Dirk van Delen,
‘Assembly of the Dutch
States General’
(1651)
REPUBLICS
PROLOGUE
A PREVIOUSLY NEGLECTED FEATURE
OF THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
OF EARLY MODERN EUROPE
TERMINOLOGY
1. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Antiquity: Greek polis
High Middle Ages: Italian comune movement
(city states with consuls, popolo, contado, podestà)
Late Middle Ages: German Imperial Free Cities
Early modern period: Urban (&rural) federations
‘Special cases’: Mixed and temporary republics
Orators’ Platform (Athens, c. 500 BC, top);
Palazzo del popolo (Florence, 13thC).
OATH-SWEARING AT A COMMUNAL ASSEMBLY
ST PETER’S CHAPEL IN THE SWISS CITY OF LUCERNE
(FROM DIEBOLD SCHILLING’S ILLUSTRATED CHRONICLE OF 1513)
IMPERIAL FREE CITY OF NUREMBERG
(NUREMBERG CHRONICLE, 1494)
Constitutional and
religious symbols
Imperial Free Cities in the Holy Roman Empire: Augsburg
From S. Münster, Cosmographia, 1550
Centres of civic interaction
Dance
Hall
Hospital
Town Hall
& Market
Almshouses
2. STRANDS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Antiquity:
Monarchy, aristocracy, democracy
(Aristotle)
Renaissance:
Principalities and republics
(Machiavelli)
Niccolò Machiavelli (d. 1527)
by Cristofano dell’Altissimo
2. STRANDS OF
POLITICAL THOUGHT
Early modern period
Divine-right ‘absolutism’ vs resistance theories
(Bodin/Hobbes vs Monarchomachs)
Models and defences of republican government
(Harrington and De la Court brothers)
Enlightenment
‘general will’, separation of powers
(Rousseau)
Pieter de la Court (d. 1685)
by Gottfried Schalcken
Rousseau (d. 1778)
by Maurice Quentin de la
Tour
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3. THE DUTCH
REPUBLIC
A brief sketch of its …
Janssonius Map (1658)
Dalen, ‘States General’ (1651)
… Topography and Economy
… Religion
... Politics
... Governance
... Culture
JAN STEEN, ‘CELEBRATING A BIRTH’ (1664)
DE LA COURT,
THE INTEREST OF HOLLAND (1662)
I find my self obliged more fully to consider and promote the
welfare of the subjects in Holland above that of the rulers;
because in this free commonwealth government, it is evident
that the durable and certain prosperity of the rulers does
generally depend on the welfare of the subjects …
It is [also] convenient to premise that Holland … consisted of
many republicks; which in process of time chose a head or
governor over them by the name of Earl or Stadtholder; … [H]e
had of old no armed men or soldiery of his own as dukes had,
but was to be content with his own revenues, and to rule the
land, or rather administer justice to each country according to
their particular customs, and laws ... And tho’ in process of time
they were jointly brought to a sovereign republic, yet is it also true
that the members of this Dutch republic are of different natures
and manners.
The Early Modern Swiss Confederation
cantons, associates, condominiums
Zwinglian
cities
Catholic / rural
Forest Cantons
CANTONAL LEVEL:
GOVERNMENT BY ASSEMBLY AND COUNCIL
Disputation at Zurich 1523
From a copy of Bullinger’s History of the Reformation, c. 1600
FEDERAL LEVEL: CO-ORDINATION AT THE DIET
18THC DRAWING
VENICE (LA SERENISSIMA)
Canaletto, ‘Piazetta San Marco’ with clocktower, domes of
San Marco Cathedral and Ducal Palace (c. 1750; Louvre / Paris)
‘It seems to me that the smallest He that is in this
kingdom hath a right as the greatest He.’
Col. Thomas Rainsborough, representing the Levellers,
at the Putney debates in 1649.
Gold coin minted during the English Commonwealth (‘God with us’).
4. HISTORIOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
Intellectual tradition stretching from Antiquity
via Renaissance to Atlantic Revolutions
JGA Pocock
Constitutional affinities between communal self-government and democracy
Peter Blickle
‘Real Political’ boost for republican self-consciousness after Peace of Westphalia,
triggered by need to claim / display sovereignty in European state system
Thomas Maissen
REPUBLICAN SYMBOLISM AND CIVIC VIRTUES
Joseph Werner, ‘Allegory of the Republic of Bern’ (1682)
The (classical) armed figure of freedom between personifications of abundance, faith, fortitude, service and learning
BAG, LANDBUCH 6 VON 1605, S.
13, 15
Familienwappen
im 4. Ratserkenntnisbuch
von 1742: Bezirksarchiv.
Iconographic shifts
in the crests of the rural
micro-republic of Gersau
on Lake Lucerne:
1605 (left) vs 1784 (right)
Coat of Arms of the Republic of Venice
CONCLUSIONS
• Long historic tradition
• Viable alternative to monarchy
• Relatively diverse and tolerant societies
• Indirect precedents for modern democracy