Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory [Paperback]

This book examines the interaction between English and Dutch culture in the 17th century, and one of its themes is that these relations were were very close long before the reign of William and Mary; and in fact Lisa Jardine ends her story around 1690, and deals hardly at all with the Dutch influence in England after that time.

She begins with the political background. In the first chapter we are told of the sheer scale of the fleet and army with which William of Orange invaded England in 1688 and reminds us that London experienced an occupation by Dutch troops for the next two years. Lisa Jardine shows how meticulously the invasion had been planned, especially with regard to the propaganda which accompanied it, much of it under the guidance of Gilbert Burnet. This managed to convey the idea that William's purpose had been to save England from a Catholic dictatorship which was alien to it; but she also makes the well-established point that it was a strategic necessity for the Dutch to prevent England cooperating again, as it had one in 1672, with Louis XIV's obvious aggressive designs against the United Provinces.

In the following chapters Lisa Jardine goes back a couple of generations to show the close dynastic relationship between the Stuarts and the House of Orange. The latter had, for the last two generations, behaved more and more like a hereditary monarchy with lavish courts, and had established dynastic links with the Stuarts: the Stadtholder Frederick Henry had married his son, the future William II, to Mary, the daughter of Charles I; William II in turn had married his son, the future William III, to Mary, the daughter of the future James II. In addition, Charles I's sister Elizabeth, after she and her husband Frederick had been driven out of Bohemia and the Palatinate, had established another sumptuous court in The Hague (Frederick being related to the House of Orange). Frederick and William II predeceased their wives by many years, in 1632 and 1650 respectively, and their widows maintained their courts separately from that of the future William III and his wife; so that English women presided over three separate courts. These all attracted English visitors and, after the victories of the parliamentary armies in England, many royalist refugees.

All this is well told, but is, at least in outline, quite well known to any sixth former who has studied the period. What is perhaps less well known is the role of the Huygens family, to whom Lisa Jardine devotes much of the book, with a degree of detail which some readers may find indigestible. The Anglophile Constantijn Huygens senior (1596 to 1687) was the foremost advisor the House of Orange for almost 50 years, while his son, also called Constantijn (1629 to 1695), was secretary to William III. As a young man the elder Huygens had lived for a while in England in the entourage of James I's Resident Ambassador to the Hague, Sir Dudley Carlton. Carlton was a great connoisseur of art, and was much involved in the art trade between England, Italy and the Low Countries. Carlton's choices shaped the tastes of both courts. Huygens himself became not only a diplomat but a great lover of painting, sculpture, music and gardening; and Lisa Jardine devotes many pages to the artistic influence he exerted through his patronage. When the Commonwealth sold off Charles I's art collection, many pieces were snapped up by the Dutch. While James I and Charles I had employed the Flemish artists Rubens and Van Dyck, Oliver Cromwell employed the Dutch artist Pieter Lely, though that painter would also work for the restored Stuarts.

Incidentally, Lisa Jardine devotes so much to the interaction of Englishmen and Flemings in Antwerp that parts of her book might well have been called `Going Flemish'. She surmises, for example, that Sir William Cavendish and other royalist exiles in Antwerp, were `doubtlessly' influenced by the neo-classical style of Rubens' house in that city to remodel their own country houses when they returned to England after the Restoration. Huygens' taste, too, both in architecture and in painting, was influenced by Rubens and in turn influenced Englishmen in the United Provinces.

There are two chapter on the gardens, often containing collections of rare flowers, of Huygens and other wealthy Dutchmen. These were admired by English visitors, and one collection of exotic plants was moved to embellish Hampton Court soon after that palace became the favourite residence of William III. Otherwise the connections made by Lisa Jardine between English and Dutch gardens are few and tenuous.

It is a different matter when we come to the connections, cooperations and rivalries between Dutch and English scientists. Here we are introduced to Christiaan Huygens, the second son of Constantijn senior, a `virtuoso' scientist and an overseas member of the Royal Society. He worked together with Sir Robert Moray and Alexander Bruce of the Royal Society on perfecting pendulum clocks. There are problems with pendulum clocks at sea, and Christaan claimed to have invented a spring-regulated clock, a claim contested by Robert Hooke, also of the Royal Society. In 1689 Christiaan established a close friendship with Newton. Hooke claimed priority over discoveries made by these two in optics and gravity. His protests were ignored at the time, and Lisa Jardine suggests that this was at least in part because he was associated with the Stuarts and such men were marginalised after the accession of William III, in favour of those who had been friends of the Orange cause.

All this cultural interaction continued even during the several times in the 17th century that England and Holland were at war, and there is in the last chapter a brief account of the Second Dutch War - mainly, I think, to show that the relations between the English and the Dutch populations in and around New Amsterdam (New York) were friendly both before and after that war.

This is an enthralling book. It is a "sociable" history, the key figure being Constantijn Huygens, a real renaissance man, and his activities within and between Holland and England during the course of the 17th century. Huygens' many relationships in many different spheres, especially diplomatic, are set in the context of the political and military traumas which both countries had endured or were still enduring.

The scientific, philosophical and political exchanges between both countries are portrayed on a very human scale with the many quotations from the writings of those who were involved in them. Jardine notes that collaboration in scientific endeavour continued despite the regular wars between England and Holland, and also notes the connection between trade and commerce, and the spread of scientific knowledge. The book concentrates on a handful of privileged and particularly able individuals, but this maintains its focus, and emphasises the influence that individuals can and do have on national and international affairs.

My favourite quotation is on p.366, by William Brereton: "It is no wonder that these Dutchmen should thrive before us. Their statesmen are all merchants. They have travelled in foreign countries, they understand the course of trade, and they do everything to further its interests." If only this were a pre-requisite for modern aspiring politicians.

I should declare an interest - I am an English engineer who lives in Voorburg in Holland, close to Huygens' house Hofwijk, the Huygens family are naturally local heroes, and Christiaan Huygens is a very important scientific figure for me. But this makes this book all the more attractive. The descriptive writing brings the story to life as it enables one to picture the scenes described much as reading Hardy brings Wessex to life. It could be turned into an excellent and informative TV documentary by simply reading it out and taking cameras to the appropriate locations, many of which still exist.

Anyone interested in this period will deepen their insight and empathy for it by reading this book, and anyone who takes it with them on a visit to The Hague and Voorburg, reading it while sitting in one of our lovely cafes or restaurants, will deepen their appreciation of this part of Holland and its rich history. The easy writing style makes this book highly readable, but it is not lightweight history. Highly recommended.

Jardine writes in the style of many social documentaries on commercial TV channels, where it is presumed that the viewer or reader looses interest and attention after a while and particularly following a commercial break. To rekindle interest and compensate for short attention spans, you repeat previous statements and conclusion, summerise each chapter and give a hint of what is to come. It may perhaps also be that she needed more words to fill out this volume and justify its publication, and gives the impression that Jardine questions the ability of her readers to follow even her rather basic arguments and conclusions. As a result the book lacks depth as well as relevance. I persisted to about half way, until I realised that there was not much more to be gained from my struggle with repetitions, irrelevant facts and insignificant conclusions.