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Early modern literary sources depict converts to Islam, commonly known as renegades, as godless, despicable, treacherous, and wicked. By converting to Islam they had not only renounced their Christian faith, but also forsaken their family and fatherland. This article argues that the relations between Dutch renegades and the Dutch Republic were much more complex than these stereotypes indicate. Even when renegades operated as privateers from North African ports, such as Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Salé, they maintained friendly relations with Christian compatriots and even returned to their fatherland unhindered. Perhaps most surprisingly these converts used their knowledge of the situation on both sides of the religious, political, and ethnolinguistic frontiers to operate as diplomatic intermediaries in the service of the States General, at a time when Dutch official envoys had little or no experience in North African diplomacy.

Around 1610 the Dutch author Gerbrand Bredero wrote a letter to his painting teacher Francesco Badens, asking for the loan of a painting to make a copy of it. The act of writing (a letter) asks for a proactive role in managing the reader(s)’ reactions. Although at first sight the letter may look like no more than a simple, insignificant and most of all polite piece of correspondence, it is argued that, from the viewpoint of strategic maneuvering, Bredero’s approach may be considered as a well-thought-out and potentially effective strategy, contributing to pinning Badens to a promise. An analysis from the perspective of argumentation theory allows us a better understanding of certain characteristics in this letter. Bredero’s choice from the ‘topical potential’ especially finds expression in proleptic formulated objections of the addressee to fulfilling his promise. Starting the letter from the seemingly low power situation of a pupil asking his master to do something, in every stage of the communication Bredero is aiming at a reasonable balance and turning this balance to his own advantage at the same time.

The existence of trust between business partners was imperative for the functioning of Dutch early modern long-distance trade, as this was the prerequisite for the extension of credit. In this article it is shown how business correspondence was a crucial instrument for the establishment and continuance of relations of trust. Polite phrases were used to express respect for a business partner. More importantly, merchants strived to be complete in their provision of information and regular in their correspondence, thus showing their dedication and reliability. Letters were also used to exchange information about other merchants’ dependability, hereby reinforcing or weakening relations of trust. Contrary to historiographical insights, family ties turn out to be of limited significance in Dutch long-distance trade. The amount of business letters exchanged with relatives abroad is significantly lower than the number exchanged between unrelated partners. Furthermore, the content of business correspondence between kinsmen was similar to correspondence between merchants who were not related. Just like unrelated merchants, relatives had to use correspondence to sustain relations of trust. Kinship turns out not to be seen as a guarantee of trustworthiness — without which every merchant would most certainly fail as a businessman.

The article discusses the 1617 third edition of the book "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" by Nicolaus Copernicus, published under the title "Astronomia instaurata (Restored astronomy)" in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, edited by Nicolaus Mulerius, and produced by Willem Janszoon. It considers why this edition is considered the most correct edition of Copernicus' work compared to the earlier 1543 and 1566 editions. The 1821 review of the book written by the French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre is also considered.

In 1631, Matthaeus Merian and Johann Ludwig Gottfried published a one-volume abridgment of the monumental America series issued by Theodor De Bry and his two sons. Historia Antipodum can be considered the apotheosis of the collection of voyages to the New World. This article argues that the abridgment, rather than the independent publication it is sometimes taken to be, was constructed with the same editorial strategy in mind as earlier De Bry volumes. Heathen beliefs in the western hemisphere were further emphasized, European superiority was visualized more clearly, and the predilection for spectacular images was stronger than ever. In many ways, the modifications Merian and Gottfried made to both texts and illustrations surpassed the changes made for the original volumes of America. In bringing together these representations in a single, affordable volume, Merian and Gottfried prolonged the influence of the De Bry collection and its carefully manipulated representations until well into the eighteenth century.

The Dutch Republic holds a marginal position in the debate on the transition from feudalism to capitalism, despite its significance in the early stage of the development of global capitalism. While the positions of those Marxists who did consider the Dutch case range from seeing it as the first capitalist country to rejecting it as an essentially non-capitalist commercial society, all involved basically accept an image of Dutch development as being driven by commerce rather than real advances in the sphere of production. Their shared interpretation of the Dutch ‘Golden Age’, however, rests on an interpretation of Dutch economic history that does not match the current state of historical knowledge. Rereading the debate on the Dutch trajectory towards capitalism in the light of recent economic historiography seriously challenges established views, and questions both major strands in the transition-debate.

This article clarifies some of the paradoxes in Lope de Vega's Arte nuevo de hacer comedias (1609) explaining them in the context of Lope's literary career. In particular, we examine how Lope uses the heavily laden words 'vulgo' and 'natural' to obtain the benevolence of his audience, but also to use his success in the commercial theatres in a way coherent with the rest of his literary production. Specifically, the Isidro (1599) and the Rimas (1602, 1604, 1609) will provide useful analogies with the Arte nuevo's rhetoric and logical construction, especially in relation to Lope's ideas of imitation and literary creation. These ideas fill the words 'vulgo' and 'natural' with connotations that contribute greatly to understanding the Arte nuevo. Este artículo clarifica algunas de las paradojas del Arte nuevo de hacer comedias (1609), de Lope de Vega, explicándolas en el contexto de la carrera literaria de Lope. En concreto, examinamos cómo Lope usa las cargadas palabras 'vulgo' y 'natural' para ganarse la benevolencia del público, pero también para aprovechar su éxito en los corrales de comedias de una manera coherente con el resto de su producción literaria. Particularmente el Isidro (1599) y las Rimas (1602, 1604, 1609) proporcionan valiosas analogías con la construcción retórica y lógica del Arte nuevo, especialmente en lo referente a las ideas de Lope sobre la imitación y la creación literaria. Estas ideas impregnan las palabras 'vulgo' y 'natural' con connotaciones que contribuyen enormemente a la comprensión del Arte nuevo.

In this article location theory is used to map and analyse the patterns of retail location in Amsterdam in the eighteenth century. In the city centre as well as along the main axes to markets and the city gates the retailing of shopping goods (textiles, consumer durables) was much more prominent than elsewhere in the city. In contrast, shops selling convenience goods (foodstuffs etc.) were scattered all over the city. The correspondence of empirical data and location theory suggests that the urban government and institutions did not interfere with the location preferences of shopkeepers. An analysis of local acts and guild regulations corroborated this assumption. What did affect the location patterns of shops was history. The morphological and socio-economic legacy of the past acted as an intermediary between general location principles and the implantation of shops in the urban landscape.

In 1601, Olivier van Noort was the first Dutch explorer to successfully complete the circumnavigation of the world, in the wake of such illustrious adventurers as Magellan, Drake and Cavendish.1 Hi...

Seventeenth-century writers about Dutch art and language, wishing to promote a vernacular culture as a counterweight to the dominant ideals of Southern Europe, developed a view of Germanic antiquity. Exporting their visual art, the Dutch brought linguistic attitudes suggestive of a common Germanic history to Britain, as three authors exemplify: Richard Verstegan, Franciscus Junius and Samuel van Hoogstraten. Their writings presented simplicity as a distinctly Germanic quality. Imaginative etymologies, providing equivalents for the artistic vocabulary of humanism, proved that Germanic civilization was the purest continuation of classical antiquity since ‘bastard Latin languages’ had been corrupted by the Dark Ages. The pre-eminence of Netherlandish painting thus reflected the courage and integrity of the tribes praised by Tacitus. The aims formulated in Dutch art theory to ‘follow the simplicity of nature’ became interrelated to cultural ideals of masculinity and imperturbability.

The De Bry collection of voyages, published in Frankfurt and Oppenheim between 1590 and 1634, has traditionally been regarded as dispensing a Protestant iconography of the New World. But for the analysis of the translated travel accounts in the collection, too long considered of secondary importance to the monumental copper engravings, a fundamentally different interpretation of the editors' objectives is in order. This article studies the Latin and German versions of the narratives, which offer a mosaic of variations disclosing a careful editorial strategy. While the German volumes were aimed at a predominantly Protestant readership, their Latin counterparts were adjusted to meet the demands of Catholic customers and humanists wary of religious polemic. Hence the first comprehensive set of images of early America reached readers across the Old World, regardless of their confessional allegiance. Commercial motives rather than the desire to spread a Protestant iconography determined the collection's representations.

While cultural history, intellectual history and even the history of high politics have received a fillip from the new theories and approaches of the late 1980s and 1990s, the principal victims have been social and economic history, precisely the areas... which experienced the greatest growth and expansion in the 1960s and 1970s.

The impact of Dutch on Erasmus’ works is a neglected aspect of studies on the Netherlandish humanist. This article explores the presence of the Low Countries vernacular in the Colloquia, the letters, and the Adagiorum collectanea. It argues that Erasmus used proverbs of Dutch provenance in the same way as ancient adages, that is, as arguments and stylistic devices. Even though there are relatively few vernacular proverbs in his writings, the evidence gathered here demonstrates that, contrary to established opinion, he valued his native language and freely employed it in various works. To gain a better appreciation of his notion of proverbs and his” estimate of their worth, this essay starts with an analysis of his introduction to the Adagia.

This contribution traces how two immigrant families from the Low Countries, the van Axels and Ghelthofs, gained entrance to the Venetian patriciate during the seventeenth century. Venice’s reduced commercial power, the demographic crisis of the patriciate, and increasing financial pressures made this process of social climbing possible. Yet it was the conscious and multigenerational efforts of both the van Axel and Ghelthof families that ensured them a place among the Venetian elite. Long before aggregation to the patriciate became possible, members of both families sought to construct and preserve a stable social lineage, which could hold its own among the Venetian elite. This process involved different generations and entailed forming bonds with established and new Venetian noble families. By the time the van Axels and Ghelthofs requested admittance to the Venetian nobility, they enjoyed the support of a lobby within the patriciate strong enough to overcome opposition.

In contrast to theories of poetry or rhetoric, no complete ancient theory of the figurative arts survives. Renaissance authors wishing to underpin the "rebirth" of painting therefore had to resort to a variety of strategies to invent a new genre. Literary metaphors and fragments from artists’ biographies (mainly from Pliny) were joined with scientific discoveries such as the theory of perspective and the proportions of human anatomy. Leon Battista Alberti’s On Painting of 1435 was the first text to merge ancient conceptions and newfangled geometric insights into a coherent whole that professed to revive classical art theory. His efforts sparked the development of a sizeable genre in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 17th-century France, the Netherlands and (to a lesser extent) Spain and Britain developed their own traditions. These texts shared a prescriptive approach in combination with biographical information about artists. As a central tenet from Alberti onward, humanistic knowledge was tied to basic acquaintance with the artist’s studio. Only at the end of the 16th century did art theory become a topic for courtiers stylizing their texts in a literary fashion. In the 17th century, the role of learned art lovers and their symbiotic relationship to the painters became increasingly important. By comparing the figurative arts to respectable activities such as poetry, rhetoric, and antiquarianism, and by drawing humanistic interest to the painter’s workshop, these texts served an essential role in facilitating the communication between craftsmen and the lettered. Developing the ideal of the "learned painter," the textual tradition thus developed synchronously to the artist’s changing social status. Whereas in the 16th century most authors were artists or had some link to studio practice, in the 17th century amateur-connoisseurs began to replace them; simultaneously, visual art and its theory were institutionalized in the first academies of art. Implicitly or explicitly, Renaissance treatises on painting have, therefore, as their main argument the inclusion of painting among the liberal arts, the intellectual activities worthy of the universal man. Other written sources relevant for the historical reconstruction of manners of speaking about the visual arts include poems, plays, and diaries. As a topic of analysis, sculpture plays a comparatively minor role.

Het Tropenmuseum is onze toonkast voor mondiaal erfgoed.

Residential segregation in an early modern metropolis: Amsterdam circa 1830 Using data from the first land register (1832) of Amsterdam and modern gistechniques this study demonstrates that large early modern cities had more complex residential structures than small and medium sized ones. Early modern Amsterdam consisted of a mosaic of districts, each housing only part of the social pyramid (macro-segregation). Within those districts 'around the corner' segregation (meso-segregation) was typical. A central location, the quality of the environment and accessibility go a long way in explaining the observed patterns and they demonstrate that uni-dimensional models like the one proposed by Sjoberg in his influential study on the preindustrial city are unsatisfactory.

In a letter to Badens, his painting teacher, Gerbrand Bredero asks for the loan of a painting to make a copy of it. The act of writing (a letter) requires a proactive role in managing the reader’s reactions. In what at first sight may look like a simple, insignificant and most of all polite letter, it is argued that, from the viewpoint of argumentation theory, negotiation and bargaining tactics, this politeness may be considered as a carefully devised and potentially effective strategy, contributing to extracting a promise from Badens, and to remove any possible objections from the latter in fulfilling his promise. Whilst starting the letter from the relatively powerless situation of a pupil asking his master to act, by showing a mutual interest and by applying anticipated argumentation and negotiation, Bredero seeks a reasonable balance which he simultaneously turns to his own advantage.

Het maken van schilderijen van zeeslagen, van havens en kustgezichten en gedetailleerde ‘portretten’ van oorlogsschepen, jachten en koopvaarders was de kernactiviteit van het familieatelier de Van de Veldes. In Amsterdam en later in Engeland hadden vader en zoon Willem van de Velde een bloeiend bedrijf in grote en kleine zeestukken. Zij leverden hun werken aan de hoogste kringen in Europa, van het hof van de Medici in Florence tot de Engelse adel. Maar ook voor een ‘zeetje’ aan de wand van een burgerwoning konden klanten terecht bij de ‘winckel’ van de Van de Veldes. De taken waren goed verdeeld: vader Willem van de Velde de Oude tekende op zee de oorlogsvloot en was getuige van de bloedige zeeslagen van de zeventiende eeuw. In het atelier werkte hij die tekeningen uit tot zijn beroemde penschilderijen. Zoon Willem van de Velde de Jonge gebruikte de schetsen van zijn vader voor een imposante productie van olieverfschilderijen. De werken van beide meesters hebben tegenwoordig een ereplaats in de belangrijkste musea in de hele wereld. In dit boek staat de ontwikkeling van het bedrijf van de Van de Veldes centraal: hoe zij zich onderscheidden van de concurrenten, hoe zij hun klanten wierven en hoe vader en zoon zich aanpasten aan veranderingen in de markt voor kunst in de zeventiende eeuw. Vooral na het Rampjaar 1672 was zo’n aanpassing hard nodig. Om een faillissement te voorkomen, vertrok de hele familie naar Engeland, waar het hof van koning Karel II hen met open armen ontving. Deze studie gaat over meer dan schilderkunst alleen: het is ook een verhaal over de mensen achter de kunstwerken, de manier waarop een bedrijf de stormen van zijn tijd wist te doorstaan en over het belang van familiebanden.

Return to Sender takes as its starting point Constantijn Huygens’ letters and shows us the author in his different guises: intimus of René Descartes, translator of John Donne, collector of art, writer of flirtatious love letters and the author of a long consolatory letter-poem for an ailing friend who threatened to go blind. In his letters, Huygens emerges as an often playful yet always ambitious fashioner of his own social image. Return to Sender gives us Huygens as ‘a man of letters’ in a very literal way: conceiving and construing his texts with an addressee in mind, but also with the distinct intention to fashion for that reader a persona that could be represented by means of the text at hand.

The Jewish Community of Cochin in an Ashkenazi Perspective.

Stemmen van Den Haag is een unieke verzameling gedichten, waarin straten, pleinen en statige huizen in de zeventiende-eeuwse hofstad het woord nemen en de lezer in dichtvorm toespreken. Er treden maar liefst 150 stemmen op, van Binnenhof en Ridderzaal tot stadhuis en Grote Kerk, tot Lange Poten, Plein en Spui, Voorhout, Bierkade, Kneuterdijk of het koninklijk Noordeinde en de schunnige Bagijnestraat. Geen enkele andere wereldstad is op zo’n complete manier in poëzie beschreven. Constantijn Huygens heeft al deze locaties in het historische centrum elk een eigen stem gegeven - maar wel een Latíjnse stem. Voor deze schitterende tweetalige uitgave hebben Frans Blom en Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer ze stuk voor stuk meesterlijk vertaald. Stemmen van Den Haag is gemaakt voor liefhebbers van historisch erfgoed dat spreekt, van Latijn dat leeft en van sprankelende hedendaagse poëzie. Vele prachtige illustraties tonen de plekken zoals ze er destijds uitzagen en maken dit boek tot een bijzondere kennismaking met Huygens’ weergaloze poëzie en het zeventiende-eeuwse Den Haag.

News from the Atlantic world was a key ingredient in early printed European newspapers. This article investigates the rhythm of Atlantic reporting in two weekly corantos from the Low Countries, one produced in Amsterdam, the other in Antwerp. It studies the serial production, dissemination, and reception of news from the "Western front" in the year 1630, when both the Dutch West India Company and the Habsburg monarchy experienced a blend of victories and disappointments. Partiality and different conceptions of credibility determined how events were covered on opposite sides of the border. Through careful analysis of two newspapers, and the assessment of their Atlantic bulletins by a well-informed reader, this article will argue that a culture of anticipation shaped the circulation of news from Brazil and the Caribbean. This explains why the press in the Netherlands produced regular bulletins even when there was no news, and why few stories were covered so extensively as those from the Atlantic world.

Focusing on Rembrandt’s studio, this chapter explores the theory and practice in the depiction of the passions. It argues that the central importance alotted to portraying and evoking emotions in rhetorical theory inspired painterly experiments in the 1630s and theoretical ideals that were first written down by Franciscus Junius (1638) and elaborated by Samuel van Hoogstraten (1678). Allegedly, an image’s power to transport the viewer into a virtual reality was greatly enhanced by its emotional appeal. This view inspired the ideal of the artist as „pathopoios", capable of experiencing the passions without letting them disturb his own state of mind.

This contribution aims at analysing the mechanisms responsible for the negative images of Turks and Ottomans in the Dutch Republic of the seventeenth century. Crucial for those mechanisms are the roles of Amsterdam and the Republic in general as an early modern market place for the exchange of information and culture. The systematic transfer of enemy images from conflict zones like the Mediterranean was a major influence on the public images as provided by the theatre or news media.