Waarlijk, waar een dichter strijdend valt

Sir Philip Sidney leefde van 1554 tot 1586. Hij was de volle neef van de graaf van Leicester, die door Koningin Elizabeth 1 in 1585 met een leger naar de opstandige Nederlanden werd gezonden om  de Staten bij te staan tegen de Spaanse landvoogd, de hertog van Parma. Philip Sidney was zijn tweede man en werd gouverneur van Vlissingen. Zijn voornaamste militaire triomf was de verovering van Axel (Z-Vlaanderen) samen met Maurits. De strijd tegen Parma's troepen eindigde voor Philip voor de poorten van Zutphen in 1586. Uit solidariteit met zijn  maatjes (of omdat het zo de mode was) droeg Philp geen zware beenpantsers, met als gevolg dat een musketkogel hem in de dij trof. Toen hem een slok water werd aangeboden weigerde hij en wees naar een soldaat met de woorden "Thy necessity is yet greater than mine". En deze woorden leven voort als het symbool van Sidney als ridder, ideale hoveling, dichter, krijgsman, erudiet, etc. Want twee weken later overleed hij te Arnhem.

Buiten Zutphen is er eigenlijk niemand die ooit van Sidney gehoord heeft. Want in Zutphen werd in 1913 tenminste een standbeeld voor hem onthuld door Huizinga, die in zijn rede sprak van een nationale schuld. Hadden de Staten van Zeeland en Holland immers niet beloofd Philip te eren met "een vorstelijk monument, al zou het tonnen gouds kosten".

Luister naar de tweedelige documentaire uitgezonden in Onvoltooid Verleden Tijd van de VPRO Radio op 25 maart en 1 april 2001
 
 

Sidney  in Shrewsbury

gedenksteen te Zutphen

"Truly, where a poet struggling falls, there must be matter to be moved"

 Johan Huizinga, one of the greatest historians of the last century, provided the title for this documentary in the speech he delivered at the inauguration of the statue of Sir Philip Sidney in Zutphen in 1913. "Truly, where a poet struggling falls, there must be matter to be moved". Interestingly Huizinga was as much moved by the poetry of Sir Philip Sidney, as he was impressed by the diplomatic and military excellence of this young man that is being adored by many in the Anglo-Saxon domain for his gallantry and eloquence as an Elizabethan courtier par excellence and as a poet and literary critic.
However, this radio documentary focuses rather on the significance of Sir Philip in Dutch history, if only because this aspect of his rich though short life, has  so far been completely neglected in the general appreciation and representation of all that's related with the Dutch uprising against the Spanish and Catholic domination.
A very rich source indeed can be found in Alan Stewart's recent monograph Philip Sidney, a double life (Chatto & Windus, London 2000), which stands on top of a mass of primary sources and a vast library of studies on the man and his poetry. Accidentally, it was a Dutch anglicist Jan van Dorsten, lecturer at Leiden University, who has been highly responsible for the acknowledgment of Sir Philip Sidney and his significance in the literary revolution in Modern English literature in the 16th century.
    But when Huizinga in his speech referred to a "national debt" owed by the Netherlands to this man, he was pointing at the fact that this man gave his life for the freedom of the Dutch. Indeed, the Dutch States general had solemnly pledged after his death that they would erect " a princely monument, and should it cost tuns of gold". As the Dutch way goes, it took 327 years for a modest though highly elegant monument to be erected for this "Spirit without a spot" (Shelley). And this of course did not happen in Zeeland (where he acted as governour of Flushing), or in Holland (the hard core of the mercantilist Netherlands republic in the making), but in the eastern town of Zutphen. The town Philip never reached, because he got wounded in a skirmish near its walls by a Spanish musketeer and died two weeks later in Arnhem. Heroic legend has it that he had refused armor on his legs because his fellow warriors didn't possess this protection (according to Stewart it may well have been part of the fashion trend to go elegantly and lightly into battle). Then he refused to drink water offered to him, pointing at a soldier more seriously wounded with the words "Thy necessity is yet greater than mine".
    Sir Philip Sidney was nephew and heir to the Earl of Leicester, intimate friend of many great minds of his time, among them William of Orange whose daughter Marie he was about to marry and thus inherit the status of stadholder (vice-regent) of the Netherlands. Together with Maurits he conquered the town of Axel and with Leicester he did most of the diplomacy while in the Netherlands.

    The radio documentary follows the tracks of Philip back to his birth place Penthurst Place, his school town Shrewsbury and to his grave in St. Paul's Cathedral. In Holland we entertain the listener in Flushing, Axel, Doesburg and of course Zutphen. Where he was killed and commemorated last in 1986. The focus is a double one: what sort of a man was Sir Philip Sidney, illustrated by his poetry and letters, and what was his significance for Dutch history. And why oh why has he been so utterly forgotten?