The Revolt

Abstract

In order to demonstrate the legacy of political practices as an important framework for Spinoza’s political theory, it is valuable to highlight the key milestones of the Revolt, and to indicate how political negotiations were conducted at significant points during the Revolt. This undertaking is crucial in establishing the character of political practice in the United Provinces in the 1650s and 1660s. Throughout the period covered by the Revolt and the Dutch Republic a movable feast of provinces and towns resisted and fought the Spanish, the French and the English. Relations between the States General and the House of Orange are also important. Scott argues that after 1648 ‘periodic cooperation’ gave way to ‘sustained rivalry’ (Scott 2000, 459), but the history of the relations of the States General with the House of Orange overall is perhaps best characterised in terms of periods of cooperation within an overall framework of rivalry.