Early Modern Low Countries

Lelia Packer and Ashok Roy, Frans Hals. The male portrait

John Bezold — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Guido van Meersbergen, Ethnography and Encounter. The Dutch and English in Seventeenth-Century South Asia

Adam J. Clulow — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Tonio Andrade, The Dutch Mission of 1795 and the Forgotten History of Western Encounters with China

Trude Dijkstra — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Joke Spaans and Jetze Touber (eds.), Enlightened Religion. From Confessional Churches to Polite Piety in the Dutch Republic

Jaap Geraerts — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Elwin Hofman, Trials of the Self. Murder, Mayhem and the Remaking of the Mind, 1750-1830

Tom Hamilton — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Angela Vanhaelen, The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam. Automata, Waxworks, Fountains, Labyrinths

Helmer Helmers — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Christine Kooi, Reformation in the Low Countries, 1500-1620

Renske Hoff — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Raymond Fagel, Protagonists of War. Spanish Commanders and the Revolt in the Low Countries

David Parrott — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Bruno Blondé, Sam Geens, Hilde Greefs, Wouter Ryckbosch, Tim Soens, and Peter Stabel (eds.), Inequality and the City in the Low Countries (1200-2020)

Bob Pierik — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Ruben E. Verwaal, Bodily Fluids, Chemistry, and Medicine in the Eighteenth-century Boerhaave School

Sara Ray — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Christopher W. Close, State Formation and Shared Sovereignty. The Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, 1488-1696

Annemieke Romein — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Martha Moffitt Peacock, Heroines, Harpies, and Housewives. Imaging Women of Consequence in the Dutch Golden Age

Lieke van Deinsen — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

René van Stipriaan, De Zwijger. Het Leven van Willem van Oranje

Jonas van Tol — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Orientalist Ambivalence

Lucas van der Deijl — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This article compares the first two Dutch translations of the Qur’an printed in the Dutch Republic: De Arabische Alkoran (1641) published by Barent Adriaensz Berentsma and Mahomets Alkoran (1657) published by Jan Rieuwertsz. It builds upon previous bibliographic research by quantifying the abbreviation of the Surahs in the two editions, identifying the sources of the paratexts, and describing the different strategies for translation. This analysis reveals how different editing choices reflect contradictory ideological attitudes among the publishers and translators involved. These producers of the first Qur’an translations echoed the widespread hostility towards Islam in Western discourses while also highlighting the peaceful nature of Muhammad and the similarities between the Bible and the Qur’an. This ‘Orientalist ambivalence’ not only resonated in local debates about freedom of conscience among Amsterdam Mennonites, but also signalled a more fundamental epistemological uncertainty following the rise of Cartesianism in the Dutch Early Enlightenment.

Supporting the Waldensians

Erica Boersma — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Early modern aid to foreign fellow believers is usually seen as an expression of confessional solidarity, initiated by and through religious networks. By studying four collections organised in the Dutch Republic between 1655 and 1731 in aid of Waldensians persecuted in Savoy, this article argues for a broadening of our perspective on transnational aid beyond the narrow confines of religious solidarity. It investigates the role of the Dutch civil authorities in the provision of transnational aid to foreign Protestants, through an analysis of the decision-making process that followed aid requests, the manner in which charitable collections were organised, and how the resulting proceeds were used. Even if aid was only given to fellow believers, for the Dutch authorities such aid was never merely a question of confessional solidarity: it was first and foremost an instrument of national foreign policy. This adds an important dimension to our understanding of transnational aid to foreign fellow believers.

In Search of Republican Unity

Mart Rutjes — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The importance of the Dutch Revolution of the late eighteenth century for political developments in the Northern Netherlands is still contested. Most historians view the period as the starting point of a number of democratic institutions, including elections. Others have pointed out, however, that the nineteenth century shows a remarkable amount of continuity in political practice with the early modern period, and have therefore questioned the impact of political change. Scholarship on the political system during the revolutionary era has paid little attention to the exclusion of a specific group from electoral politics: political opponents of the revolution. The debates on the question of whether Orangists should have access to the ballot were intense in the Northern Netherlands, where a political struggle between Patriots and Orangists had been taking place since the 1780s. Through a consideration of why the Dutch revolutionaries placed such electoral barriers against their political adversaries (mainly Orangists, but for a brief period also moderates and federalists), this essay argues that this period ought to be viewed with its particular revolutionary character in mind, rather than considering it simply as a period that relied on old practices or one that gave birth to new ones.