Episoder
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On October 27, 1275, Count Floris V of Holland issued a toll exemption to the village of Amsterdam as compensation for damage caused by his troops. This document remains the oldest known written reference to Amsterdam and is kept in a dark depot in the Amsterdam City Archives. One of the curators and people responsible for keeping this document safe for the people of Amsterdam is Erik Schmitz. We had the privilege of speaking to him on October 28, 2024, as Amsterdam kicks off its 750th jubilee year. Our conversation spans from looking at the physical document itself, what it meant for Amsterdam's growth over the centuries and how its significance has changed in line with the development of the city itself.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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Between the years 1000 and 1500 CE the soggy, sphagnum filled bog lands of the western Low Countries were terraformed to support human habitation and, as such, the seeds of future prosperity and hardships were simultaneously, albeit unknowingly, sown. Draining the swamp meant that land was created for agriculture, farming and settlement. This land was crisscrossed by waterways over which products both domestic and foreign could be moved on boats from the sea to the rivers and vice versa. Draining the swamp also meant that those lands sank, due to oxygen seeping into the pierced mass of moss and rotting the previously petrified peat within. People had to invent things like pumping mills to move water out of the swamp and stave off that waterlogged sinking feeling they had been experiencing. By the start of the 16th century, towns in the Low Countries had become important hubs of commercial shipping, with boats sailing from Northern Germany and beyond to the Baltic Sea, preferring to use the relatively calm and peaceful waters “inside the dunes” of Holland to reach markets in Flanders, as opposed to risking the open waters of the North Sea. Although water management required cooperation between the peoples of different towns, all of this economic activity also naturally created competition and rivalry between these towns, particularly in Holland, as they literally fought over their rights to do things like dig new canals, build new locks and charge tolls. It’s Draining the Swamp Part II: Too Drained, Too Furious.
With thanks to Fredrik, Kelly Magee, Laura Isräels, Kevin Bertram and Lars for their Patreon support.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-52-draining-the-swamp-part-2-too-drained-too-furious
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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We chat with comedian and author Greg Shapiro a.k.a. The American Netherlander a.k.a. the voice of Donald Trump in the "America First, the Netherlands Second" video. Greg shares with us his uniquely American insight into the Netherlands' history and culture, especially as to how it relates to the United States, how the two cultures can learn from each other, and how kids books differ between the two countries.
You can find Greg Shaprio's tour dates at https://gregshapiro.nl/greg-shapiro-upcoming-comedy-shows/
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They both lived during the Dutch Golden Age, grew up in Leiden, were taught by the same painter, shared a studio, received all the praise, and painted the rulers of their time. And yet, Jan Lievens is not as famous today as his friend Rembrandt.
In this episode of The Low Countries Radio, we reconstruct the lives and works of these two giants of art, showing how trends and the zeitgeist can drive or hinder an artist's career, but how their legacy is bound to the whims of fate and fortune.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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In the 1440s a goldsmith from Mainz called Johannes Gutenberg developed a movable type printing press which catalysed the European printing revolution. It heralded a technological leap in communication tools which had far reaching consequences for the societies of the Low Countries, particularly in urban centres where print shops were established. A large market for books already existed in the Low Countries, in no small part because of the existence of Common Life schools and subsequent high rates of general literacy. With the copying and widespread distribution of texts becoming so much quicker and easier, other fields of work began to shift and develop, as different skills and networks were needed to smoothly bring content to the public. In this episode we are going to first take a look at what a 15th century printing workshop might have been like, before meeting some of the pioneers who would pull the printing presses and perfect the processes pertaining to the profitable publication of pamphlets, prayer books and other pre-16th century paper imprinted particularities.
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We meet Simon Gronowski, a 92 year old jazz pianist, lawyer and Holocaust survivor. At the age of eleven, Simon was locked in a cattle wagon with his mother and around 50 other people after a month’s imprisonment at the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen for the crime of being Jewish. The train they had been herded onto was bound for the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the 20th such mass deportation of Jews from Belgium. But this train trip would be unique in world war two. The 20th convoy became the only deportation train in the entire continent which was attacked and stopped by resistance fighters, allowing around a hundred people to escape. Simon Gronowski was one of these people and it is his story that we are going to explore in today’s episode.
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We chat with author and academic Christine Kooi, whose book Reformation in the Low Countries 1500-1620 was released last year by Cambridge University Press. As its title suggests the book encompasses a vast and tumultuous period which served to greatly shape the modern nations of Belgium and the Netherlands. It is a sweeping and extremely useful narrative and we are lucky enough today to have Christine join us online from her home in the US to help us unpack it.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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We dig up the bulbs of the past, trim the stems of historical myth and hopefully emerge with a lustrous vase of understanding as to where the tulip came from, how it became infectiously vogue in the Dutch Republic and what place it holds in modern calculations of economics.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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Long time listeners will be aware that, alongside being passionate about the history of our boggy swamp, we also carry a deep love for the game of cricket. The venn-diagram intersection between those two things can often leave a lot to be desired. However, somehow Julian Smith, our intrepid co-creator, producer and frequent voice of excitement in the background, managed to find a small but wondrous plot of podcasting turf from which to tell an amazing story about cricket being played in the Netherlands during World War One. This opportunity came on one of our all-time favourite podcasts, called The Final Word, which is a cricket-themed podcast that delves deeply into the many fascinating stories that abound through the long history of the game. So in this small piece, you will hear the two Final Word podcast hosts, Adam and Geoff, talking with Julian, who unravels the story for us. You do not need to know anything about or have any interest in cricket to enjoy this story, which we hope you do.
Thanks a lot to Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon for having Julian on the show.
You can find The Final Word here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-final-word-cricket-podcast/id1315888074
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At the end of episode 49, we said that we were going to move away from the political part of the story of the History of the Netherlands for a while to instead focus on some of the other important societal developments that were happening concurrently at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries. To be honest, perhaps it is because we have taken quite a long break, or maybe because of the change of direction we want to make now, but we have found it rather difficult to write this episode. The 16th century saw so many radical developments in such a vast variety of subjects that the prospect of somehow covering this all in a satisfactory way in this podcast without being forever consumed by it is, to put it lightly, daunting, bordering on overwhelming. So bear with us over the next few episodes as we, in our typical way, blithely set off in a new direction and attempt to lay foundations to explain how a new zeitgeist of education and learning that had originated in the Italian peninsula in the 14th century, took hold in the Low Countries in the 15th. As usual, it is not possible nor is it our intention to cover every single facet of every single topic which we bring up in this podcast, so please don’t be too disappointed if we fail to bring up your favourite 15th/16th century Renaissance humanist. Cool? Alright. Let’s go.
With thanks to Bill Weedman, Liran Braverman, Dennis van Heeren, Johan Verbeek and Egbert for their Patreon support.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-50-the-granddaddy-of-netherlandish-humanism
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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Just as much as Dutch and Flemish culture today have been defined by their ability to seek consensus through compromise, so too have they defined by a willingness to angrily, and often violently, take to the streets in order to be heard. In this episode of The Low Countries Radio we will take a look at some of the major and minor protest movements that have occurred across the Low Countries which have helped shape them into the places they are today.
Featured in this podcast: the Eel Riots of 1886, the Leuven Student Revolt of 1968, the Coronation Riots of 1980 and the White March of 1996.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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What do black chickens have to do with witchcraft? Why were pigs not allowed to walk the streets freely in the Middle Ages? And should we welcome the return of the wolf or not? You'll hear the answers in this podcast on the history of animals in the Low Countries.
We have long imposed our personal whims on other animals. We use them for labour or sport. We give them symbolic meaning, assigning them divine significance and power. Or we groom them and breed them to eat.
For thousands of years, our relationship with animals has been an integral part of how we and our world have evolved. In the Low Countries, this is a journey from the ancient times of hunter-fisher communities to the early days of animal husbandry, through centuries of urbanisation, warfare, massive floods and land reclamation. All have had a drastic impact on animal life in the region.
In this podcast, we discuss some animals that roamed or still roam in the Low Countries. We will see how the relationship between humans and animals has helped shape local societies and cultures, and how, over the millennia, we have exterminated some animals and invited others into our homes, but also unintentionally had some as very unwelcome guests.
Starring in this podcast: reindeer, cows, chickens, pigs, shipworms, badgers, beavers and wolves.
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When the Netherlands and Belgium did not exist, people spoke of the Low Countries when referring to the area around the river deltas. Water has always played an essential role in the history of that region.
For centuries, living on these waterlogged lands provided the Dutch and the Flemings with opportunities for trade, urbanisation, agriculture and much more. But it also meant that they lived under the constant threat of devastating and deadly floods.
In this podcast, we discover how the Low Countries, after centuries of battling floods, have gradually learnt to treat water as an ally and a part of the cultural identity of its inhabitants.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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The double marriage between the Habsburg and Spanish dynasties organised in the creation of the Holy League in 1495 was part of a larger plan driven by the Spanish monarchs to create a general European-wide alliance against the French. To further these aims, Ferdinand and Isabella also arranged for their other children to marry into the Portuguese and English royal families as well. Such good family planning, however, was not to yield anywhere near the results that Ferdinand and Isabella sought. In this episode we will track the tumultuous journeys leading up to the weddings which brought Spain and the Low Countries together, the devastating repercussions the Spanish monarchs’ religiosity would have for the Jews of the Iberian peninsula, as well as a series of untimely deaths which would see the Spanish succession repeatedly shuffle down the line. When the music stopped in this dynastic game of musical chairs, Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile’s five month old baby son, Charles, would found himself perched on the stool which held possession of a ridiculous amount of Spanish, Imperial and Burgundian titles, all of which would eventually make him the most powerful person in Europe.
With thanks to Mary Teresa Howell, ericb3234, Bill van Loo, Wazdr and Roni Rivera for their Patreon support.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-49-the-willing-bride
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
Lyrics to “Ball of the Burning Men” by Exchanger
Verse 1
Tonight we celebrate, for some maid of the court
Will bind herself to man, for the second time, the young tart
Tonight we humiliate, have fun, eat well, be drunk, make noise
As the tradition dictates, for the twice wed goose
Chorus
The king rules surrounded by fools
They came to the feast in the guise of a beast
Madness reigns as they’re bound in chains
Let the dames shield you from the flames
It’s the Ball of the Burning Men !
Verse 2
The almighty Church frowns upon these pagan rites
They might be kingmakers but did they really think they could change our ways ?
We will pray to the One God and chant with the priests at dawn
But we’ll still dance past the noon and sing the old tunes
Verse 3
Lights out, foul creatures burst into the room suddenly
Exotic monsters to amuse, really the king’s bunch in disguise
Some lesser count has devised this brilliant surprise
Dancers covered in pitch and feathers, which come alight so easily
And so the guessing game begins, among them hides our king
Under which of these grotesque suits is our crown ?
His brother in the crowd can’t wait to find out
Can’t help himself to break the one rule - No fire inside !
For lack of light he grabs a flame - No. Fire. Inside!! No!
Chorus
The king rules surrounded by fools
They came to the feast in the guise of a beast
Madness reigns as they’re bound in chains
Let the dames shield you from the flames
It’s the Ball of the Burning Men !
The king rules surrounded by fools
They came to the feast in the guise of a beast
Madness reigns as they’re bound in chains
Let the dames shield you from the flames
It’s the Ball of the Burning Men !
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When French king Charles VIII laid claims to the Kingdom of Naples and invaded Italy in September, 1494, an anti-French coalition called the League of Venice was formed, with the aim of kicking France out of the Italian peninsula. “Hang on a second, what does this have to do with the Netherlands?”, I hear you ask. Bear with me here. The League of Venice included a bunch of Italian city-states and regional powers, including the Pope Alexander VI, as well as our friend Emperor Maximilian and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. To help cement this anti-French alliance between Spain and the Habsburgs, a double marriage was arranged which would see Maximilian’s children marry the children of the Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand.
With thanks to Lucca Breccia, Bryan Winter, Kelsey Murphy, Spencer Deinum and Craig S Tyle for their Patreon support.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-48-holy-league-holy-matrimony
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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When Philip the Handsome came of age and took over direct rule of the previously Burgundian, now Habsburg, territories of the Low Countries in September, 1494, his accession marked the first time since the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 that a native and natural born male prince had filled that position. The last twenty odd years of crises had bled his lands and peoples dry physically, mentally and financially. Across the board of those societies people were desperate for a period of prolonged peace. Despite this, there were still a couple of major issues which were lingering and which, if dealt with improperly, could lead to another outbreak of war. These were the situation in Guelders, whereby Maximilian and Charles of Egmont were both walking around saying “I am the Duke of Guelders”, as well as a good old fashioned conspiracy in which Margaret of York and Maximilian both pointed to a random Flemish dude and said “He is the king of England”, resulting in a mutually detrimental trade conflict between England and the Habsburg Low Countries. Philip’s first great test as Duke of Burgundy would be discerning between the interests of his lands and subjects and those of his ever ambitious father.
With thanks to Damien Sherman, Daniel D Tifft, Néstor Vázquez Bernat, Reinier van Mourik and C for their Patreon support.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/historyofthenetherlands/episode-47-philip-croit-conseil
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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Throughout the history of the Low Countries, people from this part of the world have been pioneers in almost every sense of the word. Whether by seeking out and charting far away lands during the European Age of Exploration, or in advancements made in science, technology and engineering, or through their approach to social issues such as drugs or euthanasia, the inhabitants of the Low Countries have been breaking new ground almost as enthusiastically as they’ve been… making… new ground. Despite making up over 50% of the population, the fundamental role which women have played in the development and progress of Low Country societies has often been neglected in historical accounts. It is well beyond the scope of this podcast to give an entire history of women and feminism in the Low Countries, but in this episode of the Low Countries Radio we are going to pay homage to some of the female pioneers from our beloved little swamp. We will take a look at five women who ventured forth where few before them had dared, or been allowed, to go, shining a light into the darkness and paving pathways for future generations of women and girls to follow them down.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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In March 1492, the town burghers and knights of Guelders hailed Charles of Egmont as their duke, beginning a four decade period of bitter, contested conflict with the Habsburg Burgundian state. That’s right, just as the revolts in Flanders came to an end with the surrender of Sluis, the football of violent defiance was handballed from Flanders to Guelders. But across most of the Low Countries, a period of relative calm would ensue, as the prins naturel of Burgundy, Philip the Handsome, was now 14 years old and would soon come to rule in his own right, deflating the angst people had at being governed by a foreign prince for the past 15 years. The final siren on this era of instability was blown on May 23, 1493, with the signing of the Treaty of Senlis between Charles VIII and Maximilian. This treaty released Margaret of Austria from captivity in France and saw the counties of Artois, Burgundy and Charolais returned to team Habsburg. Not long after Senlis, Emperor Frederick III would die, essentially elevating Maximilian to that role. The times they were a-changin’, which is basically what all times do. And these were certainly times.
With thanks to John Bronkhorst, Claire Hamilton Russell, Dita Vyslouzilova, Shelley U and Jude Espiritu for their Patreon support.
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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We flip through the pages of comic history in the Low Countries; from the use of illustrated prints from as early as the 15th century to the position of comic studios in Belgium and the Netherlands during the Second World War. You’ll hear about some titles that you may never have heard of, as well as many that you smurf. While we peruse the panels of printed production from the Low Countries, we’ll see how the ninth art has developed, constantly reflecting the ever changing societies in the region.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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We get out the drawing board, put on a hard hat and clamber up a scaffold of creative construction, so that we may cast our view on a few of the most striking, unique or just plain weird buildings that can be found in Belgium and the Netherlands and explore some of the schools of thought that have come to influence architecture in our beloved little swamp.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
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