Princely Power in the Dutch Republic Patronage and William Frederick of Nassau (1613-64)

by Janssen, Geert H.

• ISBN13: 9780719077586
• ISBN10: 0719077583
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-01
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

"Based on one of the richest surviving diaries of the Dutch Golden Age, Princely power in the Dutch Republic recaptures the social world of William Frederick of Nassau (1613-64). As a Stadholder and relative of the Prince of Orange, William Frederick was among the key players in a fragmented republican state system. This study offers a vivid analysis of his political strategies and reveals how unwritten codes of patronage guided his daily contacts and shaped his mental world." "As a patron at his court and as a client of the Prince of Orange, William Frederick developed distinctive patronage roles, appropriate to different social spheres. By assessing these different roles, Janssen provides a unique insight into the ways in which a seventeenth-century nobleman negotiated and articulated clientage, friendship and corruption in his life." "This study offers an in-depth analysis of political practices in the Dutch Republic and reconsiders the way in which patronage shaped early modern politics, affected religious divisions and framed social identities."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Geert H. Janssen is a Temporary Lecturer in Early Modern European History at the University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Glossary	p. xii
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Note on references and manuscript sources	p. xv
	p. 1
Patronage	p. 2
A multidisciplinary tradition	p. 2
Dutch traditions	p. 4
Questions and starting-points	p. 5
Social spheres and social roles	p. 7
The language of patronage	p. 8
Autobiographical sources	p. 10
Correspondence	p. 12
Patron In Friesland, 1640-1650
Loyalty on trial	p. 20
The years before 1640	p. 21
The inheritance of patronage	p. 22
Court clientele	p. 23
Regent clientele	p. 25
Frederick Henry	p. 28
Conflict	p. 30
Disorder in Friesland	p. 33
Relationships restored	p. 34
The stadholder becomes a patron	p. 41
Instructions	p. 42
The election of magistrates	p. 44
Selection criteria	p. 46
Confessional segregation	p. 48
The role of the patron	p. 52
Brokers	p. 55
Patron in the countryside	p. 59
A military trump card	p. 62
Group identity and ideology	p. 63
The count as patron	p. 72
Houses and domains	p. 73
Courtiers	p. 76
Public and private	p. 78
The role of the court patron	p. 80
The role of the court client	p. 82
Identity	p. 84
Client At The Orange Court, 1640-1650
Under the authority of the master	p. 92
The Orange court	p. 92
The count as client	p. 94
Frederick Henry	p. 95
William II	p. 97
A new policy?	p. 100
Reorganisation of the court	p. 103
A core clientele	p. 104
Selection criteria	p. 105
Old and new networks	p. 107
Public and private circuits	p. 112
Reactions	p. 113
The dilemmans of the client	p. 114
The fall of the Boss	p. 122
Crisis	p. 123
The obedient client	p. 126
The coup	p. 129
Success?	p. 130
Clients in a time of crisis	p. 133
Orange's private clientele	p. 134
Orange's public clientele	p. 136
Losing the patron	p. 139
Without A Patron, 1650-1664
New relationships	p. 146
Discord	p. 146
Rivals	p. 148
The power of the broker	p. 150
Success in Groningen and Drenthe	p. 151
Stadholder in Groningen	p. 153
Stadholder in Drenthe	p. 156
Thwarted ambitions	p. 156
Affairs in The Hague	p. 160
An ideological dimension	p. 162
The limits of power	p. 170
Formalised patronage	p. 171
Corrupted patronage	p. 173
Corrupted gifts	p. 175
Public and private patronage	p. 177
Succession	p. 179
An accidental death	p. 181
Epilogue	p. 185
Bibliography	p. 188
Index	p. 209
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