Maarten Roy Prak

the golden age

The Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century

The essays in this volume shed new light on the corporate system of guilds in the Low Countries, identifying its various features and regional variances. The contributors explore the interrelations between economic organisations and political power in late medieval and early modern towns, and address issues of gender, religion and social welfare in the context of the guilds.

Work, Power and Representation

Craft Guilds in the Early Modern Low Countries

Thomas Maissen

André Holenstein

The Republican Alternative seeks to move beyond the mere notion of scholarly inquiry into the republic—the subject of recent rediscovery by political historians interested in Europe’s intellectual heritage—by investigating the practical similarities and differences between two early modern republics, as well as their self-images and interactions during the turbulent seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among the world’s most economically successful societies, Switzerland and the Netherlands laid much of the foundation for their prosperity during the early modern period discussed here. This volume attempts to clarify the special character of these two countries as they developed, including issues of religious plurality, the republican form of government, and an increasingly commercially-driven agrarian society.

Maarten Roy Prak

Books

Your next favorite book is out there