Your Humble Servant: Agents in Early Modern Europe

Your Humble Servant A8ents in Earry Modern Europe Edited by HANS COOLS, MARIKA KEBLUSEK & BADELOCH NOLDUS

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Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum, 2006

This book is published under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome

Contents

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Acknowledgements

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Introduction Profiling the Early Modern Agent Marika Keblusek

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A Ogestion ofAttribution Art Agents and the Shaping of the Arundel Collection David Howarth ,

Between Courts The ColonnaAgents in Italy and Iberia, 1555-1600 Thomas] ames Dandelet Francesco Feroni (1614/16-1696) Broker in Cereals, Slaves and Works ofArt Hans Cools

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On the cover: Cbrnelis Norbertus Gysbrechts, Trompe l'a::il with Letters and Notebooks, 1665. photo: Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen / BridgemanArt Library, London.

© Uitgeverij Verloren, Postbus 1741, 1200 BS Hilversum www.verloren.nl Typography Rombus, Hilversum Printing Wilco, Amersfoort Binding Van Waarden, Zaandam No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permissionfrom the pub lisher.

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Loyalty and Betrayal Artist-Agents Michelle Blon and Pieter Isaacsz, and Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna Badeloch Noldus Political Brokerage in the Dutch Republic The Patronage Networks ofWilliam Frederick ofNassau-Dietz (1613-1664) Geert H. ] anssen Art and Information Brokerage in the Career ofDon Giovanni de' Medici Brendan Doolry Book Agents Intermediaries in the Early Modern World of Books Marika Keblusek

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51

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CONTENTS

The Art of the Dealer Marketing Paintings in Early Modern Antwerp Filip Vermc:Ylen

Acl<now ledgem.en ts

International Business Communication Patterns in the Dutch Commercial System, 1500-1800 Jan WiUem Veluwenkamp

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Sending a Letter Between Amsterdam and Stockholm A Matter ofTrust and Precautions Heiko Droste

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Bibliography

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Picture Credits

159

Index of Personal Names

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Index of Geographical Names List of Contributors

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The essays in this volume are based on papers delivered at the three-day seminar "Agency in Early Modern Europe", held at the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome in February 2004. We would like to thank director Marjan Schwegman and the staff of the Institute for their tremendous hospitality and generous financial support, without which both conference and book could not have been realised. Also, thanks to Peter Mason, Janet Mente and Anne Goldgar for their help with English translations and corrections. The seminar was organised as part of the research project "Double Agents: Cultural and political Brokerage in Early Modern Europe", financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome, and Leiden University, where it is carried out. Our thanks go to these institutions for their beliefin this project. Marika Keblusek Hans Cools Badeloch Noldus

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

Introduction PROFILING THE EARLY MODERN AGENT

More than twenty years ago, Edward Goldberg tried in his Patterns in Late Medici Art Patrona8e (1983) to define the early modern agent. Writing about the various groups of people who were, in one way or another, involved in the building of the Medici art collections, Goldberg distinguished among different networks of individuals responsible for separate parts of the collecting process. First, there was the Florentine home base with the collector at its centre and his entourage of secretaries, bankers and other administrative personnel gathered around him. Secondly, there was the group of "agents of various descriptions" stationed all over Europe, most often clustering around other Medici representatives. Goldberg tried to place the agents abroad in different groups, depending on their social status, hierarchy and role within various networks. He had to conclude, however, that "these people were so varied that we do well to view the word' agent' as little more than a term of convenience, denoting anyone who was recognized as in some way in the service of the Medici.'" Instead of giving up on the early modern agent - as Goldberg here seems to have done - the following essays make clear that we should understand the term as a reference to a function rather than to a profession. This function could be performed in various professional spheres but always defined itself through practices of mediation and representation. Indeed, this sense of the term agrees with its usage in early modern times - for example in English, French, Dutch or German - when an agent was described as someone who did "the actual work (... ), one who acts for another, a deputy, steward, .' factor, substitute, representative, or emissary."2 Whilst (re)defining agents in terms of . their role and function, it is necessary to take a closer look at characteristics that may have bound these men. Can we indeed talk about the early modern agent or does a careful analysis of the way varying roles were fulfilled indicate we should persist in thinking about (sub )categories within the agency system? The crucial figure of the agent within the early modern distribution system of information, power, services and products has not gone unnoticed by historians. Often 1 Goldberg 1983, p. 25. 2 oxford En8 {ish Dictionary [OED J, citing as sources Marlowe's Massacre in Paris (1593) and Shakespeare's I Henry IV (1596). The OED defines agency as "the faculty of an agent or of acting (.. ;) the establishment for the purpose of doing business for another, usually at a distance". c£ Grimm 1998, tracing the origin of the term 'agent' as a political or commercial intermediary to 1546 and 1598 respectively.

10

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

these studies focus on the notion of patronage. 3 First defined by sociologists and anthropologists, the concept of patronage describes the principle underlying hierarchically asymmetric, personal transactions between two people (a patron and a client) that are governed by reciprocity. Agents (or brokers), occupying a strategic place in a network of social relations, often entered this relationship, providing links and bridging the (social) gap between patron and client. 4 The first historians to adopt this concept were those working on political and economic topics, and it is still in this particular area that luost patronage/ clientelism research is being carried out. 5 Others have used the patron-client relation to explore the social context of art, literature and science. 6 The general tendency, however, has been to focus on the role of patron and client, bypassing the activities of agents or brokers. Only a few scholars have acknowledged the crucial position of the agent, again mostly in political history, but they have conceni trated chiefly on his role in facilitating the use of power and on agency and brokerage as a technique of state building. 7 Recently, scholarly focus has shifted more towards an appreciation of agents as acK tive participants in the early modern process of cultural transfer. 8 Historians and art historians have tried to assess the importance of agents within the social context of art, literature and science; to reconstruct their position in the cultural and intellectual domain. 9 However, the agents' activities have been considered mostly from a disciplinary perspective, perceiving the agent priluarily in his isolated capacity as, for example, commercial intermediary, political representative or art dealer. A systematic and interdisciplinary analysis of the agent and the early modern agency system has not yet been undertaken.

Agents and Patrons

A first attempt to 'profile' the early modern agent, this book presents a kaleidoscopic tableau of agents wearing the professional cloak of secretaries, diplomats, clergymen, 'f merchants, banke~?, artists, librarians and soldiers, as well as providing essays on their logistical netW'<5~k~·. These often very different stories enable us to reconstruct common characteristics, qualities and conditions which made these men suitable to fulfill the X intermediary tasks at hand. To function successfully as an agent depended first and foremost on one's ability to 'I build and maintain two key relationships: with one's employer - or patron - on the one

3 Most recently: Dayton 2004; Droste 2003 'Patronage'; WindIer 2003. 4 Blok 1969; Boissevain 1969; Eisenstadt/Roniger 1984. 5 See the essay by Janssen in this volume and literature there cited. 6 Art e.g. Goldberg 1983; Howarth 1993; Kent/Simons 1987; Lytle 1981; Roeck 1999. Literature e.g. Brennan 1988; Griffin 1996; Gun 1991. Science e.g. Moran 1991. 7 For example Kettering 1986 and 2002. Dayton 2004 discusses agency as an analytical concept in the negotiation of power. 8 E.g. Fuchs/Trakulhun 2003; Peck 2005, chapter 4; Schmale 2003.

INTRODUCTION

11

hand, and with one's network(s) on the other. Certainly, the capacity to build this sort of social capital may have been affected by, or indeed in turn depended on, the agent's per- / sonal background: his education, his social and economic position, his geographical roots, his religious beliefs - perhaps even his character. As David Howarth shows in his essay on the agents in the Earl ofArundel's service, they all shared the same range ofwhat we may call" general talents", such as stamina, organisational and social skills, and a com- /. mand offoreign languages. These, precisely, were qualities without which no agent could survive - whether he had his professional roots in a commercial environment (see essays by Cools and Veluwenkamp); in the world of books (Keblusek); in an artistic milieu (N 0 Idus, Vermeylen and Droste); in the po litical arena (Coo Is, Dandelet, Janssen, and Keblusek) or in academic and ecclesiastical surroundings (Howarth and Dandelet). One of the main questions when reconstructing the agent's profile is to what degree his initial training and profession mattered when he was selected to act as an intermedi- > ary. In this selection process, to what extent was someone picked for the job because of his experience and expertise in a certain professional area? And can we thus conclude that specific intermediary functions (in, say, the political or cultural domain) can be linked to certain professions? A crucial characteristic shared by all agents discussed in the following essays, is their ability to switch between quite different tasks: to perform duties for their patron(s) for which they were not immediately trained, or hired. Secre-x taries, merchants, artists and soldiers were engaged as political informers, even as political representatives (Dandelet, Cools, Noldus, Dooley); academics and diplomats chased after works of art and books (Howarth, Keblusek). Can these 'subsidiary' intermediary activities be linked to their education and profession, and can we think in terms ofspecialisation, both on the agent's and patron's part? It may well be, for example, that secretaries or doctors of law, like Lieuwe van Aitzema and Abraham Wicquefort - both lawyers, historiographers, diplomats - were preferred for certain cultural assignments because oftheir inside knowledge ofthe world ofbooks and the Republic ofLetters (KeblusekJ.l1 However, in the case of the Earl of Arundel's art agents, Howarth concludes that one cannot speak of them as "specialists in the 'modern' sense of the word." Arundel seems to have favoured academics and ecclesiastics to procure for him the works of art he coveted, while his greatest political rival, the Duke of Buckingham, preferred a" more colourful, "flashier" type to look after his cultural interests. Geographical positioning and mobility seem to have been key factors in the selection :x process, far more than the agent's professional background. It is striking that a good number of agents - some of them discussed below - shared an immigrant background. ID

9

E.g. Biagioli 1993 and 1990; Findlen 1994; Goldgar 1995 (agents in science); Hill 2003 (art). This aspect of agency is central to the research project "Double Agents: Cultural and Political Brokerage in Early Modern Europe" (Leiden University). Recently, art historians - especially those working on British collectors - have studied the' double agency' ofdiplomats: Brantll998; Hill 2003 . The importance ofdiplomats for the early modern process of cultural transfer has been stressed by Droste 2003 'Unternehmer'; Lehmkuhl 2001; Strohmeyer 2003. In the "Double Agents" project I focus on the activities of diplomats and secretaries. 11 Biow 2002. Diplomat Sir Thomas Roe worked as a 'book agent' for various patrons: Brantll998; Strachan 19 89. 10

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INTRODUCTION

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

Whether an agent was born into a family of religious or political refugees or into a commercial community abroad, more often than not the experience ofliving and working abroad seems to have led to a career as an intermediary.I2 The artist Michelle Blon, for example, was born in Germany in a refugee family from the Southern Netherlands; after his education as a goldsmith, he moved to Amsterdam to start his career (Noldus). Balthazar Gerbier, one of the Duke of Buckingham' s agents, had a very similar background. Born in Middelburg as the son of French protestant refugees, he accompanied a diplomatic mission to England as a calligrapher, foreshadowing a life of continuously moving around. '3 Pieter Isaacsz was born in the Danish city of EIs inore as the son of a Dutch trade representative, who, some ten years after Pieter's birth, moved back to the Netherlands with his family. In the followi1}.g;;,;l"i~\~'urs, Isaacsz worked as an apprentice to a painter in Amsterdam, travelled in Germany and Italy, returned to Amsterdam to found his own workshop and finally moved back to Denmark to act as agent for the Dutch States-General (Noldus). The importance of immigrant commercial communities to the concept of agency is stressed by Jan Willem Veluwenkamp, a case in point being the Amsterdam career of the Tuscan merchant Francesco Feroni (discussed by X Cools). Growing up and learning one's family's trade abroad provided these men with crucial knowledge oflanguages, local trade customs, networks and routes - all conditions for successful (careers' as intermediaries (Keblusek, Veluwenkamp).14 Themselves often stationary, patrons needed agents who were accustomed to travel or were already Y stationed elsewhere (for example as political or trade representatives) to act on their behalf in a wide range of capacities. For the agents' assignments in the service of a patron did vary, and could develop or change overtime, which to a large part depended on the (changing) nature of their relationship with an employer. At the core of this relationship's existence and continuation lay issues of reward and loyalty - integral concepts, of course, in patronage studX ies. '5 Payment for services rendered could take different forms, the most obvious and traditional one being rewards in terms of personal advantages and reciprocity of services. Francesco Feroni, Cosimo Ill's agent, was rewarded with a title and the accompanying social status (Cools), while the Colonna agents discussed by Thomas Dandelet mostly acted on a quid pro quo basis, following their own political agendas - as were, in a way, those in the service ofStadholder William Frederick of Fries land (Janssen).16Next X to these non-monetary forms of reward inherent to early modern agent-patron relationships, however, a more commercial, (business-like' form of reward seems to have X been simultaneously applied. Agents such as Gallo, Le Blon, Aitzerna and Wicquefort 'f signed formal contracts stipulating terms of both services and financial reward (Dan12 The significance of early modern travel and mobility should also be considered when thinking about agency. On travel e.g. M 1czak 1995. On the Grand Tour most recently Babel/Paravicini 2005; Leibetseder 200 4. 13 On Gerbier recently Brantl1998; Keblusek 2003 'Cultural', and literature there cited. 14 C£ Israel 1984 on the career of the Jewish merchant and political agent Jeronimo Nunes da Costa. 15 E.g. Lefebvre 1973. 16 Israel 1984, p. 40, asserts that the "privileges and advantages ofUeronimo Nunes da Costa's] agency for the Portuguese crown (... ) were undoubtedly his most important assets".

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delet; Noldus; Keblusek and Droste). In some cases, these contracts served to confirm already existing relationships, rather than point to new ones." Formal contracts notwithstanding, actual payment more often than not turned out to be an enormous problem. Agents asking, begging, even threatening their employ- ,\ ers in (often vain) attempts to get hold of their money is a leitmotiv familiar to anyone reading their correspondence. Despite extreme financial hardships caused by the employer's unwillingness or even downright refusal to pay expenses and salaries, the agents' unwavering loyalty may be evidence of an underlying (traditional' patronclient relationship, where in the end non-financial reciprocity (personal advantages, { social status and the like) simply mattered more. Working for several patrons at the same time could cause conflicts ofinterests, making loyalty to only one preferable. Loyalty, thus, required - perhaps even equalled - risk-taking on several levels, and it may well have been the most deciding quality in an agent. IS Relationships between agent and patron were not static but could develop and change over time. They could, for example, become more personal and intimate, and from there lead on to other types of assignments which involved a higher degree of trust. Whether or not we can ultimately describe these relationships as intimate or ((symbiotic", the agent and patron as ((clones", or the complexity of their connections as a ((circle" (Howarth), should be a matter offurther debate. '9 However, it is obvious that the concept offamily is crucial when defining these relations. The trusted and intimate position of chief agents within a household is evident from the fact that they were thought of and even referred to as ((family members" (Howarth, Dandelet). ~ The overwhelmingly central role of the family in governing nearly all aspects of early modern society need not be discussed at any length here. It suffices to point to the obvious choice offamily members as representatives, agents and factors in the world of business (Veluwenkamp). Family ties and history could determine whether or not an agent was selected for other offices as well (Cools, Janssen, Keblusek and Droste). Similarly, family members often were instrumental in constructing networks - the second key relationship in the agency system.

Agents and the Construction ofNetworks

The building of networks and contacts with correspondents formed an agent's core business, a prerequisite without which he could not successfully function. Of course, in early modern international trade, agents, factors and correspondents were essential figures upon whom business houses and luerchants with overseas interests relied (Cools, Keblusek, Vermeylen, Veluwenkamp). As we have seen, family members and reliable correspondents were obvious choices in the commercial world. 2o For agents who 17 18 19 20

See conclusion of the essay by Janssen. See examples in essays by Howarth, Noldus, Janssen and Droste. For a discussion of the concept of the (Arundel) circle: Gilman 2002, pp. 20-22. c£ Israel 1984, p. 40, calling those contacts "the most vital commercial asset" for merchants.

k

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y

X

X X

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

INTRODUCTION

acted as political or cultural representatives abroad, family may not have provided the primary contacts, although it is clear family members did play a significant facilitating role (Noldus, Janssen). Analysing these contacts in terms of hierarchy, scope and communitY~ we should differentiate between primary networks consisting of fellow agents, correspondents and informants on the one hand, and secondary, facilitating and logistical networks on the other - even though these webs of contacts could overlap and intersect. An agent's own primary network often mirrored the hierarchical organisation of his patron's agency system, as can be seen in Marcantonio Colonna's system of "sub-agents" (Dandelet). Arundel's network of agents was set up as a pyramidal structure, with Sir William Petty as ((chief agent" and others fulfilling subordinate positions (Howarth). Constructing this primary network, an agent made use of professional acquaintances and colleagues, without whom he could not acquire the information and/or products his patron required. It is interesting to find out to what extent he tapped into already established (trade) connections for his logistical needs, such as the payment for and transport of information and goods. Long-established merchant routes and contacts, for example, were used in the international distribution ofbooks (Keblusek). The professional contacts ofgroups such as merchants and bankers may thus provide an insight into the agent's ability to operate on an international level. Merchant communities and trade processes are a particularly promising angle from which to approach the agency system, which, after all, had its roots in the commercial domain.2l The history of political and cultural transfer in the early modern period cannot be written without acknowledging the significance of merchants as key figures in the system ofagency, both as active participants and as facilitators, building and maintaining international financial and postal networks and distribution routes. Filip Vermeylen and Jan Willem Veluwenkamp present here an overview of commercial patterns and trade in the early modern period, tracing the development of international business communication in the commercial and art worlds. Whereas in the sixteenth century merchants undertook business trips themselves or stayed put in a specific location, from the end of the century onwards representatives were sent out and local agents appointed. This resulted, in the course of the seventeenth century, in commission trade and specialised dealers. A main factor in this process was the developing quality of postal services from C.1650 onwards, enabling an increasing reliability in international business relations. European postal networks, following mercantile routes ofinformation, were based on personal trust between agents and postmasters - often, as Heiko Droste shows, merchants, secretaries and news agents themselves. Brendan Dooley's essay illustrates both 22

21 Here it should be noted again that use of the term 'agent' is traced back to the sixteenth century, describing a political or a commercial representative or intermediary. 22 For the significance of merchants as cultural agents, e.g. Backmann 1997; Perez de Tudela/Gschwend 2001; Smith/Findlen 2002. The activities of members of the Fugger family, and of the Augsburg merchant Philipp Hainhofer as political and cultural agents (especially in the context of the history of collecting) are well known: Meadow 2002; Roeck 1992.

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the significance of agents in the formulation and distribution of news as well as the construction of (informal) news networks. Since gathering and transmitting information formed the core business of an agent's business, understanding the intricacies of the postal system and the trade in news is a prerequisite in agency studies. Does the early modern agent exist, and can we indeed 'profile' him - draw up a checklist of personal and professional characteristics, talents and qualities, conditions and needs? Or should we, after all, differentiate among types of agents, depending on changing intermediary functions in politics, trade, culture or economics? What, after all, does it mean when someone in the seventeenth century called himself an agent? Our contemporary understanding of the term, of his identity, and of the mechanics and logistics of his services, remains dim, while the agent is still an elusive figure. Yet he can be glimpsed when we continue to study the enormously rich material documenting his existence - the thousands and thousands ofletters written by those "humble servants", spinni~g their webs all over Europe, and beyond.

DAVID HOWARTH

A Qgestion ofAttribution ART AGENTS AND THE SHAPING OF THE ARUNDEL COLLECTION

The purpose of this essay is to consider the dynamics between art collector and agent in the early modern period. This will be done through a case study of the greatest English collector of the Baroque age, Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646J. Arundel will be a peg upon which to hang some observations about how the activities of "the father ofvirtu in England", and his surrogates - his agents - can tell us about the machinery of collecting. It was Horace Walpole in his four volume Anecdotes ofPaintin8 in En8land (1762-1771J, the earliest history book in English to rely heavily on primary sources, who was the first to see Arundel as the f0l15etori80 of collecting in Britain - a distinction which held thereafter. When the Victorians, earnestly ambitious to bring culture into the schoolroom, formed an organisation to reproduce, in chromolithography, the world's most famous paintings, they called it "The Arundel Society". So the purpose of this essay is to ask in what sense we can think of the 'Arundel Collection', in English cultural history perhaps the pre-eminent collection, as Arundel's collection? What follows is a question of attribution: not the attribution of a canvas to Titian or a drawing to Raphael, but the attribution of responsibility for the shape and nature of collections in early modern Europe. In other words, whose taste are we considering: Arundel's, or those agents Arundel selected to be send out into 'the field' to make the vast majority of purchases? In England in the seventeenth century, a collector's initiative, exercise ofjudgement, opportunity and choice, were circumscribed by great social and political commitments which kept him moored to the Thames; tied to a chain ofpalaces which ran along the river front from Whitehall to Greenwich. By contrast, his agents often travelled from Aleppo to Aix-en-Provence and from Nurelnberg to Naples. In what follows I want to challenge some of the facile assumptions which have been made about the nature and characteristics of the great English collections of the early seventeenth century. It has been too easily assumed that there was a direct and straightforward connection between Arundel' s taste and what he owned. Now however, and in the context of interrogating the concept of'agency' in the culture of the seventeenth century at large, we need to challenge conventional understanding about * The spelling and punctuation in manuscript quotations has been modernised.

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DAVID HOWARTH

A Q1JESTION OF ATTRIBUTION

what was indubitably the central relationship in the early history of taste, that is to say, the mutual dependency which existed between a collector and his agent. It is not easy to separate the respective roles between two people who were as close as that between .. a rider and his horse. But it is important to try. I begin by considering a famous Renaissance painting, now in Madrid, but by 1618, in the Arundel collection. I refer to Sebastiano del Piombo's Ferry Carondo let and Francesco Guicciardini. Its ownership by Arundel as from 1617, raises a number ofimportant questions, not only about his dealings with the agents who bought it for him, but beyond that for our understanding of why Arundel acquired this particular painting, only one ofscores ofpictures which hung in his palace. There were many other extraordinary pictures at Arundel House, Titian's Flayin8 of Mar~as for instance. But the Carondo let is unique. It is in connection with this picture alone, that a direct response survives, which tells us, in specific terms, how Arundel reacted to a celebrated, identifiable work of art. Arundel instructed the Jesuit priest and dilettante, Father Tobie Matthew, to nego~ tiate for the painting. Consequently, Matthew sent a covering letter containing a note in Arundel's own hand, to William Trumbull, English agent in Brussels. The description of the picture by Arundel, included within the long letter from Matthew, appears at first glance to provide real evidence that Arundel was in a very direct and committed sense involved in this purchase. What then does his note say? It runs as follows: The description of a picture which was in a merchant's house in Antwerp six years past. It was a man sitting in a chair said to be an Ambassador, another man delivering him a letter bare headed, beyond a perspective of a loggia of white marble pillars. Behind the ambassador is a man's head but much less, which was said to be Raphael's own picture. It is but at halflength. Mr Wake the merchant was there with me and Henry van Balen a painter who knows it well and promised to deal in it for me. 1

Perhaps then, encouraged by what we know of his commitment to what is admittedly just one beautiful picture, we can assume that Arundel's agents were trained up to be ciphers of his own taste; that what they bought he would have bought had he been freer to travel through Europe in search of masterpieces. Before Arundel acquired the Sebastiano in 1617, we know from this testament that he had been stalking the painting for six years; having first fallen in love with it when it had been in Antwerp in 1611. If that was the case with the Sebastiano, then perhaps it is legitimate to say that Arundel probably cloned his agents and thus the choices they made, whether in Ferrara or Famagusta, were the same as he would have made. There is some primary evidence scattered here and there of an extensive programme of training agents; some encouragement therefore, to believe that once agents were successfully indoctrinated with what 2

1 Howarth 1985, p. 67. 2 Another example of real long term commitment to a specific object, and a sustained ambition to acquire it, arose in connection with the unsuccessful attempt to buy the Vatican Meleager (the Pighini Adonis). Arundel wrote to Petty from Lintz on 17 June 1636: "I am confident you will show all the respect you may for my business of the Statue at Rome, as I wrote, I shall not be quiet till I hear from you it is absolutely mine, I having been so long in love with it, as you know." Ogoted in Springelll963, p. 246.

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Sebastiano del Piombo, Ferry Carondo let and Francesco Guicciardini, C151213. ThyssenBornemisa Museum, Madrid.

might be termed (the house style', they could be let lose to buy for their master. So we might begin by assuming that Arundel was the arm, and the Reverend William Petty, his principal buying agent, the hand, which grasped many a bargain from a princely house ofItaly by then on the slide. But it is much more complicated than that. For a start, Arundel's agents were often abroad for many months, if not years, at a time. Given the extremely rudimentary postal service which seems to have been as delicate as a spider's web, often Arundel cannot have had a clue where his men were. Certainly he often got bargains, but also things he was not bargaining for. This point is brought home vividly by a letter from Lord Maltravers, his eldest son, who together with the Countess of Arundel, subject of a famous portrait by Rubens, seems to have been keenly involved in the growth of the collection. In a letter to Petty, Maltravers spelled out the contents ofwhat was clearly a spectacular collection ofdrawings. He wrote to Petty on 9 September 1636 in terms which suggest to me at least, that Petty had little or no knowledge of a collection which he had acquired. It is quite possible that what was evidently regarded as a particularly spectacular cache of drawings, might have been acquired by a sub-agent working under the instructions ofPetty who, for all we know, may have been in some other part of Italy when the deal 4ad been done. If so, then perhaps we should see Petty in terms of'chief agent'. That there may have been a team of people working in a pyramidal stTIlcture naturally has significant

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DAVID HOWARTH

A QYESTION OF ATTRIBUTION

21

implications for the issue of'attribution'. Whatever the truth, the letter is worth transcription and it runs as follows: Good Mr Petty, I received your letter of 16 August from Florence, and I wonder that you had heard nothing of your Neapolitan Collection, I having written unto you of them long since. They prove exceeding well, being almost all of Masters hands of Zuccaro an abundance, and of the greatest masters hands above a thousand, out of which there are about 250 ofPolidoro though not in number, yet considering their goodness, I hold them, almost worth all the drawings ofPolidoro in England before, and 500 ofMichelangelo (with the bathers and all) and, taking out of my lords some 6 choice drawings, I esteem them as good as all the drawings of his hand in England before (.. y

The first point which immediately strikes the reader is that Lord Maltravers knew his Renaissance drawings. Evidently Maltravers was a connoisseur in his own right, to the extent that he was capable of talking to Petty at his own level. Here too, are a number of particularly striking things which are germane to the whole issue of responsibility, attribution and judgement. The first is that the collection had been kept as 'a job lot', or 'wholesale'; Petty seems to have taken it all without attempting to acquire some things while rejecting others. Rather more surprisingly, it seems to have been acquired 'unseen'; Petty apparently relying on a famous provenance to guarantee quality. Petty may have bought all these drawings without having examined a single sheet. How otherwise can we explain Maltravers excitedly providing details of what he found upon unpacking? What then are the implications for our understanding of attribution; the attribution of responsibility for what ended up at Arundel House? A.E. Pop ham produced a magisterial catalogue raisonne of the drawings ofParmigianino - we still lack one for Polidoro da Caravaggio - in which he reckoned a minimum of 150 had once belonged to Arundel; doubtless that number actually fell into the hundreds. 4 Perhaps they, too, would have had an honoured place in the "roome for des ignes", created by the King's architect Inigo Jones, to house the famous Arundel drawings -probably that free-standing classical building at the left of the plate, in an etching by Hollar, which looks so out of place in the medieval rabbit warren which was the courtyard of Arundel House in the early seventeenth century. But then given what we have seen about the "Neapolitan Collection", as described by Maltravers in the letter transcribed above, was the marked presence ofParmigianino within the Arundel collection really a direct expression of preference by the man who liked to have etched reproductions ofhis possession tagged with the label" ex collectione Arundelliana"? That so many Parmigianinos ended up in London may have been an accident. If then there was an element of chance about a tranche of great Polidoros or Parmigianinos in the drawings collection, how legitiluate is it to declare that Arundel was unusual among his peers - who seemed to favour Titian and the Venetians - in having a marked appreciation ofMannerism; the more so when neither Arundel nor for that 3 Springell1963, p. 250 . 4 Popham 1971.

Wenceslaus Ho lIar, courryard ofArundd House loo kinE South, London, 1646. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

matter Polidoro would have understood what being a 'Mannerist' with a capital 'M' meant?5 What I am really saying is how difficult it is not to impose our aesthetic values, our anachronistic categories onto the seventeenth century, as we try to come to some consensus about distinctions oftaste and approach. But then the very people from whom we expect consistency were themselves riddled with doubts. At one point Petty himself, the most ruthless and effective of all the agents, once confessed doubts as to whether what he had been looking at was a picture by Lucas van Leyden or Giovanni Bellini. 6 How difficult it is then to make confident statements about taste, to be categorical in attributing the existence of this picture or that bust, to the eye of the man who paid for it. Another aspect of attribution has to do with identifYing the extent to which collectors and their agents in the seventeenth century saw things as we do in the twenty-first. How can we be sure that what may interest us in a painting today, necessarily interested Arundel and his buyers at the time they were buying for the collection? We have to challenge our own assumptions that what interests us in a picture, necessarily also interested Arundel. For the average and for that matter the more than average visitor to the Thijssen collection today, it is enough that the Sebastiano is a splendid image of a princely patron of the Renaissance, all decked out in glorious Venetian colours. What none ofus could have known is that Arundel responded to this picture in ways, knowledge of which no one today could have retrieved without the chance survival of the document cited above. To begin with, Arundel thought the Sebastiano was by Raphael. And then what of the identity of the third man? Arundel considered him a self-portrait by Raphael. What is more, though Arundel doesn't say as much, I suspect he acquired the picture because of his misapprehension that he was acquiring a Raphael self-portrait. The question is then begged, would he have been as keen on acquiring this mas5 The term 'Mannerism' has, after all, little historic authenticity. It was a label applied by Jewish art historians in the middle decades of the last century, to describe what they, traumatised by the advent of National Socialism, read into the zeit8eist of post sack Rome. 6 See his acquisition of what Petty proudly described as "the (,mous cabinet", that was to say the Gonzaga gems: Howarth 1985, p. 143.

22

DAVID HOWARTH

Wenceslaus Hollar, Arundel Housefrom the South Bank ofthe 'Thames. Royal Library, Windsor Casle, Windsor.

terpiece as he conspicuously was, ifhe had known what we know? And for our part, can we make any sort ofjudgement as to the nature of his taste when there is so little what might be termed (confessional' material to interpret? This note by Arundel giving directions connected with the purchase of the Sebastiano is the only statement which survives revealing Arundel actually on the hunt; pursuing the chase. There are indeed occasional asides, ambiguous statements which suggest perhaps preference for one school of painting over another, but nothing quite as vivid and eloquent as this. The problem is that so little evidence has come down to help us. Take what we can muster by way of primary material on a relationship which was the fulcrum of the whole collection. I mean the correspondence between the Arundel family and Petty himself, from which indeed the Maltravers letter quoted above is taken. Here the word (family' needs to be stressed since the Countess and their eldest son, Lord Maltravers, were actively involved in the collection. That correspondence consists in the infinitely precious survival of a thin sheaf of manuscripts, a mere forty-nine items which is British Library Additional. Ms. 15970. These consist for the most part of letters from Arundel House to Petty whilst he was roaming round Italy. But then what has Petty to say for himself? Basically nothing. The Arundel Castle Archive constitutes one of the most important dynastic muniment rooms in Britain. It does not contain a single letter from Petty to Arundel. In four years research for my Ph.D, undertaken nearly thirty years ago, I recall finding just four letters from this man who did so much but about whom so little is known; three in the Warwickshire County Record Office, and one in the Archivio di Stato in Florence. As far as I am aware none have been found in the interim. This contrasts with the good fortune which Edward Goldberg enjoyed. For his wonderful study of Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, he was the fortunate recipient of two fat volumes ofletters running to hundreds ofmanuscript pages - all ofthem from Paolo del Sera, Cardinal Leopoldo's William Petty.7 There are references within the Sera correspondence to the possib le purchase of0 bj ects which had once been in the Arundel Collection and which during the diaspora, had found their way home again to 7

Goldberg 1983.

A Ql!ESTION OF ATTRIBUTION

23

Italy. But as if that is not all, even within the scant muster of primary material over which we can pour, there are issues of understanding and interpretation which are enormously challenging. The challenge we have to face up to in thinking of'agency' in early modern Europe, is the sheer paucity of evidence; at least that is certainly my experience for the history of collecting in England under the Stuart dynasty. One interesting point to emerge from the British Library manuscript however, is the extent to which agents were (borrowed'; earned a little extra on the side, by working for a rival of their master. This is another knot to untangle and it clearly led to tensions between master and servant. Five months before Maltravers had written to Petty about the Neapolitan drawings, he had been obliged to send careful instructions about how to disentangle a muddle which had arisen about what precisely Petty was buying for whom: Good Mr Petty, (... ) As I was yesterday waiting upon the King, his Majesty told me that he had received a message from you by Mr Thomas Killigrew, that you had bought for him A Madonna of Correggio, a picture with two or three heads in it ofRaphael, and the Adonis. I told his Majesty that certainly Mr Killigrew had mistaken the message, because I showed his Majesty your letter of the Madonna of Correggio which sure you intended for my lord, and for the Adonis, I showed him this day one of your letters where you write that above all other things you desire to have the Adonis at Arundel House. But the King has commanded me to write to you to know, from him, whether those things that Mr Killigrew told him of are bought for him or not, that he may take order for them accordingly. So wishing you all happiness, I rest ever, your most affectionate true friend, H. Maltravers. 8

All this confusion created some irritation, to the extent indeed that Arundel returned to the subject a full six months later; writing from Frankfurt when on his embassy to the Emperor Ferdinand n. Though Arundel was clearly devoted to Petty, he used the letter to gentle admonish him for creating difficulties: You do very [well] to be careful of getting something ofTirian for his Majesty as my son writes to you. But for buying things for the King without order, and credit for money given first, I should not advise it, for his Majesty knows best what he has gusto in, and I know well that in the other way, one may both stay long for his money, from them that should pay it, and be esteemed officious instead of servicable. And you may remember what a noise rose ofyour speaking to Mr Killigrew and he misunderstanding you, therefore my advise is, to do faithfully and carefully what you are commanded but let commandments and orders for money precede buying, and talk not of things before that raises the scandal (.. y

From our knowledge of this muddle between Charles I, Arundel and their surrogates, perhaps we should ask to what extent it is possible to denominate the relationship between a collector and an agent, as one ofservitu particolare; to use what was then the cur8 Springell1963, p. 237. 9 Springell1963, p. 263.

24

A Q1JESTION OF ATTRIBUTION

DAVID HOWARTH

Jan Lievens, The Earl ofArundeI, C.1643. Stiftung Preussischer

Kulturbesitz, Staatliche Museen, Berlin.

25

predecessor as chiefagent, Thomas Coke. Arundel had a marked respect for universities. That was unusual at the time since most aristocrats were educated by tutors privately at hOlue. However Coke had been a Fellow ofStJohn's College, Cambridge - the Howard college - and Petty a Fellow ofJesus, Cambridge. Those other lives led by Coke and Petty before they joined the Arundel entourage, may in part explain the affection in which Arundel held them. But it is far from being the whole story. Indeed what is remarkable is how in his dealings with trusted agents, Arundel was transformed. Regarded by many as arrogant, supercilious and even pretentious - a man who liked to surround himself with savants but who could not deliver intellectually himself-with his agents he could unbend as he could with no one else. These glimpses of intimacy between a collector and his agents luay be exceptional in early modern European relationships between patron and client. But then perhaps not. Were there similar dynamics between a great landowner and his chiefhunstman, between the owner of a stud and his stable master, partnerships where too, we can witness an easy but unusual abandonment ofstatus and station? Whatever the truth, the central place the now obscure Petty had for Arundel, and for the Arundel Collection, is symbolised by the efforts Arundel himself luade to have Petty's image at Arundel House. He wrote to Petty on 3 February 1637 I pray send me your picture [portrait] ofTinelli for our Room for Designs must have you in pic-

ture and marble. God keep you Your assured friend, Amndel and Surrey.IO

rent Italian term. There m.ay have been much luore cultural osmosis between Arundel House and adjacent palaces than we have realised. One of the most intimate figures in the Arundel entourage, for example, was the Venetian maestro da casa, Francesco Vercellini. He seems to have been Italian secretary, donated to the Arundels after their 161 3 visit to Venice by the Contarini family. Vercellini was central- to the extent that some believe it to be he who stands behind the Countess in the Rub ens portrait in Munichto sustaining the belief that there was a section of the Strand which was little Italy. But what happened? Vercellini was presented to the Duke of Buckingham, who would become to charles I what Olivares would to Philip IV. Vercellini was a pawn in the difficult business of trying to arrive at an accomluodation between two political rivals: Arundel, by birthright, head of the English aristocracy, and Buckingham, by good looks and charisma, the upstart and royal favourite. Maybe Vercellini was served up in a pie at some great feast; in much the same spirit oflargesse, as I believe, Arundel commissioned and presented Van Dyck's Continence ofScipio, now at Christchurch, as a peace offering to Buckingham. But although there seem to have been fearsome rows and embarrassing misunderstandings, what cannot be in doubt is the sense of mutual affection between Arundel and Petty, a moving intimacy which had also existed between Arundel and Petty's

This in itself suggests how Petty had been trained in the most personal and intimate way by Arundel. Thus I would offer the idea that there was a kind of master-pupil relationship here as concurrently, there was between Velazquez and Juna de Pareja, Rubens and schelte aBoswert, or Inigo Jones and John Webb. Training was an in palace job; at least in the case ofArundel. I suspect it was altogether different however, down the road at York House. Buckingham was too impetuous, too important to do it himself and the indecent haste with which Gerbier bought for him in the early twenties, surely suggests that Buckingham's agents had a much freer hand. A word frequently used to denote the web of relationships between a collector and his dependents is 'Circle'. I once wrote a book entitled, Lord Arundel and his Circle, and we,talk of the 'Whitehall Circle' referring to the group of early Stuart collectors who revolved around Charles 1. But then how useful is this geometrical term? Does it not give us too tidy, too symmetrical a view, an oversimplified two diluensional understanding of things? I begin to wonder whether a better way of thinking about the relationship between Arundel and his dependents is to think of a cage; gilded it may have been, but confining it certainly was. Most of the birds escaped sooner or later. It was an aviary with much exotic plumage. Those who seem to have been united in buying items for the Arundel collection would appear not to have had much else, if anything, in common. The so-called 'Circle' seem to have been a rag-bag collection of diplomats, musicians, clergyluen, scholars of Early English or Roman inscriptions, artists and etchers,

26

A OYESTION OF ATTRIBUTION

DAVID HOWARTH

Wenceslaus Hollar after Cornelius Schut, Apotheosis ofthe Earl ofArundeL Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

27

by Van Dyck now in Vienna suggests a man of honeyed words. Buckingham too seems to have liked active artists such as Orazio Gentileschi or the miniaturist Sir Balthazar Gerbier, who was a minor painter but a major fraudster. One of the reasons for the vivid sense of intimacy that could exist between collector and agent, is that a great deal more was required of men like Petty than handing over cash. For him life could be distinctly hazardous. His job required not merely a good eye, but physical bravery and stamina, tact, a command of foreign languages, and high organisational skills. Arundel owed Petty a very great deal more than simply his wages. Just how versatile and tough you had to be as a collector's agent, was remarked by the bemused Sir Thomas Roe, who was himselfa man ofhuge stamina and considerable pluck. Roe had been the first English ambassador to the court of the Great Moghul, and it was when Roe was serving a term as ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, that he remarked to Dr Thomas Goad, chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury, not without chagrin, how Petty not only had run rings round the owners oftreasures, but in the process succeeded in running ropes round the ambassador who was now no longer able to deal himself Mr Petty, a worthy gentleman and learned (... ) by my means had admittance into the best library known of Greece, where are loads of old manuscripts; and he used so fine [an] art, with the help of some of my servants, that he conveyed away 22. I thought I should have had my share, but he was for himself: he is a good chooser, saw all, or most, and took, I think, those that were, and will be of great esteem (... ) I meant to have a review of that library; but he gave it such a blow, under my trust, that since it has been locked up under two keys, whereofone kept by the townsmen that have an interest or oversight of the monastery, so that I could do no good (... )."

inven tors ofmelancho lia as an aesthetic pose like the dilettante, John Evelyn, inven tors of slide rules and multiplication signs, famous doctors, famous quacks who were not quite the same thing, centenarians, dwarfs and clowns in more than one sense, Catholic priests, and spies. In short anyone in themselves a collector's item, who had an eye for a picture or knowledge of applied or arcane science, real or bogus, could get a free meal in the Great Hall at Arundel House. Various and ill-assorted were those who at one time and another, and in different ways, could quality as Arundel agents. But was there a pattern as between the sort favoured by one collector and those selected by another? In so far as Arundel relied on some ofhis agents more heavily than others, he can be seen to have lent upon ersthwile academics. This is reflected in what Joachim von Sandrart described as the "world of learned lectures" by which the visitor was assailed in the gardens of Arundel House. There could be seen inscriptions, and segments ofinteresting architectural decoration: what Buckingham sneeringly described as a defonned and misshapen stones" which he decisively rejected but Arundel favoured. Here clearly, there is a contrast with the much more charming and seductive Buckingham who chose as agents, either those who could operate as part of the entourage providing court entertainments, or far flashier types: that is to say men like the lutenist, Nicolas Lanier, whose svelt portrait

Challenges were compounded by the need for Petty to be an expert in everything. As far as we can tell, agents do not appear to have been 'specialists' in the sense that one collected antiquities, whilst another concentrated on Titians. It was as if all the galleries in Bond Street were heaped together in one giant warehouse with the owner prepared to talk about everything. Demands did not however end with Petty being expected to know about broken nosed matrons from Samos and drawings from Venice. He was also required to supervise a whole network ofdependency in the field. It would be wrong to assume that there was a simple chain of contact or command between Arundel and Petty.;· So how many people might at anyone time be involved in the complicated process ofgetting a statue from a Roman collection to a London palace? The object was bought, an official was bribed to release it from Rome, carters hired to take it by road to Leghorn, customs officials bribed again, an English merchant persuaded to stow it as freight at a negotiated price. Someone else then had to ensure that it was properly packed so that olive oil would not pour all over antique marble in a Mediterranean storm." Petty might Hervey 1921, pp. 275-276. Arundel to Petty, Ratisbon, 2 September 1636: "I wrote you word long since that I had heard from my son Maltravers, how well the Neapolitan collection was arrived, and how well it proved in his judgment; as also what a great danger it escaped in the ship, diverse cases of silk that lay close by it, being wholly spoiled with oil that ran upon them, and pierced both the sear cloths and the boards and therefore I desired you to have a principal care, ifyou charge the Statue or anything else by sea, to be sure that no oils shall be charged in that ship; for oil in white marble is never to be got out, as our statues in Arundel House garden show": Springell1963, p. 248. 11

12

28

DAVID HOWARTH

well have favoured certain sea captains over others; men whose standards ofpacking and safe delivery were high. Once in London there were warehousemen to negotiate with, repairs to be done and finally, delivery and unpacking, choice oflocation and hanging. A lot ofpeople were involved in what was sOluetimes distinct and other times overlapping tasks - in what might have constituted six or seven stages. Did Arundel expect his agents to do all of this unaided, or was there a registrar, if the choice of such a word is not hopelessly anachronistic, who would supervise licence, bribes, packing, shipping, insurance, conservation and hanging. We do not know but there is a suggestion that the Arundel House steward, William Marsh, was in charge ofpaper work. What would be interesting to know is whether the status of Petty was enhanced by all this work in keeping a whole host of different functionaries in play at once. Although we do not have Petty's side ofwhat must have been a vast and multifarious correspondence, how people referred to him certainly suggests that the world responded with a strong mixture of irritation and admiration for this most mysterious man; indeed arguably the most versatile and ruthless of agents in early modern Europe. 12

These then seem to me some of the issues which are central to the place of 'agency' when, for the first time in European history, and in the early years of the seventeenth century, appreciation of the classical tradition was no longer confined to the Mediterranean basin. By 1630, collectors and their agents were operating frOlU Stockholm to Syracuse. What is urgently needed is a synoptic account of the art agent in Baroque Europe. The evidence is scattered and so it will be through a comparison of what was being done in various locations in Europe that a pattern emerges; a pattern which cannot be delineated ifit is an exercise conducted upon the analysis of the records, such as they exist, ofjust one cultural centre - whether London, Uppsala or Naples.

THOMAS JAMES DANDELET

Between Courts THE COLONNAAGENTS IN ITALY AND IBERIA, 1555- 1600

In May of 1519, the nineteen-year old king of Spain and Naples, charles V, wrote to Fabrizio Colonna, the head of the Paliano branch of the Colonna family, with an important request. It had come to the young monarch's attention that one ofhis Spanish subjects, Diego de las Casas from Seville, was in Rome, and that with much skill and money he was engaging in various negotiations that were" of a bad quality, very offensive to our God and to our service".' Thus, the king was calling upon Fabrizio, the famous condottiere who had served his grandfather, Ferdinand, so well, and towards whom he felt "full trust and true love", to act against Las Casas in the following manner: he was to kidnap him, using "much secrecy and dissimulation", spirit him out of Rome to one of the Colonna castles in Naples, and then arrange to have him sent to Barcelona where the king could administer proper justice. The king instructed Fabrizio to keep track of all ofhis expenses which would be repaid, and he further assured him that ifhe took care of this important business, the king would be sure to take care ofhim.2 This brief letter from the beginning of the sixteenth century puts in high relief a number of political themes and realities that are central to the broader topic of agents in Italy throughout the early modern period. First, the correspondence between charles V and Fabrizio Colonna demonstrates how important Italian nobles were in the strategies of the Spanish monarchs in Italy not just as formalluilitary captains or condotierre, but also as covert political agents. While Fabrizio Colonna is perhaps most;· famous as the lofty military theorist in Machiavelli's Art ofWar, the darker reality on the ground in Italy was that he and others were often expected to carry out a far less virtuous form of political activity in the service of the Spanish crown. The monarchs increasingly needed local servants on the ground in Italy to further their political agenda, and in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries their agents were frequently high-ranking Italian nobles like the Colonna who directly acted to carry out their will. Together with a few other figures at the top of the diplomatic ladder such as the Spanish ambassadors and Spanish cardinals, the Colonna consti-

1

Biblioteca di Santa Scolastica, Subiaco, Rome (BSS), Archivio Colonna, Personaggi Illustri, busta AG, letter The text reads: "de mala qualidad, mucho en offensa de dios nuestro y del servico nuestro." BSS, Archivio Colonna, Personaggi Illustri, bustaAG, letter 2082.

2082.

13

For a novelised biography of Petty see Lapierre 2004.

2

30

THOMAS JAMES DANDELET

BETWEEN COURTS

31

tuted the top rank of political agents for the Spanish monarchy in Italy, and the monarchs increasingly came to bestow their "full trust" upon them. There was clearly a quid pro quo for this service, however, and Fabrizio and successive generations of Colonna men were well aware that service to the Spanish monarchy could bring wi'th it great rewards such as the office of Contestabile of Naples that Ferdinand had bestowed upon Fabrizio for his service in the war for Nap les in 1504. They also became increasingly aware of the fact that they, too, needed agents to further their own political agendas with the monarchs. The distance between Italy and Iberia was still considerable with a letter taking a minimum of three to four weeks to go from Naples or Rome to Madrid, and by the middle of the sixteenth century, the grandson ofFabrizio Colonna, Marcantonio II, "Il Grande", would begin sending his own secretaries and agents to the Spanish court to represent him and his agenda. Letters were no longer enough. It is the story of Marcantonio Colonna and his agents between roughly 1555 and 1584 that is my primary focus here. When viewed in the broader historical context of Colonna service to the Spanish crown and deepening Spanish influence in Italy in the later sixteenth century, the growing use of agents by Italian nobles like Marcantonio Colonna, represent a considerable maturing or thickening of diplomatic relations and ties between courts in Italy and Iberia. Over the course of his thirty-year military and political career as a captain, captain general, and finally Viceroy ofSicily for King Philip II ofSpain, Marcantonio used a number of different agents to further his own political ambitions and agenda both at the papal court and in Madrid. 3 Fortunately, much of the correspondence with these agents survives, and the hundreds of letters between Colonna and his representatives testifY to both a new level of political activity generated by absolutist political administration, and the rise of a new class ofmen who carried out this activity. While the nobles themselves continued to act as agents, by the second half of the sixteenth century, the case ofMarcantonio Colonna demonstrates that the nobles had begun to imitate the monarchs in keeping their own stable of secretaries and agents in the sixteenth century to represent their interests. The use of secretaries by the Italian nobility was certainly not new to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but their growth and evolution as an important and distinctive part ofimperial court politics was. The case of the Colonna agents, and the agent Cesare Gallo in particular, reveals the evolution of the agent from the more traditional role as secretary and sometimes manager of the household to the more elevated position of important interlocutor in the often dangerous and complex political world of the Spanish Empire. Gallo served as Marcantonio Colonna's agent for almost thirty years, that is from 1555 to 1584, and the range of his activities and travels on behalf of his patron subsequently provides a rich record ofthe life and work ofa quasi-professional sixteenth-century agent. It is a record

that mirrored the various political stages and challenges of Marcantonio' s career, and it reveals just how deeply interwoven an agent's life could become with that of his noble patron. It is important to note at this early stage in research and writing on early modern agents that men like Gallo represent a distinct and growing political group that emerged with the expansion of the administrative state, and more specifically in this case, the imperial administrative state. This does not mean that they did not share traits with other types of agents such as the art collector, financial representative, or more common domestic secretary or master of the household. Gallo, in fact, wore numerous hats during his long service to the Colonna household. But the fact that Scipione Pulzone, Portrait ofMarcantonio II Colonna. Gallo and others like him would carry Palazzo Colonna, Rome. special credentials and letters to the Spanish court that granted them a status and access to the monarch and his ministers, underlined the fact that they had entered into another level ofpolitical activity and service to their masters altogether. Moreover, their repeated missions over a period of decades pointed to the fact that they had become almost permanent political agents with the specific task of advancing the political careers and agendas of their patrons. In the case of Gallo, the majority of his adult life was spent between the courts of Rome and Madrid with this specific end. 4 Gallo first appeared in the Colonna correspondence as a servant of Marcantonio' s parents, Ascanio Colonna and Giovanna d'Aragona in the early 1550S, but by 1555, he was serving the younger Colonna: in that year he wrote his first letter to Marcantonio from Milan reporting on a number of conversations that he had had with Spanish nobles there including Don Garzia of Toledo. The issue at hand involved property disputes in the kingdom of Naples between Marcantonio and the Princess ofSulmona. Gallo assured Marcantonio that Don Garzia had told him that he had written to the court in Spain "very warmly in favour of your affairs."5 This, of course, is what the young Colonna wanted to hear, since he was involved in a bitter dispute over his inheritance, and Gallo's role was to ensure that the necessary Spanish noblemen in Italy

3 For a recent biography of Marcantani 0 Colonna see Bazzano 2003. While Bazzano makes use of a selection of correspondence between Colonna and the agents discussed here, she provides no analysis of the role of the agents as they developed over the span of Marcant ani a's career.

4

For a few examples of recent work on other types of agents c£ Hoyle

2002;

Salort 1999; Studnicki-Gizbert

2000.

5

BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 63, letter 1,14 December 1555.

32

THOMAS JAMES DANDELET

were intervening on his behalf It is important to note here that from the earliest beginnings of his adult life, Marcantonio Colonna was consistently involved in serious struggles for his political survival and advancement. His father, Ascanio, had disinherited him when he and his mother formally broke off relations with the elder head of the family in the early 1550S. When Ascanio died in a Neapolitan prison in 1555, a struggle broke out between Marcantonio and his sister, Vittoria, who had been given many of the family lands, that would last for the next seventeen years. Gallo was subsequently called upon repeatedly to lobby various Spanish and Italian officials who were perceived as being able to lend support to Marcantonio in the inheritance dispute. His letters reveal that he was well-versed in the intricacies of the juridical and political dispute, and he served as a valuable monitor for his patron of developments in the case in both Madrid and Rome over the many years that the negotiations dragged out. Gallo was also involved in the administration ofColonna lands in Abbruzzo, and a letter by Marcantonio from 1557 spells out the extent of his authority as an agent. It reads:

BETWEEN COURTS

33

Gallo's loyal service over the decades came with a price, of course, but it was only after nearly three years of occasional service that Gallo directly asked for some monetary reward. Specifically, in October of 1558, he wrote to Marcantonio, whom he addressed as "Padron luio Illustrissimo et Eccellentissimo", first to assure him that it gave him great consolation to know that his master was satisfied with his service, but also to point out that up to that time he had received no cOlupensation of any kind: "Until now I have not had any benefices, income, allowance or provisions". He subsequently asked bluntly for 500 ducats from the income of some Colonna lands in Abbruzzo. 7 Being on the payroll also brought increased demands, not surprisingly, and in 1560 Gallo was sent to Madrid to represent the Colonna interests at court. By this point, yet another political and economic crisis was confronting Marcantonio, since he was once again fighting to fully regain and refortifJ family lands in the Papal States that had been seized by Paul IV during the Caraffa war in 1557- Marcantonio had fought for the

Spanish monarch in the war, and the restoration of his lands in the Papal States was even included as a condition of the treaty that ended the conflict. But the new pope, pius IV (1559-1565), was slow to act on this. Again, a continuous lobbying effort was evidently deemed necessary by Marcantonio who left Gallo with the tasks of pressing the court to provide his patron with additional political and financial support in the specific form of one hundred professional soldiers to man the Colonna fortress in Paliano paid for by the king of Spain. In a letter from early in 1562 Colonna urged his agent to seek at least 4,000 scudi for this purpose and he went further to instruct Gallo to "cry out, shout, and do this with all the diligence that it merits."8 Gallo responded to his master in March of 1562 from Madrid that he had talked with the council (probably of Italy) and with councilors (consi8lieri) about Paliano, but he sarcastically noted that "everyone responds to me with a mountain ofbeautiful words, but that they can't do anything else".9 Beyond the specific business ofPaliano, Gallo was also entrusted with the more general task of being Colonna's eyes, ears, and mouth in the court and broader noble circles in Madrid. Marcantonio regularly informed Gallo about Roman affairs and clearly was using him to inform the Spanish monarch about the papacy and specifically the new pope's attitude towards the monarch. In August of 1560, for example, he gave Gal10 the specific instructions to immediately give the king news of the pope's affairs and especially to let him know that "the truth is that his Holiness is (very well disposed) towards his majesty".lO More generally, Marcantonio wanted Gallo to make sure that people at court were informed about his good standing in Italy with the pope and also with the duke in Florence. In short, Gallo was entrusted with building up his patron's reputation in Madrid as a well-connected political player, and in this same vein, he was relied upon to keep Marcantonio informed about the people and affairs of the court in Madrid. In 1564, for example, Gallo wrote to Colonna about the appointments ofRuy Gomez as ma88iordomo ma88iore to the king and ofLuis Ogexada to the Council ofWar. He also noted that "I know that this news about two good friends will make you happy".ll On a darker note, he also informed Colonna about a miscarriage of the queen. Getting the news from Madrid from his own personal agent was something Marcantonio valued greatly, and he regularly stressed to Gallo how important his letters were. On the few occasions when the agent did not write often enough, he was reminded of this in very clear language. In October of 1565, for example, Colonna complained to Gallo that "[YJour letters have not arrived here for many days and this caus-

BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 102, letter 3562,8 October 1557. The text reads: "Mandamo Il mag.co Cesare Gallo nostro Segretario in Abbruzzo per diversi nostri negotii di che ha particular comissione da noi. Ordinamo pero et espressamente comandamo a' gli ufficiali maggiore et minori et huomini et universita del stato nostro di Abbruzzo che l'ubediscano aiutano et favoriscano come la persona nostra propria. Havendo dato a' lui tutta l'autorira. et facoldt che havemo noi medesimo, et non faccino il contrario sotto pena della disgratia nostra, et di mille scudi." 7 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 63, letter 2, October 1558. The text reads: "10 fin qui non ho ne beneficii, ne entrata, ne assignemento, ne provisioni."

BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 54, letter 3469. The text reads: "gridate, strillate, et habbiate questa con ogni diligenza che importa." 9 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 107, letter 463. The text reads: "mi risposero tutti con un monton di belle parole, ma che no si poteva far altro." 10 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 54, letter 3462. The text reads: "la verita e che sua sta. sta benissimo con sua mta." 11 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 107, letter 467- The text reads: "O!:leste nove di cosi due buoni amici di V.E. so che le darano allegreza."

We are sending the magnificent Cesar Gallo, our secretary to Abruzzo for various business matters of ours for which he has our particular commission. We order, therefore, and expressly command the major and minor officials and the men and university of our state ofAbruzzo to obey, favour, and help him as if were our own person, having given to him all of the authority and faculty that we ourselves have, and not acting to the contrary under the penalty of being disgraced in our eyes and a thousand scudi. 6

6

8

34 THOMAS JAMES DANDELET

es anxiety and annoyance."12 He went on to urge him to write soon and to provide as much detail about court affairs as possible. Perhaps because of the rising importance of Roman affairs for the family, Gallo was called back to Italy in 1566, and for the next three years he primarily resided in Rome providing a variety of services to the family. For most of this period, Marcantonio was himself out of Rome, and Gallo was subsequently one of the people he relied upon to represent him and to help manage the family's practical affairs at the Roman palace. Since Marcantonio's mother and wife, Giovanna d'Aragona and Felice Colonna, were also in Rome or Marino, together with Cardinal Colonna, for much of this period, Gal10' s role as a source of court information was clearly reduced to a more secondary level, but he was still expected to correspond with Marcantonio regularly. Moreover, he had his own set of contacts in the papal court such as the maestro di camera of the pope with whom he spoke. 13 These years were marked by the revival of the Colonna presence in Rome after the disastrous years of exile during the reign of Paul IV. The growing favour that the Colonna felt at court was reflected in events like the personal visit that Giovanna d'Aragona made to the new Pope Pius V in 1566 shortly after Christmas. Gallo was a part of the entourage that accompanied the Duchess ofTagliacoza to the papal palace, and he wrote Marcantonio a long and detailed letter about who was in attendance and everything that was said. The letter reveals a courtier's sensibility to the nuances of court behaviour, and this was certainly one of the qualities valued in Gallo and agents generally. More specifically, Gallo commented on the pope's demeanour towards Giovanna d'Aragona noting that Pius V appeared impressed by her appearance and flattered her with the comment that he did not know that Marcantonio had an older daughter. Gallo asked his patron's pardon if the letter was too "particular," but he also reminded Marcantonio that this was what he had commanded him to do and he was just obeying those orders.'4 The late 1560s and early 1570S were largely years ofColonna consolidation in the Papal States and Naples as Marcantonio worked at building up his estates and his military career. Most noticeably, he had been given a military commission by the Spanish monarch with the task ofoutfitting the Spanish fleet in Messina in anticipation ofconflicts with the Ottoman Empire. He was subsequently away from his estates frequently, and Gallo was busy with everything from buying new account books, to overseeing the procurement ofwine and grain for the household in Rome, to managing the sale of some lands in Naples. At some point in this period, Gallo must also have taken religious orders since MarcAntonio was addressing him as Molto MaBnlftco et Reverendo in his correspondence by BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 54, letter 3573. The text reads: "Qgi non compariscono lettere vre molti giorni et a fatte passar ansia et fastidio." 13 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 107, letter 482. 14 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 107, letter 470. The text reads: "Perdoni V.E. se le parra che io sia troppo particolare perche havendomelo comandato come so che si ricordera., ha da obidir." 12

BETWEEN COURTS

35

1574. It was also in that year that Gallo was sent back to Madrid again to advance the next step in his patron's career. After leading the papal fleet in the famous battle of Lepanto in 1571, Marcantonio had returned to Rome with clear aspirations for still higher office in the Spanish imperial system. In short, his goal was to be appointed a viceroy in Italy, and all of his political manoeuvering now turned to this task. Gallo's mission in Madrid in the spring and summer of 1573 and throughout 1574 was clearly to lobby the court for this appointment. Marcantonio sent him a letter in April of 1573 noting that he had heard through another agent in Madrid that Gallo had arrived safely and already spoken with the king. This pleased Marcantonio greatly and he was eagerly awaiting some news from Gallo. '5 The letter he received in May from his agent did not please him, however, since it brought no news of the "principle business". Rather, Gallo's letter was filled with other insignificant news that in Marcantonio's words "makes me nauseous".'6 It is clear that Gallo was not happy with the thought of a prolonged stay in Madrid, but Colonna urged him to be patient since so much was at stake. In a letter to Gallo in September he wrote: "I am resolved that you wait for the resolution of these affairs, good or bad, and for my love, have patience, because on this (decision) the manner in which the rest of (our) life is spent depends."17 He also pointed out that he had sent Gallo two hundred gold scudi since he did not want him to lack anything. The correspondence of 1574 reveals a level of confidence in, and familiarity with, Gallo that went beyond the usual patron-client relationship. After nearly twenty years ofservice, Gallo had become an almost indispensable part of the famiBlia. Moreover, he enjoyed a level of trust that was rare with the Colonna agents, and part ofhis task during the long lobbying effort for the viceroy's job was to pass Marcantonio's letters to a secret "friend" who was intervening on his behalf at court. Still in Madrid in December of 1575, Gallo received a letter to be passed to this mysterious agent with the following instructions: "Give this letter to the friend immediately and promote with your good skills and favour the resolution (we seek)."'8 All ofGallo's interventions on his patron's behalf, combined, to be sure, with a persistent writing campaign and cultivation of other supporters and "friends" at court in Madrid, finally paid offin 1576 when Marcantonio traveled to Spain to receive his appointment as Viceroy ofSicily. This was the position that he would hold until his death in 1584, and it proved to be a job that came with a very heavy price. It also brought with it the need for more agents. Virtually from the beginning of his administration of the island in 1577, Marcantonio had various problems with discontented Sicilian noblemen, contentious bishops, 15 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 54, letter 3467. 16 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 54, letter 3465. The exact reading

was "me fa nausea". 17 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 54, letter 3477· The text reads: "la mi risolvo che in ogni modo aspettiate la resolutione buona 0 mala di questa cariechi,et pero per amor mio habbiate patienza poi che da questo dipende la maniera di come si havera da passer il rimanente della vita." 18 BSS, Archivio Colonna, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna Il, busta 54, letter 358 5.

36 THOMAS JAMES DANDELET

inquisitors who were covetous of their own power, and a variety of other opponents who were quick to write to Madrid with their complaints. Indeed, in the case of one of his most vocal critics, Ottavio Bonetta, who claimed to have been wrongly deprived of a house in Palermo by Colonna, the critic moved to the Spanish court"to press his case personally for an extended period. All of this opposition demanded a steady response from Marcantonio that came first and foremost in the form of personal letters to the king. As a second line of defense that had the benefit of being closer to the court, however, Marcantonio again relied upon agents to be his advocates and defenders. This became most apparent in the 1580s when criticism against Colonna reached a peak. Not surprisingly, the faithful servant Gallo was back in Madrid to try and make sure that the position ofhis patron was getting a fair hearing. But the gravity of the charges against Colonna and the strength and number ofhis enemies required additional advocates on the ground in both Madrid and Lisbon, and increasingly in the 1580s it was the Italian cleric, Nicolo Pisacani, who was the most active agent on Colonna's behalfif the thick correspondence between the two men is any measure. Pisacani was in Rome in the late 1570S but in Lisbon by 1582, and he was clearly a more politically astute observer of the situation than Gallo. Gallo, in fact, may have been in over his head by this point, since the political game had changed dramatically. From 1580 on Marcantonio was on the defensive, and the nature of the agent's task shifted to one that most closely resembled that of a defense lawyer. The challenge was considerable since Marcantonio had serious enemies at court, most noticeably, Cardinal Granvelle. Philip II had left the cardinal largely in charge ofItalian affairs and the Council ofItaly, among other things, when he took the court to Lisbon from 1580 to late in 1583. This complicated matters for Marcantonio since his correspondence with the king was technically supposed to pass through Granvelle's hands first. This was most unfortunate for Colonna since the two men had a history of acrimonious relations since the days when Granvelle was Viceroy ofNaples from 1571 to 1575. Marcantonio, in fact, suspected that Granvelle was not sending his letters to the king, and in a letter from May of 1583 he bluntly expressed these suspicions to Gallo who was in Madrid. '9 Pisacani's role at the court in Lisbon was thus all the more important, and his correspondence reveals that he did have personal access to the king: "I spoke to the king this morning", he noted in a letter from July of 1583.20 Moreover, he wrote to Marcantonio in great detail about the reports that he delivered to the king that responded point by point to the criticisms of his opponents and reminded the king of the many accomplishments of the viceroy. Pisacani thus served as a critical agent for the central task of going around Granvelle. But for all of these interventions, it is very clear that neither

BETWEEN COURTS

Pisacani nor Gallo were doing much to change the tone of affairs at court or to silence the growing attacks on their patron in Madrid and Lisbon. Thus, Marcantonio enlisted yet another person to intervene for him at court, namely his twenty-two-year-old son, Ascanio, who had been studying in Salamanca and AIcala since 1576 and was destined for a cardinal's hat. Although the elder Colonna wrote to his son as early as 1581 telling him to go to the court in Lis bon to be his father's representative, Ascanio wrote back that he was not ready or prepared to do this and that it was known that the king did not want people coming to the court.2l Ascanio received his father's letters through yet another family agent in Spain, a Spanish Jesuit priest, Luis Mendoza, who Marcantonio had appointed as his son's guardian during his student years. But Ascanio warned his father to be careful with what he wrote to him since any letters that went through Father Luigi's hands would also make their way to his Jesuit superiors who also obviously had ties to the court. Ascanio thus demonstrated a political savvy that frankly surpassed that of his father. Indeed, Marcantonio seemed almost naIve about the constant leaking of information sent to his agents in Iberia, although he did use code for some ofhis correspondence in an attempt to keep some things hidden from potential opponents who might see his letters. What Marcantonio could not have been unaware of, however, were the limitations of his agents Gallo and Pisacani in the task of defending him at court. Back in Madrid in 1584, Pisacani was reduced to writing alarmist letters to his patron warning him that he could not imagine the amount ofbad will against him in Madrid. His profound advice in the face of this was: "I humbly beseech you to treat this business with great care (... ) and for love of God have patience and have a drink whenever possible."22 Ultimately, it was Ascanio Colonna who went to court upon the king's return to Madrid in 1583 to deliver a defense of his father, but it was not enough to keep Marcantonio from being called to court in 1584 to personally answer the charges against him. After visiting his family, the pope, and a few others in Rome in June of 1584 Marcantonio Colonna left Italy for the last time in early July. Although the purpose ofhis journey remained obscure in Rome, and his demeanour remained proud and noble, Roman observers remarked that "this knight, a friend of fortune (... ) nonetheless had fear in his eyes", for it was widely known that he had few friends in Madrid and many enemies. 23 Thus he had to rely on his personal ties to the king and his personal testimony, things that had always served him well in the past. All of the agents in the world could not replace the personal contact with the king that was always the most powerful political capital in the age of absolutism. BSS, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 50, letter 1173. BSS, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 47, letter 2052. The full text reads: "Il partire del bando che ha buttato il Visitatore e' molto pericoloso, et pero ho supplicato hoggi il Cardinale che 10 faccia spedir quanto prima dandoci quel taglia che le parera' et (...Jsupplico humilmente che trati in modo questo negotio che non se possa in nulla manera imaginar che quelle Citri habbiano qual che fomento da lei per che saria ruinarci suI fiore et per amor di Dio habbia patienza et beva quanti calici se le appresentano (senza mancar punto al suo decoro J che l' assicuro che tutte sono gioie per la sua corona." 23 BibliotecaApostolica Vaticana, Rome, MS Urb. Lat. 1052, fo1. 233. 21

22

19 BSS, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonna II, busta 55, letter 57 - actually the second of two letters in the same bundle. The text reads: "Del Cardinale di Granvela non so che merci dire, et quello suspeto che noi havemo mi parec bene che sua Mta se ne rinfrescasse le memoria ricordevole di questa pena giovare se lui ci volesse far male, il che non posso credere ma hormai io non so che mi dire." 20 BSS, Corrispondenza Marcantonio Colonn~ II, busta 79, letter 1973. The text reads: "Ho parlato a sua Maesta questa mattina."

a

37

38

THOMAS JAMES DANDELET

When Marcantonio arrived in Barcelona a few weeks later, he was honoured with all the Spanish pomp usually given to one of his rank. Then he began making his way to Madrid, but upon reaching Medina del Campo he fell ill with a fever. After seven long days, on 5 August 1584, he was dead. The decisive encounter with the King was never to occur, and Marcantonio's body was sent back to Rome and buried in the family crypt in the church ofPaliano. Philip Il wrote a briefletter of condolence to his wife Felice noting the noble service of her husband and the love the king always had felt for him. Cardinal Granvelle, in the meantime, wrote to the court in Rome explaining in some detail the nature of the illness and attributing it to the long journey and changing climates. Not surprisingly, given the circumstances, foul play and poison were immediately suspected back in Rome. And what ofthe agents? Gallo and Pisacani disappear from the record after the death of their master, and when Ascanio took charge of the family, he would cultivate his own group of secretaries. But Ascanio would never give them the level of information or responsibility for his affairs in Spain that his father had once entrusted to his agents. That was left only to his immediate family. And perhaps this was the real lesson learned from his father: sometimes with agents you can have too much of a good thing. The risk with agents in the age of Absolutism was always that they would be tempted to serve two masters, and if one of those masters happened to be the king, it was hard to trust anyone. That was a lesson Marcantonio himself could have used.

HANS COOLS

Francesco Feroni (1614/16-1696) BROKER IN CEREALS, SLAVES AND WORKS OF ART

Until recently, historians tended to paint the Tuscan seventeenth century in grim colours. Their portraits of the successive Medici grand dukes varied in shade from ash grey to black. Furio Diaz' history of the Grand Duchy ofTuscany, published in 1976, is a case in point. In the headings of his chapter on Cosimo Ill, he introduced Cosimo's long reign, lasting from 1670 until 1723, as one characterised by "depression and obscurantism, lacking the prospect to overcome these failures". One paragraph underneath the heading concerning that prince reads: "Cosimo Ill: From decay to crisis."l As has been pointed out by Henk van Veen, these dark colours were used on purpose by Riguccio Galuzzi (1739-1801), the court historian of the Lorraine dynasty. By diminishing the performance of their predecessors, these newcomers who had been imposed upon the Grand Duchy by the great powers of that age wanted to enhance their own legitimacy.2 Although in Cosimo's later years the ever more pro bab le extinction of the Medici dynasty loomed permanently over the Florentine court, such assertions do little justice to Cosimo's zeal during his earlier years to stimulate industrial and technical innovations, to modernise his bureaucracy and to revitalise commerce. 3 Cosimo's commission to pietro Guerrini (1651-1716) to tour north-western Europe and to sketch and to report everything that seemed of technical interest to his secretary Apollonio Bassetti (1631-1699) is a prime example of the first two aims. During his nearly four years of extensive travelling Guerrini sent home an impressive amount of detailed descriptions and drawings of French and English machinery and of Dutch windmills and fortifications.4 Some of these papers proved to be of immediate use. For instance, Guerrini's sketches of the newly fortified town ofNaarden, about fifteen kilometres east ofAmsterdam, were forwarded upon their arrival in Florence to Leghorn, where similar work was in progress. 5 Guerrini's mission was greatly favoured by Francesco Feroni. As de1 The original Italian reads as follows: "Cosimo Ill: Dalla decadenza alla crisi" and" depressione e oscurantismo di un regno senza prospettive", see Diaz 1976, pp. 465-524 (the quotations on pp. 465-466). 2 Veen 1987, pp. 45-46. C£ Hoogewerff 1919, pp. xliv-xlv. 3 A provisionary partial reassesment of Cosimo' s reign in Angiolini/Becagli/Verga 1993 and Veen 1987. 4 Nearly all ofGuerrini's letters and drawings have been preserved and are now kept in Archivio di Stato Firenze, Mediceo del Principato (ASF Med.). Very recently they have been published in extenso: Martelli 2005.

40

HANS COOLS

FRANCESCO FERONI

Francesco Feroni's epitaph composed by Anton Salvini. Detail ofFeroni's funerary chapel i:q.:the Florentine Basilica ofSantissima Annunziata. photo: Hans Cools.

positario 8enerale he provided the Florentine informant with the necessary funds. 6 A few years earlier, Feroni had devised a scheme to farm out on a large scale the levying ofindirect taxes, which resulted in higher revenues for the treasury.? According to him, commerce would be favoured by the creation of a Tuscan Company of the West-Indies that would have its seat in Leghorn. 8 Clearly, Francesco Feroni was the mastermind behind Cosimo's efforts to curb the seelningly inevitable relative decline of Tuscany. Although most ofFeroni's plans for economic recovery never materialised and he did not succeed to substantially increase the grand-duke's income, the latter never lost confidence in his minister.9 On the contrary, in 1681 Cosimo created Feroni Marquis ofBellavista. Fourteen years later, Feroni received the privilege to pass on his noble title to his heirs. Meanwhile, architect Anto5 6 7 8 9

Martelli 2005, I, pp. LXXIV-LXXV and 142-149; Il, photographs 51 and 52. Martelli 2005, I, pp. 3,11-13,15,17,328,342-343 and 379-380. Benigni 1993, pp. 17 1- 173. Benigni 1993, pp. 176-177Benigni 1993, p. 181.

(1614/16-1696)

41

nio Ferri (1651-1726) had transformed the old Medici farmhouse, which stood at the centre ofthe homonymous property into a sumptuous baroque villa and Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725) had constructed an overwhelmingly rich funerary chapel for Francesco in the Florentine basilica ofSantissimaAnnunziata. ' ° The expressive statues and medallions by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi (1656-1740) amongst others, and the learned epitaph composed by the abbot and humanist Anton Maria Salvini (1653-1729) move every visitor, past and contemporary alike. Indeed, chapel and villa (although the latter one still awaits a badly needed restoration campaign) bear witness to the enormous fortune that Francesco Feroni had amassed during his lifetime. Salvini's inscription proudly reports how and where Feroni had made his money: "This is the graveyard ofFrancesco Feroni, who has favoured his fortune and who has acquired a more than mediocre wealth thanks to hard working while sending his ships from Amsterdam to Africa and the West Indies."12 Qgite explicitly the epitaph states that Feroni was a self made man, who had made his dream come true in Amsterdam, the economic metropolis of seventeenth-century Europe. I3 But the poem remains rather silent about Francesco Feroni's origins, his youth and subsequent arrival in Amsterdam. In order to have a better grasp of his personality, we first have to enquire about these formative years. Francesco Feroni must have been born in 1614 or shortly after in the small Tuscan town ofEmpoli, some forty kilometres west ofFlorence. '4 Being the son of a wool dyer, Francesco practised this trade for a while himself However, at some point, we do not know exactly when, Feroni established himself in the then thriving coastal town of Leghorn. I5 There he entered the service of the Florentine senator and merchant Lorenzo Buonaccorsi. A few years later, somewhere in the first halfofthe 1640S, Feroni moved to Amsterdam. 16 Feroni's precise motives remain unclear to us, although it seems likely that he was sent there by Buonaccorsi. 17 In any case, Feroni's arrival in Amsterdam coincided with what has been called the second wave of "Italian migration to Amsterdam."18 As of the last decade of the sixteenth century, Italian states had become ever more ll

10 Rosati 1998. Casazza 1998. 12 "Franciso Feronio mentis absiduo laboris / et fortunae obsecundantis obsequio in / maritima negotiatione quam suis navibus / ad Africam et Occiduam Indiam mittendis / Amstelodami exetcuit ad non mediocres / opes evecto (... )." 13 Istaell989, pp. 197-291; Lesger 2001 'Clusters'. 14 Benigni 1997, p. 377, gives 16 June 1614 as Francesco's date of birth. This date is probably based on the inscription in Feroni's funerary chapel (see n. 11 and 12). However, at his wedding in 1650 Feroni declared that he was 34 years old, implying he must have been born in 1615 or 1616: Gemeentearchief Amsterdam, Doop-, Trouw- en Begrafenisboeken (GM DTB) 680, fo1. 212. 15 Engels 1997, pp. 39-46. 16 Benigni 1985-1985, pp. 99-100. 17 In 1652, apart from carrying out his own business, Feroni still acted as the Amsterdam agent for the Buoanaccorsi. c£ ASF Med., filza 2310, fo1. 736, Giovan Battista Gondi to Francesco Feroni, Florence, 24 August 1652 . 18 Bicci 1997, pp. 248-251. Nearly all Italian merchants that emigrated to Amsterdam in this period were either Tuscans (Lucchesi and subjects of the grand-duke) or Genoese. 11

42

HANS COOLS

FRANCESCO FERONI

The right hand side of Feroni's funerary chapel. Sculptures of Fortune and Thought by Git;Lseppe Piamontini (1664-1772) and of Saint Francis by Giovanni Camillo Cateni(1662-C.1732). Photo: Hans Cools.

dependent upon the import of cereals. 19 A substantial part of these imported cereals were harvested in the Baltic and were exported subsequently on Dutch ships, directly or indirectly via the Amsterdam market, to the Italian peninsula. In the 1640S the export of Baltic grain on Dutch ships reached an absolute peak. Meanwhile, during the years that led to the Peace Treaty of West ph alia (1648) European politics went through a phase of aetente. Thus several Tuscan merchants profited from these circumstances, settling in Amsterdam, hoping to participate in the grain trade. Francesco Feroni was aIuongst theIu. As far as we know, Feroni struck his first great deal in 1645, acquiring 3,000 Iastri (6,150 tons) ofBaltic cereals and hiring 16 ships to transport them to Leghorn. 22 During the next few years Feroni continued to specialise in the grain trade. In 1648-1649, when

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43

the city of Rome suffered from famine, Feroni was amongst the principal suppliers who brought relief 23 In a relatively brief span of time, these and similar operations must have turned Francesco Feroni into a rich man. But he would never forget how difficult his first years in Amsterdam had been. Much later he would record that these had been "years ofblood, sweat and tears (... ) in which he had been sustained by no one and he had not depended upon any person."24 Nevertheless, by 1650 Feroni must have integrated with the local Italian immigrant community. On 31 March he married Prudenzia Tensini. The T ensini originated from Crema25 and had emigrated in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century to Antwerp.26 Prudenzia's father, Silvio, first moved from Antwerp to Cologne, and subsequently to Archangel, where he was involved in the export of Russian cereals to Amsterdam and Italy, and finally to Hamburg. Prudenzia grew up in this last city. Meanwhile, in the luid-1630S her oldest brother Gian Andrea had settled in Amsterdam, where he quickly became one of the most prominent members of the Italian COIumunity.27 Although throughout the next decades Francesco Feroni and his brother-in-law frequently cooperated as business partners, their relationship did not remain entirely free from tension. 28 Feroni's growing prestige amongst Amsterdam businessmen was also noted at the Tuscan court. In August 1652, while the first Anglo-Dutch war (1652-1654) raged, Francesco Feroni was summoned to act as Ferdinand Il's (informal) representative to the Dutch States-General. Z9 His political mission was to make sure that the Dutch would respect Tuscany's neutrality and give up their naval blockade ofLeghorn, where an English flotilla had harboured. 3D In March 1653 the English tried to escape but they were beaten by the Dutch fleet that was awaiting them. Nevertheless at Leghorn the tension remained high. In the summer of 1653 Ferdinand Il imposed restrictions upon the local Dutch merchant community. A year later the grand duke even ordered the arrest of the Dutch consul, pieter van der Straeten. 31 Feroni enjoyed the not particularly enviable privilege of defending Ferdinand's policy in The Hague. He did so with char-

20

2l

19 Diaz 1976, pp. 330-334; Engels 1997, pp. 64-67 and Israel 1989, pp. 150-151, 198 and 213-215. 20 More on the differences between direct and indirect exports on Dutch ships in Lesger 2001, pp. 193-208. 21 Tielhof 2002, p. 49. 22 ASF Med., filza 4261, fo1. 315, Francesco Feroni to Apollonio Bassetti, Amsterdam, 18 September 1671. Benigni 1985-1986, p. 100.

23 Archivio diStato Roma, Presidenzadell'Annona eGrascia(ASR PLAn. GL), 2201, fols. 321 and 353; GemeentearchiefAmsterdam NotarieelArchief(GAA Not.), 2109, fo1. 431. Reinhardt 1997, p. 21J. 24 My translation of the following phrase: "sudori, stenti, fatiche (... ) senza appoggi e dependenze di nessuno", quoted by Benigni 1998, p. 11. C£ ASF Med., filza 4260, fols. 382-385, Francesco Feroni to Apollonio Bassetti, Amsterdam 24 May 1668. 25 Small town that now belongs to the Lombardian province of Cremona. In the seventeenth century Crema was part ofthe Venetian Terra Firma. C£ Bicci 1997, p. 252. However, Benigni 1985-1986, p. 101, suggests that the Tensini were Bergamasque emigres. 26 Baetens 1972, p. 220. 27 GAA DTB, 680, fo1. 212. Bicci 1997, pp. 250-252; Eeghen 1967, pp. 171-172; Engels 1997, p. 197; Veluwenkamp 2000, pp. 92 and 127. 28 E.g. GemeentearchiefAmsterdam, Wisselbank Grootboeken (GAA Wisselbank Grootboek), 20, fo1. 658 and Grootboek, 59, fo169; GAA Not., 3679 A, fo1. 880. C£ Benigni 1985-1986, p. 117 n. 38. 29 ASF Med., fi1za 2310, fo1. 736: Giovan Battista Gondi to Francesco Feroni, Florence, 24August 1652. 30 See for what follows: Benigni 1985-1986, p. 101; Capponi 2004, pp. 1120-1123; Morviducci 1978, pp. 395-404 and Veen/McCormick 1985, pp. 15-16. 31 For some essential data on this character see: Schutte 1976, pp. 446-44J.

44

HANS COOLS

FRANCESCO FERONI

acteristic bravura: instead of addressing himself the States-General, Feroni hired a spokesman. 32 On Feroni's behalf, the latter read out his speeches bareheaded. Feroni himself though, contrary to custom, refused to take off his hat in the presence of the "High and Mighty Lords".33 Moreover Feroni did not limit himself act as Ferdinand's envoy. He provided the grand duke as well with advice unasked for: according to Feroni taking sides in this conflict would inevitably lead to the destruction of Leghorn and thus to the ruin ofTuscany. 34 But whatever happened in the long run, according to Feroni's predictions inevitably the English "would dominate all international maritime commerce."35 Apparently, such boldness was appreciated in Florence. Throughout the next two decades, Feroni served as a Tuscan envoy in the Netherlands. In 1666 Ferdinand II enhanced Feroni's status, presenting him to the States-General as his official representative. Ferdinand's simultaneous refusal to grant Feroni any kind of privilege must have been a deception to him.3 6 Nevertheless, Feroni continued to write the grand ducal secretaries weekly letters, which contained all kinds of information on the political and economic life in the Dutch Republic and in the neighbouring northern German states. Approximately two thousand of them are still extant in the Florentine State Archives. 37 Often Feroni's supplemented his letters with printed price currents of various products traded at the Amsterdam market and with avvisi from The HagueY In order to gather the right information, Feroni maintained his own network of correspondents. It took him several years to work out what kind of information was precisely appreciated in Florence. According to secretary Gondi, the Low Countries were rather peripherallands, mostly inhabited by heretics. So one should only be informed about the most "curious events" passing over there. 39 No wonder both parties quarrelled from time to time about the expenses Feroni might recover from his principals. 40 Notwithstanding these probably inevitable differences of opinion, Feroni's letters were always deemed interestingly enough to continue his commission. Moreover, from the 1660s onwards and on their request, the Amsterdam merchant started to correspond directly with other members of the Medici family, such as Ferdinand's brother Mathias

to

32 It might well be that Feroni did not yet trust his command of the Dutch language. Probably he neither spoke French nor Latin, the usual languages of diplomatic communication at that time. 33 Aitzema 1669, pp. 747-748. 34 ASF Med., filza 2310, fo1. 856v, Francesco Feroni to Giovan Battista Gondi, Amsterdam, 17 January 1653. 35 "Gli inglesi (...) si faranno padroni di tutto il negozzio marittimo"; ASF Med., filza 1487, fo1. 1065, Francesco Feroni to Giovan Battista Gondi, Amsterdam, 28 August 1654. cf Benigni 1985-1986, p. 101. 36 Veen/McCormick 1984, p. 16. 37 Feroni's letters to Giovan Battista Gondi (1652-1664) in ASF Med., filze1487 and 2310; to Felice Marchetti and Persio Falconcini (1665-1668) in ASF Med., filza 1492; to Apollonio Bassetti (1667-1673) in ASF Med., filze 4260 and 4261; to Francesco Panciatichi and Giovan Filippo Marucelli (1668-1671) inASF Med., filza 1520. 38 E.g. ASF Med., filza 2310, fo1. 814-816v, 27 September 1652. Cf McCusker/Gravesteijn 1991. On the origin and spread of avvisi see Infelise 2002. 39 "trattondosi di notizie lontane e nelli quali non si ha qui grande interesse, et considerandosi ancora che (... ) la nazione (e) assai sospettosa (.. .J"; ASF Med., filza 171, fo1. 374, Giovan Battista Gondi to Francesco Feroni, Florence, 29 April 1659. 40 E.g. ASF Med., filza 169, fo1. 137,7 April 1657, and fo1. 440, 8 July 1659.

(1614/16-1696)

45

(1613-1667) and the cardinals Giovan Carlo (1611-1663) and Leopoldo (1617-1675).4' Although Francesco Feroni limited himself mostly to analyses of the international political situation and ofthe economic climate in Amsterdam in his reports, from time to time he could not resist bluffing about his own commercial successes. By the mid1660s for instance, Feroni boosted that he had more credit than any other foreign merchant banker in Amsterdam. 42 Feroni's claims can not be verified, but clearly by that time he belonged to the commercial elite ofAmsterdam. 43 As we have seen, originally Francesco Feroni concentrated on the export of cereals from the Baltic region to Central Italy. But from around 1650 he rapidly diversified his commercial activities. Apart from the grain trade, which remained important during the rest ofFeroni's stay inAmsterdam, three sectors can be singled out, each of them following a fixed pattern. Feroni regularly participated in the convoys that sailed to Portugal, to which he exported mostly linen, scrys and other textiles and from which he imported Brazilian sugar through Lisbon and salt from Setubal. 44 Together with a few other Amsterdam elite merchants, such as Jan and Balthazar Coymans, Everard Scott, Adriaan Temminck, Jean Deutz and the Sephardim Jews Joseph and Abraham Felix, Francesco Feroni was one of the main importers ofSpanish wools in the United ProvincesY But most of his money he made in the slave trade. Around 1650 the economy of the Caribbean underwent a drastic change. In these years, the main European powers in that region, England and France no longer succeeded in providing their colonies with contract workers. Meanwhile, Virginian tobacco tended to force the Caribbean produce out of the European markets. Therefore first the British planters in the Caribbean, to be followed by the French, decided to concentrate upon the production of raw sugar. But the cultivation of sugar required a far bigger labour force than that of tobacco. Therefore, they turned to the Dutch, who thanks to their strongholds on the West African coast could supply them with huge numbers of slaves. 46 Francesco Feroni immediately seized this window of opportunity and invested part ofthe profit he had made during the second halfof 1640S in the grain trade buying a freighter ofhis own property, emblematically called La Speranza. Loaded with textiles and alcoholic beverages, Dutch beer, Spanish wine and brandy, he sent it 41 Feroni's letters to these men are to be found inASF Med., filze 5237, 5240, 5251, 5440, 5537, 5564 and 5575A. Cf Veen/McCormick 1984, pp. 16 and 66. 42 "(... ) dato quel credito che maggior mai l'havera chi sia di casa forestiera"; ASF Med., filza 1492, fols. 13 28 133 1, Francesco Feroni to Felice Marchetti, Amsterdam, 22 October 1666. Cf Benigni 1985-1986, pp. 103 and 117 n·46. 43 Like nearly all merchants residing in Amsterdam, Feroni held an account with the Amsterdam Exchange Bank (Amsterdamse Wisselbank). Unfortunately the registers (grootboeken) for the decade between spring 1655 and summer 1665 have been lost. However, between summer 1655 and summer 1672, Feroni's credit balance amounted to an average of72,140 guilders. This figure singles him out as one ofthe wealthiest merchants inAmsterdam. It is based on Feroni's entries in GM Wisselbank Grootboeken, 49-61. More on the Amsterdam Exchange Bank in the essay by Keblusek in this volume; Dillen 1964 and Lesger 2001, pp. 267-269. 44 E.g. GM Not., 980, fo1. 44 (1656); 1557 B, fo1. 1213 (1652); 2112, fols. 83 and 185 (1651) and 2214 A, fo1. 119 (1663). See for the Dutch trade upon Portugal, Israel 1989, pp. 234-236, and especially Antunes 200 4. 45 Becher 1673, p. 742; Israel 1989, p. 233· According to GM Wisselbank Grootboeken, 15-61, all of these were amongst Feroni' s business partners.

46

HANS COOLS

FRANCESCO FERONI

to Guinea. There the cargo was exchanged for tropical products such as ebony, but above all for "Moorish slaves", who consequently were shipped to the New world. On its journey back to Europe the Speranza carried, apart from sugar, cacao and tobacco, loads of bullion. Many other trips were to follow. 47 . Francesco Feroni would not have been able to bring about his commercial triumphs in the Atlantic without maintaining a good relationship with the Dutch Company for the West Indies or WIC. In theory, the WIC held a monopoly on all Dutch trade in the Atlantic. But due to the loss ofDutch Brazil in 1645, the WIC then went through a crisis from which it would never fully recover. In fact, during the first years after the loss of Brazil it seemed as if the Company subsequently would have to give up its strongholds on the West African coast as well. But the creation of a new outlet for slaves in the Caribbean made these possessions once again viable. In fact, the demand there for labour force was such that the WIC lacked the means to fulfil it completely. Therefore, the Company tolerated infringements ofits monopoly, as those made by Feroni. Moreover as Feroni had to pay for the slaves he picked up at the Guinean coast, the WIC to some degree even profited from his trade. 48 However, the extremely high profits gained in the slave trade aroused jealousy.49 After a few years ofhigh conjuncture the English and French governments, according to the prevailing economic doctrine of the age, gradually closed their colonies to Dutch merchants. Once again the WIC and the merchants who operated in its orbit had to look for a new outlet. This time Philip IV of Spain (1605/162l-1665) came to their rescue. 50 Desperately looking for new funds, the Spanish crown, using the intermediary of the Seville Casa de Contratadon, sold the Genoese bankers Domenico Grillo and Ambrogio Lomellini the exclusive right to export slaves in the Spanish colonies during the ensuing seven years in December 1662. 51 Under the terms of the contract, the so-called asiento, Grillo and Lomellini had to deliver 5,000 slaves each year, a total thus of 35,000. As was current practice, at first instance Grillo and Lomellini subcontracted to the English Company ofRoyal Adventurers. However, nearly immediately it became clear that the English could not fulfil their obligations. At that point Feroni stepped in and virtually all slaves that arrived in Cartagena in 1663 and 1664 were sent by him.5 Nevertheless the enterprise threatened to collapse once again, as Philip IV tried to assign the money that Grillo and Lomellini owed to the crown to his Habsburg cousin Emperor Leopold I (1640/1658-1705). At that time Leopold was fighting yet another war against the Turks and Philip wanted to sustain him in this way. But Grillo and Lomellini nei2

(1614/16-1696)

47

ther could nor would deliver these sums to the emperor. So in order to save his lucrative business, in the end Feroni lent Grillo and Lomellini 300,000 guilders and sent the money directly to Vienna. In short, by 1665 Francesco Feroni had become a merchantbanker who defacto monopolised the Dutch slave trade on Spanish America. Therefore, he more or less could impose his conditions upon the WIC. No wonder that its board of directors occasionally met at Feroni's private home in Amsterdam. 53 Notwithstanding various kinds ofbribes that the captains ofF eroni's vessels regular1y had to pay to Spanish officials, the slave trade made him enormously rich. 54 Unfortunately, only for the last seven years ofFeroni's stay in the Netherlands the registers ofthe Amsterdam Exchange Bank have been preserved systematically. The graph underneath compares the turnover and the credit balance on Feroni's account for these later years with the fragmentary data we possess for the first half of the 1650S. Whereas during the 1650S Feroni's credit remained often under 10,000 guilders and it never surpassed the cape of 20,000, he had become a much more prominent business man by the mid 1660s, as the graph shows clearly. By that time his turnover, calculated on a halfyear basis, could rise to more than 250,000 guilders and his credit seldom dropped under 50,000 guilders. Moreover, the graph suggests that in this second period the profit margin ofFeroni's commercial activities was much higher. Most likely the trade in human beings was thus far more profitable than the one in cereals. Finally, to do justice to Feroni's commercial genius, one has to take into account that while he realised these ever higher profits, the growth of the larger urban Amsterdam economy slowed down significantly.55 Graph 1. Francesco Feroni's turnover and credit balance according to the registers of the Amsterdam Exchange Bank calculated on a six monthly basis56 300000

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46 Emmer 2000, pp. 49-56. 47 Benigni 1985-1986, pp. 100-101, with references to Feroni's unpublished writings. More on the so-called 'thoroughfare commerce' or 'triangular trade' (doof8aande handd or driehoekshandel) in Lesger 2001, pp. 198-199. 48 Emmer 2000, pp. 43-45 and 54-56. 49 In the 1640S the selling prices of slaves amounted to three or four times the sum of their purchase price and the expenses made for their living while owned by the slave merchant. Emmer 2000, p. 44. 50 Emmer 2000, pp. 56-59. 51 See for what follows: Alvarez Nogall997, pp. 45-48 and 87-88; Benigni 1985-1986, pp. 103-108 and 117-118; Brakell918, pp. 50 and 67; Unger 1956, pp. 145-146. 52 It seems that Feroni, who maintained an agent in London, himself took the initiative to negotiate a sub-

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contract with the Company of Royal Adventurers. cf GAA Not., 1148, foL 205 (contract d.d. 12 March 1664). 53 Veen 1987, p. 47· 54 In September 1669 for instance, Feroni lost 13% of the expected sale price in bribes on a cargo of 450 slaves that had been shipped from Guinea to Cartagena. GAA Not., 2231, fols. 82-89 (statement d.d. 9 September 1669). 55 Lesger 2005, pp. 21-25.

48

HANS COOLS

Feroni's reports and his commercial successes clearly enhanced the interest ofTuscan government circles in the political, economic and cultural life of the Dutch Republic. Following a pattern that was well established amongst (minor) European princes by the mid-seventeenth century, around 1665 Cosimo heir to the Grand ]Ducal, started to envisage a study trip to northern Europe and to the United Provinces in particular. 57 In order to be well prepared, the prince commissioned all sorts of maps and atlases from Pieter Blaeu (1637-1706), his favourite bookseller in Amsterdam. 58 Cosimo and his followers set out in October 1667. Nearly a year later, in September 1668, they returned to Florence. Travelling over land the party reached Arnhem on 15 December 1667. During the next two months the Tuscans would visit nearly all of the United Provinces, staying for longer periods in Amsterdam and The Hague. Being the most prominent Tuscan business man in Amsterdam, Francesco Feroni hosted Cosimo in his own house, on the Keizersgracht/9one ofAmsterdams most prestigious canals, from 19 December until 7 January.60 Meanwhile Ottavio Tensini/' a younger brother ofPrudenzia and GianAndrea, offered a banquet to the Tuscan company on 4 January. The previous day, he had showed his collection ofpaintings to Cosimo. 62 In these days Cosimo would visit, under the guidance ofFrancesco Feroni and pieter Blaeu, many more collections and the studios of artists, such as amongst others those ofRembrandt van Rijn (16061669) and Willem van de Vel de the Elder (1611-1693).63 In fact, according to the journal kept by Cosimo's secretary, Apollonio Bassetti, the prince was most interested in arts, particularly architecture, and machinery and mechanics. 64 Barely returned to Florence in October 1668 Cosimo embarked on a second trip, that brought him to Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, France and once again to the Low Countries. Precisely one year later the prince was back in patria. Half a year later, in May 1670, his father Ferdinand II died. During his second stay in the Netherlands Cosimo paid homage to the painters Frans van Mieris (1635-1681) and Gerard Dou (1613-1675) in their Leiden studios. 65 In Amsterdam, the Tuscan prince stayed once again for about two weeks, from 28 June to 11 July, in the house ofFrancesco Feroni. 66 In this way Francesco Feroni and Cosimo developed a personal relationship. By consequence, the nature of the services Feroni delivered to the Tuscan court changed. Instead of merely providing the Medici with information and operating as their official representative in the United Provinces, Francesco Feroni hence became one of their

FRANCESCO FERONI (1614/16-1696)

49

Massimiliano Sodani Benzi, Portrait MedaiUon ojFrancesco Feroni (detail). Feroni chapel, Florence, Basilica ofSantissima Annunziata. photo: Hans

Cools.

'private' and thus 'trusted agents' as well. A few examples might illustrate this subtle difference. In the spring of 1668 Cosimo had ordered from the Genoese Giovanni Stefano Spinola a series of tapestries to be woven for him in Brussels. 67 As Spinola failed to send the tapestries by the next autumn to Florence, Cosimo asked Francesco Feroni to take care of the whole affair from Amsterdam. 68 Although Feroni also encountered difficulties in having the tapestries produced, in the end he did succeed in transporting them to Tuscany, where they safely arrived in November 1669.69 Feroni also distributed Cosimo's gifts to dignitaries in the Dutch Republic. The most remarkable of these might have been the expensive Bolognese puppies Cosimo sent to Amsterdam. That one of the dogs died during the trip came, according to Feroni, close to a disaster. 7o

56 GM Wisselbank Grootboeken, 15-61. 57 Blok 1903, p. 193; Martelli 2005, I, pp. xxviii-xxxi; Veen 1987, p. 4 8. 58 Mirto/Veen 1993, pp. 84-85, 156-158 and 313-314. 59 At the time of his wedding in 1650, Feroni still lived at the slightly less prestigious Konin858racht, now known

Notwithstanding all these successes obtained in Amsterdam, Francesco Feroni continually longed as most Tuscan emigrants in Am_sterdam did, for a return to his father-

as Sin8el. Unfortunately, I have not yet worked out when precisely Feroni moved to the Keizers8racht and where precisely his house was situated. C£ GM DTB, 680, fol. 212. 60 Hoogewerff 1919, pp. 39-90. 61 Eeghen 1967, p. 172. 62 Hoogewerff 1919, pp. 77-80. 63 Hoogewerff 1919, pp. 66-67· 64 Hoogewerff 1919, pp. 159-200; Martelli 2005, I, p. xxx. 65 Hoogewerff 1919, p. xl.

Hoogewerff 1919, p. xli. Bacci 1998, pp. 56-63. According to Bacci, Spinola acted as Cosimo's official correspondent and representative in Brussels. 68 Francesco Feroni in turn maintained one Joseph del Castillo as his representative in Brussels. C£ GM Not., 3678 B, fol. 919 (1 July 1669). 69 Hoogewerff 1919, pp. 375-384. 66 67

50

HANS COOLS

land. 71 According to him, the Dutch climate was so unhealthy that one could never desire to reside there except for business,72 No wonder, thus, that Feroni discussed his eventual return to his native Tuscany during Cosimo's second stay in Amsterdam. 73 The graph above shows as well that from the second half of 1670, Feroni started to withdraw his capital from the Amsterdam Exchange Bank. Meanwhile, he negotiated the purchase of Villa Bellavista with Cosimo's secretary Apollonio Bassetti.74 The French invasion of the Dutch Republic in 1672; the so-called rampjaar, or disastrous year, precipitated all these plans. By the summer, enemy troops came as close as thirty kilometres from Amsterdam's walls. Feroni now was convinced that the Dutch Republic would collapse within a few months and that as a result of the Republic's downfall, Tuscany would be able to take over its prosperous commerce. Obviously, Feroni was convinced that he could play a leading part in the future commercial renaissance of his fatherland. Therefore, on an evening in February 1673, just before the Amsterdam city gates closed, Francesco Feroni sneaked away,75 As soon as his escape was discovered, all goods he had left behind in the United Provincies were confiscated to pay for the war effort. A new phase in Francesco Feroni's adventurous life could begin,76

BADELOCH

N OLDUS

Loyalty and Betrayal ARTIST-AGENTS MICHEL LE BLON AND PIETER ISAACSZ, AND CHANCELLOR AXEL OXENSTIERNA

In 1641 Michelle Blon received a letter fromAxel Oxenstierna in which he informed Le Blon that over the past year he had received his letters and reports in good order and on a weekly basis. Oxenstierna praised Le Blon's detailed reports and his ambition ((to penetrate so meticulously and particulatim," and he encouraged him to continue his correspondence. As far as his salary was concerned, Oxenstierna had once again contacted Peter Spierinck." The letter presents the three main personalities in the relation between the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1654) and his diligent agent Michelle Blon (1587-1656): the loyal correspondent, Le Blon himself, the intermediary, Peter Spierinck (C.1595-1652), and the patron who was so tardy in making payments, Axel Oxenstierna. For the foremost political leader of an ascendant military power on the international stage, as Sweden was at the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was essential for Axel Oxenstierna to have trustworthy representatives at the major courts and in the main cities of Europe. Appointed chancellor in 1611, Oxenstierna stood at the head of the Riksrdd, the king's advisory council, of a nation that grew considerably in the following decades. During his term of office, which ended with his death in 1654, he experienced the capturing ofIngermanland and Karelia (1617), Livonia and several Polish ports east ofDanzig (1629), Jamtland, Harjedalen, the isles ofOsel (now Saarema) and Gorland (1645), the duchies ofBremen and Verden, Western Pomerania, and the city of·Wismar (1648). The more Sweden expanded and grew involved in international political and military affairs, the more it became clear that a many-branched diplomatic network to look after Swedish interests was essential. To ensure and promote Sweden's political position, writing letters alone had become insufficient; personal representation had become the necessary means of influence. This system already existed when Oxenstierna took office, but during his term the international representation developed systematically to become a network ofpermanent envoys in, to start with, Dutch, 2

GM Not., 2233, fo1. 873 (8 August 1670). Bicci 1997, p. 251. Benigni 1985-1986, p. 100. 73 Benigni 1996 , p. 379· 74 Benigni 1985-1986, pp. 108-111. 75 Benigni 1985-1986, p. 1147 6 This second Tuscan phase ofFeroni's life has been excellently described in Benigni 1993· 70

71 72

1 Riksarkivet (National Archives, Stockholm), Det odelade kansliet Riksregistraturet, 210, fo1. 2, Axel Oxenstierna to Michelle Blon, 9 January 1641. 2 The first extensive biography ofAxel Oxenstierna was published in 2002: Wetterberg 2002. Michelle Blon is mentioned once: Il, p. 991.

52

LOYALTY AND BETRAYAL

BADE LOCH NOLDUS

David Beck, Portrait ofAxeI Oxenstiema, C.1650. Nationalmuseum Stockholm.

German, Danish, and East European cities. 3 Already in 1614 it was agreed with the Dutch Republic, as part ofan alliance formed that year, that the two powers would each send a resident. 4 Jacob van Dijck, who had been involved in writing the treaty, was appointed resident ambassador in The Hague that year, and Jan Rutgers, who had been extraordinary ambassador, was installed as resident in 1623. Upon his death in 1624, Rutgers' office was taken by Ludvig Camerarius, who in turn was replaced by Peter Spierinck in 1636.5 All these representatives were settled in The Hague, where the courts ofStadholder Maurice and his successor Frederick Henry were situated and where the States-General held their meetings. Oxenstierna did not have a contact in Amsterdam until he contracted an agent by the name Michelle Blon. Le Blon was born to refugees from the Southern Netherlands in Frankfurt am Main in 1587. When Le Blon was in his early twenties, his father Corneille le Blon llloved the family to Amsterdam, where Michel 3 Under the guidance ofDr Helmut Backhaus, the Swedish Riksarkivet is currently hosting "The Oxenstierna Project". Oxenstierna's collected works, Rikska115lcrm Axel Oxc115ticrnas skrifter och brcvvaxhns or AOSB (The Works anci Concsponcicl1ce ofchancellor Axd oxc115rierna) have been in the process of publication since 1888 under the auspices of The Royal Academy ofLetters, History and Antiquities. The editing came to a standstill in 1977, and in 1999 the project was resumed. Letters of and to Jan Rutgers, Peter Spierinck and others who served in the Swedish diplomatic service can now be found on the Internet. For more information, see http://www.ra.se/RA/Oxenstierna/ oxenstierna 1 engels ka. html. 4 Tham 1960 , p. 153· 5 Schutte 1983, pp. 4 8 5-49 2.

53

established himself as a goldsmith and engraver. He spent most ofhis life in the Dutch capital and died in 1656. When Le Blon's first contacts with Sweden were established is not certain/ but an agreement between Oxenstierna and Le Blon was reached on 25 May 1632.7 The recruitment of an agent in Amsterdam in that year can be connected with Sweden's participation in the Thirty Years' War, which was decided on in 1628 and opened two years later. After the outbreak ofhostilities, the collecting ofnews from the major centres of European trade and politics became a top priority. However, the relation with the Dutch Republic had changed only months before, as the States-General did not renew the 1614 treaty upon its expiry in 1629. The decision was made on commercial grounds, it was claimed, since it would do the country no good to explicitly affiliate with Sweden and its anti-Habsburg politics. 8 The decision meant that it became more difficult to obtain information from the Republic. An extra informer, who could lobby for the Swedish case as well, would therefore not be unwelcome. It is not known how Oxenstierna came to contract the artist Michelle Blon, but it seems obvious that in 1630 or 1631 he must have sounded out one of the Swedish diplomats or former dip la mats in the Republic on a capab le agent. Jaco b van Dij ck, the former ambassador, may have been contacted by Oxenstierna with this request. Van Dijck often welcomed artists and poets in his "Swedish house" in The Hague/ and must have known Le Blon via one of their mutual acquaintances, the poet Joost van den Vondel.lO Since Axel Oxenstierna was one of the most important statesmen and patrons of his time, it is also likely that it was Le Blon who contacted the chancellor, making use of such valuable contacts as Van Dijck, whereupon Oxenstierna contracted him.

The Agent and the Resident

As an agent (as he signed his reports) Le Blon was expected "as far as is possible and practical, to apply all diligence to persuade some persons of different conditions, and in separate offices and places, to give interesting avvisi and intelligence," as it was put in his contract. During the first years ofhis appointment as a Swedish agent, Le Blon sent 11

Fontaine Verwey 1969, p. 110, claimed that Le Blon already called himself a Swedish agent in 1618, referring to his 'wapenboekje', a booklet containing examples of coats of arms, including his own, reprinted by J. van der Kellen in 1900. On the frontispiece of the booklet Le Blon does indeed call himself"H. Agent van Sweden". However, the booklet is undated, and Van der Kellen seriously doubts whether the engravings are by Le Blon himself See Kellen 1900, pp. 28 and 3 I. 7 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser tillAxel Oxenstierna, E 645, Michelle Blon to Axel Oxenstierna, 25 May 1632. 8 Tham 1960, p. 178. 9 Fontaine Verwey 1969, pp. 110-111. 10 Schutte 1983, pp. 485-487. Van Dijck had maintained an office in Gothenburg since 1621, but he returned regularly to The Hague where he kept his house, which he sublet to Ludvig Camerarius, until 1629. He died in December 163 I. 11 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 645, Michelle Blon to Axel Oxenstierna, 25 May 1632: "(... ) so veele mogelijcken en doenlijcken is, alle vlijt en naerstichen aen te wenden, eenige persoonen, van verscheijde conditien, in onderscheijdelijcke diensten en plaetsen tot curieuse advisen en inteligentien te beweegen." 6

54

BADELOCH NOLDUS

dozens ofavvisi containing political, diplomatic, and military news to Oxenstierna, and there were many more to follow. Surveys of costs made by Le Blon for the sending of postal packages show that he sent two to three letters weekly, sometimes accompanied by a package. 12 Le Blon always addressed his briefings directly to Oxenstierna, who had became head of the regency government after the death of King Gustav II Adolf at the battle ofLutzen in November 1632. Even after the coronation of Qgeen Christina in 1644, it was chiefly Oxenstierna who controlled foreign politics. Besides comments on the political and economic life of the Dutch Republic, Le Blon also informed Oxenstierna of events elsewhere. Using a network ofcorrespondents, he collected news from Brussels, Paris, Antwerp, Amsterdam and The Hague. Stories also came in from Cologne, Narbonne, and Fort Andries. Le Blon then collated the news into a newsletter, or collected the individual letters and sent them to Sweden as a single package. 13 In the 1630S and 1640S, LeBlon provided the news fromLondonhimselfas he stayed in the city several times as the envoy of the Swedish crown.14 From 1632 onwards, when his appointment as news agent for Oxenstierna officially commenced, Le Blon maintained close contacts with Peter Spierinck, who would remain an important person for Le Blon throughout his entire career in Swedish service. Although not an artist himself, Peter Spierinck was well acquainted with the artistic circles of immigrants from the Southern Netherlands, which Le Blon also frequented. His father, Antwerp-born tapestry weaver Frans:ois Spierinck, had moved to Delft in 1591, where he opened his weaving works in the former St Agnetha convent in 1595. 15 Spierinck's workshop soon became the most famous atelier for large narrative tapestries in Delft and beyond. Frans:ois Spierinck hired primarily artists from the Southern Netherlands as cartoon designers, such as Karel van Mander the Younger, who would start his own, rival workshop in 1615, Jonas Jansz van der Burch, and Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom. 16 Soon after Frans:ois Spierinck founded his business, large commissions came in, among others from the States-General, which regularly ordered works from him as gifts to foreign leaders to further diplomatic goals.17 Even internationally his name became renowned when the weaving works took orders for King Sigismund III of Poland in 1615 and for the Swedish King Gustav II Adolfin 1619.18 In cqnnection with the latter commission - a series of 27 tapestries to be given to the king and his bride Maria Eleno-

Riksarkivet, Extranea, vols 9-11 and 60. 13 On the logistics and mechanics of Le Blon's news agency, see Keblusek 2003 'Business'. 14 On Le Blon and England, see Sellin 1997, 1998, and 1999. 15 Montias 1982, pp. 286-291. 16 The reason Van Mander opened his own atelier must have been a commission of the Danish King Christian IV. In 1614 he ordered a series of tapestries for his castle Frederiksborg for which Van Mander was given main responsibilityas leading designer. Ten years later, the workshop went bankrupt and was taken over by Peter Spierinck. 17 One of the most important assignments the workshop received, "The battle ofBergen op Zoom", commissioned by the Staten van Zeeland, has recently been restored and is on show again at Het Zeeuws Museum in Middelburg. 18 A contract for the Swedish commission was signed on 30 November 1619. On 13 December 1620,20,840 1'ijksdaalde1's were paid for the tapestries. Riksarkivet, Kammararkivet, Skuldbocker, vol. 5.

LOYALTY AND BETRAYAL

55

ra on the occasion oftheir wedding in 1620 - Peter Spierinck, accompanied by his brother Isaac, paid his first visit to Sweden "in 1618 or [16J 19."19 This visit to the court in Stockholm marked the start of a career in Swedish service, successively as customs inspectorgeneral, chamberlain, and from 1634 onwards as Swedish agent in The Hague. 2o Upon receiving the latter appointment, he took up residence in Delft again, where he ran the tapestry-weaving workshop, together with his brother Aert, after the death of their father in 1630. This decision not only provided him with an extra income, but it also kept him engaged in the world of the arts. Moreover, he established himself as an important art dealer and as the patron of the painter (fynschilder) Gerrit Dou (1613-1675) from neighbouring Leiden. Spierinck paid Dou, who already became very famous in his own life-time, an annual fee of500 guilders for the right of first choice from his work, as the contemporary painter and Rembrandt pupil Philip Angel wrote in 1642.21 In 1636, two years after he had been appointed Swedish agent, Spierinck was proposed by Oxenstierna as the successor to the resident in The Hague, Ludvig Camerarius, who according to Oxenstierna was unable to provide him with sufficient relevant news. This promotion meant that Spierinck, although around ten years younger than Le Blon, became his superior and was made responsible for making payments to him. From now on Le Blon sent Spierinck a copy of most letters he sent to Oxenstierna and kept him up to date on his activities in general. Their relation did have its ups and downs, though, and occasional tensions between the two occurred, as is revealed in a letter from 1650 in which Le Blon complained to Oxenstierna that "he [SpierinckJ does not shy from creating all kinds of problems that he can think up for me."22

The Right Circle ofFriends After his appointment, Le Blon received additional cultural assignments in addition to his work as a political agent. He was asked to purchase items including paintings, sculptures, and books for Oxenstierna. In order to meet his patron's requests he went to see artists' workshops, visited booksellers, and attended auctions. In 1641 Oxenstierna requested him to keep his eye out for capable portrait painters in the Republic, because - as the chancellor put it - "people in these parts are becoming interested in portraits and other paintings."23 And since he knew that Le Blon was a "Liebhaber" of

12

19 In a statement by Isaac Spierinck, 1651. Nationaal Archief, The Hague, Archieven Staten-Generaal, Liassen Sweeden, inv. 7174,1649-1653. 20 The first letters between Spierinck and Oxenstiema date from at least 1623. Riksarkivet, Oxenstiema samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstiema, E 726-731. 21 Angel 1969, p. 23. 22 Riksarkivet, Oxenstiema samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 645, Michelle Blon to Oxensrierna,I4/24 December 1651: "( ... ) dathij hemnietenontsiet, waer hij can oft mach, 'tsij bedectofandersins, mij alle verdrietelijckheden te verwecken die hen mogelijck sijn te bedencken". 23 Riksarkivet, Det odelade kansliet Riksregistraturet, 210, fol. 90, Axel Oxenstierna to Michelle Blon, 3 April 1641: "Sonsten weil man hiesiges orths mit Conterfaictern und andern Schildereij en oder Mahlwerken etwas beginnet curios zue werden, undt also ein gutes Subjectum so sich auff conterfaicten undt andere Mahlwercke mit

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the art of painting and knew a fair deal about it, he would appreciate it if Le Blon could find a portrait painter willing to move to Stockholm. In September 1641, Le Blon informed Oxenstierna that he would seek out a portrait and perspective painter and then send him to Sweden. 24 It took a few years, but eventually he found the capable artist Oxenstierna was looking for when David Beck of Delft, a former pupil of Anthony van Dyck, travelled to Stockholm in 1647-25 Michelle Blon was indeed well informed about the art world. After all, he was an artist himself and combined his work as a news agent with that of an engraver, goldsmith, and art dealer. His younger cousin, the painter and writer Joachim von Sandrart, wrote in his book 'TeutscheAkaaemie (1675) that Le Blon

LOYALTY AND BETRAYAL

57

Frontispiece ofMichelle Blon's armorial. Prentenkabinet, Leiden University Library, Leiden.

in allem eine besonderliche groGe WiGenschaft und vollkommenes Urtheil der Kunst [hatteJ, dero er ein unvergleichlicher Liebhaber gewesen, und in der er alle Potentaten unterrichten, auch zu seliger Liebe aufinuntern und antreiben konnen, so daG wir niemaln jemand gehabt, der alle Kiinst, besonderlich die Zeichnung oder HandriG und Kupferstich, die zu Biichern gehoren, also fLirtteflich gekant, geliebt und beriihmt gemacht, als under Maecenas Le Blon, daswegen et wol ein Kunstvatter, sonderlich von mir (... ) kann genennet wetden. 26

Furthermore, he revealed that Le Blon owned an art cabinet with works by Hans Holbein and Albrecht Diirer and that he had an extensive network of contacts in the art world, for instance in Antwerp, where he maintained relations with artists including Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens. Other contacts included the engraver Mattheus Merian the Younger, the tapestry weaver Maximiliaan van der Gucht, and the painters David Beck, Willem van de Velde the Elder, and Johannes Torrentius (pseudonym of Johannes Sijmonsz van der Beeck), whom Le Blon admired for his "wonderful speculation," which must refer to Torrentius' use of the camera obscura method. 27 In November 1635 Le Blon reported that he had acquired some paintings by Torrentius, a winter landscape by "Stalpart" (which must refer to the sea and landscape painter Pieter Stalpaert), some small portraits, and some books (no titles given), for the sum of 848 guilders. The agent was sure it would please Oxenstierna since he knew that the chancellor had "a taste for extraordinary, fine, and exclusive things."28 Le Blon could assure Oxenstierna that this purchase was indeed very exclusive, for only the king of England possessed work by Torrentius; yet the paintings the chancellor was about to receive perspectiv undt sonsten wohl verstehet, gerne haben mochte, So wolle der Herr unbeschwerdt, weil !ch weiss, dass Er ein Liebhaber diesser Kunst undt sich darauff wohl verstehet, sich umb eine in solcher Kunst wohl erfahrne gute Persohn selbiger Orthen umb tIme, undt mit deroselben accordire, dass Sie sich hie her ins Reich begeben wo lIte, Es solI dieselbe alhier deregestallt accordiret werden, dass Sie verhoffentlich damit wohl content und zuefi:ieden sein woll." 24 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 645, Michelle Blon to Axel Oxenstierna, 4/14 September 1641: "naersticheijt aenwenden eender Conterfeijter ende perspectiv Schilder alhier sijnde op te soecken omme die volgens Ihr. Exel.'s ordre naer Sweden te senden". 25 Steneberg 1955, p. 69· 26 Peltzer 1925, p. 244. 27 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser tillAxel Oxenstierna, E 645, Michelle Blon to Oxenstierna, 4/14 and 7/17 November 1635. 28 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 645, Michelle Blon to Oxenstierna, 17/7 November 1635.

were the painter's best. The works were bought directly from the artists and at auctions. Although Le Blon was most at home in the world of the pictorial arts, the orders for Oxenstierna show that he was able to turn his hands to many things. In a letter dated 1/11 October 1632, Le Blon reported the shipment of a wide range ofluxury products including several books, such as the Colloquia and In Praise ofForry by the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, twenty-two engravings, six drawings, twelve maps, twenty painted portraits (20 ConteifeitseIs van Delft), and four gauntlets in grained wood (vier 8ev lamae spitsroeaen). 29 Together, Michelle Blon and Peter Spierinck could draw on a wide network of artists, artisans, auctioneers, suppliers, and traders who could execute any conceivable request by their Swedish patrons. The agent and the resident must have known one another long before they commenced their cooperation in the 1630S, following Le Blon's appointment. After all, they both operated in the circles of artists and art traders concentrated in Delfi: and Amsterdalll, and chiefly dealt with Flemish artists. 30 Coming as they did from the Southern Netherlands, they might have met at the reaerijkerskamer (chamber of rhetoric)3 for Flemish immigrants 't Wit Lavenael (The White Lavender), of 1

29 C£ Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, vol. E 645, Michelle Blon to Axel Oxenstierna, 1/11 October 1632. 30 On art collecting in the Dutch Republic, c£ Bergvelt/Kistemaker 1982. Spierinck's collection is discussed in Veen 1982.

31

Associations on a city level fostering literary activities like poetry, drama, and debate, often through contests.

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BADELOCH NOLDUS

which Le Blon was probably a member. 32 One of their mutual contacts was Le Blon's cousin Joachim von Sandrart, who painted a portrait ofSpierinck and his wife Johanna Don~ in 1641, four years after Sandrart had taken refuge in Amsterdam. 33 In his Teutsche Academie, Sandrart mentioned another artist who was a mutual acquaintance, the internationally renowned sculptor Fran~ois Dieussart. Among Dieussart's clients, including the royal families of Denmark and England, Stadholder Frederick Henry, and the Elector ofBrandenburg, we find Pieter Spierinck and his spouse, for whom he sculpted two bust portraits in the 1640s.34

LOYALTY AND BETRAYAL

59

In the context of the research project DoubleA8ents: Cultural and Political Brokera8e in Earry Modem Europe, Michelle Blon is a key figure. Not only was he a double agent in the sense ofsomeone engaged in the transmission ofpolitical news while at the same time trading in art, books and the like, for which he used the same network; he also had established an extensive international network including various patrons, correspondents, artists, and booksellers. Moreover, his extraordinarily rich correspondence is still largely intact. It consists of newsletters, bills, price lists, lists of the postal items sent, lists of orders placed, reports on negotiations held with suppliers or artists, letters to and from correspondents, and more. The available literature on the life and work ofMichelle Blon focuses primarily on his artistic career as engraver, goldsmith, and art dealer. 35 His activities as a middleman in international politics and cultural exchange have been mentioned by various scholars, but have received little attention in themselves. This is odd, as Le Blon's artistic activities and his work as a news agent are clearly intertwined. After all, it was his extensive network of contacts in the Republic which enabled him to execute the orders of his patrons properly. They did not approach him for mediation in the purchase of sculptures and paintings or the appointment of an artist for nothing: they were well aware that Le Blon was at home in the art world. The situation is comparable to the way in which Swedish patrons with architectural commissions approached the factor and cultural broker Peter Trotzig, who lived in Amsterdam and was very much at home in the world oflocal architects and architecture/ 6 or the way in which Danish King Christian IV sent Jonas Charisius, secretary of the German Chancellery at the Danish court, abroad to purchase musical instruments and to find musicians for the Royal Chapel. As Charisius' letters reveal, his contacts included the Dutch composer Jan Sweelinck and the English lutenist and

composer John Dowland. 37 In other words, agents were specialised, and their patrons were aware of the fact. This also applied to the Swedish government, which - through Axel Oxenstierna had a wide-ranging network of representatives abroad. In Amsterdam and The Hague the principal ones, besides Le Blon, included the residents Ludvig Calnerarius and Peter Spierinck, Spierinck's successor Harald Appelboom, commissioner Samuel Bloemaert, and factor Peter Trotzig. However, Le Blon is the only one not to be listed in contemporary or later surveys of Swedish foreign envoys.3 8 Nor does he occur in the archives of the States-General, to which foreign representatives submitted their credentials and regularly reported. clearly, his appointment should be seen in a different light. An explanation may be found in his background as an artist, which sets him apart from the other representatives. Besides carrying out orders immediately connected with this background, Le Blon also engaged in activities comparable to the work of the envoys who did have formal postings, namely the gathering ofsensitive intelligence, as formulated in his letter of appointment. 39 Why did Axel Oxenstierna not limit the questions he asked Le Blon to art-related commissions? After all, an artist does not seem to be an entirely logical choice for a political correspondent. It must have been easier for Le Blon, as an artist and art dealer, to create contacts at court and in other political circles inconspicuously. Conversely, it might have been easier for his informants to pass information on to him than to an official envoy. Since he lived in Amsterdam, Le Blon needed correspondents who frequented the court in The Hague or attended meetings of the States-General. His correspondence shows that he could draw on a wide range of contacts including Thomas Bilderbeec, Thomas van Swaen, and the lawyer and States-General court clerk Theodorus (Dirck) Graswinckel as his eyes and ears in The Hague. The letters between Michelle Blon and Axel Oxenstierna allow us to conclude that the chancellor left a great deal ofhis news-gathering to Le Blon. Assuming that Le Blon had to choose and select what he reported on, he must have been able to influence the chancellor. But whether and to what extent he tried to do so is impossible to say at this point in time. Based on research so far, it is, however, already possible to state that Le Blon had a decisive influence on the taste and collection ofOxenstierna. Or perhaps Oxenstierna should be said to have allowed himself to be influenced by sending his agent off to contract a good portrait painter or to find suitable sculptors. Such vague orders provided him with an opportunity to influence the Swedish art world. It is curious to see Oxenstierna, who had international contacts, was well travelled and well read, largely leave his acquisitions policy up to Le Blon. Obviously, the patron trusted his agent.

32 At least, as claimed by Fontaine Verwey 1969, p. 110. So far, I have not been able to verifY this. Le Blon is mentioned neither in Boheemen/Van der Heijden 1999 nor in Hummelen 1982. 33 Klemm 1986, p. 82. 34 Avery 197 1, p. 157· 35 Fontaine Verwey 1969; Fontaine Verwey 1971; Kellen 1900; Lamoen 1986; Sellin 1997-1999. 36 On Peter Trotzig and Dutch-Swedish architectural relations, see Noldus 2003 and 2004.

37 Det Kongelige Bibliotek (Royal Library, Copenhagen), Handskriftsamlingen, Ny Kgl. Saml. 1305/2./a. The letter itselfis lost, but Charisius' list of received letters, mentioning Sweelinck's letter dated Amsterdam 10 April 1617, has survived. 38 Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek, Palmskioldska samlingen, vol. 72, 'Svenske Ambassaeurer, Envoyeer och andre Ministtar vid Utlandske Hof och frammande Mininstrer vid Svenske HotVet'. Undated but the last entry is dated 1687. 39 See above, n. 11.

The True Client

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The same could be said about other Le Blon patrons such as Count Magnus De la Gardie and Count Carl GustafWrangel, who commissioned a series of paintings of the sea battie ofFehmern, where the Swedish army defeated their arch-enemy, the Danes, under Wrangel in 1644. Wrangel wanted the art works executed by the marine painter Simon de Vlieger ofDelft, but Le Blon persuaded him in the course ofseveral letters to contract the younger artist Willem van de velde the Elder instead. Eventually Le Blon convinced his patron, which resulted in a commission for Van de Velde in 1652.40 Although Le Blon had other patrons, the members of the Oxenstierna family - besides Axel Oxenstierna, they included Johan Axelsson Oxenstierna and Gabriel Gabrielsson Oxenstierna - were Le Blon's principal patrons in SwedenY This strongly suggests that Le Blon was employed not so much by the Swedish crown as by the Oxenstierna family on a personal basis. In other words, as an agent Le Blon actually maintained a client-patron relationship with Oxenstierna in a system of interdependency. The idea of a client-patron relation is underlined by the fact that Le Blon's brother Jorgen in Frankfurt assisted him in briefing Oxenstierna, and that his eldest son, Cornelis, became involved in his father's activities as an agent early on and inherited his contacts after his death. 42 A client-patron relationship explains why Michelle Blon loyally continued to provide news in spite of the never-ending problems connected with his payment. Although an annual salary of 1,000 ryksdaalders was agreed in 1632 and seems to have tripled twelve years later, it is unclear how much of this money Le Blon actually received. On several occasions, he wrote letters politely requesting the payment of his salary. For example, in 1647 he asked whether it might be possible for the arrears of the three preceding years to be paid. 43 Oxenstierna seems to be stringing him along by continually answering that he would look into the matter or would inform Peter Spierinck (who was charged with Le Blon's payment), only to close by urging Le Blon to continue his correspondence. And the agent did: he remained loyal to Oxenstierna to his death.

Art as a Cover

Someone who was far less loyal to his patron was Pieter Isaacsz, a Dutch painter. Isaacsz was born in the Danish city of EIs inore in 1569 as the son of the Dutch trade represen-

Riksarkivet, skokloster samlingen, E 8401. The correspondence, including letters of both De Vlieger and Van de Velde, will be published shortly by this author. Two out ofthe three penschilderijen (pen paintings) ordered are kept at skokloster Castle in Sweden; whether the third piece was ever executed is unknown. 41 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Johan Axelsson Oxenstiernas arkiv, E 936; Gabriel Gabrielsson Oxenstiernas arkiv, E 1178. 42 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 645: "Rekeningen van tgene mijn broeder Jorgen le Blon tot franckfoort (... ) verschooten te hebben voor port van brieven vanden 6 november 1634 totten 24 maij 1635." Corrrelis le Blon was involved from 1636. His letters to Oxenstierna are kept together with those of his father. 43 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 645, 24 May 1647= "Ihr. Ex. werden ootmoedelijcken gebeden ofhem genaedelijcke believen mochte mijnen 3 leste reeckeninge van a.o. 1644,45 en 46 te laeten opsoecken. Het sal opt hoochsten troosten ende obligeren." 40

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tative Isaac Pietersz, who moved back to the Netherlands with his family around 1580. In the following years, Isaacsz worked as an apprentice to the painter Hans vonAachen in Amsterdam, travelled in Germany, stayed in Rome for a while, and founded his own workshop after he had returned to Amsterdam. 44 In 1614 he decided to move once more, this time back to Denmark, where he was appointed painter to the court ofKing Christian IV. He owed his position to Jonas Charisius, who had introduced Isaacsz' art to the king a couple ofyears before. Charisius had visited the Republic in 1607-1608 together with Jaco b Ulfeldt, member of the Council of the Realm, in order to negotiate, on behalf of Christian IV, between the States-General and Spain. 45 During his stay abroad, he was supposed to find Dutch craftsmen, merchants, and musicians willing to move to Denmark and to purchase musical instruments and paintings for the king. 46 Charisius bought works by the Dutch painters Aert Pietersz, Frans de Vriendt, and pieter Isaacsz, whose art was obviously appreciated by Christian. Thereupon, Isaacsz became court painter and the king's art dealer. Eventually, in 1617, he started out in life as an agent when he succeeded his father as the States-General commissioner for the Sound in the Danish town ofElsinore. During the following years, Isaacsz managed to integrate his role as a political intermediary into his activities as a painter and art dealer for Christian IV. Being as close to the king and his staff as he was, Isaacsz was well informed about the latest royal news, which, owing to the hostile relations between Sweden and Denmark, aroused the interest ofAxel Oxenstierna. In January 1620 Jan Rutgers, the Dutch ambassador in Swedish service, wrote to Oxenstierna from Copenhagen. His job there was to inform King Gustav II Adolf about Danish foreign politics, but because of the plague that raged through the city, many influential noblemen had left Copenhagen for their mansions in the countryside. Finally, Rutgers managed to lay his hands on important intelligence, among other things on the Danish planned participation in the Thirty Years' War in Bohemia. Moreover, he had been able to recruit the right person for a post as secret agent at the Danish court, namely court painter Pieter Isaacsz who, as Rutgers put it, ((enjoys the King's trust."47 Rutgers continued to explain how he and Isaacsz had agreed upon a plan to mislead Christian IV: the Swedish postmaster and correspondent in Hamburg, Leonard van Sorgen, would send his letters to Isaacsz, who would then add his letters to the package before forwarding it to Sweden. This was how they proceeded, as a letter dated 7 November 1620 proves. In the letter, Isaacsz reported that he had been in Hamburg to make the necessary agreements with Van Sorgen. 48 Four months later the chancellor contacted Isaacsz himself and proposed to him that the latter provide him with a weekly report on the political fortunes at the Danish court for 400 ryksdaalders a year. 49 By occasionally shipping paintings to 44 Roding/Stompe 1997, pp. 15-35· 45 B0ggildAndersen 1933-1944. 46 On Charisius' purchases in the Dutch Republic, see Nystrom 1905. The original bills are kept in Rigsarkivet (National Archives, Copenhagen), TKUA, Holland C Regnskaber 1607-162747 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser tillAxel Oxenstierna, E 702, Jan Rutgers to Oxenstierna, 20 January 1620. 48 Riksarkivet, Oxenstiernska samlingen, Skrivelser till Axel Oxenstierna, E 689. 49 The letter is kept at Rigsarkivet and printed in Wegener 1882, IV, pp. 21-22.

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BADELOCH NOLDUS

Pieter Isaacz, Portrait ofchristian IV, U615. Slot Frederiksborg,

Det National historiske Museum, Hill~r0d.

Stockholm, it would seem as ifIsaacsz was being paid for that work, so no one would find out that he was actually spying. 50 Oxenstierna concluded his letter by saying that iflsaacsz had a better idea of how to convey the information he would only be too pleased to hear it. From then on until his death in 1625 Isaacsz sent letters to Oxenstierna, whom he almost ironically addressed as Zeer discrete heere (very discrete Lord), either from Copenhagen (thirty-six letters) or from Elsinore (twenty letters). In his regular - though not weekly; perhaps he thought that too risky - briefings he reported on foreign visits to the Danish court, Danish fleet movements, the relation between the Dutch Republic and Denmark, disagreements between the city of Hamburg, the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and the king on the use of the river Elbe, the Bohemian issue, journeys planned by Christian IV, and much more. 51 Besides the news he picked up at court, he was also informed of postal items destined for Copenhagen by Leonard van Sorgen. Isaacsz himself was the chief informant for the official Swedish agent in Denmark, Anders Svensson. The correspondence seems rather complete; in most ofhis letters Isaacsz refers to his previous report, which makes it easy to see that only a few letters are missing. Here once again we see an artist involved in political reporting, but in contrast to Le Obviously Oxenstierna did not find Rutgers's idea sufficient and thought an extra safety net would be necessary.

50

63

Blon, Isaacsz used art as a cover and not primarily for trade. In order to meet Oxenstierna's request, Isaacsz had to deceive his real patron, Christian IV. According to Leo Tandrup, the king knew what was going on at his court as early as Autumn 1620, and he even supposes that Isaacsz handed over Oxenstierna' s letter dated 27 April 1620 to Christian. 52 This is contradicted, however, by the fact that the correspondence continues for another five years, and that the avvisi are crammed with useful intelligence, and not with false information given as a diversion. 53 Christian would of course have been familiar with espionage as a widespread phenomenon; international diplomacy was after all still in its infancy, while states were in growing need of each other's plans and intentions. Isaacsz was not suspected, though, as a letter dated 7 February 1621 shows. Isaacsz wrote to Oxenstierna that he stayed at Frederiks borg Castle for eight days as part of the king's retinue. One night the king called upon him in private and gave him a letter from the king ofBohemia, which he was to pass on to the Bohemian envoy, who was also present at the castle. It is a pity that Isaacsz was not always as precise as he was in this case; often he only writes, when referring to his sources, "it is declared" "people say" et cetera. Although the limited material available on Isaacsz describes his Swedish contacts as particularly sensational, comparable arrangements were relatively common. Artists or those in artistic circles appear to have been eminently suitable as informants. On more than one occasion, the painter and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens used paintings to try to smuggle secret information from the Southern to the Northern N etherlands. 54 Or take John Dowland, the English composer who was asked to act as an informant for the British crown during the years he worked at the Danish court, where he often played his lute for Christian IV in private. 55 HaraldAppelboom, who was the Swedish resident in the Republic from 1652 to 1674 and who worked as a book and art dealer for various Swedish patrons, also seems to have had ulterior motives. In 1657 letters he had written were intercepted in Denmark, which led to outrage in the Dutch States-General. Appelboom denied the allegations levelled against him and claimed that there was a plot against him.56 Whether true or not, the suspicions damaged his reputation. Michel le Blon, Pieter Isaacsz, and all the other informants mentioned ran great risks. Le Blon took financial risks by advancing large sums ofmoney due to the fact that he was never sure whether he was going to be paid or not, and Isaacsz ran the risk ofbeing unmasked as a traitor. The reason they took these chances was probably only partly connected with the money they earned. The 400 rijksdaalders paid to Isaacsz (in contrast to Le Blon, he actually received his salary), although a large amount in itself, seems a mere pittance in comparison to the annual sums promised or paid to others. 57 After Riksarkivet, Oxenstiema samlingen, Skrivelser tillAxel Oxenstiema, E 689. Tandrup 1979, I, p. 400. 53 Isaacsz' letters to Oxenstiema will be dealt with in detail in my contribution to DoubleA8ents: Cultural and PofiticalBrokera8e in Earry Modem Europe (Keblusek, Cools and Noldus), forthcoming. 54 Simson 1996, p. 29 2. 55 On John Dowland in Denmark, see Hauge 2001. 56 NationaalArchief, The Hague, ArchiefStaten-Generaal, Resoluties, inv. 7175. 57 Anders Svensson in Elsinore was responsible for paying Isaacsz, as a receipt in Isaacsz' administration shows: Tandrup 1971, p. 222. 51

52

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BADELOCH NOLDUS

all, both Michelle Blon and Peter Spierinck were (due to be) paid 1,000 rijksdaalders annually in 1632 and 1636 respectively. Le Blon's salary was raised to 3,000 rijksdaalders in 1644 and Spierinck's to 5,000 in 1642; Ludvig Camerarius even earned 5,110 rijksdaalders in 1626, and 7,300 in 1629Y The Dutch agent in Copenhagen EmanuelAgenna, who informed Oxenstierna of Danish and Polish news, on the other hand, only made the small annual sum of 30 rijksdaalders in 1618. 59 These amounts might tell us something about the value of the information the agent was able to pass on, how the agent himself was valued by his patron, how often he was called upon, how many letters and reports he sent. But besides the financial side, advantages ofanother nature must have existed. Dowland, for example, probably entered into business with the envoys who asked him to be their informant because he hoped their mediation would help him to become lutenist at the court of Qgeen Elizabeth I, something he greatly desired. A position as agent could provide Dowland and the other informants with contacts elsewhere and benefits other than just money, such as social protection, higher status, an office, or an entry in other circles. Lastly, one should not forget that Le Blon and Isaacsz might have become (prisoners' in their client-patron relationship with Oxenstierna. They had become dependent on him; Le Blon's financial situation relied on Oxenstierna's willingness to repay the sums advanced, and Isaacsz's career as court painter could be ruined by a single letter from the chancellor to Christian IV.

GEERT

H.

JANSSEN

political Brol<erage in the Dutch Republic THE PATRONAGE NETWORKS OF WILLIAM FREDERICK OF NASSAU-DIETZ (1613-1664)

Espionage, agencies, brokerage, clientelism - these are broad terms on a sliding scale that should be used with care. If we differentiate between agent Michelle Blon's loyalty to Axel Oxenstierna and pieter Isaacsz's deception as a spy, also to Oxenstierna's advantage, Le Blon and Isaacsz at first sight appear to be one another's opposites. However, it was not as clear-cut as that. After all, Isaacsz had a relationship with Oxenstierna comparable to that of Le Blon. He too negotiated news as a commodity when supplying the chancellor with political newsletters, and he too probably had a relationship which can best be described as client-patron contact, while Michelle Blon was actually involved in espionage as well. Writing his avvisi was a legal activity, but recruiting informants at the court in The Hague using bribes in order to be able to provide his letters with the latest news can hardly have been legal. Michelle Blon and Pieter Isaacsz were both agents, brokers, spies, and clients. They were loyal correspondents and deceivers at the same time, using and abusing their artistic background and networks for both their own and their patron's benefit.

In 1656 stadholder William Frederick of Nassau (1613-1664) was complimented in a letter sent to him by Johan de Witt, the Grand Pensionary of the States of Holland, by being described as ((the main director of affairs" in his province ofFries land. Although this was probably no more than a courtesy, other politically astute insiders around 1650 did attribute considerable political power to the Frisian stadholder. In 1651, the mayor ofLeeuwarden, Alle van Burum had heard a rumour going round The Hague, that the Frisian deputies ((do not dare to do anything except what pleases [the stadholder]". Two years earlier, his colleague Pieter Walta had commented that William Frederick ((had so much credit" in Friesland - unlike his predecessors. ' William Frederick was well aware of this change and his own political development. In his diary for 1648 he analysed the reasons for this metamorphosis. Interestingly, he attributed the (( credit" that he had recently acquired, to a network oflocal agents - ((one in each town" - that he had built up in the province over the previous years. William Frederick's explicit reference to the activities oflocal agents or brokers may be illuminating, but is not very remarkable in itself In the last few decades, historians such as Antoni M~czak, Sharon Kettering and Karin McHardy have stressed the importance ofsimilar networks ofpatronage and brokerage in various early modern regions. 3 In these cases, brokerage was regarded primarily as a political mechanism of patronclient relations related to the process of state formation of the early modern European states. Although this type of political brokerage has widely been studied as far as France, England or the Habsburg monarchy is concerned, it is remarkable that similar networks of patronage have not yet been identified in the context of the Dutch Repub lic. 4

58 Spierinck: Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, Skrivelser till Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna, E 1175. Camerarius: Schutte 1983, pp. 489-491. 59 Tandrup 1971, p. 54·

Fruin 1906-1922, I, p. 350; Visser 1995, pp. 637 and 744· Visser 1995, pp. 332 and 534. 3 C£ Asch/Birke 1991; Greengrass 1996; Harding 1978; Kettering 1986; Peck 1990; M~.czak 1988; Marcus 2000; McHardy 2003; Reinhard 1996. 4 Bruin 1999; Price 1994, p. 141.

Faithfulness and Deception

2

1

2

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GEERT H. JANSSEN

POLITICAL BROKERAGE IN THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

67

The image that contemporaries such as Johan de Witt or Pieter Walta present of the Frisian stadholder William Frederick is even at odds with the accounts to be found in the modern literature. Only a few years ago, for instance, Willem Frijhoff claimed that around 1650 the position ofstadholder ofFries land "had a pre-eminently symbolic significance, with little decision-making power in political practice". The stadholder "had to go along with the real powers that be, not only in The Hague but also in the province itself," he stated. 5 Frijhoff's version can also be found in S.J. FockemaAndreae and, in a more nuanced form, in Herbert Rowen and Pieter GeyU The image ofthe powerless stadholder is connected with that of a bur8erlijk, relatively egalitarian and above all tolerant Dutch Republic. Hierarchical patronage networks and princely hegemony do not fit in with this persistent image of the Dutch Golden Age. Such cases were simply written off in the older literature as "un-Dutch" excesses of corruption and nepotism, possibly the consequence of "foreign influences" that were to become visible in Dutch culture above all during the period of decline in the eighteenth century.? Although this cherished image of the nation has been somewhat modified in the meantime, it is still noteworthy that a discussion of clientage and brokerage in the society of the Republic has never really got off the ground. s At most it has been claimed that the decentralised state system and the multiconfessionallandscape of the Republic were not a suitable hotbed for the development of pyramidal patronage networks or brokerage on the part of the stadholder. Instead, political relations were taken to be characterised by mutual consultation and a culture of discussion and persuaSIOn. This hypothesis, however, hardly takes into account the fundamental belief in the hierarchical society in the early modern Republic, nor the discrepancy that Inay have existed between the formal republican nature of the state and the way politics actually worked in practice. It therefore might be more relevant to ask exactly what form political brokerage assumed in the Republic in the light ofthese atypical circumstances, and how it compares with forms ofbrokerage in neighbouring states.9 Using the example ofstadholder William Frederick ofN assau, we shall here try to determine what systems of patronage linked to the stadholder looked like, how the nature of these networks slowly changed in the course of the seventeenth century, and what functions brokers or agents played within this process. Such an analysis can not only help us to gain a better understanding of the development of power relations in Dutch politics, but also of certain role patterns that came to characterise early modern Dutch society.

From Republican Official to Informal Patron

5 6 7 8 9

10 A good modern biography ofWilliam Frederick: Kooijmans 2000. 11 Janssen 2003, pp. 45-55. For the office of stadholder in general see: Fockema Andreae 1961, pp. 6-11; Fmin 1980, pp. 218-224; Morke 1997; Price 1994, pp. 134-148; Rowen 19 85. 12 Price 1994, p. 141. 13 C£ Gabrids 1989; Groenveld 1990; Israel 1983; Roorda 1984.

Frijhoff/Spies 1999, p. 81. FockemaAndreae 1961, p. 6; Geyl1963; Rowen 1988, pp. 71,88-91 and 101. C£ Guibal1934, pp. 23-24. C£ Busken Huet 1987; Huizinga 1941; Japikse 1907. Janssen 2003; Nierop 1984; Spanninga 1987. Bmin 1999, p. 36; M;;tCzak 1991; Pollmann 1991, pp. 65-66.

William Frederick (1613-1664) was Count ofNassau-Dietz by birth. Like so manyother stadholders in the Dutch Republic, however, he is barely known in that capacity. William Frederick's relevance for history derived not from his noble title but from the office that he held. In 1640 he became stadholder of Fries land, and ten years later the provinces ofGroningen and Drenthe were added to his portfolio. He thereby came to hold the highest office in the three northern provinces of the Dutch Republic, while his second cousins - the Princes of Orange - occupied the same offices in the other five provinces. There were thus two separate but related dynasties of stadholders who formally fulfilled the function of servant of the different States, but who could also manifest themselves as high-ranking noblemen and princes in the Republic. This ambiguous position was also expressed in the semi-sovereign powers that were assigned to the stadholders in the Republic. For instance, in Friesland William Frederick was entitled to confer several administrative positions, including the magistracies of most of the towns, in person. This recruitment of government officers by the stadholder was in line with an old princely tradition going back to before the Dutch Revolt, but in the newly emergent practice of the Republic it was also intended to prevent local politics from being paralysed by disputes concerning vacancies. Ideally, it created a certain order and stability in public administration." On paper this made the stadholder a sort of broker who could allocate public functions on behalf of the city or provincial government. All the same, in practice he could regard hilnself as a patron, because such a formal appointments procedure almost automatically encouraged patron-client relations. However, there is hardly any empirical data available on this process of patronage and on the extent to which stadholders managed to build up so-called clientage networks. "Detailed studies of the workings of this patronage system are lacking, and we have to make do with patchy anecdotal material," was the conclusion ofJ.L. Price in his survey of 1994, and in fact it still holds today.12 Although there are clues that point to the existence of patronage networks linked to the stadholder, little systematic research has been carried out on the origin, scope and social profile of these networks. '3 William Frederick's diaries provide an opportunity to gain a better understanding of this process of clientage. These and other documents provide information about how the appointment of local office holders proceeded in practice, what difficulties the stadholder ran up against in the process, and how he finally managed to resolve them by building up a network oflocal brokers or agents. lO

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POLITICAL BROKERAGE IN THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

GEERT H. JANSSEN

Wybrand de Geest, Portrait of WillemFrederik, 1663. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Criteria for Appointment

When it came to appointing magistrates in the cities ofFriesland, William Frederick's choice was rarely arbitrary. The many notes and outlines from his archives indicate that the stadholder first looked thoroughly into the qualities and background of the candidates before making his choice. William Frederick followed that practice right from his appointment in Friesland on the basis of notes provided by his predecessors. In the course of time he was to organise these preliminary inquiries systematically and to formulate the criteria with which candidates had to comply more precisely. What were the criteria by which William Frederick informally screened the magistrates in each case? In other words, what did his potential clients look like? The stadholder regularly confronted the question of who should enjoy his favour and confidence. "The best, most wealthy and most honest," was his motto in 1649.'4 He subsequently elaborated this rather broad criteria in more detail. There were apparently two interests at stake, a public and a personal one. Officially, of course, the 'regents' - as holders ofmunicipal offices were called - were only to serve the city govern14

Visser 1995, p. 734·

69

ment. William Frederick, however, did not consider that enough to guarantee a stable public administration. He therefore thought it justified to demand of the regents a certain obligation to account for their actions to him as stadholder. William Frederick thereby created in a certain sense a double loyalty on the part of the magistrates appointed, although that ambiguity was not so evident to the stadholder himself After all, William Frederick thought that the public interest was best served by his own supervisory and even guiding role. In fact, the foundation of the Republic was in the eyes of the count inextricably linked with the history of the House of Nassau. "Where would liberty, (... ) religion and the Union be", he sometimes rhetorically asked himself, ifhis ancestors had not existed? The blood that they had shed for the good cause was for William Frederick proof that "their heirs who succeed to their offices (...) will continue to serve this land with energy and affection."15 In short, the stadholder himself did not regard his additional demands as a striving for personal power, but as part of his duty to guarantee unity in public administration as his forefathers had done before him. The count usually looked for historical parallels to legitimise the role that he apparently wanted to play as a patron within the republican system of government. The consequences of this line of thought are clearly reflected in William Frederick's correspondence. Loyalty to the stadholder was not a formal criteria ofpublic office, but it was often explicitly mentioned in correspondence. For instance, the magistrate of Bolsward, Adriaan van Velsen, recommended himself in 1649 by assuring William Frederick that he would remain "always serviceable, grateful and loyal to the best ofmy modest ability." Of course, it be could argued, that these assurances of "friendship" were also part of a general early modern discourse. Indeed, in many patronage studies of early modern France or England it is not always made clear to what extent this wellknown language ofpatronage was the reflection of true dependence and loyalty in daily life. Yet in William Frederick's case it is interesting, that the assurances of loyalty were often described in concrete terms too. Van Velsen's colleague in Sneek was recommended because he always tried to carry out the "wishes" of William Frederick. Evert Evertsz was considered extremely suitable as mayor ofIJlst in 1640 because Evert could be "used" so easily. In his diary'the stadholder himself was surprisingly open about the social mechanisms that were at work here. "If someone asks me to give him a job," he decided firmly in his diary, "I have to act as ifI am not particularly willing to do so, so that I will get much more gratitude afterwards when I prefer for the position after all" .'6 The stadholder used his right ofappointment deliberately to bind the magistrates of Fries land to him, while they themselves seemed to be prepared to anticipate his expectations of service and loyalty in return. According to the stadholder, his potential clients should also possess certain specific qualities. They must have an impeccable reputation, that is, be of "good name and Visser 1995, p. 3 68 . Koninklijk Huisarchief, The Hague (Royal Archives: KHA), archive Williarn Frederick (WF), VI, 6, Homme van Hittingha to William Frederick, IJ1st, 19/29 December 1640; Tresoar, Stadhouderlijk archief(Archives of the stadholders: SA), 267, Adriaan van Velsen to William Frederick, Bolsward, 20/30 December 1649; Folpert Hansma?, Bolsward, 22 December 1649-1 January 1650. Visser 1995, p. 738. 15 16

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fame." Additional qualities were "an intelligent mind", "knowledge of government", and some degree oftraining. "pleasant in intercourse with everyone" was a quality also appreciated by the stadholder, although he was usually less circumspect in expressing himself In his outlines he noted when he considered magistrates to be '''
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71

Hottinga prided himself on the fact of being "of honourable descent from generation to generation, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather have always been in office here as highly praised Inayors." In the case of Haring Fongers from Bolsward, the fact that he was" a cousin" ofthe town secretary was a recommendation. His other family connections were excellent too. His colleague Anne Heerkes no longer knew for sure whether it was Haring's "father or grandfather", but at any rate one of them had been "in exile for religious reasons" and had supported the Revolt for years. Various sources could even confirm that Haring's ancestor "had assisted in the capture of Brill under Count Van Lumei."21 Formally speaking, there was one criteria which the stadholder was not only allowed, but was actually obliged, to apply to the candidates: their religious background. Persons who were not members or regular attenders to the Reformed Church in the Republic were by definition "incapable of holding any public offices." It is therefore hardly surprising that candidates for the office of mayor stated that they were "members" or "attended the Reformed Church". Jan van Marsum recommended himself in 1646 as "former patron and now warden of the community ofJesus Christ".22 Nor is it surprising that William Frederick orientated himself towards the religious preferences of the city magistrates. His appointments show that in this case he observed the regulations strictly. Regular attendance at the Reformed Church was the minimal requirement for a career in public administration. However, William Frederick always preferred professing members ofthe church. His urban clientele thus took on an explicitly puritan, Calvinist character. That conclusion is fairly striking because studies of patronage in other countries have not come up with a coherent connection between clienteles and religious networks. 23 Still, in this case too the Calvinism and exclusiveness ofWilliam Frederick's patronage network is less unambiguous than the examples cited above would lead one to suppose. They certainly show that the stadholder wanted to give his clientele a Calvinist hallmark, but that still does not tell us much about his motivation. It is therefore debatable whether William Frederick' ~ aim ofbuilding up a Calvinist network was the result of a personal religious conviction, or whether it was based primarily on the idea that it was the duty of the stadholder to promote religious uniformity in particular. It is noteworthy that as Count of Nassau-Dietz, William Frederick appointed Catholics in his retinue without raising any objection. 24 The stadholder's diary, moreover, shows that he frequently went hunting and dining with well-known Catholic and Mennonite noblemen. Remarkably enough, in his noble household several members of 21 Whether Haring's (grand)father really did serve with Lumey's fleet is doubtful His name is not mentioned in De Meij 1972. Tresoar, SA, 267, Anne Heerkes and Folpert Hansma to William Frederick, Bolsward, 20/30 December 1649; Folpert Hansma? to William Frederick, Bolsward, 22 December 1649-1 January 1650; Johannes Rodrigenius to William Frederick, Dokkum, 24 December 1649-3 January 1650. Both Haring Fongers and Douwe van Hottinga were appointed in that year by the stadholder. 22 Tresoar, SA, 267, Jan van Marsum to William Frederick, Bolsward, 19/29 December 1646. Countless other examples in KHA, WF, VI and Tresoar, SA, 267 and 272. C£ Bergsma 1998. 23 C£ Benedict 1999; Neuschel1989· 24 On this Janssen 2004.

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staffwere Catholic. Apparently, William Frederick associated a properly operating public administration to a large extent with harmoniously concerted action, like the ideal of concord expressed in the motto of the Republic. 25 In his view, political unity stood to gain from religious uniformity, so that religious sentiments could not disrupt the public administration. An unambiguously Calvinist character was therefore only natural for his public network as stadholder. But William Frederick does not seem to have considered such exclusiveness to be essential in every social role. Catholics whom he explicitly excluded from public office could still obtain his trust in the private sphere. For William Frederick, the role he had to play in a particular, household setting was apparently decisive for the importance attached to the religious background of clients. 26 As a result, William Frederick's policy on patronage sometimes deliberately contributed to religious segregation, but at the same time it could also create links in a different social sphere between persons of different religious confessions. As a result of the system of government of the Republic, public and private networks emerged, within which William Frederick had to keep redefining his role as patron. The brokerage network that he constructed in his role as stadholder clearly belonged to the 'public sphere' within which clients had to comply with the salne religious and social criteria.

From Client to Broker

So it appears, that in the course of his career, William Frederick managed to build up something of a clientele network and could develop a role as a patron. Yet this transformation from a civil servant into the central patron in Frisian politics only became visible after several years. Patronage was not so much a static or unequivocal phenomenon, that could be "achieved" at a specific moment. Clientage was much more a slow process and as a consequence its nature and functions could change. This princely patronage in a republican setting, therefore, proceeded differently from in monarchical states, because the stadholder was himself not a sovereign in the republican system of government, and his position as patron was therefore not based on any formal foundation at all. Besides, according to William Frederick, a limited knowledge of the local politics, as well as the large distance between Friesland and his usual place of residence in The Hague, hindered the development of his patronage. "When I am absent", he noted in his diary, "they can all do as they please." In other words, patronage relations in the Republic needed permanent maintenance and supervision. It is indicative that, especially in the first years of his period as stadholder, so-called "recommendations" by William Frederick were often bypassed unless he was able to operate quickly and efficiently. For instance, in 1642 the Admiralty ofFries land stated that it could not honour his recommendation, claiming that the office in question had already been bestowed 25 26

C£ Price 1994, pp. 270 - 271. Frijhoff 1997; Kaplan 1995, pp. 261-296; Pollmann 2000, pp. 227- 23 6 .

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on another person. 27 Such a public rejection of his own candidate was painful to the stadholder, because failed recommendations tarnished his credibility as a patron. William Frederick tried to solve these problems oflogistics by giving his network in Friesland a layered structure, so that he could farm out the recruitment and supervision ofadministrators to some extent. Moreover, he hoped that these kind oflocal brokers or agents would keep him better informed about the local political situation. In this connection it seemed most effective to William Frederick to resort to well informed and reliable local magistrates whom he had already honoured with positions in local government. Already in the first years ofhis period as stadholder, William Frederick informally made two demands on his local favourite in return for his appointment. The first was that he was to keep the stadholder regularly informed about the local political situation. Second, the magistrate was to advise the stadholder during the annual election ofmagistrates in his locality. Power brokerage and information supply were therefore combined in one and the same person. Moreover, the system was maintained on the basis of clientage. In other words, William Frederick rewarded the services of his agents exclusively in the form of official posts and political protection for themselves or their own circle offriends. It is not easy to determine how original William Frederick's ideas about brokerage were. Little research has been conducted on the rise ofsimilar hierarchical clienteles in the Republic. Jos Gabriels has investigated the eighteenth-century networks ofbrokers of stadholder William V (1748-1795) in detail, but he was unable to indicate precisely when they originated. According to the pensionary of the States Simon van Slingelandt (1664-1736), brokers were already deployed by stadholder William III (1650-1702) "to overcome the obstacles arising from the constitution ofthe govermnent, which he met with now and then in the course of his activities, by creating a kind of dependency between the government and the magistrates."28 Gabriels assumed, however, that the practice was offairly recent origin in many provinces, including Friesland. He considered it "by no m.eans certain" that the use oflocal agents or "premiers" was already current in the first half of the seventeenth century.29 William Frederick's correspondence partly confirms Gabriels' impression. When he was appointed stadholder in 1640, there was not a single trace of any network ofbrokers or agents in Friesland. In the course of his period as stadholder, however, slowly but surely we can distinguish two kinds of brokers in Friesland. The first type is embodied in the person of the mayor ofLeeuwarden, Alle van Burum. In this case it was the mayor himself who had taken the initiative. As William Frederick did not have the power to make appointments in Leeuwarden, he was not in a good position to enable 27 Tresoar, SA, 30, William Frederick to the Admiralty in Dokkum, Leeuwarden, 7/17 February 1642 and vice versa, Dokkum, 12/22 February 1642. Visser 1995, p. 121. 28 Cited in Gabriels 1989, p. 146. 29 Gabriels 1989, pp. 145-149 and 487 n. 88. Gabriels uses the term 'premier', which was current in Friesland in the eighteenth century to refer specifically to an urban broker. Other types of brokers were already to be found in the court of Orange earlier in the seventeenth cenmry. See e.g. Groenveld 1988; Groenveld 1990, pp. 34-38; Spanninga 1987.

74

a local favourite "to come to the top" himself Since Van Burum had offered his services as a broker - in the hope of obtaining influence on the appointments of the stadholder in the government of the province - and William Frederick tried to enhance his control of the administration in Leeuwarden through him, Van Burum had a relatively strong bargaining position. The result was that the relation between patron and broker was less asymmetrical than in other parts of Fries land. It is this type of brokerage that is to be found in most of the foreign studies. On the basis of the French situation, Sharon Kettering stressed that provincial brokers usually already had a local clientele at their disposaL That was precisely why, in her view, they were attractive to a potential patron. The studies by Mark Greengrass and Antoni M~czak have also revealed the presence of this type of "autonomous" broker, who offered his local network to a higher patron in the hope of confirmation of his position. 30 However, the example of Van Burum. was not representative in the case ofWilliam Frederick. In the nine towns of Fries land where William Frederick did enjoy rights of appointment, the different type ofadministration led to the creation ofa different type of broker. The example of Cornelis Haubois from Sneek can illustrate this in more detaiL Like Van Burum in Leeuwarden, Haubois held the office ofmayor ofSneek already before William Frederick's appointment as stadholder. The stadholder's right of appointment, however, made his position much more vulnerable than that of Van Burum. "IEI so desire, he cannot become magistrate, and I would be rid of him" the stadholder noted, self-confidently, in 1648. Nevertheless, it emerges from the luany reports of the discussions between Haubois and William Frederick that the latter was generally prepared to keep him in office. "[HauboisJ hoped I would help him next year," wrote William Frederick for example in 1646, "which [IJ shall, ifit is within my power." The following table shows that the magistrate ofSneek was indeed almost permanently in office during the twenty-four years ofWilliam Frederick's period as stadholder. Moreover, Haubois was a candidate for the post of mayor ofSneek three times during this period - in 1646, 1651 and 1656 - and in all three cases he was chosen by William Frederick. 32 In short, Haubois' career in public administration was entirely dependent on the support ofthe stadholder.Yet these favours were not granted to him for free. Not only did William Frederick expect Haubois to provide him with information on a regular basis, but the stadholder had no qualms either about instructing him as to how he should operate as mayor or member of the States-General. Finally, Haubois was expected to put any candidates preferred by William Frederick in Sneek on the list of nominations. The broker himself even asked William Frederick to appoint magistrates on several occasions. "Haubois has been to see me, recommended to me the [candidatesJ ofSneek," the stadholder noted, for example, after a discussion in December

Greengrass 1986; Kettering 1986, pp. 40-60; M¥zak 1991. On the basis of data from Tresoar, SA, 242 (lists of names); 276 (nominations of magistrates) and 278 (regulations on the election of magistrates). 32 Tresoar, SA, 276. The meetings between William Frederick and Haubois: Visser 1995, pp. 37, 103-105, 109110,120,204,211,317,325,334,337,470,613 and 732. 30 31

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75

Posts ofComelis Haubois in the Frisian administration, 1640-166431 1640 1641 164 2 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649

RK GS GS GS

RK MGRK SG SG GS

SG

1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659

GS GS SG MG. MG.

1660 1661 1662 1663 1664

GS GS GS

GS GS GS SG MG.

GS Member of the Delegated Provincial States MG Member of the Mindergetal (a commission of the Provincial States) RK Member of the Chamber ofAccounts (ofFriesland) SG Member of the States-General

1646, to add a week later: "[HauboisJ was quite satisfied with my election in Sneek, gave good advice."33 The information and recommendations that Haubois sent the stadholder from Sneek supplemented the news services that William Frederick built up in the other towns ofFries land. From Dokkum, Petrus Veltdriel and Tjeerd Gauma regularly and accurately reported on "how things have been going on here" and sent William Frederick lists of local "papists", "Mennonites", and other suspected persons. 34 Frederik van Inthiema sent similar bulletins and detailed information from Workum too, so that through his brokers the stadholder was kept fully in the picture with regard to not only political developments but also the social or religious background of the magistrates whom he had appointed. Moreover, William Frederick's diaries show that the candidates whom Van Inthiema, for example, proposed "in accordance with custom" were appointed without exception. Vice versa, the protege in Workum was deployed to use his" credit and authority" to "push through" certain ofWilliam Frederick's demands in the locality, including the informal arrangement of the nomination of favourite candidates. The function of broker even took on a family character at the end of Van Inthiema's career when he put his own nephew Frederikjr. forward as his successor "because of old age". After a prompt appointment to the town council, this young scion of the family did in fact operate as the new confidant in Workum from 1649 onwards. 35 33 Visser 1995, pp. 317 and 325. The first recommendation ofHaubois can be found in 1641: KHA, WF, VII, C158, Cornelis Haubois to William Frederick, Sneek, 17/27 December 1641. Other recommendations in Tresoar, SA, 267 (letters concerning Sneek); 282 (appointment of magistrate in Sneek). William Frederick also borrowed money from the magistrate, evidenced by the list of debts for 1666, where Haubois is named as a creditor for 7,000 guilders. KHA, WF, IV, 8 (list of debts and expenses, 1666). 34 Tresoar, SA, 267 (correspondence ofHessel van Aylva, Petms and Johan veltdriel and Tjeerd Gauma with William Frederick); 285 (documents concerning Dokkum). On the function of this news network: Janssen 2005. 35 Tresoar, SA, 267 (correspondence of Frederik van Inthiema sr and jr with William Frederick); 290 (docu-

ments concerning Workum); Visser 1995, pp. 330, 610 and 636.

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The Grand Pensionary ofthe States of Holland Johan de Witt hit the nail on the head when he referred to Haubois and his fellow brokers as "the frequently cited Haubois and other creatures ofCount William."3 6 De Witt's characterisation was accurate to a certain extent. While formally speaking these magistrates only represented their town or in some cases the States ofFries land, in practice it was the stadholder, their patron, who informally pulled the strings. This double function led to the emergence oftwo circuits of power in the Republic: an official circuit, represented by the members of the various bodies of public administration, and an unofficial circuit, consisting of relations of dependency that the stadholder maintained with the members of these bodies. William Frederick realised that the creation ofthis kind oflocal "creatures" also had its disadvantages. Brokers like Haubois could take advantage ofhis protection and support in their own town to turn into dictators. In fact, many in Sneek did consider that Haubois ilnagined that he was "stadholder ofSneek". That is why William Frederick treated him cautiously. One means of keeping Haubois in check was to disregard his recomlnendations now and then. In 1645, for instance, Haubois was so convinced that he would secure a new appointment as a deputy that he organised a public celebration of his success before the convention of the provincial council had even been held. "I fear that people will be jealous of my good fortune and favour," the magistrate remarked. It was precisely this complacency against which William Frederick was at guard. The very same day he offered the position to a magistrate from Franeker to put Haubois in his place. He was not entirely forgotten, for the next day Haubois came in feigned good spirits to thank the stadholder "for the membership of the Chamber of Accounts "that he had been given instead. William Frederick intended his intervention to demonstrate above all that he "would not allow [others] to govern him."37

Social Control

William Frederick's patronage-based brokerage was not a static status but a development whose characteristics and consequences only became clear in the course of time. That enabled these properties themselves to change gradually. The result that William Frederick managed to achieve with his tactics of appointment could initially be seen above all from his instructions to newly appointed mayors and to the news networks that he set up. He considered that he had succeeded in "restoring peace to Friesland, which is a great boon for me and will bring me great honour."3 8 The use of the criteria of selection and the nature of the information that people like veltdriel and Haubois gave him, however, betray the fact that this attempt "to bring the land from unrest to tranquillity" was closely related in William Frederick's eyes to a broader ideal of religious unity and social disciplining. Brokerage was more than just a political mechaFruin 1906-1922, I, p. 187. Visser 1995, pp. 105,109 and 112-113. The latter citation referred not only to Haubois but also to Gosewijn Wiedenfelt, William Frederick's steward. 38 Visser 1995, p. 448. 36 37

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nism; it was also intended to help to maintain control of church attendance, drunkenness and other undesirable social behaviour on the part of magistrates. For example, on 29 December 1648 William Frederick noted with annoyance that Johan van Aylva was" still drunk" that afternoon because he had just "been drinking with Schwartzenb erg. "39 As a patron, the stadholder considered one ofhis responsibilities to be the correction and prevention of such dissolute behaviour. In 1659 a magistrate from Sneek received a last warning, "since we once again regret to hear that Your Honour is still unable to abstain from getting drunk."40 It was probably not pure altruism that led William Frederick to issue such reprimands. Socially unacceptable behaviour on the part of his "creatures" also tarnished his own reputation as a patron. That was the reason why in 1648 the magistrate ofHindelopen cautiously proposed to disregard William Frederick's recommendation of the local profligate Lambert Camp because "if that were to happen, the whole town could be the object ofridicule and gossip."4 Such exalnples reveal at the same time that, particularly in the early years of his period as stadholder, the effect of William Frederick's disciplining offensive should not be overemphasised. Moreover, not everyone was prepared to adapt to the new practice. "This is a curious country", William Frederick sighed in 1647, "it is impossible to rely on anyone, for those who have been the best and trusted friends become the greatest and most serious enemies within a short space of time". Mutual affection was therefore not a characteristic of William Frederick's dealings with his brokers. The terms (friendship' and (friend' were regularly used in correspondence, but they referred less to an emotional or affective bond than to a social obligation to provide mutual services. 42 William Frederick had few illusions about the opportunistic background of the behaviour ofbrokers: "if they have dealings with me, they give me good words, otherwise they all pay me no heed."43 These remarks show that the stadholder regarded the politics of Friesland from above as a patron, but that at the same time he had a keen eye for the strategies ofhis brokers. 1

Contracts

The system oflocal brokers or agents that William Frederick constructed on the basis of clientage in the course of his career took on a new form towards the end of his life. Between 1657 and 1663 the stadholder concluded secret contracts with a number oflocal magistrates which systematically listed the services that they were expected to renVisser 1995, pp. 613-614. According to William Frederick, the man might be barred from "entering the Kingdom of Heaven" ifhe continued to get drunk. The least this should lead to was "indisposition of his body and members", while it delighted his" enemies and enviers". Tresoar, SA, 282, William Frederick to unknown addressee in Sneek, Leeuwarden, 15/25 January 1659. 41 Tresoar, SA, 292, the magistrate ofHindelopen to William Frederick, Hindelopen, 19/29 February 1648. 42 Kooijmans 1997, pp. 132-148. 43 Visser 1995, pp. 312,438 and 443· 39 40

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der their patron. Moreover, several contracts contained the stipulation that, upon the death ofWilliam Frederick, his brokers would be loyal to" our beloved son Prince Henry Casimir" - or the latter's guardian ifhe were not yet of age. 44 The stadholder thereby planned the effortless transfer ofthe network that he had built up to his son. Clientage networks were transferred as a kind of non-material legacy. The importance of the consolidation of the network in Friesland also had a more immediate purpose. As we have seen, William Frederick's authority in the province regularly suffered from his protracted absence. Permanent control oflocal brokers was complicated ifhe spent a lot oftime in The Hague. This logistical problem was still relevant in the last years of his life, especially because from the 1650S onwards the stadholder often spent the summer at Turnhout in the castle ofhis mother-in-law Amalia van Solms. The contracts therefore satisfied the need for regulated agreements with his brokers during his absences. Seen in this light, the contracts were a continuation ofthe form of brokerage that had already been built up, but at the same time they were a response to new political developments that required a modification of that system of brokerage. This impression of adaptation and modification in the forms ofWilliam Frederick's relations with brokers is confirmed by the variation in the contracts themselves. Roughly speaking, we can distinguish three types. First, there was the type of contract that the stadholder concluded with the agents in the towns of Fries land that have already been discussed. These laid the most stress on the degree ofinequality and loyalty. Contractual parties such as Cornelis Haubois from Sneek or Sjoerd Potter from Dokkum simply declared that they would "abide by" William Frederick's recommendations, although the stadholder did not oblige himself to render any specific services in return. 45 The second type of contract was intended for aristocratic Bfietmannen who carried out public administration in the rural areas of the province. Their relationship with the stadholder was clearly less asymmetrical because William Frederick had fewer possibilities ofinfluencing their appointment. The contracts that he concluded with this category reflected the more independent position of these rural elites. For instance, in 1663 .. Oene van Grovestins and Douwe van Aylva promised "to maintain, help and assist our Lord and stadholder, (...) to ward offand prevent harm and detriment, in all matters." In exchange, however, William Frederick explicitly promised "to maintain and further the advancement of Lord Douwe van Ailva and the same's children and friends in the district of Oostergoo, and to maintain and further the advancement of Lord Oene of Grovestins and the same's children and friends in the district ofWestergoo."46 Finally, there was a third type of contract, which William Frederick concluded as stadholder of Groningen with the nobleman Osebrand Jan Rengers. This contract clearly expressed the stronger bargaining position of the Groningen elite vis-a-vis the 44 KHA, WF, VI, 5· 45 KHA, WF, VI, 5 (e.g. the contracts with Cornelis Haubois, Sjoerd Potter and Junius Alema, 8 February 1657 and with Ewout Steinsma, 1 June 1658). 46 KHA, WF, VI, 5 (contract with Douwe van Aylva and Oene van Grovestins, 8 May 1663).

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stadholder. Rengers promised ((to remain always loyal to His Highness the prince and Her Highness the princess and the noble young prince," but William Frederick had to offer Rengers profuse thanks for ((obtaining the position of stadholder of the city and countryside ofthe province (... ) in 1650" and for the fact that Rengers ((has helped to obtain the sU1l1ivance for our beloved son Prince Henry Casimir". William Frederick therefore assured the nobleman of his support in the near future and, more specifically, promised him ((the first company on horseback that we have at our disposaL"47 The subtle distinction in tone and degree of reciprocity illustrates the diversity in William Frederick's networks of brokers in Friesland and Groningen. More than that, it shows that brokerage in itself was a permanent process in which the degree of dependency and loyalty could develop in different ways in the course oftime. That is why it is impossible both to clearly demarcate William Frederick's clientelism as a phenomenon, and to distinguish it from other forms of social contact. There was a great diversity of forms in which clientage became visible at different moments and in different settings connected with William Frederick. Nevertheless, the contractual form of brokerage which developed in the course of his life raises the concept as such for discussion. A formalised form of patron-client relations would appear to be at odds with the description of clientage as an unwritten form of dependency. That is why many theoretical studies prefer to distinguish patronage from feudalism, for example. 48 Once the reciprocity comes to be based on enforceable contracts, the argmuent runs, the nature of the relation will change fundamentally too. This reasoning is in accordance with the idea that the process of European state formation developed from the sixteenth century from a feudal system to informal patronage, which subsequently in the late seventeenth century resulted in a static variant of this structure of patronage under an absolutist monarchy. However, it is debatable whether these academic distinctions offer much insight into the differentiated situation ofWilliam Frederick's management of relations. For instance, it is remarkable that only a small percentage ofhis brokerage relations were eventually converted into contractual ones, while in practice his other, informal clienteles did not always differ from these contractual relations. For outsiders, the distinction between the two forms would have been iluperceptible. The contracts included the stipulation that all provisions were to be kept strictly ((secret". In that case, of course, the possibility of publicly enforcing compliance with the contract was limited. Finally, it is debatable whether the contract really changed the nature of patronage, because in fact it was little more than a formal ratification of an existing practice. The written contracts therefore did not mark the first step towards a new and fundamentally different kind of social relations but were merely a transformation of the form that was given to existing patronage. 47 The contract with Osebrand Jan Rengers in Groninger Archieven, ArchiefBorg Farmsum, 1019 (deed of 19/ 29 December 1660 and correspondence ofWilliam Frederick with Rengers, 7/17 April 1660 and 21/31 January 1661). 48 C£ e.g. Greengrass 1986; Kettering 1986, pp. 3-11; Neuschell989, pp. 1-37. For a similar discussion in the social sciences, e.g. Blok 1969; Wolf 1977.

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Epilogue The stadholders in the Dutch Republic officially were servants of the several Provincial States. However, the example ofWilliam Frederik clearly shows that these civil servants could easily grow to become the central figures in provincial politics, thanks to the process of patronage. Obviously the case ofWilliam Frederick in itself cannot be taken as representative for other stadholders. His example does however provide some insights into the forms which patronage could assume in the Dutch Republic and sheds light on the way these changed over the course of time. In this article I have attempted to identity some of these general forms and processes. From this investigation it can be concluded that brokers came to play a crucial role in the development ofstadholderly patronage in the Republic. In fact, there was a plurality offorms of brokerage that could be observed at different times and in different social spheres in connection with William Frederick. That plurality also suggests that not all forms of brokerage in the Republic were necessarily based on patron-client relations, and that such networks were not exclusively confined to politics. In recent years a growing number ofstudies have appeared in which information brokers, for example, act as agents or entrepreneurs in a more independent capacity than the traditional power brokers. It is not always clear, however, whether we should regard these different kinds of mediation or brokerage as variants of the same early modern phenomenon, or whether they have nothing in common except their present academic categorisation. No coherent picture has yet emerged of the different forms that early modern brokerage could assume. It may be the case, for example, that social spheres existedin which brokerage rapidly took on a clientelistic aspect - as in the sphere of the office of stadholder -, while that was less the case, if at all, in other settings. Future research will have to decide precisely which factors influenced this and which forms of "remuneration" were deemed suitable or appropriate in different circumstances. The bedrock of reciprocity and dependency on which William Frederick based his brokerage has at any rate shown that clientage was eminently suitable for the informal construction of such networks, which gave a stadholder far more political influence than seemed possible on the basis offormal regulations.

Art and InforInation Brokerage in the Career ofDon Giovanni de' Medici*

Don Giovanni de' Medici, the natural son ofCosimo I, grand duke of Tuscany, may seem a somewhat unlikely hero in the history of art and information brokerage. Not because he was so much more successful in his many other activities. As a diplomat, he represented the Medici dynasty in Rome and in Madrid. Yet for the more important missions, the grand dukes, Don Giovanni's half brothers, preferred to rely on career 'diplomats who owed their livelihoods and their prestige more directly to their employers. As a soldier, he campaigned with the Tuscan regiments for the imperial forces on the fields of Flanders and Hungary. But as long as he flew the flag of Florence, all hopes for advancement depended on prior assessment of the risk to Medici interests as a whole. And if Giovanni' s aspirations for a Habsburg generalship collided with the Medici dynasty's friendly policies toward the French Bourbons, for the time being they had to be shelved; just as his hopes for preferment in France had to be sacrificed to make way for Medici interests in Spain.' Don Giovanni could count on the nearly-paternal affection ofhis much older halfbrother Grand Duke Ferdinando I throughout most of his early adulthood; but he could not expect the grand duke to share his intellectual interests. He may have hoped that the secrets of alchemy, about which he produced an original manuscript, reported by his biographers but subsequently lost, might hold out the possibility of a lateral path to prestige within Medici circles. He became a proficient enough astrologer and 2

* Parts of this essay have also been published in Dooley 2005. 1 Concerning the latter, Archivio di Stato, Florence (ASF), Archivio Mediceo del Principato (MdP), filza 5157, fol. 57, Giovanni to Belisario Vinta, 4 March 1604: "L'Arciduca Ser.mo [Albrecht von Habsburg] ha hauto pensiero di favorirmi, et da se stesso mossosi, m'ha fatto dire piu volte di volermi procurar carico in Spagna, et io, se ben poco ho sperato per la brevita. del tempo che io ho servito qua, tuttavia per non mostrare di far poca stima del favore di sl gran principe, ho accettato il favore et il consiglio che egli mi ha data, di suplicare il Gran Duca Ser.mo a commettere al suo Ambasciatore in Spagna [Sallustio Tarugi] di far offizio sopra questo particolare, et egli stesso m'ha fatto fare offerte di quello che da lui stesso pua escire di honoranza nella mia persona, talche tutto questo e causa che io habbia desiderato vedere l' esito di questi carichi che sono stati provvisti, se bene ingenuamente, con pochissima 0 niuna speranza; et pera non si maraviglia V. S. se io con tanta £lemma me la passo, perche considero che chi non domanda, non e gran fatto che non ottenga; et non havendo io domandato cosa alcuna, non mi fo maraviglia alcuna che di me sia stata fatta poca menzione. (... ) Nell' ultimo inserto che mi scrive S. A. Set.lna mio Sig.re egli mi dice, che desidera che io mi governi con £lemma, se egli occorera licenziarmi da queste altezze, per non guastare i fatti miei et suoi, et ancora li par bene che io aspetti fino che sia spedito interamente il negozio della investitura di Siena, che e a buon termine; et che quando io vogli far qua un altra campagna, che mi sovverra." 2 Concerning Giovanni de' Medici's cultural interests: Landolfi 1988. In addition, Dooley 2001, chapter 1.

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magician for Orazio Morandi, the most faluous astrologer in Rome, to claim him as a mentor. Only Francesco, the prince of the Studiolo and Ferdinando's predecessor as grand duke, could have fully appreciated the considerable library Don Giovanni managed to collect in his spare time, with its treasury of prohibited books, and the special occult purposes reserved for it; alas, Francesco died in 1589 when the young prince was only twenty-one. 3 As a princely architect, Giovanni perhaps stood the best chance ofgaining the undivided attention of the Medici clan. And the story of his role in designing the Cappella dei Principi in San Lorenzo in Florence has been told many times, most notably by Franco Borsi. What is much less known is Giovanni's role as an art broker, mediator and political and military informant. These activities may well have formed part of a coherent strategy for advancement within the political environment of late Renaissance Europe. What is more, Giovanni's behaviour adds a new dimension to our understanding ofthe construction ofnetworks in a key period ofEuropean statebuilding. Don Giovanni came on the scene in a particularly delicate moment for the Medici dynasty.4 His half-brother, Ferdinando I, forced out of a cardinals hip and into the job of grand duke by the premature death of his brother Francesco, was condemned to navigate diplomatically between the various Henries in France, Philip II in Spain, Rudolph II in Prague, and Elizabeth I of England. The system of diplomacy consolidated by Cosimo I allowed the grand duke to operate like a spider in a web. By Ferdinando's time, the web already covered nearly every part of Europe; and the persons involved included career bureaucrats as well as Giovanni de' Medici. To be sure, the literally thousands of relevant documents in the Florentine archive have barely been worked over, even by the family's ever-diligent 1920S biographer Gaetano Pieraccini, whose three magnificent volumes collect an enormous quantity of information, good, bad and indifferent, concerning Medici passions, scandals, accomplishments and (a particular interest) illnesses. In recent years a good sampling ofthese documents has been analysed by those working in the American-funded Medici Archive Project. With a yearly budget ofover a half-million dollars from private donors, this nonprofit organisation promises to place a digest of these documents at our disposal on the Internet, perhaps within our lifetimes. Preliminary soundings confirm the extraordinary richness of these documents from the standpoint ofart and information brokerage. Not only are we able to identity intermediaries, conveyors and agents for whom the only testimony is here, along with transportation routes, costs and risk assessments. We can also gain a better understanding of the modes ofproduction and circulation ofthe handwritten newsletters known as avvisi. Close comparison of thousands ofsuch avvisi and the various handwritings has allowed the identification of many previously unknown information brokers.5 Comparison of Berti 1967; Galluzzi 1982. Here and below: Contini 1999 and 2000. Concerning the general context: Angiolini 1980; Spini 1980. Consider for instance ASF, Mdp, filza 3085, fo1. 196, Ulisse del Pace in Brescia to Ermonio Venturi in Perugia, 11 October 1586. The similarity of handwriting indicates that the avviso from Venice on fo1. 193 in the same volume may be his.

3

4 5

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stories allows hypotheses concerning which sheets are related and which are not. 6 Included in the Archive among the documents relating to Don Giovanni is an assortment of some 150 avvisi dated from Antwerp and sent by him along with his dispatches back to the Florentine court. These and other related papers provide impressive testimony concerning Don Giovanni's activity in all the areas so far mentioned - but especially, in the area of information exchange and art brokerage. Since both of these functions worked together I will not try to separate them in what follows.

Our story begins in September 1587 when Don Giovanni and a small retinue headed north to the fields of Flanders to take part in the Low Country Wars on the Catholic side/ There they found Alessandro Farnese, governor of Flanders and commander of the Catholic forces, buoyed up by recent successes at Sluis, a small town in northern Flanders. Victory in the Low Countries, and a significant boost to Giovanni's aspirations, seemed possible as long as Alessandro could keep pushing northward and westward, closing the enemy in a vise. However, much depended on the extent to which Philip II was inclined to sacrifice Flanders operations in favour of the Spanish Armada now being fitted out for the conquest of Britain. As the situation developed, avvisi that reached the Florentine court by way of official representatives or family members varied greatly in kind and value. By March 1588 Armada preparations were in a lull due to the death of Don Alvaro de Bazan, Marquis of Santa Cruz, the previous month and the assumption of command by Alonso Perez de Guzman, the duke ofMedina Sidonia. On 19 March, a hundred Spaniards were reported to have landed in England and taken over a port near the border with Scotland. 8 The newsletter writer claimed the landing had occurred at a place called "Baldras". Whether or not the place intended was in fact Berwick-upon-Tweed or some other place makes little difference, since as far as we know the story was a pure invention. When the fleet finally came within sight of Dunkirk in the month ofJuly after a series of contretemps, Don Giovanni gathered the most accurate information he could.· and sent his detailed reports to the grand ducal court. One informer was a certain CaptainAlvise Morosini, who detoured away from the main fleet to recruit two Fleluish pilots for the approach to the coast. Based on this information, on 5 August, Giovanni expressed his doubts that the fleet could make the approach, considering the rough coastline, the irregular canal and the shifting shallows, although, as he reported on 7 For instance, consider an avviso in ASF, MdP, filza 3085, fo1. 294, Rome, 21 March 158J. This is the same as the avviso on fol. 392, except that it includes additional reports from Prague, 10 March and Venice, 28 March. Consider yet another avviso in the same filza, fol. 434, this one dated from Prague, 7 April 1587, which includes Venice, 25 April. The Prague report is same as in the avviso on fol. 426. 7 In general, Essen 1937, V (1585-1592); Graof 1995; Parker 1990 and 2002. For the more theoretical aspects: Gelderen 1992. 8 ASF, MdP, filza 3085, fol. 621. 6

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August, the Army of Flanders was ready to embark on rafts. The rapid succession of events soon overtook all preparations. On 12 August, Giovanni reported the famous chase along the coastline, with Francis Drake in hot pursuit of the fleet, which headed for the outer shores of the Orkneys, and a route that would take what was left of it down past the windward side ofIreland. As late as 3 September, a newsletter from another source in Antwerp unrelated to Don Giovanni gave an entirely different story. The Spanish had won a major battle against the English, it was said, and had actually landed on one of the Orkney Islands, called Hylandia - possibly a corruption of the word "Highlands", which is not an island, although there is an Orkney island called Hoy. "According to highly reliable sources," it went on, "the men were given provisions and other refreshments; and when word reached the king [James VI of Scotland] some say he decreed the death penalty for anyone who gave them anything." Hoping to regain the advantage, the newsletter continued, Francis Drake and the Admiral charles Lord Howard ofEffingham consulted with Qgeen Elizabeth. Eager for another engagement they had already embarked with 180 ships.9 A newsletter from Lyons dated 6September brought the story to a close: Drake was a prisoner and peace had been declared: "The Spanish Armada has landed in scotland in the province ofHeslanda, although previous news was that it was already returned to Spain; and they say it will winter in that ocean, and that the English had been more badly damaged than was previously reported; and many say that Drake the Englishman has been taken."lO At least among the avviso writers, wishful thinking (or even propaganda) had apparently gotten the upper hand. These were only a few examples of the more perplexing news arriving in Florence. Already at the end ofAugust, the grand ducal secretary Camillo Guidi remarked to Ferdinando de' Medici that many avvisi reported the successes of the Spanish armada, but with such contradictory information as to frustrate any attempt at discovering what truly took place. Newsletters accompanied by prints, written and published by a certain Bernardo de Mendoza, were particularly at fault, so it was said. In the first such newsletter, Mendoza reported a successful battle in the English channel and the capture of Francis Drake. However, after newsletters by other writers contradicted this version of the events, Mendoza wrote another avviso claiming the opposite. 11

ASF, Mdp, filza 3085, fol. 669. ASF, Mdp, filza 4851, fol. 101,6 September 1588: "Avisano (... ) che l' armata di Spagna ha tolto porto in Scotia nella provintia di Heslanda dove si pensava che fosse gia ritornata in Spagna; et si doveva invernare in quel mare, et che Inglesi havevano havuto piu danno che non era stato scritto, et voglano molti che il Drac [Francis Drake] Inglese sia preso, et che vi sia seguito disordine nella armata del duca di Parma, mentre si doveva mettersi in ordine per andar a congiongersi in quella di Spagna, la quale per quello danno, la lasciarano in pace la regina d'Inghilterra et forse in tanto succedera la pace che ella di nuovo ricerca dal duca di Parma; a lui ha mandato un primo suo barone per tal effetto con molti presenti." 11 ASF, Mdp, filza 4919, fol. 465, 31 August 1588: "Vanno tanto segrete etincerte come ogni altra cosa, le notizie di questa armata, che pare che nessuno si possa promettere di dirne la verita se non chi dica di non ne saper verid.. (... ) Prima si disse della vittoria per la parte nostra COS1 favorevole et fortunata come io scrissi con l' ordinario per lettera diXX. Et fu questa voce fondata su una relazione di Don Bernardo de Mendozza, il quale non solo ne scrisse, ma ne mando alcune stampe che sopra cia haveva fatto imprimere. Poi si pubblico che l'armata nostra

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Don Giovanni and anyone in Florence who read his detailed dispatches knew by this time that all had been lost. Giovanni's secret hope was for Philip II to remount the expedition; but this could not happen immediately. For a time, he despaired of seeing any military action in the 1588 season as a member ofAlessandro Farnese's entourage. The only thought that sustained him was that fear of disgrace would induce the feisty Farnese to try something risky. Sure enough, Farnese turned his attention to yet another enterprise, destined to enjoy somewhat less renown than the Spanish Armada: namely, the siege ofBergen op Zoom.

Art and Materials Brokerage, 1593-1604

But we will not follow Giovanni's actions as a soldier and informer at the siege of Bergen op Zoom. Instead, we shift to Don Giovanni's involvement in Hungary, during the wars between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Turks. Don Giovanni was on the scene in 1593, leading a troop ofTuscan soldiers, a full year before the arrival of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga ofMantua. His company defended Giavarino [Gy6r] on the road to Vienna and helped take Strigonia [Esztergom] and Visegrad (forty kilometres north of Budapest). And again in 1596, Giovanni accompanied the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria on a campaign to save the city ofKanissa [Nagykanisza]. In the midst of these campaigns Giovanni sponsored important visual representations of military affairs, to be delivered to princes and potentates. On behalf of the grand duke, he was to deliver a perspective drawing, by the hand ofhis own draftsman, Gabriele Ughi, of the seige of Strigonia, including specific details of the Catholic armies, requested by Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga. '3 We do not know whether the detailed drawing was to stand by itself as a memento of an occasion where Vincenzo had been present, or whether it was to serve as the basis for a painting of the same subject - a painting, for instance, more like those belonging to another commission dating to the same period, whereby Giovanni organised the delivery of representations of cities and 12

haveva pacificamente passato il Canale, et preso porto a Cales con havere veduto Drach [Francis Drake], et l' almirante inglese senz' alcun motivo loro, non che contrasto. Et questo presupposto con la verita degli altri scritti da me a V.A. per lettera di XXVII et in particolare di quello 11 oro in Franciall diede luogo a quelle considerazioni che in essa scrivevo. Ultimamente per due corrieri ci sono due avvisi uno del medesimo Don Bernardo dove si va moderando et limitando. L'altro del Principe d'Ascoli, del quale sendovi assai male nuove, se ne sono vedute copie difficilmente, et quelle poche con poco gusto di questo Cons.re di Guerra il quale si dice che per sopirle habbiano immediatamente fatto pubblicare piu prosperi avvisi della sconfitta di Drach, et dell'armata inglese, che sono piu desiderati, che creduti per molte ragioni, ch'io reputo superfluo numerare a V.A. ben informata d' ogni successo. Ben ho voluto mandarle le copie de detti avvisi accio vegga come qua si dicono et variano le cose." 12 On Duke Vincenzo's departure, ASF, Mdp, filza 4930, no pagination, 29 July 1595· 13 ASF, Mdp, filza 2942, no pagination, Carlo Gonzagadi Vescovado to Ferdinando I de' Medici, 25 April 1596: "La confidenza ch'io tengo nella cortesia di V.S. mi fa pigliar sicorta di pregarla a porgermi il favor suo perche, da un giovane che serve 0 serviva in Ongheria all'Ill.mo et Ecc.mo Sig.or Don Giovanni [de' Medici] per dissegnare, io habbia il dissegno [disegno] di Strigonia [Esztergom] in prospettiva prima dalla parte di ponente col nostro allogiamento et quello de' Turchi dalla parte di levante con la campagna dove erano li forti all' acqua et il monte dove erano li due forti et li allogiamenti de' cavalli valoni, et per terza dalla parte dell' isola di dove si batteva et di S. to Tomaso."

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battles (generically referred to as "piazze" in the documents), to Madama Christina and Grand Duke Ferdinando. One of these was almost certainly by Giambattista Naldini, a disciple ofPontormo who had died some three years before and whose widow was evidently engaged in selling off the considerable inventory. In the same correspondence, Don Giovanni recommended servants and acquaintances back in Florence to the grand duke for various positions. '4 The grand duke in turn at least went through the motions of responding to the insinuation, if this is what we can read into his recommendation ofGiovanni as the successor to Friedrich von Teufenbach, Archduke Maximilian's general in Hungary, recently deceased. Even in this matter, political considerations got in the way. When the grand duke discovered that Archduke Matthias had another favourite in mind for the post, rather than insisting, he withdrew his recomluendation and simply counselled Don Giovanni to continue playing the model soldier under his immediate superior, Count Charles de Mansfeld. 15 In 1597 Giovanni led the Tuscan contingent to occupy Chateau d'Ifin Provence on behalf of Henry IV of France. It was a delicate political manoeuver. Maria de' Medici, Giovanni's niece, was already a possible marriage candidate for Henry, in case the overtures in the direction of the future Philip III ofSpain came to nothing. 16 The mission in Provence consisted in preventing the Doria fleet and Savoy troops from taking Marseilles for the Catholic League, i.e. the Guise faction, or Spain. Yet the Medici dynasty was equally loath to embitter the Guise faction, with which it enjoyed good relations. Don Giovanni found himself deeply embroiled in a bitter struggle between rival claimants to the French throne, and contradictory interests of his family. The best he could hope to do was to exemplifjr model conduct in case ofattack, and ensure the safety and prosperity of the people of Marseilles in all circumstances. Ferdinando I demanded no less; while promoting good relations with the Guise faction by the gift of a painting in the name ofMadama Cristina, to be delivered naturally by Don Giovanni. '7 We do not know of what subject or by whom. 14 ASF, Mdp, filza 5154, fol. 202,9 August 1595: Giovanni de' Medici tells grand ducal secretary Belisario Vinta that he would be very gratified if Grand Duke Ferdinando I his half-brother should award his chaplain with a canonry. 15 ASF, Mdp, filza 5153, ins. 1, fol. 35, 3 June 1595= "Pare che l'ArciducaMattias favorisca molto poco l'Ecc.za V. et se il Marchese di Burgau [Karl von Habsburg] stia intonato et alienato tanto piu e necessario et conviene che V. Ecc.za procuri di star bene et di ristrignersi con il S. Conte Carlo di Mansfelt [Charles de MansfeldJ, impiegando in cia tutta la sua industria." 16 See for example ASF, Mdp, filza4925, fol. 375, 6 December 1597. 17 ASF, MdP, filza 5153, fol. 81, Ferdinando to Giovanni, 25 June 1597= "In Castel Dit vi ha da essere del grano abbondantissimo, et anco della polvere da potersene in questo mentre valere fin che arrivi il subsidio; et supplim. che se le invia conforme al tenore della alligata nota, tengo per sicuro che si sia livellato et ben squadrato il sito, che ella ha preso a fortificare; et havendolo fatto con consenso uniforme del consiglio, che ella ha, so che non si puo esser presso errore". Consider also, filza 5153, fol. 103, Ferdinando to Giovanni, 15 July 1597= "Mi e piaciuto il modo che ha tenuto V. E. nel fare la tregua con esser stato il duca di Guisa [Charles de Lorraine] et la villa che l'hanno chiesta et essendosi fatta con molta reputatione della banda di lei; et attendendo ella in tanto a far lavorare et fornire tutta la fortificatione nuova; si come ancora mi e piaciuto il modo che ella ha tenuto nei trattamenti con don Pietro de Leiva, et che la gli habbia lasciato vedere il forte et il porto, accio che in Spagna possa referire in che stima meritino di esser tenuti, et che V. Ecc.za non si sia valsa delle sue genti ne di alcuna cosa sua per assicurar Guisa et Marsilia dalloro vane sospetto (... ) Madama [Christina] manda la tela che mancava perche

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In 1602 Giovanni returned to Flanders under Archduke Albrecht. The archduke focused his efforts on the port of Ostend. Already well under way when Don Giovanni arrived' the siege was to be protracted over four years, ending in 1604 in a fit of mutual exhaustion of the belligerents. In the midst of the siege Giovanni took time out to order typical pieces of black Flemish marble from Dinant for construction of the Cappella dei Principi. 18 Giovanni's involvement in the chapel project had begun some time between 1601 and 1602, just when Grand Duke Ferdinando began to take serious interest in it. The structure was originally conceived by Cosimo I as the most sumptuous and representative mausoleum of any living dynasty. Giorgio Vasari, Cosimo's chief architect, was entrusted with putting ideas on paper. In those days plans for the Cappella were as eagerly sought by Philip ll, dreaming of the mausoleum of the Escorial, as Philip ll's plans were sought in Florence. But nothing was done right away, and Vasari died in 1574. By Giovanni's time the project had practically been abandoned, and Vasari's plan was no longer fashionable. By the time the opportunity for the Cappella design came along, Giovanni had already shown his abilities as a military architect in Florence and in Leghorn. He mostly worked in collaboration with Bernardo Buontalenti, one ofFerdinando's master architects, who was also probably Giovanni's instructor in the finer points ofthe craft. At the appropriate moment, Ferdinando apparently asked both Giovanni de' Medici and Buontalenti to submit designs for the chapel. When Ferdinando found Giovanni's design to be particularly appealing, in good Florentine fashion he formed a jury of eleven artists and held a competition to decide the winner; and Giovanni won. While the actual construction was assigned to the architect Matteo Nigetti in Florence, Giovanni, now in Flanders, would help procure materials. To a local master marble cutter he would relay the specifications of the architect regarding qualities, sizes and quantities of pieces, along with the amount of money the grand ducal chancery was willing to pay. Finding a master who was willing to move about in wartime between Liege and Antwerp, the most dangerous part ofthe country, turned out to be less difficult than might have been imagined. Giovanni was fortunate to locate an Italian, one Ruberto di Nola, who had already supplied materials for the Flemish monuments designed to accomodate the families of Archduke Albrecht, sovereign ruler of the

la si mandi al duca di Guisa accio che volendo caminare con quello amore et sincerira. che ha affermato non manchi da una bagattella come questa." 18 On the siege ofOs tend: Thomas 2004. ASF, Mdp, filza5155, fol. 401, Cosimo Baroncelli to Marcello degliAccolti, 28 March 1603: "Qganto ai marmi neri che S. A. [Ferdinando I de' Medici] desidera per la cappella di San Lorenzo, si cavano come per altra credo havere scritto nel paese di Liegi vicino alla Mosa, se ne troverranno di tutte le grandezze e grossezze, e di ciascuna quantira. secondo le quali si regola il prezzo, e havendo io in questo punto parlato con uno che hebbe la cura di far in Brusselles la sepoltura del Ser.mo Ernest, che e fatta de predetti marmi neri, esso se S. A. comandera andra. a fargli cavare accio tanto meglio resti servita, e havendo io pur voluto sapere appresso a poco il prezzo di essi, e figuratogli quel che costera. appresso, a poco un prezzo de' piu belli di grandezza di un alla quadra per ogni verso che e un braccio, e un terzo a nostra usanza di grossezza un piede geometrico, mi dice che costera condotta fino dentro alla barca intorno a tre scudi di nostra moneta, di minor grossezza poi, tanto manco secondo la proporzione."

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Spanish Netherlands, and his subordinate Philippe de Cro)" Duke ofAarschot. '9 N igetti specified 730-odd pieces of various sizes, ranging from 1Xto 1){ braccia long, and Xbraccia thick, totaling roughly 2,000 braccia quadri in all. There was some haggling over the price. Ruberto di Nola offered to do the job for four fiorini persbraccio quadro, which Giovanni was able to work down to three florins and change. 2o Samples, polished to render an idea of the final product, were sent down to Florence in November 1604." All that remained was to organise transportation to Florence in the midst of the Dutch blockade of Flemish ports, and taxes on business with Holland amounting to up to thirty percent of the value ofgoods. Don Giovanni made use of his acquaintance with a Dutch merchant named Isaac ius in Amsterdam, master of the subtleties of the situation. Don Giovanni's agents would send the material to Lus, who in turn would load it on boats bound for Leghorn, Florence's free port. At least this chapter in the chapel's complex history seemed close to a conclusion, with the decisive stamp ofDon Giovanni's personal intervention. ofcourse, the materials Don Giovanni sent to Florence took on a life oftheir own, be22

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coming part of the Medici store of exchangeable commodities. Already in July 1604 Ferdinando I was having some ofthe marble pieces acquired for the mausoleum project reworked into an ornate coat of arms, decorated with amethist, topaz, lapis lazuli, jasper, and other precious stones, to be installed in the chapel in the church ofSan Pablo in Valladolid belonging to the Duke ofLerma, the favourite ofphilip Ill. Still more pieces were incorporated into a large table or slab in lapis lazuli for presentation to Don Pedro AIvarez de Toledo, with the coat-of-arms of the Countess ofLemos in the center. At the same time, Ferdinando expressed his willingness to lend the talents of his sculptor Giambologna for a fountain project. 24 Once again, Don Giovanni became the unwilling (and unwitting) intermediary in the complex Medici game ofrivalry for Spanish favour.

23

19 ASF, MdP, filza 5157, fo1. 183, Cosimo Baroncelli to Belisario Vinta, 15 July 1604: "Ho fatto venir qui d'Anversa un maestro che continovamente cava di quei marmi neri che S. A S. vole che si faccino cavare per la sua cappella, et a V. S. mando un poco di informazione delluogo dove si cavano, come si possano mandar costa et quanto costeranno, che e il prezzo medesimo che il maestro afferma che gli e stato pagato dalle finanze di questo SeLmo e dal Duca di Arescot, che ne ha fatti cavar assai per far sepolcri de sua antepassati, et perche il maestro non voleva venir qua, si per il risico di esser preso da nemici, come per la spesa del venire, et del ritomo, io per parlargli a bocca et per informarmi tanto meglio gli ho promesso che caso che non si conchiudessi il partito di far cavar a lui le sopradette pietre, io gli faro buono le sue spese Adel viaggio di qui a AnversaA che importeranno intomo a una dozzina di filippi." 20 ASF, Mdp, filza5157, fo1. 265, Cosimo Baroncelli to Belisario Vinta, 29 September 1604: "Q9.esto maestro che cava i marmi neri ha visto la quantita e qualita che bisognano per servizio della cappella del Ser.mo Granduca di Toscana [Ferdinando I], e ne caved tanta quantita in tanci pezzi secondo le misure che ha mandato maestro Matteo [Nigetti], che faranno il numero delle braccia che si ricercano, e condotti dalluogo dove si cavano a tutte sua spese di porto e di gabella e di qual si voglia altra cosa fino in Amsterdam in mano a Isach Lus non ne ha voluto menD di quattro fiomi del braccio quadro fiorentino intendendo quadro solamente per lunghezza e larghezza gia che della grossezza non fa Maestro Matteo conto alcuno, e si e accordato di dargli il prezzo sopradetto perche gli operai della Chiesa Mayre di questa Villa d'Anversa mi assicurano non essere prezzo stravagante, e mi hanno mostrato i libri che loro glielo pagano della qualita che sad questo di bel nero uguale, e senza vene tre fiorini il piede d'Anversa che e mezzo braccio di nostra misura e se bene s'intende il piede quadro di lunghezza larghezza e grossezza che verrebbe a ragione di sei fiorini il braccio fiorentino pigliandolo quadro solamente per lunghezza e larghezza, a quattro fiorini mi e parso prezzo honesto, e cosllo caved, come io gli dia la meta de' danari che a un dispresso saranno settecento fiorini e 1'altra meta se gli dara quando havd consegnati i marmi in Amsterdam e cosl ho accordato e promesso. Il fiorino s'intende di reali 0 giuli quattro per fiorino." 21 ASF, Mdp, filza 5157, fo1. 277, Cosimo Baroncelli to Belisario Vinta, 12 November 16°4: "Mando a V. S. per via di Milano uno scatolino nel quale e dento un pezzo di manno nero dell'istessa qualita che saranno quelli che si cavano per S. A, et il maestro stesso che gli cava (... ) ha portato per saggio, et io glie 1'ho fatto pulire e nettare accio S. A SeLma possa vedere come saranno tutti gli altri pezzi che costa poi si faranno pulire e lisciare, e tutti verranno come questa piccola mostra, et havendo consegnato 10 scatolino qui a Vergani, mi hanno promesso di mandarlo a Milano a loro corrispondenti che 10 faranno haver costl, a Antonio del Rosso." 22 ASF, Mdp, filza5155, fo1. 390, Cosimo Baroncelli to Marcello degliAccolci, 19 March 1603: "Adesso doppo queste imposizioni di trenta percento messi dai re di Spagna e di Francia non si puo cavar di qui cosa alcuna per Olanda". 23 ASF, MdP, filza 5157, fo1. 240, Cosimo Baroncelli to Belisario Vinta, 10 September 1604: "Havendo (... ) ricevuto l'informazione per conto de marmi neri saro domani con il maestro e gli ordinero che subito dia mano a fargli cavare et si manderanno in Amsterdam a Isach Lus, il quale quando scrivera perche se li facci havere passaporto da questa Altezza [Albrecht von Habsburg] per poter mandare sue navi a Livomo si fara prontamente."

Battle Paintings for Artimino

Perhaps the most revealing episode in the story of Giovanni' s career as an intermediary for Medici art patronage concerns a set ofbattle paintings, now lost. The commission occurred as a direct result of Giovanni' s descriptions of the Flanders wars, and in particular, of the siege of Os tend. In late 1602, when the seige was just getting under way, Ferdinando wrote to his younger brother to express appreciation for the precious information delivered so far, remarking on "how prudently he discusses these matters, and especially the siege, all of which I was glad to hear."25 In the same letter the grand duke conveyed a curious request. While Giovanni was passing the winter in those parts, 24 ASF, MdP, filza 4936, fo1. 185, Ferdinando I to Orazio della Rena in Valladolid, 7 July 1604: "L' arme per la cappella del S.r Duca di Lerma [Francisco Gomez de Sandoval Rojas y Borja] sad. alla fine di questo mese finite del tutto. Et andando di pezzi non si e potuto farla con piu prestezza ancorche Ala sua lavorataA da una dozina d'huomini et i lioni che vi vanno SI confatti di rilievo d' un pezo d' amacista per ciascuno et il fondo turchino si e fatto di lapis lazuli e tutto il resto di diaspri et pietre belle. Et speriamo che 1'habbia a riuscire in maniera da sodisfare, et se bene ci pare che la si sia fatta in troppo lungo tempo, conosciamo pero che altrove che qui, non ci sarebbe fatta in un paro d'anni. Et se non havessimo havute le pietre pronte che havevamo fatte venire di lontanissimi paesi con molte altre per la nostra cappella ci sarebbe bisognato molto piu lungo tempo a condurla (...) Et quanto ad un altra fonte per il giardino del sudetto Sig. Duca [de Lerma] che il suo architetto vi ha detto, che havesse ordinato di fame comprare una simile, se si fusse potuto trovare. Noi habbiamo ardire di dirvi che senza dubbio non se ne trovera una come quella fatta per mano del Cav. Gio. Bologna, che e hoggi il migliore scultore che sia nel mondo. Et pero 1'habbiamo fatto chiamare, et ci ha detto che e pronto a fare un' altra statua della medesima misura et bellezza di quella [la fontana di Sans one] in un anno, ma vorrebbe bene mutare invencione per non parere d'haver imitate quella, et rappresentare Anella statuaA quello che di costa gustera piu all' duca. (... ) Et intanto si fara cavare il marmo per detta statua et senza perder tempo si fad lavorare il pilo della fontana (... ) Farete sapere al Sig.r Don pietro di Tolledo [Pedro Alvarez de Toledo] che la tavola che si fece fare per lui commessa di lapis lazuli si trova in Alicante (... ) Et nel mezo di detta tavola sta commessa l' arme della Contessa di Lemmos [Catalina Sandoval Rojas y Borja]." 25 ASF, Mdp, filza 5153, ins. 2, fo1. 25, undated but datable to the end of 1602: "Potd V. E. andare scoprendo il paese di man in mano, et ragguagliarmi di quell 0 che passi, che molto volentieri m'impieghero sempre per ogni suo benefitio, et honore; ho di poi ricevuto questa settimana l' altra sua de 23 del passato con il disegno de salsiccioni comciati per riempire il fossa; et quanto prudentemente ella ne discorre sopra essi, et sopra quell' assedio; che tutto m'e piaciuto sentire. (... ) Mentre che V. E. svemera in Anversa, haro caro, che ella mi faccia fare in quadro grande, simile alle tele che si fanno ordinariamente costa, da qualche buon pittore, l' assedio d' Ostende, et quel10 di Grave con quattro 0 sei altri quadri di paesi, 0, altro, per mettere alIa mia Villa Ferdinanda, che £1.ro ordinare costl alli Ximenes, che paghino tutta la spesa."

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with the battle season in abeyance, he might hire someone to paint the siege ofOs tend, along with that of Grave, also currently under way, ((with four or six other paintings of cities or other [subjects]". The style was to be "similar to the canvasses ordinarily made there;" the author was to be "some good painter". The finished paintings were to hang in Ferdinando's new villa at Artimino in some appropriate context. The Ximenes family, clients of the Medici, were footing the bill. As the weeks passed, the commission for the Artimino battle paintings took more definite form. By 10 January 1603 the matter had been referred as usual to the grand duke's secretary Marcello degli Accolti, although Ferdinando always took a lively personal interest. Don Giovanni was to supply not just a few scenes, but seventeen of them. They were to be in the shape oflunettes, of a definite size: 4 braccia across and 2 1/3 braccia high. In them, so the grand duke specified, there should be '(painted with joy and with gracious colours, various military enterprises, and various armed engagements, that have occurred."26 No historical time or place was indicated for the stories represented; finding an appropriate painter was up to Don Giovanni, and materials were the painter's choice. The price was not to exceed 200 scudi for the lot - roughly the price of a good tapestry. 27 Ferdinando's anxiety to get his paintings increased as time went on. In February 1603 he reminded Giovanni about his wishes; and Giovanni responded with whatever assurances he could give. 28 Seventeen paintings, after all, was no small job, even for a fast worker with no other jobs at hand. By 25 June 1603 the paintings were finished and ready for transportation, en bloc, down to Florence. The size of the shipment seemed to suggest a sea route rather than a land route. The usual itinerary via Isaac Lus in Amsterdam was chosen, but the inconveniences ofwarfare delayed things until the following year. Finally in April 1604 Giovanni could report that the paintings had been sent to Amsterdam and would be loaded within a few days on board a ship bound for Leghorn. 29 Consignment in Florence would be to Matteo di Terenzio, who would pass the objects on to the Guardaroba Generale, Vincenzo Giugni. 30 By the end ofJuly the paintings were in Florence, as Baroncelli reported with an almost audible sigh of relief3 Soon they were on the walls at Artimino. 1

26 ASF, Mdp, filza 5153, ins. 2, fo1. 39, Ferdinando to Giovanni, 2 February 1603. 27 ASF, MdP, filza 5155, fo1. 127, Giovanni to Ferdinando, 10 January 1602: "Trovo una [letteraJ dell'Accolti

[PietroJ suo seg.rio nelIa quale mi scrive, che ella desidera che io gli faccia far qua qlunette dove sia dentro dipinto con colori alIegri diverse battaglie e imprese di guerra secondo la nota mandatami, e che fino alIa somma di 200 scudi, che per tale effetto dice che mi rimettera qua il suo depositario, io spenda nelIe predette lunette e altre pitture, il che io faro e procurero, che sia servita a sua satisfazione, e come sieno fatti gli inviero al suo guardaroba per la condotta ordinaria." 28 ASF, Mdp, filza 5153, fo1. 39, Ferdinando to Giovanni, 2 February 1603. 29 ASF, MdP, filza 5157, fo1. 78, Giovanni to Ferdinando, 9 April 1604: "Ho mandato in Olanda il restante delle pitture che ho fatte fare per V. A., e Isach Lus scrive che fra pochi giorni le mandera a Livorno con una nave diAmsterdam che partira a quella volta." 30 ASF, Mdp, filza 5157, fo1. 95, Cosimo Baroncelli to Marcello degliAccolti, 9 April 1604: "Si ordinato al detto Isach [LusJ che facci consegnare esse pitture e modello a Matteo di Terenzio che fara pervenire il tutto in mano alSig. [VincenzoJ Giugni."

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plaster model of the siege ofOs tend in the year 1604, made to specifications ofGiovanni de' Medici. Museo di San Marco (inv.no. 713), Florence.

Concerning the production of the paintings, all we know is that there was one artist (or, one artist directing the project), and he was not the same as the one who painted the seven paintings for the widow Pignatta, previously married to Biagio Pignatta, prior of the wool guild. So Baroncelli noted to Accolti, in expressing his satisfaction about the painter's comparatively modest demands. 32 We also know that all seventeen paintings were completed in Flanders. Besides Rubens, who apart from his high cost, happened to be absent from Antwerp at the time of the commissions, there were many other Flemings working in the sector of battle paintings. Don Giovanni could have heard about them from Rubens himself when both men were present at the festivities for Maria de' Medici in Florence and in Artimino in 1600, which Giovanni played a significant role in preparing. 33 He would have been well aware that quality varied enormously, as did technique and materials. Jan Snellinck, known to the scholarship as one of the originators of the genre, most probably worked with the relatively fragile technique of tempera on wood, which may be one reason why none of his paintings in this genre is known to have survived. 34 Our paintings, in all probability, were on canvas, although, as we have seen, they were described as having been in tempera. ASF, MdP, filza 5157, fo1. 205, Cosimo BaroncelIi to MarcelIo degliAccolti, 29 July 1604. ASF, MdP, filza 5155, fo1. 381, Cosimo Baroncelli to Marcello degliAccolti, 14 March 1603: "QIello che fa le lunette per S. A. si contentato di 52 giulii all'una." 33 Berti 1983, p. 17· C£ Marchi 1983, p. 92, and Millen 1983, p. 123. 34 Faggin 1968, chapter 5· 31 32

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Two of the subjects of the battle scenes are known: the siege ofOs tend and the siege of Grave. A third painting must certainly have depicted the siege ofBergen op Zoom, about which, as we have seen, Ferdinando so warmly praised the descriptions sent to him by Don Giovanni, present on the field in 1588. The rest are a matter df conj ecture. The paintings disappear from the inventories and indeed, apparently, from existence, after the villa was sold to the Bartolommei family in 1781.

The Antwerp News

Meanwhile, back in Flanders, to keep the Medici informed about his situation (and remind them of his fidelity), Don Giovanni continued his frequent and detailed reports on the progress of the siege of Ostend. Description was rendered all the more challenging by the presence of a radically new contraption devised by the Roman engineer Pompeo Targone, incorporating a moving turret and several cannons for breaking a wall. 35 In fact, when Don Giovanni sent his first drawing of the contraption to Ferdinando I, the latter responded that he had no idea what Don Giovanni was intending to convey.3 6 Eventually Giovanni included an actual scale model of the stronghold of Ostend, made according to his instructions by his draftsman Gabriele U ghi. Marshland was carefully distinguished from dry land by colour and elevation. The various outworks were indicated, along with the trenches and fortifications of the besiegers. Roughly one meter by 80 centimeter, and constructed of various materials including wood and plaster, the model now hangs on the wall in the Director's office of the Museum ofSan Marco. It stands as a fitting tribute to an age when warfare was an aesthetic as well as a political matter. And of an age when a disastrous retreat, especially by the enemy, had a beauty quite apart from the material considerations: ((Arriving at the platform with His Highness, from the highest point we saw the enemy's retreat", that is, from Ostend, "a thing well worth seeing, as it was carried out with such elegance and regularity that it seemed to be painted."37 As the siege progressed, gaining accurate information was as difficult for Giovanni, who was in the midst of the fray, as it was for his half-brother the grand duke - simply because he could not be in every corner of the battlefield at onceY "Matters here, as far 35 ASF, Mdp, filza5155, fo1. 499, 3 July 1603: "t fabbricatasopra barche che, a altamarea si spigneranno alla volta del canak. Ha forma di rino, e il diametro dove ha da stare la soldatesca resta trentasette piedi, e ha 10 spazio predetto e la sua contrascarpa sara. trentacinque piedi, Ultto ripieno di salcicce che reggiera alla botta del cannone; l' altra parte che guarda verso il mare non e COS1 ripiena, ma e di legniame, e vi sadt sopra sei pezzi di cannone che tirrerranno alle barche che volessin venire, ma prima che sia messa insieme ci andra ancora qualche giorno." 36 ASF, Mdp, filza 5153, ins. 2, fo1. 69, 10 January 1603, Ferdinando to Giovanni: "Qganto a quella machina del Ponte del [Pompeo] Targone non vi bisognava punto menD che mandarne il duplicato, perche quel primo disegno si durava una gran fatica a capirlo." 37 ASF, Mdp, filza 5157, fo1. 120, Giovanni to Ferdinando, 27 May 1604: "Arrivato COS1 con S. A. alla piattaforma dalla sommita di essa si vedde la ritirata fatta dall'inimico, la quale certo cosa degna di esser vista essendo fatta con tanta pulitezza, et tanto ben finita che par dipinta." 38 ASF, MdP, filza 5157, fo1. 243, 14 September 1604.

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as I can see, are conveyed with (...) passion and partiality", he noted; yet "it seems reasonable that Your Highness should know the truth about every detail." He committed himself to communicating only what he was able to verity: "I assure you that what I write I have seen myself or have received on report from disinterested persons whom I trust". His narrative strategy, in order to confirm the veracity of his accounts, was to delve into the most minute details: "Your Highness should not be amazed ifI bore you with so many particulars." To ensure a constant supply of material to communicate to the grand duke, Don Giovanni organised friends and acquaintances, including the field marshal Lodovico Melzi, into a veritable news bureau for producing the typically anonymous avvisi of Antwerp that now appear in the volumes of his correpondence in the big round unmistakable hand ofhis faithful amenuensis, Cosimo Baroncelli. 39 He explained the pattern of composition thus: "Your Highness will find the news about Os tend in the accompanying sheet, which is compiled from various letters that Cav. Melzi and other friends are constantly writing to me". And so the news continued throughout 1604. In his own dispatches to the Medici court, Don Giovanni simply paraphrased the avviso he sent accompanying his own letter. Just one example, where the wording is almost identical: Antwerp avviso: The enemy, taking the opportunity of a fair that was being held in ArIon, in the country of Luxemburg, sent about 40 footsoldiers and horse dressed as peasants, and well armed underneath, who took the portal; and in an instant there appeared four hundred horse who entered and sacked whatever there was, and took as prisoners about thirty of the principal townsmen in the city and it was, so they say, the greatest booty ever taken in these parts. 40

Don Giovanni dispatch: As far as the news of these parts are concerned, I can only tell you that the enemy taking the opportunity of a fair that was being held in ArIon, in the country of Luxemburg, sent about 50 soldiers dressed as peasants, with good arms underneath, to take the portal ofthe town; and with four hundred horse entered and sacked everything, and besides taking the greatest booty ever taken in these parts, took as prisoners as about thirty of the principal townsmen who will pay the ransom for themselves and everyone else who remained. 41

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39 ASF, Mdp, filza 5157, fo1. 99,23 April 1604: "Le nuove di Ostenden le vedra V. A. nell'aggiunto foglio che cavato da piu lettere che il eav. Melzi et altri amici mi scrivono di la conrinovamente; ne piu di questo saprei dirle cosa alcuna poi che non si ragiona d' altro che di quest' espugnazione, la quale va veramente a buon cammino." 40 ASF, MdP, filza 4256, 18 November 1604: "Il nemico presa it tempo d' una fiera che si faceva in Arlon nel paese di Luzemburgh manda circa 40 ha a piedi et a cavallo vestiti da villani e bon armati sotto i quali presero la porta e in un istante comparsero quattrocento cavalli che entrorno dentro e sacheggiorno e svaligiorno, quanto vi era, e presero prigioni circa a 30 dei principali borgesi della vialla et stato dicono il maggior bottino che gia mai si sia fatto in questa parte." 41 ASF, Mdp, filza 5157, fo1. 279, 18 November 1604: "Qganto a nuove di queste parti posso sol dirle come, il nemico preso il tempo di una fiera che si faceva in Arlon nel paese di Luzenburghi manda cinquanta soldati vestiti da villano con buon arme soto a pigliar la porta delle villa e con 400 cavalli entra poi dentro e svaligia e saccheggia ogni cosa e hanno fatto un de maggiot bottini e de piu ricchi che se sia fatto da un tempo in qua in questi paesi. et oltre alla preda delle robbe migliori che erano in quelle villa hanno condotto prigioni una trentina di quei borgesi principali che pagheranno la ranzone per loro e tutti gli altri che sono restati."

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Sometimes he made last-minute handwritten corrections to the avvisi himself, which were also reported in the dispatch (although, as we see below, leaving certain equivocations to be resolved by the reader): Antwerp avvLso:

Don Giovanni dispatch:

11 giorno de 27 pard l'Arciduca e l'Infanta di Bruselles per la volta di Gantes dove si verned, l'infanta e l'arciduca agevolmente si avanzed, verso l'Inclusa 0 forse verso Ostenden per dubbio che il nemico non vadia a soccorrere quella piazza essendo sbarcato nell'Isola di Cassante e per opporsegli e impedirgli il suo disegno si son cavati tutti i presidii che erano nelle guarnigioni di M:a:'lf:fteft, Rommond, £t:rate; GheHef e \!enl.~, che saranno in tutto circa a 5m soldati, e con questi e con 12m paisani e con la cavalleria d'huomini d'arme, si potrebbe forse far qualcosa di buono. 42

Hebbi un lacche di Brusselles con nuova che l'Arciduca inteso 10 sbarco del nimico in Fiandra nell'Isola di Cassante [Cadzand] si moveva il giorno appresso con la Ser.ma Infanta per la volta di Gantes, dove si fermed l'Infanta; e S. A. si trasferid, 0 a Ostenden 0 all'Inclusa [Sluis], dove si vedd che il nemico si volti (... ) Per opporsi al nemico si e cavato tutta la gente che era ne' presidi di Erental [Herentals], Ma:'lf:fteft GheHef Scnd:e e Venle che in tutto saranno circa a 5m fanti e con questi e con 12m villani e con la cavalleria degli huomini d'arme del paese e con la leggiera che ci e che arrived, vicino a mille cavalli si veddt di impedire i disegni delnemicoY

kering and of the information confirmed the quality of the individual, not vice-versa. 45 And whether accurate or not, the Medici had the best. Although this was not the only reason why the grand duchy was able to endure, and even to secure precedence over Mantua and Savoy in the ceremonial protocol of the tilne, nonetheless it was an important feature that deserves our attention. But the story does not end here. As an art and information broker; Don Giovanni was no more able to secure his fortunes in Florence than he was by any ofhis other activities. He ended his career not in Florence but as a general of the Venetian forces in Friuli. At his death, while the Venetian government ordered a state funeral and repeatedly requested the transfer of the remains to Florence without success, at the same time, the Medici government ordered Giovanni's marriage to be annulled, his son disinherited, and his property to be conferred upon Cosimo II's incapacitated brother Lorenzo. The dangerous fissure ofillegitimacy opened up by Cosimo I and exemplified by Giovanni and other natural offspring, was thus officially closed and would remain so for the duration of the dynasty.

Did Don Giovanni in fact dictate the contents of the newsletters taken down in Baroncelli's hand, basing himself on what the members of the news bureau were whispering in his ear? Indeed, was Giovanni in effect the author of these newsletters? If so, he would not be the only princely ghostwriter personally involved in the early information media, supposing we believe, for instance, that Louis XIII actually authored some stories published later in the Gazette de Paris. 44 However, ifour hypothesis is correct, Giovanni would have been the only Italian of his rank to be involved in the newsletter business. How many copies were made of the Antwerp newsletter? None others besides the Medici copies so far have surfaced; but this research has only just begun. There is no telling what Melzi and his associates might have done with the material they helped to produce. We must imagine that Don Giovanni was no more able to seal the precincts of his secretariat than were the many ambassadors to foreign courts, which elsewhere gave rise to a lively cottage industry merchandising diplomatic dispatches and reports and the newsletters based on them. One thing is certain. Information and brokering played an overwhelming role in the political economy of the early modern state of Tuscany. They bound Grand Duke Ferdinando I not only to his own territory but to his web of influences throughout Europe; they bound Don Giovanni de' Medici to his brothers. The quality of the bro-

ASF, Mdp, filza 4256, fo1. 270,28 April 1604. ASF, Mdp, filza 5157, fo1. 100,28 April 1604. 44 Solomon 197 2, p. 149·

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42 43

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Shapin 1994. But e£ Feingold 1996.

MARIKA KEBLUSEK

Book Agents INTERMEDIARIES IN THE EARLY MODERN WORLD OF BOOKS*

In his theoretical treatise on ideal librarianship, The REformed Librarie-Keeper (1650), John Dury employed a remarkable metaphor throughout.' Even in the first few paragraphs, he used terms like "profit", "gain" and "credit", and these allusions to the world of trade and economics only become more apparent as his text unfolds. In Dury's view, librarians should be considered as "Agents for the advancement of universal Learning" (p. 17); as "Factor[s] and Trader[s] for helps to Learning" (p. 18); descriptions whichsimilarly refer to crucial notions in early modern trade practices. A library catalogue, Dury asserted, should function as a "stock" list of the "Magazin" of books. This stock could (indeed, should) be added to by means of trading and bartering books and information; therefore, one of the librarian's main resposibilities was the establishment of a network of" correspondents" both at home and abroad, who would keep him informed of the latest bibliographical news and who whould send him books to replenish the stock. Dury's persistent use of metaphors of trade has been noticed by historians, who, for the most part, have seen it as a failed exercise in rhetorics - as an "obsessive" metaphor which only served to weaken his argumene They have missed the point. Dury did not mean to liken the world of books and knowledge to the world of trade - he knew they intersected and overlapped at crucial points. We should understand his particular terminology in the context of the refonnative ideas on the distribution of knowledge and information which were formulated in England in the 1650S, notably in the influential Hartlib circle. A Scottish theologian, John Dury (1596-1680) worked closely with Samuel Hartlib, a German merchant residing in England, in formulating an ambitious intellectual and religious programme of reform. Together, they wrote several treatises in which they revealed their ideas on the reformation of science, trade, agriculture, education and industry - to name but a few subj ects. Dury's efforts concentrated mainly on the reunion of the protestant churches and it was this ideal which informed his travels to European courts, churches and universities. In Hartlib's view, the exchange

* This essay is an adaptation ofKeblusek 2004. 1 2

Dury 1650. A notable exception: Bepler 1998.

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ofinformation was a deciding factor in universal reform, a process in which libraries (in their quality as warehouses ofknowledgeJ played a crucial role. Hartlib's and Dury's expectations of refonn took shape in this ideological, protestant context. Referring to contemporary trade practices was an obvious thing for Dury to do (as in the Riformed Librarie-KeeperJ, since they functioned within his milieu as a practical model for utopian ideas on the exchange ofinformation. 3 Agents, factors and correspondents were essential figures in early modern international trade. Business houses and merchants working overseas relied on local agents as their exclusive representatives. Factors, also operating locally, often had several clients at the same time. The choice of a specific agent or factor was based on such crucial notions as family relationships, or familiarity with local (tradeJ customs and with the economic, geographical and political situation of that locality. The ability to gather, sort and transmit trustworthy economic and political information was the agent's core business, while his facility in establishing a reliable network of correspondents was a prerequisite. 4 Thus, to Dury and Hartlib cumsuis, the organisation ofinternational trade was an appropriate model for the distribution of knowledge and books, whether or not from a commercial perspective. In fact, the Rifomed Librarie-Keeper perhaps not so much described an utopian view as it referred to general trade practices which were quite common in the international distribution ofbooks as well. A pioneering 1950S survey of the geographical distribution of books printed in the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries revealed that copies were widely available all over Europe. 5 As we know, many Dutch printers and publishers aimed at an international market by producing books in all European languages as well as in Latin, the lingua franca. Yet they could only achieve this wide geographical reach because of their involvement and cooperation with Dutch merchant communities, making use oflong existing trade routes. Along the way, agents and factors and other intermediaries formed a crucial chain in the distribution ofbooks in Europe, and beyond. However, a systematic analysis of their activities and an assessment of their role have so far never been attempted. Booksellers and publishers maintained contact with colleagues abroad in a variety of ways. The international book fairs in France and Germany were regular meeting points for anyone active in the world of books. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the spring and autumn fairs in both Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main were by far the most important centres of the international trade. In specially printed fair cat-

alogues, recently published titles were announced, including books by publishers who could not attend the fairs in person. Travelling to the fairs was expensive and time-consuming, which implied that only wealthier merchants could afford to make the trip. On the other hand, booksellers and publishers whose books were not included in the catalogues still assembled at the fair - to catch up with colleagues, to exchange the latest news, and of course to buy books for themselves or for those who had stayed at home. 6 For booksellers on business trips, the Buchmesse was a convenient stop. John Bill, a London stationer, travelled through Europe as an agent in 1602 and 1603, turning up in Frankfurt every six months. In later years, he would advertise and sell his own books there, while in 1617, and again in 1628, he published the English edition ofthe fair catalogue. Between 1660 and 1663 pieter Blaeu toured through Europe on behalf ofhis father Joan, every six months stopping in Frankfurt where the Amsterdam firm had set up its own shop. Pieter's travels were almost continuous: after the 1661 fair, for example, he briefly returned to Amsterdam, but a month later he was back on the road, tracing a circular route from Paris, Lyon and the Swiss territories back to Frankfurt. This professional grand tour served to maintain business contacts between the Amsterdam firm and fellow publishers in France and Italy.7 Similarly, the famous Elsevier firm could boast an international trade policy. Louis and Johannes Elsevier paid numerous visits to Denmark in the 1630S. Johannes in particular travelled continuously between Leiden and Paris in the 1640S, selling books to and buying from colleagues abroad. Around 1650 Daniel Elsevier was present at the Stockholm book fair and in later years he could regularly be found in England. 8 The international network of the Elsevier firm can be reconstructed in part from the 1681 estate inventory of Daniel, containing the names of 33 English, 45 French, 44 German, 11 Scandinavian and 22 Flemish colleagues who owed him money, undoubtedly for books delivered and not yet paid for.9 Furthermore, the Elsevier firm had established branches in Frankfurt, Paris, Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Geneva. In the 1630S a shop was rented in the Copenhagen Exchange and in Stockholm. Johannes Janssonius, another Amsterdam publisher with strong international interests, had also set up shop in Stockholm and never missed the Frankfurt fairs. Because booksellers and publishers could not always be present in person themselves, they also used professional representatives: family members - as in the case of the Elsevier and Blaeu firm - or (formerJ trainees and assistants, who often originated from abroad. Johannes Janssonius sent his "servant" Tobias Reefeld on a business trip to the German states, while his shop assistants Jean Beuns and Christopher Talizsch 10

6

Houghton 1941. The trade metaphor (factors and correspondents) was later used by Thomas Sprat in his description of the Royal Society's organisation (cited by Houghton, p. 48). For the influence of Bacon (" advancement oflearning") on the Hartlib circle: Clucas 1994. 4 Tielhof 2002, esp. chapter 5: 'Information and agency'. On the role ofAmsterdam as a centre of communication: Lesger 2001, esp. chapter 6. Recently, Jan Willem Veluwenkamp, Eric Wijnroks, Oscar Gelderblom and Marie-Christine Engels published on the networks of Dutch merchants in Archangel, Russia, Amsterdam, Leghorn and Genoa. A classic study on trade organisation is Brulez 1959. 5 Davies 195 2- 1954. 3

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For John Bill's acquisitions in Frankfurt on behalf of the Bodleian Library, see Wheeler 1926, pp. 23,72,83,

108 and 112. In 1659, the Hague bookseller Samuel Browne visited the fair, but did not sell books there himself: Bodleian Library, Oxford, Clarendon Manuscripts 64, fol. 112, 10 September 1659. For the Buchmesse, see Laeven 1992 and literature there cited. 7 MirtojVeen 1993, p. 55. For the Frankfurt shop ofJoan Blaeu, see Eeghen 1960-1978, HI, p. 112.

Bennich-Bjorkman 2000; Bots 2000, pp. 169-171; Korsten 2000, pp. 197-199. Eeghen 1960-1978, HI, pp. 112-119. Compare foreign booksellers mentioned in the inventory of the Leiden publisher Joannes Maire: Breugelmans 2003, pp. 69-72. 10 Eeghen 1960-1978, HI, p. 112; Pummer 1982.

8 9

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went to Sweden on his behalf The latter was later replaced by Henric Curio from Germany, who had also been trained in the Janssonius shop." Conversely, foreign firms sent their agents to Amsterdam or appointed local dealers to act in their name. Social and religious background, as well as familiarity with the local trade, were deciding factors in the choice of these agents. In the 1650S the Dutch bookseller Andries Fries took care ofthe interests of a Venetian firm, which had been founded by his half-brother J0hannes de la NoU(~ (Giovanni de la Nou) and his Italian partner, Sebastiano Combi. Thanks to their wide network of correspondents in Antwerp, Paris, Geneva, Cologne and Amsterdam, the publishing firm of Comb i-La Nou acquired a wide-ranging stock of foreign books, which allowed them to become major international players on the Italian market. Their agent Fries not only visited the Frankfurt fair on a regular basis, but also initiated and maintained foreign business contacts - for example with the Blaeu firm in Amsterdam." When he started out as an agent in 1652 Fries had absolutely no experience in the book trade; he was chosen as representative because of family connections as well as shared Roman-Catholic sympathies. Appointing an agent who lacked professional expertise was not wholly uncommon. Humphrey Robinson, one of the major London publishers, relied on the ability of the scholar Joseph Williamson to build up a network in France, where he accompanied young English aristocrats on the Grand Tour as their tutor. On a regular basis, Williamson set up contacts with French publishers, sent their stock lists and catalogues to London and took care of all logistic matters, such as payment for and transport ofbooks. '3 Whenever possible, however, booksellers preferred to engage colleagues to act as their business representatives abroad. Conducting trade in foreign parts required a knowledge oflocal customs, oflanguage, of geographical particularities and of political, legal and religious circumstances. '4 In nations governed by censorship, booksellers tried to circumvent the systeln by contracting intermediaries - recent studies have shown the role of pedlars and travelling agents in distributing subversive publications. '5 Far less is known about the role of occasionaL agents and intermediaries in international book distribution. The financial accounts of the Plantin-Moretus firm in Antwerp list a number onocal merchants who apparently took on trade assignments from time to time. '6 Amongst them, we find the brothers Lucas and Cornelis de Wael, 11 Keblusek 1997, p. 252 (on Refeld); Bennich-Bjorkman 2000, passim (on Beuns, Talizsch and Curia). Possibly, the representative operations of servants and apprentices served as a training for their careers as independent booksellers. While apprentice to a London bookseller, Samuel Browne acted as his trade representative in Frankfurt: Keblusek 1989, I, p. 18. On behalf ofhis London employer, George Thomason, James Allestree was responsible for carrying out assignments on the Continent: Blom 1987, p. 33. 12 Mirto 1987 and 1989; Rietbergen 1987. Fries may have operated an Amsterdam branch of the Venetian firm, where he traded Italian books on commission: Eeghen 1960-1978, IV, p. 117. 13 Calendar 1882, p. 227 (13 March 1656). On occasion, the French engraver Abraham Bosse represented the EIsevier firm in Paris: Bats 2000, p. 172. 14 Compare Franciscus Junius' remark on the importance of Adriaen Vlacq's experience in England for the transport of books: Romburgh 2004, no. 214e. 15 Braida 1996; Darnton 1995, chapter 2; Fontaine 1996. 16 Voet 1972, Il, pp. 444 and 495-499 (1650).

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artists and dealers in Rome, who apparently also sold books. Indeed, they must have been engaged on a more structural basis, for in 1665 Cornelis was still negotiating contacts between Roman booksellers, private customers, and the Moretus firm. In the same year, he was selling prints and books on behalf of an Antwerp art dealer. These 'secondary' activities of the De Wael brothers are indicative of the involvement ofmerchants in the business of books, and a more systematic assessment of this type of involvement is long overdue. 17 Logistical practices also need also be considered. Not much is known about the facilitating networks of shippers, post masters, merchants and bankers which to a large extent supported the infrastructure ofthe European book trade. ,8 We need to reconstruct the channels and means of international book distribution in order to learn whether booksellers tapped into existing trade networks, or whether they established their own. Did they organise the transport of books themselves, by hiring ships and sailors, or did they enlist the services of merchants who regularly sailed to specific ports? In either case, how did they finance the transport ofbooks?'9 This leads us to the question offinance in the book trade in general. In order to publish and sell books, investments were necessary, which were often advanced by paper merchants and sometimes by general traders as well. Bartering was still a common practice in the international book trade, with, in some cases, a fixed 'rate' of printed sheets. This system had certain advantages, the most important one being that booksellers did not need (much) capital to replenish their stock. But the exchange of sheets cannot have been accepted as payment for the transportation of books, or indeed for the acquisition of books on behalf of others. Financial dealings in the book trade can be glimpsed in archives not immediately connected to the publishing world, such as the records of the Amsterdam Exchange Bank (Wisselbank).21 Established in 1609 by the city government, this institution aimed to put a halt to the practices ofprivate bankers who specialised in exchange deals, charging extravagant interest rates. In the early modern period, international money transfers were made by means ofletters (or bills) ofexchange, somewhat comparab le to our modern system of money orders. Merchants would buy letters of exchange at a local banking or trade firm and these were then sent to their foreign business contacts. The banking firm would order their financial partners abroad to payout the specified amount of money to the party to whom the letter was Inade out. The Amsterdam government or2o

17 I would like to thank Alison Stoesser for providing me with information on the De Wael brothers. c£ Waquet 1982, p. 177. 18 The issue oflogistics is remarked upon in several studies, but an overall assessment is lacking. See Voet 1972, Il, passim. 19 Balthasar Il Moretus worked together with a regular group of shippers: Canck 2000. For shippers to England: Korsten 2000, p. 199. 20 Eeghen 1960-1978, V, p. 6221 Only Eeghen 1960-1978 observes the opening of accounts by late seventeenth- and eighteenth century booksellers. On the Wisselbank see Cools in this volume; Dehing 1991; Dillen 1925. I would like to thank Marten Jan Bok and Koenraad Jonckheere for advising me on the possibilities of this archive.

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dained that any money exchange in exceed of six hundred guilders would have to be transferred through the Exchange Bank, where an account could be set up by putting in three hundred guilders. Money transfers were made via these accounts and dutifully recorded in ledgers. These ledgers show that international booksellers like the Elseviers, Janssonius or the Blaeu firm did indeed open accounts through which they conducted their money affairs; they also reveal the names ofthose men with whom they did financial business.!2 A small number of these were paper merchants, to whom large amounts ofmoney were transferred. 23 Yet most ofthe names cannot immediately be linked to the book trade, although their occurrence certainly suggests business connections. In the period 1650-1670 one Erasmus Forckenbeeck is regularly mentioned, both on the debit and credit side, in the accounts ofJ anssonius and of the Elsevier and Blaeu firms. Similarly, the merchant firm De Bistrate & Du Fay was credited for services for all three bookselling firms. Some names only occur occasionally, while others are recorded time and time again, an indication ofstructural business contacts. Joan Blaeu apparently was in business with Ottavio Tensini and Thomas de Wedege; Janssonius transferred money into the account of one Jeronimo Tonneman and received sums from Philip and Louis Serurier. Although not all of these names have been identified, these transactions mostly involved (Amsterdam) merchants. 24 A reconstruction of their geographical trade networks can hint at book-dealing contacts in the same regions: in all likelihood, these men were reimbursed for financial services as intermediaries between Amsterdam booksellers and their trade partners abroad. In 1670 Joan Blaeu received 270 guilders in his account, paid by Adriaen van Aldewerelt, who acted as financial intermediary on behalf of the dukes of BraunschweigWolfenbuttel. The Amsterdam merchant Edmond Chardinel, who shows up in the EIsevier accounts, was involved in the same logistical network, taking care of both transport and financial matters for Duke August ofWo lfenbuttel. 25 These transactions thus seem connected to book transports to the German states, in particular to Wolfenbuttel. The Bistrate & Du Fay firm was mainly involved with trade in the Baltic region. Records in the Wolfenbuttellibrary archive show that they were responsible for the coordination of book shipments from Paris and Amsterdam to Germany, via their Hamburg branch. 26 Regular occurrence in the Exchange Bank accounts ofAmsterdam booksellers implies that they played an instrumental role in the distributions ofbooks to the northern European regions via Hamburg - not just for the bibliophile Duke of Wolfenbuttel, but possibly as a facilitating link in various trade chains. ~ 22 Gemeentearchief Amsterdam, Wisselbank Grootboeken (GM Wisselbank Grootboek): account ofJohannes Janssonius Uan Jansz van Arnhem) from 1648; Louis Elsevier from 1652; Joan Blaeu from 1652; Daniel Elsevier from 1667; Jacob Aertsz Colom from 1667- The registers and ledgers have only partly survived for the period up to 166723 Antoni de Haes, Lucas van Coppenole, pieter Haeck, Joost de Visser and David Behage1. Interestingly, I have not found any money transfers to booksellers. 24 More on the Tensini family in the essay by Cools in this volume. 25 GM Wisselbank Grootboek, 58 (August 167o-February 1671), fo1. 397- Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuttel (HAB), MS 82 Novi, fo1. 74. Nationaal Archief, The Hague (NA), Hof van Holland, inv. 5287-30 (account book of Lieuwe van Aitzema), fo1. 68. For the activities ofChardinel: Keblusek 1997, pp. 253, 260 and 263. 26 HAB, MS 82 Novi, fols. I7or-l73; NA, ArchiefVanAitzema, inv. 20, unfo1., 19 June 1649.

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The intermediaries we have examined thus far were all involved in the international book trade on a professional level- as representatives, merchants or bankers, they facilitated business transactions between booksellers in various regions. Where commercial contacts between booksellers and private customers are concerned, intermediaries similarly played crucial roles on various levels, acting more often than not on the consUluer's behalf Again, this process has been described, in detail, by John Dury in his RifonnedLibrarieKeeper. Dury characterised the librarian as an agent whose main responsibility was the acquisition and maintenance of the library's "stock". To do so, he engaged correspondents, who supplied him with books and information about books, for which they could rely on their own individual networks. Thus, they acted as the librarian's "Assistants and subordinate Factors in [the] Trade" - as 'sub-agents', in other words. As I have shown, this terminology directly referred to existing trade practices. Yet it also points to a familiar way in which early modern collectors and conSUluers organised the acquisition of books, paintings and other luxury products. One collector in particular must have been on Dury's mind when he wrote his treatise. He published his Riformed Librarie-Keeper in a volume that also contained three other pieces: on educational reform; on mathematics and, the only one in Latin, on the famous Wolfenbuttellibrary, the BibIiotheca AU8U5ta. During his travels, Dury had visited this library and he must have been inspired by the efficient way in which its owner, Duke August, had established his refined acquisition system. A wide network of book agents, each with their own individual networks of correspondents, supplied the duke with books, manuscripts, newsletters, clocks and other luxury products. 27 The mechanics of the ducal agency system have been well researched. August appointed residents and political agents in a number of European cities, such as Paris, Nuremberg, The Hague, Rome, Augsburg, Strasbourg and Vienna, who were required to undertake diplomatic activities on his behalf; to keep hilu informed of recent affairs by weekly newsletters and, most importantly it seems, to supply his library with books. The Nuremberg agency, for example, served as a centre oflogistics between Wolfenbuttel and the southern German and Italian states. Here, shipments were reloaded and financial transactions concluded under the supervision ofGeorg Forstenheuser, the local factor who was also responsible for compiling news reports, based on information from his own networks of correspondents. The ducal book scouts had to report extensively on new publications and books that were currently being sold, on important libraries and collections that luight be auctioned off, and on all other news from the world ofbooks. An important part ofthe jo b was to keep their eyes and ears wide open, to be the first person to know that a collector wanted to sell off some of his books, or indeed, his entire library. For this kind ofinside knowledge, they needed to build their own network of ,sub-agents' and informers, or so-called correspondents, a group of men among whom booksellers, printers, scholars and fellow collectors were to be found. Also, they needed to establish or tap into a smoothly-operating logistical net27 Bepler 1998, p. 169.

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work of merchants, bankers and shippers, facilitating the transfer of money and the transport ofletters and goods. Thus, the social position of an agent, his professional background and education, his contacts in the political and intellectual milieux and his ability to construct a wide network were crucial qualifications. Every week, August's agents sent off their reports; regularly, their dispatches included handwritten lists of recent titles containing sufficient bibliographical data for the duke to make his choice, printed auction catalogues, or descriptions of individual rare books and manuscripts. To accomodate their patron as much as possible, the agents often sent lengthy transcripts of title pages or even copied out the first few pages. August himself would either mark the titles he wanted, or transcribe them in a separate list which was then sent back to the agent. After having purchased the books at the lowest possible price, they were then shipped to Wolfenbiittel, where they were personally examined and collated by the duke. A meticulous bibliographer, he took note of all defects, and, satisfied only with the very best, regularly returned copies. Whereas the political responsibilities of these agents, as well as their financial rewards, had been laid out in contracts, their cultural obligations were never really specified. When the Hague agent, the diplomat Lieuwe van Aitzema, was appointed in April 1634, it was only stipulated that he would, in all obedience, report frequently on what was happening in the Dutch Republic, and when needed would assert the interests of his patron, for which he would receive one hundred thalers per annum. Contemporaries and acquaintances, Aitzema and the Paris agent, Abraham de Wicquefort (in service from 1648 onwards), were men ofletters, educated as doctors oflaw. 28 Both were commissioned by the Dutch government to write national histories, one ofwhich was published during the author's lifetime; the other appeared posthumously. Both men established highly successful secret news agencies, which were eventually discovered by the authorities. In Paris, Abraham de Wicquefort managed to get an introduction to the literary salon of the Dupuy brothers and other learned men, who kept him posted on all news of bibliographical interest. Aitzema enlisted the Hague branch of the Elsevier firm to supply him with regular catalogues (i.e. handwritten lists), listing new publications of Dutch, French, English and Italian publishing houses - including, of course, the Elseviers themselves. Often the firm kept new books separate until Aitzema had had a chance to inspect them. Apart from these useful contacts in the Hague and Amsterdam book trade, he relied on his correspondents in the academic world, like the Leiden professor ofOriental Studies, Jacob Colius, who assisted him a number of times in negotiations over manuscript purchases and appraisals. A Hague notary (whose son would later become a renowned antiquarian bookseller) assisted at local auctions - inspecting lots, doing the bidding, packing up the purchases. Like all ofAugust's political-cultural agents, Aitzema and Wicquefort quickly learned to negotiate 'viewing rights' with booksellers, thus minimising the risk of having to pay for unwanted and returned titles. Similarly, they almost never sent him books he had not specifically re28

Keblusek 1997, chapter 7; Keblusek 2000. On Wicquefort: Schutte 1982, no. 313.

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quested or marked in a catalogue. While they had to be extremely creative in scouting, purchasing and negotiating the price of books, their suggestions were almost never acted upon nor were voluntary dispatches appreciated. August knew exactly what editions he wanted and did not much care for initiative on the part of his agents. Thus, when Aitzema, at an auction in April 1650, accidently bought an expensive Latin dictionary which had not been marked in the catalogue, the Hague agent had to pay for it himself Unsurprisingly, the ducal book scouts gained a reputation in learned and collectors' circles. Heirs of deceased book collectors sought out the agents to negotiate the sale of libraries. However, August never bought libraries en masse because he wanted to avoid duplicates, and it depended, once again, on an agent's creativity to successfully strike a deal, and to obtain the right to buy just those titles that were missing in Wolfenbiittel. Creativity, thus, was a key qualification for a ducal book scout, as was an agent's trusted position in local intellectual and political circles. Abraham de Wicquefort exploited his Parisian connections to gain access to the libraries of protaganists in the world of French academia and politics. In 1650, he proudly informed the duke that he had made inventories of all manuscripts in the collections of the Dupuy brothers, of the Chancellor, of the President of the Parisian Parliament, of Cardinal Mazarin, of Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc, and of the royal charter house. These catalogues basically served as shopping lists for August. In April 1650 Wicquefort informed his patron that he had been able to secretly remove state papers from several collections, and that he had employed sixteen clerks to copy them. Towards the end of his agency, in 1653, he had managed to sent off almost 300 volumes of French political papers, for which August paid approximately 13,000 rijksdaalders. 29 The highly-refined Wolfenbiittel system ofbook agents may have been unique in scope and size, yet its dynamics and logistics point to a pattern which was widely known and used by other European patrons to gather political and cultural information, services and products. In early modern Europe, numerous book agents acted for princes, collectors and librarians. Like Aitzema or Wicquefort, these men often shared a professional background which may not have been connected to the book business itself, but which certainly brought them into close contacts with booksellers and publishers. Crucial to a successful career as an agent, then, was his location, his personal acquaintance with local dealers, his intellectual, political and artistic contacts, his mobility, his familiarity with various languages. Possibly, these qualifications explain why we find so many diplomat-scholars as important intermediaries in the worlds ofbooks. Sometimes their mediation was only an occasional event. In 1603, for example, the librarian of the Bodleian Library asked the English consul in Aleppo to purchase as many Turkish, Persian and Arabic books and luanuscripts as possible - here we meet the ambassador as a mere chain in the supporting network of a librarian. 3o The French diplomat Jacques29 30

Heinemann 1890-1903, I, nos. 1643-2043. For these acquisitions: Burger 2000, pp. 34-49; Mandrou 1978, p. 214. Philip 1983, p. 19-

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Philippe Laugier de Tassy, for example, facilitated contacts between the librarian of the Bibliotheque du Roi in Paris and booksellers in the Dutch RepublicY Supplying bibliographical services to fellow-scholars was an integral part of the operative patronage system within the Republic of Letters, a community based on obligation, in which communal bonds were forged through service and agency and in which reciprocity and gratitude were crucial notions. In the international exchange of ideas, books and news, scholars made use of, indeed depended upon, fellow intellectuals and booksellers as intermediaries - to introduce them to other scholars, to supply them with books, curiosities and art, or to negotiate dealings with editors and publishers; to act, in fact, as agents. 32 Yet the activities of book agents like Aitzema or Wicquefort were of another order: these were professional agents, reimbursed for their services. Although these were specified first and foremost in the context of political representation, the position ofresident or political agent implied the execution ofother, cultural, offices as well. In his influential manual for ambassadors, L' ambassadeur et ses fonctions, Wicquefort would later emphasise this. 33 These implicit cultural obligations quite possibly informed the appointment of many ambassadors and residents. The number of artists, art dealers, musicians, cartographers and calligraphers taking on diplomatic roles in early modern Europe is remarkable. Their first responsibility may have been a political one, including the providing ofnews, yet their cultural expertise, contacts and talents were equally important as diplomatic commodities. In 1632, the engraver Michelle Blon, signed a contract as political (news)agent for the Swedish crown. Relying on his network of informers and correspondents, he put together weekly news reports, often including printed material such as pamphlets, prints and maps. At the salne time, Le Blon quickly became cultural adviser and agent to Qg.een Christina and Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, negotiating the purchase of paintings, sculpture, books and manuscripts for their extensive collections. 34 Similarly, merchants and bankers took on the double role of news agent and cultural broker. Between 1650 and 1670 the Amsterdaln-based merchant Peter Trotzig provided his Swedish patrons with economic news; soon enough, he established himself as an influential book agent, purchasing, for example, Dutch publications for the library of the nobleman Carl GustafWrangelY The Italian merchant Giovacchino Guasconi functioned as Cosimo III de' Medici's political agent in Amsterdam, sending hundreds of newsletters to Tuscany. Yet Guasconi was also responsibe for the acquisition ofbooks and works of art. 36 As was the case in the international book trade, these agents relied on their individual networks of correspondents and facilitators. These networks often overlapped: an agent would assist a colleague as his correspon-

dent, or assume a facilitating role for another. Guasconi, for example, coordinated the transmission of letters and packages to Italy on behalf of the Amsterdam bookseller Daniel Elsevier, of his advisor, Nicolaas Heinsius, and ofAbraham de Wicquefort, who occasionally would send newsletters to Cosimo Ilp7 In their quality as agents, diplomats, artists, scholars and merchants functioned as key intermediaries in the distribution ofbooks, manuscripts and art in Europe. As has been explained, their professional background and qualities were decisive factors in their success as bibliographical entrepeneurs. Conversely, these qualifications may explain why a scholarly book scout like Nicolaas Heinsius - hunting rare editions and manuscripts all over Europe on assignment ofQg.een Christina of Sweden - eventually could embark on a diplomatic career. Booksellers, similarly, were enlisted to fulfill (occasional) diplomatic missions. In 1601 the London stationer John Norton was trusted with a secret assignment from the Earl of Essex and was sent to deliver a letter to King James VI of Scotland, returning with an encrypted answerY In 1660 Pieter Blaeu received an introduction to Antonio Magliabechi, librarian of the Medici in Florence, via Andries Fries, the Amsterdam agent of the Combi-LaNou firm. From that moment on Blaeu became Magliabechi's agent in Amsterdam - purchasing books and art for his patron and other Florentine collectors, supplying news, negotiating between Italian and Dutch scholars and merchants. Occasionally he would take on diplomatic missions on behalf of the Florentine court. 39 His letters reveal the extensive network of bankers, merchants and booksellers involved in the transportation of books to Italy. The correspondence also affirms the role oflibrarians as agents in the international distribution ofbooks. Magliabechi seems to have virtually controlled the import ofbooks to Tuscany from the northern parts of Europe, establishing and maintaining contacts with other collectors and booksellers like the Blaeu firm. Other librarians, such as Gabriel Naude or Isaac Vossius, fulfilled similar intermediary roles in the world of books and politics. 40

31 Blechet 1989 and 1991. 3 2 Goldgar 1995; Stegeman1996. 33 Wicquefort 1724, I, pp. 9 and 98. 34 Keblusek 2003 'Business' and literature cited. See also the essay by Badeloch N oldus in this volume. 35 On Wrangel's library, see Losman1978, pp. 168-172. See also Noldus 2004. 36 Guasconi was the successor of the banker-merchant Francesco Feroni, a similarly important intermediary between Cosimo HI and Amsterdam booksellers, art dealers and scholars: Veen 1984, p. 32. See the essay by Cools in this volume.

37 On Guasconi: Veder 1890, nos. 1,4,5,13-15,21-22,27-29,64 and 66. On Feroni: Lindeboom 1975, nos. 6,7 and 18. 38 M. Keblusek, 'The pretext of pictures', paper read at Leiden University, 22 January 2003. Barnard 2002, p. 391. Barnard characterises Norton as "cultural broker and facilitator" (p. 385), pointing to, but not commenting on, Norton's various functions as intermediary. 39 Mirto/Veen 1993, passim. Daniel Elsevier acted as Amsterdam representative ofMelchisedec Thevenot: Lindeboom 1975, no. 2. 40 Blok 2000.

In his Riformed Librarie-Keeper, John Dury acknowledged the importance of the agent in the world of books - whether wearing the professional cloak oflibrarian, bookseller, diplomat, merchant or artist. The mechanics of the agency system, with its subsidiary;networks of correspondents and facilitators, were, as Dury well knew, not limited to this world alone. Indeed, agents and intennediaries were instrumental in the distribution of any information and products. In this essay, I have discussed various forms of agency which should be considered when we study the traffic in books in early modern Europe.

FILIP VERMEYLEN

The Art of the Dealer MARKETING PAINTINGS IN EARLY MODERN ANTWERP

In this essay, I will focus on the origins and activities of professional art dealers in the city ofAntwerp from the late fifteenth century until the end of the eighteenth century. During this time, Antwerp emerged as one the leading art markets in Europe, not in the least in terms ofpaintings. Indeed, under the impetus ofgreat artists like Oginten Metsijs (1465/1466-1530J, the Bruegel dynasty and last but not least Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640J, Antwerp-made paintings conquered major parts ofart-loving Europe, and inspired many local collectors to invest significantly in a painterly collection as well. This is not to say that the city experienced a continuous Golden Age throughout this time period - far from it. Already from the late sixteenth century onwards, Antwerp suffered much from wars, religious strife and shifting economic fortunes. Still, while these events did not prevent the city from remaining one of the gateways in the European art trade well until into the eighteenth century, the way the art market was structured and functioned would change dramatically over time, and with it the role of intermediaries. Here I will touch on the various ways in which art dealers as agents helped shape markets for art, and how they facilitated the rising volume of exports of Flemish painting from the sixteenth century onwards. The literature on art dealers in early modern times remains scant, but some significant contributions have been made for the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Scholars such as Neil De Marchi," Hans Van Miegroet and John Michael Montias have produced pioneering studies and provided building blocks that help to construct a profile of the early modern art dealer. Starting with the seminal studies by John Michael Montias and much of the scholarly literature since then, the emergence of art dealers and art agents has been placed well within the spatial and temporal confines ofthe Dutch Republic ofthe seventeenth century. Evidence strongly suggests, however, that a century earlier Antwerp harboured a sizable, active and close-knit community of art dealers. In fact, art dealers started to appear in the Low Countries, albeit sporadically, during the fifteenth centul

* I am gratefLll to Marika Keblusek for her assistance in preparing this essay for publication. 1 Montias 1989. Some highly stimulating work (possibly thanks to the wealth of archival evidence present in the Antwerp City Archives and elsewhere) has been done on art dealers active in Antwerp during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. See especially Marchi/Miegroet 1999 and Marchi/Miegroet/Raiff 1998.

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Bartholomeus van Bassen (?), The Art Gallery in the vladislav-SaaI in Pra8ue (detail), shortly after 1607. Martin von Wagner Museum, Wiirzburg.

Anonymous, View ofAntwerp, C.1540. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.

ry. For instance, a Claes van Holland was mentioned in a Louvain document from 1460 as coopman vanschiiderien(literally a merchant ofpaintings).2The first official art dealer in Antwerp was Jan Meduwael who registered in the Guild ofSaint Luke in 1518 as beddvercopere (seller of images). Yet it was during the second half of the sixteenth century that Antwerp witnessed a sudden rise in the number of individuals who considered themselves to be a more or less full-time art dealer in pictures. 3

The Sixteenth Century (until 1585)

The sixteenth century was the time that the Antwerp art market experienced a first blossoming. Artists with great renown such as Joachim Patinir (c. 1485-1524), Frans Floris (1519/1520-1570) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/1530-1569) were trendsetters in creating new painterly genres which would generate a great following. From the onset, Antwerp featured a very commercialised art market in the sense that much ofthe artistic production was done on-spec - in other words, not on commission, but readymade and mostly intended for export. Indeed, paintings, carved altarpieces and other luxury items were marketed at the so-called panden - specialised sales rooms which were set up in the contours of the bi-annnual fairs but as of the 1530S became permanent venues for the marketing of art.4

The most important of these was the schiiderspand or painter's gallery, situated on the top floor of the new Bourse (Exchange) - the city's financial heart. Along the four sides of the building, no fewer than one hundred shops were put in place, which served a local and international clientele. As such, the Bourse was the artery of the Antwerp art market and constituted one of the main distribution centers for the visual arts in Northern Europe. The painter's gallery amazed foreign commentators like Ludovico Guicciardini who wrote about the schiiderspand in 1567, and noted that "paintings are the subject ofgreat commerce" at this venue. 5 Naturally, this expanding art market created ideal circumstances for the rise of the professional art dealer, particularly at a time when the art trade would become more international, more complex and was conducted on a large scale (foremost at the schiiderspand).

For this and other examples: Campbelll976, pp. 196-197. Vermeylen 2003, pp. 68-78. The Vlasdislav gallery in Prague was potentially built after the Antwerp prototype, in which case the illustration provides an idea of what the schilderspand may have looked like on the inside.

5 "[WJant daer wort groote coopmanschap met ghedaen". Cited from a later edition: Guicciardini 1612, p. 81.

2

3 4

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FILIP VERMEYLEN

The Appearance ofArt Dealers in Antwerp (before 1600) Decade 1500- 09 15 10- 09 15 20- 29 153 0-39 1540-49 1550-59 15 60 - 69 1570-79 15 80- 89

N umber ofArt Dealers

0 0 0

2 8 14 13

Source: Vermeylen 2003, p. 68

To compose this table, I used the registration lists of the Guild of Saint Luke (art dealers theoretically had to be a member) and also noted those individuals who were mentioned as least once as coopman vanschilderijen (literally: merchant ofpaintings) in the various collections the Antwerp archives, mostly in commercial documents and aldermen's records. 6 This table leaves little doubt that art dealers surfaced as a group during the second half of the sixteenth century. Given the expanding art market and the diversification of genres, one would expect this pronounced increase. Art dealers were needed to connect the specialised producer (say a landscape painter working in Antwerp) with the highly specific demand of the consumer (say a fairly affluent citizen of Madrid with a strong desire to own Flemish landscapes). It is, nevertheless, less evident that during the politically stormy 1570S and disastrous 1580s (27 names for the decades combined), the largest growth could be noted. Indeed, most art dealers in Antwerp surfaced during the 1570S - the first phase of the Dutch Revolt whose pernicious effects were very much felt in Antwerp. A large contingent followed during the 1580s when Antwerp was subjected to a suffocating siege and years of isolation. How do we account for this anomaly? On the one hand, domestic demand for paintings inevitably dropped during this period of conflict, and not simply as a response to armed strife, which caused disruptions of trade and a general decrease in conspicuous consumption. Local demand for pictures may also have severely suffered from the excrescencies of the iconoclasm and subsequent Calvinist crusades against images (notably in 1581), rendering many pictures utterly unsuitable for consumption in Antwerp and its surroundings. And all this at a tillle when the production capacity relllained high in a city which still counted more than one hundred painters within its walls. It is, therefore, not surprising that paintings were sold at dumping prices at the schilderspand at this time and great profits could be made in selling them in more stable markets abroad like Spain, where images had not been stigmatised. As a result, the adverse business climate did in some respects 6 Particularly the ccrtificatieboeken in the Antwerp City Archives (containing attestations of various kinds pertaining to commercial transactions) were most revealing in this respect: Vermeylen 2003, p. 68.

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stimulate the international art trade, which may account for the increase in the number of art dealers. Several painters, for instance, were forced to turn to art dealing as a strategy ofsurvivaL In other words, the years of economic hardship combined with a decline in local demand because of the Reformation impact precipitated the emergence of a community of professional art dealers. As I have shown elsewhere, the close-knit group was characterised by a strong tendency towards collaboration and networking, which is logical given the difficult circumstances with which they had to contend.? Indeed, these art dealers were forced to seek out (alternative) markets abroad during the 1570S and 1580s. Before the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt, artists in Antwerp would depend on a large co mm_unity offoreign merchants journeying to the city on a regular basis to purchase artwork, most likely at the schilderspand. From the 1570S onwards however, many ofthese potential buyers were no longer able or willing to travel to Antwerp, thus forcing local art dealers to take matters into their own hands if the export-oriented production was going to survive. Hence, out of sheer necessity, they moved from fairly passive to active dealing practices. Now they would travel thelllselves to places like Paris where they could successfully sell their paintings and other luxury goods at the annual fairs of Saint Germain-des-Pres. 8

The Long Seventeenth Century (1585-1690) In general, however, the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt, especially the Fall of Antwerp in 1585 and its aftermath, proved devastating - at least temporarily - for the city's econ0my and art market. A period of transition followed which would last until the signing of the Twelve Year Truce in 1609. Dozens of artists and dealers were forced to leave Antwerp, together with thousands of their fellow citizens. Records show that these emigres settled in cities in the Dutch Republic, England, the German territories and elsewhere.9 Fortunately, by the time pieter Paul Rubens decided to settle in Antwerp and set up a workshop in 1609, the art market had rebounded. Indeed, under the impetus of Rubens and his disciples and propelled by the new demands of the Catholic Reformation in terms ofstyle and subject matter, the city would enjoy a new era of cultural eminence. Furthermore, the Twelve Year Truce (1609-1621) provided the stability needed for a revival of the local economy and as a result, many artists returned to the city. Still, with the continued closing of the Scheldt and Antwerp losing its privileged central position within the European trade network to Amsterdam, far lllore pro-active marketing strategies were needed iflocal artists and dealers were to regain SOllle of their dominance on the international art scene. As I have mentioned above, this was achieved at

7 Vermeylen 200 3, pp. 70 -78. 8 Szanto 2000. 9 Briels 1997 (with further references).

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least in part by seeking out new markets abroad, and in this respect, the diaspora would prove to be a blessing in disguise: Antwerp-based dealers would increasingly enter into partnerships with colleagues living abroad (often relatives or old acquaintances). In doing so, the nucleus of the specialist international art dealing firms of the seventeenth century was formed. Firms and family businesses like Forchondt, Musson and Van Immerseel depended on agents, factors and representatives in foreign cities such as Paris, Madrid and Vienna, for detailed information sent by letter on the reigning tastes ofart consumers. A good example ofthis way ofworking forms the rich correspondence between Jean-Michel Picard and his Antwerp supplier Mathijs Musson in years 1650-1676. Picard for example regularly sent messages from Paris to Antwerp, outlining in very precise terms which types of Flemish paintings were in vogue at that time in France. Scores of painters at the home front were then put to work to supply the desired canvasses and panels. This veritable putting-out system proved extremely successful, resulting in a high volume oftrade. We know, for instance, that the art dealing firm Forchondt employed about one hundred painters. One characteristic of the system was that it was by and large designed to facilitate the export of on-spec made paintings; produced by living artists and destined to be shipped abroad. In other words, the rich diversity ofpainterly production from c. 1500 until c. 1650 was to a large extent geared towards sale on the open market, and, again, intended for a foreign market. Interestingly, in this constellation, the once so-crucial panden had become superfluous and the stalls remained vacant. By now, the painter's gallery was little more than an occasional display room. Professional art dealers now organised the long-distant trade in works of art, hereby using agents posted abroad for the gathering of information and for handling the local distribution. As such, we can speak of a dealers' market which was a clear departure from the fairs-based system (the panden) of the sixteenth century. ID

11

Dealing Art in the Age ofEnlightenment

However, as we move into the latter decades of the seventeenth century and into the age of Enlightenment, the art scene was changing in a fundamental way. A combination of factors lead again to a very different type of art market indeed. First of all, the Antwerp school of painting lost its innovative character after 1650, no longer able to boast artistic geniuses like Rubens or Van Dyck. Antwerp was no longer a trend-setting place for new pictorial genres. Moreover, the declining economic indicators in the latter decades of the seventeenth century show a marked fall in purchasing power, which reduced the bourgeoisie's ability to engage in conspicuous consumption of luxury products. But perhaps most importantly, probate inventory research for Antwerp

demonstrates a very significant change in taste towards other luxury items than painting. Even those who still bought and collected paintings, also displayed a major shift in terms ofwhich types ofpictures were collected, moving away from religious subj ects in favor of more aesthetically pleasing scenes such as still lives and landscapes. As a result, many art lovers opted for, or were forced to liquidate parts of their often large painting collections in the eighteenth century. Changes in fashion and economic necessity thus led to an unloading ofvery significant amounts ofpaintings frOlU existing collections onto the art market. It is precisely in this context ofradically changing market conditions that we must see the proliferation and rising importance ofprobate and voluntary sales. 12

Graph 1 Auctions in the Southern Netherlands with Printed Sales Catalogue (per 5 years) 100

11

Marchi/Miegroet 1998. Vermeylen 2005.

12000

90

Iiii!iiii!!iiii Number of auctions

80

-----+---- Number of paintings

70

10000 8000

60 6000

50

40 4000

30

20

2000

10 o

N

r--

Using Fritz Lugt's updated Repertoire des Catalo8ues de VentesPubliques with additional data from the Getty Provenance Index, a graph was produced showing the occurrences ofart auctions containing paintings in the Southern Netherlands before 1800 of which the printed sales catalogue has been preserved. 13 This survey makes it clear that luodern art auctions with a catalogue became a widespread phenomenon of the second half of the eighteenth century when well over 40,000 paintings were auctioned. Particularly the 1770S witnessed record sales, which was due to the fact that Elupress Maria Theresa had abolished the Jesuit order in 1773, and their enormous art collection was put up for sale. In the early days of May 1777 no less than 1302 paintings fonuerly owned by Jesuits were sold to the highest bidder at special auctions in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. '4 I argue that the dissemination of the printed sales catalogue truly hailed the intro-

Blonde 2000. http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/provenance-index and http://lugt.idcpublishers.info 14 scheelen 1988. 12

10

115

13

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Jean-Antoine Watteau, L'Ensei8ne de Gersuint (detail), 1720. Schloss charlottenburg, Berlin.

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uled viewing days so that potential buyers could familiarise themselves with the objects for sale. This approach was new and points to a further professionalisation of the art trade. Men like Gersaint, representatives of this new type of expert dealer, could boast an excellent knowledge with respect to artists and painterly styles, and the spread of their annotated sales catalogues in which value judgements were made about the paintings that were put up for sale, underscores this assumption. Art dealers seem to have actively promoted particular kinds of paintings, and their role as mediators and agents in taste increased (for instance by ranking paintings, praising them and categorising them). These art historians avant la lettre made use of sales catalogues and other publications to seduce even the most learned and well-informed collectors to make certain purchases, and in doing so, they substantially contributed to the formation of the Flemish and Dutch art canon.

Some Concluding Remarks

duction of modern-style auctions. This is significant for our story precisely because in most cases, art dealers authored these little publications and were involved in the auctions in other ways as well. The sales catalogues were distributed to potential buyers abroad and at home, and contained more or less detailed information regarding the paintings that were put up for sale, in addition to practicalities involving the upcoming auction, such as the date and place of the sale. '5 Art dealing finns such as Musson and Forchondt which relied on a putting-out system were apparently no longer viable in this decidedly secondhand market for art, and went bankrupt. Not surprisingly, the profile of the eighteenth-century art dealer changed filndamentally as result of these developments. What the market required from now on were the so-called connaisseur-marchands. '6 A fine and well-known example of this new type ofdealer is the Frenchman Edme-Frans:ois Gersaint (1694-1750), active during the first half of the eighteenth century, and who was responsible for the resale of large stocks of Flemish and Dutch pictures in Paris.'7 He ran an art shop in the French capital, but also organised auctions ofNetherlandish paintings he had (to a large extent) acquired during extensive buying trips in the Low Countries. In the sales catalogues that accOlnpanied these auctions, Gersaint included much information regarding the provenance and perceived quality of the paintings. Moreover, he schedLyna/Vermeylen (2006, forthcoming). Jonckheere 2005. Jonckheere uses the term solliciteur-culturel to describe a particular kind of agent who purchased art on behalf of their princely employer. 17 Miegroet 2005. 15

16

In this brief and very impressionistic overview, I have sketched the evolution of an art market which became increasingly professional and specialised in early modern times. From the sixteenth century until the eighteenth century, the trade in paintings took place first within the confines of specialised galleries, subsequently in a dealer-based market, and finally, in a resale market dominated by auctions. It is in this shifting context that we must examine the changing role of art dealers. However, these developments cannot be understood simply as part of some kind of teleological process. Parallel circuits of exchange continued to exist and flourish throughout the Ancien R~gime. The atelier-annex-shop formed without a doubt the quintessential locale where transactions at retail level took place, with or without the involvement of intermediaries and agents. Still, one cannot escape the impression that we are witnessing an evolution towards a more professional art market which is perhaps best illustrated precisely by the trend towards more specialised intermediaries. As I have indicated, art dealers were already active in significant numbers in Antwerp during the sixteenth century, but their role would become more complex and important over time. By comparison, the seventeenth-century Antwerp dealers already operated in a more highly developed market. Detailed correspondence reveals indeed an increasingly sophisticated language to describe paintings (a new terminology), in an attempt to accurately pinpoint and fill very distinct market niches abroad. By the eighteenth century then, art dealers boasted a considerable knowledge on art historical issues such as styles and artists in annotated printed sales catalogues of which they were often the author. Furthermore, in an art market in which the separation lines between what is old and what is new were getting increasingly blurred, these middlemen also performed an advisory function. Their expertise was necessary for potential buyers to decide which goods they wished to acquire. Consequently, these specialised art dealers were thus in a position to negotiate taste and influence the consumer behaviour of collectors.

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119

tivities of those art dealers who played such an instrumental role in the professionalisation of the Netherlandish art market. Yet it has become clear that a sizable group of professional dealers emerged in Antwerp during the second half of the sixteenth century, who, in order to deal with the complexities and the distances of the widening art market, increasingly entered into partnerships. In the end, Antwerp art dealers contributed substantially to the process of commercialisation of the art trade, which resulted in a high mobility of works of art and a fast turnover of collections. Thanks to the activities of these intermediaries, the dissemination of Flemish art has ensured its enduring world-wide popularity to this day.

Pierre charles Tremolieres, AssembIee de brocanteurs, 1727- Hessische Landesmuseum, Darmstadt.

This, however, does not mean that these intermediaries were always well-regarded. Johan van Gool, a painter-turned-art critic and biographer, noted with much dismay in 1751 in his Nieuwe schoubur8 derNederlantsche kunstschilders enschilderessen that particularly during the last thirty years in Holland and Brabant, men who were formally active in other trades (he mentioned wine-sellers whose grapes had gone sour) now were involved in art dealing. Many of these so-called art dealers, Van Goollamented, knew as much about painting as a blind man knew about colours. They valued art according to what was currently in fashion, paying no respect to the inherent artistic value of the work in question - and all this for mere financial gain. IS So did the dealers act like donkeys, scourging the market as is shown in an eighteenth-century print by Pierre Charles Tn~molieres (1703-1739)? The truth of the matter is, as usual, far lnore complex. In fact, there was a great variety ofpeople involved in the dealing of art. Moreover, we must be conscious of the fact that particularly in the marketing of paintings, many different types of intermediaries and agents were involved. The most sophisticated and learned dealers, like Gersaint, would Inove only in the highest ofcircles, while pedlars and interlopers worked at the other end ofthe spectrum. Given this diversity, I believe it is urgent to construct some sort of typology of the early modern art dealer. At any rate, there is little doubt that the Antwerp-based art trade was conducted in a sophisticated manner at a very early stage. Much research still remains to be done relating to the social-economic and personal backgrounds, as well as the professional ac18

pp.

Goal 1751; his tirade against those would-be art dealers who are just in for financial gain can be found on 109-116.

JAN WILLEM VELUWENKAMP

International Business Com.m.unication Patterns in the Dutch Com.m.ercial System., 1500-1800

In the three centuries between 1500 and 1800, the Dutch commercial system of the Golden Age developed, bloomed and wilted. In the sixteenth century the Dutch rose to "primacy in world trade"; in the seventeenth century they dominated international business, and in the eighteenth century they lost their commercial pre-eminence.' The Dutch were "the economic leaders ofEurope".2 Their commercial system may be defined in many ways and its functions were manifold. Well into the eighteenth century, the Netherlands housed a large concentration of industries producing for the international market. Consequently, the volume of Dutch exports and imports was relatively large. In addition, the Dutch Republic was, for over a century, the main international market where commodities were physically exchanged between local and foreign merchants. At the same tilTIe, the Republic was the focus of international intermediate trade and transport and a main centre from which Dutch merchants organised direct trade and transport between third countries. 3 International trade requires communication with people in distant places. The buying and selling of commodities abroad is impossible without communication with business relations there. In the early modern period, given the level of technological development, there were only two basic ways to communicate. The first way was that a businessman could, of course, travel to the person he wanted to comlTIunicate with and speak face to face - or he could send someone else. The other way was by sending letters. This was cheaper, and a merchant would choose it if correspondence was reliable. The reliability of correspondence depended essentially on the quality of the postal services and the reliability ofthe business contacts abroad. It had to be possible to send letters to and fro, and the letters had to arrive in time. And it was necessary that a merchant's contact abroad could be counted on to act on the basis of written messages and to handle the merchant's business in his absence according to his wishes - especially when legal protection was very lTIuch limited. So personal trustworthiness and commercial expert-

As it is called by Israel 1989. As Douglas North has called them: North 1981, p. 154. 3 Lesger 2001; Veluwenkamp 1994 and 2003. 1 2

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ise were essential. Trust could only be built up in the course oftilne and ifthere was regular contact. Expertise could be found easily among businessmen in and near the great commercial centres - Antwerp, London and Augsburg in the sixteenth century, Amsterdam, London and Hamburg in the seventeenth century.4 But expertise:was harder to find towards the periphery of the European economy, towards Russia and the Levant. Even by the 1760s Russian merchants had no direct commercial ties with businessmen abroad. They conducted foreign trade by doing business with foreign merchants living in Russia. 5 In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it had not been any different. 6 The reason for this was that the Russians were unaware ofWestern European business practices such as business administration, international money transfer, commodity shipping, insurance, and the monitoring of international market conditions. As Viktor Zakharov put it, "( ... ) the Western European trading world seemed strange and unintelligible to the overwhelming majority of 18 th-century Russian merchants."7 The two communication methods - business trips and correspondence - produced, at least in theory, two distinct international business communication patterns. The first was the business trips pattern, where merchants travelled abroad to meet local buyers and suppliers in person and to do business with them on the spot. Evidently, this was expensive and possible for only a small number ofbig businessmen. The other communication pattern was the correspondence pattern, where merchants corresponded with local buyers and suppliers abroad and did business with them from a distance, without meeting them. of course, this pattern had great advantages. The merchant could do business with many people in many places from his office in a very cost-effective way. Communication patterns and their development have not been the focus of attention of historians writing on early modern Dutch business. Only a few publications touch upon this topic. In my article on Dutch merchant colonies, I have argued that Dutch entrepreneurs began to establish themselves abroad and formed colonies in the second half of the sixteenth century and in the first decades of the seventeenth century, and that they were inspired to do so by the prospect of profit and the lack of expertise among native merchants. 8 The Dutch had excellent business knowledge, commercial relations, and financial resources as well as direct access to the international supply and demand, concentrated at first in Antwerp and subsequently in Amsterdam. This enabled them to go and find additional demand and supply abroad, to increase the turnover and profit oftheir businesses, and to penetrate, develop and maintain foreign markets. They settled abroad because they could not count on local traders, who lacked the knowledge, relations, credit, and initiative to adequately oversee and handle the commercial possibilities and actively achieve the combination between the regional and international Inarkets.9 4 5 6 7 8 9

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For the London example: Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 145-148. Zakharov 2002, pp. 55 and 60. Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 148-152. Zakharov 2002, p. 60. Veluwenkamp 1996. Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 144 and 162.

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The Dutch merchant colonies were links between regional and international markets. The Dutch abroad purchased export commodities froIn local merchants and producers and sent them to their principals and partners in the Dutch Republic and elsewhere. Conversely, they sold imported commodities which they received from their suppliers in the Republic and elsewhere to local merchants and consumers. The colonies were the Dutch trade system's branches abroad, through which the Dutch found and developed new markets. The Dutch cOlnmercial colonies remained vital as long as the Dutch expatriates could make a profit and keep their lead in sophistication. When trade became routine the lead was lost, indigenous competitors entered the market, and the colonies lost their vigour and withered. The colonies became obsolete in the first decades of the eighteenth century when foreign competition crushed Dutch industry and industry-related trade.lO In her book on the Baltic grain trade in Amsterdam, Milja van Tielhofgenerally confirms my interpretation of the rise and fall of the Dutch merchant colonies as far as the Baltic grain trade is concerned. In addition, she suggests a causal relationship between the development of the merchant colonies and the improvement of the postal system between the Baltic and the Netherlands in the middle of the seventeenth century. She points out that the rise and fall of the colonies were consequences of the consecutive solutions to what she calls the agency problem - the merchant's need to find a safe way to leave part of the decision-making to a capable and reliable agent abroad. She states that, initially, the Dutch principals living in Holland were obliged to leave decisions on the execution of orders to their factors in the Baltic ports mainly because communication was so slow. And she suspects that, subsequently, the increase in the reliability and speed of postal deliveries contributed to a switch in relying on indigenous merchants and, consequently, the fading of the Dutch merchant colonies. In this article, I aim to pursue Van Tielhof s argument; not, however, in terms of the agency problem, but in terms of international business communication. In my view, the real problem lies in communication, and agency is only one way of solving that problem. Indeed, both the rise and fall of the merchant colonies and the ilnprovement of the postal system are parts of the development of the pattern of international business communication in the Dutch commercial system. Briefly put, I believe that, between 1500 and 1800, the quality of the postal services and the reliability of the foreign business relations increased to such an extent that the pattern of business communication in the Dutch commercial system gradually changed from the business trips pattern to the correspondence pattern. During this transformation, the communication pattern passed through two intermediate phases. The first intermediate phase was the representatives pattern, when merchants sent their own representatives abroad to settle there and do business on their account. The second intermediate phase was the cOlnmission trade pattern, when commission agents settled abroad took care of other people's business. 11

10

11

Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 162-164. Tielhofzo02, pp. 143, 169-170, 177-179 and 33 1-33 2.

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The Business Trips Pattern

In the sixteenth century, the imports and exports of the Netherlands flowed through many local ports and other commercial towns, or gateways as Cle Lesget has dubbed them. '2 Most of these centres of trade were in the maritime provinces of Brab ant, Flanders, Holland and Zeeland, which together formed the economic nucleus of the Netherlands. The commercial towns were specialised in trade with distinctive foreign markets. By far the most commerce was conducted via Antwerp, which was orientated towards England, the German hinterland, and Southern Europe. Amsterdam, which was a small port in comparison with Antwerp, was the gateway of the Netherlands to Northern Germany, Norway and the Baltic. Together, all the commercial towns of the Netherlands formed an international market place where foreign merchants came to buy, sell and ship commodities. They came from all over Europe; from France, England, Scotland, Germany, the Baltic coasts, Italy, Spain and PortugaL' 3 They made the Netherlands one of the main focuses of the European trade. The local- Dutch - merchants participated in this trade in two ways. On the one hand they sold domestic commodities to the foreigners and bought from them commodities destined for the domestic market. On the other hand they conducted to an increasing extent direct and active foreign seaborne trade in the area from the Baltic to the French Atlantic coast. '4 They also developed new markets, such as Russia via the small harbour of Kola, on the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula, in the 1560s.'5 There is evidence that the Dutch active foreign trade came to account for probably more than one half of the Netherlands' maritime trade in the course of the sixteenth century. About three out of four ship charterers who exported commodities from Amsterdam in 1544 lived in the Netherlands - mainly in the North. Moreover, half of the Baltic grain that came through the Danish Sound in 1560 was Dutch-owned. 16 Both Northerners and Southerners participated in the spread of the Dutch active foreign trade. Among the Dutch merchants trading with the Baltic port ofN arva in the 1560s and 1570S were many Southerners, mainly from Antwerp, and lnost of the merchants who initiated the Dutch trade with Russia via the Kola Peninsula in the 1560s and via the White Sea in the 1570S were from Antwerp and other towns in the Southern Netherlands toO.'7 In the active trade, the basic pattern of the Dutch merchants' business communication in the sixteenth century was that a merchant based in a Dutch town went on business trips abroad himself, or sent business partners or employees. He or his agents travelled with his merchandise and did business with the 10callnerchants abroad face to face, on the spot. 18 This was the rule in the trade with Rus-

sia in general, and in the trade with the Russian White Sea port ofArchangel, which was founded in the 1580s, in particular. 19 It was also the rule in the trade with France, as the Dutch were in the habit of visiting the ports of the French Atlantic coast to buy wine and salt, which they sold in great quantities on the international market. A variant of sending agents was the delegation of business to the shipmasters who transported the commodities. It has, in fact, been argued that Dutch active foreign trade was to a large extent carried out by shipmasters on behalf of ship owning companies in which they participated themselves. Sometimes the merchants or their agents stayed abroad during the entire commercial season and returned to base after that. From the 1570S on, it also happened that entrepreneurs worked with agents pennanently or semi-permanently established abroad. It was at that time that communities ofFlemish merchants developed in the Turkish towns ofSmyrna and Aleppo.23 The main reason why merchants made business trips instead of sending letters to clients and suppliers abroad was that the international postal system was slow and had only limited reach. An adequate postal system did develop in the German Empire in the first half of the sixteenth century, but that does not mean that all parts of the Empire were of easy access. 24 In many Dutch towns, the first professional postal services were established only in the second half of the sixteenth century or in the early seventeenth century. By 1612 Amsterdam had direct postal connections with only about twenty places, of which Antwerp, Cologne and Hamburg were the most distant. Mail for places beyond that direct reach were handed over to other carriers operating from these towns. All mail for France was sent via Antwerp in this way, and post for the Baltic via Hamburg. There were many delays. Letters from Danzig (Gdansk) to Amsterdam, for exalnple, easily took three weeks in smnmer and seven in winter in the late sixteenth century. Besides the formal postal communications, there were alternatives. In particular, letters could be sent with shipmasters, as was still quite usual in the seventeenth century.25 Although slow, the postal system allowed merchants to keep in touch with their travelling and, later, permanent agents abroad. Jonker and Sluyterman rightly argue that postal communications were regular and even frequent and that correspondence could even be "rather lively" in the last decades of the sixteenth century.26 Postal communications were not quick, however, and certainly not quick enough to allow merchants to do direct business with custom.ers and suppliers abroad through correspondence. To build up trust with foreigners, communication had to be a lot brisker, and to do business with local merchants the exchange of information and views had to be 20

21

22

19 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Lesger 2001, p. 14 and passim. Lesger 2001, pp. 14 and 23-55. Veluwenkamp 1996, p. 152. Veluwenkamp 2000, pp. 22-27. Lesger 2001, pp. 31-64. Veluwenkamp 2000, pp. 17-18 and 22-30. e£ Veluwenkamp 1996, p. 144.

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20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Veluwenkamp 2000, pp. 17-18 and 22-30; Veluwenkamp 1996, p. 148. Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 152-155. Lesger 2001, pp. 62-63. Tielhof 1995, p. 177; Tielhof 2002, pp. 166-167. Veluwenkamp 1996, p. 156. Behringer 2002, p. 426. Tielhof 2002, pp. 156-157 and 163. See also the essay by Droste in this volume. Jonker/Sluyterman 2000, pp. 25-30; quote on p. 25.

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a lot quicker than was possible at that stage. Local merchants could simply not acquire up-ta-date information about what commodities a merchant demanded and supplied, in what quantities and qualities, and on what terms. This was even more true in peripheral areas where local merchants lacked commercial expertise. 27

The Representatives Pattern

In the 1580s the Dutch Revolt separated the Northern Netherlands from the South and the Dutch Republic was born. The Northern rebels blocked Brabant's and Flanders' access to the sea so that Antwerp, the main port of the old system, was to a large extent cut off from the great international commodity flows. In the 1590S, the economic centre ofgravity of the Netherlands shifted from the South to the North. At the same time the volume, the composition and the geographical spread of Dutch trade began to expand vigorously. In many respects, this was the acceleration of the increase of direct Dutch foreign trade and the penetration of both existing and new markets which had gained momentum in the course of the sixteenth century. Now the entrepreneurs of Zeeland, Holland, and in particular Amsterdam began to send ships to the countries of southern Europe and to markets in the colonial empires of Spain and Portugal in Africa, Asia and the Americas. They also began to do direct business with local traders there. These direct commercial connections with all the different markets in Europe and the rest of the known world offered the Dutch competitive advantages as, in this way, they could cash in on price differences between widely separated places. Re-export and thus intermediate trade became their core business. They acquired a large share in the international trade. The Dutch Republic was almost instantly the focus of international trade, and Amsterdam was its hub. Van Tielhof argues that, as a consequence of its function as an international commercial centre, Amsterdam soon also developed into a centre of commercial information exchange, and that this position in turn strengthened Amsterdam' s commercial function. 28 Lesger pursues the same course and points out that the concentration of information made Amsterdam a vantage point. The merchants ofAmsterdam had a good picture ofthe international market and, consequently, an information lead and a competitive advantage in international intermediate trade. 29 The great expansion ofDutch commerce continued far into the seventeenth century and coincided with a gradual but fundamental change in the basic pattern of bus iness communication. In the business trip pattern, as a rule, the Dutch were represented on the spot in foreign markets only for brief spells; most of the year they were absent. To be represented abroad permanently provided great competitive advantage. It facilitated, for example, the maintenance of contact with important business con-

27 28 29

c£ Jonker/Sluyterman 2000, p. 84. Tielhof 2002, pp. 144-180. Lesger 2001, pp. 249 and 255.

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nections and it made it possible to benefit from short-term local price fluctuations. For that reason, by the end of the sixteenth century Dutch entrepreneurs who could afford to do so began to send business partners or employees out to settle permanently abroad to do business. As a result, the business trips pattern gradually gave way to the representatives pattern. Principals preferred to send members of their families or other close acquaintances to settle abroad as their representatives. This implied that in most cases their representatives were Dutch. They felt that they could trust people from their inner circle more than some agent less close to them.3 o Reliability was required as business stakes were high and international communication continued to be slow. As before, postal services were inadequate and merchants were partly dependent on shipmasters to carry their letters. Under these circumstances, it remained virtually impossible to build up trust with strangers such as indigenous merchants abroad. Also, local traders on the periphery of the European economy continued to be insufficiently commercially sophisticated to do the job. The Dutch were way ahead of, for example, Baltic merchants in respect of credit, knowledge and contacts. 31 Their lead only grew as Amsterdam quickly developed into a great international centre of information supply.3 Traders who could not keep up with the sophistication and initiative of that centre lagged behind and were unfit to represent a Dutch house. The stationing ofagents abroad led to the development ofDutch merchant colonies in many European ports. Such communities existed, for example, in Archangel, Bergen, Stockholm, Danzig, Hamburg, London, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Cldiz, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Leghorn, Venice, Aleppo and Smyrna. The case ofBordeaux is relatively well documented. By the end of the sixteenth century Dutch merchants began to settle in the port on the Gironde. Between 1630 and 1660 there were sixty-eight resident Dutch merchants and the Dutch community amounted to perhaps forty households. The Dutch ofBordeaux were, as a rule, business partners and employees of principals in Holland, and quite often they were their relatives. Most of them were members of Dutch merchant families, often setting up business in Bordeaux as an extension of their fathers' companies in Amsterdam or Rotterdam, with which they generally maintained close ties. By the middle of the seventeenth century the Dutch merchants were essential for Bordeaux' trade. It was not unusual among the local French merchants to engage in international commerce, and several traded with the Dutch Republic, but the sophistication and commercial initiative of the Dutch contrasted with the passive business style of the French merchant elite. Dutch merchants transformed the economic structure ofAquitaine in the course ofa few decades and brought prosperity to Bordeaux and its hinterland. They brought land around Bordeaux under cultivation and boosted the production and export of wine, and they were the ones who initiated the refinement of sugar and the production and export of eau-de-vie. 33 2

30 Veluwenkamp 2000, p. 63. 31 Tielhof2002, pp. 157,161 and 181. 32 Lesger 2001, pp. 209-249. 33 Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 152- 155.

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The same pattern can be observed in the trade with Russia. True, it remained normal practice for Dutch luerchants to travel annually aboard the ships from Amsterdam to Archangel for the summer season to trade with the Russians during the annual fair. In Archangel they were mainly lodged in the 80stinye dvory or merchant court, the enormous customs warehouse on the riverside. However, there was a growing number of Dutch agents who lived in Russia permanently - in Archangel during the annual fair, in Moscow in winter. Standard access to Russia was limited to the port of Archangel and only a few Dutch merchants had a Russian permit to travel any further - into the Russian interior. It was these few privileged merchants who sent their representatives to Russia to settle there. 34

The Commission Trade Pattern

The Dutch merchants in Amsterdam had great interest in regular communication with their permanent representatives abroad. Regular communication gave them an edge over their competitors. The more frequently they exchanged information, the better they were informed about market conditions and the larger was the competitive advantage. Consequently, the demand for postal services increased. The increase of the demand for postal services for commercial purposes coincided with an increase in the supply. It has been argued in a much broader context that a communication revolution took place in the early modern period and that the basis of this revolution was a tremendous increase in the quality of postal services. 35 Indeed, both the quantity and the quality of postal services all over Europe rose enormously in the course of the seventeenth century and, as a consequence, correspondence became much more quick, regular and reliable. It is hard to obtain a comprehensive picture of this postal revolution, but there are striking examples of what happened. The seventeenth century saw a sudden increase in the establishment of post offices in the iluperial towns of Germany, with an all-time high of seventeen new offices in the second half of the century. The number of mail stations in the principality of Saxony quadrupled from about twenty in 1690 to about eighty in 1700. The number of mail stations in Germany as a whole jumped from about two hundred in 1632 to more than six hundred in 1714.36 As result of these and similar developments, post from Danzig to Alusterdam, which had taken easily three weeks in summer and seven in winter in the late sixteenth century, took less than a fortnight all through the year by the middle of the eighteenth century. 37 The postal revolution was in itself a technological, mostly organisational developluent, triggered by demand ofgovernments and businessmen alike. In addition, it was heavily facilitated by institutional, mainly political developments. The Peacy Treaty of Veluwenkamp 2000, pp. 70-75. Behringer 2003, pp. 9-25. Behringer 2003, pp. 256,276 and 656. 37 Tielhof 2002, pp. 161, 163 and 180. 34

35 36

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Westphalia of 1648 increased political stability and legal security throughout EuropeY More generally, stability and security were the fruits of the phase that the process of state formation and establishment ofsovereignty entered in the second half of the seventeenth century. Whatever its causes, the postal revolution facilitated the development of regular and intensive international commercial correspondence and an increase in the spread and speed of information exchange. This improved information exchange boosted communication with Dutch merchants living in many ports and commercial centres all over Europe. It became easy to correspond with many people in many places and to build up trust. New possibilities sprang up for big and small businessmen alike. Big businessmen could now extend their network of correspondents. No longer were they dependent on partners or employees to do business abroad. They could now start correspondence with members in any Dutch merchant colony. Small businessmen benefited too. For a long time small businessmen had had only limited direct access to foreign trade. They were in no position to maintain representatives abroad. They would buy foreign goods from the big importers and would supply the big exporters. Foreign trade had been feasible only for big merchants, who were in a position to send agents abroad. Now the international market opened up for small businessmen. They could correspond frequently with Dutch expatriates and build up trust and business. Indeed, in the second halfof the seventeenth century, minor Dutch businessmen developed the habit of ordering by mail small parcels of merchandise from Dutch merchants abroad. Consequently, it may be expected that there were a few big importers of commodities from any foreign market and many small ones. This hypothesis cannot be tested very thoroughly as empirical data are few. It is supported, nevertheless, by research in Amsterdam imports from Archangel. In 1703 88% of the importers (163 firms) received 37% - measured by value - of the commodities imported. No one of these imported more than 1%. The biggest importer received 15% of the goods. In 1709, these figures were even more extreme. 39 Jonker and Sluyterman, too, point to the increased accessibility of foreign trade, but make the reverse connection with the commission business. They suggest that the commission trade was conducted by small businessmen who, in this way, worked themselves up, leaving cost and risk to their principals. 4 I do not agree with this assumption, the less so as the case ofat least one of the commercial firms they mention as an example, Jan Isaac de NeufVille & Comp., who I will discuss later, does not support their argumentY However this may be, there is little doubt that, in the course of the seventeenth century, Dutch merchants abroad developed the practice of accepting small orders from small Dutch businessmen in the Netherlands. It can be maintained that this turned into routine business which became a sideline or even the core business of a few members of every Dutch merchant colony abroad. This kind of commerce was usually con0

Tielhof 2002, p. 180. Buck 1988, p. 145. Jonker/Sluyterman 2000, pp. 87-89. 41 Veluwenkamp 1981. 38

39 40

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ducted as commission trade, whereby the commission agent abroad bought and sold merchandise on behalf of several or even many big and small principals in the Netherlands and was compensated for his efforts by a percentage of the turnover. The rise ofthe commission commerce led, in the second half ofthe seventeenth century, to a rapid drop in the number of Dutch merchants who made the annual return journey to the Archangel fair. In the 1660s about one hundred and eighty Dutch were doing business in Russia. In the next couple ofdecades this number fell until it reached about eighty in the 1690S. Businessmen chose to have a commission agent represent them rather than to keep on shuttling back and forth as soon as it became possible to do so. In this way, they not only saved a lot of time, but also benefited from the fact that the agents could do business with the Russians both before the ships arrived in Archangel and after they had sailed offagain. This same development led to an increase in the number of foreigners' homes in Archangel from eight in 1649 to twenty-five by 1680. Obviously, the number of commission agents rose and they needed a house in town. 42

The Direct Correspondence Pattern

From the second half of the seventeenth century Dutch merchants in the Netherlands began to correspond and do business directly with indigenous merchants abroad. 43 The extent to which they made use of the services of Dutch commission agents decreased accordingly. As a consequence, the Dutch merchant colonies lost their vigour and withered. This happened, for example, in Bordeaux and presumably in the other French Atlantic ports too in the second half of the seventeenth century, and in the Levan tine, Italian and Spanish ports from the end of the seventeenth century.44 Jonker and Sluyterman argue that the disappearance of the Dutch merchant colonies was caused by the switch to commission trade conducted by local merchants. They neglect the stage in which Dutch expatriates conducted commission trade. 45 The emancipation of the indigenous merchants resulted from the commission trade pattern, on the one hand, and the spread ofbusiness knowledge and skills on the other. Once the commission trade pattern had become established, there was no need for Dutch merchants to stick to the engagement of fellow countrymen as agents. If trust could be built up on the basis of postal communication with Dutch expatriates, it could with indigenous correspondents too. There was one condition: the ~oreigners had to have the necessary business skills and knowledge. For a long time, correspondence had been carried on preferably with Dutch expatriates. As a result, expertise tended to remain within Dutch circles, as they were in constant contact with their friends in Amsterdam, which was the main international centre of business informa42 43 44 45

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Veluwenkamp 2000, pp. 112 and 115. Tielhof 2002, p. 177; Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 154-155 and 161-163. Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 155-156 and 160-163. JonkerjSluyterman 2000, pp. 86-87.

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tion supply. But, of course, knowledge spread. A likely way local merchants acquired up-to-date skills and knowledge was the transfer by Dutch businessmen. The Dutch merchant colonies were gateways for the spread of business sophistication. Their members mixed with local society and had practical reasons to share expertise with indigenous businessmen. At least when local habits were close to their own culture, the Dutch would hire indigenous merchants as employees and establish business partnerships with them. One step further was when they married women from native merchant families. As employees, business partners and relatives, indigenous competitors became closely involved in the Dutch communities and familiar with Dutch business practices. As the locals caught up, Dutch factors and commission agents lost there lead in sophistication and became increasingly less irreplaceable. 46 This process may be observed in the Dutch merchant colony at Bordeaux which declined, as mentioned above, in the second half of the seventeenth century. The Bordeaux colony dated from the end of the sixteenth century. Fifty years later a dense network of family ties had developed between the expatriate Dutch families and the local Protestant community to the extent that, within this community, the (nation' was a negligible factor. Moreover, in Bordeaux, partnerships between French and Dutch merchants became fairly numerous. 47 The number of Dutch merchants in Bordeaux numbered about seventy in the middle of the century. Between 1655 and 1660 it began to decrease, and it fell from fifty-one in 1670 to seventeen in 1697, after which it remained more or less constant until 1715. No doubt this decline was caused by the crisis of the traditional wine trade, which, in turn, was caused by the mercantilist policy of the French government and the wars between 1672 and 1715. The Revocation of the Edict ofNantes in 1685 dealt a heavy blow to the community tOO.48 I would suggest that both the transfer of Dutch expertise to the local French merchants and the increased accessibility of the Dutch commercial activities to the French played a role too. They must have resulted from the family and business ties which developed between the French and the Dutch. It seems clear that the Dutch of Bordeaux became increasingly replaceable in the course of the second half of the seventeenth century.49 The fact that indigenous merchants were able to operate more easily on their home market than the Dutch expatriates did the rest. They had caught up with the Dutch as far as both trust and knowledge of the international market were concerned, and they had a natural lead in knowledge of the local market. An example of the way trust (which of course remained indispensable for doing business) could be built up even with perfect strangers by frequent correspondence and the possibility this created to conclude small transactions as trial runs is offered by the case of the eighteenth-century Amsterdam firm ofJan Isaac de NeufVille & Comp. When this company was established in the international linen business in 1730 it

46 Tielhof 2002, p. 177; Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 154-155 and 161- 163. 47 Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 15 2- 155. 4 8 Voss 1995, pp. 53-54· 49

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sought clients abroad - mainly in England - by collecting addresses and sending letters in which it offered "trial samples".5o These examples should not hide the fact that the extent to which foreign merchants lacked the Dutch business sophistication varied considerably from regioh to region. London was hardly a backwater in the seventeenth century. Admittedly, before 1640 about 30% of London imports of linen damask and diaper woven in the Low Countries were imported by foreign merchants, among whom were many Dutch, but the remaining 70% of imports were imported by British citizens. At the same time, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British merchant colony in Rotterdam kept up close commercial relations with England. There was no lack of expertise among British businessmen. 51 The ports ofFrance' s west coast would have been slightly more provincial, but people learned quickly. In more peripheral areas of the European economy such as Russia, sophistication did not spread so smoothly. As mentioned above, in the second half of the eighteenth century Russian merchants still lacked the expertise to do direct international business. Only in Archangel did Russians secure a substantial share (40%) in local foreign trade in the 1780s, which can be explained by the fact that there were fewer foreign merchants active there than in St Petersburg, and competition was less severe. 52 It may be argued that the eluancipation of the locals resulted in the rapid economic development of many European countries in the eighteenth century. Of course, this process was boosted by the mercantilist policy of the relevant governments, promoting domestic industry by direct subsidies and by raising tariffbarriers to check the export of raw materials and the import of finished products. England and France began to carry out this policy in the second half of the seventeenth century, and after 1720 Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Spain followed suit. The foreign trade of especially England and France and, to a lesser degree, Hamburg, Norway, Sweden, Prussia and Russia increased considerably. This emancipation led, in turn, to a marked decline in the role of the Dutch Republic in the international economy in the course of the eighteenth century. The volume of the Republic's foreign trade stagnated and lagged behind. 53 The Dutch lost their commercial supremacy.

Conclusion

The development of the international business communication in the Dutch commercial system went through four phases in the period 1500-1800. Each of these phases was defined by the dominance of a distinct pattern of communication. Until about 1590 Dutch merchants conducting active trade with foreigners tended to travel abroad to meet their counterparts and to do business with them (the business trip pattern). It 50 51 52

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Veluwenkamp 1981, pp. 98-103. Veluwenkamp 1996, pp. 145-147. Zakharov 2002, p. 70. Veluwenkamp 1994, p. 71.

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was preferred as there was no adequate international postal system. From about 1590 Dutch merchants installed close representatives abroad on a permanent basis to do business for them. The postal system did not yet meet the luerchants' needs and luaintaining permanent representatives had the competitive edge over making business trips. As a consequence, Dutch merchant colonies developed all over Europe and the representatives pattern spread. It dominated business communication until about 1650. In the course of the seventeenth century both the spread and the speed of postal services increased enormously. As a result of this postal revolution, it became easy for both big and small Dutch businessmen to start frequent correspondence with their compatriots abroad and to build up trust and do business with them. Consequently, from about 1650 the commission trade pattern dominated. When, in the commission trade pattern, trust and business could be built up with Dutch expatriates, the same could be done with indigenous merchants as long as they had the necessary skills, which they did have in most parts of Europe. As a result, from about 1700 the direct correspondence pattern was predominant. This chronology is, of course, a schematic representation of a very complicated reality. It is ambiguous for two reasons. First, each phase merged very gradually into the next, so that these consecutive phases overlapped to a large extent. Second, the development of the postal services and the degree of commercial sophistication differed from country to country. For that reason, the pace of the transition of international business communication from one pattern to the next and the development of commercial expertise differed from one country to another. The overlap between the phases may be illustrated by the example of the Baltic ports. Van Tielhof points out that Dutch communities flourished in the Baltic ports in the last quarter of the sixteenth century and the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and she stresses that in those same years, nevertheless, there were still Amsterdam merchants who engaged shipmasters as their agents in the Baltic trade. This implies an overlap of the business trip pattern and the representatives pattern. Also, according to Van Tielhof, while in the eighteenth century Dutch merchants were predominantly represented by local commission agents in the Baltic ports, Danzig still had a Dutch community of some importance. 54 Here we see an overlap of the commission trade pattern and the direct correspondence pattern. It almost goes without saying that the pace of development of postal services differed from place to place. As was mentioned above, the most distant places with which Amsterdam had direct postal connections by 1612 were Antwerp, Cologne and Hamburg. Many towns were integrated in the international postal network much later. An indirect postal connection between Western Europe with Moscow, for example, was established in 1668 when Moscow was linked directly to both Riga and Vilnius. 55 The extent to which business expertise differed from country to country may be illustrated by the examples ofEngland, France and Russia. As shown above, the British were suffi54 55

Tielhof 2002, p. 179· Veluwenkamp 2000, p. 13 6.

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ciently sophisticated to carry on direct trade with the Dutch Republic in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and probably much earlier. The same is true of French businessmen from the second half of the century. Russian merchants, however, lacked the expertise to do direct international business even in the second halfbf the eighteenth century. Notwithstanding these overlaps in phases and patterns and these differences in the development of postal systems and expertise, the general picture is clear. The postal revolution of the seventeenth century removed the need for business trips, expatriate agents and, eventually, commission agents as it disseminated information, expertise and trust. It paved the way to direct trade between local businessmen in different countries. Ifthe postal revolution paved the way, the Dutch were its trailblazers. After 1590 the Dutch Republic in general and Amsterdam in particular rapidly developed into the hub of international trade and international commercial information exchange. The concentration of business and information in Amsterdam gave the city's merchants a commercial advantage that strengthened their dominance in international commerce. This put them in a position to penetrate, develop and maintain foreign markets and, in doing so, to expand the Dutch commercial system and the scale of international commodity exchange. The power of Dutch leadership began to decline when the postal revolution enormously intensified international commercial communication and facilitated the spread of business, information, expertise, trust and, consequently, economic development throughout most ofEurope and beyond. This is not a very surprising conclusion. Infrastructure, including the means to convey information, is essential for any economy, and infrastructural improvement has always been a condition for economic development. In other words, the postal revolution paved the way while the rest of Europe walked it.

HEIKO DROSTE

Sending a Letter Between AITlsterdaITl and Stocl
The early modern post has been described as the backbone of a revolution in communications that took place in the seventeenth century.' This rather strong claim is nevertheless convincing, as the fast introduction of postal services on the European continent not only substantially improved the existing system of the transport ofletters by messengers, but was also the precondition for the distribution of printed newspapers, which were spread through the Holy Roman Empire from the 1610S on. Some fifty years later, these newspapers could be found all over Europe. They even appeared in Russia, although the first printed Russian newspaper was not published until 1703.2 The newspapers carried news on European affairs, sometimes even on world events, on a weekly basis and were read by an eager audience in the cities and the numerous courts. 3 It has been assumed that the variety of cities and courts in the Holy Roman Empire was responsible for this development. Initially, centralised monarchies like France, England or Sweden did not have the same need for an exchange ofcommunications between different cultural centres and therefore lagged behind for several decades. Nevertheless, the rapidly increasing exchange of cOlumunications changed the mental map of contemporaries, resulting in a new time-space, as social interaction was reaching out further than before, both in time and in space. As such it was (and is) pivotal for the administration of huger territories; it is in fact a precondition of modern institutions or modernity itsel£4 Finally, the post changed public transport by stagecoach. It became easier and cheaper to travel along the lines of an expanding network of communications. Taking all these factors into consideration, it is barely possible to overestimate the changes triggered by the post, as it produced the matrix on which later revolutions in communications (such as railway and internet) were built. The history of * This essay has benefited from many fruitful discussions with brjan Simonson, my colleague in a research project on the history of the Swedish post in the seventeenth century. 1 Behringer 2003; Innis 1950; Innis 1951. 2 Maier 2004. 3 Schroder 1995· 4 Anthony Giddens developed this part of his sociology especially in Giddens 1991. ef Urry 1997.

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the European postal services can thus be understood as the story of an organisational success that depended on the expertise of an educated elite of post officials in the service of the state. It therefore comes as no surprise that most early modern states soon"developed a strong interest in promoting postal services. In addition to its obvious advantages, the post also often turned out to be a reliable source of income for the post officials and thus the state. The different postal services in Europe worked together right from the start, although they were not all organised in the same way: sometimes state influence was predominant, sometimes the private influence of post entrepreneurs. The family ofThurn & Taxis is a good example, as it had been entrusted with the Imperial post as a hereditary fief They ran the post as a family business, supported and privileged by a long line of emperors. In other countries the growing states exerted a stronger influence as they endeavoured to administer the post according to their specific needs. 5 However, early modern governments still followed the principles of patrimonial rule. The state servant perceived himself as a servant to his prince, living, mostly metaphorically, at his prince's table and enjoying his prince's gifts and payments. 6 State servants must therefore be understood as privileged members or associates of the crown, not as civil servants in a modern sense. They carried out their services as a self-government at the prince's command. 7 The state consequently functioned as an enterprise in which the social eIites invested as co-entrepreneurs. These investments included a long education, unpaid services that preceded 'real' services, and - most interesting in our case - the economic risks involved in serving the crown. This deep social and economic involvement with state affairs had far-reaching consequences. Offices could be retracted at any time, in theory, but that hardly ever happened in practice. The crown servant usually had his share in public governance for good. He was identified with his office, and he financed himself from its revenues. Offices were assigned on the basis of the candidate's expertise, for example in postal matters, but his social and economic credit was at least as important, which meant that the crown servant's private interests were not necessarily opposed to the crown's interests. There was an intense debate at the time on the possible problems caused by private interests in public affairs, based on a clear-cut distinction between private and public affairs. Still, patrimonial rule could not dispense with private investments in public affairs. 8 On the contrary, it was the post servants' specific knowledge and interests that shaped the history of the post. The post officials' social and economic credit was decisive for their work. Consequently, even the postal traffic in a highly centralised state like Sweden operated mainly like a private enterprise for a long time. Sending a letter from Amsterdam to Stockholm, therefore, was not just about addressing and sealing a letter that would eventually reach its recipient. The user, and that included agents in cultural affairs, had to consider the interests ofthe post experts. 5 Beale 1998; Johannesen 1997; John 1995; Kalmus 1937. 6 Hintze 1981; Weber 1976, pp. 580-624. 7 Hindle 200 4, p. 101; Wiese-Schorn 1976, pp. 30-31. 8 Descimon 1996; Mtczak 1989.

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In addition, he had to bear in mind how political pressure and all kinds of trouble depending on war, road conditions, espionage and the weather might affect the safe delivery of his letter. This article addresses both issues. The main emphasis is on the post officials' terms oftrade and their influence on postal matters, while the second part describes certain technical problems and the need to trust the post officials.

A Short Outline ofSwedish Postal Histort

When Sweden started its expansion into the Baltic Sea and on the continent, the need for a permanent, reliable postal traffic soon became apparent. Gathering information was far easier than delivering it to the distant court. The first steps towards a Swedish post organisation were taken in the 1610S, when diplomatic relationships with the Netherlands were established. Even the hostilities with Poland and Denmark triggered a steady flow of news. 'D In 1619 the hitherto occasional messenger service was consolidated, linking Stockholm to Hamburg on a regular basis. In this way Sweden could make use ofthe different postal services in Europe that had reached Hamburg by then. The route via Denmark worked smoothly and was the core ofthe Swedish postal service founded in 1636. This service then expanded rapidly from Stockholm into every corner of the Swedish Realm and its provinces. The necessary expertise to establish the Swedish post was imported from Germany together with the first directors of the new post. A particular difficulty for the crown was the fact that, for most of the seventeenth century, the postal service exceeded its financial resources. Contrary to postal services on the continent, the Swedish post did not turn out to be a reliable source of income. This unreliability was due to the comparatively small number of private letters sent to Sweden and to the huge number of government letters sent free of charge. The crown was therefore unable to finance the post regularly, but relied mostly on the post director's financial means. '3 During this period, the crown's influence was mostly limited to efforts at regulation and supervision. This influence involved, for instance, mediating conflicts between post officials, trying to reduce the letters that were sent free of charge (this privilege seems to have been abused by almost every crown servant), and securing the safe transport ofimportant letters in Sweden and through Denmark. '4 As relations between Sweden and Denmark in the seventeenth century were occasionally hostile, the crown used different methods to safeguard its mail. It was only at the end of the century, though, that different maritime lines were introduced, linking Sweden directly to its provinces in the east and south on a regular basis. '5 Until then, letters to Sweden's Baltic and 11

12

Forssell193 6; Heurgren 1964; Holm 1906-1929. Droste 1998. 11 Klein 1994. 12 Carlin 1986. 13 Bladh 1999 has analysed the Swedish post history from an organisational perspective; see esp. pp. 47-50. 14 Hjorth-Nielsen 1936. 15 Engelhardt 1926; Rudbeck 1933.

9 10

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German provinces mostly went via Hamburg. 16 Even the financial problems were eventually solved. By around 1700 the Swedish post had developed a structure that was to remain in operation during the following centuries with only few modifications, most of them in the late nineteenth century.

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I have often tried to hinder the messengers from taking Danish letters, but I did not succeed. If they don't do it publicly, they will do it in secret. IfI fire one of them, the successors will do likewise. IfI punish one in particular by not using him for several weeks and replacing him by others, as I have done often, they will stop doing it in public, but still continue in secret. I have no other sanctions at hand. 21

Economic Aspects ofthe Early Post

When the Swedish crown installed the first post agents in Hamburg in 1619 and in Stockholm in 1636, these men were also in charge of the economic functioning of the system. Initially, the revenues were simply too low to guarantee a reliable income. The post agent in Hamburg even had to pay for the crown's letters sent from and to Hamburg, as they were free of charge. Although the crown eventually reimbursed the agent - at least in theory -, it was his money and his credit in Hamburg that ensured the transport of the letters. If the crown did not pay him regularly or ifhe left his position, postal traffic came under pressure. This situation led to long interruptions in the 1620S, when the Swedish government decided every year anew whether it was willing and able to pay for its letters. The first post agent, the Dutch merchant Leonard van Sorgen, finally abandoned his work in Hamburg and went to Stockholm to be paid in person by King Gustav II Adol£'7 Fifty years later the financial problems were still far from solved. When Vincent Maller, Swedish resident in Hamburg, died in 1668, this created serious problems. His huge debts caused the Imperial post officials to accept Swedish letters only when paid for in cash. IS Although these letters thus risked staying in Hamburg, the crown was unable and unwilling to account for Maller's debts. This is the more surprising, as everybody knew a long time in advance that Maller was about to die. It took months to solve this crisis in letter transport,'9 and it took the Imperial post officers several decades to get their money.20 To understand how the post worked requires considering the financial interests of the officials, the state, the correspondents, and the messengers. Even the messengers between Hamburg and Stockholm were engaged on a private economic level. For a long time, they accepted letters for transportation in tandem with the official post in an attempt to improve their salary. This was illegal, of course, but the crown was unable to prevent it, at least according to Johan Adler Salvius, Swedish resident in Hamburg between 1631 and 1650, who was managing the post:

16 Petersone 1997; Petersone 1998; Petersone 2003. 17 Riksarkivet (N ational Archives, Stockholm), Oxenstiema samlingen, E 721: letters from Leonard van Sorgen to Axel Oxenstiema, 5, 8 and 24 April 1624. 18 C£ the huge liquidation ofMoll er: Riksarkivet, Likvidationer, 94, vols. 181-186, and the following footnote. 19 C£ the letters from Martin Bockell, the new resident, and Johann Zacharias Kruse to Chancellor of the Realm Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie in spring 1668 from Hamburg: Riksarkivet, De la Gardie samlingen, E 13 62 and 1466-1467. 20 Riksarkivet, Likvidationer, 52-53, vol. 2 Gohann Baptista Vrints and Johann Baptista Lueders).

Adler Salvius was convinced that the messengers' payment was simply too poor to stop this private enterprise on the side. The same was true of the post in Stockholm, although on a different scale. Since the post was established in 1636 it was part ofthe post director's portfolio. The crown employed him as a secretary in the royal chamber, simultaneously, to control his postal business and, from 1643 on, his work as the firsteditor of the only Swedish newspaper. This situation immediately led to serious trouble between the post officials in Stockholm and Hamburg, as both tried to secure the revenues for the letters between Stockholm and Hamburg. 23 Once again, Johan Adler Salvius took care of his position. In a furious letter to Anders Gyldenklou, secretary of state, he accused the post director in Stockholm, Gesine Wechel, widow of the first Swedish post director Andreas Wechel, of interfering with his business: 22

This is so unjust! What could be worse than that an honest Swedish man is supposed to listen to and obey such an old hag? She has been Andreas Svensson's maid [Anders Svensson: Swedish resident in Hamburg]. wechel served me for several years. It was I who gave him in marriage. That I would subordinate postal services out here, as Steinhusius claims, is not true in a strict sense. However, as I am not exactly a subordinate member of the chancellery, I clearly should be more able to administer this task on behalf of Her Majesty than an old German hag. During my presence here in Hamburg I manage everything with my own hands. Therefore I cannot understand that I am supposed to be referred to her rule and obedience.24

The topic of Adler Salvius' outrage, his possible obedience to a German widow of far lower status than his own, has an economic aspect too. Adler Salvius organised the Swedish affairs in Hamburg, including the financial part. The crown therefore could 21 Riksarkivet, Kanslitjanstemans koncept och mottagna skrivelser, voL 16, Adler Salvius to Qgeen Christina, probab ly sent as a postscript to a letter to Anders Gyldenklou, Hamburg, 2 January 1641: "Thet Residenten Stromfeld skrifWer oredan i Postwesende mast komma afthe Hamburger postama, kan fuller nogot wara at aldeles hindra, thet the inga Danske breef sko1e fora, thet hafuer iagh ofra forsokt, men kan thet icke afbringa, Gora the thet icke offentligen, sa gora the thet doch heemligen. Satter iagh them af, sa are succeGores 1yka. Straffar iagh nogon in particulari; thet iagh gar honom nogra reesor forbij, och later andra reesa, Sasom iagh ofra hafuer giort, sa lata the fuller til en tidh offentligen b1ifWat, men go rat doch hemligen. Annat strafhafiler iagh har icke." 22 Gustafsson/Ryden 2000. 23 Droste 1999. 24 Riksarkivet, Kanslitjanstemans koncept och mottagna skrivelser, vol. 16, Adler Salvius to Anders Gyldenklou, Hamburg, 5 December 1640: "Qgid iniquius! imo quid turpius an at en ahrligh swensk man ska1 bewysa een sadana vetulae horsamheet och lydno, som war har, Anders SwenGons tienste piga, (00') Wechel mihi inservyt per annum, ego ei nuptias feci. (00') Att tillmata sigh directionen af postwesendet har uthe, thet gor iagh icke afWen eo senso, quo Steinhusius id protulerat. (00') Men at iagh, ut non infimum membrum Cancellariae (cui co1legio hac res Majestate demandata est) icke skulle batter och fogligare ex mandata Regio kunne dirigera thet werket suprema directione Maiestati, et Regni Cancellaris reservatCl serdeles har uthe, ubi praesens omnia meis manibus tracto, an een tysk bring och en Schultes ther inne, uthan skulle forwysas till theres horsamheet och lydno, quasi oboediensii quadam cori."

a

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SENDING A LETTER BETWEEN AMSTERDAM AND STOCKHOLM

Ordinarie PostTijdender (no. 4) 1645. This newspaper was published by post director Johan Beijer on b,~half ofthe Swedish government since 1643. It resembles the German origins in most aspects, down to its content. Kungliga Bibliotheket Stockholm.

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administer the post and to control the post director. The profit, on the other hand, was his. The state maintained no control whatsoever. As this did not work as expected, the income of De la Gardie was poor, the postal traffic deteriorated, and King charles XI had the post reorganised completely a few years later. At the turn of the century a,more lasting organisation was established. Despite the above-mentioned problems, the mixture of public control via crown regulations and private entrepreneurship worked quite well. The crown obviously relied on the post director's interests to run the post effectively. In return, the crown servant exerted a decisive influence in his office, changing the rules according to his understanding ofthe situation. When Axel Oxenstierna tried to employ his own secretary Frantz Mathias Schilher as new Swedish post official in Hamburg, Adler Salvius once again defended his sphere of influence successfully: During my presence here in Hamburg there is no need for an additional post agent except the three here in town, where I collect and pay for the letters, and the one that I keep with me, who is supposed to deliver these letters from here to their destinations. IfYour Excellency trusts me with employing somebody with the postal services, that I seem the right one here in place, because I am the one who knows most about these affairs, I hope to put things in good order. However, if somebody is sent here who does not have the necessary means at his disposal, the post affairs will deteriorate the moment the French war subsidies will stop. I will not serve anybody in this whom I have not chosen myself 28

not do without his personal credit, as he openly argues in a letter to the chancellor of the realm, Axel Oxenstierna: ((To trade anything here in the name of the crown, or on its credit, is totally impractical for now. No private merchant is willing to lend anything to sovereigns, especially not in cash." Both lines ofarguments solved the crisis for Adler Salvius. 25 The revenues were eventually split equally. When post director Johan Beijer in Stockholm was replaced against his will in the 1650S, he succeeded in running a private postal traffic between Stockholm and Hamburg for years. 26 The crown tried to stop him, failed, and eventually re-established him as post director. The customers and the messengers, at least in parts, preferred his route to the official one, because as an expert he won the necessary trust and because his postal service was faster than the official one. In the 1670S the post was given to the Chancellor of the Realm, Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, as a temporary fieE27 He had to 25 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 708b, Adler Salvius to Axel Oxenstierna, Hamburg, 9 January 1641: "Att upphandla nagonting pa kronans kredit och i dess namn ar nu for tiden helt opraktikabelt. Ingen privat kapman lanar garna nagonting till suveraner, i synnerhet inte reda pengar." Lundgren 1945, p. 183. 26 Bladh 1999, pp. 50-52.

Adler Salvius employed his nephew Heinrich Schute, despite Oxenstierna's order. The threat that a post agent who could not rely on Adler Salvius' economic and social assistance would turn the post traffic into havoc worked. Adler Salvius' self-government in Hamburg did have several substantial advantages for the crown. For one, the crown did not have to care about its affairs in Hamburg. Adler Salvius took care ofthem and ofthe necessary clerks that were employed and paid by him. The crown thus saved administration, which was a real gain considering the permanent lack of educated crown servants. Also, the crown was provided with a longterm credit. The Swedish crown had only one public mail system that fulfilled its needs. An occasional crisis of funding or reliability was eventually solved because the post official had a private economic interest to do so. In exchange for these advantages, the state lost a potential income. Now, was the post under these circumstances still an economically satisfactory enterprise for its officials? It was, although not simply for the postal revenues, as they were often not high enough, at least according to the post officials themselves. Postal services made sense as

27 Holm 1906-1929, Ill, pp. 81f£ 28 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 708b, Adler Salvius to Axel Oxenstierna, Hamburg, 6 April 1639: "Ar elliest i mytt harwistande ingen annan postmastare nodigh, an the tree har i staden, affhuilke iagh brefWen inloser och elliest betalar, och sa den iagh hoos migh holler at sedan addreGera huart till sin ort har ifi:an. Wille E.Exc. betro migh om, at forordna medh detta postwasende som iagh bast finner har inloco, efter som ingen weet har fuller batter beskedh ther om, sa hop pas iagh kunna bringat i en richtigh gangh. Elliest ther en annan hytfarordnas som inga medel hafuer, ar inthet twifWel at postwesende rikar i confusion, sa snart subsidierne uphare. Ty at iagh skulle ther i tiena en annan an den iagh gerna wille, thet ar inthet wal myn lagenheet."

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they offered more interesting business opportunities besides the letter transport. Post servants were not only privileged members of the crown, whose names and positions were well known to every user of the post. Both the information they collected, their social contacts, their economic resources, and the fact that post officers often lived in city centres were the perfect preconditions for a variety of trade activities. These activities included the distribution of printed newspapers or handwritten correspondence. There was only one printed newspaper in Sweden, and it was written and distributed through the post. But foreign newspapers were available and, though we do not know how extensive it was, there was an opportunity to sell handwritten newspapers."9 Furthermore, post officials often engaged in regular commercial enterprise, selling all kinds of goods varying from horses or books to spices, and from trees to news. 3D It was most likely these affairs on the side that made the enterprise worthwhile. Unfortunately, we do not have any sources describing both the official and private sides of this entrepreneurship. The accounts kept by the Royal Chamber only account for payments and debts directly linked to the postal services. There is no information available on commercial affairs with the post officer (even if they were done in the crown' s name), on gifts and honours, or on estates and loans. The chamber's liquidations with the post officials are probably accurate in themselves, but they only show a part of the post officials' economic activity. What is interesting, though, is that becoming a post agent or post official was not easy, as there always seem to have been many applicants for this job, which was especially true of main offices like Stockholm and Hamburg. 3l When Eberhard von Graffenthal, an experienced diplomat, became Swedish resident in Hamburg, he explicitly asked for the post directory as part of his position. He argued that as a resident he could only expect a rather poor and insecure salary, and that he hoped to live on the income the post offered. 32 He even mentioned the fact that his predecessors had acted likewise. After having received the position of director of post, he was eager for more interesting business opportunities. He wanted to administer the French war subsidies. In a letter to his patron, Sten Bielke, councillor of the Realm, he explicitly mentions a possible profit on his side: I ask for this favour because His Majesty does not lose anything, whereas I receive the blessing of an improved credit. It would, otherwise, spread the impression here in town that I could not be entrusted with such an office. And if there might be a small profit included, it will be allowed me as His Majesty's loyal servant at least as much as it would be to a foreigner. What Your Excellency will be able to achieve in this matter, I will interpret as a token of a special blessing and affection, which I will diligently remunerate with lasting gratitude. 33

29 Bruin 1991 on the handwritten newspapers by Abraham de Wicquefort and Lieuwe van Aitzema. See also Keblusek 1997, chapter 7· 30 Losman 1980 on the various contacts ofdiplomats, news agents, and post officials with Carl GustafWrangel. 31 Riksarkivet, Kanslikollegiet, G II h:3, Skrivelser frin myndigheter och enskilda utom postverket. 32 Riksarkivet, Bielke samlingen, E 2016, Eberhard von Graffenthal to Sten Bielke, Rothenburg, 13 December 1671: Graffenthal's request for the position ofdirector ofpost. He was introduced in Hamburg on 12 March 1672: Riksarkivet, Riksregistraturet. 33 Riksarkivet, Bielke samlingen, E 2016, Eberhard von Graffenthal to Sten Bielke, Hamburg, 28 March 1673:

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Another example is the long-term competition in which the Swedish factor in Hamburg, Liebert Wolters, and the Swedish post commissioner Barthold Huswedel were engaged. Their quarrel was about the opportunity to act as merchant for Johan Rosenhane, head of the Wismarer Tribunal in Wismar. 34 Yet another example is the post officer Andreas Thomas Hildebrand in Stettin. According to Gottfried Albinus, an unemployed former secretary ofthe Pomeranian state, Hildebrand used his position as a post officer to engage in several sidelines. Having a regular contact with the Pomeranian government, he was able to earn a lot ofmoney by exporting grain to Stockholm. 35 Furthermore, as a compensation for his service to the crown he was given several estates, resulting in an even bigger income. These sidelines clearly outweighed the income that the post might have offered. Such economic advantages were often accompanied by a social advancement, for example when Hildebrand acquired a seat in the Chapter in Stettin. Wolfgang Behringer's study shows that the Imperial post officials were regularly given titles. 36 The same was true of the Swedish post directors. But even a bourgeois post officer in a provincial town earned a high reputation, as he lived in the city centre, and quite often engaged in useful marriage projects. Heinrich Schute, nephew of Adler Salvius, married into two of Hamburg' s most respected merchant families. 37 Adler Salvius made it clear that Schute's luck was completely dependent on his influence: "Heinrich Schute, who actually is my wife's nephew and whose fortune is completely founded on me."3 8 The first post statute in 1636 ordered that the post offices in the Swedish towns should be given to the most respected and well-to-do citizens. In exchange for their duties, these post officials were exempt from local taxation. Post director Beijer built his house right next to the one belonging to the Chancellor of the Realm Axel Oxenstierna, just a few steps from the castle. Post officials therefore gained on different levels, combining different forms of social, economic and symbolic capital.

"(...) gestalt Ihrer Konigl. Mytt. dardurch nichts abgehet, mir aber darin die gnade wiederfahret, daG mein credit beGer wirdt, da es sonsten bey dieser stadt daG ansehen gewinnet, alG wehre mir ein solches werck nicht anzutreuen, undt wan dann je noch ein kleiner profit dabey vorfallen solte, so wirdt derselbe mir alG Ihrer Konigl. Mytt getreuen diener ja so woll, aW einem fremden zu gonnen sein. WaG Ew. hochherl. Excellence mir hierunter zu wegen bringen konnen, will ich alG ein zeichen sonderbahrer gnade undt affection ausdeuten, mich aller danckbarkeit befleiGigen." c£ letters of 8 February and 17 March 1673. 34 Uppsala University Library, E 524-527= letters from Wolters and Huswedel to Rosenhane. On this debate: Lohmann 1969, 46, 79 and 221. 35 Riksarkivet, Skokloster samlingen, E 8191, GottfriedAlbinus to Carl GustafWrangel, Stettin, 25 June 167 2, presented in Stockholm, 4 September, 1672. 36 Behringer 2003, p. 624. 37 Droste 1999, pp. 243- 255. 38 Riksarkivet, Salvius samlingen, E 5253, Concept, Adler Salvius to Qgeen Christina, Osnabruck, 1 November 1647= "(... ) afden Hendrich Schute, hvilken fuller ar mijn hustrus brodersohn, den ock fundamentet afall sin fortun hafVer aff migh."

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Post office sign at the Swedish post office in Stralsund, 18th century. Copyright: P. Muller, Deutsches Posrilluseum, Frankfurt am Main.

Technical Problems and the Need for Trust

Thus far, I have discussed the Swedish postal service. The situation, however, was a lot more complicated for the customers ofthe Swedish post as soon as the letters left Hamburg in all directions. There have always been a variety of competing postal institutions in the Holy Roman Empire and Europe. The Imperial post of Thurn & Taxis reached Hamburg in 1618, just in time to work together with the new Swedish messenger service. It was by far the most advanced and widespread postal service ofits time. However, the city council of Hamburg had its own post institutions to take care of, as almost every other prince or duke in Northern Germany did. 39 It was not only a matter of money, although the post was seen as a ready income. A number of princely postal services were therefore founded after and in spite of the Imperial service. 40 It was also about the state's efforts to bind its own territory together. Most prominent is the case ofBrandenburg, with a territory that spread over a vast area between Kanigsberg and Diisseldorf 4' Finally, the city council of Hamburg had to protect its citizens' existing postal services, as there had been messenger services to the Netherlands, Denmark and into the Baltic area (Stettin, Danzig, Riga) for a very long time. 42 All these competing postal services differed considerably with regard to reliability, price, geographical coverage, and speed. The Imperial post ofThurn & Taxis had the monopoly on postal services throughout the Holy Roman Empire, at least on paper. Thurn & Taxis therefore tried hard to get rid of these competitors. But although their enterprise worked very well on the whole, turning the family into one of the wealthiest noble families of its time, their success was mainly limited to the southern, Catholic parts of the Empire. In Northern Germany the different postal institutions and private messenger services often remained intact, in some cases down to the twentieth century, whereas Thurn & Taxis 39 40 41 42

Teubner 1931; Reincke 1958 . Stephan 1859. Karber 200l. Gallitsch 1937.

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survived the fall of the Holy Roman Empire by only forty years. This was due to the huge revenues which the different states or enterprises could extract, but it was also due to the reliability of the transport. Although Thurn & Taxis was impartial according to its statutes, permanent warfare in Europe and political pressures on all sides made it difficult for the Swedes to trust the Imperial (i.e. Catholic) post. Letters might be opened, lost or heavily delayed. Heinrich von Schallen, the Swedish commissioner in Wroctaw, did not even trust the Imperial post with his letters in peace time. 43 He pre,ferred another line, addressing his letters bound for Sweden to a Hamburg merchant, Liebert Wolters, who then took care of them. Wolters even acted as his Hamburg bank accountant. It took Schallen a lot of time to find an appropriate, safe, fast, and inexpensive way to send a letter. By repeatedly writing about his problems to his recipients and the crown, and describing his efforts to improve the situation, he wanted to make sure that possible delivery problems were not blamed on him. The loss or damage of a letter caused trouble that any diplomat tried to avoid. Every broken seal caused a crisis, followed by thorough investigations into the matter. During its campaigns in the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish crown installed a whole system of postal services of its own, not merely a military post. 44 The Frankfurt post ofJohann von den Birghden was famous and formed the heart of the Swedish postal trafficY When it was shut down after a few years, new precautions had to be taken. The most widely used method to safeguard a letter was to use word or letter codes. 46 Research on the use of codes, however, is still insufficient. There is a huge variety of codes to be found in the archives, but in Sweden they were usually rather primitiveY It is therefore very hard to decide how important these codes were in everyday letter exchange ..My impression, after reading thousands of diplomatic letters, is that codes were not as Important as the use of codes in the twentieth century might imply. To disguise a le~ter was therefore probably equally common, but even this cannot be more than an Impression as we lack the necessary sources to prove it. Disguising a letter meant sending it to an inconspicuous address in an additional envelope; to ((put another coat" on it. 4S The recipient opened the envelope, inserted a new address, and forwarded it. When resident Vincent Maller and Johan Oxenstierna in 1657 feared that letters between Hamburg and Stettin could be intercepted, both agreed to send their letters via Liibeck, where a trustworthy merchant forwarded them. 49 Using intermediary stations, however, was not restricted to war times and not only used to prevent the letter from being intercepted. It was simply not advisable to send a 43 Niedersachsisches Staatsarchiv Stade, Rep. 51, Fach 46, Nr. 37, Heinrich van Schall~n to Chancellor Daniel Nicolai in Stade, Wroctaw, 18/28 May 1664, about the new Imperial post in Wroctaw. ThIS post was very fast, but expensive too and not reliable. Schallen did not dare to send his letters with this Imperial messenger because he feared that the letters might be opened. 44 Barudio 1989. 45 Kremer 1984. Kremer has just completed a biography ofJohann von den Birghden. 46 Ernst 1992. 47 C£ the collection of codes in Riksarkivet, Chifferklaver. 48 Riksarkivet, Skrivelser till konungen, Gustav II AdolE, vol. B, Hieronymus Birckholtz to Gustav II AdolE, Stettin, 14 September 1616: "( ... ) einen anderen Rock anziehen". 49 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 919, Johan Oxenstierna to Vincent Maller, Wismar, 29 June 1657.

146 HEIKO DROSTE

SENDING A LETTER BETWEEN AMSTERDAM AND STOCKHOLM

147

GustafWrangel granted him this request, because he did not pay Albinus for his services. Hildebrand, post official in Stettin, refused to accept this privilege and had to be reminded of it, as it affected his income. 53 But even if all these problems were solved, there remained the need to trust the Swedish post officials. JohanAdler Salvius, situated at the heart ofSweden's foreign relations for almost twenty years, obviously had the habit of opening letters sent via Hamburg to Stockholm to learn about news from all over Europe. 54 He even wanted to make sure that the letters did not contain information that could damage his reputation. To be able to write about personal matters and to send sensitive information, he himself relied on the personal assistance of royal secretaries. He feared that somebody at court might open his letters. Two of Ogeen Christina's secretaries were clients of Adler Salvius, making sure that his letters reached her and no one else. 55 The secretaries even supplied Adler Salvius with first-hand information from the court, usually a rare gift. To protect his information in Hamburg, Adler Salvius encrypted his letters before he gave them to his post servant Balthasar Schorling, who had been employed by Adler Salvius' predecessor. What made him suspicious, according to Adler Salvius, who wrote about it to Axel Oxenstierna, was that Schorling had good contacts with certain princes in Northern Germany who knew more about Swedish politics than they should:

letter via different post routes without addressing it to a reliable person, most often the post agent or a merchant, at the end of every single route. 50 The usual way for a nobleman in Stockholm was to send a letter of recommendation to the post agent in Hamburg, inserting the letter that he was supposed to deliver. It was the po'st agent in Hamburg who then decided the route. After all, he knew about pressing problems, wars and troops, bad weather conditions, the names of the post agents in different towns, and the appropriate postal service. He confirmed in writing that he would handle the letter and described his efforts. 51 Most important, he paid for the letter from Hamburg onwards. His customers then repaid him afterwards, at least in theory. Agents in cultural affairs, like the ones we learn about from several articles in this book, had different problems to take care of First of all, they needed to know the post agent or diplomat who took care of their letters in their home town. Apparently it was profitable to engage in a personal relationship. Diplomats wrote about being acquainted with the post officer to make sure that their letters were treated properly.52 This contact was especially important if the cultural agents were allowed to send letters free of charge. The respective agent or diplomat who took care of the post had to learn about this privilege. Also, he was usually the official contact between the crown and the agent, delivering instructions, payments, and so forth. In this case, the cultural agent invested in a social relationship with this diplomat, as it not only ensured his letter's transportation - the diplomat might be more willing to pay the agent and to deliver news that could be valuable for the agent's work. These news relationships were the backbone ofmany agents' activities. As this business involved writing many letters, the close contact with a diplomat and a post official often proved very advantageous. If a cultural agent did not have an official contract but worked in secrecy, sending letters became more difficult and most of all more expensive. As in the case of Heinrich von Schollen, quite often a local merchant stepped in to whOlTI letters could be addressed. Especially important were contacts in Hamburg, as almost all letters to Sweden had to pass through this city. The local contact then delivered the letters to the Swedish post agent, where he paid for them if necessary. The ensuing financial problems endangered many correspondences, as a permanent correspondence exceeded the financial means of many cultural agents. When secretary Gottfried Albinus asked for the privilege of sending his correspondence free of charge, the Governor General Carl

Information about court matters was ofa very sensitive nature. This affected the way in which Sweden's ministers and news contacts abroad were informed. The post director Beijer and his successors were obliged to send news about court matters in order to provide the Swedish ministers with the necessary background information to do their job. In a letter to Bartholomaus Wolfsberg, secretary to Count Palatine Karl Gustav (the later King Karl X Gustav), Beijer excused himself for not writing anything of real news value. He claimed that it would be too dangerous to send this kind ofinformation and to sign these letters, because they might be intercepted. 57 Beijer obviously had his own court in mind, fearing that somebody with access to the Swedish post might read what he had to say about Swedish politics. The secrecy of the post was not self-evident, not

50 Riksarkivet, Skokloster samlingen, E S42S, Vincent Maller to Carl GustafWrangel, Hamburg, 16 July 1662; Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 1178g, Vincent Maller to Gabriel Gabrielsson Oxenstierna, Hamburg, 29 December 1663; Riksarkivet, Skokloster samlingen, E 29S, Vincent Maller to AdolfJohan, Hamburg, 14 April 1665. 51 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 934, post director Johan Beijer to Johan Oxenstierna, Stockholm, 16 December 164S: "Hochwollgebohrner Herr Graff und Legat, Gnadiger Herr, Ew. Hochge. Exc. habe ich in unterth. Antwort auff deroselben gn. schreiben auiS Munster vom 26. novemb. mitt wenigem zuvernehmen geben sollen, waiS maiSen die mihr dabey uberschickte schreiben deroselben intention und gnadigem begehren nach, mitt fleiiS versorget, und an geharigem orth verschafft worden, dergleichen dann E. Gn. Exc. sich jederzeit ferner versehen, und sich deiSen jn gnade vollkommlich versichert halten wollen. Eg. Gn. Exc. hiemitt gattlicher gnadenbewahmng getrewlich empfehlend deroselben unterthaniger gehorsambster diener, Johan Beier" - a typical example of a letter simply confirming the delivery of several letters.

52 Riksarkivet, Birckholtz samlingen, E 3253, Hieronymus Elver to Hieronymus Birckholtz, Danzig, 24 November 1616. Elver considered it safe to receive letters with the Hamburg post as he was regularly visiting the local post officer. 53 Riksarkivet, Skokloster samlingen, E S191, GottfriedAlbinus to Carl GustafWrangel, Stettin, 25 June 1672. 54 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 70sb, Adler Salvius to Axel Oxenstierna, Hamburg, 19 October 1639; 30 November 1639 and 24 December 1642. 55 C£ Droste 1999, pp. 243-255. 56 Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 7osb, Adler Salvius to Axel Oxenstierna, Hamburg, 7 October 1636: "Hwilket alt iagh idee farmaler at olampa den stackaren, Ty iagh tors fuller wara godh fare, at han inthet gar thet af malitia, uthan allenest af eenfeldigheet, och ar fattigdomen ock stoor hoos honom, at han meenar thet hafuer inthet pi sigh, om han fartienar et stycke peninger ther bedewidh". 57 Riksarkivet, Wolfsbergs samlingen, E 6095, Johan Beijer to Bartholomaus Wolfsberg, Stockholm, 12 August 164S.

I don't write this to humiliate the poor fellow. I am convinced that he does not do this out ofmal-

ice, but only out of simple-mindedness. He is so poor that he does not mind earning something extra on the side. 56

148

HEIKO DROSTE

even for its director. Most diplomats and ministers working abroad therefore had special relationships with somebody at the court who was able to send useful information on politics, vacancies, gossip, the whereabouts ofthe king, and so onY In the case ofthe cultural agents, these contacts probably included members of the high~ nobility to whom they wrote, or their secretaries. It might even have been a merchant who had business to do in Stockholm and who acted as a bank accountant for this cultural agent, transferring money or goods for him.

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Concluding Remarks

Sending a letter from Amsterdam to Stockholm required many preparations. It was advisable to be acquainted with the post officials who handled the letters in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Stockholm. The Swedish post in Hamburg was 'unofficial' and 'private' down to 1674 as the city council did not allow any foreign sovereign to open a post office. 59 When Sweden was finally allowed to do so, it had to employ a Hamburg citizen as post officer. The post as an early example of an expert system relied on the post officials' economic and social credit. Cultural agents wanted to make sure that their letters were delivered fast, intact, and to the right person. If the content was sensitive, codes or other means of disguise were commonly used. To engage in a personal relationship with the post official was advisable too, as a regular correspondence was fairly expensive. Cultural agents might have the right to send their letters free of charge,iperhaps even as a part of the local diplomat's correspondence. They might also receive their salary through the post official. Still, even when all these precautions were taken, sending mail from Amsterdam to Stockholm took a long time. Getting an answer might easily take a month or two. Especially in the winter, many correspondents waited anxiously for answers to their letters, fearing that the correspondence had been lost or intercepted, that the addressee had died, lost interest, or was unwilling to pay. The infancy ofthe expert postal system called for patience and a lot of hope.

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58

Riksarkivet, Oxenstierna samlingen, E 960: diplomat Schweder Dietrich Kleihe is sending letters from

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Klein 1994, p. 83·

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a

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Picture Credits Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 26 Hans Cools, Rome 40, 42, 49 FitzwilliamMuseum, Cambridge 21 Frederiksborg Castle, Museum of National History, Hiller0d 62 Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt 118 Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp 110 Martin-von Wagner-Museum, Wurzburg III P. Muller, Deutsches Postmuseum, Frankfurt am Main 144 Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen / Bridgeman Art Library cover Museo di San Marco, Florence 91 National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm 52 Palazzo Colonna, Rome 31 Print Room, Leiden University, Leiden 57 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 68 Staatliche Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 24, 116 The Royal Library, Stockholm 140 The Royal Library, Windsor 22 Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid 19

INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES

Index ofPersonal NalTIes

Aachen, Hans von 61 Accolti, Marcello degli 87,88,90,91 Agenna, Emanuel 64 Aitzema, Lieuwe van 11, 12,44, 102, 104-106, 142 Alba (DonPedroAvarez de Toledo, Duke ofj 89 Albinus, Gottfried 143, 146, 147 Albrecht (Archduke ofAustria) 81,87,88 Aldewerelt, Adriaen 102 Allestree, James 100 Angel, Philip 55 Appelboom, Harald 59, 63 d'Aragona, Giovanna 31,34 Arundel - Countess of 19 - Earl of 11, 13, 14, 17-28 August (Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbiittel) 102-105

Aylva - Douwe van 78 - Hessel van 75 - Johan van 77 Bacon, Francis 98 Balen, Henry van 18 Bartolommei, Family 92 Bassetti, Apollonio 39,42-44,48, 50 Bazan, Don Alvaro de 83 Beck, David 52, 56 Behagel, David 102 Behringer, Wolfgang 143 Beijer, Johan 140,143, 146, 147 Bellini, Giovanni 21 Beuns, Jean 99,100 Bielke, Sten 142 Bilderbeec, Thomas 59 Bill, John 99 Birckholtz, Hieronymus 145, 147 Birghden, Johann von den 145 Blaeu,Firm 99,100,102,107 - Joan 99,102 - Pieter 48,99, 107 Bloemaert, Samuel 59 Blon - Comeille le 52 - Comelis le 60 - Jorgen le 60

- Michelle 12,51-60,63,64,106 Bonetta,Ottavio 36 Borsi, Franco 82 Bosse, Abraham 100 Bockell, Martin 138 Browne, Samuel 99, 100 Bruegel, Dynasty 109 - Pieter, the Elder 110 Buonaccorsi, Lorenzo 41 Buontalenti, Bernardo 87 Burch, Jonas Jansz van 54 Burum, Alle van 65,73,74 Camerarius, Ludvig 52,53,55,59,64 Camp, Lambert 77 Cas as, Diego de las 29 Castillo, Joseph del 49 Chardinel, Edmond 102 Charisius, Jonas 58,59,61 charles I (King of England) 23-25 Charles V (Emperor, King of Spain) 29 Christian IV (King of Denmark) 54,58,61-64 Christina (~leen of Sweden) 54, 106, 107, 139, 143, 147

Coke, Thomas 25 Colo~, Jacob Aertsz 102 Colonna, Family 12,29-34 - Ascanio 31,32 - Ascanio, jr. 37,38 - Fabrizio 29, 30 - Felice 34,38 - Marcantonio 14,30-38 - Vittoria 32 Combi, Sebastiano 100, 107 Coppenole, Lucas van 102 Correggio 23 Coymans - Balthazar 45 - Jan 45 Croy, Philippe de 88 Curio, Henric 100 De la Gardie, Magnus Gabriel De Marchi, Neil 109 Deutz, Jean 45 Diaz, Furio 39 Dieussart, Fran~ois 58

60, 138, 140, 141

Dijck, Jacob van 52,53 Dore, Johanna 58 Dou, Gerrit 48,55 Dowland, John 59,63,64 Drake, Francis 84,85 Dupuy brothers 104, 105 Diirer, Albrecht 56 Dury, John 97,98, 103, 107 Dyck, Antoni van 24, 27, 56, 114 Elizabeth I (~leen of England) 64,82,84 EIsevier, Firm 99, 100, 102, 104 - Daniel 99, 102, 107 - Johannes 99 - Louis 99, 102 Elver, Hieronymus 147 Erasmus ofRotterdam 57 Evelyn, John 26 Evertsz, Evert 69 Falconcini, Persio 44 Famese, Alessandro 83, 85 Felix - Abraham 45 - Joseph 45 Ferdinand (Archduke ofAustria) 85 Ferdinand II (King of Spain) 29,30 Ferdinand II (Holy Roman Emperor) 23,43,44,48 Ferri, Antonio 41 Feroni, Francesco 12,39-50,106,107 Floris, Frans 110 FockemaAndreae, S.J. 66 Foggini, Giovanni Battista 41 Fongers, Haring 70,71 Forckenbeeck, Erasmus 102 Forstenheuser, Georg 103 Friedrich Wilhelm (Elector ofBrandenburg) 58 Fries, Andries 100, 107 Frijhoff, Willem 66 Fugger, Family 14 Gabriels, Jos 73 Gallo, Cesare 12,30-38 Galuzzi, Riguccio 39 Gauma, Tjeerd 75 Gentileschi,Orazio 27 Gerbier, Balthazar 12, 25, 27 Gersaint, Edme-Fran~ois 116-118 Geyl, Pieter 66 Giambologna 89 Giovan Carlo, Cardinal 1611-'63 >- de'Medici, Giovan Carlo Giugni, Vicenzo 90 Goad, Thomas 27 Goldberg, Edward 9,22 Golius, Jacob 104

161

Gomez, Ruy 33 Gondi, Giovan Battista 41,43,44 Gonzaga - Carlo 85 - Vincenzo I 85 Gool, Johan van 118 Graffenthal, Eberhard von 142 Granvelle, Cardinal 36,38 Graswinckel, Theodorus (Dirck) 59 Greengrass, Mark 74 Grillo, Domenico 46,47 Grovestin, Oeno of>- Grovestins, Oene Grovestins, Oene 78 Guasconi, Giovacchino 106, 107 Gucht, Maximiliaan van der 56 Guerrini, Pietro 39 Guicciardini, Francesco 111 Gllidi, Camillo 84 Gustav II Adolf(King of Sweden) 138,145 Gllzman, Alonso Perez de 83 Gyldenklou, Anders 139 Haeck, Pieter 102 Haes, Antoni de 102 Hainhofer, Philipp 14 Hansma, Folpert 69,70,71 Hartlib, Samuel 97,98 Haubois, Comelis 74-76,78 Heerkes, Anne 71 Heinsius, Nicolaas 107 Henry IV (King ofFrance) 9,86 Hildebrand, Andreas Thomas 143, 147 Holbein, Hans 56 Holland, Claes van 110 Hottinga, Douwe van 71 Howard, Charles (Lord ofEffingham) 84 Howard, Thomas (md Earl of Arundel) >- Arundel, Earl of Huswedel, Barthold 143 Inthiema - Frederik van 70,75 - Frederik van, jr. 75 Isaacsz, Pieter 12,51,60-64 James VI (King ofScotland) 84,107 Janssonius, Johannes 99,100,102 Jones,Inigo 20,25 Jonker, J. 125,13 0 Jordaens, Jacob 56 Junius, Franciscus 100 Karl XI (King ofSweden) 141 Karl Gustav (Prince of Sweden) 147 Karl X Gustav (King of Sweden) 147 Keth, Gerrit 70 Kettering, Sharon 65,74

162

INDEX OF PERSONS

Killigrew, Thomas 23 Kleihe, Schweder Dietrich 148 Krol, Frederik 70 Kruse, JohannZacharias 138 Lanier, Nicolas 26 Laugier de Tassy, Jacques-Philippe 106 Leopold I (Holy Roman Emperor) 46 Leopoldo, Cardinal 1617-'75 ~ de'Medici, Leopoldo Lesger, Cre 124 Leyden, Lucas van 21 Lomellini, Ambrogio 46, 47 Lorraine, Dynasty 39 Louis XIII (King ofFrance) 94 Lueders, Johann Baptista 138 Lugt, Fritz 115 Lus, Isaac 88, 90 M<}Czak, Antoni 65,74 Madama Christina (Grand Duchess ofTuscany) 86 Magliabechi, Antonio 107 Maire, Joannes 99 Maltravers, Lord 19,20,22,23,27 Mander the Younger, Karel van 54 Mansfeld, charles de 86 Marchetti, Felice 44,45 Maria Eleonora (Qgeen of Sweden) 54 Maria Theresa (Holy Roman Empress) 115 Marsh, William 28 Marsum, Jan van 71 Marucelli, Giovan Filippo 44 Matthew, Tobie 18 Matthias (Archduke ofAustria) 86 Mazarin, Jules (Cardinal) 105 de'Medici, Dynasty 9, 39,41,44,48, 81, 82, 89,90, 9 2-95, 107

-

Cosimo I 81,82,87,95 Cosimo II 95 Cosimo III 12, 39, 40, 48-50, 106, 107 Ferdinando I 81,82,84-90,92,94 - Francesco 82 - Giovan Carlo 45 - Giovanni 81-95 - Leopoldo 22,45 - Lorenzo 95 - Maria 86,91 Meduwael, Jan 110 Melzi, Lodovico 93,94 Mendoza, Bernardo de 84 Mendoza, Luis 37 Metsijs, Qginten 109 Michelangelo 20 Miegroet, Hans Van 109 Mieris, Frans van 48 Montias, John Michael 109

INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES

Moretus, Balthasar II 100, 101 Morosini, Alvise 83 Maller, Vincent 138,145,146 Musson, Mathijs 114,116 Naldini, Giambattista 86 Nassau-Dietz, William Frederick of 12,65-80 Naude, Gabriel 107 NeufVille, Jan Isaac de 129, 131 Nicolai, Daniel 145 Nigetti, Matteo 87,88 Nola, Ruberto di 87,88 Norton, John 107 Noue, Johannes de la 100 Nunes da Costa, Jeronimo 12 Olivares (Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke ofj 24 Orange - Frederick Henry of Nassau (Prince ofj 52,58 - Maurice of Nassau (Prince ofj 52 - William III (King of England, Prince ofj 73 - William V (Prince ofj 73 Oxenstierna, Family 60 - Axel 51-57,59-64,106,138,140,141,143,147 - Gabriel Gabrielsson 60, 146 - Johan 145,146,148 - JohanAxelsson 60 Panciatichi, Francesco 44 Pareja, Juna de 25 Parmigianino 20 Patinir, Joachim 110 Paul IV (Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, Pope 1555-'59) 32 Peiresc, Nicolas Claude Fabrice de 105 Petty, William 14, 18-25,27,28 Philip II (King of Spain) 30, 36, 38, 82, 83, 85, 87 Philip III (King of Spain) 86,89 Philip IV (King of Spain) 24,46 Picard, Jean-Michel 114 Pieraccini, Gaetano 82 Pietersz, Aert 61 Pietersz,Isaac 61 Pignatta, Biagio 91 Piombo, Sebastiano del 18, 19 Pisacani, Nicolo 36-38 Pius IV (GiovanniAngelo de'Medici, Pope 1559-'65) 33 Pius V (Michele Ghisleri, Pope 1566-'7 2) 34 Polidoro da Caravaggio 20, 21 Pontormo, Jacopo 86 Popham, Arthur Ewart 20 Potter, Sjoerd 78 Qgexada, Luis 33 Raphael 17,18,21,23 Reefeld, Tobias 99

Rembrandtvan Rijn 48,55 Rengers, Osebrand Jan 78,79 Robinson, Humphrey 100 Roe, Thomas 11, 27 Rosenhane, Johan 143 Rowen, Herbert 66 Rubens, Peter Paul 19,24,25,56,63,91 Rudolph II (Holy Roman Emperor) 82 Rutgers, Jan 52,61,62 Salvini, Anton Maria 40, 41 Salvius, JohandAdler 138-141,143,147 Sandrart, Joachim von 26,56,58 Schenckel, Joost 70 Schilher, Frantz Mathias 141 Schallen, Heinrich von 145, 146 Scharling, Balthasar 147 Schute, Heinrich 141, 143 Scott, Everard 45 Serurier - Louis 102 - philip 102 Sigismund III (King ofPoland) 54 Slingelandt, Simon van 73 Sluyterman, K. 125,130 Snellinck, Jan 91 Soldani-Benzi, Massimiliano 41 Solms, Amalia van 78 Sorgen, Leonard van 61,62,138 Spierinck - Aert 55 - Franc;:ois 54 - Isaac 55 - Peter 51,52,54,55,57,59,60,64 Spinola, Giovanni Stefano 49 Sprat, Thomas 98 Stalpaert, Pieter 56 Steen von Steenhausen, Bernhard 139 Steinhusius ~ Steen von Steenhausen, Bernhard Straeten, Pieter van der 43 Svensson, Anders 62,63, 139 Swaen, Thomas van 59 Sweelinck, Jan 58,59 Tagliacoza, Duchess of 34 Talizsch, Christopher 99, 100 Targone, Pompeo 92 Temminck, Adriaan 45 Tensini, Family 43 - GianAndrea 43 - Ottavio 48, 102 - Prudenzia 43 - Silvio 43

163

Terenzio, Matteo di 90 Teufenbach, Friedrich von 86 Thomason, George 100 Thurn and Taxis Family 136, 144, 145 Tielhof, Milja van 123,126,133 Titian 17,18,20,23,27 Toledo, Don Garzia of 31 Tonneman, Jeronimo 102 Torrentius, Johannes 56 Tremolieres, Pierre Charles 118 Trotzig, Peter 58,59, 106 Trumbull, William 18 Ughi, Gabriele 85,92 Ulfeldt, Jacob 61 Vasari, Giorgio 87 Veen, Henk van 39 Velazquez, Diego de 25 Velde the Elder, Willem van de 48,56,60 Velsen, Adriaan van 69 veltdriel - Johan 70,75 - Petrus 75,76 Vercellini, Francesco 24 Vinta, Belisario 81,86,88 Visser, Joost de 102 Vlacq, Adriaen 100 Vlieger, Simon de 60 Vondel, Joost van den 53 Vossius,Isaac 107 Vriendt, Frans de 61 Vrints, Johann Baptista 138 Vroom, Hendrick Cornelisz 54 Wael - Cornelis de 100, 101 - Lucas de 100, 101 Walpole, Horace 17 Walta, pieter 65,66 Webb, John 25 Wechel - Andreas 139 - Gesine 139 Wedege, Thomas de 102 Wicquefort, Abraham 11, 12, 104-107, 142 Wiedenfelt, Gosewijn 76 Williamson, Joseph 100 Witt, Johan de 65,66,76 Wolfsberg, Bartholomaus 147 Wolters, Liebert 143,145 Wrangel, Carl Gustaf 60, 106, 142, 143, 146, 147 Ximenes, Family 89,90 Zakharov, Viktor 122

INDEX OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

Index of Geographical NalTIes

Abbruzzo 32 Aix-en-Provence 17 Alcala 37 Aleppo 37, 105, 125, 127 Alicante 89 Amsterdam 12,39,41-50,52-54,57-59,61,88,90,98-

Esztergom (StrigoniaJ 85 Famagusta 18 Ferrara 18 Flanders 81,83-84,87,89,91-92,124,126 Florence 20,22,33,39,41,44,48-49,81-82,84,85-

102,104,106-107,113,122-134,135-137,139,148 Antwerp 18,43,54,56,83-84,87,91-94, 100-101, 109-119,122,124-126,133 Archangel 43,98,125,127-130,132

France 45,48,65,81-82,86,98-100, 114, 124- 125,

Arlon 93 Arnhem 102 Artimino 89-91 Augsburg 14, 103, 122 Barcelona 29,38 Bergen op Zoom 54, 85,9 2 Bergen, Norway 127 Bolsward 69-71 Bordeaux 99,127,130-131 Brabant 118, 124 Brazil 46 Bremen 51 Breslau ~ Wrod-aw Britain 17, 22, 83 Brussels 18,49,54,115 Cldiz 137 Cadzand 94 Cambridge 21,25 Cartagena 46-47 Cologne 43,54,100,125,133 Copenhagen 61-62, 64,99 Crema 43 Danzig (GdanskJ 51, 125, 127- 128, 133, 147 Delft 54-57,60 Denmark 12,58,61-63,99,137,144 Dokkum 71,73,75,78 Drenthe 67 Dutch Republic 44-45,47-50,52-54,57,61-62,6567, 80, 83,98, 104, 106, 109, 113, 121, 123, 126127,13 2, 134 Dusseldorf 144 Elsinore 12,60-63

Empoli 41 England 12, 17, 20, 23,45,54,5 8,65,69,82- 83,97, 99-101,113,124,132-133,135

88,90-91,95, 107 13 2- 133,135

Frankfurt am Main 23,52,60,98-100,144-145 Friesland 12,65-79 Friuli 95 Geneva 99-100 Genoa 41, 46, 49,98 German Empire 12,61,98, 100, 102, 124-125, 128, 135,137,144-145,147

Germany ~ German Empire Ghent 115 Gotland 51 Grave 89-90,92 Groningen, Province of 67, 78-79 Guinea, Africa 46-47 Gy6r (GiavarinoJ 85 Hague, the 43-44, 48, 52-55, 59, 63, 64, 65-66, 68, 72,78,99,103-105 Hamburg 43, 61-62, 102, 122, 125, 13 2- 133, 137148 Harjedalen 51 Herentals 94 Hindelopen 77 Holland, Province of 65,76,88,110, 118, 123-124, 126-127

Holy Roman Empire ~ German Empire Hungary 81,85-86 Iberia 29-30,37 IJlst 69 Ingermanland 51 Ireland 48, 84 Italy 12,19,22-24,29-37,43,45,99, 107, 124 Jamtland 51 Karelia 51 Kola 124 La Rochelle ~ Rochelle, La Leeuwarden 65,73-74,77 Leghorn 27,39-44,87-88,90,98,127 Leiden 48,55,99, 104

Leipzig 98 Lepanto 35 Leuven ~ Louvain Levant 122 Liege 87 Lisbon 36-37,45 Livonia 51 Livorno ~ Leghorn London 20-21,27-28,46,54,99-100, 107, 122, 127, 13 2

Louvain 110 Low Countries ~ Netherlands Luxemburg, Duchy of 93 Liibeck 145 Liitzen 54 Lyon 99 Madrid 18,30-38,81,112,114 Malaga 127 Mantua 85,95 Marino 34 Marseilles 86 Medina del Campo 38 Messina 34 Moscow 128, 133 Naarden 39 Nagykanisza (KanissaJ 85 Nantes 127,131 Naples 17,28,29-31,34,36 Narbonne 54 Narva 124 Netherlands, the (N orthern and SouthernJ

12,52, 54,57,61,63,88,109,115-116,121,123-124,126, 129-130,137,144 (see also Dutch RepublicJ Norway 124, 132 Nuremberg 17, 103 Oostergo 78 Orkney Islands 84

bsel, Island of ~ Saarema Ostend 87, 89-93 Ottoman Empire 27,34 Palermo 36 Paliano 29,33,38 Papal States 32-34 Paris 54,94,99-100, 102-104, 106, 113-114, 116 Poland 54, 137 Pomerania (WesternJ 51 Portugal 45,48,124,126 Prague 82-83,110-111

165

Provence 86 Prussia 132 Riga 133, 144 Rochelle, La 99, 127 Rome 18,21,27,29-38,43,61,81-82,101,103 Russia 98,122, 124, 128, 130, 132-133, 135 Salamanca 37 Samos 27 Santa Cruz 83 Saarema 51 Savoy 86,95 Scotland 83-84, 107, 124 Sembal 45 Seville 29, 46, 127 Sicily 30 , 35 sluis 83,94 Smyrna 125, 127 Sneek 69,74-78 Spain 29-30,33,35,37-38,46,48,61,81-82, 84, 86, 112,124,126, 132

St. Petersburg 132 Stade 145 Stettin 143-145, 147 Stockholm 28,52,55-56,62,99,127,135-140,142143, 146 -148

Sulmona 31 Sweden 51, 53-56, 60-61, 100, 107, 132, 135-137, 142,145- 14 6,148

Swiss Cantons 99 Syracuse 28 The Hague ~ Hague, the Turnhout 78 Tuscany 39-40,44,49-50,81,94,106-107 United Provinces ~ Dutch Republic Uppsala 28 Valladolid 89 Venice 24,27,82-83, 127 Verden 51 Vienna 27,47,85,103,114 Vilnius 133 Visegrad 85 Wes tergo 0 78 Wismar 51, 143, 145 Wolfenbiittel 102-105 Workum 70,75 Wroclaw 145 zeeland 124, 126

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

List ofContributors

Hans Cools (1969) is Director of Studies in Medieval and Early Modern History at the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome. In the research project Double Asents: Cultural and Political Brokerase in Earry Modem Europe he focuses on the relationships between various Italian states and the Dutch Republic. Thomas James Dandelet (1960) is Associate Professor of History at the University ofCalifomia, Berkeley. He is the author of Spanish Rome: 1500-1700 (New Haven, 2001) and is presently at work on a history ofthe Colonna family ofRome in the early modern period. Brendan Dooley (1953) is Professor of History at International University Bremen. His research is in the history of culture and science (1500-1800), history of the media and the material culture of early modern Europe as well as the area studies ofItaly and the Iberian world, Mediterranean economics, history of knowledge, and mind and market (1500-1900). Recent publications include Morandi's Last Prophe
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Badeloch Noldus (1970) is Senior Researcher at Frederiksborg Castle, the Danish Museum of National History. In the research project Double Asents: Cultural and Political Brokerase in Earry Modem Europe she concentrates on artist-agents dealing for patrons in the Baltic area. Jan Will em Veluwenkamp (1951) is Lecturer at the Arctic Centre and the Department of History, University of Groningen. His main field of research is early modern entrepreneurial history. Filip Vermeylen (1966) is Research Fellow at the Free University ofAmsterdam and Assistant Professor at the University ofLouvain. His areas ofstudy include social and economic history during early modern times and the history of art markets.