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Joris Oddens

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands, Faculty Member

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Senior Researcher, Huygens Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Humanities Cluster,
Address: Humanities Cluster
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Korte Spinhuissteeg 3
1012 CG Amsterdam
The Netherlands
joris.oddens@huc.knaw.nl

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University of Glasgow

University of Southern California

Thomas Pegelow Kaplan

University of Colorado, Boulder

Andreas Würgler

Université de Genève

Martin Almbjär

Uppsala University

University of Nottingham

York University

Andréa Slemian

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

University of Vienna

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Articles by Joris Oddens

Petitions and Petitioning through the Ages: Etymology and Historical Semantics

The Modernity of the Dutch Revolution: Ideas, Action, Permeation

How modern was the Dutch Revolution? This chapter revisits that classic question, taking stock of... more How modern was the Dutch Revolution? This chapter revisits that classic question, taking stock of recent literature. "Modern" is defined as constituting a rupture with the old regime of the Dutch Republic. The "Dutch Revolution" is used as a shorthand for the revolutionary phase in the history of the Netherlands that stretched from the beginning of the "Patriot Revolt" (-) to the end of the "Batavian Revolution" (-).  My question can thus be reformulated as follows: to what extent did the Patriot Revolt of the s and the Batavian Revolution of the s break with the old regime? In recent decades diverse responses to this question have found their advocates: the Patriot Revolt was modern;  the Batavian Revolution was modern;  the modernity of the Dutch Revolution did not preclude continuity;  or the Dutch revolutionary movement was largely irrelevant for the road to modernity.  Intellectual, political, cultural, social, and economic historians have highlighted different aspects of the revolution  Previous studies to have treated the various phases as one revolution (sometimes with different periodizations) are Simon Schama,

Representing Power in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic

by Joris Oddens and Gloria Moorman

Available in open access: https://doi.org/10.1484/M.DUNAMIS-EB.5.134669

Introduction: Republican Decline in Context

by Joris Oddens, Mart Rutjes, and Arthur Weststeijn

Discourses of Decline: Essays on Republicanism in Honor of Wyger R.E. Velema, 2022

Available in open access: https://brill.com/view/book/9789004470651/BP000010.xml

You can leave your hat on: Men's portraits, power, and identity in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic

The Seventeenth Century, 2020

View in open access: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0268117X.2020.1832562

So close and yet so far: Degrees of emotional proximity in pauper letters to Dutch national power holders around 1800

Emotions and Everyday Nationalism in Modern European History, 2020

Senates and bicameralism in revolutionary Europe (c. 1795–1800)

Reforming Senates: Upper Legislative Houses in North Atlantic Small Powers 1800-present, 2019

This chapter explores the concept of bicameralism and the idea of a senate in the constitutional ... more This chapter explores the concept of bicameralism and the idea of a senate in the constitutional debates and (draft) constitutions of the most important revolutionary states on the European continent at the turn of the eighteenth century. The examples provided in this chapter demonstrate that, in the Age of Revolution, the idea of bicameralism still had the potential to develop in very different directions and that in the minds of the revolutionary generation, the concept of a senate, while usually associated with mature age and experience, was not necessarily linked to the functions commonly performed by upper houses in modern bicameral systems.

The experience of state formation. Chronicling and petitioning on the Dutch island of Ameland (c. 1780-1815)

National Identities, 2019

In this article I examine how state formation in the revolutionary and Napoleonic period was expe... more In this article I examine how state formation in the revolutionary and
Napoleonic period was experienced by inhabitants of the Dutch
island of Ameland. I focus on chronicling and petitioning, two
activities that were performed by ordinary people. The
microhistorical perspective adopted in this article reveals more
continuity in the way political transformations were experienced
than an institutional outlook might suggest. Between 1780 and
1815 the Netherlands developed from an oligarchic confederacy
of local administrative units into an autocratic and centralized
monarchy. Yet the people of Ameland continued to understand
political authority and political representation very much in old regime
terms.

Emotional Self-Fashioning in the Age of Revolution: Stoicism and Sensibility as Models of Emotional Conduct

Selected Papers of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era 2014 [2018], 2018

The eighteenth-century "Cult of Sensibility" 1 has long been a topic of interest to historians of... more The eighteenth-century "Cult of Sensibility" 1 has long been a topic of interest to historians of emotions. 2 More recently, it has also taken center stage in the study of the revolutionary era. William * I would like to thank Marc Lerner and the two anonymous peer reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Father Figures and Faction Leaders. Identification Strategies and Monarchical Imagery among Ordinary Citizens of the Northern and Southern Low Countries (c. 1780-1820)

BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 2018

After his ascension to the throne in 1813, William Frederick was quickly accepted as a father-mon... more After his ascension to the throne in 1813, William Frederick was quickly accepted as a father-monarch who united the various factions previously vying for power in the Dutch Republic. When in 1815 the Sovereign Principality of the Netherlands merged with the former Austrian Netherlands to form the United Kingdom, the new Southern subjects were far less inclined to accept William I as father of the nation. So goes the prevailing interpretation in the historiography, based as it is on politically and culturally elite sources. In this article, we investigate how ordinary folk imagined the new monarch. We examine the identification strategies and monarchical imagery they employed in writing pauper letters, comparing the restoration monarchy with the various regimes that came before it. Ultimately, we conclude that, despite the officially sanctioned imagery, in both North and South, perceptions of the new monarch represented a less distinct rupture with the past than has been thought.

Using satire in historical research: Comments on petitioning from the Dutch age of revolution (c. 1780-1800)

by Joris Oddens and Ivo Nieuwenhuis

Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2018

This article discusses the potential of satire as a valuable source of knowledge for historical r... more This article discusses the potential of satire as a valuable source of knowledge for historical research, specifically for understanding the Dutch Age of Revolution (c. 1780-1800). Using the practice of petitioning—the submission of formal requests by (groups of) citizens—as a case study, it argues that satire can lay bare feelings and opinions that non-satirical sources cannot. More specifically, satirical sources address problems that in other sources are deemed taboo, as they conflict with the existing political consensus. Thus, studying satire enables historians to better understand the tensions hidden beneath the surface of a given historical epoch.

The Greatest Right of Them All. The Debate on the Right to Petition in the Netherlands from the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom (c. 1750-1830)

European History Quarterly, 2017

Between 1750 and 1830 the Dutch state developed from an oligarchic republic into an enlightened a... more Between 1750 and 1830 the Dutch state developed from an oligarchic republic into an enlightened autocratic monarchy via a brief experiment with representative democracy. During this period, there was an ongoing debate about the right to petition. Political actors and opinion-makers addressed the questions to what and to whom this right extended, and what it meant to have such a right. While theorists of the different types of government had sharply contrasting views on the place of the people in the political process, ideas about petitioning, which throughout the period under discussion remained the principal instrument for popular involvement in politics, stayed remarkably stable. Through an investigation of the debate on the right to petition in the crucial transitional phase from the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this article contributes to bridging the divide between petition research of the early modern period and that of the modern era.

Self-Fashioning and Revolutionary Portraiture. Jan van Hooff's Portraits Historiés

De Achttiende Eeuw, 2015

This case study is an exploration of the ways in which two late eighteenth-century portraits func... more This case study is an exploration of the ways in which two late eighteenth-century portraits functioned as ve-hicles for political self-fashioning. My approach is that of a historian of political culture rather than of an art historian. This means that I am primarily interested in how a set of two related portraits historiés of the Dutch revolutionary Jan van Hooff contributed to the contemporary and the posthumous image of their subject, and to what extent this image was shaped both by Van Hooff’s own choices and by the prevailing frames of refer-ence of the Age of Revolution and thereafter. I argue that Van Hooff’s portraits, besides having elements more typical of revolutionary portraiture, also bring forward his strong desire to bear testimony to an extraordinary republican selflessness. While selflessness was an ideal that was shared by the entire revolutionary generation, Van Hooff’s active attitude toward professing this character feature both vocally and visually later made of him – a Brabantine native – the ideal figurehead in the narrative of the revolutionary emancipation of the province of Brabant, regardless of his actual contribution to this process.

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics

by Joris Oddens and Mart Rutjes

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics, 2015

Making the Most of National Time: Accountability, Transparency and Term Limits in the First Dutch Parliament (1796-1797)

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics, 2015

Men in Black: The Silhouette Portraits of the Members of the First Dutch National Assembly’

The Rijksmuseum Bulletin, 2014

The Primacy of Parliamentary Proceedings: The Members of the First Dutch National Assembly and the Dagverhaal

Tijdschrift voor Tijdschriftstudies, 2013

In the age of the Dutch Republic, both political authors and the public lacked detailed informati... more In the age of the Dutch Republic, both political authors and the public lacked detailed information on the behaviour of political figures, because decision-making took place on a level to which neither groups had direct access. This often led writers who aimed at a national audience to represent political figures in a stereotypical manner. During the first years of the Batavian Republic, the proceedings of the sessions of the National Assembly (the Dagverhaal) granted direct access to the political process. As long as the Dagverhaal was read by a large part of the population, the media and the electorate had the same knowledge of the public acts of their deputies. As a result, political commentators could take an important step towards a multidimensional and individualized representation.

No Extended Sphere: The Batavian Understanding of the American Constitution and the Problem of Faction

Early American Studies, 2012

In 1795 the old Republic of the Seven United Provinces collapsed, and Dutch revolutionaries found... more In 1795 the old Republic of the Seven United Provinces collapsed, and Dutch revolutionaries founded a new, ‘‘Batavian’’ Republic. This essay reexamines the Batavian appreciation of the example of the American Revolution by focusing on one speciﬁc political phenomenon that troubled both the American and the Batavian minds: the problem of faction in republican states. I will show how the Batavians were introduced to the now famous Madisonian theory of faction by the Dutch federalist Gerhard Dumbar, a supporter of the American Constitution who wrote a Dutch anthology of the Federalist Papers. Subsequently, I will trace the Batavian understanding of factionalism as it was displayed in the parliamentary debates of the Dutch National Assembly and in the political weekly De Democraten. In the last section, I will turn to the Dutch revolutionary events of the year 1798 and their relevance for the Batavian answer to the problem of faction, which will lead me to conclude that the American alternative to an understanding of faction was ultimately rejected by all sides in the Dutch revolutionary debate.

Bataafse vrouwen, politieke rechten en het digitaliseringsproject Revolutionaire Petities

Holland, 2020

In dit artikel presenteren wij twee tot nu toe onbekende verzoekschriften afkomstig uit de kringe... more In dit artikel presenteren wij twee tot nu toe onbekende verzoekschriften afkomstig
uit de kringen van revolutionaire Amsterdamse vrouwen aan het einde van de 18de eeuw. De recente ontdekking van deze twee verzoekschriften uit 1799 is van belang voor onze kennis over de politieke participatie van vrouwen in de Bataafse Republiek. Zij laat zien dat vrouwelijke revolutionairen langer actief bleven dan tot nu toe door historici is onderkend en dat zij hun recht om deel te nemen aan de politiek opeisten door de dubbelzinnigheden in de Staatsregeling van 1798 bloot te leggen. Eén van de twee
verzoekschriften telt bijna tweehonderd handtekeningen en is daarmee de grootst bekende uitsluitend door vrouwen ondertekende petitie uit de Bataafse tijd.

1782. Massaal op de bres voor de VS

Petitions and Petitioning through the Ages: Etymology and Historical Semantics

The Modernity of the Dutch Revolution: Ideas, Action, Permeation

How modern was the Dutch Revolution? This chapter revisits that classic question, taking stock of... more How modern was the Dutch Revolution? This chapter revisits that classic question, taking stock of recent literature. "Modern" is defined as constituting a rupture with the old regime of the Dutch Republic. The "Dutch Revolution" is used as a shorthand for the revolutionary phase in the history of the Netherlands that stretched from the beginning of the "Patriot Revolt" (-) to the end of the "Batavian Revolution" (-).  My question can thus be reformulated as follows: to what extent did the Patriot Revolt of the s and the Batavian Revolution of the s break with the old regime? In recent decades diverse responses to this question have found their advocates: the Patriot Revolt was modern;  the Batavian Revolution was modern;  the modernity of the Dutch Revolution did not preclude continuity;  or the Dutch revolutionary movement was largely irrelevant for the road to modernity.  Intellectual, political, cultural, social, and economic historians have highlighted different aspects of the revolution  Previous studies to have treated the various phases as one revolution (sometimes with different periodizations) are Simon Schama,

Representing Power in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic

by Joris Oddens and Gloria Moorman

Available in open access: https://doi.org/10.1484/M.DUNAMIS-EB.5.134669

Introduction: Republican Decline in Context

by Joris Oddens, Mart Rutjes, and Arthur Weststeijn

Discourses of Decline: Essays on Republicanism in Honor of Wyger R.E. Velema, 2022

Available in open access: https://brill.com/view/book/9789004470651/BP000010.xml

You can leave your hat on: Men's portraits, power, and identity in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic

The Seventeenth Century, 2020

View in open access: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0268117X.2020.1832562

So close and yet so far: Degrees of emotional proximity in pauper letters to Dutch national power holders around 1800

Emotions and Everyday Nationalism in Modern European History, 2020

Senates and bicameralism in revolutionary Europe (c. 1795–1800)

Reforming Senates: Upper Legislative Houses in North Atlantic Small Powers 1800-present, 2019

This chapter explores the concept of bicameralism and the idea of a senate in the constitutional ... more This chapter explores the concept of bicameralism and the idea of a senate in the constitutional debates and (draft) constitutions of the most important revolutionary states on the European continent at the turn of the eighteenth century. The examples provided in this chapter demonstrate that, in the Age of Revolution, the idea of bicameralism still had the potential to develop in very different directions and that in the minds of the revolutionary generation, the concept of a senate, while usually associated with mature age and experience, was not necessarily linked to the functions commonly performed by upper houses in modern bicameral systems.

The experience of state formation. Chronicling and petitioning on the Dutch island of Ameland (c. 1780-1815)

National Identities, 2019

In this article I examine how state formation in the revolutionary and Napoleonic period was expe... more In this article I examine how state formation in the revolutionary and
Napoleonic period was experienced by inhabitants of the Dutch
island of Ameland. I focus on chronicling and petitioning, two
activities that were performed by ordinary people. The
microhistorical perspective adopted in this article reveals more
continuity in the way political transformations were experienced
than an institutional outlook might suggest. Between 1780 and
1815 the Netherlands developed from an oligarchic confederacy
of local administrative units into an autocratic and centralized
monarchy. Yet the people of Ameland continued to understand
political authority and political representation very much in old regime
terms.

Emotional Self-Fashioning in the Age of Revolution: Stoicism and Sensibility as Models of Emotional Conduct

Selected Papers of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era 2014 [2018], 2018

The eighteenth-century "Cult of Sensibility" 1 has long been a topic of interest to historians of... more The eighteenth-century "Cult of Sensibility" 1 has long been a topic of interest to historians of emotions. 2 More recently, it has also taken center stage in the study of the revolutionary era. William * I would like to thank Marc Lerner and the two anonymous peer reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Father Figures and Faction Leaders. Identification Strategies and Monarchical Imagery among Ordinary Citizens of the Northern and Southern Low Countries (c. 1780-1820)

BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 2018

After his ascension to the throne in 1813, William Frederick was quickly accepted as a father-mon... more After his ascension to the throne in 1813, William Frederick was quickly accepted as a father-monarch who united the various factions previously vying for power in the Dutch Republic. When in 1815 the Sovereign Principality of the Netherlands merged with the former Austrian Netherlands to form the United Kingdom, the new Southern subjects were far less inclined to accept William I as father of the nation. So goes the prevailing interpretation in the historiography, based as it is on politically and culturally elite sources. In this article, we investigate how ordinary folk imagined the new monarch. We examine the identification strategies and monarchical imagery they employed in writing pauper letters, comparing the restoration monarchy with the various regimes that came before it. Ultimately, we conclude that, despite the officially sanctioned imagery, in both North and South, perceptions of the new monarch represented a less distinct rupture with the past than has been thought.

Using satire in historical research: Comments on petitioning from the Dutch age of revolution (c. 1780-1800)

by Joris Oddens and Ivo Nieuwenhuis

Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2018

This article discusses the potential of satire as a valuable source of knowledge for historical r... more This article discusses the potential of satire as a valuable source of knowledge for historical research, specifically for understanding the Dutch Age of Revolution (c. 1780-1800). Using the practice of petitioning—the submission of formal requests by (groups of) citizens—as a case study, it argues that satire can lay bare feelings and opinions that non-satirical sources cannot. More specifically, satirical sources address problems that in other sources are deemed taboo, as they conflict with the existing political consensus. Thus, studying satire enables historians to better understand the tensions hidden beneath the surface of a given historical epoch.

The Greatest Right of Them All. The Debate on the Right to Petition in the Netherlands from the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom (c. 1750-1830)

European History Quarterly, 2017

Between 1750 and 1830 the Dutch state developed from an oligarchic republic into an enlightened a... more Between 1750 and 1830 the Dutch state developed from an oligarchic republic into an enlightened autocratic monarchy via a brief experiment with representative democracy. During this period, there was an ongoing debate about the right to petition. Political actors and opinion-makers addressed the questions to what and to whom this right extended, and what it meant to have such a right. While theorists of the different types of government had sharply contrasting views on the place of the people in the political process, ideas about petitioning, which throughout the period under discussion remained the principal instrument for popular involvement in politics, stayed remarkably stable. Through an investigation of the debate on the right to petition in the crucial transitional phase from the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this article contributes to bridging the divide between petition research of the early modern period and that of the modern era.

Self-Fashioning and Revolutionary Portraiture. Jan van Hooff's Portraits Historiés

De Achttiende Eeuw, 2015

This case study is an exploration of the ways in which two late eighteenth-century portraits func... more This case study is an exploration of the ways in which two late eighteenth-century portraits functioned as ve-hicles for political self-fashioning. My approach is that of a historian of political culture rather than of an art historian. This means that I am primarily interested in how a set of two related portraits historiés of the Dutch revolutionary Jan van Hooff contributed to the contemporary and the posthumous image of their subject, and to what extent this image was shaped both by Van Hooff’s own choices and by the prevailing frames of refer-ence of the Age of Revolution and thereafter. I argue that Van Hooff’s portraits, besides having elements more typical of revolutionary portraiture, also bring forward his strong desire to bear testimony to an extraordinary republican selflessness. While selflessness was an ideal that was shared by the entire revolutionary generation, Van Hooff’s active attitude toward professing this character feature both vocally and visually later made of him – a Brabantine native – the ideal figurehead in the narrative of the revolutionary emancipation of the province of Brabant, regardless of his actual contribution to this process.

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics

by Joris Oddens and Mart Rutjes

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics, 2015

Making the Most of National Time: Accountability, Transparency and Term Limits in the First Dutch Parliament (1796-1797)

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics, 2015

Men in Black: The Silhouette Portraits of the Members of the First Dutch National Assembly’

The Rijksmuseum Bulletin, 2014

The Primacy of Parliamentary Proceedings: The Members of the First Dutch National Assembly and the Dagverhaal

Tijdschrift voor Tijdschriftstudies, 2013

In the age of the Dutch Republic, both political authors and the public lacked detailed informati... more In the age of the Dutch Republic, both political authors and the public lacked detailed information on the behaviour of political figures, because decision-making took place on a level to which neither groups had direct access. This often led writers who aimed at a national audience to represent political figures in a stereotypical manner. During the first years of the Batavian Republic, the proceedings of the sessions of the National Assembly (the Dagverhaal) granted direct access to the political process. As long as the Dagverhaal was read by a large part of the population, the media and the electorate had the same knowledge of the public acts of their deputies. As a result, political commentators could take an important step towards a multidimensional and individualized representation.

No Extended Sphere: The Batavian Understanding of the American Constitution and the Problem of Faction

Early American Studies, 2012

In 1795 the old Republic of the Seven United Provinces collapsed, and Dutch revolutionaries found... more In 1795 the old Republic of the Seven United Provinces collapsed, and Dutch revolutionaries founded a new, ‘‘Batavian’’ Republic. This essay reexamines the Batavian appreciation of the example of the American Revolution by focusing on one speciﬁc political phenomenon that troubled both the American and the Batavian minds: the problem of faction in republican states. I will show how the Batavians were introduced to the now famous Madisonian theory of faction by the Dutch federalist Gerhard Dumbar, a supporter of the American Constitution who wrote a Dutch anthology of the Federalist Papers. Subsequently, I will trace the Batavian understanding of factionalism as it was displayed in the parliamentary debates of the Dutch National Assembly and in the political weekly De Democraten. In the last section, I will turn to the Dutch revolutionary events of the year 1798 and their relevance for the Batavian answer to the problem of faction, which will lead me to conclude that the American alternative to an understanding of faction was ultimately rejected by all sides in the Dutch revolutionary debate.

Bataafse vrouwen, politieke rechten en het digitaliseringsproject Revolutionaire Petities

Holland, 2020

In dit artikel presenteren wij twee tot nu toe onbekende verzoekschriften afkomstig uit de kringe... more In dit artikel presenteren wij twee tot nu toe onbekende verzoekschriften afkomstig
uit de kringen van revolutionaire Amsterdamse vrouwen aan het einde van de 18de eeuw. De recente ontdekking van deze twee verzoekschriften uit 1799 is van belang voor onze kennis over de politieke participatie van vrouwen in de Bataafse Republiek. Zij laat zien dat vrouwelijke revolutionairen langer actief bleven dan tot nu toe door historici is onderkend en dat zij hun recht om deel te nemen aan de politiek opeisten door de dubbelzinnigheden in de Staatsregeling van 1798 bloot te leggen. Eén van de twee
verzoekschriften telt bijna tweehonderd handtekeningen en is daarmee de grootst bekende uitsluitend door vrouwen ondertekende petitie uit de Bataafse tijd.

1782. Massaal op de bres voor de VS

Discourses of Decline: Essays on Republicanism in Honor of Wyger R.E. Velema

by Arthur Weststeijn and Joris Oddens

Leiden: Brill, 2022

This volume explores the relevance of decline within the republican tradition. While scholarship ... more This volume explores the relevance of decline within the republican tradition. While scholarship on republicanism thrives, the idea of decline, which has been prominent in republican theory since antiquity, has received relatively little attention. The essays in this volume take a broad cultural perspective and study a wide variety of authors and (con)texts to situate decline among the key concepts in the history of republicanism. Most contributions focus on the Dutch Republic during the Age of Enlightenment and Revolutions, the area of expertise of Wyger Velema, to whom this volume is dedicated. Other case studies include early modern Spain and Venice, the German Enlightenment, and the Weimar Republic.

The Political Culture of the Sister Republics, 1794-1806. France, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy

by Mart Rutjes, Joris Oddens, and Erik Jacobs

Het volk spreekt. Jaarboek Parlementaire Geschiedenis 2017

In dit Huis. Twee eeuwen Tweede Kamer

by Joris Oddens, Remieg Aerts, Diederik Smit, and Henk te Velde

with Remieg Aerts, Carla van Baalen, Diederik Smit, Henk te Velde, eds.

Pioniers in schaduwbeeld. Het eerste parlement van Nederland 1796-1798.

Een vorstelijk voorland. Gerard Hinlopen op reis naar Istanbul (1670-1671)

Opening the Gates to the Dutch Republic: A Comparison between Analogue and Digital Editions of the Resolutions of the States General

by Joris Oddens, Ronald Sluijter, and Hennie Brugman

Digital Parliamentary Data in Action 2022, 2022

REPUBLIC is a five-year project to compile a digital online edition of the resolutions of the Dut... more REPUBLIC is a five-year project to compile a digital online edition of the resolutions of the Dutch States General issued between 1576 and 1796. In this article we compare the expected outcome of the project with the book and online editions that preceded it, and we assess the losses and gains of the new approach.

Aanvaardingsrede D.J. Veegensprijs 27 september 2016

Aanvaardingsrede uitgesproken ter gelegenheid van de uitreiking van de Dirk Jacob Veegensprijs aa... more Aanvaardingsrede uitgesproken ter gelegenheid van de uitreiking van de Dirk Jacob Veegensprijs aan Joris Oddens. De uitreiking vond plaats op 27 september 2016 in het Hodshon Huis te Haarlem. De D.J. Veegensprijs is een tweejaarlijkse prijs die wordt verleend ter bekroning van oorspronkelijk onderzoek op het gebied van de economische, politieke of sociale geschiedenis. Het gaat hierbij om onderzoek dat vanuit historisch perspectief bijdraagt aan een dieper inzicht in ontwikkelingen die voor Nederland in de huidige tijd relevant zijn. De prijs is een gezamenlijk initiatief van de Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen en de Stichting Fonds voor de Geld-en Effectenhandel. Geachte dames en heren, beste vrienden, Ik sta hier vandaag hoofdzakelijk voor een proefschrift dat ik bijna vier jaar geleden verdedigde. Mijn promotie vormde de afsluiting van een traject dat ik begon in 2007, nu negen jaar geleden. Ook na de verschijning van mijn proefschrift is het tijdvak van de Bataafse Republiek dat ik in mijn boek behandel, en dan vooral de jaren tussen 1795 en 1798, een belangrijke plaats blijven innemen in mijn onderzoek. Ik doe nu dus al ruimschoots langer onderzoek naar deze periode dan die periode zelf destijds heeft geduurd, en ik heb geen plannen om hier op korte termijn helemaal mee op te houden. Wie hier als relatieve buitenstaander tegenaan kijkt, zal zich misschien afvragen of een dergelijke beperkte focus gerechtvaardigd is, en of deze dan ook nog moet worden bekroond. Ik heb even gekeken naar de onderwerpen van eerdere laureaten van deze en vind daar voornamelijk langeretermijnstudies: een halve eeuw liberalisme, socialisme en Europa, een eeuw aandelenhandel en opnieuw liberalisme, en maar liefst twee eeuwen kolonialisme en militair ondernemerschap. Of ik met mijn onderzoek naar drie jaar Bataafse parlementen in dit rijtje pas is niet aan mij, maar ik kan hier natuurlijk wel het belang van dit onderwerp nog eens onderstrepen. Laat ik daarbij vooropstellen dat ik niet zelf degene was die dit belang oorspronkelijk heeft onderkend; deze eer komt toe aan mijn promotores Wyger Velema en Niek van Sas, die de fondsen hebben geworven voor het grotere project De Eerste Nederlandse Democratie over de politieke wereld van de Bataafse Republiek en daarbinnen voor het onderzoek dat heeft geresulteerd in mijn dissertatie. Zij hadden toen al ingezien wat ik me gaandeweg mijn onderzoek ook steeds meer ben gaan realiseren. Misschien wel meer dan welk ander aspect van het transitietijdvak rond 1800 dan ook zijn de conceptualisering, oprichting en ervaring van het Bataafse nationale parlement doorslaggevend geweest in de overgang van confederatie naar eenheidsstaat en van oligarchie naar representatieve democratie. Dit nationale parlement was op institutioneel niveau zonder meer het meest innovatieve aspect van de Bataafse Republiek, een sleutelperiode in de Nederlandse

Book Review Albareda and Herrero Sanchez (eds.), Political Representation in the Ancien Régime; Damen et al (eds.), Political Representation: Communities, Ideas and Institutions in Europe (c.1200–c.1600)

eds, Political Representation in the Ancien Régime, Routledge: Abingdon, 2019; 352 pp., 5 b/w ill... more

Book Review of Janet Polasky, Revolutions Without Borders. The Call to Liberty in the Atlantic World

Early Modern Low Countries

Book Review of James Kennedy, A Concise History of the Netherlands

Outside the Palace, Beyond the Piazza. Spaces and Languages of Venetian Republicanism. Padua, 15-17 September 2020. CONFERENCE PROGRAM

by Giovanni Florio, Giorgio Tagliaferro, Enrico Zucchi, Gloria Moorman, Joris Oddens, Evelyn Korsch, Andrea Colopi, Mario Infelise, Massimo Rospocher, and Francesca Bortoletti

Emotions and everyday nationalism in modern European history, edited by Andreas Stynen, Maarten Van Ginderachter, and Xosé M. Núñez Seixas (Routledge, 2020).

by Maarten Van Ginderachter, Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas, Raúl Moreno Almendral, Joris Oddens, Martina Niedhammer, and Raul Carstocea

Routledge, 2020

This volume tackles one of the basic questions in nationalism studies as formulated by Katherine ... more This volume tackles one of the basic questions in nationalism studies as formulated by Katherine Verdery: How do people become national? To examine how the nation entered ordinary people’s ‘insides’, this book focuses on their affective lives. As such its objective is to bridge a double gap: the neglect of both emotions and the everyday realm in historical research on nationalism. On the one hand, Benedict Anderson’s question ‘why [do nations] command such profound emotional legitimacy’ , has long befuddled historians, who have been late-comers to the so-called 'affective turn'. On the other hand, historians have been taken to task for obsessing over the bells and whistles of nationalism and over-concentrating on the most articulate social groups. This collection of essays takes up the gauntlet. By analysing how nationalism harnesses, produces and feeds on emotions to pull ordinary people into its orbit, it refutes Anthony D. Smith’s critique that everyday nationalism research is necessarily imbued with an ‘ahistorical blocking presentism’. Using a variety of sources, methods and cases, ranging from Spain and the Netherlands during the age of Revolutions, nineteenth-century France and Belgium over interwar Italy, Germany and Romania, to war-torn Finland, and post-WWII Poland, this volume demonstrates that emotions are integral to understanding the everyday pull of nationalism on ordinary people.

TABLE OF CONTENTS EARLY MODERN LOW COUNTRIES – First issue!

by Joris Oddens, Helmer Helmers, and Violet Soen

The very first issue of the multidisciplinary Open Access journal Early Modern Low Countries is n... more The very first issue of the multidisciplinary Open Access journal Early Modern Low Countries is now available online! Early Modern Low Countries is dedicated to the study of the history and culture of the Low Countries between 1500 and 1830. It is published by Uopen Journals (Utrecht University) and will appear twice a year. We consider it as our mission to offer a home to state-of-the-art academic scholarship on any aspect of the early modern Low Countries and their overseas territories. If you want to stay informed about new issues or other developments please take a few moments to register. Early Modern Low Countries is a peer-reviewed journal. Articles are refereed by internal and external experts with different disciplinary backgrounds. We will consider new contributions in the fields of history, literary studies, art history, and related areas of study. We also welcome suggestions for book reviews or notes. If you want to contribute to Early Modern Low Countries please visit our website.

TABLE OF CONTENTS EARLY MODERN LOW COUNTRIES – Second issue!

by Joris Oddens and Helmer Helmers

Early Modern Low Countries, 2017

The second issue of the multidisciplinary Open Access journal Early Modern Low Countries is now a... more The second issue of the multidisciplinary Open Access journal Early Modern Low Countries is now available online! Early Modern Low Countries is dedicated to the study of the history and culture of the Low Countries between 1500 and 1830. It is published by Uopen Journals (Utrecht University) and appears twice a year. We consider it as our mission to offer a home to state-of-the-art academic scholarship on any aspect of the early modern Low Countries and their overseas territories. If you want to stay informed about new issues or other developments please take a few moments to register. Early Modern Low Countries is a peer-reviewed journal. Articles are refereed by internal and external experts with different disciplinary backgrounds. We will consider new contributions in the fields of history, literary studies, art history, and related areas of study. We also welcome suggestions for book reviews or notes. If you want to contribute to Early Modern Low Countries please visit our website.

TABLE OF CONTENTS EARLY MODERN LOW COUNTRIES - Fifth issue!

by Joris Oddens, Violet Soen, Julia van Marissing, Judith Noorman, Helmer Helmers, Lieke van Deinsen, Beatrijs Vanacker, Carrie Anderson, Genji Yasuhira, and David Van Der Linden

EMLC 3.1, 2019

The latest issue of the multidisciplinary Open Access journal Early Modern Low Countries (EMLC) i... more The latest issue of the multidisciplinary Open Access journal Early Modern Low Countries (EMLC) is now available online! EMLC is dedicated to the study of the history and culture of the Low Countries between 1500 and 1830. It is published by Uopen Journals and appears twice a year. We will consider new contributions in the fields of history, literary studies, art history, and related areas of study.

Book announcement: Emotions and everyday nationalism in modern European history, eds. Andreas Stynen, Maarten Van Ginderachter and Xosé M. Núñez Seixas (Routledge), to be published in 2020

by Maarten Van Ginderachter, Raúl Moreno Almendral, Joris Oddens, Martina Niedhammer, Wiktor Marzec, Raul Carstocea, and Jose M. Faraldo

This volume tackles one of the basic questions in nationalism studies as formulated by Katherine ... more This volume tackles one of the basic questions in nationalism studies as formulated by Katherine Verdery: How do people become national? To examine how the nation entered ordinary people’s ‘insides’, this book focuses on their affective lives. As such its objective is to bridge a double gap: the neglect of both emotions and the everyday realm in historical research on nationalism. On the one hand, Benedict Anderson’s question ‘why [do nations] command such profound emotional legitimacy’ , has long befuddled historians, who have been late-comers to the so-called 'affective turn'. On the other hand, historians have been taken to task for obsessing over the bells and whistles of nationalism and over-concentrating on the most articulate social groups. This collection of essays takes up the gauntlet. By analysing how nationalism harnesses, produces and feeds on emotions to pull ordinary people into its orbit, it refutes Anthony D. Smith’s critique that everyday nationalism research is necessarily imbued with an ‘ahistorical blocking presentism’. Using a variety of sources, methods and cases, ranging from Spain and the Netherlands during the age of Revolutions, nineteenth-century France and Belgium over interwar Italy, Germany and Romania, to war-torn Finland, and post-WWII Poland, this volume demonstrates that emotions are integral to understanding the everyday pull of nationalism on ordinary people.