Delft and Leiden
In order to further explore the history of the Dutch, we made a trip to Delft and Leiden today. Both of these cities were very important during the 16th and 17th century and Delft in particular was very famous for its painters: a number of famous painters including Vermeer were born here. In addition, the city also has a royal heritage as it is the birthplace and place of death for William Orange. It also serves as the burial place for the royal family. Moving on, after a brief tour of city we visited ‘The Prinsenhof’, which was the former palace of the William of Orange and also the ‘Oude Kerk’ (Old church). The paintings at both these places revealed a lot about the Dutch culture and administration, and went on to strengthen my earlier belief that paintings were an effective and somewhat accurate way of learning about history. For instance, one was assured of a superior social status if they had a portrait of themselves painted by a famous painter! Case in point: the portrait of Jan Colman by the famous painter Maarten Van is indicative of the fact that the former was an important person Jan Colman was primarily a jurist and a clergyman. Eventually, he went on to become the spiritual leader of nuns. Also, with his judicial expertise he was able to make money from a rich convent that owned a lot of land. Many, including me, see this as a conflict of interest; however his actions become easy to understand with a better understanding of his circumstances. I was very impressed by his part-payment for the rebuilding of the convent after the city fire of 1536 when the convent was destroyed. Moving on, there was a lot I learn about the history of the Dutch republic through the paintings and the information provided in the ‘Prinsenhof’. One of the elements I found most surprising was how the society was non-egalitarian society during the Dutch Golden Age. The paintings revealed that the power of the city administration had lain in the hands of the ‘regents’ and the rich traders and merchants with whom they were closely connected had amassed a lot of wealth. Even today, most craftsmen, small traders and laborers that are employed in city are dependent on the rich for work: as long as there is work, they can earn an income but there is no stability in how and when the income arrives, and there are times when the people are left starving because of lack of money. Therefore, it showed us the disparity in the standards of living, and that this was not a ‘Golden period’ for all the citizens of the Netherlands.
Moving on, we took a train to reach Leiden where we were given a guided tour of the city by Steef Eman. The first thing I noticed in the city was the existence of windmills! As we know, windmills have played a very important role in Dutch history; however, Leiden was the first Dutch city where I actually got to see an old-fashioned windmill! This immediately added a special charm to the city. More than windmills, Leiden is known as the city where William of Orange started his campaign against the Spanish. In recognition of this fact, the city was offered two choices. One was fewer taxes, the second was the establishment of a university. Interestingly, instead of thinking about the short-term gains from the tax cuts, the city chose to have a university. This was a very smart idea as the tax cuts could have been withdrawn anytime, but the existence of a university meant that the city had something permanent and a brighter future for its coming generations. I realised that making that decision was a very noble idea as the city had been left in a relatively impoverished state after the war, and while the natural instinct would have been to gain as much as possible, as quickly as possible, the people,e of the city denied this instinct, and that made this city special to me.
In conclusion, the tour of both the cities was very enlightening. There was a lot we learnt about the rebellion led by William of Orange, the art during those times, and also about the Dutch republic. The non-egalitarian nature of the Dutch republic left me slightly disappointed, but that feeling was short-lived and my spirits were raised after touring Leiden. We also saw a very typical example of the Dutch housing system- a complex where the entrance and the garden of the complex was public, while, the houses in the complex were private. This reaffirmed my love for the egalitarian nature of the Dutch!
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