English public diplomacy in the Dutch Republic, 1609–1619

Abstract

This article studies the strategies and effects of early modern public diplomacy. It does so by analysing how two English ambassadors stationed in the Dutch Republic during the Truce period (1609–1621), Ralph Winwood and Dudley Carleton, used print in their diplomatic negotiations. Focusing on the Vorstius affair (1611–1613) and the affair of the Balance (1617–1619), the article shows how Dutch politico-religious controversies became entangled with foreign policy. Winwood and Carleton, it argues, had a clear public diplomacy strategy in which print played a prominent part. Their public interventions contributed to the escalation of the Dutch conflict, and severely damaged both the domestic and international reputation of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. Thus, English public diplomacy helped to bring about the fall of this leading statesman.