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Case 2: THE DUTCH DIMENSION
Exhibition curator: Katie Sambrook
Herman Hugo. The siege of Breda ... translated into English. [Ghent]: Jodocus Dooms, 1627
Guy's Hospital Physical Society Collection DH206.B8 HUG
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| The defences at Breda, from : Herman Hugo. The siege of Breda ... translated into English. [Ghent]: Jodocus Dooms, 1627. [Guy's Hospital Physical Society Collection DH206.B8 HUG] |
One of the principal topics under discussion at the 1604 peace conference was English support for the Dutch republicans of the United Provinces in their continuing war against Spanish rule in the Netherlands.
In 1596 England and France had signed an alliance with the Dutch Republic, thereby conferring de facto recognition on its existence as an independent state. Both countries also provided some military support to the Dutch. Henri IV of France was keen to avoid an Anglo-Spanish alliance; he therefore negotiated a separate Franco-Spanish peace treaty in 1598 (the Treaty of Vervins) and, once James I had succeeded to the English throne, sought to persuade him to maintain military support for the Dutch, while at the same time sowing distrust of Spain in James's mind. James, however, was not to be swerved from his aim of peace with Spain; his belief in the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings predisposed him against the Dutch republicans. After the Treaty of London Spain continued to fight the Dutch, who, shorn of English support, were now eager to make peace. A truce was finally signed between Spain and the Dutch in 1609.
Peace in the Netherlands was not destined to last long, however. With the outbreak
of the Thirty Years' War fighting between the Dutch and the Spaniards began
again. The book on display, an English translation of Herman Hugo's account
of the 1625 siege of Breda, bears witness to a re-emergent English interest
in and sympathy for the Protestant Dutch in their conflicts with Catholic Spain.
Olivier van Noort. Description du pénible voyage fait autour de l'univers ou globe terrestre. Amsterdam: chez la vesve de Cornille Nicolas, 1610
Marsden Collection J1/12
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| A sea battle, from : Olivier van Noort. Description du pénible voyage fait autour de l'univers ou globe terrestre. Amsterdam: chez la vesve de Cornille Nicolas, 1610. [Marsden Collection J1/12]. |
An important factor in the triangle of Anglo-Spanish-Dutch relations was the
question of trading rights in the Indies, where both the English and the Dutch
challenged Spanish domination. Van Noort's voyage around the world, an account
of which is on display, was one of the most important Dutch expeditions to the
East Indies, setting out from Rotterdam in 1598 and not returning until 1601.
Among his exploits was a sea-fight with the forces of the Admiral of Manila,
in the Philippines, then under Spanish rule, depictions of which are on display
here.
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Oriental market, from: Jan Huygen van Linschoten. Itinerarium, ofte, Schip-vaert near Oost ofte Portugaels Indien. Amsterdam: Everhardt Cloppenburch, 1644. [Marsden Collection G1/14] |
Jan Huygen van Linschoten. Itinerarium, ofte, Schip-vaert near Oost ofte Portugaels Indien. Amsterdam: Everhardt Cloppenburch, 1644
Marsden Collection G1/14
In 1580 the kingdom of Portugal was annexed by the Spanish crown; it was to remain under the control of Spain until 1640. This had a considerable impact on Dutch trading activities; as the Dutch were at war with Spain, their trading ships were liable to be attacked and confiscated if they entered Portuguese ports. The Dutch, who had hitherto acquired goods from the Indies via Portugal, were compelled to begin trading in the Indies themselves. Van Linschoten's voyage to the Portuguese Indies, his account of which was first printed in 1596, was a consummate achievement of commercial espionage; he succeeded in discovering from his Portuguese hosts every detail of their trading routes. The Dutch were able to enter the lucrative spice trade. Competition among the European powers was to become increasingly intense and in 1600 the English established the East India Company, which would ultimately dominate East Indies trade. Trading rivalry was to combine with the 1604 Treaty of London to lead to a decline in Anglo-Dutch relations as the decade progressed.
The plate on display shows some of the natural products of the Indies, including
pepper.
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Title page of : Hugo Grotius. De jure belli ac pacis ... Accesserunt ... Dissertatione de mari libero. Amstelaedami: apud Joannem Blaeu, 1670. [Rare Books Collection JX2093.B55] |
Hugo Grotius. De jure belli ac pacis ... Accesserunt ... Dissertatione de mari libero. Amstelaedami: apud Joannem Blaeu, 1670
Rare Books Collection JX2093.B55
The arguments of the jurist and philosopher Hugo Grotius were deployed by the Dutch in defence of their trading activities in the Indies and elsewhere. In his Mare Liberum, first published in 1609 but displayed here in a copy of the 1670 edition of his principal works, he challenged the claims of the major European powers to rule over portions of the ocean. Instead he claimed that the freedom of the seas is essential to the right of nations to communicate with each other and that no nation can monopolise ocean highways because of the immensity of the sea and its lack of stability and fixed limits. Though these arguments were initially directed largely against the Spanish and Portuguese, the Dutch would also use them against English claims over fishing rights in the North Sea. No longer embroiled in a struggle with Spain, the Dutch were free to expand their trading activities and England, realising the emergence of a major new trading rival on its doorstep, became increasingly hostile towards the United Provinces in the years after 1609.
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