The Dutch East India Company has been ascribed many faces and many colours during its existence, and these still echo throughout the public debate and national discourse. This thesis will...Show moreThe Dutch East India Company has been ascribed many faces and many colours during its existence, and these still echo throughout the public debate and national discourse. This thesis will contribute to new directions in the historiography of Dutch Empire by focusing on the Dutch East India Company governors and the narratives they communicated in the so-called 'Memories van Overgave', how these changed between 1700-1750, how these differed between three different regions: Bengal, Ambon, and Ceylon, and what the implications are for the organisational identity of the Dutch East India Company. In order to do so, this thesis employs a new analytical framework that positions the governor in the centre of two different relations: the relation he had to the institute he was a part of, and the relation he had with the proverbial 'other' he encountered. Everything combined, this will show the multi-faceted nature of the governors, the Dutch East India Company, and that the identity of the Dutch East India Company was not static, but flexible and ever-changing.Show less
To the modern observer there seems to have been quite a large grey area between private and public warfare in the late middle-ages. It is often quite hard to distinguish between violence committed...Show moreTo the modern observer there seems to have been quite a large grey area between private and public warfare in the late middle-ages. It is often quite hard to distinguish between violence committed in name of a public authority and violence on a private title. This thesis uses a case-study of a violent conflict in the border region between Holland and the Sticht (Utrecht) ca. 1420, to explore if it is possible and useful to distinguish between the private and public elements in late medieval warfare. A large number of the border lords where able to wage war under their own banner for their own goals, and without guidance or direction of the central authority. Based on my findings I argue that private and public forms of warfare went hand in hand in the late middle-ages. Princes where more interested in channelling this violence towards their opponents, than in establishing a monopoly on violence.Show less
Deze scriptie onderzoekt de motivatie van orangistische burgers om zich politiek in te zetten in de jaren 1787 en 1788. Er wordt betoogd dat rond de omwenteling van september 1787 in de gehele...Show moreDeze scriptie onderzoekt de motivatie van orangistische burgers om zich politiek in te zetten in de jaren 1787 en 1788. Er wordt betoogd dat rond de omwenteling van september 1787 in de gehele Republiek orangistische burgers de politiek al dan niet met geweld probeerden te beïnvloeden, en dat zij daartoe werden gemotiveerd door de overtuiging dat de welvaart en vrijheid van de Republiek alleen kon worden hersteld als de stadhouder zonder tegenstand zijn taak als beschermer van de Nederlandse vrijheid kon uitvoeren. In Holland verzetten orangistische burgers zich in aanloop naar de omwenteling tegen de overwegend patriotse stedelijke regeringen en vrijkorpsen, daarbij geleid door Oranjegezinde regenten als W.G.F. Bentinck van Rhoon. Na de omwenteling vond een tweedeling plaats tussen orangisten die een gematigde restauratie voorstonden en orangisten die geloofden dat de Republiek alleen écht gered kon worden door alle patriotten uit het openbare leven te verwijderen. Omdat de stadhouder en de herstelde stadsregeringen de gematigde koers voorstonden, kwamen radicale orangistische burgers in verschillende steden tegenover hen te staan. Verstoken van regentensteun en in bedwang gehouden door het leger kon de orangistische burgerbeweging haar eisen echter niet afdwingen. Hoewel het protest van orangistische burgers in de loop van 1788 verstomde, beïnvloedde het de politieke besluitvorming, waardoor regeringsveranderingen en ontslaggolven vaak radicaler uitvielen dan de stadhouder zelf had gehoopt. De acties van orangistische burgers in 1788 laten eveneens zien dat zij geenszins werden aangestuurd door regenten maar juist op eigen initiatief handelden, uit overtuiging dat herstel de verwijdering van álle patriotten vereiste.Show less
This thesis examines the functionality of early modern Amsterdam as a diplomatic city. (Entities in) The Hague nominally held the political and geographical prerogative to diplomatic relations in...Show moreThis thesis examines the functionality of early modern Amsterdam as a diplomatic city. (Entities in) The Hague nominally held the political and geographical prerogative to diplomatic relations in the Dutch Republic, but Amsterdam was a significant challenger to this position due to its economic and financial agency. Various aspects, such as Amsterdam's interfence with diplomatic policy, its contacts with Dutch envoys abroad and the diplomatic community within Amsterdam itself, are elucidated. In particular, it explores the functionality of lesser envoys, such as consuls and agents, and the way they integrated themselves into urban society.Show less
This thesis argues that the story about Melibeus must be read as a call for peace, and that each version was written to comment on specific events. The versions of Jan van Boendale and Dirc Potter...Show moreThis thesis argues that the story about Melibeus must be read as a call for peace, and that each version was written to comment on specific events. The versions of Jan van Boendale and Dirc Potter are compared and examined against the political and cultural background of their writers.Show less
In the discussion on identity, there is a strong tendency to limit the existence of national sentiments to the modern period. In this thesis, the existence of such thoughts are explored in the...Show moreIn the discussion on identity, there is a strong tendency to limit the existence of national sentiments to the modern period. In this thesis, the existence of such thoughts are explored in the letters of three ruling families from the late fifteenth century: the d’Este, Gonzaga and Sforza. The letters have been scrutinized from several perspectives, eventually indicating both the existence of an idea of Italy and its limited application in the political realm. As for the letters in material sense, they show great similarities in their composition, suggesting a common cultural horizon. This is no great surprise, as these ruling elites were socially strongly intertwined through marriages and friendships. From the ongoing discussion on the state of the war, there speaks a strong awareness of a common Italian interest. The expression of this awareness, however, occurred in such a way that underwrites personal interest and the preservation of the own state. In this sense, the political importance of the idea of Italy was constituted by the accumulated interest of the princes in the peninsula. But, because personal interest eventually always prevailed, it was simultaneously also its limitation in the political realm.Show less
Noël de Caron (1550?-1624), was de eerste ambassadeur van de Verenigde Nederlanden in Engeland (1609-1624), die tot op heden nog nauwelijks bestudeerd is. Zijn jarenlange verblijf in Londen,...Show moreNoël de Caron (1550?-1624), was de eerste ambassadeur van de Verenigde Nederlanden in Engeland (1609-1624), die tot op heden nog nauwelijks bestudeerd is. Zijn jarenlange verblijf in Londen, van1590 tot aan zijn dood in 1624, maakte hem tot een prominente inwoner van de stad, uitzonderlijk goed verbonden met de Engelse politieke elite, met de internationale calvinistische gemeenschap, en met de Nederlandse kooplieden-handelaars in de stad. Zijn sociale, culturele en religieuze inbedding in de Londense samenleving is het uitgangspunt voor mijn onderzoek naar zijn functioneren als ambassadeur: hoe beïnvloedde deze inbedding zijn functioneren? Was het een voordeel, een nadeel, of wellicht beide? Aan de hand van drie case study's beschrijf ik het verband tussen inbedding in een gastland en het functioneren van Caron specifiek, en een vroegmodern ambassadeur in het algemeen.Show less
Op welke manier konden vroegmoderne overheden in de achttiende eeuw na een politiek conflict vrede onder hun burgers stichten? Geïnspireerd door de methodes en inzichten uit de vredesstudies van de...Show moreOp welke manier konden vroegmoderne overheden in de achttiende eeuw na een politiek conflict vrede onder hun burgers stichten? Geïnspireerd door de methodes en inzichten uit de vredesstudies van de sociale en politieke wetenschappen en de oproerstudies over 1672 is in deze scriptie onderzoek gedaan naar de leef- en denkwereld van zeven dagboekschrijvers gedurende de crisis van 1747-1748. Hoe keken deze burgers uit de brede middenklasse aan tegen dit politieke conflict en welke moeilijkheden of obstakels zagen zij voor de overheid om de orde te handhaven en vrede in de samenleving te stichten?Show less
After the death of duchess Mary of Burgundy in 1482, the Netherlands faced a regency crisis as her heir Philip the Handsome was still a minor. For the better part of a decade, the boy's father,...Show moreAfter the death of duchess Mary of Burgundy in 1482, the Netherlands faced a regency crisis as her heir Philip the Handsome was still a minor. For the better part of a decade, the boy's father, Maximilian of Austria combatted alternative governments erected by a coalition of the unruly Flemish cities and the most important members of the Netherlandish aristocracy. This being the first time in the Netherlands that the nobility took part in what is ostensibly an urban revolt, it is worth examing what the relationship between Maximilian and the nobility was. The punishments doled out afterward are an ideal way to assess such a relationship, since they show clear results and allow for direct comparisons. In this thesis, I argue that the severity of a punishment depended mostly on the prospect of a nobleman's utility afterwards, where ties to major urban centres and to the Burgundian dynasty were prime qualities. Furthermore, I attempt to show that beyond the actual punishment, the narrative form in which events are recounted and made by rhetoric and ritual involved in the surrenders and trials constitute a vital part of the conflict and its peace negotiations for these honour-focused nobles.Show less
