Abstract
In February 1659 the poet and dramatist Jan Zoet appeared before the Amsterdam church consistory accused of spreading error. A radical free thinker, Zoet had an abiding contempt for the public church. Yet this scourge of the Calvinist ministry was an ardent and committed supporter of the House of Orange. This article examines the relationship between the supporters of William III and the public church as expressed in the books and pamphlet literature of the stadholderless period. The article takes as its starting point the alliance between the stadholderate and sections of the public church and details how Calvinist ministers assisted the cause of William III in print and pulpit. In the second half some key Orangist texts are examined to reveal that while the supporters of William III were happy to deploy the forces of the public church in their cause, Orangist opinions on the religious settlement in the Dutch Republic varied considerably and not all were favourable to the Calvinist Church. It is the argument of this article that Orangism was not the prisoner of any section, however powerful, of the public church and that its constituency could include a free thinker like Jan Zoet.
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