Rafał Szmytka

The Dutch cuisine at the end of 16th century in the work of maestro Antonius Magirus

The first cookbooks left the printing presses in the 15th century, and very soon they became popular amongst the readers of the Old Continent. They helped to spread the knowledge not only about products used in various parts of Europe but also about methods of preparing meals. Their authors gave advice on what kind of virtues a chef should have and with what utensils he should equip his kitchen. This paper considers the Koocboec oft familieren keukenboec in a wider European context. A Dutch cookbook, written under a pseudonym of Antonius Magirus, was published in 1612 in Leuven and until 1668 it was the only cookbook printed in the Low Countries at that time. Although it was published in the South Netherlands, it succeeded also in the North. It is easy to find similarities between the Koocboec and Opera dell’arte del cucinare, the major work of Bartolomeo Scappi, but Magirus adapted his recipes to the local skills and tastes.
 

Development of Typography in the Netherlands in 16th Century on the Example of Antwerp and the Role of Printing during the Dutch Revolt

The Netherlands and especially Antwerp acted a significant role in developing of printing. The Scheldt city, called one of the three typographical capitals of Europe, was in the 16th century famous of its stock exchange, merchants, skilled artists and craftsmen. All of them where converged by guild of Saint Luke in which very strong position took the fraternity of printers. In the second half of 16th century the main role played there Christoffel Plantijn and his De Gulden Passer publishing house.
This article is focusing on the developing of printing in the Netherlands on the example of Antwerp in comparative perspective to other cities in this region and Venice. I’m describing conditions which have had the main infl uence on evolution of printing methods in the metropolis and bringing closer characteristic attributes of Antwerp’s typography as well as figures of main printers and publishers. In the second half of 16th century began the revolt against Spanish reign in the Netherlands, which evolved to one of the longest confl icts of Europe – the Eighty Years War. Fighting factions started to use for the first time in history of the propaganda possibilities created by printing. Books and devotional pictures conceded to political texts, pamphlets, leafl ets and broadsheets. The simplicity of manufacture, quickness of duplication and low market price of these prints caused that the propaganda appeared in the  modern meaning. Because the role of typography during fi rst twenty years of the Dutch Revolt is hard to overestimate, I’m also pointing main streams of use of such propaganda texts, methods of dissemination and censorship.
The fall of Antwerp after one-year siege in 1585 ended a golden age of this metropolis. But the transfer of Weltwirtschaft centre to Amsterdam and later to London didn’t stop Antwerp’s typography. Situated in city publishing houses were still working. Only the variety of publication languages and topics were confi ned to catholic and mostly Spanish and Latin texts.

Tilting at windmills. The Dutch Revolt as an asymmetric conflict from the perspective of environmental history

Although the Eighty Years’ War has been a much-researched topic in Western European historiography, in Poland it still remains on the margin of interest of modern historians. In the present article, the initial stage of the Dutch Revolt against Spain, until the year 1574, was presented as an asymmetric conflict from the perspective of environmental history. As a result of the defeat of William of Orange’s regular army during the campaign of 1568, the main burden of the fighting was borne by the ‘watergeuzen,’ i.e. the captains and crews of frequently pirate ships equipped with letters of marque. Their actions kept the fire of revolt burning, and the capture of the port of Den Briel offered a sign for starting a new march into Brabant. The development of the events in the Netherlands and the military situation were influenced by climatic changes. The Little Ice Age left its mark on both the reasons for and particular events of the uprising. Cold winters or floods accompanying storms and thaws often determined the fate of cities and of the whole conflict.