Commercial Republicanism in the Dutch Golden Age, The Political Thought of Johan and Pieter de la Court

414 Pages·2012·5.398 MB·English

by  Terence Ball, Jörn Leonhard, Wyger Velema (eds.)

Commercial Republicanism in the Dutch Golden Age
Studies in the History of
Political Thought
Edited by
Terence Ball, Arizona State University
Jörn Leonhard, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Wyger Velema, University of Amsterdam
Advisory Board
Janet Coleman, London School of Economics
and Political Science, UK
Vittor Ivo Comparato, University of Perugia, Italy
Jacques Guilhaumou, CNRS, France
John Marshall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
Markku Peltonen, University of Helsinki, Finland
VOLUME 7
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/ship
Commercial Republicanism in the
Dutch Golden Age
The Political Thought of Johan & Pieter de la Court
By
Arthur Weststeijn
LEIDEN • BOSTON
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2012
The digital edition of this title is published in Open Access.
Cover illustration: Abraham van den Tempel, The City of Leiden Receives the Textile Industry,
1651. Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weststeijn, Arthur.
Commercial republicanism in the Dutch Golden Age : the political thought of Johan & Pieter de la
Court / by Arthur Weststeijn.
p. cm. -- (Studies in the history of political thought, ISSN 1873-6548 ; v. 7)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-22139-0 (hbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Netherlands--Politics and
government--1648-1795. 2. Court, Johan de la, 1622-1660--Political and social views. 3. Court, Pieter
de la, 1618?-1685--Political and social views. 4. Republicanism--Netherlands--History--17th century.
5. Merchants--Political activity--Netherlands--History--17th century. 6. Netherlands--Commercial
policy. 7. Netherlands--Intellectual life--17th century. 8. Political culture--Netherlands--History--
17th century. 9. Political science--Netherlands--History--17th century. 10. Economics--
Netherlands--History--17th century. I. Title.
JA84.N2W48 2012
321.8’6--dc23
2011042155
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see www.brill.nl/brill-typeface.
ISSN 1873-6548
ISBN 978 90 04 22139 0
ISBN 978 90 04 22140 6 (e-book)
Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV
provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
Volli, e volli sempre, e fortissimamente volli
(Vittorio Alfieri, 1783)

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ...................................................................................................ix
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................xi
A Note on References ...........................................................................................xiii
Introduction ...........................................................................................................1
  I The Making of an œuvre .......................................................................25
  A Humanist Education ................................................................................26
  The Dutch Debate .........................................................................................37
  The Making of an œuvre ............................................................................50
  Conclusion: Politics as a Ballgame ...........................................................63
   II The Rhetoric of the Market ...............................................................69
  Persuading the Passions ...............................................................................71
  In the Public Arena: Rhetoric in Action .................................................87
  Fables and Frankness .................................................................................114
  Conclusion: The Rhetoric of the Market ...............................................133
III Wise Merchants ........................................................................................141
  Hobbes & the Foundation of the Commonwealth .............................142
  Citizenship in Theory and Practice ........................................................157
  The Ethics of Self-Interest .........................................................................168
  Representing the Wise Merchant ............................................................184
  Conclusion: Commercial Citizenship in Perspective .......................200
IV The Commercial Commonwealth .....................................................205
  The Batavian Athens ..................................................................................206
  The Politics of Free Trade .........................................................................224
  Monarchy Dethroned ................................................................................242
  Towards a Merchant Democracy ............................................................261
  Conclusion: The Radical Republic .........................................................279
viii contents
  V Concord and Toleration .....................................................................284
  The Erasmian Moment..............................................................................286
  The Relation between Church and State .............................................298
  Toleration: Pluralism for the Sake of Unity ..........................................316
   Epilogue: From Freedom of Religion to Freedom
of Speech? ................................................................................................337
Conclusion: The Brothers De la Court and the Commercial
 Republican Tradition ......................................................................................345
Bibliography ...........................................................................................................359
Index.........................................................................................................................389
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The colour plates can be found after p.178.
Plate A. Abraham van den Tempel, Pieter de la Court, 1667. Collection
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Acquisition with support of the Vereniging
Rembrandt.
Plate B. Abraham van den Tempel, Catharina van der Voort, 1667.
Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Acquisition with support of the
Vereniging Rembrandt.
Plate C. Godfried Schalcken, Pieter de la Court, 1679. Museum de
Lakenhal, Leiden.
Plate D. Abraham van den Tempel, The City of Leiden Receives the Textile
Industry, 1651. Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden.
Fig. 1. Frontispiece to Johan and Pieter de la Court,
Consideratien van Staat, ofte Polityke Weeg-schaal, 1661.
Amsterdam University Library, OTM: OG 63–822 .........................................94
Fig. 2. Joost van den Vondel, Op de Waeg-schaal, 1618.
Amsterdam University Library, OTM: Pr. G16a ..............................................95
Fig. 3. Frontispiece to Johan and Pieter de la Court, Politike
Discoursen, 1662. Amsterdam University Library, OTM:
OG 63–7504 ..............................................................................................................97
Fig. 4. Frontispiece to Pieter de la Court, Historie der
Gravelike Regering in Holland, 1662. Amsterdam University
Library, OTM: OK 61–565 ......................................................................................98
Fig. 5. Frontispiece to Pieter de la Court, Aanwysing der
heylsame politike gronden en maximen, 1669. Amsterdam
University Library, OTM: O 63–3745 .................................................................99