The Dutch Revolt (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

"This is a major new English-language edition of five central texts in the history of the political thought of the Dutch Revolt. Published between 1570 and 1590 these texts exemplify the development of the political ideas which motivated and legitimated the resistance to the government of Philip II in the Low Countries, and which became the crucial part of the ideological foundations of the Dutch Republic as it started to become one of Europe's main powers. As is shown by the 1570 'Defence and True Declaration', the 1576 'Address and Opening', the 1579 'Brief Discourse', the 1582 'Political Education' and the 1587 'Short Exposition', notions of liberty, constitutionalism, representation and popular sovereignty were of central importance of the political thought and the revolutionary events of the Dutch Revolt. In the introduction, which locates the five texts in their political and intellectual context, Martin van Gelderen argues that the Revolt's political thought was as much inspired by the indigenous legacy of Dutch constitutionalism and civic consciousness as by the intellectual legacy of the late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation." "Biographical notes and numerous annotations are provided to aid the student in exploring some of the most innovative texts of the Dutch Revolt; this edition also includes a chronology of the Revolt's main events and a guide to further reading."--Jacket.