Managing Dutch Advices

Abstract

This article examines late seventeenth-century news management through the lens of the Haarlem journalist, Abraham Casteleyn. Its aim is to challenge the idea that ‘foreign’ news was of minor importance in Restoration England, by examining how contemporaries responded to titles such as the Haarlem Courant, and to show that Dutch news was integral to domestic politics. It examines the demand for Dutch news by English readers, Whig activists and government officials; explores the ways in which Casteleyn’s newspaper caused concern within the regime because of its potential to be exploited for nefarious political ends and explores how the Stuart regime responded by devising subtle methods for managing Dutch news.

KEYWORDS:

• early modern
• news management
• Anglo–Dutch relations
• restoration
• Abraham Casteleyn
• print culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Blair, Too Much to Know; Peacey, Print and Public Politics, 92–124.

2. Peacey, Politicians and Pamphleteers, chs. 4–6; Walker, “The Censorship of the Press”; Kemp, “L’Estrange and the Publishing Sphere”; Peacey, “Cromwellian England”; Peacey, “The Management of Civil War Newspapers”; Raymond, “A Mercury with a Winged Conscience”; Sutherland, Restoration Newspaper; Raymond, Invention of the Newspaper; Peacey, “The Struggle for Mercurius Britanicus”.

3. Koopmans, News and Politics; Dooley Baron, Politics of Information; Dooley, Dissemination of News; Raymond, News Networks; Arblaster, “Posts, Newsletters, Newspapers”; Childs, “The Sales of Government Gazettes”.

4. Raymond, “Newspapers”; Claydon, “Daily News”; Firth, “Thomas Scott's Account”, 122.

5. Helmers, Royalist Republic; Haley, William of Orange; Pincus, “Butterboxes”; Pincus, Protestantism.

6. Fraser, Intelligence, 50, 73, 78–113.

7. Dahl, Dutch Corantos, 18; Fraser, Intelligence, 43–4; Couvee, “The Administration”. For the Early History of Dutch Gazettes, see: Dahl, Amsterdam; Lankhorst, “Newspapers in the Netherlands,” 151–9.

8. Dahl, Corantos, 18.

9. CSPD 1677-8, 319; TNA, SP 29/396, fo. 59.

10. TNA, SP 84/199, fos. 215, 219v-20. See also: Lankhorst, “Newspapers,” 155.

11. CSPD 1677-8, 321; TNA, SP 29/396, fo. 59.

12. CSPD 1667, 349; CSPD 1677-8, 307; TNA, SP 29/395, fos. 292–5, 300.

13. CSPD 1677-8, 642; TNA, SP 29/401, fo. 85; SP 84/195, fo. 218; Fraser, Intelligence, 119–20, 130. It should be noted, of course, that contemporaries also read other news, including the Paris Gazette: CSPD 1671-2, 394.

14. CSPD 1677-8, 338. For Chillenden, see: ODNB.

15. CSPD 1672, 173; TNA, SP 29/311, fo. 20.

16. CSPD 1683-4, 53; TNA, SP 29/433, fo. 323b; Fraser, Intelligence, 128; Knights, Politics and Opinion, 175–7.

17. CSPD 1682, 200; TNA, SP 29/419, fo. 11. For Janeway, see: CSPD 1680-1, 370, 444, 479; CSPD 1682, 199, 209; ODNB. For Care, see: Schwoerer, Henry Care.

18. CSPD 1683-4, 30; TNA, SP 29/433, fo. 51.

19. CSPD 1683-4, 53; TNA, SP 29/433, fo. 323b; CSPD 1677-8, 642; TNA, SP 29/401, fo. 85.

20. Haerlem Courant (N&S 176); Compleat Mercury, or the Haerlem Courant (1681-2, N&S 177). For Rhodes see: Plomer, A Dictionary, 252.

21. Rotterdam’s Courant (1680, R2005B).

22. Harlem’s Courant (1695, N&S 179). See also: Harlem Currant, 2 (14–19 Feb. 1689, N&S 178), as well as the Paris Gazette (Edinburgh, 1706–8), which occasionally included a reprint of the Haarlem Courant.

23. CSPD 1667, 333, 415; TNA, SP 29/214, fo. 158.

24. Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Clarendon 107, fos. 18, 34, 127, 211; TNA, SP 84/168, fos. 104-v; SP 84/169, fo. 233; SP 84/173, fos. 60, 72; SP 84/175, fo. 98; SP 84/176, fo. 77v; SP 84/199, fo. 11; SP 84/203, fo. 149; SP 84/204, fo. 177; SP 84/205, fos. 52, 121, 129v; SP 84/206, fo. 44v; SP 84/208, fos. 67v, 90, 102, 145.

25. Bodl. MS Clarendon 104, fo. 220; TNA, SP 84/183, fo. 215; SP 84/200, fo. 420.

26. TNA, SP 84/216, fo. 162.

27. TNA, SP 84/200, fo. 158; SP 84/200, fo. 271; SP 84/187, fo. 77.

28. TNA, SP 84/183, fo. 214; SP 84/193, fo. 177v; SP 84/216, fo. 87; CSPD 1683 (Jan.–June), 124.

29. CSPD 1671-2, 536, 596; CSPD 1672, 113; CSPD 1672-3, 35; CSPD 1673, 10; CSPD 1675-6, 244, 255, 282, 357; CSPD 1676-7, 248; TNA, SP 29/310, fo. 89; SP 29/372, fo. 190; SP 29/384, fo. 29. For Taylor, see: ODNB.

30. TNA, SP 84/186, fo. 11.

31. TNA, SP 119/56-80. For other Dutch newspapers, see: SP 119/2-55, 81-95.

32. This was particularly important for readers in the United Provinces, since the Haarlem Courant was often their ‘first informer’ on English affairs: TNA, SP 84/206, fo. 107.

33. CSPD 1667, 297, 312; TNA, SP 29/209, fo. 126.

34. British Library, Additional MS 35852, fos. 51v-2.

35. BL, Add. 35852, fo. 82v.

36. TNA, SP 84/168, fos. 86v, 181; Bodl. MS Clarendon 107, fos. 34, 38.

37. TNA, SP 84/173, fo. 34v.

38. TNA, SP 84/168, fo. 86v; SP 84/173, fo. 34v. Writing from Stockholm, Thomas Thynne made the same point: Fraser, Intelligence, 68–9.

39. CSPD 1683-4, 150; TNA, SP 29/435, fo. 98.

40. CSPD 1677-8, 642; TNA, SP 29/401, fo. 85; Fraser, Intelligence, 120–1.

41. Fraser, Intelligence, 41.

42. See: Marshall, “Sir Joseph Williamson,” 18–41.

43. BL, Add. 37981, fo. 9.

44. TNA, SP 84/217, fo. 84.

45. CSPD 1667, 411; CSPD 1667-8, 552; TNA, SP 29/245, fo. 65. See also: CSPD 1668-9, 201, 475.

46. TNA, SP 84/185, fos. 210-11. See also: SP 84/186, fo. 47v.

47. TNA, SP 84/186, fo. 62v; SP 84/187, fo. 89.

48. TNA, SP 101/51; SP 101/54. References were also made to sending copies of the Haarlem Courant: SP 101/51 (Casteleyn to Williamson, 9/19 Aug. 1667). Casteleyn appeared in Williamson’s address book: SP 9/32, fos. 211–30; See: Fraser, Intelligence, 44. Casteleyn stopped sending letters during the third Anglo-Dutch war: Fraser, Intelligence, 102–3; SP 101/55 (22 March, 26 March, 2 April, 30 April 1673). Other archives reveal that similar newsletters were sent to men such as William Blathwaite: BL, RP 3189.

49. Fraser, Intelligence, 46, 91–2.

50. TNA, SP 101/51, unfol. See: Fraser, Intelligence, 45–6, 91–2.

51. CSPD 1665-6, 17; CSPD 1670, 188; Williams, “The Newsbooks”; Muddiman, King’s Journalist, 165–6, 172, 174–8, 181–95; Fraser, Intelligence, 28–34, 147–52; Knights, Politics and Opinion, 175–6. For evidence of Gazettes being distributed as well as purchased, see: CSPD 1667, 260. For subscription lists for newsletters, see: CSPD 1666-7, 386; CSPD 1667, 499. For Sir Nathaniel Powell’s receipt for money paid to Muddiman for a year’s intelligence, see: East Sussex Record Office, NOR/17/17. For Williamson’s newsletter service, see: CSPD 1666-7, 459. For Muddiman’s newsletters, see: CSPD 1666-7, 514; BL, Sloane 3929.

52. CSPD 1666-7, 16, 282; CSPD 1667, 333, 415; CSPD 1667-8, 102; CSPD 1670, 704.

53. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, L.c.90; L.c.1454; Longleat House, Thynne 41, fos. 23, 28, 45, 51, 52v, 56, 69, 69v, 161, 171, 195v, 440; TNA, SP 29/191, fo. 188; SP 29/192, fo. 47; SP 29/193, fos. 74, 146; SP 29/195, fo. 111; SP 29/203, fo. 177; CSPD 1670, 392; CSPD 1679-80, 569, 609-10; CSPD 1680-1, 446-7, 460, 525-6; CSPD 1682, 193.

54. TNA, SP 84/186, fo. 47v.

55. CSPD 1666-7, 16; CSPD 1667, 351; CSPD 1670, 106; CSPD 1671-2, 201, 236; CSPD 1672, 156, 665, 669, 672; CSPD 1672-3, 8, 530, 570, 591.

56. TNA, SP 84/200, fos. 378, 399; CSPD 1660-85, 403; TNA, SP 29/441, fos. 305-6; CSPD 1665-6, 246; CSPD 1666-7, 193; Fraser, Intelligence, 59.

57. CSPD 1667, 16; CSPD 1668-9, 452, 474, 488, 494, 544; CSPD 1672-3, 569; CSPD 1673, 251; TNA, SP 29/264, fo. 83.

58. CSPD 1666-7, 16; CSPD 1667, 89; CSPD 1668-9, 265; TNA, SP 29/258, fo. 160; CSPD 1672, 84, 270, 370; CSPD 1673, 312, 338; CSPD 1673-5, 304; Fraser, Intelligence, 52.

59. CSPD 1665-6, 246; TNA, SP 29/148, fos. 8-v; Fraser, Intelligence, 44; CSPD 1671-2, 269.

60. TNA, SP 29/231, fos. 4-v, 6v, 7v-8v, 10-11, 16, 17v-18, 20v, 21v-22, 23v-24v, 26, 31v, 33, 39, 43v, 45, 46v, 51, 56-9, 63-4, 67-v, 82v.

61. Longleat, Thynne 41, fos. 10, 23, 28, 34v, 43, 45, 75, 156v, 161.

62. Longleat, Thynne 41, fos. 52v, 55, 56; TNA, SP 29/231, fos. 7v, 10–11.

63. Longleat, Thynne 41, fo. 63; TNA, SP 29/231, fo. 17v.

64. Longleat, Thynne 41, fo. 70; TNA, SP 29/231, fo. 24v.

65. CSPD 1665-6, 246; TNA, SP 29/148, fos. 8–v; Fraser, Intelligence, 44; Muddiman, “Newsbooks”, 275.

66. TNA, SP 101/51 (Casteleyn to Williamson, 31 July 1667).

67. London Gazette, 281 (23–27 July 1668).

68. London Gazette, 283 (30 July-3 Aug. 1668); TNA, SP 101/51 (Casteleyn to Williamson, 7 Aug. 1668).

69. TNA, SP 84/185, fo. 210; SP 84/186, fo. 88.

70. TNA, SP 84/186, fo. 104.

71. London Gazette, 470 (16-19 May 1670).

72. TNA, SP 84/186, fo. 104.

73. TNA, SP 84/187, fo. 79.

74. London Gazette, 575 (18-22 May 1671).

75. TNA, SP 101/54 (Casteleyn to Williamson, 26 May 1671).

76. TNA, SP 84/187, fo. 79.

77. CSPD 1671-2, 360.

78. Muddiman, King’s Journalist, 195.

79. CSPD 1671-2, 388.

Additional information

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Jason Peacey

Jason Peacey, History, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.