Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « United Provinces of the Netherlands – Military history – 17th century »

In world-systems analysis, the United Provinces are interpreted as one of only three hegemonic states in the history of the capitalist world-economy. Unlike the subsequent hegemons Britain and the United States, the United Provinces only became an independent country just before its rise to hegemony in the early seventeenth century. This essay explores how this new small state became the first hegemon of the modern world-system. Two questions are asked: why did the area of northern Netherlands became a state, and why did this state became a hegemon? Using Mann's sources of social power, it is shown how a promiscuous combination of ideological, military, political, and economic power produced a unique state combining the economic policies of city-states with the protective capacity of territorial states. It is concluded that the Dutch promotion of an economic raison d'etat was a necessary component for the consolidation of a competitive interstate system, itself a necessary requirement for the expansion of the capitalist world-economy.

The article analyses the changes that took place in the official diplomatic communication of European rulers after the Thirty Years' War and the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which affirmed a number of sovereign rights to the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation (and former vassals of the emperor), including the right to send and receive ambassadors. The new sovereigns, primarily the princes-electors, began to fight for the so-called royal honours (honores regii), which were de facto expressed in a certain set of ceremonies in relation to the ambassadors of the crowned heads and republics assimilated to them. The arena of the struggle for the royal honours was the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire in Regensburg — a general assembly of all Imperial Estates (in the middle of the eighteenth century — their representatives), by which since the end of the 17th century foreign diplomats had been accredited (first France, a little later — Great Britain, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, in the middle of the eighteenth century — Russia). Having declared their representatives in 1702 as the ministers of the first rank, the electors tried for a century to force the “old” monarchs to send ambassadors to the Diet, and they, by custom, were sent only to the sovereigns. Comparing the various ways out of the ceremonial impasse, the author comes to the conclusion that the struggle for elusive precedence, which foreign diplomats of the second rank (envoys or ministers plenipotentiary) waged with the representatives of the electors at the Imperial Diet, was a deliberately unwinnable strategy, leading either to their isolation or to the recall from their posts. A much more effective strategy that did not damage state prestige was to send to Regensburg so-called ministers without character or residents, who occupied a less honorable position in comparison with ambassadors and envoys, but according to their status were freed from the opportunity to compete with them and, as a result, to come into conflict.

Purpose During the 17th century, the Dutch Republic sought to project a positive global image centred around the principles of economic endeavour, moral stewardship and military resilience. By illustrating one way in which the country sought to communicate its international position, the paper aims to provide an early example of political diplomacy and reputation management. Design/methodology/approach Pictorial narratives provide an important but often underutilised insight into our cultural, social and economic history. As works of art were considered legitimate and authoritative forms of communication, their importance can lie beyond any aesthetic accomplishment. Using established iconographic techniques, this paper deconstructs and interprets the meaning contained within a specific genre painting, The Young Mother (1658) by Gerrit Dou. Findings Rather than being devoid of meaning, The Young Mother represents a narrative purposely constructed to symbolise the cultural, religious and economic character of the United Provinces. It celebrates success through global trade, innovation and enterprise while simultaneously reminding audiences of the country’s moral and spiritual foundations. Like the patriotic allegory of De Hollandse Maag protecting the sacred space of the hortus conclusus, the painting is a secular representation of the new Loca Sancta. Originality/value While acknowledging that The Young Mother has been praised for its visual qualities, this paper maintains that any broader political significance has been largely overlooked. The analysis and findings therefore offer original interpretations from which new conclusions are drawn.

Defence date: 25 June 2007
Examining Board: Dr. Martin van Gelderen (EUI); Dr. Xavier Gil Pujor (Universitat de Barcelona); Dr. Benjamin Kaplan (University College London); Dr. Anthony Molho (EUI)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The aim of this dissertation is to study the influence exerted by the different political cultures in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Low Countries on these peace talks and how they contributed to delaying the solution finally achieved in Münster. The events on the battlefield accompanying the said negotiations, the negotiations themselves and their outcome are known thanks to a number of scholarly works devoted to the long struggle between the Spanish Monarchy and its 'rebel subjects' in the Low Countries and, from 1640, in the Iberian Peninsula. The second phase of the Eighty Years’ War - once hostilities were resumed after the Twelve Years’ Truce in 1621 - and the peace talks have attracted the interest mainly of Dutch historians, although they have received considerably less attention than the revolt. Spanish scholars have, while not neglecting the issue completely, generally included it in more general surveys of the reign of Philip IV whose access to the throne in 1621 roughly coincides with the starting point of this study. British historiography has contributed to research on the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Monarchy during the first half of the seventeenth century but studies jointly referring to both remain scarce, with the outstanding exception of Jonathan Israel’s works. In most accounts the peace appears as the inevitable outcome of the combination of Spanish decline and growing Dutch power and almost predetermined by the respective structural weaknesses and dynamism of each contender, and therefore of relative scholarly interest. In all cases, the political decisions, the military actions and the socio-economic background have received privileged attention from historians - the cultural and literary production in two polities living through their Golden Ages are only too often left to scholars of art and literature. Thanks to the efforts by Dutch historians, starting shortly after the peace settlement, how the negotiations actually proceeded is known. But these works have devoted little if any attention to the intellectual debates surrounding the negotiations. In the cases where scholars have referred to them, most generally they have assumed them to be pure pretexts, attempts at playing to the gallery that were mere window dresing, disguises of other, real (economic) interests. Although contemporary accounts offer a different view, frowning on those who were accused of using transcendental goals to disguise the pursuit of more worldly aims, many modern scholars have chosen to neglect the former altogether in their quest for a materialistic analysis of society.

Defence date: 8 April 2005
Examining Board: Prof. Martin van Gelderen, European University Institute ; Prof. Laurence Fontaine, EHESS, Paris (Supervisor) ; Prof. Allan I. Macinnes, University of Aberdeen ; Prof. Maarten Prak, University of Utrecht (Ext. Supervisor)
First made available online on 24 January 2019