Om de eer van Haarlem. Scriverius’ verdediging van Laurens Janszoon Coster

Abstract

In his Laure-crans voor Laurens Coster van Haerlem (1628) Petrus Scriverius (1576-1660) championed the reputation of the city of Haarlem as the cradle of the art of printing, against Nicolaus Serarius from Mainz, who had branded this claim as mendacious. In this contribution we discuss several overlooked documents, indicating that Scriverius has played a much more important part in the iconographic aspect of the) Coster campaign than was generally known. In 1630 Gabriel Naudé of Paris attacks Scriverius, accusing him of falsehoods and endorsing the claims of Mainz. Hugo de Groot, amongst others, urged Scriverius to respond with strong counter-arguments, but Scriverius was not able to find additional evidence in support of Haarlem.