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Icon Animorum by John Barclay and the Origins of the Characterization of European Nations
Barclay s Icon Animorum (London, 1614; republished 1620) was generally under¬
stood by the contemporary European public to be the fourth book of the Satyricon.
But in fact it was a different kind of writing, from literary approach to political soci¬
ology, and was an intriguing scholarly treatise on comparative anthropogeography,
history, anthropology, and to some extent psychology—a megaessay on “comparative
cultural studies’—to use another modern term. The book offers a witty characteriza¬
tion of individuals and nations in Europe. It is not easy to know whether Barclay was
speaking about contemporary politics or if he wanted to show the “eternal” character
of “the Europeans.” That was the ultimate reason why the book had been uninter¬
ruptedly read by succeeding generations in Europe, until about the French Revolu¬
tion. The great upheaval then created a new context for European characterology.
There appeared soon its translations into French and English.” The first (“schol¬
arly”) re-editions of Barclay’s book—-still in Latin—appeared in Germany (Bremen,
1660, and Dresden, 1680, by August Buchner) followed word-for-word the original
publication. Two German scholars, August Buchner and Christian Juncker, added
copious additional footnotes to the chapters, trying to explain all the background
and meaning of Barclay’s statements. Their enlarged edition (in Latin) was printed
by Theophil Grabener (Dresden and Leipzig, 1733). It is the source for my analysis.
Seven years later, in 1621, Barclay’s other, even more famous book, Argenis, was
published, a pseudo-chivalry novel about the constitutional and political situation in
seventeenth-century Europe. It is a sophisticated literary work, and it was a bestseller
in Europe until the French revolution. Argenis had many contemporary decodings
of its characters and stimulated various imitations. But the analysis of the novel falls
outside of the scope of this paper.
Icon animorum (a carefully printed book in-sexto, (b = 18 + 400 p, index auc¬
torum, index rerum, index verborum in cc — dd= 32 pages — in the 1733 updated
edition) starts with a long letter of dedication to the French king, Louis XIII. It
explains the importance of the book for the successful training of the court staff.
Then sixteen chapters follow with two chapters as introduction, including the four
ages of man: childhood, adolescence, manhood, and agedness. Then follows the part
of Genius seculorum et regionum and, then, seven descriptive chapters on Gallia; the
? See in English: The Mirror of Minds, or Barclay’s Icon Animorum. English by Tho[mas] May, Esq.
London, 1633. There is a later edition too. In French: Le Pourtrait des Esprits de Barclai, mis en Fran¬
gois. Paris, 1625. Another French version is deliberately free, on the title page giving an exhaustive
reference to the major topics in the book: Le Tableau des Esprits de M. Iean Barclay; par lequel on
cognoist les humeurs des Nations, leur aduantages et defaux, les inclinations des hommes, tant a cause de
leurs propres naturels que des conditions de leur charges. Nouvellement traduict de Latin en François,
Paris, 1625.
3 The full title of the publication: Joannis Barclaii ICON ANIMORVM virorum clarissimorum Avgvsti
Buchneri et Christiani Junckeri notis illustrata recensvit ex manvscriptis et svis passim animadversionibvs
novo item indice verborvm rervmque avxit Theophilvs Grabenervs A. M. Ill. Afran. Coll—Dresdae et
Lipsiae, apud Godofredum Leschivm. Anno M DCC XXXII.
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