Justus Lipsius

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This article is about the person. For the building, see Justus Lipsius building.
Justus Lipsius
Catholic University of Louvain
Notable workDe Constantia (1583)
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolNeostoicism
InstitutionsLeiden University (1578–1591)
Notable studentsErycius Puteanus

Justus Lipsius (Joest Lips

philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible with Christianity. The most famous of these is De Constantia (On Constancy). His form of Stoicism influenced a number of contemporary thinkers, creating the intellectual movement of Neostoicism. He taught at the universities in Jena, Leiden, and Leuven
.

Early life

Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne
) that also includes Lipsius.

Lipsius was born in

Society of Jesus, so when he was sixteen they removed him to the University of Leuven in Leuven
.

The publication of his Variarum Lectionum Libri Tres (1567), which he dedicated to

conjectural emendation to that of emending by collation
.

Academic career

In 1570 he travelled through

Catholic
.

He then returned to Leuven, but the

University of Leiden appointed him professor of history. He held the position of rector of the university for four terms and was a driving force behind the growth and innovation in the early years.[2]

The eleven years that Lipsius spent in

Alva and Philip II
. He wrote that a government should recognize only one religion, and extirpate dissent by fire and sword. This avowal exposed him to attacks, but the prudent authorities of Leiden saved him, by prevailing upon him to publish a declaration that his expression Ure, seca ("Burn and cut") was a metaphor for a vigorous treatment.

Later life

The Justus Lipsius Commemorative Coin

In the spring of 1590, leaving Leiden under pretext of taking the waters in

Roman Catholic Church. This event deeply interested the Catholic world, and invitations from the courts and universities of Italy, Austria and Spain poured in on Lipsius. But he preferred to remain in his own country, and he finally settled in Leuven, as professor of Latin in the Collegium Buslidianum.[1] In 1591 he undertook a grand tour of France, Italy and Germany with his young friend and later Amsterdam burgomaster Jacob Dircksz de Graeff.[3]

He was not expected to teach, and appointments as

historiographer royal to King Philip II of Spain eked out his trifling stipend. He continued to publish dissertations as before, the chief being his De militia romana (1595) and his Lovanium (1605), intended as an introduction to a general history of Brabant.[1]

Lipsius died in Leuven, at the age of 58.

Legacy

The former headquarters of the European Council (2004–2017) and the Council of the European Union (1995–2017), the Justus Lipsius building, bears his name, having been constructed over the site of Rue Juste Lipse, which linked Rue Belliard to Rue de la Loi in the European Quarter of Brussels. The building is still used by both institutions for offices and low-level meetings and so Justus Lipsius features heavily in the EU-lexicon.

In 2006, he was selected to appear on the 10 euro Justus Lipsius Silver commemorative Coin, minted by Belgium. The reverse side of the coin shows his portrait together with the years of his life (1547–1606).

One of the main buildings of Leiden University which serve as the Faculty of Humanities was named after Lipsius.

Political thinking

The German historian Gerhard Oestreich has argued that Lipsius's ideas about the ideal citizen, a man who acts according to reason, is answerable to himself, is in control of his emotions, and is ready to fight, had found wide acceptance in the turbulent times of the

Reformation. The Lipsian view, translated to politics, would have been at the basis of rationalisation of the state and its apparatus of government, autocratic rule by the prince, discipline dispensed to subjects, and strong military defence. The principles would have laid the foundation for military revolution that transformed first European warfare and then the internal organisation of the European states themselves.[4] These conclusions of Oestreich have met with some scepticism in the academic community, and the notion that Lipsius' political ideas had a decisive influence on political developments and military reforms in the Dutch Republic has been challenged.[5]

Works

Illustration from De militia romana libri quinque, 1596
  • Variarum Lectionum Libri Tres (1567)
  • De Constantia Libri Duo, Qui alloquium praecipue continent in Publicis malis (Antwerp: Plantijn, 1584)
  • On Constancy / De Constantia, edited by John Sellars and translated by John Stradling (1594), (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2006).
  • Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinae Libri Sex (Leiden: Plantijn-Raphelengius, 1589) Online version
  • De militia romana (Antwerp: Plantijn-Moretus 1595)
  • Admiranda, sive de Magnitudine Romana Libri Quattuor (Antwerp: Plantijn-Moretus, 1598) Online version
  • De bibliothecis syntagma (Antwerp: Plantijn-Moretus, 1602)
  • Manuductionis ad Stoicam Philosophiam Libri Tres, L. Annaeo Senecae, aliisque scriptoribus illustrandis (Antwerp: Plaintijn-Moretus, 1604)
  • Diva Virgo Hallensis. Beneficia eius et miracula fide atque ordine descripta (Antwerp: Plantijn-Moretus, 1604)
  • Annaei Senecae Philosophi Opera, Quae Exstant Omnia, A Iusto Lipsio emendata, et Scholiis illustrata (Antwerp: Plantijn-Moretus, 1605)
  • Lovanium, sive Opidi et Academiae eius descriptio (Antwerp: Plantijn-Moretus, 1605)
  • Monita et exempla politica (Admonitions), published in 1605

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Lipsius, Justus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 743.
  2. ISBN 9035122402
  3. ^ Biography of Jacob Dircksz de Graeff at Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 2 (1912), by P.J. Blok and P.C. Molhuysen
  4. ^ Oestreich, G: Neostoicism & the Early Modern State, Cambridge University Press, 1982
  5. ^ Chapter 1. Justus Lipsius and the Post-Machiavellian Prince, in: Christopher Brooke, Philosophic Pride: Stoicism and Political Thought from Lipsius to Rousseau, Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 12–36

Further reading

  • Leira, H. (2008). "Justus Lipsius, political humanism and the disciplining of 17th century statecraft". Review of International Studies. 34 (4): 669–692.
    S2CID 146484821
    .

References

External links

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