War, Capital, and the Dutch State (1588–1795) Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen (Paris) Steve Edwards (London) Juan Grigera (London) Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam) Peter Thomas (London) volume 101 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm War, Capital, and the Dutch State (1588–1795) By Pepijn Brandon leiden | boston Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brandon, Pepijn, author. War, capital, and the Dutch state (1588-1795) / by Pepijn Brandon. pages cm. – (Historical materialism book series, ISSN 1570-1522 ; volume 101) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-22814-6 (hardcover : alkaline paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-30251-8 (e-book) 1. Nationalism–Netherlands–History–17th century. 2. Nationalism–Netherlands–History–18th century. 3. Nation-state–History. 4. Mercantile system–Netherlands–History–17th century. 5. Mercantile system–Netherlands–History–18th century. 6. World politics–17th century. 7. World politics–18th century. 8. War. I. Title. DJ156.B73 2015 949.2'04–dc23 2015026742 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1570-1522 isbn 978-90-04-22814-6 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30251-8 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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For my great-grandfather Herman (Hersch) Ohringer (1899–1995) a lifelong courageous fighter who refused to go into the trenches for someone else’s war ∵ In ’t midden van den twist, en ’t woeden nimmer moê, Verheft uw stad haar kroon tot aan den hemel toe, En gaat door vuur en ijs eene andre wereld vinden, En dondert met geschut op alle vier de winden. (In the midst of all strife, never tired of raging, Your city [Amsterdam] heaves its crown unto the very heavens, And goes through fire and ice to find another world, Guns thundering in all four directions of the wind.) joost van den vondel, Gijsbrecht van Aemstel (1637) Act 5.8 … Then every thing includes itself in power, Power into will, will into appetite, And appetite (an universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will, and power) Must make perforce and universal prey, And last, eat up himself. william shakespeare, Troylus and Cressida (1609) Act 1.3 … And I hope that you die and your death’ll come soon I will follow your casket in the pale afternoon And I’ll watch while you’re lowered down to your deathbed And I’ll stand o’er your grave ’til I’m sure that you’re dead. bob dylan, Masters of War (1963) ∵ Contents List of Charts and Tables ix Charts ix Tables ix Translations of Frequently Used Dutch Terms xi Note on Currency xi Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 Dutch War-Making and State-Making: Three Solutions to a Riddle 3 Typologies of the Early Modern State Form 13 The Dutch Cycle of Accumulation 22 The Federal-Brokerage State and its ‘Historic Bloc’ 29 Content and Structure of the Book 36 1 The Making of the Federal-Brokerage State 41 1.1 The Dutch Revolt and the Establishment of the State 44 1.2 Types of Brokerage 1: Merchant Warriors 51 1.3 Types of Brokerage 2: Merchants as Administrators 57 1.4 Types of Brokerage 3: Financial Intermediaries in Troop Payments 66 1.5 Political and Ideological Foundations of the Federal-Brokerage State 70 Conclusions 80 2 Merchant Companies, Naval Power, and Trade Protection 83 2.1 The Naval Revolution and the Challenge to Dutch Trade 86 2.2 A Unified State Company for Colonial Trade? 93 2.3 The voc and the Navy from Symbiosis to Division of Labour 98 2.4 The wic between Private Trade and State Protection 107 2.5 European Commercial Directorates as Protection Lobbies 114 2.6 Protection Costs and Merchant Interests 123 Conclusions 135 3 Production, Supply, and Labour Relations at the Naval Shipyards 139 3.1 Capitalist Rationality, Accounting, and the Naval Revolution 141 3.2 Personal Networks and Market Practices 148 3.3 Different Products, Different Systems of Supply 154 viii contents Victuals 154 Wood 158 Smaller Supplies 160 3.4 Naval Shipyards as Centres of Production 164 3.5 Shipyards and Their Workforce 170 3.6 Admiralty Boards and the Labour Market 175 3.7 Combination, Coordination, and Control 184 3.8 Of Time, Theft, and Chips 191 3.9 Neptune’s Trident and Athena’s Gifts 199 Conclusions 207 4 Troop Payments, Military Soliciting, and the World of Finance 210 4.1 From Disorder to Regulation 213 4.2 A Golden Age of Military Soliciting 221 4.3 Two Careers in Military Finance 228 4.4 The Daily Affairs of a Financial Middleman 236 4.5 Networks of Credit and Influence 246 4.6 Military Soliciting in the Age of Financialisation 254 Conclusions 262 5 The Structural Crisis of the Federal-Brokerage State 264 5.1 The Rise and Limits of Reform Agendas 266 5.2 Warring Companies and the Debate over Free Trade 275 5.3 Admiralty Boards at the Centre of the Storm 283 5.4 From Citizens’ Militias to the Batavian Legion 292 5.5 The Afterlife of the Federal-Brokerage State 300 Conclusions 308 Conclusion 310 Annex 1. Holland Members of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board 323 Sources 368 Annex 2. Zeeland Members of the Zeeland Admiralty Board 369 Sources 385 Annex 3. Income and Expenditure of the Amsterdam Admiralty: Steps from Figures in ‘Borderel’ to Reconstruction 386 Sources and Bibliography 387 Index 428 List of Charts and Tables Charts 2.1 Combined income of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, 1681–1794 (guilders) 126 2.2 Combined expenditure of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, 1681–1794 (guilders) 127 2.3 Operations and upkeep as percentage of expenditure, Amsterdam Admiralty Board 132 3.1 Warships built at the Amsterdam Admiralty shipyard, 1661–1780 167 3.2 Return ships built at the voc-shipyard, 1661–1780 167 3.3 Expenditure on wages by the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, 1775–88 (guilders) 173 4.1 Holland’s monthly ex-ante expenses on troop payments, 1644–1785 (guilders) 214 4.2 Troop payments as percentage of ex-ante military expenditure, 1644–1785 215 4.3 Money received by Gebhardt through letters of exchange, February 1702–August 1704 (three monthly moving averages) 238 4.4 Interest payment received by Gebhardt over advances during the Nine Years’ War 240 Tables 1.1 Number of representatives of each province in the five Admiralty Boards 62 1.2 Political ties of members of the Admiralty Boards 63 1.3 Wealth and connections of Amsterdam Admiralty councilors 65 1.4 Revolutionary crises in the Dutch Republic 72 2.1 Strength and composition of the Dutch fleet, 1653 87 2.2 Costs of hiring fifteen merchant-men, 1642 (in guilders) 91 2.3 Contributions of voc to Amsterdam Admiralty Board (1681–1794) 103 2.4 voc warfare in Asia (1602–1785) 105 2.5 Estimate of wic income, expenditure and damage done to the Spanish and Portuguese, 1623–36 (millions of guilders), based on figures of wic-director Johannes de Laet 109 2.6 State subsidies for the wic in Brazil, 1645–51 111 2.7 Convoying ships and cruisers sent out by the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, 1738 113 x list of charts and tables 2.8 Cost and employment of the navy according to the war budget of 1628 (excluding Friesland Admiralty Board) 116 2.9 Armature of Dutch merchant-men present in the Mediterranean, December 1664 118 2.10 Merchant fleets convoyed in the Baltic area by Dutch squadrons, 1705–11 (east- and westbound) 121 2.11 Estimated values of goods protected by convoy of 25 July 1709 122 2.12 Total incomes of Amsterdam, Zeeland, Rotterdam, and Northern Quarter Admiralty Boards, 1680–1795 (millions of guilders) 128 2.13 Total expenditures of Amsterdam, Zeeland, Rotterdam, and Northern Quarter Admiralty Boards, 1680–1795 (millions of guilders) 129 2.14 Ex-ante income and expenditure of the five Admiralty Boards, 1654 (guilders) 131 3.1 Amsterdam naval expenditure on selected goods, 1681–1789 (millions of guilders) 155 3.2 Largest wood-suppliers of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, March 1778–December 1790 (thousands of guilders) 159 3.3 Distribution of suppliers to the Amsterdam and Zeeland Admiralty Boards 161 3.4 Number of ships built per decade by the Amsterdam Admiralty shipyard, Rotterdam Admiralty shipyard, and the voc shipyard, 1661–1780 166 3.5 Workers and supervisors at the Amsterdam naval shipyard and storehouse 171 3.6 Sums paid on wages by the receiver general of the Rotterdam Admiralty Board, selected years (guilders) 175 3.7 Wages of different categories of labourers at the naval shipyard, 1781 177 3.8