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Unveiling Dutch Imperial Supremacy: Martin Schoock’s Tractatus de butyro

 

In March 1665, the Journal des Sçavans reviewed a book that few could have anticipated: Martin Schoock’s Tractatus de butyro, a treatise on the benefits of butter, with an appendix on the aversion to cheese.[1] Behind the enthusiasm for butter stood Martin Schoock (1614–1669), a prolific but troubled figure in the Dutch intellectual landscape. He is chiefly remembered today for his attacks on Descartes, notably in Admiranda methodus (1643), where he supposedly accused the French philosopher of ‘subtle atheism’, and of spreading ideas close to those of the heretic Vanini.[2] Schoock’s life was unstable. Plagued by financial difficulties and suffering from alcoholism, he fled Groningen for Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1666, where he ended his days teaching history in relative obscurity. Nevertheless, amidst theological controversies and philosophical disputes, Schoock still found time to write treatises not only on butter and cheese, but also on beer, peat, and even the struggle against the sea.[3]

What might sound like a trivial subject, butter, was treated in Tractatus de butyro with the utmost seriousness by both author and reviewer. The review, evidently written by a Frenchman with a particular passion for butter (a pleonasm, one might say), is almost as fascinating as the work itself. Schoock, the reviewer assures us, has left no question about butter unanswered. Schoock discusses the ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Latin names for butter, whether Abraham served it to his divine guests, how the Scythians made it compared to the Dutch, and even how to beat and salt butter, as well as how to remedy all the defects it might suffer from (p. 154).

The reviewer, however, takes things a step further, using Schoock’s treatise as a pretext for a broader comment on Dutch national identity. In Holland, he claims, butter is not only a delight but a national emblem: the Dutch are known around the world as “Bouter-boutre”, which he translates by “mangeurs de beurre” (“butter-eaters”). He then goes on to report that butter is also credited as the secret behind Dutch global supremacy. According to him, when asked how they managed to usurp the trade of the Indies and other distant regions from rival nations, the Dutch simply reply: “c’est parce qu’ils ne mangent que du beurre” (“it is because they only eat butter”) (p. 155). Forget naval prowess or mercantile ingenuity: empire, it seems, was built on a dairy product! In this vision, the buttered bread of Holland becomes quite literally part of the foundation of the modern world, at least according to our enthusiastic French commentator.

The reviewer, however, also expresses reservations about one of Schoock’s theses. He particularly takes issue with Schoock’s assertion that brushing one’s teeth every morning with butter helps keep them healthy and beautiful (pp. 154–155). He claims that Schoock’s recommendation is almost as repulsive (“dégoustant”) as the Spanish custom of rinsing the mouth with urine (p. 155). The Spanish are thus dragged into the discussion, turning what could have been a straightforward dairy review into an impromptu lesson in national superiority in matters of hygiene. Anyway, the Castilian climate is not butter-friendly, according to Schoock, as this product tends to be rare in hot countries. When it is used, he tells us, it is almost exclusively for treating ulcers rather than for food (p. 154). This last assertion might well elicit a smile from a modern-day specialist in ulcers, since fats are generally discouraged for those suffering from such conditions[4]. But we are in the seventeenth century, and there we shall remain.

The Journal des Sçavans reviewer, perhaps sensitive to the perceived curiosity of such discussions, felt the need to caution his seventeenth-century readers against mocking the “diligence” with which Schoock treated the subject. He even reminds them that “en Hollande la chose n’est pas receuë de mesme, & est prise fort serieusement” (“in Holland, the matter is not viewed in the same light, and is taken very seriously”) (p. 155). Moreover, objectively, the matter was perhaps not quite as trivial as first appearances could suggest. Other reviewers in the Journal took very serious interest in gastronomic matters, especially when somehow related to bread. Readers might refer, for example, to another discussion about the use of beer yeast in breadmaking, where health concerns raised by doctors were largely brushed aside in favour of supporting mass bread production. Modern readers of the Tractatus de butyro and its review might likewise resist the temptation to sneer too easily. After all, among the great theological and philosophical disputes of the seventeenth century, the battle over butter must surely rank as one of the gentlest, and, arguably, one of the most delicious.

 

MOUHAMADOUL-KHALY WÉLÉ

 

[1] Le Journal des sçavans, Paris, Chez Jean Cusson, 1665, pp. 153-155 ; Martinus Schoock, Tractatus de butyro: accessit ejusdem Diatriba de aversatione casei, Groningen, Johannis Cöllen, 1664.

[2] Theo Verbeek, « Schoock, Martinus (1614–1669) », in The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon, Lawrence Nolan (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 2015, p. 668.

[3]Ibid.

[4] Rie Ohara et al., « A high-fat diet changes the interaction of the extracellular matrix, cytokines, and growth factors in gastric ulcer repair », Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, vol. 755, 1st of April 2025, p. 151565.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Mouhamadoul Khaly Wélé (May 14, 2025). Unveiling Dutch Imperial Supremacy: Martin Schoock’s Tractatus de butyro. NOTCOM. Retrieved July 16, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/13x28


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