Netherlands

NETHERLANDS. - The N[etherlands] (Nederland), of which Holland (or Holland) is only the central-western part, correspond to the northwestern edge of the Germanic plain, from the mouth of the Scheldt to that of the Ems.

I. GEOGRAPHY

The territory is almost entirely flat, indeed about 2/5 of it lies below sea level, from which it was and continues to be (Zuiderzee) reclaimed by means of grandiose works of reclamation (pumping stations, canals) and protection (dikes). The climate, temperate oceanic, is extremely humid (fogs), with mild winters and cool, rainy summers. Poor in forests, with about 1/4 of its productive surface, the land is occupied for 2/5 by pastures, and for 1/3 by arable land (the zones nearest the sea are the most suited to agriculture); in the interior and to the NE heaths, marshes or barren stretches of sand prevail. Both crops and livestock raising have an intensive character and modern methods of management. Cereals, potatoes and sugar beet register very high unit yields; the extensive and successful development of horticulture (region of Haarlem) is connected with the heavy parceling of the land. Live livestock (cattle), butter, cheeses, eggs and condensed milk feed a rich export trade. Fishing is flourishing, especially maritime (herring), as is oyster cultivation (Zeeland). Although hampered by the lack of metallic raw materials, industry, which can count on the coal of Limburg (11-12 million tons annually of anthracite), is varied and widespread: all branches are represented there, from textiles (Leiden) to metallurgy (Velzen), from shipbuilding (Amsterdam) to food processing (sugar refinery, cocoa). Trade, especially in relation to the territory and the population, is one of the most active in the world: the P. B. benefit from their position between central Europe and England. The Dutch merchant marine is today the sixth in the world (2.9 million tons of tonnage). Inland navigation benefits from a magnificent network of canals (7750 km.). With over 10 million inhabitants, Holland is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe (310 inhabitants per sq. km.); ethnically compact (90% Dutch), it presents, from the religious point of view, a slight predominance of Protestants (43%) over Catholics (39%). The large inhabited centers are numerous: 3 cities exceed half a million inhabitants (Amsterdam, the capital, Rotterdam and The Hague, residence of the court and government), and 8 exceed 100 thousand (Utrecht, Haarlem, Eindhoven, Groningen, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Enschede and Arnhem).

Holland is organized as a hereditary constitutional monarchy (also in the female line), in the house of Orange Nassau (1848), with a bicameral representative government (States General). The Second Chamber is elected by direct, secret and proportional universal suffrage; the First Chamber by the Provincial States, local diets with administrative and tax competence.

Of the vast Dutch colonial Empire (over 2 million sq. km. with 70 million inhabitants in 1939), the greater part has constituted itself as an independent State (Indonesia), linked to Holland by personal union; the rest (560 sq. km. with 600 thousand inhabitants) comprises New Guinea, Guiana and the Antilles.

¹ Polder of N.: districts of Elten and Tüddern ceded by Germany on 23 Apr. 1949, and population without residence.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

In the Middle Ages the history of the territories of the present Kingdom of the Netherlands proceeds together with that of present-day Belgium. In the 7th century, practically the entire territory north of the great rivers formed the diocese of Utrecht, whose bishops were likewise temporal lords of the present-day provinces of Utrecht, Overijssel and Groningen.

Beside them, the principal lords were the Duke of Guelders and the Count of Holland. The latter county became part of the Burgundian domain in 1433; the bishop of Utrecht ceded in 1528 the temporalities of his domains to Charles V who, in 1543, having acquired the Duchy of Guelders, thus completed his dominion over the "17 provinces of the Netherlands."

If the revolt against Philip II in its first stage was concentrated in Brabant, the province of Holland became the protagonist of the struggle when, on 1 April 1572, the so-called "Watergeuzen" (Sea Beggars), largely Calvinists who had emigrated under the reign of terror of the Duke of Alba, occupied the small coastal town of Brielle (soon followed by other cities of the same province) and, having recalled the Prince of Orange from exile, recognized him once again as Statholder (lieutenant of the king) and placed him at the head of the revolt, which had a favorable outcome in Holland and in the neighboring province of Zeeland. The Spanish army, immediately directed northward, obtained some temporary success, such as the recapture of Haarlem after a long siege (1573), but failed to conquer other cities such as, for example, Alkmaar (1573) and Leiden (1574). With the recall of the Duke of Alba to Spain (Dec. 1573) not only was the greater part of the territories north of the rivers won to the revolt, but temporarily also those to the south, so that the Prince of Orange was able to return to Brussels and Antwerp; and, thanks to the so-called Pacification of Ghent, the 17 provinces united once again in defense of the national cause. Unfortunately, however, against the intentions of the Prince of Orange, the Calvinists, not only in the north but also in certain cities of Flanders, identified the national cause with their sect and gradually annihilated Catholic worship in all the territories that fell into their power, and this not always without atrocities, as in the case of the 19 martyrs of Gorkum (v.) slaughtered at Brielle in 1572. The Pacification of Ghent was therefore short-lived.

The Spanish cause revived when Philip II sent Alessandro Farnese (v.) as viceroy; the Walloon provinces wished to return to obedience to the King, while also in Flanders and Brabant the majority barely tolerated the intolerance of the Calvinists. Then the northern provinces (together with many Brabantine and Flemish cities) concluded the so-called Union of Utrecht (1579), devised by the Statholder of Guelders, John of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange, but against the will of the latter, who was averse to accentuating religious differences. However, the wrath of the Spaniards concentrated against him and in 1580 he was outlawed. The States General of the 7 rebellious northern provinces (Guelders, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel, Groningen) then, with the so-called "Act of Abjuration," declared Philip II deposed from his sovereignty, which was offered to Duke Anjou, brother of Henry III of France. The latter came to the Netherlands with a small army, arousing against himself the hostility of all the populations. After his return to France the States of the province of Holland decided to offer the comital crown to William of Orange, but he was killed at Delft by a fanatic in the service of Alessandro Farnese (1584).

The offer of the comital dignity was not repeated to his seventeen-year-old son Maurice (the firstborn Philip William, abducted by Philip II from the University of Louvain, lived as a Catholic in Spain) but the States appointed him Statholder in succession to his father. The sovereignty of the rebellious provinces was offered to the King of France and to Elizabeth of England, but was refused by both. The latter, however, sent her confidant, the Earl of Leicester, who remained in the country until 1587, earning the enmity of the leaders of Holland for the support given exclusively to the Calvinists. After his departure, the States General, weary of seeking abroad, themselves assumed sovereign power (1588). In this way the Union of Utrecht, which originally was merely a war alliance, took on the character of a constitution for the entire duration of the Republic of the seven united provinces of the Netherlands. It was in fact that vague character of the system that left ample room for the play of internal political forces. For example, the essential question was never resolved whether the Republic was a federal State or a federation of States, and in practice now one now the other concept prevailed. In general the powerful province of Holland, which alone was assessed at 58% of the entire federal budget, professed the second theory, while the six "small provinces," together with the princes of Orange, followed that of a more tightly knit union. The internal "constitution" varied slightly from province to province: in that of Holland the great mercantile bourgeoisie dominated, concentrated in the various cities, each of which had a vote in the Provincial States. Among the Dutch cities Amsterdam predominated, having succeeded Antwerp as the world emporium; the latter had been retaken by Farnese in 1585, so that a veritable exodus of Calvinists and other merchants toward Amsterdam took place. In the other provinces the rural nobility prevailed, strictly dependent on the House of Orange. In contrast to the various "Provincial States," the States General, established at The Hague, sat permanently. There was no restriction on the freedom of the provinces to delegate as many deputies as they wished to this "permanent congress of ambassadors"; voting, however, was done by province, and in theory unanimity was required for every important decision. A strange semi-monarchical aspect of the Republic is due to the fact that the high office of Statholder became virtually (in theory from 1747 onward) hereditary in the House of Orange. In theory the office was provincial, but, with the exception of Friesland (at least during the 17th century), almost always the princes of Orange held it simultaneously in the various provinces and moreover as "captains general" commanded the armed forces. After the Statholder, the most important personage was the "grand pensionary" of the province of Holland (spokesman of the particularism of the latter against the unifying tendencies of the Oranges), to whom belonged the direction of the foreign affairs of the entire Republic. In fact, while Prince Maurice continued the struggle against the Spaniards, the pensionary Oldenbarnevelt continued the diplomatic work of William the Silent. Although not yet de iure, Spain recognized de facto the independence of the rebellious provinces, which were able not only to keep the Scheldt blockaded but to continue their colonial expeditions to its detriment (1602, founding of the East India Company; 1619, founding of Batavia on Java; 1621, founding of the West India Company; 1626, acquisition of the island of Manhattan; founding of New Amsterdam, now New York).

Internal religious dissensions between the "Remonstrants" (v. ARMINIO E ARMINIANESIMO), linked for the most part to the patriciate of the province of Holland, and the "Counter-Remonstrants" (v. COMAR), linked to the popular masses incited by the preachers, gave the upper hand to the latter, sanctioned in the National Synod of Dordrecht (1618); the Remonstrants were temporarily excluded from power and the aged Oldenbarnevelt was beheaded after an infamous political trial (1619). Frederick Henry, brother of Maurice and his successor (1625-47), with greater political wisdom restored the balance and, from about 1630 onward, the province of Holland was again governed by a mercantile oligarchy of Calvinist religion, rather liberalizing, much to the displeasure of the preachers.

In this period the artificial conversion of the country to Protestantism had the result that one could already speak of Catholics as a minority in a wretched situation. The ecclesiastical organization from 1559 had raised the ancient see of Utrecht to the dignity of an archdiocese with five suffragans: Haarlem, Middelburg, Deventer, Groningen, Leeuwarden. Events, however, had forced the new bishops to cease their activity shortly after their installation. To provide for the Catholics of the northern Netherlands the Holy See established the "Missio Holandica" under a titular archbishop, from 1622 onward dependent on the new Congregation of Propaganda Fide. The Union of Utrecht had prohibited all non-Calvinist worship in the Republic, though guaranteeing freedom of conscience. In practice Catholics could celebrate worship only by paying heavy fees ("recognition money") to the various judicial authorities. The mission counted, in 1622, 220 stations; in 1671, 320; in 1701, 383. Its original defect was an incessant rivalry between the secular and regular clergy which several times made the intervention of Rome necessary.

The Stadtholder Frederick Henry, nicknamed the Poliorcetes, consolidated the dominion of the Republic and in 1629, after a long siege, captured 's-Hertogenbosch, capital of northern Brabant, a strongly Catholic region and seat of a post-Tridentine diocese. To the great displeasure of the prince, the States did not authorize him to allow Catholic worship to survive there, which he instead did three years later when the prince conquered Maastricht and other cities of Limburg. A rapprochement with the southern provinces had no outcome: the latter sent a deputation of their "States General" to The Hague to negotiate peace, but their loyalty to the king caused the reconstitution of the old Low Countries to fail. The Republic instead concluded a treaty of alliance with the France of Richelieu in 1635 during the Thirty Years' War. The Republic derived great advantage as a great power from the fact that at the Congress of Westphalia it preserved all the territories conquered (without freedom of worship for Catholics) and the right to close the Scheldt.

Frederick Henry had as his successor to the stadtholderate his son William II, who, eager to resume the war in alliance with the French, came into conflict with the Dutch oligarchy, and principally with the city of Amsterdam, against which he finally attempted a coup d'état (1650). But immediately afterward he died at the age of 24, a week before the birth of his son William II. The Provincial States of Holland did not appoint a new Stadtholder, also inducing the sister provinces to follow the example. The grand pensionary John de Witt then dominated, the foremost representative of the Dutch oligarchy, and the commercial power of the Republic reached its apogee. The rivalry with England led to two naval wars (1652-54 and 1665-67) during the second of which the Dutch fleet penetrated into the Thames almost as far as London. In European politics de Witt attempted to maintain the balance, but his policy failed when, in 1672, Louis XIV, allied with Charles II of England, invaded the Republic. The wrath of the Orangist masses turned against de Witt, who was barbarously murdered together with his brother Cornelius.

William III was appointed Stadtholder and captain-general. Thanks to the famous "line of inundation" the French, who had already taken Utrecht, were unable to invade the province of Holland, and the fleet under the command of the great admiral Michiel de Ruyter kept the English at bay, and they immediately made peace (1674). With France, however, the war ended with the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678); but even after that Treaty, William III considered himself the champion of the European balance against the arrogance of the Sun King, so much so that he organized an expedition against England (1688) and assumed its crown together with his wife after having driven out his Catholic father-in-law James. From then on the political history of the two countries runs parallel.

In the religious field the infiltration of Jansenism brought as a consequence the end of the "Missio Holandica."

William III, for whose descendants the office of Stadtholder had been made hereditary, died without children (1702). Only in 1747 was the other office entrusted to William IV, head of the so-called Frisian branch of the dynasty. In this way, for the first time, the 7 provinces were united under the aegis of a single head-sovereign. However, neither he nor his son William V (1751-95) were equal to their task, and neither were the dominant classes, who brought all the disadvantages of a true oligarchy. The Orangist Party relied ever more on England and Prussia, the liberals (or "patriots"), ever more numerous, on France. In the year 1795 the French army penetrated into the country, summoned by the "patriots," and the Republic of the United Provinces was transformed into a Batavian Republic, with no further discrimination for citizens as regards religion. Under Napoleon the Batavian Republic was in turn transformed into the Kingdom of Holland (the first time in history that this name became official) under Louis Bonaparte, until in 1810 Napoleon incorporated the country into his Empire, of which Amsterdam was declared the third capital; the leaders of the "Liberation Movement" proclaimed as sovereign the then prince of Orange, firstborn of the old William V, who had died in exile (Nov. 1813), and two years later, when the Congress of Vienna united Belgium with the northern provinces, king of the Low Countries under the name of William I. As is well known, the union failed, not least because of the King's lack of understanding and the Protestant spirit of the northern regions, as against the predominantly Catholic regions of the "ud"; while the Catholics of the north, although by then in possession of full political rights, still felt too weak and uncertain to assert themselves. Moreover the King pursued in Belgium an ecclesiastical policy similar to that of Joseph II of Austria. Nevertheless in 1827 the King stipulated with the Holy See a concordat that erected the episcopal sees of 's-Hertogenbosch and Amsterdam, but the Protestants obstructed it. After the Treaty of Separation of Belgium (1839) the old King abdicated in favor of his son William II, who, much more favorable to Catholics, promulgated the Constitution of 1848.

Five years later (1853), under William III (1849-90), Pius IX re-established by the brief Ex qua die arcano the Catholic hierarchy, with a metropolitan see at Utrecht and suffragan sees at Haarlem, s-Hertogenbosch (Boscoducale), Breda and Roermond. The new ecclesiastical province, however, remained until 1908 under the jurisdiction of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide. The Catholics, who had had to collaborate with the liberals for fear of the Protestants, after 1870 formed with the latter the so-called coalition with the Anti-Revolutionary Party and with the Christian-Historical Party, in order to support the "struggle for the school," that is, the vindication of the rights of confessional education, a struggle that ended with the complete equalization of the latter and with the establishment of the state school. The foremost "emancipator" and political leader of the Catholics was at that time Msgr. Herman Schaepman (1844-1903). The coalition dissolved in 1926, when the Protestant parties opposed the opening of a legation to the Holy See.

In 1890 William III was succeeded by his daughter Wilhelmina. During the war of 1914-18 the Kingdom observed a strict, though precarious, neutrality. In May 1940, on the other hand, despite its neutrality, the Kingdom was invaded by the German army and the Queen left for London with her government and continued the struggle. In 1941 the Netherlands Indies also suffered a harsh occupation at the hands of the Japanese. The European territory was partially liberated in the autumn of 1944, and the two provinces of Holland (South and North) only in May 1945, after an atrocious "hunger winter." Meanwhile in the Indies a strong nationalist independence movement arose which, supported by the United Nations, led to the cessation of Dutch sovereignty (Dec. 1948) and to the proclamation of the Netherlands-Indonesian Union. In August of the same year the Queen abdicated in favor of her daughter Juliana. After the elections of 1946 the government has been formed by the two parties, the Catholic People's Party and the Labour Party.

The Netherlands today count one metropolitan diocese, Utrecht (v.), and 4 suffragan sees: Breda (v.), Haarlem (v.), Roermond (v.), s-Hertogenbosch (v.).

III. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH

The Dutch Constitution establishes equal liberty for all religious confessions (art. 168) and assures to all of them the protection of the law (art. 169). Adherents of the various cults enjoy the same civil and political rights, and may likewise hold dignities, discharge functions, and occupy offices (art. 170); although, in practice, Catholics are barred, for example, from access to the diplomatic-consular career.

Worship is permitted inside places of worship and generally in enclosed places, within the limits of public order; it is forbidden outside them, with the exception of those regions where it was permitted, according to the laws and regulations, in 1887, at the time when the Constitution was promulgated, with many modifications still in force.

The various religious confessions and their ministers are guaranteed the financial treatments, pensions and other benefits that they already enjoyed from the State. No governmental intervention is required for the publication of religious instructions (art. 174). The Holy See is entirely free in the appointment of bishops.

Dutch legislation admits divorce (art. 254 of the Civil Code) and recognizes only marriage contracted with the civil rite, which must precede the religious one. In 1940, moreover, the Chambers approved a bill which, amending art. 888 of the Civil Code, restricts the scope of the impediment of affinity, thereby bringing a new offense against the conjugal bond according to the canonical conception.

The Netherlands has had diplomatic relations with the Holy See since the year 1815; however, with a long interruption, from 1870, when, following the occupation of Rome, it abolished its own legation, to 1915, when, upon the outbreak of the First World War, it found it convenient to restore, albeit temporarily, its representation at the Holy See. In 1923 the legation became permanent again.

The pontifical representation has not undergone interruptions, although it too has not been exempt from unpleasant vicissitudes. In 1899, in fact, the Holy See found itself compelled to remove the internuncio from The Hague, having been excluded from the Peace Conference. The representation thus remained entrusted to a chargé d'affaires until 1910, when the decision was reached to entrust the management of the Internunciature in the Netherlands to the pro tempore nuncio of Belgium, with the rank of internuncio.

In 1921 the pontifical representation was restored in its integrity, so that now the two parties are represented respectively by an apostolic internuncio resident at The Hague and by a minister plenipotentiary.

Ippolito Rotoli

IV. LITERATURE

One can speak of a true and proper literature of the Low Countries only from the 13th century onward. Everything that was written before belongs generically to Germanic literature. The writers of the Low Countries still each use their own dialect: the southern dialects (Brabant, Flanders) are particularly important. The literary genres are approximately those of contemporary French literature: indeed, the French influence is notable. The Carolingian chivalric romance is reflected in the concise romance Karel en Elegast. The tale Floris en Blancfloer stands out for its delicacy of tone: but more characteristic of the spirit of the Low Countries is the satirical epic inspired by the animal world, Van den Vos Reinaerde, a parody of the chivalric romances. In the same period we have the prose and lyric poetry pervaded with mysticism of Hadewych, a "beguine" of Brabant: it is the most elevated manifestation of the poetry of the time. Important as a "mirror of the 13th century" is the didactic and moralizing work of Jacob van Maerlant (1235-1300), who wrote, besides chivalric romances, also lives of saints and "scientific" works for the use of the people (particularly to be mentioned is his Rijmbijbel, or Bible in verse).

The 14th century is distinguished by the vigorous mystical prose of Jan van Ruusbroec (1294-1381), of whom we recall among other things De chierheit der gheestelike Brulocht (The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage), which had a notable influence on the devotio moderna (v.). Also interesting are several lives of saints and legends (in particular Beatrice), miracles and mysteries (Marien van Nieuwenheden and Elckerlyc). In the popular farces is manifested the realistic sense so typical of the Low Countries. The spiritual and profane songs complete the literary picture of this period.

In the period of transition toward the Renaissance, the struggle between the old and the new faith is reflected. Anna Bijns writes her Refereinen (often of an apologetic character). Marnix van St. Aldegonde writes with anti-Catholic aims, in prose, De Biëncoef der H. Roomsche Kerke (The Beehive of the Holy Roman Church): to him is owed the Dutch national anthem. After the fall of Antwerp (1585) the center of culture and literature moves toward the north. The 17th century — the golden century — is a period of flourishing also for letters. Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), converted to Catholicism in 1641, can truly be considered the "prince" of Dutch poets: particularly important are his tragedies. Of commercial origin, self-taught, he succeeded in deepening his knowledge of the classics and of theology; from this union of studies and interests were born his lyrical dramas (Lucifer and Adam in Exile) and his didactic poems (Mysteries of the Altar). His famous drama Gijsbrecht van Aemstel is still performed every year. Also as a lyric poet, Vondel belongs to the greatest poets of his age.

The most characteristic exponent of the Renaissance is Pieter Cornelisz Hooft (1581-1647): while his dramas (Granida, a pastoral drama in the manner of Guarini's Pastor Fido) are rather weak, he owes his fame instead to his lyric poems and to his prose. In his Nederlandse Historiën he sought to revive the style of Tacitus. Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero (1585-1608) gave proof of notable qualities in his lyrics and in comedy (De Spaanse Brabander): in his comedies and ida M. A. Ilacinet, Le costume historique, Paris s.a., tor. A X)
DUTCH LITERATURE - Interior of a Dutch house (19th century). Above: bedroom;
below: dining room.

farces, the life of Amsterdam of his time is reflected in realistic colors. Jacob Cats established himself in didactic and moralizing poetry. C. Huygens, the father of the famous physicist, is the principal author of epigrams of his era. Among the poets of the most pronounced spiritual inspiration are mentioned Johannes Stalpaert van der Wielen, parish priest of Delft, and the Calvinist preachers Revius and Camphuyzen. In the south of the Netherlands the Jesuit Adriaen Poirters established himself in poetry and in prose of an edifying character, with a particular freshness of expression. The parish priest Justus de Harduyn composed poems of a spiritual tone.

The 18th century marks a period of decadence: at the end of the century, two young ladies, Aagje Wolff and Betje Deken, wrote together a characteristic epistolary novel, of a domestic and bourgeois setting: Sara Burgerhart, which still has reprints. Willem Bilderijk (1756-1831) exercised a notable influence with his verses, which nevertheless do not say much to the contemporary reader. More worthy of note are the few ballads of A. C. W. Staring. To Bilderijk is connected the Catholic writer J. A. Alberdingk Thijm (1826-89), pioneer of Catholic emancipation, author of important historical and polemical articles. He strove to bring the Catholic tradition closer to the sensibility of his contemporaries (Carolingian Tales and Portraits of Joost van den Vondel). E. J. Potgieter (1808-75), exponent of liberal orientations, was without doubt the most important figure of this period. In his important journal De Gids he published stories, poems and critical essays, but his best work remains Florence, a poem in terzines, written on the occasion of the Dante celebrations in Florence (1865), where he was staying in the company of his friend Busken Huet, a most refined literary critic. The exponent of the historical novel was the writer A. G. Bosboom-Toussaint, a Protestant, who dealt above all with the early period of the Protestant "reformation." Worthy of mention is the Camera obscura of Nicolaas Beets (1814-1903), a collection of humorous sketches: the volume has recently had its 50th reprint. Without doubt a precursor of the renewal in Dutch letters was Eduard Douwes Dekker, better known under the pseudonym of Multatuli. His novel Max Havelaar, which unfolds in Indonesia and in which one can hear contrasting romantic and social notes, truly marks a break with conventional prose. He exercised a notable influence on the subsequent currents of "free thinkers" and of revolutionaries. Meanwhile, in the Flemish regions, J. F. Willems gave rise to the Vlaamse Beweging ("Flemish Movement"), supported with zeal in his activity by the writer H. Conscience (1812-83). But particularly worthy of mention is the priest Guido Gezelle (1830-1899), for his fine lyric poetry inspired by nature and rich in spiritual motifs. Around 1880 a group of young men established itself in Amsterdam, under the guidance of the poet and critic Willem Kloos (1859-1938), who, inspired predominantly by the English poets Shelley and Keats, began to strike out on new paths (J. Perk can be considered a precursor of this literary rebirth with his cycle of sonnets Mathilde). These young men were inspired, in their reaction, by contentism, by the tendency of art for art's sake.

French naturalism found a notable follower in K. J. Alberdingk Thijm (pseudonym: Lodewijk van Deyssel; 1864-1952), known for the novel A Love and for his activity as a literary critic. To this group also belonged Frederik van Eeden (1860-1932), whose fairy tale Little Johannes obtained enormous popularity. The summit of the great literary renewal around 1880 can be considered the poem May by Herman Gorter (1864-1917).

In the following generation the figure of Henriette Roland Holst-van der Schalk (b. 1869) stands out: her poetry, fascinating for its melodiousness, initially drew on social inspirations, felt without rhetoric; with time her lyric poetry has become ever more profound, assuming a marked religious note. Also to be remembered are P. C. Boutens (1870-1943), of Platonizing inspiration, and H. Leopold (1865-1925), much followed by the young. L. Couperus was a prose writer of note (of his one remembers Eline Vere); to be mentioned still are J. v. Looy (Jaapje, a novel about a boy), the Catholic critic F. Erens and his brother Emile Erens, author of beautiful lives of saints, H. Heyermans, known especially for a drama with a socialist tendency. Among the Catholic writers of this period, E. Brom, A. Steenhof-Smulders, M. Koenen, F. Rutten, K. Meckel. Among the most modern poets A. Roland Holst (b. 1888) stands in the front rank: his poetry is much influenced by the world of Celtic legends. As a novelist A. van Schendel (1874-1946) distinguishes himself.

Of the generation that appeared after 1920 one remembers the "vitalists" and the expressionists: J. Slauerhoff, H. Marsman, M. ter Braak and E. Du Perron. As novelists S. Vestdijk and F. Bordewijk distinguished themselves. One remembers also the "humanists" D. Coster, M. Nijhoff, A. Donker and the Catholic writers A. van Duinkerken, J. Engelman, H. Bruning, A. Coolen, H. de Man, A. Kuyle.

In Flanders K. van de Woestijne (1873-1927) created his plastic and decadent poetry. Stijn Streuvels, b. 1871, described in his novels the country life of western Flanders (De Vlaschaard); to be remembered also are his Christmas Tales. The priest C. Verschaeve, known for his life of Christ (Jezus), was also a poet, playwright and critic. But the best-known writer remains Felix Timmermans (1886-1947), who obtained celebrity with his Pallieter; of his one mentions also The Child Jesus in Flanders.

W. Moens and P. van Ostaayen established themselves with their expressionist tendency; among the youngest one remembers M. Gijzen, A. Mussche, M. Roelants; in prose W. Elsschot and G. Walschap established themselves.

Michele Marlet

V. ART

1. Architecture

For the history of art in the Netherlands it is necessary to keep in mind an initial distinction. That is, this history is divided into two clearly distinct branches: one is that of Flemish art (v.) and the other is that of Dutch art. This part deals particularly with the latter. There are few buildings from the early Middle Ages, of which the oldest (9th century) are owed to the Benedictine monks: the crypt of the abbey of Rolduc is from the 12th century, and Notre Dame and St. Servatius in Maastricht are from the 11th-12th centuries, the latter endowed in the 13th century with a large side portal of clear French influence. Typical of the transition period to the Gothic, with structural characteristics of the Rhenish school, is Notre Dame of Roermond, dedicated in 1222. French influence (Tournai) is then felt in the churches of Notre Dame of Ardenburg in Zeeland (13th century), in the chapel of the cathedral of Bois-le-Duc, and finally in the cathedral of Utrecht. The Dutch churches take on a particular character of their own through the use of brick, sometimes employed with even ornamental effects together with stone. Similar characteristics are repeated in the churches of the 14th-15th centuries and of the first half of the 16th century, when the simplicity of the exteriors and interiors is rarely (e.g., cathedral of Bois-le-Duc) replaced by the characteristic richness of late French Gothic, which is also reflected in the verticalism of numerous bell towers. The German type of the church with three naves of equal height (hallenkerk) was instead very successful, and the roof covering is fairly widespread, especially in northern Holland.

Among the most notable Gothic churches of this period are those of Alkmaar, of Goes, the Nieuwe Kerk of Amsterdam and that of Delft, some of which are surmounted by slender and elegant spires.

In the 16th-17th centuries, with the establishment of the Protestant Reformation, the religious building changes its characteristics, adapting to the needs of worship; it is to Hendrick de Keyser (1567-1621) that we owe the creation of the new type of Protestant church, with a central plan, where the architectural focal point coincides with the preacher's pulpit (cf. the Westerkerk of Amsterdam). Civil architecture, which in the preceding period had been dominated by the Gothic style (Town halls of Middelburg and Gouda), underwent great development: it adapted to the needs and tastes of the commercial bourgeoisie, and alongside the Hôtels de ville there arose monumental city gates and the "weigh-houses."

The Italian Renaissance barely penetrated (Castle of Nassau, 1536), while a typical national style established itself in the monumental structure of buildings heavily ornamented with reliefs and with a vigorous polychromy obtained from the contrast of brick with cut stone (Hôtel de ville of The Hague, 1564; of Leiden, 1597; Halle aux bouches of Haarlem, 1602). Some cities then took on their own typical physiognomy, as happened for Amsterdam through the work of Hendrick de Keyser.

After the middle of the 17th century, architecture, under the influence of the Italian "theorists" (Serlio, Palladio, Scamozzi), tends toward simpler, sober, symmetrical forms (Hôtel de ville of Amsterdam, built between 1648 and 1665 by Jacob van Campen; Mauritshuis at The Hague, by J. van Campen and Pieter Post) with extreme monotony of effect.

At the end of the 17th century and in the 18th century there then prevailed

French influence, while neoclassicism enjoyed wide diffusion in the early 1800s. In the Romantic period there was a desire to imitate the Gothic and the style of H. de Keyser and Lieven Key (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); H. P. Berlage is the herald of architectural renewal (Amsterdam Commodity Exchange, 1897-1903). The Amsterdam School set itself against his approach, returning to the aspects of national architecture: the Rotterdam School in turn reacted against that tendency, proclaiming the principle of the building's "functionality."

2. Sculpture

The history of sculpture, too, merges at its beginnings with that of Flanders. The plastic production of the 15th-16th centuries is instead characterized by the study of reality and takes on a typically national physiognomy: the tomb of Jan van Polanen at Breda; a statue from the mid-15th century in the Utrecht Museum; decorative sculptures in the church of St-Jean at Bois-le-Duc. The Protestant Reformation and the consequent abolition of images in churches particularly limited the development of the plastic arts in the 17th century.

The funerary monument and the portrait are the only genres to which sculptors applied themselves, and in them they reveal the same qualities of powerful realism asserted by contemporary painting. The major sculptors were Hendrick de Keyser, father of Pieter (tomb of William the Silent in the Nieuwe Kerk at Delft; bust of a man in painted terracotta in the Rijksmuseum, ca. 1606) and Rombout Verhulst (1624-98), who traveled in Italy and worked for a long time in his homeland (decoration of the Hôtel de ville of Amsterdam and of the public "weigh-house" of Leiden, with bas-reliefs depicting genre scenes; tombs of the Baron of Gendt in the cathedral of Utrecht, of Admiral Tromp at Delft; numerous busts). Toward the end of the century, sculpture, just as happened with painting, declined, nor did it fare any better in the following century (decoration of the main façade of the Hôtel de ville of The Hague, by J. B. Xavéry); it is also poorly represented in the 19th century, in which Royer (1793-1868), the Straché brothers (1817-91), Jean Tjeodor, Léo Paulus, Lecomblé, Simons, Ferdinand Leenhoff (1841-1914) produced a body of work of monotonous classicism. This tradition was broken by the original personality of Christophe van Wijk (1875-1917), who reconnected with the most genuine national vein in his works of fervent realism; Mendes de Costa (b. 1863) and Zijk (b. 1866) then gave proof of a fervent imagination in their small statues in terracotta and bronze. After 1914 sculpture decisively freed itself from architecture, to which it had been closely tied after the renewal of 1890. Representatives of the most modern tendencies are John Raedeker (b. 1885) and Hildo Krop (b. 1886).

3. Painting

Dutch painting won a physiognomy of its own that can truly be called "national" only at the end of the 16th century and in the 17th century, the era of the O.'s greatest political power.

Once all protection of the arts on the part of the Church had ceased, owing to the establishment of Protestantism, and there being no ruling court, painting drew its growth from the bourgeois world, to whose fortunes it remained linked and which offered it a field of inquiry to which it owes its particular quality of intense and profound observation of a living reality. Thus were determined those pictorial "genres" that range from portraiture to the genre picture, from landscape to still life, and which all flourished in the 17th century.

In the preceding centuries the activity of Netherlandish painters is entirely united with the painting of Flanders, and at the beginnings of the 15th century it is the van Eyck brothers who dominate the Haarlem school: to it belong Albert van Ouwater and his pupil Gérard de St-Jean (2nd half of the century), who is distinguished from the Flemish painters by qualities of gentler luminosity, by that sense of greater intimacy destined to become typical of Dutch painting (Adoration of the Magi, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).

In the 16th century the influence of the Italian Renaissance supervenes, in the various schools and individual artists, some of whom - the most gifted - would nevertheless not fail to maintain those characteristics of penetrating observation of reality and imaginative reworking of it peculiar to Dutch art, which find their first and most prestigious champion in Jerome Bosch (ca. 1450-1516; v.), head of the school at Bois-le-Duc and initiator of a vein that would descend as far as David Teniers. To the Leiden school, after Cornelis Engebrechtsz (1468-1533), belongs Lucas van Leyden ([v.] 1494-1533), together with Bosch the greatest artistic personality of the era, who, while not escaping Italian influences, nevertheless does not come to be dominated by them; while at Amsterdam Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (ca. 1470-1533) reveals clear Lombard contributions (Salome, Rijksmuseum); at Utrecht - where Jean Gossaert called Mabuse had first brought Italian influence - Jan Scorel (1495-1562) combines Venetian and Roman manners (Magdalene, Bathsheba, Rijksmuseum) and begins the line of the "Romanists" with his pupils Martin van Heemskerck (1498-1574), avowedly Michelangelesque (Triptych with the Deposition, Brussels Museum) and Antonio Moor (ca. 1512-81), a most noble portraitist. More independent in the first half of the century appears the Haarlem school, where Jan Mostaert (ca. 1474-1555) continues the 15th-century tradition; but after the mid-1500s, with Cornelis Cornelisz (1562-1638) and Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1616), Italian influence predominates there, determining an unusual interest in plastic formal definition. Greater adherence to the most typical tradition of candid inquiry into reality is offered by Pieter Aertsen (1509-75 ca.), a representative of "genre" painting which, after the impulse given to it by the Flemish Brueghel the Elder, would bear such abundant fruit in the full 17th century, more than in his immediate heirs such as Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1665), Arent Arentz (1585-1635) and Adriaan van de Venne (1589-1662). In the same way, portraitists such as Cornelis Ketel (1548-1616), Dirk Barendsz (1534-92) and Michiel Mierevelt (1567-1641) asserted at the close of the 1500s and in the first half of the 1600s that character of "truthfulness" that would make the public or private portrait the most characteristic expression of great Dutch art.

The 17th century is the "golden age of Dutch painting," and if there were supreme artists, such as above all others Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), who reached the highest level of art in figure painting and in landscape, there is for the most part in Dutch painters a sort of "specialization" that led them to devote themselves, throughout the whole course of their lives, to a single pictorial genre. As for the Utrecht school, since it is linked to the Roman Caravaggesque school, it must be distinguished from the rest of Dutch painting, even though it had in common with it certain qualities that make the Dutch Caravaggisti a well-defined group: head of the school at Utrecht is Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651), from whom proceed Hendrick Ter Brugghen (1588-1667), Gerard van Honthorst (1590-1656), Dirk Baburen (1590-

1624 ca.), who in their sojourns in Italy were decisively attracted by Caravaggio and his school. To the Utrecht school also belong Leendert van der Cooghen and Judith Leyster (1609-60), who subjected the models of Frans Hals to the square of Caravaggesque light.

a) Portrait. - The art of portraiture attained such a development as to reach an importance that was "national." Portrait painters were, first and above all others, Franz Hals (1580-1666) and Rembrandt, the two greatest representatives of Dutch painting, which received its definitive stamp from them; excellent portraitists were also Nicolas Elias d. Pickenoy (1591-1654 or '56) and Thomas de Keyser (1596-1667 ca.), who gave a vivid, subtle characterization to their subjects, depicted without that preoccupation with ostentation and wealth typical of portraiture after the arrival in Holland of van Dyck (1628) and which has its representatives in Gevaert Flinck (1615-60), Ferdinand Bol (1616-80), Nicolas Maes (1634-93), all pupils of Rembrandt, and in Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-70). A portraitist of great expressive power was Carel Fabritius (1622-54), also a pupil of Rembrandt.

b) Genre painting. - It is only after the valid contributions of the marked characterism of certain figures by Franz Hals and the warm golden luminosity of Rembrandt's canvases that this painting takes shape in its unmistakable aspects: painters of genre scenes were Dirck Hals, brother of Franz, Antonio Palamedes (1601-73) and Pieter Codde (1599-1678); and from Adriaan Brouwer (1606-38), a pupil of Franz Hals at Haarlem, comes Adriaan van Ostade (1610-85), a painter of lively rustic interiors and tavern scenes nonetheless suffused with a melancholic Rembrandtesque light: he is the initiator of the petits maîtres, exquisite narrators of scenes of everyday life observed with a capacity for subtle penetration which, in the best of them, succeeds in capturing and pictorially transfiguring the value of pure poetry in the simplest aspects of daily life. Delicately sentimental are Gerard Dou (1613-75) and Gabriel Metsu (1630-67); spirited, humorous, satirical is Jan Steen (1626-70); most refined in the precious quality of color and in the choice of subject is Gerard Terborch (1617-81); supreme, Pieter de Hooch (1629-83) and Jan Vermeer (1632-75), both of the Delft school, who evoke with delicate intimate poeticism the serene quiet of an interior or of a corner of the old city streets. To genre painting are also to be linked the painters of battles, such as Philips Wouwermann (1619-68) and Jan Lingelbach (1623-74), German by origin; and the taste for it had in Pieter van Laer (1583-1642), called il Bamboccio, its herald beyond the border: having come to Rome, he there created a particular pictorial trend which took from him the name "of the bamboccianti."

c) Landscape. - Painters so attentive to the reality of life could not neglect landscape, and one of the most beautiful "views" ever painted is owed precisely to Vermeer: the View of Delft (ca. 1658).

Landscape painting, in which landscape is the subject and "end" of the picture and not a commentary on the figure composition, is moreover a typical product of Nordic art and remains among the characteristic expressions of Dutch painting: Rembrandt himself left, both in paintings and in etchings, some of the most "romantic" landscapes ever painted. Adriaan van de Venne (1589-1662), Esaias van de Velde (1591-1630), Hercules Seghers (1590-1640) are among the first landscape painters, and it is to Jan van Goyen (1590-1640), who knew Rembrandt's work, that we owe that sense of solitary poetry which pervades the landscape and which would be inherited by Jacques Ruysdael (1624-82): the latter would bring a religious emotion to the painting of countryside. With the dramatic quality of Ruysdael's landscapes contrasts the serene gaiety of the more descriptive ones of Mandert Hobbema (1638-1709); to Ruysdael is instead to be linked Jan Wijnants (1630-84 ca.), and among the best landscape painters are to be remembered van der Neer (1603-77), Allaert van Everdingen (1621-75) and Adriaan van de Velde (1636-72). Closely linked to landscape painting is the painting of "architecture": this pictorial genre has its origins around the middle of the 16th century, with Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604), who depicts scenographic perspectives not free from Italianizing influence. But with the new century the architectural picture too orients itself toward a more familiar, bourgeois realism, and prepares the intimate interiors of the petits maîtres: Dirck van Deelen (1605-71 ca.) and, more so, Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665), Gerrit Houckgeest (1600-61), Emanuel de Witte (1617-92 ca.) paint the vast interiors of Protestant churches, while others, such as Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712), depict houses mirrored in the motionless waters of the canals.

d) Still-life and animal painting. – The same sense of observation of reality, which stamps the whole of Dutch pictorial production, is observed in the still-life painters, acute and precise to the point of trompe-l'oeil (cf. paintings by Pieter Claesz, ca. 1590-1661; by Willelm Claesz Heda, 1594-1680; by Abraham van Beyeren, ca. 1620-90, by Jan Davidsz de Heem, 1606-84, by Willelm van Aelst, 1626-83, by Jan Huijsum, 1682-1749).

The same may be said of the animal painters, exact in the investigation of their subjects (cf. Jan Weenix, 1621-63; Gillis, Gijsbert and Melchior Hondecoeter; Paulus Potter, 1625-54, the best of all), who sometimes capture the living moment of a dramatic instant (Albert Cuyp, 1620-91; Jan Aestyn, 1610-52), or, more rarely, a solitude not devoid of poeticism (cf. The Goldfinch, by Carel Fabritius, at the Mauritshuis in The Hague).

In the 18th century Dutch painting marks a period of arrest: it declines and perishes in the classical reaction brought about by Gérard de Lairesse. The only painters worthy of remembrance are the Rhenish Jean-Maurice Quinckhardt (1688-1772), and Cornelis Troost (1697-1750).

From the academic movement that followed the classical reaction comes a single notable artist, Jacob de Witt (1695-1754). Until the middle of the 19th century Dutch painting, with the exception of Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), remained closed and extraneous to the European movement.

Landscape, marine and genre-scene painters continued to work, repeating the models of the 17th century (cf. David Bles, 1821-99); nor does Augustus Allebé (1838-1914) depart too much from them, while Alma Tadema (1836-1916), having turned to the evocation of historical subjects during his English stay, reached a fame disproportionate to his merits. Around 1870 a pictorial center forms at The Hague which tends to renew Dutch painting on the basis of a "realism" understood, however, in the spirit of the best tradition: Bosboom (1817-51), Josef Israels (1824-1911), Mathieu Maris (1839-1917), Jan Toorop (b. 1858) and Breitner (1857-1923) successively join it and animate it. From the Hague school also come J. B. Jonkind (1819-91), who later went to France, contributing with his art to the transition from the Barbizon school to Impressionism, and Vincent van Gogh (1835-90), whose artistic personality, while at the outset it feels the education within the Dutch orbit, would later be forged into its definitive aspects through contact with the French atmosphere. In recent decades Dutch painting has inserted itself into the currents of French and European art, while still maintaining some of the characteristics of its centuries-old tradition.

e) Minor arts. – The art of engraving had particular fortune in Holland, and supreme artists applied themselves to it. Already at the end of the 15th century engraving with the burin was used (Jacob Corneliaz and Lucas van Leyden), and in the 17th century to this technique were added those of etching and drypoint, both for the reproduction of paintings of the time and for the creation of works of art. Among the landscape painters, engravers were Jacob Ruysdaël, Isaïe van de Velde, Allart van Everdingen; among the animal painters, P. Potter and A. Cuyp; among the genre painters, A. van Ostade; while Rembrandt in his etchings of portraits and landscapes left a very lofty expression of his art; a particular character, because of the use he made of color, is had by the etchings of Hercules Seghers. In the 18th century engraving loses importance, while French influence prevails.

Majolica was of notable importance since the Middle Ages, but it was in the 16th century that it established itself, assuming a development that made it celebrated throughout the world in the following century: among the best-known workshops, that of Delft should be remembered, of which the intense blue enamel on a white ground was typical.

Great refinement was also achieved in the 16th-17th centuries by the artistic working of metals (grilles, baptismal fonts in churches), which were chased by goldsmiths with the utmost elegance and skill (tankards, plates, ornaments for clothing); nor do the wooden furnishings and utensils that adorned churches as well as houses and town halls present any lesser richness and elegance.

Maria Vittoria Brugnoli

VI. SCHOOL SYSTEM

Dutch education is inspired by the pedagogical doctrines of Comenius, Pestalozzi, Fröbel, Dalton, Parkhurst and Montessori. It is also influenced by legislative measures.

1) The government laws of 1801 and 1806 declared teaching a public and secular service directed by the municipalities; Catholics were placed on an equal footing with Calvinists; the method of Comenius was completed by the method of Pestalozzi. 2) The law of King William of the year 1815 placed all schools under his control through the universities, which became strongholds of the unification between Belgium and Holland. 3) The royal decree of 18 Jan. 1842 granted greater freedom to private Catholic and Calvinist schools. The constitutional law of 1848 proclaims freedom of teaching, but requires a diploma for teaching in elementary and secondary schools. 4) The van der Bruggen law of 1857 abolished, with the support of Catholics, official instruction in the Bible. 5) The law of 2 May 1863 reformed secondary education. 6) The law of 1878 required ample buildings for all schools, which represented a burden for private schools, and introduced the reform of teachers' seminaries by establishing two diplomas: one for elementary school teachers and the other for elementary school principals. 7) The Mackay law of 1889, called the law of pacification, granted subsidies from the State to private denominational schools, asking in exchange for teaching modeled on that of the public schools. 8) The law of 1899 introduced compulsory education. 9) The Pierson law of 1901 ensured equal State funding for the construction of private and public school buildings. 10) The Knyper law of 1905 granted equal treatment to teachers in private denominational schools. 11) The De Visser law of the year 1920, interpreting the constitution of the year 1917, granted equality to denominational elementary schools. 12) The law of the year 1922 granted financial subsidies to all those religious schools that modeled themselves on the public "Hoogere burger schoolen."

Religious instruction is not compulsory in public schools, given their neutrality in the religious field. In Catholic secondary schools, religious instruction is given for two hours a week by priests who hold the rank of professor. The basis of Catholic religious instruction since 1910 is the single catechism for all dioceses. For Calvinism it is the Bible.

Dutch education is divided into private "bizondere school" and public "openbare school." School attendance is compulsory from 7 to 15 years of age. Public schools are religiously neutral, but at the request of 12 families a non-neutral class must be created within the public school.

At three years of age Dutch children may be sent to "preschool institutes" (Bewaarschoolen), which are divided into Fröbelschoolen, Dalvonschoolen, Parkhurstschoolen and Montessorischoolen. The course lasts 4 years. At seven years of age elementary instruction begins, lasting six years. At the end of elementary school, three possibilities present themselves to the pupil: 1) extended primary school (M. U. L. O.) of 4 years; 2) secondary school divided into gymnasium (4 years); 3) higher school (Hoogere Burgerschool, 2 years), from which one may proceed to the following universities or higher institutes: University of Amsterdam, founded in the year 1631, Free Calvinist University of Amsterdam, founded in the year 1880, University of Groningen, founded in the year 1614, University of Leyden, founded in the year 1575, Catholic University of Nijmegen, founded in the year 1923, Polytechnic of Delft, founded in the year 1905, the Higher School of Agriculture at Wageningen, founded in the year 1919, Higher Studies of Commerce at Rotterdam, founded in the year 1913, Higher Studies of Commerce for Catholics at Tilburg, founded in the year 1927. Those who intend to devote themselves to Thomistic studies may do so at the University of Nijmegen. The training of teachers takes place in 89 normal schools, which are entered from the extended primary school or from the higher middle primary school. The training of the Catholic clergy takes place for each diocese in its own minor and major seminary. - See plates XXXVII-XXXVIII.

Stumpf Miroslav.