Perizonius (orAccinctus) was the name[clarification needed] ofJakob Voorbroek (26 October 1651 – 6 April 1715), aDutchclassical scholar, who was born atAppingedam inGroningen.
He was the son of Anton Perizonius (1626–1672), the author of a once well-known treatise,De ratione studii theologici. Having studied at theUniversity of Utrecht, he was appointed in 1682 to the chair of eloquence and history atFraneker through the influence ofJ. G. Graevius andNikolaes Heinsius. In 1693 he was promoted to the corresponding chair atLeiden, where he died on 6 April 1715.
The numerous works of Perizonius entitle him to a high place among the scholars of his age. Special interest attaches to his edition of theMinerva sive de causis linguae latinae (Salamanca: Renaut, 1587) ofFrancisco Sánchez de las Brozas,aka El Brocense, (ed.C. L. Bauer, 1793–1801), one of the last developments of the study ofLatin grammar in its pre-scientific stage, when the phenomena of language were still regarded as for the most part disconnected, conventional or fortuitous.
Mention should also be made of hisAnimadversiones historicae (1685), which may be said to have laid the foundations of historical criticism, and of his treatises on theRoman Republic, alluded to byNiebuhr as marking the beginning of the new era of historical study with which his own name is associated.
Perizonius was a collector of rare books and manuscripts. To theLeiden University Library he bequeathed 134 manuscripts, one painting, many printed books and a legacy to buy new books. The manuscripts are kept separate as the Collection Perizonius in the library. One of the famous manuscripts in the Perizonius collection is a manuscript, probably from theAbbey of Saint Gall dating from the 10th century. It includes1 Maccabees and the fourth book ofEpitoma Rei Militaris byVegetius. The manuscript includes many richly decorated pages depicting the historic invasion of Germany by the Hungarians. The digital version of MS PER F 17 is available on Leiden's Digital Collections.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Perizonius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 172.