For “Nijmegen & Slavernij” (p26) I remember trying to do the calculation that 36,000 GUILDERS in 1635 is about 864.000 EURO today.
The inflation between 1635 and 1645 shouldn’t be huge so you could use the same books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru...
My calculation is 17th century £, not today’s money!
There used to be a calculator on the IISG website but that has been taken down for being inaccurate. But in the mid-17th C 10 guilder is about £1. Does that help?
Front cover of Violent Waters: Environmental Politics in Early Modern England by Elly Robson Dezateux.
Blurb of Violent Waters: How were environments and politics remade by sovereigns, floods, mapmakers, migrants, rioters, and writers during wetland improvement projects in early modern England? Violent Waters examines flagship ventures which promised to transform unruly fenland fringes into orderly terrain at the heart of national power and productivity. In practice, these projects sparked constitutional controversy, new floods, and huge riots. The first state-led project in Hatfield Level brought local, national, and transnational interests into contact and conflict for almost a century. Elly Robson Dezateux traces the environmental politics that emerged as water and land were constructed and contested, both mentally and materially. These disputes pivoted on urgent questions about risk and justice, which became entangled in civil war conflict and exposed the limits of central authority and technology. Ultimately, improvement was destabilised by a lack of legitimacy and the dynamism of local custom as a method of environmental management and collective action. Wetland communities, as much as improvers and sovereigns, remade the terrain of politics and the future of the fens.
Violent Waters: Environmental Politics in Early Modern England is out now with Cambridge University Press: www.cambridge.org/core/books/v...
This watery, riotous book has been more than a decade in the making, and I'm delighted to see it out in the world to live its own life!
Call for Papers - Workshop “Trust, institutions, and capitalism in early modern Europe” On Friday 24 April 2026, the section Economic, Social and Demographic History of Radboud University, supported by the N.W. Posthumus Institute, will host the international workshop on “Trust, institutions, and capitalism in early modern Europe”, with prof. Craig Muldrew (University of Cambridge). The workshop is organized by Posthumus PhD Marte Stoffers (Radboud University). The workshop wants to explore the relationship between the behaviours and norms of economic actors and the accumulation of credit and capital in early modern Europe. Examples of themes that can be explored include, but are not limited to: • identifying the role of individuals in the creation of formal and informal institutions; • the interactions between economic agents and organizations; • the role of social and cultural capital for generating trust in rural or urban societies; • the role of fiat money in economic development, or; • the emergence of capitalism more broadly. The workshop will be in the morning (10:00-14:30) and is open to early-career researchers (MA/PhD/Postdoc) who wish to receive feedback on their (ongoing) research. 4 participants will be invited to present their work in short presentations, after which the floor is open for feedback and discussion. Participants are expected to precirculate a paper and read each other’s papers. Submissions may take the form of draft or finished papers, or dissertation chapters written in English. As the aim of the workshop is exchange and discussion, contributions in work-in-progress form are welcome. If you are interested in participating, please submit an abstract of max. 500 words and a one-page CV to marte.stoffers@ru.nl. The deadline for submission is 6 March 2026. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 11 March 2026. Papers will need to be submitted for precirculation by 10 April 2026. The day before the workshop, Thursday 23 April, prof. Muldre…
The CfP for the #Workshop “Trust, institutions, and capitalism in Early Modern Europe” with Craig Muldrew (Friday 24 April 2026 in Nijmegen) is now open. For more information see the image, or follow this link: posthumusinstitute.org/2026/02/11/w...
#Deadline for applications is 6 March!
With a refreshing swim I have concluded my first week as a visiting fellow at Stellenbosch University.
I always thought Jan Claes and John Cloyce were the same person??
Fredrik Hyrum Svensli a few years ago in Itinerario has what you’re looking for I think! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Ook op mijn lijstje: 'Nijmegen & Slavernij', van Luc Meijboom, Lianne Wilhelmus, @jorisvdt.bsky.social en Coen van Galen.
Steeds meer plaatsen in Nederland doen onderzoek naar hun geschiedenis van slavernij, die zich zeker niet alleen tot de 'zeeprovincies' beperkt; een belangrijke ontwikkeling.
Yes it is probably the same, because my notes says it is followed by an overview of plantations from before the Dutch came and their outputs. And then “the same (?)” (say my notes) “in Portuguese”.
In the petition he calls upon past promises made “in writing and orally”that trade would be free and “fruits could be enjoyed without threat of danger [perikel]”. And that slavery would be continued to be allowed under Dutch rule. And then “please don’t forget this”
My transcription of the Israel da Costa petition is incomplete. And does not include a date, but is behind an extract of the secret resolution book of the XIX from 1625. I have a not by his name to an article by Stuart Schwarz “a commonwealth within itself” about the same person. (2/x)
Hi Thiago, this was really a deep dive in my notes, photos, and transcriptions. I believe that in container 12564.5 there are multiple folders and that my citation is folder 6? My notes say there are a lot of loose seemingly unrelated documents but all somewhat related to free trade. (1/x)
I am trying not to travel to the US for the next few years given the state of things *gestures broadly*.
I have a fun fact that I can’t fit in my book.
In 1651, the English Parliament sent two ambassadors to the Dutch Republic to establish a “Confederation of the two Commonwealths”. Both ambassadors, Walter Strickland and Oliver St John, were educated at @queenscam.bsky.social !
This a screenshot of a news item from 2023 about the owner of a gym chain donating 100.000 euro to a political party
This is a screen shot of a news item from 2025 showing how the government decided discounted sports facilities are no longer allowed for students, because they are "disrupting the market".
How it started -> how it's going
The image shows a pile of books together with the title page of the book “Nijmegen & Slavery: public office and private profits, 1596-1873”
I visited the publisher today and they told me our book is currently their #bestseller! Even though it is available Open Access as well.
Nijmeegse bestuurders en inwoners profiteerden enkele eeuwen lang van de slavernij. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van de Radboud Universiteit naar het koloniale slavernijverleden van Nijmegen. De huidige universiteitscampus ligt bovendien op het terrein van een vroegere VOC-bestuurder.
The book is now available to download! doi.org/10.54195/QEX...
We also made a summary for a broader audience (with more pictures) that is available for free at libraries in Nijmegen.
This is the cover of the book 'Nijmegen & Slavernij: Publiek bestuur en persoonlijk profijt, 1596-1873' written by Luc Meijboom, Lianne Wilhelmus, Joris van den Tol and Coen van Galen. The image shows Enslaved Men Digging Trenches and the portraits of Sedin, a servant born on Madura who lived in Leiden, and Adam Jacob Smits, a mayor of Nijmegen who was also a VOC director.
This Wednesday evening, 19 March, we will present our research findings about historic ties between #slavery and #Nijmegen at De Vasim.
The research will be available as a book published #OpenAccess by Radboud University Press: books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru...
Duizenden demonstranten in Nijmegen staakten tegen de bezuinigingen
Paul van Meenen, senator van D66, vertelt dat hij net gehoord heeft dat Nijmegen Nimma heet
Vandaag staakten we in Nijmegen om te demonstreren tegen de OLIEDOMME bezuinigingen op onderwijs en onderzoek 🟥✊ @woinactie.bsky.social @d66eerstekamer.bsky.social
Ik noem het altijd “Menty B” maar blijkbaar is dat niet goed?
Hey @roperlou.bsky.social turns out there was so much “insolence” in the Dutch Republic that the Nijmegen city council needed to forbid it explicitly (against “officers and domestics of the Prussian king”).
Cover van boek “Petitions and Petitioning in Europe and North America”
Eerste pagina van het hoofdstuk over petitioneren in Nederland
Deze week verschijnt onderstaand boek, met daarin een hoofdstuk over vier eeuwen (ja, je leest het goed: 1600-1940) petities en petitioneren in Nederland.
Blij dat deze samenwerking met onder andere @maartjejanse.bsky.social @jorisoddens.bsky.social en @jorisvdt.bsky.social eindelijk te lezen is!
Back at Harvard today to celebrate the four-year anniversary (18 March 2020) of the all-staff email by the Harvard president that in times of crises "the world looks to Harvard for leadership" 🫶
The English translation of our book that studies slavery in the history of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) is now available Open Acces! It can be downloaded here: library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...
@fatahblack.bsky.social and Lauren Lauret.
I was indeed very happy. Very good questions I thought. I think my point is not that we should be surprised about Dutch ships, but dismissing them as “only the carrying trade” ignores how essential they were for the Barbados credit market (I think? I need to finetune it a bit still)
Personally, I am more hopeful for Gelderland…! As the only Duchy it was the highest ranking province in the Republic. So its members presided over all committees in the States General - including the colonial committees. Yet, we know hardly anything about the province’s ties to slavery.
