The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century: The Golden Age

Abstract

This lively and readable interpretation of the Dutch Golden Age was first published in Dutch in 2002. For this edition the text has been modified to make it more accessible to non-Dutch readers, and a valuable extra chapter on science and philosophy has been added. The original Dutch title was the rather less plain Golden Century accompanied by a distinctly more intriguing subtitle—the Enigma of the Republic. In the present edition the latter phrase is retained only as the subtitle of the introductory chapter, which is possibly more apt as the book is rather a general survey of the Dutch Golden Century than a consistently argued thesis about the supposedly puzzling nature of the Dutch Republic. In setting out his case for another addition to the not unimpressive list of the existing general accounts of the Dutch seventeenth century, Prak criticises previous historians for placing too much stress on the modernity of the Republic—in economic, social and cultural terms—and argues that this perspective does too little justice to the peculiar and complex character of the country in its century of greatness. For Prak the enigma of the Republic is not so much its success—that it rose so rapidly to the status of a major power in military and political terms and to economic dominance in Europe—but that these remarkable achievements were produced by a society which was a singular mixture of the old and the new rather than a precursor of the modern world in any straightforward way. This, however, is hardly a controversial position: most historians of the period would agree with the proposition in general terms, though they might well place the emphasis rather differently than Prak does in this study. It might also be suggested that a simple juxtaposition of old and new is just as unhelpful as too great an emphasis on the new. After a brief account of the Republic's origins in the Dutch Revolt, the book is divided into four parts: the new state's rise to major power status in Europe with particular attention to the military and naval effort this entailed; the great economic boom and the society it produced; the peculiar nature of Dutch government and politics; and the markedly urban character of Dutch society. It is clearly intended as an introduction to the Dutch seventeenth century, and seems to have as its primary target readers with little background knowledge of the subject. Single volumes tackling such large subjects can always be criticised for their inevitable omissions; in this case it is more to the point that Prak has managed to pack a great deal of useful and interesting material into such a relatively small space. There are some slips: to say that unanimity was not necessary in the States of Holland is perhaps only a little misleading, but to call the Collegiants a movement within the Reformed Church suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the movement. Elsewhere he refers to Socinians as Biblical literalists, which more than misses the point. Such blemishes are few, however, and seem to be largely the result of not having quite enough room to deal adequately with everything that he has tried to include. The translation reads well in general, but it is a little disturbing to see the monsterverbond of Calvinists and Catholics in Utrecht (p. 187) rendered as a ‘huge’ rather than an ‘unnatural’ alliance. Nevertheless, even if it is neither as original in interpretation or as distinctive as it claims, it remains a very welcome addition to the short-list of books which can be wholeheartedly recommended as an introduction to the great age of Dutch history.