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implied that the King of Portugal intended to reclaim the portions of Brazil that had been under Dutch control and to integrate them back into Portugal’s overseas empire. Coutinho followed these developments closely, reporting that “every day the rumors are different,” but that there had been no new ships from Brazil, and thus the company “goes around with one foot on top of the other,” almost literally tripping over itself to convince the States General to provide financial and military assistance before it was too late. 167 The swirl of contrasting accounts of events in Brazil made it difficult for the company to obtain the support it believed was necessary. In response, the Heren XIX composed and submitted to the States General a memorandum that detailed, in eighteen separate points, all the evidence it had collected concerning Portuguese involvement in the events in Brazil. This document bears all the hallmarks of De Laet’s work: Evidence drawn from diverse letters and other papers, as well as private communications and oral reports, received by the directors of the West India Company concerning the recently transpired events in Brazil [...] whereby it is shown that this treachery cannot have been carried out without the knowledge of the Portuguese governor in Bahia, and indeed of Portugal itself. 168 In fact the memorandum conveyed little information that wasn’t known already: it recounted, for example, the story of the plot to assassinate members of the Hoge Raad and other principle officers at the wedding ceremony in Recife, and distilled portions of both Bernardo Caravalho's                                                          167 Coutinho, Correspondência Diplomática de Francisco de Sousa Coutinho Durante a sua Embaixada em Holanda. Sousa Coutinho to Conde da Vidigueira, September 25, 1645. I am grateful to Diana Brown for translating this passage. 168 NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5758, Memorie vant geene uyt verscheyden missiven..., dated September 28, 1645. A note on the reverse of the cover page indicates that the document accompanied Louys' letter of September 23, but also that it was delivered by Gysbert Rudolphij, lawyer for the Amsterdam chamber. The form and content of the letter, as well as the fact that it came from Amsterdam, strongly suggest De Laet's authorship. “Memorie vant geene uyt verscheyden missiven, ende andere pampieren, als particuliere advysen ende mondelinge rapporten, byde Bewinthebberen van de Westindische Comp. wegen het jonste gepaseerde in Brazil verstaen is, waer uyt by provisie (: ende tot dat naarder verclaeringe sullen becomen syn :) genoucksaem bespeurt ende affgemeten can werden, dat de revolte ende verradische voornemen, van de Portugysen (: op den staat ende conquesten vande voors. Comp. :) aldaer niet sonder kennisse vande Portuguysen Gouverueur inde Bahia, als die van Poortugael selver, syn gepractiseert ende int werck gestelt.”   89
confessions under interrogation and the council's assessments of the movement of Indian and black troops from Bahia. Based on the letters from “private persons in Portugal,” it reported intelligence that several “extraordinary ships, troops, and weapons of war” were being prepared to sail to Bahia, and supported this by citing the Dutch skipper's testimony from Terceira. If the information was hardly new, and the evidence connecting the revolt to the King himself painfully thin, the memorandum's condensed presentation nonetheless laid it all out and made a plausible argument for how the information should be interpreted: the Portuguese inhabitants, it concluded, “could not have acted alone, but must have relied on the help of others.” 169 In concert with pressure from other actors in the States of Holland and the States General, this information was sufficient to convince Amsterdam to support the relief fleet. 5. Conclusion This chapter has shown, among other things, a case of how humanism and politics were interwoven in the Dutch Republic. This was hardly unusual either in the Republic or early modern Europe, but its central place within a joint-stock company points to the unusual role that the WIC played within the Dutch political system. 170 Many scholars have explored the importance of the collection and management of information to the centralization the state. In Venice, Paolo Sarpi consulted the massive collection of diplomatic dispatches housed in the Venetian archives, while in Spain King Philip II tried to keep up with the thousands of pages of                                                          169 Ibid. 170 An excellent example is Justus Lipsius’ analysis of Polybius to inform Prince Maurits' military strategy in the 1590s. See Momigliano Arnaldo, Polybius Between the English and the Turks, J. L. Myers Memorial Lecture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974).   90
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GOVERNING THE FREE SEA: THE DUTCH W
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Abstract This dissertation takes a
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IV. “In the Service of Merchants
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for making the archive such an enjo
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Institute for International and Reg
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List of Tables 1. Delegates to the
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Illustration 1. Het West-Indische H
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eported to have said; any money sen
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nexus of commerce and power for whi
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Europe the Dutch Republic is emblem
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Although the VOC frequently used vi
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Van Dillen argued that over time th
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the Western Hemisphere.” 46 Far f
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anxieties it generated, and what pl
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capital from Zeeland in the south a
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number of document series within th
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character of Dutch political instit
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Illustration 2. Vergaderzaal van he
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ecords must be traced backwards—a
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of note.” 93 But it is clear that
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formative periods in the company’
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enhance the role of central authori
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trade in which the company had only
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5. A Note on Sources This dissertat
Page 49 and 50: 1645. 110 The manuscript is found i
Page 51 and 52: period 1620-1636. 115 For the remai
Page 53 and 54: at São Salvador da Bahia de Todos
Page 55 and 56: the revolt pushed the colony’s fa
Page 57 and 58: Amsterdam newspapers did publish st
Page 59 and 60: year by the Hoge ende Secrete Raad
Page 61 and 62: the Portuguese, had crossed the Rio
Page 63 and 64: ead aloud, two resolutions were pas
Page 65 and 66: On Wednesday, the same day the ship
Page 67 and 68: with subtle differences of fact and
Page 69 and 70: The group consisted of Henderick Sc
Page 71 and 72: XIX. Each chamber selected delegate
Page 73 and 74: Inden naeme den heeren amen Saturn.
Page 75 and 76: Middelburg’s decidedly incestuous
Page 77 and 78: Illustration 6. Portrait of Johanne
Page 79 and 80: crucial role that he played in its
Page 81 and 82: When the meeting resumed on Monday
Page 83 and 84: and to steer the discussion towards
Page 85 and 86: were chosen from among the ranks of
Page 87 and 88: emphasized the considerable sums in
Page 89 and 90: 4. Johannes de Laet as “Informati
Page 91 and 92: devote myself to my books.” 129 A
Page 93 and 94: interests were adequately represent
Page 95 and 96: De Laet's substantive work in the A
Page 97 and 98: that, even at the beginning, De Lae
Page 99: De Laet’s presence at the meeting
Page 103 and 104: Brazil this meant the Heren XIX, wh
Page 105 and 106: Illustration 7. Portrait of Willem
Page 107 and 108: peaceful settlement along the fring
Page 109 and 110: By analyzing the successive changes
Page 111 and 112: convene in Amsterdam; the following
Page 113 and 114: This formulation, which must previo
Page 115 and 116: Amsterdam or Middelburg. 29 In this
Page 117 and 118: (1566-1626), later burgemeester of
Page 119 and 120: placed next to his description of t
Page 121 and 122: That these two provisions remained
Page 123 and 124: provinces. The creation of the WIC
Page 125 and 126: The result was that the delegates f
Page 127 and 128: to the original charter gave the ch
Page 129 and 130: thus shows the political—as oppos
Page 131 and 132: 1/10 of the equipagie and two direc
Page 133 and 134: taken place. Once the draft letter
Page 135 and 136: Table 5. Seating for the delegation
Page 137 and 138: phase of the company’s Groot Dess
Page 139 and 140: to be understood the sending over o
Page 141 and 142: But by far the most important trans
Page 143 and 144: Illustration 8. Map of Mauritstad a
Page 145 and 146: geographers whose works remain a tr
Page 147 and 148: important military, administrative,
Page 149 and 150: noblemen played in overseas adminis
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good order, police and justice, and
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the council's size and authority, d
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servants. These individuals may not
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At this point the election was comp
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(Receiver General) of the United Pr
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Why did these candidates all refuse
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Alexander's name was almost certain
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None of the remaining records indic
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would be profitable and that their
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Haecxs thanked them for the honor t
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On June 22, 1645—just a week befo
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5. Wolter Schonenborch and the Ritu
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with the WIC presumably did not go
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Haecx recorded in his diary that on
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wavered, for De Laet, who was many
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privately to Brazil, legally or ill
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1. Introduction Chapter Five Free T
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left relatively open. 6 Where monop
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community saw greater profits in pr
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and close trade to private merchant
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trouble paying its bills, especiall
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means to capitalize the company wit
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director than his trade to Brazil,
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With the verhoging stalled, and ani
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e handled without gloves.” 55 In
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“walking the land half-naked” f
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While the resolution as a whole sho
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along with the two powerful Amsterd
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Cornelis Melijn, of a patroonschap
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this measure, he said, “no one in
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maintaining the company's solvency,
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colony, overestimated the number of
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And Maurits offered another argumen
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Stellingwerf, who sat in the States
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Provinces, plus smaller fees of 3%
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exclude private merchants from the
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clamoring for slaves. 136 The probl
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expedition's success, along with de
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trading locations on the Gold Coast
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directly from New Netherland, and s
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over trade was simply the projectio
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the area in which the company was b
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had not yet been renewed. 4 As the
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to the Dutch state, and that this d
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ookkeeping from late-fifteenth cent
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ambitions. 21 Although neither Spec
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expenses at each of the company's c
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included. 34 In Specx’s estimatio
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calculations yielded a profit of 41
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notes on these documents, suggest t
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It was, of course, a fiction. With
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to hang from the body [...] This sh
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van West-Indien (New World, or a De
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title page of the revised edition a
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It occurred to me that these miracu
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third in the Kort Verhael. This rep
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This extraordinary conclusion might
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enemy” and the positive effects o
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appeared in the late 1630s in the c
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versus settlement. He was also more
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An exceptionally cold winter delaye
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failure of Dutch imperialism from t
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that focuses on political and imper
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support to the WIC, but they also i
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Maurits predicted and which was not
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British Library Additional Manuscri
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Burke, Peter. A Social History of K
Page 285 and 286:
Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An
Page 287 and 288:
Jonge, J. K. J. De Oorsprong van Ne
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Noorlander, Danny L. “Serving God
Page 291 and 292:
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Na
Page 293:
1624-1654, edited by Marianne L. Wi
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