This book discusses the relationship between political publications and political action. The riots and political upheavals of the 'Year of Disaster' 1672 in the Dutch Republic serve to illustrate the main argument of this study: to understand the organisation and execution of political turmoil we must include into our investigations the people who actually participated during the riots and murders. The citizens of the Dutch Republic participated in politics on an unequalled scale in 1672. They rioted in nearly all cities and published their demands and grievances in huge numbers. We could say that the Dutch fought their domestic battles by way of political debates. The pamphlet was their weapon of choice. Citizens participated in pamphleteering as an audience, but also as producers of these publications. Presses poured popular publications like never before in Dutch history. More than a million pamphlets were spread over the Dutch Republic in 1672. By exploring all these pamphlets and their relation to other source material such as correspondence, petitions, diaries and government resolutions, a day-to-day narrative is unfolded in this study that offers a unique insight in a year of political turmoil.

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R.C.F. von Friedeburg (Robert)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
hdl.handle.net/1765/13967
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC)

Reinders, M. (2008, November 27). Printed Pandemonium: The Power of the Public and the Market for Popular Political Publications in the Early Modern Dutch Republic. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/13967