Johan Huizinga

Dutch historian. Born in Groningen. Studied literature at the University of Groningen, and after graduating he taught secondary education in Haarlem, but then decided to switch to history, wrote his thesis "The Founding of the City of Haarlem", and became professor of foreign and national history at the University of Groningen in 1905. In 1915 he was transferred to professor of foreign history and historical geography at Leiden University, where he lived. He remained a professor at the university until it was effectively closed down due to the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi German forces in 1940. In 1942 the occupying forces restricted his living area, and he lived in De Stoeg near Arnhem, where he died in February 1945.

His major work, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, was published in 1919. While Burckhardt's The Culture of the Renaissance in Italy limited his observational focus to 15th and 16th century Italy, Huizinga expanded his empirical research and historical imagination to 14th and 15th century France and the Netherlands. Judging from the certain tone of the way of thinking and feeling that is pervasive and fixed in the records of contemporaries, this historical space is densely filled with the scent of the end of a culture. In other words, it is the "Autumn of the Middle Ages." After the publication of The Autumn of the Middle Ages, he produced a wide range of achievements, including essays on the Renaissance problem, and books and essays exploring the spirit of the 12th century, including Erasmus, Grotius, and Abelard. However, around the time of the publication of In the Shadows of the Morning (1935), his interests converged on criticism of Nazism and, by extension, on modern civilization. "Homo Ludens" (1938) is an attempt to look at the process of the establishment, development, and decline of European civilization "under the aspect of play," and "My Way into History" (1947), which he wrote while in exile in De Stueck, is an autobiographical testament which he left to the present day.

[Koichi Horikoshi]

"Autumn of the Middle Ages," translated by Horikoshi Koichi (1967, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "In the Shadows of Morning: A Diagnosis of the Mental Illness of Our Age," translated by Horikoshi Koichi (1971, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Homo Ludens: Human Culture and Play," translated by Takahashi Hideo (1971, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "The Person and Works of Huizinga," by Horimai Yozo (included in "55 World Masterpieces: Huizinga: Autumn of the Middle Ages," 1967, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Huizinga," by Kurihara Fukuya (1972, Ushio Publishing)" ▽ "Dreams of Chivalry, the Everyday Life of Death," by Horikoshi Koichi (1987, Jinbun Shoin)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

オランダの歴史家。フローニンゲンに生まれる。フローニンゲン大学で文学を学び、卒業後ハールレムで中等教育の教鞭(きょうべん)をとったが歴史学への転身を図り、論文「ハールレム市の成立」を作成し、1905年フローニンゲン大学外国史・国史学教授に就任。15年ライデン大学外国史・歴史地理学教授に転任してライデンに住んだ。40年ナチス・ドイツ軍のオランダ占領によって事実上閉鎖されるまで、同大学教授職にあった。42年占領軍によって居住地域を限定され、アルンヘム近郊デ・ステークに住み、45年2月同所で死去。

　主著『中世の秋』は、1919年に出版された。ブルクハルトの『イタリアにおけるルネサンスの文化』が15、6世紀のイタリアに観察の視線を限定しているのに対し、ホイジンガは、14、5世紀のフランスとネーデルラントに実証的調査と史的想像力の翼を広げる。同時代人の記録に固着し、瀰漫(びまん)しているものの考え方、感じ方のある一定の調子からみるに、この歴史空間は一つの文化の終末の気配を濃密に漂わせている。すなわち「中世の秋」である。『中世の秋』出版後、ルネサンス問題に関する論考、エラスムスやグロティウス、あるいはアベラールをはじめ、12世紀の精神を訪ねる著書・論文など業績は幅広いが、『朝の影のなかに』の出版（1935）の前後からナチズムに対する批判、ひいては現代文明批評の方向へ彼の関心は収斂(しゅうれん)する。『ホモ・ルーデンス』（1938）は「遊戯の相の下に」ヨーロッパ文明の成立と展開と衰亡の過程をみる試みで、デ・ステークの配所で綴(つづ)った『わが歴史への道』（1947）は現代へ残した自伝的遺書である。

［堀越孝一］

『堀越孝一訳『中世の秋』（1967・中央公論社）』▽『堀越孝一訳『朝の影のなかに――わたしたちの時代の精神の病の診断』（1971・中央公論社）』▽『高橋英夫訳『ホモ・ルーデンス――人類文化と遊戯』（1971・中央公論社）』▽『堀米庸三著『ホイジンガの人と作品』（『世界の名著55　ホイジンガ　中世の秋』所収・1967・中央公論社）』▽『栗原福也著『ホイジンガ』（1972・潮出版社）』▽『堀越孝一著『騎士道の夢・死の日常』（1987・人文書院）』

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