historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

Chapter 4. Times of success. Defending the fatherland
the militia. By the time this statement of principles was confirmed in writing
(November 16, 1646) Dutch envoys at Münster had already reached a provisional
agreement with the Spaniards, who had given in to almost all Dutch
demands, hard pressed as they were by revolts in Portugal and Catalonia
and their ongoing war with France. 73 Matters moved quickly, and on January
30, 1648, despite stubborn opposition from Zeeland and objections raised by
France, the peace was signed. The war was over. 74
As professor of eloquence Boxhorn had the duty to hold clamouring speeches
whenever important events called for it. The capture of Breda, the town where
he had spent his youth and which he had had to leave after Spinola had captured
it in 1625, send Boxhorn into ecstasy. 75 It showed, according to Boxhorn,
‘that the decision of Heaven puts the greatest fortune in the way of those,
who to justify their cause come out with the protection of their freedom’. 76
The capture of the town was crucial for the Dutch, since it ‘guaranteed the
welfare of these lands’ and ‘secured the freedom of this commonwealth’. 77
This great blessing had been made possible by the prosperity of the recent
years, the help of France, and the weakness of the Spanish enemy. 78 Boxhorn
73 For the desperate state of the Spanish crown in the 1640s, see John Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-
1716 (Penguin Books; London, 1 st ed. 1963, 2002), pp. 341-55.
74 Simon Groenveld, “Unie, religie en militie: binnenlandse verhoudingen in de Nederlandse
Republiek voor en na de Munsterse Vrede”, in Hugo de Schepper et al. (eds.), 1648: de Vrede van Munster
… (Uitgeverij Verloren; Hilversum, 1997), pp. 67-87, esp. pp. 71-72, and Maurits Ebben, “Twee wegen
naar Munster: de besluitvorming over de Vrede van Munster in de Republiek en Spanje”, in Dennis Bos,
Maurits Ebben and Henk te Velde (eds.), Harmonie in Holland: het poldermodel van 1500 tot nu (Uitgeverij
Bert Bakker; Amsterdam, 2007), pp. 61-69. Zeeland opposed a peace with Spain mainly for economic
reasons: it feared that its trade position would severly deteriorate if the Dutch blockade of the Flemish
coast would be lifted, as had happened during the Twelve Years’ Truce. The French objected that according
to the alliance France and the Dutch Republic had entered with each other in 1635 neither the French
nor the Dutch could sign a separate peace with Spain without the permission of the other. The Dutch
justified their actions by pointing out that the French were deliberately obstructing the peace negotiations
and were unwilling to come to terms with Spain. Under such circumstances, the Dutch argued,
they were not obligated to await France’s approval. Groenveld and Leeuwenberg, De bruid in de schuit,
pp. 120-24.
75 According to Jonathan Israel, the ‘Prince’s capture of Breda … met with a muted response in the
Republic, which showed that his exploits were no longer being applauded by any principal segment of
Dutch opinion’. Israel, The Dutch Republic, p. 534. The capture of Breda had also little political or military
value. Olaf van Nimwegen holds that it ‘was nothing more than a consolation prize’ after the Dutch and
the French failed to capture Dunkirk, a town whose possession held far more economic and strategic
advantages than Breda. Van Nimwegen, ‘Deser landen crijchsvolck’, pp. 212-13.
76 Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn, Oratie. Tot lof van sijn Hoogheyt, Frederic Henric, Prince van Orangien,
Aengaende de Veroveringhe vande gheweldige Stadt Breda (Willem Christiaens van der Boxe; Leiden, 1637),
p. 4. ‘Soo dat het blijckt, dat het besluyt van den Hemel, het hooghste gheluck stelt in de handen van
dien, die tot de rechtvaerdigheyt van haer saecke, by brenghen de bescherminghe van hare Vryheyt, die
wel eenmael bedruckt is gheweest, maer noyt verloren.’
77 Ibidem. ‘Het gheene verseeckert heeft den welstandt deser Landen, het gheene vast ghemaeckt
heeft de vryheyt van desen Staet het geene ons gheheele Vaderlandt gheset heeft op den hooghsten top
van vergenoegingen ende vreughde, sal ick nu by u uytspreecken … Breda is gevallen in onse handen,
ende wy hebben de grootste reden om onse vreugde op te setten voor de gheheele weerelt.’
78 Ibidem, p. 5. ‘Waer toe oorsaeck ghegheven hebben de voorspoet van de voorleden jaren, ende
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