The Nine Years’ War (1688–1697)

Onnekink, David

doi:10.1057/978-1-349-95136-9_4

The Nine Years’ War (1688–1697)

David Onnekink²

Chapter
First Online: 09 November 2016

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Abstract

In this chapter, David Onnekink analyses foreign policy discourses at the start of the Nine Years’ War (1688–1697). Historiography has emphasized the strategic aim of William III in 1688 to redress the balance of power, endorsed a secular realist paradigm of French expansionism and downplayed the relevance of political parties. In this chapter, Onnekink compares three categories of primary sources: political documents, formal published documents and popular publications. He argues that the two partisan foreign policy discourses of 1672 continued to develop. Republicans ignored domestic differences and rehashed their traditional Two Kings Discourse that became deadlocked in 1688. Orangists developed Universal Monarchy Discourse and Religion and Liberty Discourse and ignored the balance of power.

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Notes

1.
But see A. van der Kuil’s short De glorieuze overtocht: de expeditie van Willem III naar Engeland in 1688 (Amsterdam 1988).
2.
J.C. Boogman, ‘Achtergronden, tendenties en tradities van het buitenlands beleid van Nederland (eind zestiende eeuw – 1940)’, in N.C.F. van Sas, ed., De kracht van Nederland. Internationale positie en buitenlands beleid (Bloemendaal 1991).
3.
S. Groenveld, ‘“J’equippe une flotte très considerable”: the Dutch side of the Glorious Revolution’, in R. Beddard ed., The revolution of 1688 (Oxford 1988); cf. W. Troost, ‘De buitenlandse politiek van Willem III en het begin van de Britse evenwichtspolitiek’, in R. van den Berg et al., eds., Jaarboek Oranje-Nassau Museum 2002 (Rotterdam 2003); R. Bastiaanse and H. Bots, Glorieuze Revolutie (The Hague, 1988).
4.
J.I. Israel, ‘The Dutch role in the Glorious Revolution’ in idem, ed., The Anglo-Dutch Moment. Essays on the Glorious Revolution and its world impact (Cambridge 1991); but see P. Dreiskämper, Aan de vooravond van de overtocht naar Engeland. Een onderzoek naar de verhouding tussen Willem III en Amsterdam in de Staten van Holland, 1685–1688 (Utrecht 1996), 66.
5.
L. Pinkham, William III and the respectable revolution. The part played by William of Orange in the revolution of 1688 (Cambridge Mass. 1969); S.B. Baxter, William III (London 1966). Cf. E.H. Kossmann, ‘Koning-Stadhouder Willem III’, in idem, Vergankelijkheid en continuïteit. Opstellen over geschiedenis (Amsterdam 1995).
6.
Baxter, William III; E.O.G. Haitsma-Mulier, ‘Willem III in de geschiedschrijving’, in Van den Berg, Jaarboek, 22–23.
7.
M. van der Bijl, ‘Willem III, Stadhouder-koning, pro religione et libertate’, in W.F. de Gaay Fortman, ed., Achter den tijd. Opstellen aangeboden aan dr. G. Puchinger (Haarlem 1986), 155–182; I. Schöffer, ‘Het grote waagstuk. De overtocht van Prins Willem III naar Engeland in 1688’, in A.G.H. Bachrach et al., eds., Willem III, de stadhouder-koning en zijn tijd (Amsterdam 1988). Tony Claydon has drawn attention to the shift in discourse in which the English in the 1690s fought against the cruelty of persecution, rather than Catholicism per se. Tony Claydon, William III (Harlow 2002), 139.
8.
P.J.A.N. Rietbergen, ‘William of Orange (1650–1702) between European politics and European Protestantism: the case of the Huguenots’, in J.A.H. Bots and G.H.M. Posthumus Meyjes, eds., La révocation de l’édit de Nantes et les Provinces-Unies (Amsterdam 1986), 35–36.
9.
In Geoffrey Symcox’s words, ‘The crisis of 1688 overtook the French government’: ‘Louis XIV and the outbreak of the Nine Years’ War’ in R. Hatton, ed., Louis XIV and Europe (London 1976), 188.
10.
Count D’Avaux, Memorien 9 September 1688 (Knuttel 12754).
11.
D’Avaux, Memorien.
12.
Wassenaar to Fagel 7 October 1688, Nationaal Archief (NA) (The Hague), 3.01.18 – 217.
13.
Ignatius D’Albeville? to Charles Middleton 14 September 1688 OS, British Library (BL), Additional Manuscripts (Add Mss) 41816.
14.
Quoted in J. Wagenaar, Vaderlandsche historie…XV (Amsterdam 1756), 441–442.
15.
D’Albeville? to Middleton 6 October 1688 OS, BL Add Mss 41816.
16.
Redenen van afscheyt van sijn Hoogheyt den Heere Prince van Orange (1688) (Knuttel 12783), 3, 4.
17.
Resolutie inhoudende de redenen die haer Hooghe Mogende hebben bewogen, om Syne Hoogheydt, in persoon naer Engelandt overgaende, met schepen ende militie te assisteren (26 October 1688) (Knuttel 12785), 1.
18.
Resolutie inhoudende de redenen, 4, 5.
19.
Resolutie inhoudende de redenen, 5.
20.
C.H. Slechte, ‘Propaganda voor de Prins. Kunst als propaganda, propaganda als kunst’, Boekenwereld 5 (88/89), 86.
21.
Israel, ‘The Dutch role’, 120–123.
22.
The declaration of his highness William Henry (1688) (Knuttel 12773), 7.
23.
Declaratie van Oorlogh (1689) (Knuttel 13092), 1–3.
24.
Declaratie van oorlogh, 1–2.
25.
On the effective relationship between Orange strategy and power of anti-Catholic discourse. Claydon, William III, 59.
26.
Report of William, presented in the States of Holland on Wednesday 29 September 1688. Secreete resolutien van de Ed. Groot Mog. Heeren Staaten van Holland ten West-Vrieslandt. Beginnende met den jaare 1679 en eyndigende met den jaare 1696 incluis. Vijfde deel (n.p., n.d.), 230; Cf. Hudde’s notes of the 26 September 1688 meeting of the burgomasters, quoted in J. F. Gebhard, Het leven van Mr. Nicolaas Cornelisz. Witsen (1641–1717) (2 vols., Utrecht, 1882), vol. II, 169.
27.
Secreete resolutien, 230. The original text reads ‘supplant’, rather than ‘establish’, which is clearly a mistake.
28.
Secreete resolutien, 234–235.
29.
Deputies to the Amsterdam burgomasters 26 October 1688, Gemeentearchief Amsterdam 5029–5090.
30.
Petrus Valckenier to Caspar Fagel, 4 March 1688, NA 3.01.18-284.
31.
Gerard Hamel Bruyninx to Caspar Fagel 10 July 1687, Antal, Gezantschapsberichten, 382.
32.
Bruyninx to 18 September 1687, Antal, Gezantschapsberichten, 385.
33.
Jacob Hop to William III 25 November 1688, Antal, Gezantschapsberichten, 396, 397.
34.
Jacob Hop to Hendrik Fagel 12 December 1688, Antal, Gezantschapsberichten, 401.
35.
Despatch Aernout van Citters 1 October 1688, BL Add. Mss 17677.
36.
Willem van Wassenaer to Caspar Fagel 7 October 1688, NA 3.01.18 – 217.
37.
M. Grew, William Bentinck and William III (Prince of Orange). The life of Bentinck, Earl of Portland, from the Welbeck correspondence (London 1924), 112–120.
38.
Hans Willem Bentinck to Johan Ham 20 July 1688, Japikse, Correspondentie, vol. XXIV, 132, 133.
39.
William III to Dijkveld 19 December 1688, Japikse, Correspondentie, vol. XXVIII, 74–75.
40.
William III to Marquis Gastañaga, 29 October 1688, Japikse, vol. XVIII, Correspondentie, 48.
41.
The negotiations of Count d’Avaux, ambassador from his most Christian Majesty to the States General of the United Provinces (4 vols., London 1754), vol. IV, 187.
42.
Negotiations, 180.
43.
Gebhard, Witsen, vol. II, 168–174.
44.
Gebhard, Witsen, vol. II, 168–174.
45.
Gebhardt, Leven I, 326–327.
46.
But see E. Bergin, ‘The revolution of 1688 in Dutch pamphlet literature: a study in the Dutch public sphere in the late seventeenth century’ (PhD-thesis University of Hull, 2006); Slechte, ‘Propaganda’.
47.
Den Engelschen bokkum gebraden op een France rooster…door Pater la Chaise en Vader Peters (1688) (Knuttel 12665).
48.
Engelschen bokkum, 3–5.
49.
Engelschen bokkum, 11, 23.
50.
De geest van Vrankryk, en de grondregelen van Lodewijk de XIV aan Europa ontdekt (1688) (Knuttel 12727), 4, 13, 39, 41, 44.
51.
Korte aenmerkingen over de declaratie van oorlogh door den koningh van Vrankryck tegens haar hoog mog. de heeren Staten Generael der Vereenigde Nederlanden (1688) (Knuttel 12718), 2.
52.
De vernedering van Vrankryk voorzegt, en uyt haar eigen beleyd beweezen (1688) (Knuttel 12730), 3.
53.
Declaration of William Henry.
54.
According to Claydon, Godly revolution, 27, this was a Jacobite pamphlet.
55.
Bergin, ‘The revolution’, 178.
56.
Hollants heyl, in haar eenigheit met Engeland gelegen (1689) (Knuttel 13291); G.N. Clark, ‘The Dutch missions to England in 1689’, English Historical Review, 35 (1920), 529–57.
57.
Hollants heyl, 3–4, 17–35 passim.
58.
Hollants heyl, 6, 10, 18, 22.
59.
Hollants heyl, 5–9, 11–14, 36.
60.
De gelukkige aanstaande gevolgen uit de unie en verbintenis tusschen haar majesteiten Wilhem de III en Maria de II…en de…Staten Generaal der Vereenigde Nederlanden (1689) (Knuttel 13293), 10–11, 13, 18, 27.
61.
Aanstaande gevolgen, 2, 15, 29, 31–32, 35.

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Department of History, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
David Onnekink

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Onnekink, D. (2016). The Nine Years’ War (1688–1697). In: Reinterpreting the Dutch Forty Years War, 1672–1713. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95136-9_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95136-9_4
Published: 09 November 2016
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95135-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95136-9
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