Righteous Citizens: The Lynching of Johan and Cornelis DeWitt,The Hague, Collective Violens, and the Myth of Tolerance in the Dutch Golden Age, 1650-1672
Journal: eScholarship (California Digital Library)
Year: 2018

AbstractIn The Hague, on August 20th, 1672, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, Johan DeWitt and his brother Cornelis DeWitt were publicly killed, their bodies mutilated and hanged by the populace of the city. This dissertation argues that this massacre remains such an unique event in Dutch history, that it needs thorough investigation. Historians have focused on short-term political causes for the eruption of violence on the brothers’ fatal day. This work contributes to the existing historiography