Erasmus Batavus: The Auris Batava (1508) Between Ancient Heritage and Italian Disdain

A 1508 adage by Erasmus about the Batavian ear is often interpreted as an expression of nationalism. Serious doubts can be raised against such interpretations since there was no such thing as nationalism in the early sixteenth century. Besides this, the interpretation is inconsistent with Erasmus’s degenerative expressions about Batavians and Hollanders elsewhere; nor does the adage describe the Batavians or Hollanders in a truly positive way. I propose an alternative to the nationalistic interpretation of the adage. Based on the Auris Batava, his correspondence, and the rest of his broad oeuvre, I argue that the references to Batavians throughout Erasmus’s works are instead a response to humanist Italy, where a negative stereotype of Northerners was prevalent and where one prided oneself on an ancient lineage. Born in Rotterdam, Erasmus could not appropriate this ancient Roman heritage and therefore took recourse to the Batavians. He appropriated biases against the supposed negative characteristics of the Northerners and Batavians as well, but used these to emphasize his own achievements. Erasmus’s establishment of a Batavian identity can thus be deemed a form of Erasmian modesty, a type of rhetoric that is evident more broadly in his oeuvre.