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

Chapter 7. The mistress of life
the many rivers that made for easy, vast, and cheap travel, commerce came
almost naturally to the Hollanders. This commerce ‘daily sharpened’ the Hollanders
‘just like whet-stones’. ‘Because thus it is common that we take upon
ourself the customs of them, with whom we frequently move about.’ 76
Boxhorn was not unique in seeing this change. The young Hugo Grotius
had also taken note of this in the Parallelon rerumpublicarum (Comparison of
Commonwealths). 77 However, while Grotius had warned against the dangers
of decadence and the loss of ancient virtues, Boxhorn only praised Holland’s
wealth and prosperity. 78 He believed that commerce and wealth benefitted
both private individuals and the commonwealth. 79
Trade and prosperity were no dirty words for Boxhorn. On the contrary,
they seem to be used as a yardstick alongside which the success of the towns
of Holland is measured. Amsterdam ranked highest: it was the ‘town of
towns’ (urbs urbium), the town that exceeded all other towns in multitude of
people, merchandise and riches. 80 Amsterdam owed her prosperity not only
to her favourable geographical location, but also to the many privileges the
town had received over the years from the counts of Holland. In 1399, for
example, the citizens from Amsterdam were exempted from paying toll by
count Albert I (1336-1404) because of the loyalty they had showed to him during
his war against the inhabitants of East-Frisia. 81 His son William VI (1365-
1417) granted Amsterdam the right to let its aldermen decide who could be
a citizen of the town. 82 And in 1456 Philip the Good issued a privilege that
declared that ships passing to Amsterdam were exempted from paying toll,
‘by which the resources of the town are substantially increased, as even now
commerce and navigation flourishes ever more’. 83
The Theatrum, then, tells the story of the political and economic emancipation
of a ‘rather simple’ people who had lived quietly and unnoticed under a
count, to a clever and diligent people that had gained political ‘freedom’ and
76 Boxhorn, Theatrum, pp. 46-47. ‘Hodie certe Hollandi, quanto olim simpliciores, tanto solertiâ, &
in rebus moliendis gerendisque industriâ, dexteritate, prudentia omnes alias gentes longius antistant:
dum commerciis, quae non modo cum vicinis suis, sed cum remotissimis nationibus, atque alio sole calentibus
contrahere solent, velut cotibus, indies acuuntur. Ita enim fieri solet, ut eorum mores induamus,
quibuscum frequenter versamur.’
77 Finished around 1602, the Parallelon rerumpublicarum was never published during Grotius’s lifetime.
78 Arthur Eyffinger, “Hugo Grotius’ Parallelon rerumpublicarum”, in Nellen and Trapman (eds.), De
Hollandse jaren van Hugo de Groot (1583-1621), pp. 91-92, and Meijer Drees, Andere landen, andere mensen,
pp. 26-28, 47, 55, 59, 65-67.
79 See chapter 4.
80 Boxhorn, Theatrum, pp. 239, 252.
81 Ibidem, pp. 236-37.
82 Ibidem, p. 254.
83 Ibidem. ‘Quo opes civitatis, florentibus jam magis magisque commerciis & navigationibus, haud
mediocriter auctae sunt.’
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