Prak, Maarten, The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century (2005), 317p.
This is the best brief history of the Dutch Republic during its Golden Age
available in English. It was first published in 2002 Dutch as Gouden Eeuw: Het Raadsel
van de Republiek (Golden Century: The Enigma of the Republic). Diane Webb ably
translated the book and Prak added material for the English edition, including an
excellent section on Dutch philosophy and science. The subtitle, which was only retained
for the opening chapter, is important because it says a great deal about Prak’s approach.
How a Republic of about two million people became a leading European economic,
political, military, and cultural power with a worldwide trading empire was a source of
wonder to contemporaries. Historians have failed to agree on a common explanation for
the Republic’s spectacular success. Some historians, especially social science oriented
historians who sought an overall theory of Dutch precociousness, emphasized the
modernity of the Dutch achievement in economic, social and cultural terms. They
especially focus on the modernity of its religious toleration, financial and economic
sophistication, the professionalism and organization of its army and navy, its pathbreaking inductive contributions to science and innovations in philosophy and the
understanding of religion that laid the groundwork for a radical Enlightenment. Prak, on
the other hand argues that these achievements were not radical breakthroughs that would
inevitably lead to modernity but were by-products of a society that was a mixture of the
old and the new. He sees these achievements as unplanned and as accidental
consequences of particular historical and social contexts.
Prak begins with an historical account of the late Medieval Netherlands as a
bundle of loosely organized provinces tied to the Holy Roman Empire, an emerging
Burgundian state that fails to survive because of the accidents of inheritance, and then as
a wealthy Northern portion of the Hapsburg Empire. During the sixteenth century the
latter sought to extract revenue from the region, while attempting to exert more
bureaucratic control over a traditionally loosely and locally governed region, while at the
same time it attempted to beat back the forces of Protestant dissent. After a brief
discussion of the Dutch Revolt, the major part of the book is a description of
developments in four key areas. He explains how the Dutch Republic was created
through “war without end” and emphasizes that, while the decentralized nature of the
Republic was a consequence of the eighty years of military and political conflict with
Spain, the new state nonetheless was able to create effective modern military and
financial systems and an innovative federal government structure that at crucial times of
crisis allowed the province of Holland to impose its will upon the other provinces. The
second major section discusses the creation of a market economy and the forging of a
dominant worldwide trading network. The third section discusses the unity and discord
that characterized its largely urban and burgher dominated society, which provided a
hospitable environment for he growth of a market economy and social peace, despite a
strong tradition of urban riot. Strong corporate social institutions, such as guilds, citizen
militias, independent social organization, and the churches provided order and discipline.
The final section of the book deals with religious pluralism, innovations in science and
philosophy, and the development of a remarkable Dutch school of painting, urban
planning and design. Prak’s writing is enlivened by his use of many well-chosen
anecdotes that illustrate his major points. The book contains a good discussion of further
reading instead of a traditional bibliography. Prak’s study succeeds in being an excellent
introduction to the subject for those without much background knowledge of the topic
and is solidly rooted in modern scholarship.