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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 understood 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 sociology, 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 characterization 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 uninterruptedly read by succeeding generations in Europe, until about the French Revolution. The great upheaval then created a new context for European characterology. There appeared soon its translations into French and English.” The first (“scholarly”) 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 auctorum, 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 Frangois. 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. 27
