268-634: The Patriottentijd ( Dutch pronunciation: [pɑtriˈjɔtə(n)ˌtɛit] ; lit. ' Time of the Patriots ' ) was a period of political instability in the Dutch Republic between approximately 1780 and 1787. Its name derives from the Patriots ( Patriotten ) faction who opposed the rule of the stadtholder , William V, Prince of Orange , and his supporters who were known as Orangists ( Orangisten ). In 1781 one of
536-732: A confederacy . The Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by Spain until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. An important factor in the growth of the Netherlands as an economic power was the influx of groups seeking religious toleration of the Dutch Republic. In particular, it became the destination of Portuguese and Spanish Jews fleeing
804-538: A British one under vice-admiral Sir Hyde Parker , which ended inconclusively, but on the whole the Dutch fleet remained in port, due to a state of "unreadiness," according to the Dutch commanders. This lack of activity caused great dissatisfaction among Dutch shippers who wanted convoy protection against the British, and also among the population at large, who felt humiliated by what many saw as "cowardice." The stadtholder
1072-607: A Patriot bias that attacked the stadtholder and the "aristocratic" Patriots with equal abandon. It was soon joined by an Amsterdam magazine with the same character, the Politieke Kruijer (Political Porter), edited by J.C. Hespe, and later by Wybo Fijnje 's Hollandsche Historische Courant (Dutch Historical Journal) in Delft. All these periodicals enjoyed great popularity in middle-class circles, probably because they mixed serious political analysis with scurrilous libels of
1340-411: A Prussian minister, Johann von Goertz, came to The Hague with a proposal that might even be acceptable to the democrats, but Harris easily convinced William, already in great spirits after the events of Hattem and Elburg, that this would amount to a "capitulation" and the stadtholder appended conditions that were unacceptable to the Patriots. In other words, Harris was a constant obstacle to any attempts at
1608-491: A better chance. And the French game of egging on the Patriots on the one hand, and keeping them in check on the other, became more risky. The French opposite number of von Goertz, the marquis de Rayneval , understood this, and also that a victory of the democrats in the Republic would be against French interests; France became less and less enthusiastic about favoring the Patriots. Dutch Republic The United Provinces of
1876-595: A critical ally of the United Provinces in its ongoing war with Louis XIV of France . William was the commander of the Dutch and English armies and fleets until his death in 1702. During William's reign as King of England, his primary focus was leveraging British manpower and finances to aid the Dutch against the French. The combination continued during the War of the Spanish Succession after his death as
2144-719: A democratic city constitution within three months. And indeed, on 20 March 1786, while the Free Corps again occupied the central square in silent menace, while a blizzard blew, the vroedschap allowed several of its members to formally abjure the old Government Regulation. On 2 August 1786 an elected Burgher College was installed as the new city council. In the spring of 1787 similar events took place in Amsterdam. The political situation in that city had long been very different than in Utrecht. The Amsterdam regenten belonged to
2412-530: A farm near Goejanverwellesluis . She was forced to return to Nijmegen. She appealed to her brother for help, and he sent some 26,000 troops to invade, led by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick and a small contingent of British troops to suppress the rebellion . The Patriot militias could not contend with these forces, melting away. Dutch banks at this time still held much of the world's capital . Government-sponsored banks owned up to 40% of Great Britain's national debt and there were close connections to
2680-581: A forerunner of the French Revolution . The Patriot movement focused more on local political power, where they had no say in their towns' governance. Although they were able to curtail the power of the stadholder, and hold democratic elections in select towns, they were divided in their political vision, which was more local than national. Supporters were drawn from religious dissenters and Catholics in particular places, while pro-stadholder Orangists had more widespread geographical support of sections of
2948-412: A house with an ornamented façade that befitted their new status. In the countryside, many new castles and stately homes were built; but most of them have not survived. Early in the 17th century late Gothic elements still prevailed, combined with Renaissance motifs. After a few decades French classicism gained prominence: vertical elements were stressed, less ornamentation was used, and natural stone
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#17328017764373216-703: A huge fleet of 2,000 ships, initially larger than the fleets of England and France combined. Major conflicts were fought in the Eighty Years' War against Spain (from the foundation of the Dutch Republic until 1648), the Dutch–Portuguese War (1598–1663), four Anglo-Dutch Wars (the first against the Commonwealth of England , two against the Kingdom of England , and a fourth against the Kingdom of Great Britain , 1665–1667 , 1672–1674 , and 1780–1784 ),
3484-476: A major victory at the Synod of Dort (1618–19). The variety of sects may well have worked to make religious intolerance impractical. Renaissance Humanism , of which Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) was an important advocate, had also gained a firm foothold and was partially responsible for a climate of tolerance. Tolerance towards Catholics was not so easy to uphold, as religion had played an important part in
3752-404: A means to greater economic power and prestige. Universities became career pathways to public office. Rich merchants and aristocrats sent their sons on a so-called Grand Tour through Europe. Often accompanied by a private tutor, preferably a scientist himself, these young people visited universities in several European countries. This intermixing of patricians and aristocrats was most prominent in
4020-492: A meeting-place for the well-to-do, who were proud to play a prominent part and paid well to see this preserved for posterity by means of a group portrait. The latter were associations at a city level that fostered literary activities, like poetry, drama and discussions, often through contests. Cities took pride in their associations and promoted them. In the Dutch Golden Age, the meals of the middle class consisted of
4288-443: A more and more closed oligarchy frustrated the middle class, that saw its opportunities for political and social advancement blocked, also because the political patronage in regard to all kinds of petty offices was concentrated in the hands of the oligarchs, who favored their own political allies. Though offices were often venal and for sale, this fact was ironically less resented than the fact that those offices were not available on
4556-630: A number of riots between Patriots and Orangists in The Hague during the summer of that year, the States of Holland (by then with a slender majority of cities tending toward the Patriot side) decided to deprive the stadtholder of his command of the strong Hague garrison of the States army (though this was only formalized in July 1786). On 15 September 1785 he therefore decided to leave the city and to repair to
4824-535: A number of so-called Generality Lands . The latter were governed directly by the States General , the federal government. The States General were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces. The provinces of the republic were, in official feudal order: Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( Dutch : Gouden Eeuw [ˈɣʌudən ˈeːu, ˈɣʌudə ˈʔeːu] )
5092-652: A number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht , in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Army of Flanders . This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration , the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. Dutch colonialism began at this point, as the Netherlands was able to swipe a number of Portuguese and Spanish colonies , particularly in
5360-484: A parallel source of power next to the existing institutions; the need to protect the freedom of the press; would be repeated time after time in other Patriot pamphlets and the Patriot press in later years. But these ideas were rooted in a particular perspective on Dutch history, not in abstract philosophical ideas, taken from the French Enlightenment . It was a mixture of old and new ideas, and attitudes to
5628-540: A part of the regular defense structure of the country, next to the States Army (though not part of that mercenary military formation). During the revolution of 1747 the Doelisten attempted to restore the independent role of the schutterijen , but this attempt failed. By the early 1780s the militias were but a caricature of their proud predecessors, subservient to the city magistrates, who made officer commissions
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#17328017764375896-566: A peaceful solution. In any case, Frederick the Great died in August 1786, and was succeeded by his nephew (Wilhelmina's elder brother) Frederick William II of Prussia . Though the new king was not keen to go to war with France, he was less determined to avoid such a development than the old king, and from then on Harris' designs to let the Prussians do the fighting on behalf of Great Britain stood
6164-689: A position previously occupied by the Portuguese and Spanish . The maps used by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba to attack Dutch cities were made by Dutch mapmakers. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded. It was one of the first-ever multinational corporations , financed by shares that established the Amsterdam Stock Exchange . The company received a Dutch monopoly on Asian trade, which it would keep for two centuries, and it became
6432-637: A positive decision, and on the initiative of Hooft the vroedschap was purged of the members whose dismissal had been demanded in the Act of Qualification. Amsterdam had belatedly joined the Patriot coalition. The rioting of the Bijltjes on 30 May 1787 did not change this. William May had to flee across the IJ . Other cities in Holland that had been holding out, like Rotterdam, where Pieter Paulus finally managed
6700-617: A predominantly Catholic background, such as Utrecht and Gouda , did not enjoy the benefits of the Golden Age. As for the Protestant towns, unity of belief was also far from standard. At the beginning of the century bitter controversies between strict Calvinists and more permissive Protestants , known as Remonstrants , split the country. The Remonstrants denied predestination and championed freedom of conscience, while their more dogmatic adversaries (known as Contra-Remonstrants) gained
6968-414: A purge of the vroedschap , and several cities, like Delft, Dordrecht, Alkmaar, Hoorn, and Monnikendam were helped along by the "Flying Legion", a corps of 300 Free Corps members, and 200 horses, led by Adam Gerard Mappa , threatening violence. Delft's "liberation" gave the Patriots command of the largest arsenal in Holland province in the summer of 1787. It is true that compared to the French revolution
7236-532: A relatively secluded life. Unlike other European artistic traditions, Dutch art rarely depicts elderly women as disgusting or grotesque creatures, but rather they are idolized as figures of piety and purity whom the younger generations of women can look up to. Calvinism was the state religion in the Dutch Republic, though this does not mean that unity existed. Although the Netherlands was a tolerant nation compared to neighboring states, wealth and social status belonged almost exclusively to Protestants. The cities with
7504-439: A renaissance during this period as well. However, by the end of the 17th century, conflicts with neighbouring powers as well as declining economic influence led to the end of this period. The process by which the Dutch Republic became one of the foremost maritime and economic powers of the world during the era has been referred to as the "Dutch Miracle" by historian K. W. Swart . The term "Dutch Golden Age" has been controversial in
7772-423: A rich variety of dishes. During the 15th century haute cuisine began to emerge, largely limited to the aristocracy, but from the 17th century onward dishes of this kind became available to the wealthy citizens as well. The Dutch Empire enabled spices, sugar, and exotic fruits to be imported to the country. By the late 17th century, tea and coffee consumption were increasing and becoming part of everyday life. Tea
8040-717: A secret agreement on a treaty of amity and commerce between the two Republics, the draft of which was discovered by the British when they intercepted Henry Laurens at sea. They used this as a casus belli for declaring the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in December 1780 (together with the actions from Dutch territory by the American privateer John Paul Jones , and the planned Dutch accession to the First League of Armed Neutrality ). The war went disastrously for
8308-791: A series of three naval wars against England in 1652–1674. In 1651, England imposed its first Navigation Act , which severely hurt Dutch trade interests. An incident at sea concerning the Act resulted in the First Anglo-Dutch War, which lasted from 1652 to 1654, ending in the Treaty of Westminster (1654) , which left the Navigation Act in effect. After the English Restoration in 1660, Charles II tried to serve his dynastic interests by attempting to make Prince William III of Orange , his nephew, stadtholder of
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8576-564: A sexual encounter would result in the transmission of syphilis or other venereal diseases. Dutch women were also allowed to take communion alongside men, and widows were able to inherit property and maintain control over their finances and husband's wills. However, a woman's sphere of authority still primarily lay in household duties, though historical evidence exists showing certain cases of wives maintaining considerable control in family businesses. Manuals written by men instructing women and wives in various aspects of domestic duties proliferated,
8844-752: A short time, the Republic seemed very successful in Brazil . The Dutch had succeeded in taking the coast between the mouth of the Amazon and the São Francisco (a river south of Recife ) from the Portuguese. Under governor John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1637-1644), the lucrative sugar trade was largely in Dutch hands. Curaçao was conquered in 1634. By 1648, Aruba and Bonaire were also in Dutch hands. A promising colony in North America
9112-621: A siege, and the division between the Northern and Southern Netherlands (the latter mostly modern Belgium ) was established. The United Provinces (roughly today's Netherlands ) fought on until the Twelve Years' Truce , which did not end the hostilities. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch Republic and Spain, and the Thirty Years' War between other European superpowers, brought
9380-472: A single city, so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles. While the banking system evolved in the Low Countries, it was quickly incorporated by the well-connected English, stimulating English economic output. The Dutch Republic was a master of banking, often compared to 14th century Florence. The republic was a confederation of seven provinces, which had their own governments and were very independent, and
9648-590: A so-called "Cordon" to defend these provinces against military depredations of the rump-States army. The overall command of this Cordon was given to a military commission, headquartered in Woerden , while the Holland troops were put under the command of the Rhinegrave of Salm . Another important political development was that the Amsterdam regenten (still not purged of the Orangist minority) formally adhered to
9916-400: A strong response of the Utrecht schutterij in the form of a petition opposing that counter-draft. The schutterij also elected a group of 24 representatives (among whom Ondaatje), which called themselves the "Constituted," to conduct direct negotiations with the vroedschap . The Constituted soon set themselves up as a rival power center to the vroedschap , and started acting like
10184-517: A task-force to occupy the hamlet of Vreeswijk near a strategically important sluice (useful to defensively inundate the surrounding countryside) they decided to force a confrontation. On 9 May 1787 the Patriot force under the command of the Utrecht vroedschap member Jean Antoine d'Averhoult attacked the States-army force in the Battle of Jutphaas , and despite several people killed, routed
10452-679: A token of gratitude for Leiden's fierce resistance against Spain during the Eighty Years' War) became a gathering place for intellectuals. Jan Amos Comenius , the Czech educator and writer, was known for his theories of education , but also as a pioneer of Czech Protestantism during the 17th century. To escape the Counter-Reformation , he migrated to the Dutch Republic and is buried in Naarden , North Holland . Comenius accepted
10720-458: A venerable burgemeester prevented a fracas. On 3 April Goudoever returned at the head of 102 officers to demand that henceforth Amsterdam would only be represented by its pensionaries Van Berckel and Visscher (who were both trusted by the Patriots) in the States of Holland. Dedel replied with an attempt to come to an arrangement with the stadtholder in which Amsterdam would align itself with
10988-471: A virtual guardianship in accordance with the so-called Acte van Consulentschap even after the young Prince had come of age. Meanwhile, the greatly expanded powers of the stadtholder consisted primarily in his right of appointment, or at least approval, of magistrates on the local and provincial level, which were enshrined in the so-called regeringsreglementen (Government Regulations) adopted by most provinces in 1747. These powers allowed him to overrule
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11256-562: A wet nurse would prevent a bond from forming between mother and child. The Dutch believed that a mother's milk came from the blood originally in her womb and that feeding the infant such substances would also reap physiological and health related benefits. Seventeenth-century Dutch society dictated that children should first begin to learn religion at home. Therefore, along with their husbands, women used family meal times to discuss religious topics and to focus on prayer. Seventeenth-century Dutch culture maintained contradictory attitudes regarding
11524-600: The Bataven , and taking the Middle Ages and the early history of the Republic in stride. But the perspective was decidedly anti-stadtholderian, and emphasized that the people are the true proprietors, the lords and masters of the country , not the nobles and regenten . The author likens the country to a great company, like the VOC , in which the administrators serve the shareholders. ...The great that are governing you,
11792-538: The Dutch Republic on 2 May 1747. During this period the office of stadtholder was left vacant in the provinces of Holland , Zeeland , and Utrecht , though in other provinces that office was filled by members of the House of Nassau-Dietz (later called Orange-Nassau) during various periods. During the period, the Republic lost its Great-Power status and its primacy in world trade, processes that went hand-in-hand,
12060-504: The vroedschap occurred. The regenten accepted the challenge and, studiously ignoring the stadtholder, appointed a moderate member of the schutterij to the vacant post. But the honeymoon between the "democrats" and "aristocrats" did not last. On 23 April 1784 a draft of a new "constitution" for Utrecht province, to replace the 1674 Regulation, was published in the Utrecht Patriot newspaper Utrechtse Courant , after
12328-573: The American Revolution and the Dutch Revolt , and this helped engender much sympathy for the American cause in Dutch public opinion. When John Adams arrived in the Netherlands from Paris in 1780, in search of Dutch loans for the financing of the American struggle, he came armed with a long list of Dutch contacts. At first, however, it was an uphill struggle to interest the Dutch elite. Adams set to work to influence public opinion with
12596-594: The American Revolutionary War , broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that war. Although the Dutch Republic did not enter into a formal alliance with the United States and their allies, U.S. ambassador (and future President) John Adams managed to establish diplomatic relations with the Dutch Republic, making it the second European country to diplomatically recognize
12864-515: The Asia-Pacific region. After the assassination of William of Orange on 10 July 1584, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined offers of sovereignty. However, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England ( Treaty of Nonsuch , 1585), and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became
13132-595: The Bay of Biscay and the Baltic . Seville and Lisbon and the Baltic ports were too far apart for direct trade between the two terminal points, enabling the Dutch to provide profitable intermediation, carrying salt, wine, cloth and later silver, spices, and colonial products eastward while bringing Baltic grains, fish, and naval stores to the west. The Dutch share of European shipping tonnage was enormous, well over half during most of
13400-685: The Brest Affair in which Pieter Paulus , the fiscal (prosecutor) of the Admiralty of Rotterdam was to lead an inquest, but this never resulted in a conviction. But the damage to the reputation of the Dutch navy and the stadtholder as its commander-in-chief in Dutch public opinion was appreciable, and this undermined the regime. The stadtholder was not the only one reminded by the American Declaration of Independence of its Dutch equivalent of 1581. Many others saw an analogy between
13668-547: The Continental Congress in April 1782. In October 1782, a treaty of amity and commerce was concluded as well. Most of the war consisted of a series of largely successful British operations against Dutch colonial economic interests, although British and Dutch naval forces also met once off the Dutch coast . The war ended disastrously for the Dutch and exposed the weakness of the political and economic foundations of
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#173280177643713936-588: The Dutch East India Company (VOC) for trade with Japan through its trading post on Dejima , an island in the bay of Nagasaki . From here the Dutch traded between China and Japan and paid tribute to the shōgun . Until 1854, the Dutch were Japan's sole window to the Western world. The collection of scientific learning introduced from Europe became known in Japan as Rangaku or Dutch Learning. The Dutch were instrumental in transmitting to Japan some knowledge of
14204-476: The Dutch Golden Age in the late-16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch Republic dominated world trade , conquering a vast colonial empire and operating the largest fleet of merchantmen of any nation. When Southern Europe was experiencing poor harvests, the Dutch very profitably exported surplus grain from Poland. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world. In 1650
14472-409: The Eighty Years War , the two countries were diametrically opposed when the Republic captured a large colonial empire . This led to the Anglo-Dutch Wars . The prosperity gained from this was accompanied by horrors against the local population. For example, in 1621, Jan Pieterszoon Coen had almost all the inhabitants of the Banda Islands massacred, see Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands . For
14740-659: The Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1713), the War of Austrian Succession (1744–1748), and the War of the First Coalition (1792–1795) against the Kingdom of France . The republic was more tolerant of different religions and ideas than contemporary states, allowing freedom of thought to its residents. Artists flourished under this regime, including painters such as Rembrandt , Johannes Vermeer , and many others. So did scientists, such as Hugo Grotius , Christiaan Huygens , and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek . Dutch trade, science, armed forces, and art were among
15008-404: The Generality Lands . The States Army, commanded by the stadtholder, was a mercenary army, paid for by the several provinces according to a formula for apportionment, called the repartitie . Holland paid for more than half of the troops, and it was known which regiments belonged to its repartitie , though this had no consequences for the operational command, as the army was an institution of
15276-452: The Het Loo Palace in Gelderland with his family. Around the same time things had come to a head in Utrecht city and part of the States of Utrecht decided to move to the city of Amersfoort , causing a schism in the States, as the representatives of the city of Utrecht and several other cities remained in Utrecht city. The Amersfoort States subsequently asked the stadtholder to put a garrison of States army troops in Amersfoort and Zeist , which
15544-530: The House of Stuart . The stadholder had supported British policies after the American Revolution and in foreign policy, the stadholder was "little more than a pawn of the British and Prussians", so that Patriot pressure was ignored by William. This severe military response overwhelmed the Patriots and put the stadholder firmly back in control. A small unpaid Prussian army was billeted in the Netherlands and supported themselves by looting and extortion. The exercitiegenootschappen continued urging citizens to resist
15812-451: The Kettle War with the Treaty of Fontainebleau . Shortly after that, special envoy Gerard Brantsen , a moderate Patriot, crowned this with the treaty of amity and commerce with France of October 1785. One person who observed this thaw in Franco-Dutch diplomatic relations with great alarm was the new British ambassador to The Hague, accredited since 1784, Sir James Harris . Harris had a tendency to see French conspiracies everywhere, and in
16080-403: The New World . Economists Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O'Rourke attribute part of the Dutch ascendancy to its Protestant work ethic based on Calvinism , which promoted thrift and education. This contributed to "the lowest interest rates and the highest literacy rates in Europe. The abundance of capital made it possible to maintain an impressive stock of wealth , embodied not only in
16348-410: The Patriottentijd (1780–1787). This unrest was temporarily suppressed by a Prussian invasion in support of the stadtholder. The French Revolution and subsequent War of the First Coalition reignited these tensions. Following military defeat by France, the stadtholder was expelled in the Batavian Revolution of 1795, ending the Dutch Republic, which was succeeded by the Batavian Republic . Until
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#173280177643716616-420: The Peace of Utrecht of 1713 the government of the Dutch Republic felt constrained to enter upon a policy of austerity as a consequence of the dire state of the Dutch public finances. Both the (mercenary) Dutch States Army and the Dutch navy suffered a large shrinkage in the following period, and consequently the Republic had to give up the pretense of being a European great power , in the military sense, with
16884-493: The Pilgrim Fathers ). Many immigrants came to the cities of Holland in the 17th and 18th century from the Protestant parts of Germany and elsewhere. The number of first-generation immigrants from outside the Netherlands in Amsterdam was nearly 50% in the 17th and 18th centuries. Amsterdam, which was a hub of the Atlantic world , had a population primarily of immigrants and others not considered Dutch, if one includes second and third generation immigrants. There were also migrants from
17152-426: The Rhine river. Dutch traders shipped wine from France and Portugal to the Baltic lands and returned with grain for countries around the Mediterranean Sea . By the 1680s, an average of nearly 1000 Dutch ships entered the Baltic Sea each year, to trade with markets of the fading Hanseatic League . The Dutch were able to gain control of much of the trade with the nascent English colonies in North America; and after
17420-417: The School of Delft , the Leiden fijnschilders , and Dutch classicism . Dutch architecture was taken to a new height in the Golden Age. Cities expanded greatly as the economy thrived. New town halls, weighhouses and storehouses were built. Merchants who had made their fortune ordered a new house along one of the many new canals that were dug out in and around many cities (for defense and transport purposes),
17688-435: The Treaty of Nijmegen , although France's Spanish and German allies felt betrayed by this. In 1688, at the start of the Nine Years' War with France, the relations with England reached crisis level once again. Convinced that he needed English support against France and that he had to prevent a second Anglo-French alliance, Stadtholder William III decided he had to take a huge gamble and invade England. To this end he secured
17956-469: The city council , which elected the magistrates and sent delegates to the regional and national States. This situation had come about gradually, as in medieval times corporate institutions, like the guilds and schutterijen had sometimes had at least nominating powers to the vroedschappen , bestowing a certain amount of political power on members of the middle class (though calling this "democracy" would be an exaggeration). The concentration of power in
18224-406: The head of state . This created tension between political factions: the Orangists favoured a powerful stadtholder, while the Republicans favoured a strong States General. The Republicans forced two Stadtholderless Periods , 1650–1672 and 1702–1747, with the latter causing national instability and the end of great power status. Economic decline led to a period of political instability known as
18492-412: The stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange suddenly died; his son was a baby and the Orangists were leaderless. The regents seized the opportunity: there would be no new stadtholder in Holland for 22 years. Johan de Witt , a brilliant politician and diplomat, emerged as the dominant figure. Princes of Orange became the stadtholder and an almost hereditary ruler in 1672 and 1748. The Dutch Republic of
18760-420: The urban population of the Dutch Republic as a percentage of total population was 31.7 percent, while that of the Spanish Netherlands was 20.8 percent, of Portugal 16.6 percent, and of Italy 14 percent. In 1675 the urban population density of Holland alone was 61 percent, compared to the rest of the Dutch Republic, where 27 percent lived in urban areas. The free trade spirit of
19028-455: The 1670s one such union, that of the Trip family (the Amsterdam branch of the Swedish arms makers) with the son of Burgomaster Valckenier, extended the influence and patronage available to the latter and strengthened his dominance of the council. The oligarchy in Amsterdam thus gained strength from its breadth and openness. In the smaller towns family interest could unite members on policy decisions but contraction through intermarriage could lead to
19296-454: The 1674 Government Regulation that gave extensive powers to the stadtholder to appoint city magistrates. This was a standing invitation to abuse. Nicolaas de Pesters, schepen of Utrecht, was infamous for his abuse of political patronage. The matter came to a head when in January 1783 a member of the Utrecht vroedschap (i.e. a regent ) proposed to disavow the appointment rights of
19564-586: The 16th century, the Low Countries —corresponding roughly to the present-day Netherlands , Belgium , and Luxembourg —consisted of a number of duchies , counties, and prince-bishoprics , almost all of which were under the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire , with the exception of the County of Flanders , most of which was under the Kingdom of France . Most of the Low Countries had come under
19832-511: The 1781 publication of a manifesto called Aan het Volk van Nederland ("To the People of the Netherlands") by Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol , who would become an influential leader of the Patriot movement. Their aim was to reduce corruption and the power held by the stadtholder , William V, Prince of Orange . Support for the Patriots came mostly from the middle class. They formed militias called exercitiegenootschappen . In 1785, there
20100-404: The 17th-century Dutch household revolved around the home and domestic tasks. In Dutch culture , the home was regarded as a safe-haven from the lack of Christian virtue and immorality of the outside world. Additionally, the home represented a microcosm of the Dutch Republic, in that the smooth running of an ideal household reflected the relative stability and prosperity of the government. The home
20368-604: The 21st century due to the extensive Dutch involvement in slavery and colonialism during the period, and it has been deprecated by several museums in the Netherlands , including the Amsterdam Museum . In 1568, the Seven Provinces that later signed the Union of Utrecht ( Dutch : Unie van Utrecht ) started a rebellion against Philip II of Spain that led to the Eighty Years' War . Before
20636-555: The Act of Association that the Free Corps had promulgated in the summer of 1785. In Utrecht city the Patriots feared an attack from the Amersfoort and Zeist troops, and started to fortify the city against a siege. The defenders received reinforcements from Holland and other Patriot strongholds, so that by the spring of 1787 they numbered 6,000. When the Utrecht Defense Council learned that the States army had sent
20904-489: The American and Dutch causes became intertwined in the public's mind as a model of "republican fraternity". Adams himself harped on this theme in the "Memorial" he presented to the States-General to obtain acceptance of his credentials as ambassador on 19 April 1781: If there was ever among nations a natural alliance, one may be formed between the two republics...The origins of the two Republics are so much alike that
21172-464: The Amsterdam vroedschap . Amsterdam had a large Free Corps, consisting of 55 companies, but the old schutterij , under Orangist command, was still a rival armed force. Besides, the Patriots did not have a monopoly on mob violence, as the workers in the Amsterdam shipbuilding industry, the so-called Bijltjes ("Ax-men"), were a strongly pro-Orange political force in the city. Patriot political clubs were rivaled by Orangist political clubs. In sum,
21440-554: The Constituted as permanent representatives of the schutterij on 21 February 1785, but made no further concessions. But then fate intervened, another member of the vroedschap died and the Constituted and Commissioned petitioned the vroedschap to fill the vacancy with someone sympathetic to their cause. The vroedschap then went out of its way to appoint someone the petitioners had already declared "unacceptable", one Jonathan Sichterman. The train of events that then
21708-564: The Dutch Republic formal recognition and independence from the Spanish crown. Protestants were especially well-represented among the skilled craftsmen and rich merchants of the port cities of Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp. Under the terms of the surrender of Antwerp in 1585, the Protestant population (if unwilling to reconvert) were given four years to settle their affairs before leaving the city and Habsburg territory. Similar arrangements were made in other places. More Protestants moved to
21976-697: The Dutch Republic was reluctantly drawn into the War of Austrian Succession , despite efforts to remain neutral. French attacks on Dutch fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands and occupation of the Dutch Zeelandic Flanders led to the Republic joining the Quadruple Alliance , which suffered a significant defeat at the Battle of Fontenoy . The French invasion exposed the weaknesses of Dutch defenses, leading to memories of "Disaster Year" of 1672 and widespread calls for
22244-544: The Dutch Republic, and he did not always limit himself to diplomatic means. One important task was to shore up the morale of the dispirited stadtholder after his departure from The Hague in September 1785. William at that time had two options: either to give in to the Patriot demands and accept some kind of compromise as to the Government Regulations, or to hold on to his "due rights" at any cost. The latter
22512-534: The Dutch Republic, where he became a professor of history and philosophy at the Illustrious School of Rotterdam. He lived in Rotterdam until his death in 1706. As Bertrand Russell noted in his A History of Western Philosophy (1945), "He [Descartes] lived in Holland for twenty years (1629–49), except for a few brief visits to France and one to England, all on business. It is impossible to exaggerate
22780-458: The Dutch at first profited from their "neutral-flag" trade of contraband goods with the French and Americans, and later fought alongside the French against the British during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War that had recently ended. Franco-Dutch relations became even better when France offered its good offices, both to obtain the 1784 treaty of Paris with Great Britain that ended the war, and subsequently to obtain peace with emperor Joseph II, that ended
23048-651: The Dutch case he may have been right. Because the French saw the discomfiture of the Dutch stadtholder with great pleasure, although their enthusiasm was limited to the advance of their old friends, the Amsterdam States Party regenten ; they were far less enthusiastic about the democratic designs of the other wing of the Patriot party. With the support of the Cabinet of William Pitt the Younger Harris set about to reestablish British influence in
23316-515: The Dutch constitution. But this mixture would diverge into two distinctive strands in the course of the next few years, until it would lead to an ideological split between the "aristocratic" and "democratic" Patriots. Of course, Aan het Volk van Nederland was just one example of the many pamphlets, both Orangist and Patriot, that were published during the Patriottentijd . But these one-off publications were soon joined by an innovation in
23584-399: The Dutch countryside. People in most parts of Europe were poor and many were unemployed. But in Amsterdam there was always work. Religious toleration was important, because a continuous influx of immigrants was necessary for the economy. Travellers visiting Amsterdam reported their surprise at the lack of control over the influx. The era of explosive economic growth is roughly coterminous with
23852-403: The Dutch were arguably the most economically wealthy and scientifically advanced of all European nations, which put them in a privileged position to transfer Western knowledge to Japan. The Dutch also dominated trade between European countries. The Low Countries were favorably positioned at a crossing of east–west and north–south trade routes and connected to a large German hinterland through
24120-501: The Dutch, despite the fact that the Dutch fleet had been enlarged appreciably in the preceding years. but it was scarcely used by the Dutch, with the stadtholder, as Admiral-General, in supreme command. At the start of the war, a number of Dutch warships were surprised by ships of the Royal Navy , who according to the Dutch, sneaked up under a false flag , and when they had approached the unsuspecting Dutchmen (who were not yet aware of
24388-460: The Eighty Years' War of independence against Spain (with political and economic freedom being other important motives). Intolerant inclinations, however, could be overcome by money. Thus Catholics could buy the privilege of holding ceremonies in a conventicle (a house doubling inconspicuously as a church), but public offices were out of the question. Catholics tended to keep to themselves in their own section of each town, even though they were one of
24656-561: The English economy was seriously hurt and its treasury nearly bankrupt. The greatly expanded Dutch navy was for years after the world's strongest. The Dutch Republic was at the zenith of its power. The year 1672 is known in the Netherlands as the "Disaster Year" ( Rampjaar ). England declared war on the Republic, (the Third Anglo-Dutch War ), followed by France, Münster and Cologne, which had all signed alliances against
24924-516: The Free corps drew up petitions demanding recognition of the newly-constituted militias by the city governments, which was subsequently granted. In this early phase there was a happy cooperation between the Patriots and the anti-Orangist regenten , because of their common interest in diminishing the powers of the stadtholder. In Holland province his advantage of exercising command of the Hague garrison of
25192-625: The French became involved in Dutch politics and the tide turned toward the Patriots. The French Revolution was popular, and numerous underground clubs were promoting it when in January 1795 the French army invaded . The underground rose up, overthrew the municipal and provincial governments, and proclaimed the Batavian Republic in Amsterdam . Stadtholder William V fled to England and the States General dissolved itself. During
25460-408: The French voluntarily retreated from the Dutch frontier. However, William IV died unexpectedly in 1751 at the age of 40. His son, William V , was 3 years old when his father died, and a long regency characterised by corruption and misrule began. His mother delegated most of the powers of the regency to Bentinck and her favorite, Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg . All power was concentrated in
25728-601: The Inquisitions in Iberia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. and later, poorer German Jews . The Portuguese Jewish community had many wealthy merchants who, both lived openly as Jews and participated in the thriving economy on a par with wealthy Dutch merchants. The Netherlands became home to many other notable refugees, including Protestants from Antwerp and Flanders , which remained under Spanish Catholic rule ; French Huguenots ; and English Dissenters , including
25996-547: The Legion were mercenaries, just like the soldiers of the army. The Legion did not play a role, until the Rhinegrave in September 1786 became commander-in-chief of all forces of the province of Holland, including the States army troops under the Holland repartitie , and later also the Free Corps in the provinces of Holland and Utrecht. The events that gave rise to this development were the following. In September 1785, after
26264-489: The Low Countries could be completely reconquered, a war between England and Spain , the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604 , broke out. English intervention forced Spanish troops to halt their advances and left them in control of the important trading cities of Bruges and Ghent , but without control of Antwerp , which was then arguably the most important port in the world. Antwerp fell on 17 August 1585, after
26532-615: The Netherlands , officially the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch : Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden ) and commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic , was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands and the first independent Dutch nation state . The republic
26800-613: The Orangists usually favored the British. Since the 1688 Glorious Revolution followed by a 1689 naval treaty, the Dutch had been in nominal alliance with the British, while the diplomatic relations with France had been strained due to the Franco-Dutch War and the War of the Austrian Succession . Dutch relations with France had, however, markedly improved during the era of the American Revolutionary War , when
27068-482: The Patriot movement to light. Initially both saw a common interest and a basis for cooperation (as the Leiden Draft explicitly proposes). This was exemplified by the Utrecht example where in July 1783 the vroedschap acceded to the demand of the local Free Corps to be recognized as the new manifestation of the schutterij under the direction of an elected Burgher Defense Council. Both factions were opposed to
27336-414: The Patriot revolution was singularly bloodless and that widespread military maneuvering remained the exception. But there actually were military actions by regular forces on both sides, aimed at deciding the issue by military means, and blood was spilled in battle. To understand how this came about, it is important first to understand the way the forces on both sides were distributed in the seven provinces and
27604-470: The Patriots therefore started to form their own militias, parallel to the official schutterijen , which they called by innocuous names like exercitiegenootschappen or vrijcorpsen (Free Corps) in order not to provoke the city governments. In contrast with the schutterijen these competing militias were open to members of all religious denominations; they elected their own officers; and they trained regularly in military drill ( exercitie ) and
27872-759: The Patriots were defeated by a Prussian army and many were forced into exile. The term Patriot (from Greek πατριώτης , "fellow countryman") had previously been used mid 17th century by Andries Bicker and the Loevestein faction , but when French troops invaded the Republic in 1747 , "Patriots" demanded the return of the Orange stadtholderate , which ended the Second Stadtholderless Period . From 1756 onward, however, Dutch States Party regenten once again began styling themselves "Patriots". The Orangist party did try to reappropriate
28140-504: The Patriots. That night the city was abuzz with fervid Patriot activity. The Burgher Defense Council, which commanded the Free Corps, organised a petition (the "Act of Qualification") which was signed by 16,000 people, and the next day the Dam Square before the city hall was thronged with thousands of guild members, Patriot citizens and armed militiamen. The Amsterdam council was once more locked in chambers, not expected to emerge without
28408-468: The Prince or whoever has any authority in this country, only do this on your behalf. All of their authority derives from you...All men are born free. By nature, no one has any authority over anyone else. Some people may be gifted with a better understanding, a stronger body or greater wealth than others, but this does not in the least entitle the more sensible, stronger or wealthier to govern the less sensible,
28676-528: The Republic as a whole. The troops were in peacetime usually divided over a number of garrisons in different parts of the country. These garrisons played an important role in local politics, as the officers were Orangists to a man, and the troops in the whole felt a strong allegiance to the stadtholder. The garrison cities, like Nijmegen in Gelderland, The Hague in Holland, and 'Hertogenbosch in "States Brabant" were strongpoints of Orangist influence, even though
28944-404: The Republic inwardly contented and outwardly feared by a salutary union of interests of Regent and Citizen, etc.) in which among other things the abolition of the right of approval of city-government appointments of the stadtholder was proposed, to be replaced by democratic elections. Implementing the Patriot manifestos brought a fundamental rift between the "democratic" and "aristocratic" wings of
29212-552: The Republic would not face the dire repercussions of a bad harvest and the starvation it accompanied, instead profiting when this happened in other states (bad harvests were commonplace in France and England in the 17th century, which also contributed to the Republic's success in that time). According to Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O'Rourke, geography favored the Dutch Republic, contributing to its wealth. They write, "The foundations were laid by taking advantage of location, midway between
29480-639: The Republic, using some military pressure. King Charles thought a naval war would weaken the Dutch traders and strengthen the English economy and empire, so the Second Anglo-Dutch War was launched in 1665. At first many Dutch ships were captured and the English scored great victories. However, the Raid on the Medway , in June 1667, ended the war with a Dutch victory. The Dutch recovered their trade, while
29748-462: The Republic. France, Cologne and Münster invaded the Republic. Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis, who had accomplished a diplomatic balancing act for a long time, were now the obvious scapegoats. They were lynched, and a new stadtholder , William III, was appointed. An Anglo-French attempt to land on the Dutch shore was barely repelled in three desperate naval battles under command of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter . The advance of French troops from
30016-479: The Stadtholderate in all provinces. The slow economic decline after 1730 was relative: other countries grew faster, eroding the Dutch lead and surpassing it. Wilson identifies three causes. Holland lost its world dominance in trade as competitors emerged and copied its practices, built their own ships and ports, and traded on their own account directly without going through Dutch intermediaries. Second, there
30284-438: The States Army was offset by the power of the Free Corps in most cities, and the latter had the additional advantage of providing a defense against the usual Orangist weapon of threatened mob violence, because the middle-class Patriots feared the city paupers as much as the regenten did, and formed a common front against the poor. And not without reason, because in several cities, there were Orangist-inspired riots by members of
30552-630: The States army (which only the States General could do), and in any case take the troops on the Holland repartitie out of the States army. When this was done this deprived the stadtholder of more than half of his troops, effectively denying him the military means to decide the political conflict. Holland also made a pact with the Utrecht States and the Overijssel cities (the Overijssel States were hopelessly divided) to form
30820-421: The States of Holland later exonerated the Free Corps and blamed the Orangist rioters. The Free Corps were a local phenomenon, limited to the areas where the Patriot movement was strong, partly because the Patriot ideology for a very long time respected the confederal structure of the Dutch Republic. They remained "federal" democrats. But from the end of 1784 they started to organize on a national level. In December
31088-420: The States of Holland lost confidence in the States army under the wavering command of the stadtholder, and decided to raise a separate military formation of brigade strength, outside the States army, under the command of the Rhinegrave of Salm-Grumbach , an officer in the States army, for its own account. This so-called "Legion of Salm" was not subject to the stadtholder as Captain-General of the States army. After
31356-556: The States-General, Hendrik Fagel, that it was only "... the parody of the proclamation issued by our forefathers against king Philip II ". But others were less scornful. Dutch merchants, especially in the Amsterdam Chamber of the moribund Dutch West India Company (WIC), had long chafed against the restrictions Britain's Navigation Acts imposed on direct trade with British North America . The American Revolutionary War opened new perspectives to unfettered trade, though for
31624-482: The United Provinces was a true republic from 1650 to 1672 and 1702–1748. These periods are called the First Stadtholderless Period and Second Stadtholderless Period . The Republic and England were major rivals in world trade and naval power. Halfway through the 17th century the Republic's navy was the rival of Britain's Royal Navy as the most powerful navy in the world. The Republic fought
31892-475: The Utrecht States had imprudently invited all citizens to lodge their objections to the Regulations in early 1784. This draft of 117 articles proposed that henceforth the Utrecht city vroedschap was to be popularly elected under a form of census suffrage in indirect elections . This relatively moderate proposal directly attacked the co-option rights of the regenten . Another objectionable proposal
32160-527: The aging king Frederick the Great of Prussia, Wilhelmina's uncle, in August 1785 in Berlin. But Frederick was loath to endanger good relations with France, and refused to take the bait. "The pear is not ripe," the old king remarked cryptically. Instead Prussia in concert with France attempted to mediate between the warring parties in the Republic. To that end both countries sent mediators, the ambassadors Vérac and Thulemeyer , who repeatedly attempted to bring
32428-562: The back of the stadtholder and the States-General. The French ambassador to the Republic, Vauguyon , arranged contacts with the American ambassador to the French court, Benjamin Franklin , in 1778, which in time led to the sending out of John Adams as American emissary to the Republic. In 1778, there also were secret negotiations between the Amsterdam banker Jean de Neufville and the American agent in Aachen , William Lee . The two concluded
32696-406: The banking sector dominated. These shifts had a devastating effect for the people who experienced downward social mobility and ended up in the lower strata of Dutch society. But even those that were not affected by such downward mobility, and remained in the upper and middle classes, were affected by this perceived economic decline. The economic decline worked through in the political sphere as after
32964-478: The cities under the command of the young firebrand Patriot Herman Willem Daendels , a Hattem native. The pro-Orangist States of Gelderland then asked the stadtholder to lend a hand in suppressing this "insurrection" and on 4 September a task-force of the Nijmegen garrison duly marched to Hattem and entered that city over light opposition the next day. The troops were allowed to loot the two small cities and desecrate
33232-462: The cities. The invention of the wind powered sawmill enabled the construction of a massive fleet of ships for worldwide trading and for military defense of the republic's economic interests. In the 17th century the Dutch – traditionally able seafarers and keen mapmakers – began to trade with the Far East , and as the century wore on, they gained an increasingly dominant position in world trade,
33500-469: The city. Therefore, the wealthy Sephardic Jews from Portugal were welcomed and accorded all privileges except those of citizenship, but the poor Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe were far more carefully vetted and those who became dependent on the city were encouraged to move on. Similarly, provision for the housing of Huguenot immigrants was made in 1681 when Louis XIV 's religious policy was beginning to drive these Protestants out of France; no encouragement
33768-402: The claim to restore their "proper" place in the hierarchy of civic institutions. Where a regent remained in charge of the schutterij he was suddenly supposed to represent his men in the vroedschap thereby cunningly reverting the old hierarchy. The Patriots made no secret of the political implications of their reform of the schutterijen . In cities like Leiden, Zutphen and Utrecht
34036-467: The colonization of the Americas would have looked very different. Asian slaves were also traded extensively. The slave was indispensable in the economy of the Dutch colonial empire in the Golden Age as a labor force; in the second half of the seventeenth century, half of the inhabitants of Batavia were unfree. Amsterdam's dominant position as a trade center was strengthened in 1640 with a monopoly for
34304-503: The combined Dutch, British, and Imperial armies conquered Flanders and Brabant, and invaded French territory before the alliance collapsed in 1713 due to British political infighting. The Second Stadtholderless Period ( Dutch : Tweede Stadhouderloze Tijdperk ) is the designation in Dutch historiography of the period between the death of stadtholder William III on 19 March 1702 and the appointment of William IV, Prince of Orange as stadtholder and captain general in all provinces of
34572-460: The constant absolute size of the economy) resulted in a constant per capita income. But this was somewhat misleading as economic inequality markedly increased during the 18th century: the economy became dominated by a small group of very rich rentiers , and the economy shifted to what we would now call a service economy , in which the commercial sector (always strong in the Netherlands) and
34840-414: The country. The Treaty of Paris (1784) , according to Fernand Braudel , "sounded the knell of Dutch greatness." After the war with Great Britain ended disastrously in 1784, there was growing unrest and a rebellion by the anti-Orangist Patriots . Influenced by the American Revolution , the Patriots sought a more democratic form of government. The opening shot of this revolution is often considered to be
35108-399: The crisis passed, the States of Holland decided to abolish it, as an austerity measure, but several Holland cities, Amsterdam among them, decided to take over the financing for their own account, so that from 1785 on the Legion continued in being as a military unit that was not part of the official military command structure, and also not part of the Free Corps federation, because the members of
35376-480: The defense of the Republican constitution, or "Act of Association" for short) in which the members of the Free Corps pledged to support each other against attempts at suppression by the civil authorities and against attacks by Orangist mobs. Also the Act for the first time established Volksregering bij representatie (People's government by representation) as the ultimate goal of the Free Corps movement. But this
35644-435: The degeneration of the quality of the members. In Amsterdam the network was so large that members of the same family could be related to opposing factions and pursue widely separated interests. The young men who had risen to positions of authority in the 1670s and 1680s consolidated their hold on office well into the 1690s and even the new century. Amsterdam's regents provided good services to residents. They spent heavily on
35912-410: The demands were not met" would soon convince them to give in. But once everybody had returned home in triumph, the city fathers would regain their courage, and renege on their promises "as these had been forced under duress." And a new cycle would soon commence. Something like this happened on 11–12 March 1785 in Utrecht, when agitators like Ondaatje whipped the crowd into a frenzy; the Utrecht city hall
36180-475: The diplomatic consequences that entailed. It became clear that the Republic had become a pawn in European power politics , depending on the good will of other countries such as France, Prussia and Great Britain. This decline in international diplomatic standing also contributed to the malaise that resulted from the perceived decline. The disaffection with the perceived state of the economy and diplomatic decline
36448-546: The direction of the exercitiegenootschap Pro Patria et Libertate (in which the student leader Quint Ondaatje played a prominent role) the schutterij was taken over by the Free Corps, while the old organisational structure with company names like "the Pikes" and "the Black Boys" was studiously retained (including the old flags and banners). At first in some cities the vroedschap encouraged this usurpation of
36716-404: The document made a great impression. In the night of 25 on 26 September 1781, the anonymous pamphlet Aan het Volk van Nederland ("To the People of the Netherlands") was distributed in a number of Dutch cities. It was later discovered that it had been written by Adams' friend Van der Capellen , and that its successful distribution had been organised by François Adriaan van der Kemp . Though
36984-409: The door to "democratic" experiments. Though the "democrats" had been in the Orangist camp in 1747, they therefore soon came into an alliance of convenience with the disenfranchised "States party" regenten . The American Declaration of Independence did not elicit enthusiasm from everyone in the Dutch Republic once it became known there in August 1776. The stadtholder wrote to the griffier of
37252-415: The economy was overtaken by that of other European countries in the course of the 18th century. Besides, in a number of economic sectors, such as the fisheries and most industries that had sprung up in the early 17th century, an absolute decline occurred. The country's deindustrialization resulted in de-urbanization as artisans that had worked in the disappearing industries had to move to areas where work
37520-508: The elderly, in particular, elderly women. Some Dutch writers idealized old age as a poetic transition from life to death. Others regarded aging as an illness in which one is gradually deteriorating until they reach their final destination, while some lauded the elderly as wise and people who deserve the highest forms of respect. However, treatises on behaviour for elderly women and widows stressed not necessarily their inherent wisdom, but that they should maintain piety, practice moderation, and live
37788-555: The elections by the local vroedschappen if the results did not comport with his wishes, and so bestowed great powers of political patronage on the local level on him (and the regents who ruled in place of the under-age William V before 1766). The end result was that the "States party" regenten that had ruled the country during the Second Stadtholderless Period were replaced by Orangist party men, who were ideologically opposed to popular influence, closing
38056-475: The end of the war with Spain in 1648, Dutch trade with that country also flourished. National industries expanded as well. Shipyards and sugar refineries are prime examples. As more and more land was utilized, partially through transforming lakes into polders such as the Beemster , Schermer and Purmer , local grain production and dairy farming soared. In the Netherlands in the 17th century, social status
38324-441: The events of 11 March. Sicherman could have his appointment back, but he declined; the council therefore left the vacancy unfilled. But the democrats were back in August and again in September with demonstrations following the established paradigm. Eventually, end December 1785, things came to a head when in a final demonstration of Free Corps strength the vroedschap was forced to capitulate. On 20 December they promised to adopt
38592-502: The first congress of representatives of a federation of Free Corps assembled in Utrecht. This was soon followed by the second congress on 25 February 1785, which commissioned the Leiden Free Corps to draft a manifesto. This manifesto was adopted during the third congress, again in Utrecht on 14 June 1785. It took the form of a solemn Acte van Verbintenis ter verdediging der Republicainsche constitutie (Act of Association for
38860-444: The goodwill of Britain. The main focus of Dutch leaders was reducing the country's considerable budget deficits. Dutch trade and shipping remained at a fairly steady level through the 18th century, but no longer had a near monopoly and also could not match growing English and French competition. The Netherlands lost its position as the trading centre of Northern Europe to London. Although the Netherlands remained wealthy, investments for
39128-521: The government, and Philip's efforts to modernize and centralize the devolved-medieval government structures of the provinces. This was the start of the Eighty Years' War . During the initial phase of the war, the revolt was largely unsuccessful. Spain regained control over most of the rebelling provinces. This period is known as the " Spanish Fury " due to the high number of massacres, instances of mass looting, and total destruction of multiple cities and in particular Antwerp between 1572 and 1579. In 1579,
39396-504: The government. They distributed pamphlets, formed "Patriot Clubs" and held public demonstrations . The government responded by pillaging those towns where opposition continued. Five leaders were sentenced to death, forcing them to flee. Lynchings also occurred. For a while, no one dared appear in public without an orange cockade to show their support for Orangism . Many Patriots, perhaps around 40,000 in all, fled to Brabant, France (especially Dunkirk and St. Omer ) and elsewhere. Before long
39664-471: The great number of " scenes of everyday life " or genre paintings, and other secular subjects. Landscapes and seascapes, for example, reflect the land reclaimed from the sea and the sources of trade and naval power that mark the Republic's Golden Age. One subject that is quite characteristic of Dutch Baroque painting is the large group portrait, especially of civic and militia guilds , such as Rembrandt van Rijn 's Night Watch . A special genre of still life
39932-533: The hands of an unaccountable few, including the Frisian nobleman Douwe Sirtema van Grovestins . Still a teenager, William V assumed the position of stadtholder in 1766, the last to hold that office. In 1767, he married Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia , the daughter of Augustus William of Prussia , niece of Frederick the Great . The position of the Dutch during the American War of Independence (1775–1783)
40200-426: The help of a number of those Dutch contacts which he enumerates in a letter to United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs Robert Livingstone of 4 September 1782. He mentions the Amsterdam lawyer Hendrik Calkoen, who was very interested in the American cause, and who posed thirty questions on the matter that Adams answered in a number of letters, that were later bundled and published as an influential pamphlet. Calkoen
40468-424: The history of the one seems to be but a transcript of the other; so that every Dutchman instructed in the subject must pronounce the American revolution just and necessary or pass censure upon the greatest actions of his immortal ancestors; an action which has been approved and applauded by mankind and justified by the decision of heaven... The immediate audience of the "Memorial" may have been sceptical, but elsewhere
40736-444: The immigration of many French Huguenots , many of whom were shopkeepers or scientists. However, some figures, such as the philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), experienced social stigma. Due to its climate of intellectual tolerance, the Dutch Republic attracted scientists and other thinkers from all over Europe. In particular, the renowned University of Leiden (established in 1575 by the Dutch stadtholder Willem van Oranje as
41004-576: The importance of Holland in the 17th century, as the one country where there was freedom of speculation. Hobbes had to have his books printed there; Locke took refuge there during the five worst years of reaction in England before 1688; Bayle (of the Dictionary ) found it necessary to live there; and Spinoza would hardly have been allowed to do his work in any other country." Dutch lawyers were famous for their knowledge of international law of
41272-452: The impoverished nation grew restless under William's rule. An English historian summed him up uncharitably as "a Prince of the profoundest lethargy and most abysmal stupidity." And yet he would guide his family through the difficult French-Batavian period and his son would be crowned king. The Fourth Anglo–Dutch War (1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic . The war, tangentially related to
41540-458: The industrial and scientific revolution then occurring in Europe. The Japanese purchased and translated numerous scientific books from the Dutch, obtained from them Western curiosities and manufactures (such as clocks) and received demonstrations of various Western innovations (such as electric phenomena, and the flight of a hot air balloon in the early 19th century). In the 17th and 18th centuries,
41808-459: The invitation of Laurens de Geer to visit Amsterdam, where he lived the last 14 years of his life (1656–1670). He published his most important works there: 43 volumes in all, about half of his total output. French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650) lived in Holland from 1628 until 1649. He also had his most important works published in Amsterdam and Leiden. Another French-born philosopher, Pierre Bayle , left France in 1681 for
42076-533: The journalist Antoine Marie Cerisier and his periodical le Politique hollandais . Another propagandist for the American cause, who drew inferences for the Dutch political situation, was the Overijssel maverick nobleman Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol , who had the Declaration of Independence, and other American constitutional documents, translated into Dutch. By these propagandistic activities
42344-410: The large fleet but in the plentiful stocks of an array of commodities that were used to stabilize prices and take advantage of profit opportunities." Several other factors also contributed to the flowering of trade, industry, the arts and the sciences in the Netherlands during this time. A necessary condition was a supply of cheap energy from windmills and from peat , easily transported by canal to
42612-593: The largely Calvinistic population. The major force behind new developments was the citizenry, notably in the western provinces: first and foremost in Holland, to a lesser extent Zeeland and Utrecht . Where rich aristocrats often became patrons of art in other countries, because of their comparative absence in the Netherlands this role was played by wealthy merchants and other patricians. Centres of cultural activity were town militia (Dutch: schutterij ) and chambers of rhetoric ( rederijkerskamer ). The former were created for town defence and policing, but also served as
42880-459: The largest commercial enterprise of the 17th-century world. Spices were imported in bulk and brought huge profits due to the efforts and risks involved and to demand. This is remembered to this day in the Dutch word peperduur , (as expensive as pepper) meaning something is very expensive, reflecting the prices of spices at the time. To finance the growing trade within the region, the Bank of Amsterdam
43148-534: The largest single denominations: for example, the Catholic painter Johannes Vermeer lived in the "Papist corner" of the town of Delft . The same applied to Anabaptists and Jews . Overall, the country was tolerant enough to attract religious refugees from other countries, notably Jewish merchants from Portugal who brought much wealth with them. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France in 1685 resulted in
43416-600: The late Middle Ages cities in the Habsburg Netherlands had employed citizen militias for external defense (mostly against incursions from neighboring provinces), and to keep public order. These militias, called schutterijen , played an important part in the early stages of the Dutch Revolt when they on their own successfully defended important cities against the Spanish troops of the Duke of Alba , which helped to give them an aura of heroism. In this early period
43684-463: The latter causing the former. Though the economy declined considerably, causing deindustrialization and deurbanization in the maritime provinces, a rentier -class kept accumulating a large capital fund that formed the basis for the leading position the Republic achieved in the international capital market. A military crisis at the end of the period caused the Orangist revolution and the restoration of
43952-459: The leaders of the Patriots, Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol , influenced by the reformer Richard Price and the dissenter Joseph Priestley , anonymously published a pamphlet, entitled Aan het Volk van Nederland ("To the People of the Netherlands"), in which he advocated, like Andrew Fletcher , the formation of civic militias on the Scottish, Swiss and American model to help restore
44220-407: The line would in 1783 be sent to the French port of Brest to join the French fleet there. However, a direct order to set sail was disobeyed by the Dutch naval top with again the excuse of "unreadiness," but some officers, like vice-admiral Lodewijk van Bylandt , the intended leader of the expedition, let it be known that they did not want to cooperate with the French. This caused a scandal, known as
44488-487: The local churches. Stadtholder William V is said to have exclaimed on the news of the success of the operation: "Have they be hanged? Hell and Damnation. Why not hang the Satan's children?". The "Hattem and Elburg events" electrified the Patriot opposition. Pensionary de Gijselaar (calling the stadtholder "a new Alva ") demanded in the States of Holland that the stadtholder would be deprived of his command as Captain-General of
44756-591: The lower classes, the Dutch Reformed clergy, and the Jewish community. In 1785 the stadholder left The Hague and moved his court to Nijmegen in Guelders , a city remote from the heart of Dutch political life. In June 1787, his energetic wife Wilhelmina (the sister of Frederick William II of Prussia ) tried to travel to The Hague . Outside Schoonhoven , she was stopped by Patriot militiamen and taken to
45024-440: The manifesto along the lines of the draft they discussed in a meeting on 4 October 1785. This resulted in the publication of the manifesto, entitled Ontwerp om de Republiek door eene heilzaame Vereeniging van Belangen van Regent en Burger van Binnen Gelukkig en van Buiten Gedugt te maaken", Leiden, aangenomen bij besluit van de Provinciale Vergadering van de Gewapende Corpsen in Holland, op 4 oktober 1785 te Leiden (Design to make
45292-471: The mercenaries. Though this was only a skirmish, the Patriot propaganda made hay of the victory and the officer killed received a state funeral. The Patriot Revolt did not take place in a diplomatic vacuum. The Dutch Republic had from its inception been a battlefield of Great Power diplomacy in which the Holland regenten (lately in the guise of the States Party) had been sympathetic to France, and
45560-462: The mid-1660s Amsterdam had reached the optimum population (about 200,000) for the level of trade, commerce and agriculture then available to support it. The city contributed the largest quota in taxes to the States of Holland which in turn contributed over half the quota to the States General. Amsterdam was also one of the most reliable in settling tax demands and therefore was able to use the threat to withhold such payments to good effect. Amsterdam
45828-556: The midst of you a moderate number of good, virtuous, pious men... Send these as your commissioners to the meeting places of the Estates of your Provinces and order them ...to make, together with the Estates ...a precise inquiry into the reasons for the extreme slowness and weakness with which the protection of this country against a formidable and especially active enemy is being treated ...Let your commissioners publicly and openly report to you about their actions from time to time by means of
46096-421: The militia often formed a separate and independent center of power of the burghers who were its members, rivaling the vroedschap as the power center of the elite. This independence was symbolized by the fact that the schutterij usually elected its own officers. But starting in the early 17th century the militias lost their independence and became subservient to the regular city magistracy. They also became
46364-460: The moderates to compromise. For instance, in 1785 they proposed that the stadtholder would cede his military powers to a council, with the Princess, the pensionaries, and the leaders of both the Orangist and "aristocratic" Patriot factions as members (only the democrats would be excluded). But William refused to budge on his "due rights" and without that the Patriots would not budge either. In 1786
46632-563: The moment primarily on the smuggling route via the WIC colony of Sint Eustatius . That entrepôt soon became an important export port for the supply of the American rebels with Dutch arms. The Amsterdam regenten were particularly interested in opening formal trade negotiations with the Continental Congress ; secret diplomacy was soon embarked upon by the pensionaries of a number of mercantile cities, like Engelbert François van Berckel (Amsterdam) and Cornelis de Gijselaar ( Dordrecht ), behind
46900-403: The most acclaimed in the world during much of the 17th century, a period which became known as the Dutch Golden Age . The republic was a confederation of provinces, each with a high degree of independence from the federal assembly, known as the States General . In the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the republic gained approximately 20% more territory, located outside the member provinces, which
47168-410: The most popular being Jacob Cats' Houwelyck . As evidenced by numerous 17th-century Dutch genre paintings, the most important domestic tasks performed by women included supervising maids, cooking, cleaning, needlework, and spinning. As seen in art and literature at the time, unmarried young women were valued for maintaining their modesty and diligence as this time in a woman's life was regarded to be
47436-481: The most precarious. From a young age, burgher women were taught various household-related duties by their mothers, including reading, so as to prepare them for their lives as housewives. Dutch art at this time shows the idealized situation in which an unmarried young girl ought to conduct herself in situations such as courtship, which commonly included themes relating to gardens or nature, music lessons or parties, needlework, and receiving love letters. However, ideals of
47704-408: The nation's money became more difficult to find. Some investment went into purchases of land for estates, but most went to foreign bonds and Amsterdam remained one of Europe's banking capitals. Dutch culture also declined both in the arts and sciences. Literature for example largely imitated English and French styles with little in the way of innovation or originality. The most influential intellectual
47972-725: The north between 1585 and 1630 than Catholics moved in the other direction, although there were also many of these. Many of those moving north settled in Amsterdam , transforming what was a small harbor into one of the most important ports and commercial centres in the world by 1630. In addition to the mass migration of Protestant natives from the southern Netherlands to the northern Netherlands, there were also influxes of non-native refugees who had previously fled from religious persecution, particularly Sephardi Jews from Portugal and Spain , and later Protestants from France . The Pilgrim Fathers also spent time there before their voyage to
48240-416: The old States-Party faction and were as such opposed to the stadtholder long before the Patriot movement started to rear its head. Its pensionary , Engelbert François van Berckel , together with the pensionaries of Dordrecht ( Cornelis de Gijselaar ) and of Haarlem ( Adriaan van Zeebergh ) formed an anti-stadtholderian triumvirate in the States of Holland during the days of the war with Great Britain. But this
48508-410: The pamphlet was immediately proscribed as seditious by the authorities, it enjoyed a wide circulation. "Seditious" it certainly was, as the pamphlet repeatedly exhorted the burghers of the Netherlands to arm themselves and take matters into their own hands. As was usual at the time, the pamphlet contained a romanticized overview of Dutch history, going back to the mythical ancestors of the Dutch people,
48776-684: The patrician merchants. The former—the Orangists—were soldiers and centralizers who seldom spoke of compromise with the enemy and looked for military solutions. They included many rural gentry as well as ordinary folk attached to the banner of the House of Orange . The latter group were the Republicans, led by the Grand Pensionary (a sort of prime minister) and the regents stood for localism, municipal rights, commerce, and peace. In 1650,
49044-421: The people is kept ignorant, where the people is unarmed and has nothing in the world... Therefore: ...Anything which is attempted at this time to save our truly almost irretrievably lost fatherland will be in vain, if you, o people of the Netherlands, remain passive bystanders any longer. So do this! Assemble each and everyone in your cities and in the villages in the country. Assemble peacefully and elect from
49312-491: The period of social and cultural bloom that has been called the Dutch Golden Age , and that actually formed the material basis for that cultural era. Amsterdam became the hub of world trade, the center into which staples and luxuries flowed for sorting, processing, and distribution, and then reexported around Europe and the world. During 1585 through 1622 there was the rapid accumulation of trade capital, often brought in by refugee merchants from Antwerp and other ports. The money
49580-416: The period of their ascendancy." Outside of Europe, the Republic also prospered. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC) not only obtained a monopoly on the spice trade , their ships also controlled the world's seas. This was very much against the wishes of England, which was envious of the economic success of the Republic. Although they had both fought the Spanish during
49848-421: The political elite. The journalists and publishers were often prosecuted by their enraged victims, but fines and jail-time were part of the job in these times. As they had a national readership they helped Patriot politics go beyond the local confines they would normally have encountered. And their ideological consistency helped to bring about unity in especially the "democratic" wing of the Patriot movement. Since
50116-404: The political forces were more evenly balanced than in other cities. And this paralyzed the Amsterdam vroedschap in the spring of 1787. Things came to a head in February 1787 when a group of Free-Corps officers, led by a Colonel Isaac van Goudoever forced entry to the council chamber in protest against an anti-Patriot move Dedel had engineered. Only the intervention of Hendrik Daniëlsz Hooft ,
50384-401: The population during the 18th century and enjoyed greater tolerance, even as they continued to be outside the political system. They became divided by the feud between moralistic Jansenists (who denied free will) and orthodox believers. One group of Jansenists formed a splinter sect, the Old Catholic Church in 1723. The upper classes willingly embraced the ideas of the Enlightenment, tempered by
50652-404: The preserve of the regenten class, and more like recreative societies than serious military formations. Many Patriots took this decline of the schutterijen as a synecdoche for the decline of the Republic, and the reform of the militias was seen as an important part of the necessary reform of the Republic. But as elsewhere the stadtholderian regime blocked such reform. From 1783 onwards,
50920-467: The press...Arm yourselves, all of you, and elect yourselves the ones that must command you. Act with calmness and modesty in all things (like the people of America, where not one drop of blood was shed before the English attacked them in the first place)... These themes: the primacy of the people, whose servants the politicians are; the need to arm the people in units who elect their own officers; to elect commissioners who investigate government wrongdoing, as
51188-407: The prevailing public opinion concerning marriage. He and other cultural authorities were influenced by Calvinist ideals that stressed an equality between husband and wife, considered companionship a primary reason for marriage, and regarded procreation as a mere consequence of that companionship. However, non-egalitarian ideas still existed regarding women as the weaker sex, and the image of the turtle
51456-404: The proposed Burgher Council from the draft-constitution. The negotiations fruitlessly dragged on and in January 1785 six companies of the schutterij approached the Constituted to urge them to take more drastic steps. The irate "shooters" elected a new group of representatives, called the "Commissioned," to permanently ensure the zeal of the Constituted. The vroedschap grudgingly accepted
51724-430: The provincial States, and eventually the States-General. Those local governments, however, though ostensibly representing "The People" according to the prevailing ideology, had in fact evolved into oligarchies dominated by a few families that in the cities at least were not formally part of the nobility, but were considered "patrician" in the classical sense. The members of the regenten class co-opted each other in
51992-418: The rapid growth of the nonagricultural labor force and the increase in real wages during the same time. In the half-century between 1570 and 1620 this labor supply increased 3 percent per annum, a truly phenomenal growth. Despite this, nominal wages were repeatedly increased, outstripping price increases. In consequence, real wages for unskilled laborers were 62 percent higher in 1615–1619 than in 1575–1579. By
52260-418: The representatives of these cities in the States of several provinces, gaining Patriot majorities in the States of Holland, Groningen and Utrecht, and frequently also in the States General. This helped to emasculate the stadtholder's power as he was deprived of his command over a large part of the Dutch States Army . A low-key civil war ensued that resulted in a military stalemate, until in September–October 1787
52528-408: The republican constitution. Such militias were subsequently organised in many localities and formed, together with Patriot political clubs, the core of the Patriot movement. From 1785 on, the Patriots managed to gain power in a number of Dutch cities, where they replaced the old system of co-option of regenten with a system of democratically elected representatives. This enabled them to replace
52796-406: The restoration of the stadtholderate . William IV, Prince of Orange , seized this opportunity to consolidate power and place loyal officials in strategic government positions to wrest control from the regenten . The struggle involved religious, anti-Catholic, and democratic elements, as well as mob violence and political agitation. The war concluded with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) , and
53064-400: The role of the schutterij , because it helped to undermine the stadtholder's right to appoint the leadership of the militia (as in Alkmaar, Leiden and Dordrecht), which the regenten resented themselves. But this in itself was a threat to the established order, as the claim to revive the schutterijen was commingled with the principle of electing officers freely from the citizenry and
53332-497: The rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg . In 1549, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction , which further unified the Seventeen Provinces under his rule. Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain . In 1568, the Netherlands, led by William I of Orange , together with Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn , and Lamoral, Count of Egmont revolted against Philip II because of high taxes, persecution of Protestants by
53600-404: The same footing to everyone. Opening up the political system to the middle class had therefore been an objective of political reformers like the so-called Doelisten who in 1747 helped elevate the Frisian stadtholder William IV to stadtholder in all seven provinces, on a hereditary basis, with greatly expanded powers, in the hope that he would use those powers to promote the political influence of
53868-444: The sea and commercial law . Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) played a leading part in the foundation of international law . He invented the concept of the "Free seas" or Mare liberum , which was fiercely contested by England, the Netherlands' main rival for domination of world trade. He also formulated laws on conflicts between nations in his book De lure Belli ac pacis ("On the law of war and peace"). Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695)
54136-409: The sea. Leeghwater added a considerable amount of land to the republic by converting several large lakes into polders , pumping the water out with windmills. Cultural development in the Low Countries stood out from neighboring countries. With some exceptions (notably Dutch playwright Joost van den Vondel ) the Baroque movement did not gain much influence. Its exuberance did not fit the austerity of
54404-448: The second half lasting until the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War . During the period, Dutch colonialists, many of them affiliated with the East India Company and West India Company , established trading posts and colonies in the Americas , Southern Africa and Asia , protected by the powerful Dutch States Navy . The Dutch also dominated the triangular trade and Atlantic slave trade during this period. Dutch culture experienced
54672-421: The second half of the century. After aristocrats and patricians came the affluent middle class, consisting of Protestant ministers, lawyers, physicians, small merchants, industrialists and clerks of large state institutions. Lower status was attributed to farmers, craft and tradesmen, shopkeepers, and government bureaucrats. Below that stood skilled laborers, maids, servants, sailors, and other persons employed in
54940-455: The service industry. At the bottom of the pyramid were "paupers": impoverished peasants, many of whom tried their luck in a city as a beggar or day laborer. Workers and laborers were generally paid better than in most of Europe, and enjoyed relatively high living standards, although they also paid higher than normal taxes. Farmers prospered from mainly cash crops needed to support the urban and seafaring population. The central role of women in
55208-420: The south was halted by a costly inundation of its own heartland, by breaching river dikes. With the aid of friendly German princes, the Dutch succeeded in fighting back Cologne and Münster , after which the peace was signed with both of them, although some territory in the east was lost forever. Peace was signed with England as well, in 1674 ( Second Treaty of Westminster ). In 1678, peace was made with France at
55476-534: The stadtholder himself. Ably assisted by "confidential agents", of which baron Hendrik August van Kinckel is the best known, he used these funds to subsidize the establishment of Orangist Free Corps in provinces like Zeeland and Friesland where the Orangists were in the majority, which were used to intimidate the Patriot minorities in these provinces. He tried to lure the conservative regenten in Amsterdam away from their anti-Orangist stance with promises of trade concessions by Britain, and promises of concessions from
55744-426: The stadtholder that would safeguard their own privileges, but avoid any "democratic" experiments. But Harris' most important ploy was an attempt to engineer an alliance with Prussia that would thwart the "French designs". This would kill two birds with one stone: it would keep the stadtholder in power, and it would renew the Anglo-Prussian alliance that had existed during the Seven Years' War . To that end he visited
56012-402: The stadtholder, and in August 1783 a petition of members of the newly reconstituted schutterij urged the vroedschap to no longer brook such interference. Attempts to come to an understanding with the stadtholder in the fall of 1783 failed, because the latter insisted on his "due rights." Then in January 1784 an occasion presented itself to test the stadtholder's resolve, when a vacancy in
56280-437: The stadtholder: ...There is no freedom and no freedom can exist in a country where one single person has the hereditary command over a large army, appoints and dismisses the country's regents and keeps them in his power and under his influence, deals with all the offices, and by his influence on the appointments of professors controls the subject matter that is being taught to the country's youth studying in universities, where
56548-424: The stadtholderian regime in exchange for concessions by the stadtholder on the point of his right of appointment (which the States-Party regenten had always opposed), and his help with mobilizing the Bijltjes . This conspiracy failed due to the obduracy of the stadtholder, but on 20 April 1787 an incendiary pamphlet, entitled Het Verraad Ontdekt ("The Treason Discovered"), made it public, and this incensed
56816-410: The start of the war), ran up their true colors and opened fire. The Dutch ships then struck their colors after firing a single broadside in reply "to satisfy honor." In this way individual ships, and even a complete squadron, were lost. The British blockaded the Dutch coast without much response from the Dutch fleet. There was one big battle between a Dutch squadron under rear-admiral Johan Zoutman and
57084-402: The state was small and had only around 1.5 million inhabitants, it controlled a worldwide network of seafaring trade routes . Through its trading companies, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (GWC), it established a Dutch colonial empire . The income from this trade allowed the Dutch Republic to compete militarily against much larger countries. It amassed
57352-406: The strongest, can be viewed as oppositional regenten , who either sought to enter the factions in power, or tried to realise the so-called " Loevesteinian " ideal of a republic without Orange; they came from the existing Dutch States Party . The democratic Patriots emerged later, and consisted mainly of non-regent members of the bourgeoisie , who strove to democratise the Republic. Finally,
57620-465: The styles of the old masters. Life for the average Dutchman became slower and more relaxed in the 18th century. The upper and middle classes continued to enjoy prosperity and high living standards. The drive to succeed seemed less urgent. Unskilled laborers remained locked in poverty and hardship. The large underclass of unemployed required government and private charity to survive. During Anthonie van der Heim 's tenure as Grand Pensionary (1737–1746),
57888-431: The support from the Dutch States-General and from Protestant British nobles feuding with William's father-in-law the Catholic James II of England . This led to the Glorious Revolution and cemented the principle of parliamentary rule and Protestant ascendency in England. James fled to France, and William ascended to the English throne as co-monarch with his wife Mary, James' eldest daughter. This manoeuvre secured England as
58156-402: The surrounding provinces might tend to favor the Patriots. So even without explicitly threatening military violence, the army played an important role in local politics. Before 1784 the States army was the only official standing army in the Republic, but during the so-called Kettle War , a minor military conflict with the Austrian emperor and sovereign of the Austrian Netherlands , Joseph II ,
58424-404: The tendencies that dominated Baroque art in other parts of Europe, such as Caravaggism and naturalism , but was the leader in developing the subjects of still life , landscape , and genre painting . Portraiture was also popular, but history painting – traditionally the most-elevated genre – struggled to find buyers. Church art was virtually non-existent, and little sculpture of any kind
58692-403: The term Patriottentijd for the historical era is a historiographical invention of 19th-century Dutch historians, comparable to the terms " First Stadtholderless Period ", " Second Stadtholderless Period ", and "Fransche Tijd (French Era)" (for the era of the Batavian Republic , the Kingdom of Holland and the French First Empire , 1795–1813). Herman Theodoor Colenbrander for instance, used
58960-460: The term as the title of one of his main works: De patriottentijd: hoofdzakelijk naar buitenlandsche bescheiden (The Hague, 1897). The term was often used in a pejorative fashion, but lately has acquired a more positive connotation. After the halcyon days of the Dutch Golden Age of the first two-thirds of the 17th century, the Dutch economy entered a period of stagnation and relative decline. The absolute size of Dutch GNP remained constant, but
59228-417: The term, but it was forced on the defensive, which became apparent when it renamed one of its weekly magazines to De Ouderwetse Nederlandsche Patriot ("The Old-Fashioned Dutch Patriot"). Patriotism and anti-Orangism had become synonymous. The Patriots can be divided into two separate groups: aristocrats and democrats. The aristocratic Patriots (also called oudpatriotten or "Old Patriots"), initially
59496-455: The then-stadtholder. But the reaction was swift: 17 members of the vroedschap resigned in protest, and soon a petition of notable citizens was sent to the States with a request to intervene. The States excoriated Ondaatje and his mob and manage to intimidate Ondaatje sufficiently to elicit a humble apology. On 23 March the 19 vroedschap members reoccupied their seats, and opened criminal proceedings against Ondaatje and other instigators of
59764-415: The time was augmented by the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company , while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands. The Dutch East-India Company exchange went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in
60032-438: The tolerance that meant less hostility to organized religion compared to France. Dutch universities declined in importance, no longer attracting large numbers of foreign students. The Netherlands remained an important hub of intellectual exchange, creating reviews of foreign publications that made scholars aware of new works in French, German, and English. Dutch painting declined, no longer being innovative, with painters pursuing
60300-441: The town hall and assemble, with their weapons, in the town square, which they would easily fill with their large numbers. The city fathers would be summoned to come to the town hall and would be more or less locked up in their meeting room. They would not be physically assaulted (even provided with food and drink), but the psychological pressure of the threatening crowd, and the threats that "it would be impossible to constrain them, if
60568-427: The use of arms. The Patriots proposed to use the militias to promote the representation of their officers in official councils, and to defend the rights of free assembly and speech of the citizenry. Depending on local political circumstances the Free corps sometimes remained a parallel military structure, and sometimes gradually took over the old schutterij . An example of the latter was the city of Utrecht where under
60836-429: The vernacular press. Before 1780 the "opinion newspapers," like the Gazette de Leyde and the Politique Hollandais were written in French, and generally only read by the elite. But in 1781 the Patriot Pieter 't Hoen started a periodical in Dutch in Utrecht, entitled De Post van den Neder-Rhijn (The Post of the Lower Rhine) that would become a combination of opinion weekly, tabloid , and scandal sheet, with
61104-406: The water-ways and other essential infrastructure, as well as municipal almshouses for the elderly, hospitals and churches. Amsterdam's wealth was generated by its commerce, which was in turn sustained by the judicious encouragement of entrepreneurs whatever their origin. This open door policy has been interpreted as proof of a tolerant ruling class. But tolerance was practiced for the convenience of
61372-417: The weaker and the poorer...In these companies, usually called civil societies, peoples or nations, the members or participants pledge to promote each others' happiness as much as possible, to protect each other with united force and to maintain each other in an uninterrupted enjoyment of all property, possessions and all inherited and lawfully acquired rights... The author then continues with a diatribe against
61640-467: The wife in the domestic and private), women in 17th-century Dutch society still enjoyed a wide range of freedoms within their own sphere of control. Unmarried young women were known to enjoy various freedoms with their lovers and suitors, while married women enjoyed the right to publicly shame their husbands who patronized brothels. Moreover, married women could legally reject the sexual desires of their husbands if there were proof or reason to believe that
61908-403: The working class, like the riots in Rotterdam in 1783 and the Hague in 1784, led by the fish-monger Kaat Mussel . On 3 April 1784 such a riot was bloodily suppressed by a Free-Corps company in Rotterdam, when a panicky officer ordered his men to open fire on the mob, which resulted in several people killed. Initially, the officer was blamed, but (due to the fact that more and more riots occurred)
62176-423: The would-be "democrats." That hope proved vain, also because of his untimely death in 1751, after which he was succeeded by his infant son William V , who was three years of age at the time. Power devolved upon regents , first the dowager Princess of Orange , and after her death in 1759, de facto Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg , who saw even less merit in "democratic" experiments. Duke Louis would retain
62444-439: The young women espoused by genre painting and Petrarchian poetry did not reflect the reality. Accounts from travellers described the various freedoms young women were provided in the realm of courtship. The prevalence of Calvinist sermons regarding the consequences of leaving young women unsupervised also spoke to a general trend of a lack of parental oversight in the matters of young love. Dutch writers, such as Jacob Cats , held
62712-425: Was New Amsterdam (in present-day New York City). The role that the Netherlands was able to play in the transatlantic slave trade was the result of a series of conquests against the Portuguese. Trade routes of African slaves in the seventeenth century ran largely through Elmina in Ghana to Brazil and the Caribbean Islands . Elmina was conquered in 1637, Axim in 1642. In 1641, led by Cornelis Jol , Angola
62980-568: Was Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), a Protestant refugee from France who settled in Rotterdam where he wrote the massive Dictionnaire Historique et Critique ( Historical and Critical Dictionary , 1696). It had a major impact on the thinking of The Enlightenment across Europe, giving an arsenal of weapons to critics who wanted to attack religion. It was an encyclopaedia of ideas that argued that most "truths" were merely opinions, and that gullibility and stubbornness were prevalent. Religious life became more relaxed as well. Catholics grew from 18% to 23% of
63248-430: Was a famous astronomer , physicist and mathematician . He invented the pendulum clock , which was a major step forward towards exact timekeeping. Among his contributions to astronomy was his explanation of Saturn's planetary rings . He also contributed to the field of optics . The most famous Dutch scientist in the area of optics is Antonie van Leeuwenhoek , who was the first to methodically study microscopic life—he
63516-418: Was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the Rampjaar occurred. During this period, Dutch trade , scientific developments , art and overseas colonisation was among the most prominent in Europe. The first half of the period spanned from the beginning of the Eighty Years' War until its conclusion in 1648, with
63784-498: Was all based on the interests of Amsterdam as a mercantile city. The Amsterdam regenten were in no mood for "democratic" experiments that would undermine their privileges. The more the democrats gained influence in other cities, the more the Amsterdam regenten drew closer to their Orangist enemies, and the stadtholder's regime. Van Berckel lost the initiative to Orangist regenten like Joachim Rendorp , and Willem Gerrit Dedel Salomonsz , who formed an Orangist minority within
64052-446: Was also conquered. It is estimated that more than 550,000 people were brought to America in slavery by Dutch ships. Conditions during these voyages were miserable, and it was commonplace for large numbers of enslaved people to die before they reached their destination. In addition to the personal hardships of enslaved people, the trade also massively disrupted African societies. Estimates of the direct profitability vary, but without slavery
64320-402: Was an integral part of public life in Dutch society. Public passers-by could clearly view the entrance halls of Dutch homes decorated to show off a particular family's wealth and social standing. The home was also a place for neighbors, friends, and extended family to interact, further cementing its importance in the social lives of 17th-century Dutch burghers. The physical space of the Dutch home
64588-534: Was an open Patriot rebellion, which took the form of an armed insurrection by local militias in certain Dutch towns, Freedom being the rallying cry. Herman Willem Daendels attempted to organise an overthrow of various municipal governments ( vroedschap ). The goal was to oust government officials and force new elections. "Seen as a whole this revolution was a string of violent and confused events, accidents, speeches, rumours, bitter enmities and armed confrontations", wrote French historian Fernand Braudel , who saw it as
64856-422: Was commonly used to express the separate spheres and strengths of both genders. In addition to supervising maids, cooking, cleaning, and prating needlework, women were also encouraged to maintain some financial control over domestic affairs, such as going to market and buying their own food. Maternity and motherhood were highly valued in Dutch culture. Mothers were encouraged to breastfeed their children, as using
65124-415: Was constructed along gender lines. In the front of the house, the men had control over a small space where they could do their work or conduct business, known as the Voorhuis, while women controlled most every other space in the house, such as the kitchens and private family rooms. Although there was a clear separation in spheres of power between husband and wife (the husband had authority in the public realm,
65392-550: Was divided, although exercising social control in many areas to an even greater extent than under the Catholic Church. That is not to say that aristocrats were without social status. On the contrary, wealthy merchants bought themselves into the nobility by becoming landowners and acquiring a coat of arms and a seal. Aristocrats also mixed with other classes for financial reasons: they married their daughters to wealthy merchants, became traders themselves or took up public or military office. Merchants also started to value public office as
65660-406: Was done in September 1785 with a cavalry division from the Nijmegen garrison. This remained the status quo until in May 1786 the vroedschappen of the Gelderland cities of Hattem and Elburg refused to seat a number of Orangist candidates in defiance of the stadtholder's right of appointment, and with help of Patriot Free Corps of Kampen, Overijssel , Zwolle and Zutphen started to fortify
65928-587: Was established after seven Dutch provinces in the Spanish Netherlands revolted against Spanish rule , forming a mutual alliance against Spain in 1579 (the Union of Utrecht ) and declaring their independence in 1581 (the Act of Abjuration ). The seven provinces it comprised were Groningen (present-day Groningen ), Frisia (present-day Friesland ), Overijssel (present-day Overijssel ), Guelders (present-day Gelderland ), Utrecht (present-day Utrecht ), Holland (present-day North Holland and South Holland ), and Zeeland (present-day Zeeland ). Although
66196-609: Was established in 1609, the precursor to, if not the first true central bank . Although the trade with the Far East was the more famous of the VOC's exploits, the main source of wealth for the Republic was, in fact, its trade with the Baltic states and Poland (then the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ). Called the "Mothertrade" ( Dutch : Moedernegotie ), the Dutch imported enormous amounts of bulk resources like grain and wood, stockpiling them in Amsterdam so Holland would never lack for basic goods, as well as being able to sell them on for profit. This meant that, unlike their main rivals,
66464-422: Was generally blamed. After a brief wave of euphoria due to Zoutman's heroics (which were duly exploited in the official propaganda), the navy again earned the disapproval of public opinion because of its inactivity. This only increased after the States-General in 1782 agreed with France on a naval alliance or concert that led to a planned joint action against Great Britain. To that end a Dutch fleet of ten ships of
66732-427: Was given to the dispossessed Dutch from the countryside or other towns of Holland. The regents encouraged immigrants to build churches and provided sites or buildings for churches and temples for all except the most radical sects and the Catholics by the 1670s (although even the Catholics could practice quietly in a chapel within the Beguinhof). During the wars a tension had arisen between the Orange-Nassau leaders and
67000-404: Was governed by a body of regents, a large, but closed, oligarchy with control over all aspects of the city's life, and a dominant voice in the foreign affairs of Holland. Only men with sufficient wealth and a long enough residence within the city could join the ruling class. The first step for an ambitious and wealthy merchant family was to arrange a marriage with a long-established regent family. In
67268-415: Was his favorite option (he was wont to quote the maxim Aut Caesar, aut nihil ) and Harris, in concert with William's wife Wilhelmina of Prussia , encouraged him to take this option. But Harris did far more: he was supplied with ample funds from the British Secret Service and he used that money to buy influence left and right, beginning with a generous pension-with-strings-attached of £4,000 per annum for
67536-507: Was keen to again emphasize the analogy between the Dutch and American struggles for independence. He also mentions the Luzac family that published the Gazette de Leyde , an influential newspaper, whose publisher Jean Luzac supported the American cause by publicising the American constitutional debate. The Gazette was the first European newspaper to carry a translation of the Constitution of Massachusetts , principally authored by Adams, on 3 October 1780. In that context Adams also mentions
67804-415: Was largely determined by income. The landed nobility had relatively little importance, since they mostly lived in the more underdeveloped inland provinces, and it was the urban merchant class that dominated Dutch society. The clergy did not have much worldly influence either: the Catholic Church had been more or less suppressed since the onset of the Eighty Years' War with Spain. The new Protestant movement
68072-441: Was no growth in manufacturing, due perhaps to a weaker sense of industrial entrepreneurship and to the high wage scale. Third the wealthy turned their investments to foreign loans. This helped jump-start other nations and provided the Dutch with a steady income from collecting interest, but leaving them with few domestic sectors with a potential for rapid growth. After the Dutch fleet declined, merchant interests became dependent on
68340-425: Was one of neutrality . William V, leading the pro-British faction within the government, blocked attempts by pro-independence, and later pro-French, elements to drag the government to war. However, things came to a head with the Dutch attempt to join the Russian-led League of Armed Neutrality , leading to the outbreak of the disastrous Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783) ,
68608-472: Was only the first such manifesto. The Leids Ontwerp ( Leiden Draft ), another important Patriot manifesto, was drawn up after the Leiden exercitiegenootschap was prohibited from performing its drill maneuvers on 23 July 1785 by the city government. In response a congress of the representatives of the Holland exercitiegenootschappen commissioned a group of members, among whom Wybo Fijnje , Pieter Vreede , and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck to write
68876-417: Was paired with a growing disaffection with the political system of the Dutch Republic among middle-class Dutchmen. The Dutch "constitution" defined the Dutch Republic as a confederation of sovereign provinces with a republican character. Formally, power was supposed to flow upward, from the local governments (governments of select cities that possessed City Rights , and the aristocracy in rural areas) toward
69144-401: Was produced. While art collecting and painting for the open market was also common elsewhere, art historians point to the growing number of wealthy Dutch middle-class and successful mercantile patrons as driving forces in the popularity of certain pictorial subjects. This trend, along with the lack of Counter-Reformation church patronage that dominated the arts in Catholic Europe, resulted in
69412-424: Was ruled directly by the States General as Generality Lands . Each province was led by an official known as the stadtholder ( Dutch for 'steward'); this office was nominally open to anyone, but most provinces appointed a member of the House of Orange . The position gradually became hereditary, with the Prince of Orange simultaneously holding most or all of the stadtholderships, making him effectively
69680-445: Was served with sweets, candy or marzipan and cookies. A rich Dutch mealtime of the time contained many extravagant dishes and drinks. The elite wore black clothes as a status symbol. This status originated from the difficulty of the dyeing process and the cost of elaborate embellishments, and is contrary to the popular belief that it was done exclusively out of Puritan self-restraint. Dutch Golden Age painting followed many of
69948-453: Was set in motion could be considered a " paradigm " for revolutionary "journées" that would be followed in similar circumstances in Utrecht itself, and in other Dutch cities in the following two years. First the city government would commit some kind of "provocation" that would enrage the Free Corps members and other Patriots. The democrats would work themselves into a lather, whipped up by seditious pamphlets and speeches. Then they would march to
70216-415: Was soon adopted by artists from the Dutch Republic . Today, the best-known painters of the Dutch Golden Age are the period's most dominant figure Rembrandt , the Delft master of genre Johannes Vermeer , the innovative landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael , and Frans Hals , who infused new life into portraiture. Some notable artistic styles and trends include Haarlem Mannerism , Utrecht Caravaggism ,
70484-408: Was still to be found. The shrinking industrial base was also concentrating in particular areas, to the detriment of other areas where certain industries (shipbuilding, textiles) had formerly been prominent. Remarkably for an era of rapid population growth in other European countries, the size of the Dutch population remained constant during the 18th century at around 1.9 million people, which (in view of
70752-445: Was surrounded by 2,000 angry Free Corps men and the Utrecht vroedschap reluctantly agreed to withdraw Sicherman's appointment after Ondaatje made clear that the Constituted would not be fobbed off. "We are not '48-ers," he declared, "but 85-ers, who understand our rights and liberties well enough, ... we are not canaille " referring to a similar event during the revolution of 1748, when the Doelisten had indeed been fobbed off by
71020-415: Was the first person to describe bacteria—thus laying the foundations for the field of microbiology . The "microscopes" were simple magnifiers, not compound microscopes. His skill in grinding lenses (some as small as 1mm in diameter) resulted in a magnification as high as 245x. Famous Dutch hydraulic engineer Jan Leeghwater (1575–1650) gained important victories in the Netherlands' eternal battle against
71288-489: Was the institution of an elected body of 16 burgher representatives to sit in permanent session to hear and address grievances of citizens against the city government. The regenten were not about to let go of their powers without a fight, but instead of getting into a direct confrontation with the democrats they at first tried to drown the proposal in red tape. The States drafted a far more conservative counter-proposal and tried to push this through by subterfuge. This elicited
71556-464: Was the so-called pronkstilleven (Dutch for 'ostentatious still life'). This style of ornate still-life painting was developed in the 1640s in Antwerp by Flemish artists such as Frans Snyders , Osias Beert , Adriaen van Utrecht and a whole generation of Dutch Golden Age painters. They painted still lifes that emphasized abundance by depicting a diversity of objects, fruits, flowers and dead game, often together with living people and animals. The style
71824-455: Was typically invested in high-risk ventures like pioneering expeditions to the East Indies to engage in the spice trade . These ventures were soon consolidated in the Dutch East India Company (VOC). There were similar ventures in different fields however, like the trade on Russia and the Levant . The profits of these ventures were ploughed back in the financing of new trade, which led to its exponential growth. Rapid industrialization led to
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