Filologie, geschiedenis, archief. R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink en de moderne geschiedwetenschap

The introduction of philological method and its contribution to the creation of modern historiography is associated most commonly with Leopold von Ranke. The 'Dutch Ranke', Robert Fruin, was trained in classical philology, like his German counterpart. But it was Reinier Cornelis Bakhuizen van den Brink (1810-65) who first introduced the methods of critical philology into Dutch historiography. As a young scholar, he used the approaches developed in German classical philology in order to study Dutch seventeenth century literature. In exile, he became a scholar of political history, mainly of the Dutch Revolt. Primary sources were his favoured material; a precise source criticism was his method. This made him a frequent visitor to archives throughout Europe, and after returning to his fatherland he became the archivist that modernized standards of record-keeping in the Dutch archives. Fruin and Bakhuizen seem to have exaggerated the results of their philological method: they produced only brilliant exercises in source criticism, never grand narratives.