Discord Consensus

lengths to celebrate the national past and emphasise the strength and
endurance of the Dutch inhabitants across many decades. At the same
time, they were oriented towards the future. With the appointment of
a new stadtholder a new era had dawned, and, so they argued, a new
Golden Age was about to come into existence. In this way, they effectively
masked the fact that in reality the Dutch Republic had become a
minor power in the field of international relations.
The nation’s history was one of the key themes: many poems contained
a historical outline of Dutch history with the aim of legitimising
the position of the stadtholder. Three recurring themes can be distinguished:
(1) revolt and liberation, (2) the idea of having been chosen by
God or divine providence, and (3) the return of a Golden Age. To start
with revolt and liberation: it was argued that William’s recent election
was the logical outcome of nearly two hundred years of struggle for freedom
and liberty, which had started with the Revolt against the Spaniards
and now ended with the defeat of the French. Special landmarks in this
history included the Union of Utrecht of 1579, which brought together
the seven northern provinces into one political union, and the many victories
during the Eighty Years’ War against the Spaniards, such as the
triumphs in De Briel (1572) and Leiden (1574) at the beginning of the
war and the victories in ’s-​Hertogenbosch (1629) and Hulst (1645) at
the end of that conflict. The authors constructed an entirely Orangist
view of the nation’s history, claiming that all previous victories had been
the result of superior leadership by the stadtholders. See, for example,
how the poetess Sara Maria van Zon writes about the glorious past:
Wilhelmus of Nassau relives on every tongue
Who is not conscious of Maurits’ bravery
And Frederik Hendrik’s glory, for better or worse?
No, heroes! No, everyone talks of your brave war acts:
From your laurel wreaths grow olive leaves
The second William saw, when it was God’s wish
The States declared free, by the treaty of Münster. 19
The nation’s history is summarised in only seven lines, mentioning four different
stadtholders in succession. This teleological way of representing the
past suggested that the stadtholders (and God’s benevolence) were entirely
responsible for the Republic’s successful struggle for independence.
The sea heroes of the Anglo-​Dutch wars were also extensively celebrated
as well as the heroic come-​back of the stadtholder in 1672, but
deep silence shrouded the second stadtholderless period between 1702
Pre-modern Dutch identity 11