Trommius’s travelogue, Early Modern Low Countries 1:1 (2017) 51-70. Learned memories of Erasmus and Scaliger and scholarly identity in the Republic of Letters

On the basis of the autobiography of the orthodox Calvinist minister Abraham Trommius
(1633-1719), this article argues that the Republic of Letters created its own
cultures of memory. The very use of the word ‘Republic’ begs the question whether
there was some kind of early modern ‘state building’ at play within the networks of
learned men and women. Although sentiments of religious and political alliance
cannot be ruled out in the practices of learned memories, the identity arising from
these cultures aimed at stressing learning, friendship and communication. Its acts of
memory were localized instances of learned identity formation across borders, serving
traveling students regardless of their political and confessional affiliations. This article
argues that memories of learning or learned memories present a new logical, although
hitherto ignored, line of research, to complement well-studied political and confessional
memories. Trommius draws particular attention to Erasmus and to Joseph
Scaliger and his father Julius Caesar Scaliger. The article also discusses the broader
memory of these towering figures to exemplify the study of early modern learned
identity formation by means of cultures of memory.