Dutch Republic

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"United Netherlands" redirects here. For the "Kingdom of the United Netherlands", see United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden / Zeven Provinciën
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands / Seven Provinces ←
1581–1795 →
Flag Coat of arms Motto
Concordia res parvae crescunt[1]
(Unity makes small things grow) 1658 map of the Dutch Republic. Capital The Hague Language(s) Dutch Government Confederal Crown Republic Legislature Dutch States-General Historical era Early Modern Age  - Established July 26, 1581  - French Revolutionary Wars January 19, 1795 Today part of  Netherlands

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden), the Republic of the United Netherlands the Seventeen Provinces, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Provinciën) — was a European republic existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include United Provinces, Foederatae Belgii Provinciae (Federated Belgian Provinces), and Belgica Foederata (Belgian Federation).

Contents

• 1 History
  • 1.1 Economic perspective
• 2 Politics
  • 2.1 Religion
• 3 Influence
• 4 Decline
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 Further reading

// For history and links to the earlier history of each of the provinces, see Seventeen Provinces. For the southern provinces that did not secede from Habsburg rule in 1581, see Spanish Netherlands.

Until the 16th century, the Low Countries - roughly corresponding to modern Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - consisted of a number of duchies, counties and bishoprics, most of which were under the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire.

Most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, which further unified the Seventeen Provinces under his rule. Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. In 1568 the Netherlands, led by William I of Orange, revolted against Philip II because of high taxes, persecution of Protestants by the government, and Philip's efforts to modernize and centralize the devolved-medieval government structures of the provinces.[2] This was the start of the Eighty Years' War.

In 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Netherlands signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II.

In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them; but after a failed attempt to take Antwerp in 1583, the duke left the Netherlands again. After the assassination of William of Orange (July 10, 1584), both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty. However, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England (Treaty of Nonsuch, 1585), and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was not a success and in 1588 the provinces became a republic.

Main article: Economic History of the Netherlands (1500 - 1815) This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008) History of the Low Countries v • d •  Austrasia Frisian kingdom Carolingian Empire
ca 800–843  
Cty of Flanders
9th century – 1384 Lotharingia, then Lower Lorraine 855–954–977
Bishopric
of Liège
+

Imperial Abbey of Stavelot- Malmedy
+

Duchy of Bouillon

10th century
– 1795 Other feudal states
County of Luxembourg
963–1384 10th–14th centuries
Burgundian Netherlands Duchy of Luxembourg
1384–1443 1384–1482  

Habsburg Netherlands
1482–1795
(Seventeen Provinces, Burgundian Circle)
Spanish (Southern) Netherlands
1549–1713  
Dutch Republic
1581–1795
Austrian Netherlands
1713–95 Liège Revolution
1789–92
United States
of Belgium 1790    

French Republic
1795–1804
Batavian Republic
1795–1806 French Empire
1804–15
Kingdom of Holland
1806–10  
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
since 1815    
Kingdom of Belgium
since 1830
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
since 1839 Netherlands History of the Netherlands
This article is part of a series Early History Germanic tribes Roman Era Migration Period Medieval Frankish Realm/The Franks Middle Francia Holy Roman Empire Burgundian Netherlands Seventeen Provinces Republic Eighty Years' War United Provinces The Golden Age The Batavian revolution Monarchy Batavian Republic Kingdom of Holland First French Empire United Kingdom of the Netherlands Modern History Netherlands in World War II Netherlands Topics Military History Dutch Language Dutch literature Naval influence Inventions and discoveries Luctor et Emergo Dutch heraldry Netherlands Portal
 v • d •  

From an economic perspective, the Republic of the United Provinces completely out performed all expectations; it was a surprise to many that a nation, not based on the church or on a single royal leader, could be so successful. This time period is known in the Netherlands as the Golden Age. The Dutch dominated world trade in the 17th century, conquering a vast colonial empire and operating the largest fleet of merchantmen of all western nations. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region of Europe.

The free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, much better functioning stock market in the Low Countries.[3] They established a stock market first in Rotterdam and later in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam modernization of the financial institution took place, and the oldest stock market based on modern trading principles is found here. While the banking system evolved in the Low Countries, it was quickly incorporated into the well-connected English, stimulating the English economic output.

The Republic of the United Provinces was officially recognized in the Peace of Westphalia (1648), and lasted until French revolutionary forces invaded in 1795 and set up a new republic, called the Batavian Republic which would be replaced by the French-controlled Kingdom of Holland.

The Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names "United Provinces of the Netherlands" and "United Netherlands" are used. In 1815 it was rejoined with Austrian Netherlands, Luxembourg and Liège (the 'Southern provinces') to become the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, in order to create a strong buffer state north of France. After Belgium became independent, the state finally became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as it remains today.

Between 1590-1712 the Dutch also enjoyed having one of the strongest navies in the world. This allowed for their varied conquests, including breaking the Portuguese sphere of influence on the Indian Ocean and in the Orient.

The republic was a confederation of seven provinces, which had their own governments and were very independent, and a number of so-called Generality Lands. These latter were governed directly by the States-General (Staten-Generaal in Dutch), the federal government. The States-General were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces.

The provinces of the republic were, in official feudal order: the duchy of Guelders (Gelre in Dutch), the counties of Holland and Zealand, the former bishopric of Utrecht, the lordship of Overijssel, and the free (i.e. never feudalised) provinces of Friesland and Groningen. In fact there was an eighth province, the lordship of Drenthe, but this area was so poor it was exempt from paying confederal taxes and, as a corollary, was denied representation in the States-General. Each province was governed by the Provincial States, the main executive official was a stadtholder (stadhouder in Dutch). In theory the stadtholders were freely appointed by and subordinate to the states of each province. However in practice the princes of Orange-Nassau, beginning with William the Silent, were always chosen as stadtholders of most of the provinces,; Zeeland and usually Utrecht had the same stadtholder as Holland. There was a constant power struggle between the Orangists, who supported the stadtholders and specifically the House of Orange-Nassau, and the Republicans, who supported the States-General and hoped to replace the hereditary nature of the stadtholdership with a true republican structure.

After the Peace of Westphalia several border territories were assigned to the United Provinces. They were federally-governed Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden). They were Staats-Brabant (present North Brabant), Staats-Vlaanderen (present Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), Staats-Limburg (around Maastricht) and Staats-Oppergelre (around Venlo, after 1715).

The States-General of the United Provinces were in control of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC), although some shipping expeditions were initiated by some of the provinces, mostly Holland and/or Zeeland.

The denomination linked closely to the official states, and adopted as state religion, was the Lower German Dutch Reformed Church, the later Reformed Church of the Netherlands. The public exercise of Catholicism was strictly forbidden. Catholics were viewed by the government with suspicion and supervised; Catholic chapels and road-side crosses were all destroyed, shrines were demolished. Even in the southern and utmost eastern parts of the country, which remained almost entirely Catholic during the whole period of existence of the Dutch Republic, public servants had to be Calvinist Protestants (or Jewish) and take an oath which ordered them to act against the "papist religion". After the end of the 17th century the situation changed to a state of restricted toleration of Catholic worship, as long as it took place secretly in non-recognizable churches or in sheds. Until 1795 the Catholics of the Netherlands had to pay huge taxes and large sums of "recognition money" in order to make local government tolerate them. All ancient churches, monastery buildings and stripped cathedrals remained in the hands of the Protestants, even in entirely Catholic provinces and regions of the Netherlands.

The Dutch Republic did not allow public exercise of Anabaptism and Lutheranism either; exceptions were in foreign embassies, in isolated villages, like Giethoorn (Anabaptists) and among the German traders in major cities of the Republic. Public policy against non-Calvinist Protestants was less harsh than policy towards native Dutch Catholics.

In the Union of Utrecht of January 20, 1579, personal freedom of religion was declared. The Union of Utrecht was an important step in the establishment of the Dutch Republic. Establishing a complete freedom of religion took more time. The establishment of a Jewish community in the Netherlands and New Amsterdam during the Dutch republic is an example of the freedom of religion.

Freedom of religion and redistributing the amassed church wealth should not be confused. In many parts of Europe the amassed church wealth was regularly confiscated by the rulers.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution were influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces.[4] In addition, the Act of Abjuration, essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces, is strikingly similar to the later American Declaration of Independence,[5] though concrete evidence that the former directly influenced the latter is absent.

John Adams went so far as to say that “The origins of the two republics are so much alike that the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other.”[6] The seven arrows in the lion's left claw in the republic's coat of arms, representing the seven provinces, was a precedent for the 13 arrows in the eagle's left claw in the Great Seal of the United States.[7]

Long-term rivalry between the two main factions in Dutch society, the Staatsgezinden (Republicans) and the Prinsgezinden (Royalists or Orangists), sapped the strength and unity of the country. Johan de Witt and the Republicans did reign supreme for a time at the middle of the 17th century (the First Stadtholderless Period) until his overthrow and murder in 1672. Subsequently, William III of Orange became stadtholder. After a stadtholderless era of 22 years and the Orangists regained power, his first problem was to survive the Franco-Dutch War (which was related to the Third Anglo-Dutch war), when France, England, Münster and Cologne united against his country.

Wars to contain the expansionist policies of France in various coalitions after the Glorious Revolution, mostly including England, burdened the republic with huge debts, although little of the fighting after 1673 took place on its own territory. After William III's death in 1702 the Second Stadtholderless Period was inaugurated. The end of the War of Spanish Succession in 1713 marked the end of the republic as a major military power.

Fierce competition for trade and colonies, especially from England, furthered the economic downturn of the country. The three Anglo-Dutch Wars and the rise of mercantilism had a negative effect on Dutch shipping and commerce.

The establishment of the Bank of England, at a time when the Dutch were fighting against the French on Dutch soil, meant that money could be borrowed from London at lower interest rates[citation needed], and at greater reliability and protection. Gradually, London displaced Amsterdam as the leading European financial center.

• History of the Netherlands
• Union of Utrecht
• Eighty Years' War
• Dutch Golden Age
• List of Grand Pensionaries

^ In full Concordia res parvae crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur. Hubert de Vries, Wapens van de Nederlanden. De historische ontwikkeling van de heraldische symbolen van Nederland, België, hun provincies en Luxemburg. Uitgeverij Jan Mets, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 31–32.

^ Pieter Geyl, History of the Dutch-Speaking Peoples, 1555-1648. Phoenix Press, 2001, p. 55.

^ Arrighi, G., (2002), The Long Twentieth Century, (London, New York: Verso), p.47

^ Alexander Hamilton, James Madison (1787-12-11). . . Retrieved 2008-01-15. 

^ Barbara Wolff (1998-06-29). . University of Wisconsin–Madison. . Retrieved 2007-12-14. 

^ . University of Texas. April 19, 1982. . 

^ Velde, François. . . 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

• Israël, J.I. The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995
• Reynolds, Clark G. Navies in History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
• Schama, Simon The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age. New York: Random House USA, 1988

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