06. The 17th Century Netherlands

Rembrandt, Masters of the Cloth Guild, 1662

 In the 1600s the United Provinces of the Netherlands (UPN) developed as one of the most remarkable and unique societies in Europe. Primarily middle class burghers, its people were urban, industrious, prosperous, and tolerant.  They lived in a republic at a time when royal absolutism was the major political trend.  They allowed religious dissenters to practice their own faiths when other states imposed strict spiritual conformity.  They experienced a life rich in quality and comfort, marked by achievements in science and the arts. In short, the 17th century was their Golden Age.

            Politically, the UPN's seven provinces were a loose confederation, not a centralized state. Each province was autonomous, with its own traditions of rights and liberties.  Each province had its own “estate,” an elected assembly with an elected stadholder to exercise executive power.  Since the 1560s they usually all elected the same person from the House of Orange as stadholder.  The stadholder’s seat of government was Amsterdam.  An executive council, called the Hooge Moogende (“High and Mightinesses”) consisted of seven representatives elected from each of the provincial estates.  They had no independent power to act on behalf of the entire country as they could act only on instructions from their own estate.  A States-General, meeting periodically in The Hague, was made up of delegations from each of the estates and was primarily a forum for debate, rather than a national legislature. The Dutch nobility had automatic membership in the States-General, but wealthy commoners were elected as well.  Thus, government was decentralized to the point of being almost non-existent.  In fact, between 1650 and 1672 there was no stadholder at all!  It was only in times of crisis that the provinces came together to cooperate as one state.  What constituted a crisis was undetermined.  During that same period (1650 – 1672), the UPN was at war three times with England, yet no stadholder was seen as necessary.  Apparently, war with the France of King Louis XIV was a crisis.  In 1673 the provinces agreed to make the position of stadholder hereditary. 

            Economically, the Dutch made their wealth primarily through maritime commerce.  Having developed the “flyboat,” a large, inexpensive, easy-to-sail merchant vessel, the Dutch were able to undercut their rivals. As had been the ancient Phoenicians in their time, the Dutch were the international merchants of 17th century.  Thousands of Dutch merchant ships ranged the seas, carrying the trade goods of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. 

             Where was the Dutch commercial empire?  In 1602 the States-General chartered the Dutch East India Company and gave it a monopoly of all Dutch trade with Asia.  So began the UPN’s global reach.  In the 1620s and 1630s, the Dutch replaced the Portuguese and took control of Ceylon and the East Indies.  On the East Indian island of Java they established their major settlement calling it Batavia (Djakarta).  The Japanese government allowed the Dutch to replace the Portuguese in Nagasaki, the only Japanese port opened to foreign trade.  In North America the Dutch claimed and settled the Hudson River Valley region, naming it New Netherlands.  At the river’s mouth in 1612 they founded New Amsterdam (New York) on Manhattan Island. Upriver they founded Fort Orange (Albany).  The lands in between were settled, farmed, and hunted for furs.  In the Caribbean they claimed and settled the Dutch Antilles (Curacao, Bonaire, and Aruba). In South America they founded Dutch Guiana.  In 1652 they established a settlement called Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope.  Attracted by the region’s rich soil, Dutch settlers known as Boers (farmers) became the first permanent European presence in what is today South Africa.  The Dutch also explored along the coasts of Australia, but saw it as having no commercial value.  They did give the name of one of their provinces to a pair of large islands in the South Pacific – New Zealand. 

            Other than farming, Dutch domestic production centered on woolen and linen textiles, carpets, tapestries, books, jewelry, and brewing.  Dutch fishermen had a virtual monopoly of the North Sea fishing grounds and of Arctic whaling.  Even tulips were profitable!  Imported from the Ottoman Empire, the exotic flower flourished in the dark, rich Dutch soil.  In fact, in the 1630s tulips were so highly prized that they became a commodity for speculation in the stock exchange.  A tulip “crash” in 1637 ruined the fortunes of many a speculator. 

            Amsterdam became the international commercial and banking center of Europe. This was due, in large part, to the Bank of Amsterdam. Founded in 1609, the Bank of Amsterdam provided order in the international chaos of Europe’s variety of moneys.  With many different kinds of coins being used in international trade, merchants had difficulty knowing the true value of the money exchanged in business transactions. For example, what was the value of ten Venetian ducats in English pounds or French livres?  It depended on several factors, such as the gold and silver content of the coins or whether the value stamped on the coin was realistically reflective of that content.  The Bank of Amsterdam accepted deposits of foreign currencies, assessed their gold and silver content, determined rates of exchange, and allowed depositors to withdraw gold florins minted by the Bank.  Because the Bank of Amsterdam florins were of known and unchanging weight and purity, they became the currency of choice for European merchants.  The bank also allowed depositors to draw bank checks against their accounts, and the Dutch government guaranteed the safety of deposits.  Consequently, foreigners saw the Bank as a good investment and kept their money there. As the Bank increased its capital reserves, it became a major creditor for business ventures, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere. 

            In 1650 half of the Dutch population lived in cities.  It was a middle class burgher society unlike any other in Europe.  Amsterdam, Delft, Leyden, and Utrecht, as were other Dutch cities, were prosperous, clean, and “modern” in the sense that we would find them familiar.  There were paved streets, storm drains, sewers, open plazas, and tree-lined canals.  The houses of the wealthy and even not-so-wealthy were likewise clean, well-built (usually brick), and comfortable.  The Dutch had the highest standard of living of any peoples in Europe at the time.  They ate well, benefiting from a variety of foodstuffs from around the world, and lavished attention on their children.  Being Calvinists they believed in the godliness of honest labor and enjoying the rewards it produced.  They valued education and learning.  They lived by manuals.  There were manuals on every aspect of life, from how to raise children to keeping a proper house, even the hiring of maids.  We see the Dutch burghers portrayed in the “genre art” of such notable Dutch artists as Hals, Rembrandt, and Vermeer as people who were confident and in love with life. 

            By law the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church was the established church of the UPN. In other countries religious conformity was rigidly enforced as a policy of state. Not so in the Netherlands.  The Dutch were known for their toleration and the openness of their society.  Early in the 17th century, the Dutch church experienced a schism resulting from the Arminian heresy.  Taking their lead from Jacobus Arminius, the Arminians believed salvation to be more the result of human free will than God’s unconditional predestination. An international convention of Calvinist theologians met in Dortrecht to resolve the matter and the doctrine of predestination was upheld. Nonetheless, there was no major persecution of Arminians, most likely because most Dutchmen did not want to see their prosperity ruined by religious conflict.  Willing to accept differences within their own church, the Dutch accepted other forms of spiritual expression.  Catholics were free to practice their religion and had their own churches in the Catholic quarters of the cities.  Jews had their synagogues. Persecuted Christians from other parts of Europe were welcome in the Netherlands.  Among those who came were German Mennonites and English Separatists. (One group of Separatists called themselves the Pilgrims. Fearing their children would become assimilated into the Dutch culture, the Pilgrims chose to return to England.  They would then emigrate to Massachusetts.)  After 1685 many French Huguenots found refuge in the Netherlands.  While Catholics, Jews, and other religious groups did not hold the same political or economic rights as Calvinists, they were otherwise fully integrated into Dutch life, intermingling in the markets, studying in the universities, drinking at the alehouses and inns, and belonging to the guilds.

            The 17th century Netherlands would make significant contributions to European intellectual and creative life.  Just a few are considered here. The jurist Hugo Grotius (1583 – 1645) wrote Law of War and Peace (1625), a treatise on international law in which he argued that the forces by which nations interacted came from nature and not from God.  The philosopher and mathematician Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677) was the child of Portuguese Jews who fled to the Netherlands to escape Spanish persecution.  While making his living as a lens grinder, Spinoza engaged in the philosophy of science. Breaking with the dualism of the French philosopher Descartes, Spinoza saw God present in the existence of all matter subject to scientific investigation. Considering the openness of Dutch society, it is ironic that Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish community of Amsterdam for refusing to attend temple.  In the area of biological science, the Dutch were significant in the development of the microscope. Notable here was Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723) of Delft, who assembled numerous microscopes (with lenses ground by Spinoza!) and was the first scientist to discover bacteria. (He found amusement in showing his friends the organisms that lived in the human mouth by allowing them to look through the microscope at their own spittle!).  Leeuwenhoek’s contemporary, Jan Swammerdam’s microscopic studies of insects made him the founder of modern entomology.  In the area of astronomy and physics, Christian Huygens (1629 – 1695) improved the telescope, a Dutch invention, and discovered the rings of Saturn.  He created a reliable pendulum clock and a clock operated by a spring-driven balance wheel. The latter development enabled clocks to be taken to sea, where they were helpful in navigation, and, when miniaturized, enabled small clocks to be carried in one’s pocket!  Huygens also theorized that light moved in waves. 

             It is in the area of art that we are most familiar with the Netherlands of the 17th century.  Among numerous artists, Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jan Vermeer are the most well known.  The Dutch wanted art that reminded them of what they knew and loved best – themselves.  Dutch genre art, as it came to be called, focused on themes of everyday life.  In it we see their homes, wives, children, and friends; their flowers, foodstuffs, and animals; their city squares and streets, their canals, ships, and the sea.  Frans Hals (1580 – 1666) specialized in portraits of “laughing soldiers, brawling fish vendors, and happy merrymakers” (Mittler 440).  We see in his paintings real people in their natural social settings. The same is true in the work of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Rembrandt (1601 – 1669)’s wide range of paintings defies description here, but his “Masters of the Cloth Guild” (shown above) is representative of his work.  Palmer describes this large painting as showing ...

a group of men who seem about to speak from the canvas, inclined slightly forward, as intent on their business as judges on the proceedings in a courtroom; men of the kind who conducted the affairs of Holland, in both commerce and government; intelligent men. Calculating but not cunning, honest but determined to drive a hard bargain, stern rather than mild; and the sober black cloaks, with the clean white collars, set against the carved woodwork and rich covering of the Cloth Hall, seem to suggest that personal vanity must yield to collective undertakings, and personal simplicity to be maintained in the midst of material opulence.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (Palmer et al., 148)

            Because of the novel The Girl with the Pearl Earring (1999) by Tracey Chevalier, Jan Vermeer (1632 - 1675) is probably the reading public’s sentimental favorite Dutch artist.  A Catholic, Vermeer lived and worked in Delft where he lived with his wife, eleven children, and mother-in-law.  Always on the verge of bankruptcy, Vermeer was highly dependent upon his patrons and his mother-in-law for financial support. In his entire career he painted only 35 works, sometimes taking years to complete them.  His secular paintings are exquisite and compelling portrayals of men and women in real settings, usually a variation of the same sun-lit, scrubbed room that was his studio.  We see them engaged in such activities as a maid pouring milk from a pitcher, a woman mending lace, a music lesson, a geographer contemplating a globe, and the wonderful portrait of a young woman with a pearl earring.  Vermeer, Hals, and Rembrandt show us Dutch civilization in its Golden Age.  We would want to be part of it.

            The Golden Age of the Netherlands, or perhaps better to say, the gold of the Netherlands, could not escape the changing international situation of the late 17th century.  The new challenge facing Europe was Louis XIV’s France.  Armed with the most powerful military on the Continent, Louis undertook an ambitious and expansionist foreign policy that directly threatened the sovereignty of the Netherlands.  In 1667 Louis’ armies invaded the Spanish Netherlands. In the following war the Dutch allied with England and Sweden. Louis, not wanting a wider war, made peace with Spain in 1668.  But, in 1672 French forces again invaded the Spanish Netherlands and this time smashed across into the southern UPN.  The Dutch turned to the House of Orange for salvation. Twenty-two-year old William III was elected stadholder. The crisis was so serious that in 1673 the States-General made the title of stadholder hereditary within the Orange family. 

           William saw the balance of power as the operating principle upon which France had to be contained and was able to make alliances with other states, including Spain and Austria. Peace was secured in 1678, and the Dutch economy, battered under the strain of war, began to recover.  Louis, however, was intent upon French expansion and in 1688 war resumed.  This war, called War of the League of Augsburg, found the Dutch in alliance with England, Spain, Sweden, Savoy, and several German states. In late 1688 William became the King of England and from then on, Dutch interests would be subordinated to those of England. The war ended in 1697, the Dutch economy again severely depressed.  The loss of trade and the high tax burden during the war had a devastating impact on both Dutch resources and morale.  Peace did not last long.

           In 1700 the crown of Spain passed to Louis’ grandson, Philip.  Seeing the threat of a Bourbon “universal monarchy,” William III of England formed the Grand Alliance, which included the UPN. The War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1702. It would last until 1713. Again the Dutch economy and morale was strained to exhaustion. The demands of the war had also undermined the autonomy of the provinces.  Reluctantly the provinces surrendered their rights and liberties to the need for centralized direction of the war effort.  The Peace of Utrecht removed the immediate French menace by awarding the former Spanish Netherlands to Austria. The Dutch were allowed to fortify and garrison the borders of the Austrian Netherlands with France.  While their security was guaranteed, the Dutch would never again enjoy the prosperity, freedom, and confidence that had been their Golden Age. 

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The image is from the Wikipedia source on Guilds.

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Sources for the 17th Century Netherlands

Durant, Will and Ariel. The Age of Reason Begins. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.

--- The Age of Louis XIV. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963.

Knapton, Ernest. Europe 1450 – 1815. New York: Scribners, 1958.

Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968.

Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. New York: Norton, 1996.

Mittler, Gene A. Art in Focus. New York: Glencoe, 1994.

Palmer, Robert R. et al. A History of the Modern World. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.

 Schama, Simon. The Embarrassment of Riches. New York: Knopf, 1987.