Commerce and Republicanism in the Atlantic World

Abstract

English-Dutch relations in the seventeenth century have long fascinated historians on both sides of the North Sea and beyond. The three Anglo-Dutch Wars fought between 1652 and 1674 have traditionally attracted the most attention. Another aspect of the complex relationship that has received significant consideration in the past few decades is that of the ways in which the Dutch Republic shaped English society and institutions. The most obvious example of Dutch influence on the shaping of the English state is that of the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689 in which the Dutch stadholder William III invaded England in order to disrupt an Anglo-French alliance and to ensure that the island-nation remained Protestant. Jonathan Scott, a historian at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and a specialist of seventeenth-century English political history, has contributed extensively to the scholarship about the English fascination with the Dutch Republic. In his latest book, Scott...