.jpg)
[xiv] See http://www.rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=TSJN-index-21-15-290-2&mode=TOC |
| John Quincy Adams about 1783 |
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| John Adams (1735-1826) 2nd US President |
Permit me then, Gentle Reader, to offer you evidence of the involvement of the Flemish in the establishment of the W.I.C. Obliquely, I will also illustrate through this the West-Indische Compagnie’s importance to the Discovery and Settlement of America. Part 2 of this monograph will post under the date July 1st. Later, in a subsequent post, I intend to detail the heavy Flemish involvement through the W.I.C. in Nieuw Netherland itself.
Background
While the W.I.C. was chartered in 1621, its origins stretch back half a century to a place broadly called “The Low Countries” (Flanders and the Netherlands) and to the time of the Protestant Reformation.[i] To understand the story of the W.I.C. we need to recap the historical context.[ii]
The roots of the West India Company began amidst the confusion of civil disorder and religious strife. In 1566 a revolt broke out in a village in western Flanders.[iii] It began with Dutch-speaking Protestant youth smashing statuary, burning Roman Catholic missals, and roughing up clergy.[iv] It spread east and north throughout the Low Countries: a volatile mix of hooliganism[v], Calvinism and nationalism.[vi]
Since the sovereign ruler of what we now know as Benelux and northern France was the Spanish king, Phillip II, it was inevitable that Spanish troops were ultimately brought in to restore order. While initially successful, the presence of a foreign standing army, the imposition of additional taxes to absorb the cost, and the underlying friction between counter-reformation Catholics and hard-core Calvinists doomed the region to almost exactly 80 years (1567-1648) of ruthless warfare.[vii]
For the first thirty or so years (i.e., until the 1590s) the Dutch-speaking Protestants had the worst of it. At least 175,000 fled the rich cities of Flanders.[viii] Some went to Protestant port cities (like Rouen and La Rochelle) in France; many more onto Reformation England and Protestant Germany (especially Cologne).[ix] Many exiles likely viewed their departure as a temporary measure.
Of course not every Calvinist, Lutheran and Anabaptist left Flanders at this time. Many went underground and outwardly accepted Catholic practices while secretly professing something else.[x] For those who remained behind, external funding (from Protestant rulers and the Dutch-speaking diaspora)[xi] and a steady stream of illicit returnees enabled them to continue as fighters. These men first launched guerilla-style raids on the Flemish coast (from piratical lairs across the Channel in England) and ultimately seized control of coastal enclaves.[xii] As Dutch-speaking territory was liberated from Spanish control, Flemish Calvinists in England and Germany followed the military advance by resettling in these more familiar environments.[xiii]
The overseas Flemings, many of whom were hardened by Calvinist conviction[xiv], privation, and certainly exile, were not content to remain in “liberated” cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, and Middleburg.[xv] Rather, they were impatient to reclaim their lost homes in the South Netherlands (modern-day Belgium and northern France). Moreover, because of their unwavering belief in the justness of their cause, this war assumed the status of what today we might call a “jihad”. Any opposition posed to the Flemish Calvinists’ objectives was perceived as resistance to God’s Will. As a prominent Dutch historian remarked, “The value of Calvin’s teaching in the Low Countries, among a population long unhappy under foreign domination, lay in the fact that it sanctioned all human action.”[xvi]
The Role of Antwerp
At the center of many of these historical developments was the city of Antwerp.[xvii]“Antwerp was truly the leading [European] city in almost all things [in the 1500s], but in commerce it headed all the cities of the world,” as the Italian contemporary historian (and 16th century Antwerp resident) Gucciardini observed.[xviii] Antwerp was the center of the printing industry[xix] and was also the most important bourse and capital market in Europe (and thus the world at that time).[xx] It was here that everything from West African gold to North American beaver pelts, from spices from the East to copper from Hungary and textiles from Flanders was brought to market. In short, “Antwerp’s economy was an important, and sometimes even the principal, artery of the whole European economy.”[xxi]
Antwerp, “held a position such as [has] never been held before or since by any other town…this cosmopolitan city controlled exclusively the money market of the known world, and the whole varied interchange of goods and wealth. Every nation had its concessions within its walls, every important loan in Europe was negotiated here.”[xxii] It was in 16th century Antwerp that the Fugger family made their fortunes in trading world commodities – reputedly at 50% net profits over the course of fifteen years.[xxiii] It was in Antwerp too that the Portuguese king sold the spices that his ships brought back from India with a return of more than 50x.[xxiv] It was a place where cultures mingled, fortunes were made, and ideas allowed to percolate. In other words, sixteenth-century Antwerp was the New York City of its day.
Within the seventeen provinces of the Low Countries, Antwerp’s position was also pre-eminent. The Belgicist historian Henri Pirenne (no fan of things from Flanders and Brabant) observed that “’The Netherlands, are the suburb of Antwerp’”.[xxv] While the rest of the world is “its [Antwerp’s] periphery.”[xxvi]Flanders and Brabant were urbanized and prosperous; the rest of the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands (at this time) were, by comparison, backwaters.[xxvii] Innovations and connections for the entire “Low Countries” [modern-day Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg and northern France] radiated out from this critical hub; resources – whether people or materiel – were pulled to its marketplaces.
Antwerp’s Émigrés
Despite their attachment to material success, the Flemish did not neglect the spiritual. As suggested above, during the first decade of the “Dutch Revolt” the impetus for the movement came out of Flanders and Brabant. Such momentum for the Revolt quickly concentrated in the primary cities: Gent, Brugge, and Antwerp. Of these cities, in the fight against Spain, Antwerp was the most important.
After a confusing series of twists (which are not central to our story) religious and linguistic divisions among the inhabitants of the Low Countries assisted the Spanish military’s reconquest of their wealthiest dominion. From the late 1570s the Spanish reduction of Flanders proceeded with steady success. Town after town fell. Up until the mid/late 1580s, the “final redoubt” of the “Dutch Revolt” was Antwerp.[xxviii] It was here that the Prince of Orange for a time made his headquarters and it was at Antwerp that the Prince’s spymaster, Philip Marnix, a native of Brussels, ruled until 1585 as Antwerp’s Burgemeester (mayor).[xxix]
In 1585 the Spanish armies finally stormed and took Antwerp after a three year siege. Resident merchants – Protestant as well as Catholic – sought safer refuge. Some families again went back to southeastern England, coastal France or western Germany (especially Cologne). Many more – sometimes via a circuitous path – left for the pockets of liberated territory in the “North.” They swarmed cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem, Middleburg, and Leiden. In some places the Flemish and Brabander “exodus” swamped the locally-born population, altering customs and dialects.[xxx]
But these exiles were not (for the most part) impoverished illiterates. They were, by and large, as one historian called them, “men of the greatest distinction in their chosen fields.”[xxxi] They retained their influence while in exile. “The [Flemish] exiles were very numerous and enterprising. An astonishingly large number of the men eminent in this generation in Holland and Zealand came thither from the southern provinces. [Cornelis] Aerssens, the secretary of the States General, his son [Frans], the ambassador at Paris[xxxii], [Francois] Caron the ambassador in England, [Nicasius] de Sille the pensionary of Amsterdam[xxxiii], Justus Lipsius[xxxiv], [Franciscus] Gomarus the leader of the [Calvinist] orthodox, [Petrus] Plancius the geographer, [Emanuel] van Meteren [xxxv] the historian [and Dutch Consul at London], Judocus and Hendrik Hondius the engravers, Balthazar de Moucheron, Isaac and Jacob Le Maire, [Samuel] Godyn [and Samuel Blommaert] and [Johannes] de Laet – all these were natives of the region now called Belgium.”[xxxvi] By no means is this list exhaustive: it is only a sampling of a few of the prominent men of the “Dutch Golden Age” who came from Flanders.
Regardless of their numbers or the fact that they kept status in the North, it still was not home. These Flemish Protestant exiles wanted their ancestral homes back and they would not rest until they had made that happen. Pre-empting Douglas MacArthur nearly 400 years later (“I shall return!”), Philip Marnix, the Brussels-born former Burgemeester of Antwerp and a close confidant of Prince William of Orange, offered a plaintive vow to those in Spanish-occupied Flanders and Brabant before he died in 1598: “Hoe cond ik U mijn broeders oyt vergheten?” [How could I forget you, My Brothers?].[xxxvii] As one historian observed: “In 1600…the hope of recapturing Flanders still lingered in the hearts of her refugees.”[xxxviii]
From Antwerp to Amsterdam
As we have seen, up until 1585, Antwerp was the pre-eminent city in not only Flanders but also the Netherlands. Up until 1585 80% of all exports from the entire Netherlands shipped through Antwerp.[xxxix]With the destruction and reduction of not only Antwerp but the rest of Flanders, artisans and merchants were forced to flee. It was not logical for these Antwerp merchants to chose Amsterdam: it had neither the best harbor (poorly accessible) nor industry, nor surplus capital.[xl] However, those same features made the city physically defensible and hospitable to those who brought industry, connections and capital.
In the years after 1585, Amsterdam experienced a “huge influx of young merchants and entrepreneurs” from Antwerp.[xli]This influx included young merchant-entrepeneurémigrés from such prominent Antwerp families as the Bartholotti, Coymans, Godijn, Van Os, Sautijn, de Schot, and de Vogelaer. These families (and other less prominent families from the South) converted Amsterdam from a place notable only for buying wainscoting in the 1560s[xlii] to the dominant center for shipping, commodities and capital by the early 1600s.[xliii] All these families came to play a significant role in overseas trade – especially through the V.O.C. (established in 1602).
The V.O.C.– Vereinigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or Dutch East India Company – “served as a model for the establishment of [trading] companies in other countries”, which underscores its importance to history.[xliv] By the time of the founding of the W.I.C. in 1621, they had not only turned the V.O.C. into one of the most profitable companies in history[xlv], they had become the merchant-elite of Amsterdam.[xlvi] As such, these émigré merchants of Antwerp played a dominant role in the Discovery and Settlement of America.
The influx of Antwerp merchant-entrepeneuers, had a profound impact on Amsterdam and its relations with the outside world. The Flemish émigrés’ capital and connections, enabled Amsterdam, by the end of the 16th century, to dominate not only culture, language and customs, but also overseas trade and diplomacy for the entire Dutch Republic.[xlvii] In the words of the 19th century U.S. Ambassador to the U.S. (and trailblazing Henry Hudson scholar), Henry Cruse Murphy, “A large portion of this new impulse [for foreign trade and exploration by the “Dutch”] was due to that element of the population which had emigrated from Antwerp and other commercial and trading cities of the Spanish Netherlands, refugees for conscience sake; to whom,
indeed, much more of the maritime greatness and prosperity of the United Provinces are to be attributed than has generally been conceded.”[xlviii]
Surprisingly, despite the influx, ‘Zuidnederlanders’ were only 11% of the merchants in Amsterdam in 1585. But by 1610 were fully 1/3 of all Amsterdam merchants. By 1630 that percentage had slipped back so that only 1/5 of all Amsterdam merchants could be identified as ‘Zuidnederlanders’.[xlix] Nevertheless, the Flemish émigrés remained a potent component in Amsterdam well into the remainder of the Dutch Republic’s “Golden Century”.
The “Originator” of the West India Company
One of these Flemish merchant-entrepeneur émigrés became the “Originator” of the W.I.C. His name was Willem Usselinckx. According to Emanuel Van Meteren (a confidant of William, the Prince of Orange[l]), and like Usselinckx, a fellow Protestant refugee from Antwerp, Willem Usselinckx was “a man well informed of trade and conditions in the West Indies.”[li]
That knowledge of Iberian America and the sources of its wealth there were to become a cornerstone of the founding of the W.I.C. Johannes de Laet,[lii] an Antwerpenaar and the unofficial historian of the W.I.C., began his 1644 edition of the Jaerlijck Verhael, with a rationale for the existence of the Company. In his words, the King of Spain (Philip II until 1598 and his successors thereafter), was the greatest power in Christendom and indeed the whole world. Yet he had set the power and might of this kingdom – derived from the wealth of the Americas – against the United Provinces of the Netherlands (by which he meant modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands). De Laet concludes his opening address by stating that, “the entire world knows the great amounts of gold and silver carted out [of America] yearly.”[liii] Ergo, steal the Spanish king’s gold and silver treasure fleets and one can cripple his ability to make war against the Dutch-speaking peoples.
Willem Usselinckx had an idea, a vision. His concept was rooted in experience and offered a solution that might defeat the Spain and eject her armies from Flanders. “According to the plan [that Willem Usselinckx devised], the Dutch [speaking] colonists [in America] would convert the Indians to Calvinism, arm them,….and initiate them in[to] the techniques of modern warfare.”[liv]
Usselinckx first got the idea of establishing the W.I.C. when he as a young factor (merchant) in the Azores, Portugal, and Spain. More importantly, since the Azores were a “service depot” for Spain’s returning treasure fleet from the Americas, Usselinckx observed the paths of the Spanish treasure galleons and watched them unload chests of sugar, bullion, and slaves at Spain’s port in Seville.[lv] Chock full of gold and silver extracted at great human cost from the mines at Potosi, Peru and in Mexico, it was not difficult for a fervent Calvinist like Usselinckx to see that the Achilles heel of his homeland’s “erf-viand” (arch-enemy), Roman Catholic Spain, was the shipment of bullion across these vast, open seas in large, unwieldy Spanish galleons.
When Willem Usselinckx finally did return to the Netherlands, in about 1591, he was a very rich man.[lvi] He was also described as a man who was, “Intelligent and well-spoken… a devout Calvinist and hater of the Spanish monarchy” whose life-long obsession was to undermine the Spanish position in the Americas.[lvii] These attributes enabled Usselinckx to be taken seriously by other, unyielding Protestants from Flanders such as Petrus Plancius. It was at this time [the early 1590s] that Usselinckx first began advocating for a West India Company.[lviii] But while Usselinckx had the vision, the passion, and the energy, he needed the assistance of others to make this vision a reality.
One of those able to take this vision to the next level was Petrus Plancius. Plancius, a native of Dranoutre (near Ieper/Ypres in West Flanders), was a fiery theologian whose beliefs are best described as ‘old school’ Calvinist. Plancius was also a well-respected cartographer with practical experience as an investor in trading voyages to Africa and Asia. Plancius later became an investor in the V.O.C. (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie – the“Dutch” East India Company)and, until his death in 1616, supplied all of the charts and maps used by the V.O.C. In this capacity Plancius supplied the charts that Henry Hudson used to sail to New York in 1609.[lix] But most importantly for our story here, Plancius came to know Willem Usselinckx early – certainly no later than 1600[lx]– and believed in Usselinckx’ vision.
The Role of Radical Calvinism
Besides his cartographic knowledge and his adherence to Usselinckx’ plan for a West India Company, Petrus Plancius brought other attributes to the table. Plancius was a well-respected theologian at a time when theologians of the right stripe mattered. He had also invested in and made money from far-reaching trading voyages.[lxi] Critically for this story he also was well connected to other influential men in the Dutch Republic. One of these influential men was the Councilor of the High Court, Francois Franeken. The scholar and jusrist believed in this project and sought to promote it at the highest levels. Franeken “saw in a West India Company an excellent tool with which to fight Spain in the New World.”[lxii]Collectively these men, and other Flemish Calvinists like them, saw a win-win scenario. The establishment of a W.I.C. could offer a chance for the United Provinces to reclaim Flanders from Spain, end the war, achieve great wealth, and spread the gospel according to Calvin.
However, not everyone believed in the mission to recover Flanders from the Spanish and spread the war to new territories. Often, those who did not believe in this were humanist Protestants. They also tended to not be exiles, rather they came from among the residual landed elites of Holland and other northern Netherlands provinces. As a Dutch historian put it, they were “humanistic Calvinist[s]…too lukewarm to be martyrs, too honest to be hypocrites.”[lxiii]
This segment of society, because they had at one time printed a “Remonstrance” against the predestination theology of the Flemish refugees, were called “Remonstrants”.[lxiv] Their opponents, dominated by the émigré merchant-entrepeneurs overwhelmingly from Antwerp, were naturally called “Counter-Remonstrants”.Since as one historian points out, “the W.I.C. was the creation of the Counter-Remonstrants,” it is important that we understand the religious issues.[lxv]
At the risk of overly simplifying a complicated theological debate, the Remonstrants were Dutch humanists[lxvi] who believed that every person had free will. One's salvation was a matter of making the right choices, so an individual could either accept or reject God’s offer of salvation. The Counter-Remonstrants, on the other hand, that God’s omniscience cannot be limited. Since He knows all things and stands outside history (as it were) He already knows who the chosen few are. In other words, history unfolds as part of His plan, and those granted salvation was known by Him since before time. A concept many refer to as “Predestinantion”.
The debate between these two groups of Protestant theologians spilled over from the academic to the political. Generally speaking, those theologians who believed in free will (the Remonstrants or “Arminians” – after the Remonstrants’ Dutch leader) became closely identified with the “peace party” in politics. They saw more value in trade and accommodation with Spain than in unrelenting warfare. Their most prominent political supporter was Johannes Oldenbarnevelt.
The Counter-Remonstrants (or “Gomarists”, after their West Flemish leader, Franciscus Gomarus), became strongly identified in Dutch Republic politics with the “war party”. Their most prominent national advocate (besides Gomarus himself) was the son of the Prince of Orange, the Stadhouder Maurice, Captain-General of the army.
Both Arminians and Gomarists believed that these tensions between the two theological camps could only be resolved through a conclave of leading Protestant theologians. The Arminians began calling for a synod in 1610 which finally convened for six months in 1618-1619 at Dordrecht. While officially theological in nature, it was presided over by the United Provinces’ ruling body, the States General. Flemish attendees included the enterprising polymath Johannes De Laet of Antwerp as well as the relentless Petrus Plancius.
There were several important outcomes of the Synod. First, the Contra-Remonstrants under the Bruggeling Franciscus Gomarus were victorious. The Arminians were chased from pulpits in the Netherlands and scattered. The Gomarists’ interpretation of Scripture (making Predestination a central pillar of the Dutch Reformed Church) was deemed the correct one (and is today generally called the Belgic Confession). Second, a committee of 6 Hebrew/Greek scholars – three for the Old Testament and three for the New Testament – was appointed to preside over a new translation of the Bible (to correct what were perceived to be the Lutheran tilt of the first Dutch-language Bible printed at Antwerp in 1526).
This new Bible was to be the standard for the Dutch Reformed Church until the 20th century. At least half of these scholars – William Baudartius of Deinze, and Gerson Bucerus on the Old Testament; and the Gentenaar Antonius De Waele on the New Testament – were Flemings.[lxvii]Overseeing the entire effort were two others whom today we would call Flemings: The Antwerpenaar Anthonius Thysius and the Bruggeling Hermannus Faukelius[lxviii]. Later editing and revisions of these initial translators was tightly controlled by Franciscus Gomarus. Gomarus’ Contra-Remonstrant team included Gomarus, Thysius, Sebastian Damman of Antwerp and the sons of two Flemish immigrants: Joos Larenus (=Van Laren), and Johannes Polyander van Kerckhoven.[lxix] The Bible translation and editing project consumed the attention of these scholars until 1635. Upon completion, half a million Bibles were printed and disseminated throughout the Netherlands and its overseas settlements – including New Netherland of course.
Protestant Christian theology was not the only area impacted by the Flemings who controlled the Synod of Dordrecht. The political implications of the Synod were far-reaching too. The Arminians’ loss of influence in the theological debate was matched by the Peace-Party’s loss of political power. The Synod concluded May 9, 1619. Four days later (May 13th) Johannes Oldenbarnevelt, the Pensionary of Holland who in the interests of the 12 Year Truce with Spain (1609-1621) had quashed efforts in 1606-1609 to set up the W.I.C., was beheaded.[lxx]
The way was now open for the Republic to resume a war footing. And, as part of that effort, a quasi-military company was needed that would take the fight to Spain’s rich New World settlements. In the words of one historian of the W.I.C.: “The establishment of the [Dutch] West India Company resulted from a mixture of political and economic objectives, but its development was determined chiefly by political events and motives.”[lxxi]
[i] An excellent online English language description of what transpired can be found here:http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/koss002text01_01/koss002text01_01_0002.php . As these Dutch authors point out, “The expansion of Calvinism in the Southern Netherlands, particularly in Flanders, took place long before it achieved success in what were later to become its strongholds: Holland, Zeeland and Friesland.” E.H. Kossmann & A.F. Mellink, Texts Concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1974) http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/koss002text01_01/koss002text01_01_0002.php p.8
[ii] For those interested in a deeper dive into that historical context – at least in so far as the political and religious milieu in the Low Countries intersected at that time, I would recommend a look at Alastair Duke,Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries, (London: Hambledon & London, 2003). For the Anabaptist side of the story in Flanders, please see A. L. E. Verheyden,Anabaptism in Flanders, 1530-1650, (Sottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1961). For the Calvinist bit, please see Guido Marnef, “The Changing Face of Calvinism in Antwerp, 1550-1585”, in Andrew Pettegree, Alastair Duke, and Gillian Lewis, eds.,Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp.143-159. Another excellent perspective is in Martin Van Gelderen.The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt,1555-1590, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).Lastly but hardly least, is the excellent (and supremely relevant) work by Peter Arnade,Beggars, Iconoclasts, & Civic Patriots: The Political Culture of the Dutch Revolt, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008).
[iii] The small Flemish village where the iconoclasm (“beeldenstorm”) began was Steenvoorde (since 1688, with few interruptions, under French occupation). The trigger for the iconoclasm that began the “Dutch Revolt” was the preaching of Sebastian Matte, a hatmaker from Ieper who, returning from exile in England (to where he had fled in 1563), delivered a fiery speech outside the St. Laurence monastery in Steenvoorde. Immediately afterwards, an ex-Augustinian monk (also from Ieper) by the name of Jacob de Buzere, led twenty toughs into the convent there where they began smashing and wrecking. So began the “Dutch” Revolt. See Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt, (Middlesex: Penguin, 1979), pp.74-75. For graphics seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeldenstorm
[iv]Those who began the iconoclasm were radicalized not only by their religious inclinations (uncompromising Calvinism) but also because, like political refugees the world over, they had been dispossessed of their livelihood and homes. “It is no coincidence that one of those who began the image-breaking in August 1566 was Jacob de Buzere [native of Ieper/Ypres], minister of the Dutch [language] church at Sandwich [England], and after the collapse of the Revolt in the spring of 1567 resistance was continued by a band of marauders recruited in Norwich and Sandwich, who carried out a series of brutal attacks in Flanders.” Andrew Pettegree,Foreign Protestant Communities in Sixteenth-Century London, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), pp. 252-253. Kindly note that this and other studies of the so-called “Dutch” Protestant churches in England at this time carry overwhelming proof that the Low Countries’ origin of the “Dutch” in England was overwhelmingly Flemish and that they actively gave their money and men to the cause of the “Dutch” Revolt. For example, in referring to the so-called “Dutch” church at Sandwich, the authoritative historian on that community declared that: “With very few exceptions they [Dutch-speaking exiles in Sandwich] were all natives from East and West Flanders or Brabant...They came from localities such as Antwerp, Axel, Bethune, Bruges, Deinze, Ghent, Hulst, Izegem, Kortrijk, Moorsele, Ostend, Oudenaarde, Pamel, Roeselare, Ronse, Turnhout, Wervik, the Westkwartier of Flanders.” Marcel Backhouse,The Flemish and Walloon Communities at Sandwich during the Reign of Elizabeth I (1561-1603), (Brussel: Paleis der Academien, 1995), p. 18.
[v]“The new creeds upset the authorities not only for the religious reasons, but also because they bred lawlessness.” John J. Murray, Antwerp in the Age of Plantin and Brueghel, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), p.36. “The term beeldenstorm usually conjures up a scene of indiscriminatedestruction with wreckers and looters running amuck in the churches. Such outbreaks were in fact comparatively rare in the northern Netherlands.” Alastair Duke, Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries, (London: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p.162.
[vi] My explanation here is incredibly condensed and simplistic. Those with an interest in a more thoughtful treatment of the subject matter in English may want to pick up the classic: The Dutch Revolt, by Geoffrey Parker (Cambridge, 1977). For an online sequence please see my series “The Flemish Influence on the Pilgrims” in my blog, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. A further note is in order here. While today the Dutch-speakers of the Netherlands (which is a corruption of the Dutch language term for the ‘Low Countries’ – Nederland) are called “Dutch” and those of Flanders called “Flemish” in reality, they were originally united by government, language, and culture. Even today, all children in the Netherlands and Flanders officially study the same language, “ABN” (General Refined Dutch). Thus, in many respects, the difference between the Dutch and Flemish is akin to that between (say) North Koreans and South Koreans.
[vii] Geoffrey Parker, Philip II, (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1978), 1st ed., pp. 74-78.
[viii]Geoffrey Parker, "New Light on an Old Theme: Spain and the Netherlands 1550-1650."European History Quarterly1985 15(2): 219-236; p. 226
[ix]“Cologne…while it may not seem a particularly obvious conduit for the Dutch or Flemish precursors of New Netherland colonists, was shared as such by, for example, the Beeckman family [from Deinze], the ten Eyck family (via their Boel ancestry)[from Antwerp], and by the Nevius family (via their Becks ancestry).” John Blythe Dobson, “The Ver Veelen Family in Cologne and Amsterdam,” pp.123-127 in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, April, 2002; pp.123-124. The Ver Veelens were from Antwerp.
[x]“On 17 August 1585, Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, conquered Antwerp….Included among these refugees [from Antwerp] were members of the Boel family who chose Cologne, Germany as their new home. Although many Boel baptisms were found in the register of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Antwerp, only two were children of Adriaen Boel and his wife Cornelia....It was not unusual for Protestants to have a few of their children baptized in the Catholic Church to give the impression [that] they were devout Catholics.” Gwenn F. Epperson, New Netherland Roots, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994), p.129.
[xi]“The strangers [alien immigrants in England] undoubtedly made an important contribution to the war effort across the narrow seas [in the Low Countries].” The author goes on to cite examples of funds raised from the Flemish and Walloon Protestant communities in England as well as the troops raised continuosly from the late 1560s through the early 1600s. To cite but one Flemish example: Adolf Van Meetkeercke was born in Brugge and had four sons. A scholar of Greek, he became the liaison between the government of the United Provinces and Queen Elizabeth’s chief representative there, the Earl of Leicester. Although the entire family was forced to flee to England (in 1580, in part because of his Anglophile sentiments), each son returned at the head of an English military unit. Two died in the wars. Of the two that survived, one continued to serve – eventually under the command of Sir Francis Drake. Drake commended this son (Baldwin, Adolf’s second) for bravery off Cadiz in 1596, for which service he was knighted. See D.J.B. Trim, “Protestant Refugees in Elizabethan England and Confessional Conflict in France and the Netherlands, 1562-c.1610,” pp. 68-79, in Randolph Vigne and Charles Littleton, eds., From Strangers to Citizens: The Integration of Immigrat Communities in Britain, Ireland and Colonial America, 1550-1750, (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2001).
[xii] Please see my earlier post on the extensive role that émigré Flemings played in the Sea Beggar attacks and especially the key victory at Den Briel in 1572 and in the liberation of Leiden in 1574. See my post here on the connection between the Flemish, the liberation of Leiden, and the Flemish connection to the two, please see http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/11/flemish-influence-on-pilgrims-part-5.html. Note also Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek 1572-1630: Een Demografische en Cultuurhistorische Studie, (Sint-Niklaas: Danthe, 1985), “Table XXI: Immigratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden-Samenvatting”, p. 214. Several other cities, such as Haarlem and Middelburg, also had more than 50% non natives in 1622. This has prompted Gusaaf Asaert, in 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p.156, to call Haarlem (for example) “een half-Vlaamse stad”.
[xiii] See especially Pieter Geyl, The Revolt of the Netherlands, 1555-1609, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980), 2nd Ed., pp.180-202.
[xiv] While the association between Flemish Protestants and Contra-Remonstrant (=”hard-core”) Calvinism was strong, it was not absolute. As Professor J.G. Van Dillen noted, 40 of the 250 Arminian preachers he identified in Amsterdam in the 1620s were “Zuidnederlanders”. See “Naschrift van Dr. J.G. Van Dillen” in W.J. van Hoboken, “Een wederwoord inzake de Westindische Compagnie,” pp. 49-56, inTijdschrift voor Geschiednis, 75ste, #1, (1962), p. 54.
[xv] It is worth repeating that in 1622, the year after the establishment of the W.I.C., several Netherlands cities (e.g., Haarlem, Leiden, & Middleburg most prominently) had more than 50% (!) “Zuidnederlanders” in their recorded population. The dominant part of these Zuidnederlanders we would today call Flemings. See Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek 1572-1630: Een Demografische en Cultuurhistorische Studie, (Sint-Niklaas: Danthe, 1985), “Table XXI: Immigratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden-Samenvatting”, p. 214.
[xvi] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.5.
[xvii] If you have an interest in Antwerp, by all means THE book to get on this period of time is Leon Voet,Antwerp, The Golden Age: The Rise and Glory of the Metropolis in the Sixteenth Century, (Antwerp: Mercatorsfonds, 1973). Besides esthetically beautiful, it is well-written, colorful, and includes trivia not found in English elsewhere in print.
[xviii] John J. Murray, Antwerp in the Age of Plantin and Brueghel, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), p.43.
[xix]“Of the approximately 4,000 works printed in these years [1500-1540] in the Netherlands, 2,250 were produced at Antwerp, compared with 1,340 in the Northern Netherlands and 405 in [the] Southern Netherlands centers outside Antwerp. Of the 135 printers then active in the Netherlands, 68 were in Antwerp, 16 in the rest of the Southern Netherlands, and 51 in the northern provinces. In the following decades this concentration process was carried further.” Leon Voet,Antwerp The Golden Age: The Rise and Glory of the Metropolis in the Sixteenth Century, (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds, 1973), p.395.
[xx]“Antwerp, the biggest commodity market of the West, had become its biggest money market….Portuguese and English monarchs also addressed themselves to Antwerp financiers…The biggest commodity and money mart of Europe of that time, the pulsing heart of its chief industrial country, with an industry of its own in full expansion – Antwerp in 1520-1560, could be said to have the wind in its sails.” Leon Voet, Antwerp The Golden Age: The Rise and Glory of the Metropolis in the Sixteenth Century, (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds, 1973), p. 161.
[xxi] John J. Murray, Antwerp in the Age of Plantin and Brueghel, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), p.44.
[xxii]John J. Murray, Antwerp in the Age of Plantin and Brueghel, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), p.44.
[xxiii] This return actually understates their profitability because it only reflects the net increase in retained earnings. See Jacob Strieder, Jacob Fugger The Rich: Merchant and Banker of Augsburg, 1459-1525, (Washington, DC: Beard Books, 2001) reprint of 1931 Adelphi edition, trans. By Mildred L. Hartsough, ed. By N.S.B. Gras. pp. 86-90. By comparison, Vasco de Gama’s famous return home after a three year journey around Africa to India and despite having mismatched goods for trade (who needs wool clothing in the Indies?), made a 60x or 4,700% return for his investors. See Charles Corn,The Scents of Eden: A History of the Spice Trade, (New York: Kodansha, 1999), p.xxiv
[xxiv] See my article on the importance of spices and its connection to 16th century Flanders here:http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/10/flemings-around-magellan-and-first_31.htmlCuriously, Fugger historians believe that Antwerp helped make Jakob Fugger’s wealth possible and symbiotically he contributed to Antwerp’s 16th century greatness as “a world trading center”. See Jacob Strieder, Jacob Fugger The Rich: Merchant and Banker of Augsburg, 1459-1525, (Washington, DC: Beard Books, 2001) reprint of 1931 Adelphi edition, trans. By Mildred L. Hartsough, ed. By N.S.B. Gras. Pp. 101-102.
[xxv] Fernand Braudel, Civilization & Capitalism, 15th-18th Century: The Structures of Everyday Life, Vol. 1, (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), p. 504 and Vol. 3, p.39. Quoting Henri Pirenne,Histoire de Belgique, III, 1907, p. 259
[xxvi] Fernand Braudel, Civilization & Capitalism, 15th-18th Century: The Perspective of the World, Vol. 3, (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), p.39. Quoting Henri Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, III, 1907, p. 259
[xxvii]The full poem is "Hoe cond ick U mijn broeders oyt vergheten; Daer wij toch sijn in eenen stronck gheplant; Al zijn wij noch so veer van een geseten; So can ons doch gescheyden zee noch lant..." Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde, Heylige schriftuerlijcke Lofsangen, (1589) quoted in Gustaaf Asaerts, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p.317.
[xxviii]See especially Pieter Geyl, The Revolt of the Netherlands, 1555-1609, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980), 2nd Ed., and Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt, (Middlesex: Penguin, 1979), for an overview.
[xxix] Philip Marnix is yet another “Flemish Father” of the Dutch Revolt, neglected by historians. Perhaps it is in part because he presided over the fall of Antwerp in 1585. But his “Bijenkorf” was the polemic that helped articulate the rebels position and helped to justify their actions in the eyes of the people and that of foreign powers. It was translated into multiple languages and served to rally not only Flemings and Dutchmen but the English and other Protestant standard bearers as well. See the text ofDe Bijenkorf der H. Roomsche Kerk(1569) herehttp://www.dbnl.org/tekst/marn001bien01_01/ All this means (to me at least) that Marnix deserves his own post. Besides mayor of Antwerp, spymaster for William, Prince of orange, author of the lyrics for “Het Wilhelmus” (the world’s oldest national anthem), he was also a polymath of the first degree. For a biopic, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Marnix_van_St._Aldegonde
[xxx] There is an excellent map on p. 180 of Geyl’s book which shows the year-by-year advances of the Spanish between the mid 1570s and 1594. The sequence, for the record, of notable Spanish captures of Dutch-speaking cities were Leuven & Roermond (1578), Den Bosch & Maastricht (1579), Groningen & Koevoerden (1580), Oudenaarde & Steenwyck (1582), Dunkirk, Eindhoven, Nieuwpoort, & Zutphen (1583), Brugge, Gent, & Ieper (1584), Antwerp, Brussel, Mechlin, & Nymwegen (1585),Venlo (1586) and Deventer & Sluis (1587): Pieter Geyl, The Revolt of the Netherlands, 1555-1609, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980), 2nd Ed., p.180.
[xxxi]Geoffrey Parker, "New Light on an Old Theme: Spain and the Netherlands 1550-1650."European History Quarterly1985 15(2): 219-236; p. 226
[xxxii] Bios on the father Cornelis (born in Antwerp), and the son Frans (born in Brussel), can be found here Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 207.
[xxxiii] De Sille was born at Mechelen. His bio can be found here: Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 205.
[xxxiv] Lipsius was born at Vilvoorde, a town on the periphery of Brussel. He I an example of the shifting political sands at this time: first dean of the University of Leiden(sponsored by the Prince of Orange as a reward for the valiant defense by the inhabitants in 1574 – see my blog post on the subject here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/11/flemish-influence-on-pilgrims-part-5.html), and then switched to the University at Leuven (under Spanish, Catholic control). Many made these switches.
[xxxv]Please see my earlier post on Van Meteren here:http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/07/flemish-fathers-of-america-emanuel-van.html. The only full biography on Van Meteren is W.D. Verduyn,Emanuel Van Meteren, (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1926). As far as I am aware, despite his immense contributions and influence, no full biography on Van Meteren in English exists.
[xxxvi] John Franklin Jameson, Willem Usselinkcx: Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies, (Boston: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1887), Vol. 2, Issue 3, p.27
[xxxvii] Quoted in Hugo De Schepper, Belgium Nostrum, 1500-1650: Over Integratie en Disintegratie van het Nederland, (Antwerpen: De Orde van Den Prince, 1987), p.i.
[xxxviii] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.35.
[xxxix] Leon Voet, Antwerp The Golden Age: The Rise and Glory of the Metropolis in the Sixteenth Century, (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds, 1973), p. 314.
[xl] Violet Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam in the 17th Century, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966), p.13.
[xli] Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 219.
[xlii]“Sir Thomas Gresham, who knew continental markets well, thought of Amsterdam, if we may judge from his correspondence, only as a place in which to buy wainscoting.”Violet Barbour,Capitalism in Amsterdam in the 17th Century, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966), pp.14-15. Incidentally, Gresham is famous for having established the London Stock Exchange, modeling it after the Antwerp Bourse.
[xliii] Violet Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam in the 17th Century, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966), p.18.
[xliv] There is an extensive list of “financial firsts” that the V.O.C. can effortlessly lay claim to. These “firsts” I am compiling as material for a future post. But those interested in (to cite just one example) the corporate governance ‘firsts’ that stem from the founding of the V.O.C. (as well as the source of my quote in the sentence above) should see Ella Gepken-Jager, Gerard van Solinge, and Levinus Timmerman, eds., VOC 1602-2002: 400 Years of Company Law, (Nijmegen: Kluwer, 2005), Law of Business and Finance Series, Vol. 6, p.x.
[xlv]Henry Hudson in Holland: An Inquiry Into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage Which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River With Bibliographical Notes, (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1909), reprint, pp.17-18. “As early as 1650, total dividend payments were already eight times the original investment, implying an annual rate of return of 27 per cent.” Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, (New York: Penguin, 2008), p.137. Incidentally, an annual dividend rate of this magnitude places the V.O.C. returns at better than any 20th century investor known.
[xlvi] Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 219.
[xlvii]“Naschrift van Dr. J.G. Van Dillen” in W.J. van Hoboken, “Een wederwoord inzake de Westindische Compagnie,” pp. 49-56, inTijdschrift voor Geschiednis, 75ste, #1, (1962), p. 53..
[xlviii] Henry C. Murphy, Henry Hudson in Holland: An Inquiry Into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage Which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River With Bibliographical Notes, (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1909), reprint, p. 5.
[xlix] Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 219.
[l] The circle of friends prominent men at this time had could often be proven by means of their Album Amicorum(“Friendship Book”). Thus, in Van Meteren’s is a detailed statement of friendship, penned by the Stadthouder, William of Nassau, and dated April 13, 1578. In the same album one also finds other leaders of the time including Philip Marnix (July 20, 1576 in Middleburg), Van Meteren’s 1st cousin Abraham Ortelius (March 15, 1576 in Antwerp and April 13, 1577 in London), Daniel Rogers another 1st cousin and Queen Elizabeth’s spy/envoy, June 6, 1578 in London), Simeon Ruytinck (Gent-origin leader of the “Dutch” Church in London (no date), and Petrus Plantius (November 4, 1595 in Amsterdam). See W.D. Verduyn, Emanuel Van Meteren, (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1926), pp.231-233..
[li] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.35.
[lii]“De Laet combined a commercial spirit with religious zeal and a vast knowledge of many subjects. He was an upright Contra-Remonstrant, [and he] had been a member of the famous Synod of Dordrecht which had set the record straight concerning the true religion.” Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.30.
[liii] The actual passage is: “De meeste middelenwaer mede den Koningh van Hispangnien de gantsche Weerelt, ende insonderheyt Christenrijck, soo vele Jaren in roeren heft gehouden, ende dese Gheunieerde Provintien soo machtich bestreden, zijn voornementlijck hem toe-ghekommen uyt de over-ricke Landen van America: Wat groote schatten van Goudt ende Silver hy uyt die ghewesten jaerlijcks heft ghetrocken is alle de Weerelt ghenoegh bekent.” Johanne De Laet,Historie ofte Jaerlijck Verhael van de West-Indische Compagnie, (Leyden: Bonaventeur en Abraham Elsevier, 1644), p.1.
[liv] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.35.
[lv] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.34.
[lvi] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.35.
[lvii] The full sentence actually is: “Intelligent en welsprekend, begaafd met een levendige fantasie, overtuigd Calvinist en hater van de Spaanse monarchie, heft hij zijn leven lang telkens weer nieuwe plannen ontworpen om de Spaanse machtspositie in Amerika te ondermijnen.” J.G. Van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, Het Calvinisme en de Politiek,” in Tijdschrift voor Geschiednis, 74, Aflevering 2 (1961), p. 145.
[lviii]“The date of conception for the WIC is not entirely clear. Usselinckx claims to have been discussing the project from the early 1590s, and in a pamphlet of 1630 he notes (three times) that his efforts on behalf of the Company predated its foundation by thirty years – dating it, thus, from 1591.” However, “the earliest published proposals for a WIC date from 1604 – a now lost “police” recorded in Van Meteren.” Benjamin Schmidt, The Dutch Imagination and the New World, 1570-1670, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), paperback edition, 2006; pp. 366-367, n96 & n103.
[lix] Not only did Plancius supply the charts for Hudson’s voyage but he played a critical role in slapping the difficult (and it seems dishonest) Henry Hudson in line. See copies of V.O.C. correspondence (both transcripted and in translation) in Henry C. Murphy, Henry Hudson in Holland: An Inquiry Into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage Which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River With Bibliographical Notes, (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1909), reprint. See especially the Translations on pp. 139-140.
[lx]Henry C. Murphy, Henry Hudson in Holland: An Inquiry Into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage Which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River With Bibliographical Notes, (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1909), reprint, p.10.
[lxi] Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 221.
[lxii] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.35.
[lxiii] Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), p.32.
[lxiv]See for example, this interesting passage from Professor Asaert: "In Leiden namen vooral Vlamingen de plaatsen in van e uitgestoten remonstraten en katholieken. In de kerkenraden hadden Brabanders en Vlamingen zoals gezegd al een grote invloed verworven....In Leiden, met een gemengd calvinistisch-remonstratse kerkenraad, vroeg de magistraat in 1615 aan Episcopius, de bekende remontstrantse hoogelaar, of hij voortaan 's zondags regelmatig aan de predikdienst wilde meewerken. 'Neen,' antwoordde de arminiaan, 'ik wil niet onderworpen zijn aan de censuur van de Vlamingen in de kerkenraad.'” Gustaaf Asaert,1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2002), p.294.
[lxv]“De West-Indische Compagnie was de schlepping van het Contra-Remonstrantisme”. See Pieter Geyl, Geschiednis van de Nederlandse stam, (Amsterdam, 1949), Vol. I, p.484.
[lxvi] However, there were prominent Flemish theologians among this group as well. For example, Petrus Bertius (1565-1629) who was born in Beveren-Roesbrugge in Flanders and died in Paris. Like Plancius Bertius was a cartographer. Unlike Plancius, he supported Arminius (and was one of those who drafted the “Remonstrance” that gave the group its name). As a result of the rise of the Counter-Remonstrants, he fled to France and at the invitation of Louis XIII became the royal cosmographer. He died a Roman Catholic. See Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 117.
[lxvii] Baudartius was based at Zutphen. His grandson Willem Beekman became the longest serving New York City Mayor. His descendants include Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush. Baudartius grandson, Willem Beekman, was to become the longest-serving New York City mayor. The family connection has been chronicled in here:http://www.wargs.com/political/bush.html. Bucerus was based at Veere and had solid English contacts (as did Baudartius, who had been raised in Sandwich, England; and Gomarus for that matter – who had studied at Oxford and graduated from Cambridge). Meanwhile, Herman Faukelius was a preacher at Middleburg. See Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), pp. 177-178 and p. 305. For a quick online review, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statenvertaling .
[lxviii]See Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), pp. 177-178 and pp.304-305.
[lxix]Polyander, whose father was born in Gent, was the Leiden theologian (together with Gomarus) most frequently referred to by the Pilgrims at Leiden as their close friend. For that reference, see William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647, (New York: Random House, 1981), Francis Murphy, ed., 1st ed., pp. 20-22. Polyander, in fact, wrote the introduction (dated January 10, 1617) to the first Dutch language book printed by William Brewster (the “Commentary on Proverbs” by Cartwright) off of the Pilgrim’s Press. SeeRendel Harris & Stephen K. Jones, The Pilgrim Press: A Bibliographical & Historical Memorial of the Books Printed at Leyden by the Pilgrim Fathers, (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1922), Figure 22, at the end of the book (no page number). Later, Polyander and the Gentenaar Antonious Walaeus (De Waele) were to act as intermediaries from King James to Thomas Brewer to shut down the Pilgrim Press. See D. Plooij,The Pilgrim Fathers From a Dutch Point of View, (New York: New York University Press, 1932), pp. 76-77. For context on the Pilgrim-Polyander connection, see George F. Willison, Saints and Strangers: Being the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers and Their Families, with Their Friends and Foes; and an Account of Their Posthumous Wanderings in Limbo, Their Final Resurrection and Rise to Glory, and the Strange Pilgrimmages of Plymouth Rock, (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981), pp. 99, 107. For the background/bio on Polyander see Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), pp. 177, 305.
[lxx] Not only Oldenbarnevelt, but his close allies and family suffered the retribution of the Contra-Remonstrants. His allies were deprived of their goods and imprisoned. His sons plotted revenge against Prince Maurice but failed. One (Renier) killed himself. The other (Willem), married to the grand-daughter of Philip Marnix, the Prince of Orange’s right-hand, spymaster and the author of the lyrics to Het Wilhelmus (the Dutch national anthem) fled to Brussels and outwardly became a Roman Catholic. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_van_Oldenbarnevelt as well ashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_van_Oldenbarnevelt and Cornelis Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and On the Wild Coast: 1580-1680, (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1971), pp. 36-39.
[lxxi] W.J. van Hoboken, “The Dutch West India Company; The Political Background of its Rise and Decline,” in J.S. Bromley, et.al., eds., Britain and the Netherlands in Europe and Asia, p. 61.
Copyright 2011 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any form is permitted without my express, written consent.
In this post I will attempt to highlight another tranche of the many Flemish contributions to the founding of the Dutch West India Company, aka, the W.I.C.
