Pictures, power and the polity : a vision of the political images of the early Dutch Republic
The Dutch Revolt (c. 1568-1648) led to the establishment of a new state in the northern provinces of the old Habsburg Netherlands. This new polity confronted intense hostility from Habsburg dynastic interests. It sustained itself militarily against these interests, and extended its power globally. In addition it developed a remarkable and wealthy mercantile culture. However configurations of power in the new state differed radically from those within the surrounding monarchies, and its political texts remain problematic. Thus there is no dynamic political theory to match the reality of its might. However, one of the remarkable features of its culture was the unprecedented output of pictorial art, including thousands of political prints. Therefore, this thesis addresses the issue of power in the Republic on the basis of pictorial evidence, using a combination of three routes. First, instead of examining evidence made up of texts, it was decided to use a range of political imagery, largely political prints, to serve as primary sources, inverting the usual practice of alluding to images from an argument based on texts. Second, there is a requirement upon historians for a systematic approach to primary sources,
Sawyer, Andrew Clare
DH Netherlands (The Low Countries)
Pictures, power and the polity : a vision of the political images of the early Dutch Republic. The Dutch Revolt (c. 1568-1648) led to the establishment of a new state in the northern provinces of the old Habsburg Netherlands. This new polity confronted intense hostility from Habsburg dynastic interests. It sustained itself militarily against these interests, and extended its power globally. In addition it developed a remarkable and wealthy mercantile culture. However configurations of power in the new state differed radically from those within the surrounding monarchies, and its political texts remain problematic. Thus there is no dynamic political theory to match the reality of its might. However, one of the remarkable features of its culture was the unprecedented output of pictorial art, including thousands of political prints. Therefore, this thesis addresses the issue of power in the Republic on the basis of pictorial evidence, using a combination of three routes. First, instead of examining evidence made up of texts, it was decided to use a range of political imagery, largely political prints, to serve as primary sources, inverting the usual practice of alluding to images from an argument based on texts. Second, there is a requirement upon historians for a systematic approach to primary sources,
power polity vision political image early dutch republic dutch revolt lead_establishment new state northern province old habsburg netherlands new polity confront intense hostility habsburg dynastic interest sustain militarily interest extend power globally addition develop remarkable wealthy mercantile culture however configuration power new state differ radically within surround monarchy political text remain_problematic thus dynamic political_theory match reality might however remarkable feature culture unprecedented output pictorial art include thousand political print therefore address_issue power republic basis pictorial evidence use_combination route first instead examine evidence make text decide use range political imagery largely political print serve primary_source invert usual practice allude image argument base text second requirement upon historian systematic primary_source