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The Early Years

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Book cover Gerard Van Swieten and His World 1700–1772

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Abstract

In the past two centuries, mainly because the sources have been fragmentary and widely dispersed and because some scholars have found it rather easy to repeat the mistakes of others, biographical studies of Van Swieten have appeared which, in their varying commitments to accuracy, have tended to mix facts indiscriminately with conjecture.1 The result has been the creation of a tangled web of truths, improbabilities, unlikelihoods, and absurdities. It is essential that the confusion be ended — especially the confusion concerning his family and youth. There is much that we do not know. Once this is admitted, the actual story — necessarily imperfect — must be carefully constructed from the genealogical records which do survive.2

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Reference

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  2. Born November 19, 1698. LeidGA, Doop-en trouwboeken van de R.K. kerken (Hooigracht), 1698

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  3. Born, respectively, October 16, 1701; May 27, 1703; August 22, 1705; and December 2, 1708. LeidGA, Doop-en trouwboeken van de R.K. kerken, respectively, (Hooigracht), 1701; (Jesuites), r7o5; and (Fransche Karmelieten),17o8

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  42. Ibid, p. 152; Willaert, I, 351.

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Authors
  1. Frank T. Brechka
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© 1970 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands

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Brechka, F.T. (1970). The Early Years. In: Gerard Van Swieten and His World 1700–1772. Archives Internationales D’Histoire Des Idées/International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3223-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3223-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-3225-4

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