oneris cum purpura^7 susceperis, eoque non ista^8 ulla in re te facit licentiorem, sed sollicitiorem in omnibus. Neque te clam est^9 imperium haut vitae strepitu et colligendis vectigalibus contineri, sed munus esse publicum sic administrandum, ut si non aliis, certe tibi ipsi repetenti, certe deo repetundarum acturo^10 queas rationem reddere^11; in summa hanc esse propriam principis laudem, ut maximum esse sese quasi^12 nesciat, optimum vero esse oportere semper meminerit.

1. itidem: in the same way; 2. parere + dative: to obey; 3. maiestas laesa: lèse majesté; 4. refragari: to resist; 5. religionis et iusiurandi: this is an instance of a so-called genitivus criminis; 6. se obstringere: to bind oneself; 7. purpura, -ae f.: the purple, i.e. high dignity or office; 8. ista: refers to ‘purpura’; 9. te clam est + inf.: it is unknown to you; 10. repetundarum agere: to demand satisfaction; 11. rationem reddere:to render account; 12. quasi: almost

In 1502 Erasmus moved to Louvain, which like Brussels, Antwerp and ‘s-Hertogenbosch was a major city in the Duchy of Brabant (now part of Belgium, except for the Dutch province of Northern Brabant), intending to study there at the only University in the Low Countries at that time. But he found himself among educated men who were also very familiar with political life in Brabant and the Netherlands. His host in Louvain, Jean Desmarez or Paludanus, was a former courtier and now public orator at the University. This man commissioned Erasmus to compose a Latin oration for Philip, resulting in the Panegyricus that Erasmus eventually delivered on January 6 1504 in presence of the Estates of Brabant. These Estates assembled deputies of the Clergy, the Nobility and the four ‘Capitals’, to speak for the people of the Duchy and discuss with their prince or sovereign: the Duke of Brabant. Also for the Duke these discussions were not completely free of obligations. The Dukes of Brabant were, from a legal perspective, bound by their solemn oath on their ‘Joyous Entry’: the Brabantine constitution named so for the first time in 1356. A ‘Joyous Entry’ was written, sealed and affirmed by oath at the beginning of every new regency. With their solemn oath all Dukes of Brabant recognized their princely duty to serve the common interest and the right of the people to replace a duke who has neglected this commitment. The trendsetting constitutionalism of Brabant was often in conflict with political reality. The ‘Joyous Entries’ were the result of a permanent struggle of the ‘the people’, represented by the Estates of Brabant.

To this oath and duty, Erasmus referred in addressing Philip: ‘You do not think it lèse-majesté if someone questions you in word. Rather, you rejoice to be reminded of your obligation and of the oath by which you bound yourself in accepting your principate (as Duke of Brabant).’ But Erasmus’ politically experienced entourage found his Panegyricus too flattering. In their opinion he had praised the prince more than was necessary: ‘Accompanied by a splendid procession of court nobles, you stood out by so far as the day-star outshines the other lights of heaven, ...’ Erasmus explained his aim was not to flatter the prince but to admonish him, under the appearance of flattery. The criticism of his friends in Brabant however affected our Christian humanist and influenced probably the appreciation of his own work.
In a letter to his English friend John Colet, he admitted: ‘I was so reluctant to compose the Panegyricus that I do not remember ever doing anything more unwillingly, for I saw that this kind of thing could not be handled without some flattery.’ To Paludanus he wrote ten months before, in February 1504: ’At the same time I have a considerable respect for the two remaining classes of my attackers; they consist of those who naively and foolishly describe all this enthusiasm of mine for celebrating the prince as flattery, and those who have a smattering of letters and seem to find some things objectionable, or rather perhaps a few things missing, in a work which is virtually unfinished as yet. Of these two criticisms the first has hurt me rather keenly because it seeks to cast an aspersion on my character; the other has less effect, because it assails only my intelligence and does not stain my reputation as well. Consequently I have to appease the latter critics as best I can, while the former must be answered more sharply.’
Eleven years later, Erasmus didn’t waste the perfect chance to do so. After the sudden death of Philip the Fair in 1506 and a period of tutelage, his 15-year old son, the later Emperor Charles V, came into power as Ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands in 1515. On this occasion, Erasmus wrote a less flattering mirror of princes, his famous and widely spread political work Institutio Principis Christiani. This ‘Education of a Christian Prince’ had to serve as a manual for the young Prince Charles and was commissioned by the former chancellor of Brabant, Jean Le Sauvage, who ordered Erasmus also to write a third major political work Querela Pacis or ‘the Complaint of Peace’. The first edition of the Institutio Principis Christiani was published in May 1516 by Froben in Basel, a second one three months later by his old friend Dirk Martens, who now had moved to Louvain. Erasmus used a revised version, assimilated to the Institutio, of his older Panegyricus as introduction to his new book. So the Prince of Humanists could now finally legitimise his first political work. It seemed to be the indispensable stepping stone towards new heights of political theory. In fragments of his Institutio Principis Christiani, like the following, you can read a panegyric, not for a prince but for a political culture he became very familiar with, and for friends who paid honour to him with their honesty and their true criticism.
Desiderius Erasmus, Opera Omnia Des. Erasmi Roterodami, Tomus IV-1, O. Herding and F. Schalk, edd.., North-Holland Publishing Company, 1974, Amsterdam, p. 136.

In nauigatione non ei committitur clauus^1, qui natalibus^2 aut opibus aut forma caeteris antecellit, sed qui peritia gubernandi, qui vigilantia^3, qui fide superat. Ita regnum ei potissimum est committendum, qui regiis dotibus anteit reliquos, nempe sapientia iusticia animi moderatione prouidentia studio commodi publici^4. Imagines aurum gemmae nihilo plus habent momenti ad ciuitatis administrationem quam eadem nauclero conductura^5 sint ad nauim gubernandam. Quod unum oportet spectare principem in administrando, id unum oportet spectare populum in principe deligendo, nimirum^6 publicam commoditatem procul ablegatis^7 priuatis affectibus.

1. clavus, i m.: helm; 2. natales, -ium m.: birth, origin, lineage; 3. vigilantia, -ae f.: being alert; 4. studium commodi publici: concern for the public well-being; 5. conducere, -o: to be important to; 6. nimirum adv.: surely, truly; 7. ablegare: to remove

Picture of the town hall of Brussels, build in the 15th century	Painting of the ducal palace of Brussels, destroyed by fire in 1731

Questions and Tasks:

1. 
   Which four cities were the capitals of Brabant?
   

2. 
   Why is the ‘Joyous Entry’ called the ‘Joyous Entry’?
   

3. 
   Where in Brussels can you find rests of the old ducal Palace?
   

(search on internet: via Google ‘Palace of Brussels + Charles V’)

4. 
   What was the name of this Palace?
   

(search on internet)

5. 
   Did Erasmus think he had flattered Philip too much?
   

6. 
   Who were the parents of prince Charles, the later emperor Charles V?
   

7. 
   What was the nick-name of Joanna of Castile?
   

(search on internet)

8. 
   In which European Countries can you find provinces named after the old Duchy of Brabant? (search in text and on internet)
   

9. 
   What is the difference in territory between the Low Countries (or the Netherlands) at the beginning of the 16th century and the Netherlands nowadays?
   

Sources

Secondary Literature

James D. Tracy, The Politics of Erasmus: a Pacifist Intellectual and His Political Milieu, University of Toronto Press, 1978, Toronto Buffalo London, p. 17-22

James D. Tracy, Erasmus: the Growth of a Mind, Librairie Droz, 1972, Genève, p. 88-89
Primary Sources

• 
  Latin edition fragments Panegyricus and Institutio Principis Christiani
  
• 
  Desiderius Erasmus, Opera Omnia Des. Erasmi Roterodami, Tomus IV-1, O. Herding and F. Schalk, edd.., North-Holland Publishing Company, 1974, Amsterdam, p. 64 and 136
  

Translation fragments Panegyricus and Institutio Principis Christiani

• 
  Desiderius Erasmus, collected works of Erasmus, vol. 27, University of Toronto Press, 1974-1988, Toronto Buffalo London, p. 44 and 206
  

Latin edition Letters

• 
  Desiderius Erasmus, Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, in Percy S. Allen, Helen M. Allen and Heathcote W. Garrod, edd. ., 1906-1958, Oxford, to (Jean Desmarais) Iohannes Paludanus vol. I, nr. 180, p. 399, l. 29-38  ; to John Colet vol I, nr. 181 p. 405, l. 54-56.   
  

Translation letters

• 
  Desiderius Erasmus, collected works of Erasmus, vol. 2, University of Toronto Press, 1974-1988, Toronto Buffalo London, p. 80, 81 and 87
  

I want to thank the Latin and History Filiations of the ‘Vrije Universiteit Brussel’, specially professors Hugo Soly, Rudolf De Smet and Christian Laes. Their expertise on Erasmus and the History of Northern Renaissance opened a wide horizon of intellectual and personal wisdom to me. I will benefit from their challenging education for the rest of my life.