Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Libelli Non Grati: Pamphlets and the Political Culture of Control

  • Chapter
Pamphlets, Printing, and Political Culture in the Early Dutch Republic

Part of the book series: International Archives of the History of Ideas ((ARCH,volume 116))

  • 56 Accesses

Abstract

Dutch Booksellers and printers, in theory forbidden to publish unauthorized political tracts, operated in practice in relative freedom. Historians have rightly made much of the extensive liberty in the Republic, but have generally downplayed the efforts of governmental bodies and their allies to control political commentary and information. This can lead, however, to a distorted image of contemporary thinking and conditions. Moreover, attempts to control the printing press reveal that those in power believed pamphlets had broad influence. The press was recognized as a means to reach an audience larger than the political elite, an audience that could not be entrusted with discussion of political matters. If access to the press could be restricted, then the knowledge and opinions of the public could in part be tamed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Kn. 2016

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kn. 2610.

    Google Scholar 

  3. F. Aerssen], Practycke van den Spaenschen Raedt... (n. p., 1618) {Kn. 2618}.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kn. 4011.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Soldaets Praetje, of fSamen-sprake, Tusscken een Soldaet en een Burger, aengaende de Militie (n. p., 1647) {Kn. 5588}.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Declaration des causes qui ont esmeu la Roy ne D’Angleteere, a donner secours pour la Defence du... pais bas (London, 1585) {Kn. 748}.

    Google Scholar 

  7. VanDeursen, Kopergeld, v. 2, 97–98.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Consultâtie Oft Beraedt, Hoe uden Oorlogh in’t Nederlandt best tot een goet eynde ghebraght sal werden?... (Amsterdam, 1630) {Kn. 4030}.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Discours, Verclaerende wat forme ende maniere van regieringhe, dat die Neder- landen, voor die alderbeste ende zekerste, tot des en tyden aenstellen mochten (n. p., 1583) {Kn. 651}.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kn. 1185.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kn. 1613.

    Google Scholar 

  12. T’samen-sprekinge Tusschen eenen Predicant ende Leerlingh, over de huydens- daegsche Verschillen... (n. p., 1617) {Kn. 2414}.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Procuratie Ende daer op gevolgde Remonstranzen Ende Protest, By d’Oud-Ampten... (The Hague, 1640) {Kn. 4696}.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kn. 697.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kn. 1525.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kn. 1414.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kn. 2595.

    Google Scholar 

  18. These words are used in a resolution of 9 March 1589, found in the BVBBB, Printed Catalogue 6395(9), no. 9.

    Google Scholar 

  19. E. Poppius], Nieuwe-Jaer Vervatende Stoffe tot Goede ende vreedsame be- denckinghen ende raetpleginghen over Religions saken... (n. p., i62i){Kn. 3252}.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kn. 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  21. St. Annens Droom. Nopende De Vrede ende Oorloge van desen loopenden Tijt (n. p., 1646) {Kn. 5303}.

    Google Scholar 

  22. [J. Uitenbogaert], Onder-rkhtinghe, Op de Missive van P.V.H., Aende... Staten Generael ende... den Prince van Orangien... (n. p., 1629) {Kn. 3961}.

    Google Scholar 

  23. P. Geyl, “An Interpretation of Vrancken’s Deduction of 1587 on the Nature of the States of Hollands Power,” in C. H. Carter, ed., From the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation (New York, 1965), 230–46. Geyl translated the Corte Verthoning as the Deduction, but it is also known as the Brief Declaration.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Groot Placcaet-Boeck, v. 1, 439-44, States General, 16 January 1621.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Japikse, Resolutien,v.2,232.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ibid., v. 14, 624.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Rogge, Brieven Wtenbogaert, v. 2, 61.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Kn. 1053.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Kn. 2524.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Vertoninghe der tegenwoordighe stant int vrye-Nederlandt 1618 (n. p., 1618) {Kn. 2769}.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Kn. 3961.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kn. 3797.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Kn. 6851.

    Google Scholar 

  34. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue 6395(9), no. 9; 27 March 1587.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ibid., 9 March 1589.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Resolutie vande... Staten van Hollandt ende West-Vrieslant, teghensseecker Libel... (The Hague, 1614) {Kn. 2117}.

    Google Scholar 

  37. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue 6395(9), no. 9; 7 July 1615.

    Google Scholar 

  38. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue F6405; 1618.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Placcaet Vande.. Staten van Hollandt ende West-Vrieslant, tegens het seditieux spreecken, het inbrengen, drucken, verkoopen, ofte stroyen van alderhande argerlijcke ende seditieuse Boecxkens, Liedekens etc... (The Hague, i6i8){Kn. 2661}.

    Google Scholar 

  40. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue 6395(9), no. 9.

    Google Scholar 

  41. J. I. van Doorninck, “Famose Libellen, 1612,” BGO, I (1874), 78–79, Council of Deventer; BVBBB, Printed Catalogue F6405, 1622, States General; Kleerkooper, Van Stockum, Boekhandel te Amsterdam, v. 3, 879, Council of Amsterdam, 1626.

    Google Scholar 

  42. W. P. C. Knuttel, Verboden boeken in de Republiek der Vereenigde Nederlanden (The Hague, 1914 ).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Briels, Zuidnederlandse boekdrukkers, 584.

    Google Scholar 

  44. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue F6405; 1629.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Kn. 4696.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Doorninck, “Famose Libellen,” 78–79.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Knuttel, Verboden boeken, no. 439.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Ibid., no. 166. {Kn. 2556}

    Google Scholar 

  49. Ibid., no. 288. {Kn. 2634}

    Google Scholar 

  50. Ibid., no. 408. {Kn. 3221}

    Google Scholar 

  51. Ibid., nos. 121, 281, 347. {Kn. 3448, 3661, 5196}

    Google Scholar 

  52. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue F6405; 1617.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Lettre escrite par un Gentilhomme Francoys... a un amy Hollandois, au sujet des libelles diffamatoires qui se publient en Hollande contre les Francois... (Hamburg, 1647) {Kn. 5511}.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Knuttel, Verboden boeken, no. 347. {Kn. 5196}

    Google Scholar 

  55. H. A. Enno van Gelder, Getemperde Vrijbeid(Groningen, 1972 ).

    Google Scholar 

  56. Knuttel, Verboden boeken, no. 288, the Provisionele Openinghe. {Kn. 2634}

    Google Scholar 

  57. Kronenberg, Verboden boeken, 128.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Lacuelle-van de Kerk, Haarlemse Drukkers, 17.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Dixon, “Boeken-censuur II,” 355–58.

    Google Scholar 

  60. A. C. F. Koch, “Het Gedrukte Boek,” in B. H. Slicher van Bath, et al., eds., Geschiedems van Overijssel (Deventer, 1970 ), 277.

    Google Scholar 

  61. GA Kampen, OA 22, Fol. 66, 29 November 1566; OA 2259, 24 October 1566.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Japikse, Resolutien, v. 10, 333–34.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Ibid., 827.

    Google Scholar 

  64. C. Dixon, “Boeken-censuur te Deventer, III,” BGO, 2e serie, 2e deel, 12 (1896), 108–26.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Kleerkooper, Van Stockum, Boekhandel te Amsterdam, v. 3, 869.

    Google Scholar 

  66. Ibid., 876–877.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Knuttel, Verboden boeken, no. 272. {Kn. 3087}

    Google Scholar 

  68. Apologie oft Verantwoordinge voor de Predicatie van D.Johannes Doucher Franschen Predicant binnen Amsterdam... (n. p., 1625) {Kn. 3624}.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Kn. 4696.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Knuttel, Acta Synoden, v. II, 500.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Publicatie. (Van President, ende Raden over Hollandt, Zeelandt, endeVrieslandt).. . (The Hague, 1647) {Kn. 5594)

    Google Scholar 

  72. Kossmann, Boekhandel te’s-Gravenhage, 50.

    Google Scholar 

  73. Enno van Gelder, Vrijheid en Onvrijheid in de Republiek (Groningen, 1947) and Getemperde Vrijheid, are the standard works.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Recent as well as older surveys stress the unusual freedom in the Republic. Some of the best are: Parker, Dutch Revolt, J. L. Price, Culture and Society in the Dutch Republic During the ijth Century (London, 1974); K. H. D. Haley, The Dutch in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1972); C. Wilson, The Dutch Republic and the European Civilization of the Seventeenth Century (New York, 1968); J. Huizinga, Dutch Civiliza¬tion in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1968); P. Geyl, The Dutch in the Seventeenth Century.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Briels, Zuidnederlandse boekdrukkers, 152–153.

    Google Scholar 

  76. G. Brugmans, Onder de loupe van het Buitenland (Baarn, 1929), 215–16.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Dixon, “Boeken-censuur III,” 113.

    Google Scholar 

  78. BVBBB, Printed Catalogue 6395(9), no. 9; 1581.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Ibid.; 1584.

    Google Scholar 

  80. Reprinted in Kn. 2661.

    Google Scholar 

  81. Briels, Zuidnederlandse boekdrukkers, 560.

    Google Scholar 

  82. Ibid., 571.

    Google Scholar 

  83. Mentioned in the 1643 Synod of Brill, Knuttel, Acta Synoden, v. II, 430.

    Google Scholar 

  84. Kn. 1525.

    Google Scholar 

  85. Dixon, “Boeken censuur I,” 243.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Van Deursen, Resolutien, v. 4, 401.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Apologie oft verantwoordinge Vanden Grave van Essex … (Middelburg, 1603) {Kn. 1213}. Retranslated from the Dutch. The English original was first published in 1598.

    Google Scholar 

  88. Geschrift Over-ghegeven By den Heer Ambassadeur van Vranckrijck Aen de respec¬tive Heeren Staten der Vereenichde Nederlandtsche Provincien. . . (n. p., 1647) {Kn. 5472}.

    Google Scholar 

  89. Klaits, Printed Propaganda, 35–37.

    Google Scholar 

  90. Geurts, Nederlands e Opstand, 41, 261.

    Google Scholar 

  91. H. Soly, “Plechtige Intochten in de Steden van de Zuidelijke Nederlanden tijdens de overgang van Middeleeuwen naar Nieuwe Tijd: communicatie, propaganda, Spektakel,” TVG, 97, no. 3 (1984), 348.

    Google Scholar 

  92. Voet, Plantin Press, v. IV.

    Google Scholar 

  93. Corte verclaringe, ghedaen by Borgemeesteren, Schepenen ende Raedt der Stadt van Antwerpen, nopende den aenslach teghen de sehe Stadt… (Antwerp, 1583) {Kn 636}.

    Google Scholar 

  94. Aende hooch ende wel-gheboren, … Heeren, goede Vrunden, ende Naghebueren … van Brabant, Vlaenderen, Artois, Henegouwe, enz … (n. p., [1602}) {Kn. 1192}. Four printings are in The Hague collection.

    Google Scholar 

  95. Kn. 2552.

    Google Scholar 

  96. Copie Vant Klaer Vertoogh: gheschreven, ende onderteyckent by de eyghene handt van Henricus Slatius, in sijn gevangenisse in’s Graven-Haghe …(The Hague, 1623) {Kn. 3475}-

    Google Scholar 

  97. Kn. 3828 is a good example of the latter.

    Google Scholar 

  98. Noted by Knuttel, Catalogus, v. 1, part 2, under number 5452, [A. Pauw], Observatien Op de Brief van A. De Bruys, Plenipotentiaris van Spangjen Tot Munster ([The Hague], 1647). The author of Des Druckers Beleydenisse (n. p., 1648) {Kn. 5765} also accuses Pauw of authoring this tract, and mentions “his pasquils.” See also Verscheyde Stucken Raeckende De Vrede-handelinghe, Door A. P. (Amsterdam, 1647) {Kn. 5478}, which Knuttel suspects Pauw edited and authored.

    Google Scholar 

  99. Kn. 1052.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Craig E. Harline
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Harline, C.E. (1987). Libelli Non Grati: Pamphlets and the Political Culture of Control. In: Pamphlets, Printing, and Political Culture in the Early Dutch Republic. International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 116. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3601-0_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3601-0_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8111-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3601-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation