Professor Jason Peacey Inaugural Lecture

Plucked Hens and Principals: Tackling Dutch Politics in Seventeenth Century England

Despite growing awareness about the cultural, economic and social interactions between different parts of Europe in the early modern era, political historians of the period generally remain wedded to a picture of separate and more or less competitive states, which sometimes forged dynastic, political and confessional alliances, but which frequently found themselves in conflict as well. This talk will offer new perspectives on seventeenth century European politics, by drawing attention not just to the English fascination with the Dutch political system, but also to contemporary recognition of the need to work with and through Dutch institutions, and to confront the limitations of state sovereignty.