Public Offices, Personal Demands: Capability in Governance in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic

Product Description 'Public Offices, Personal Demands' presents a novel perspective on European politics in the seventeenth-century. Its focus lies on the Dutch Republic, that surprising anomaly, often described as a miracle or enigma, admired by many during this age. This collection of essays explores one of the most fundamental questions of seventeenth-century governance: what makes a person capable for office? Contemporary viewpoints are discussed by a range of scholars from different historical disciplines. As this volume shows, debates about capability and office-holding were by no means restricted to political theorists. Scientists, citizens and merchants all discussed these matters in a similar vein. Nor was this heated discussion about who was fit govern a typically Dutch phenomenon. Because of its multifaceted and international approach, this book will appeal to both scholars and students in the fields of cultural and social history, the history of political thought, the history of early modern politics, and the history of science. About the Author JAN HARTMAN, JAAP NIEUWSTRATEN and MICHEL REINDERS are researchers attached to the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Erasmus Center for Early Modern Studies. Jan Hartman is writing a PhD thesis on the political thought of the seventeenth-century Hollanders Johan and Pieter de la Court. Jaap Nieuwstraten is writing a PhD thesis on the political thought of the seventeenth-century Leiden professor Marcus Zuerius Box-horn. Michel Reinders recently completed his PhD thesis on the 'Year of Disaster' 1672 called Printed Pandemonium: The Power of the Public and the Market for Popular Political Publications in the Early Modern Dutch Republic (2008).