During the many wars that the Republic fought, the enemy sometimes hijacked Dutch ships. The seized mail was kept as legitimate evidence that it was an enemy ship. Centuries later, this hijacked mail is being studied. The letters turn out to be a unique glimpse into the lives of ordinary men and women. They not only described their personal troubles, but also appeared to be interested in the news.
Judith Brouwer will receive her PhD on 12 September 2013 for her research 'Life signs. Hijacked letters from the Disaster Year 1672.' She used hijacked letters to investigate how ordinary people experienced this Disaster Year. Kennislink questioned her about this.
Why did you choose the Disaster Year to research?
“A lot happened in the political field during the Disaster Year and also in a very short time. The Republic was attacked from three sides:by the French king Louis XIV, by the fleet of the English king Charles II and by the German dioceses of Munster and Cologne. This had never happened in its history. The cities fell like bushes and within a few weeks the French were almost at Holland.”
“It looked like the whole country would be swallowed up by the enemy. In the end, Holland would never be occupied, but the letter writers did not know that. Most of them sat in Holland and waited with fear and trembling for what was to come. This is reflected in the letters from that year. Much research has already been done into the Disaster Year, but never into the experience by the people themselves, including the lowest class. And that's what makes the subject so interesting.”
How did ordinary people experience the Disaster Year?
“The total uncertainty in which the letter writers and the people around them found themselves in that year left a mark on the letters. Sailors' wives have always lived in uncertainty about the fortunes of their husbands, but now this war was added. That not only meant more enemies and therefore insecurity for the men, but also poverty and lack at home.”
“And of course the uncertainty whether the enemy would push through to Holland, with all the consequences that entails. What also did not help were the many news items. A lot happened and it all had to be printed as soon as possible. Newspapers often got their information from witnesses or from third parties and there was no time to verify it. News reports contradicted each other, which added to the uncertainty.”
What kind of letters did you get this information from?
“I have thoroughly studied 195 letters written by people from the Republic in the disaster year 1672. Just over half of the letters came from wives of sailors and they wrote mostly private letters. The other letters were mainly from merchants. They didn't just write business letters:if they knew the addressee, they also contained a lot of private news.”
This estimate comes from Roelof van Gelder, who made the inventory. However, he did not open boxes from, for example, Danish or French ships, while they could also transport Dutch mail.
Since this week, more than a thousand seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch letters from hijacked ships are available online for everyone.
Were the letters written by the women themselves?
“During my research, I discovered that letters from multiple senders had the same beautiful and even handwriting. I went to the City Archives of Amsterdam to look up the deeds of banns of these women:they had to be signed. This often turned out to have happened with a cross, meaning that these women could not write. So they used a professional writer for their letters. Another option was to have a family member or acquaintance write the letter, but they often wrote a lot less neatly.”
Does it matter in terms of content whether the letter was written by someone else?
“That differed:sometimes the professional wrote a standard tune, but that can also have to do with the inspiration of the sender. Often enough, it didn't matter who wrote. Women turn out to be very open and told their men, through the letter writer, the truth. Or letters full of 'darling this, sweetie that and I miss you so…'. No offense was taken.”
“Another example is a letter to a husband, written by his son Leendert van Boort on behalf of his wife. First, the boy writes down his mother's words, including that she misses him and hopes that he will come home soon. Then he takes the floor himself and thanks his father for the math lessons, which come in handy. This makes for a very nice break in style. And a clumsy inkblot.”
“Another example is Marietje Theunis from Amsterdam. She doesn't mince words, even though she has a writer write down her letters to her husband Harman Andriessen Layemaker in Batavia. Harman has incurred a lot of debt, despite his reasonably paid job at the VOC.”
She writes that 'the creditors keep knocking on her door, so that she now has to send the children around with begging. Does he have any idea how she feels? He better watch out, otherwise she will come to Batavia to tell him the truth!' Unfortunately, it is unknown what happened to Marietje, but Harman signed a few more times with the VOC. He hadn't even gotten rid of his debts before he didn't dare to go back home…”
Do literate letter writers write the same about politics as the sailor's wife?
“The more educated letter writers go deeper into the matter than the average sailor's wife, but the latter does mention it. Of the 195 letters, politics and current affairs are discussed in 187, so also among the women. There was a news culture in the Republic:there was a lot of news available and it was spread quickly.”
“Until now, scientists thought this news was being used by upper and middle class men, such as merchants. My research shows that the lower class and even women also had access to news, were interested in it and even referred to it in their letters. They also sometimes sent the newspaper (which then only had a double-sided printed sheet).”
And are there differences in the opinion of a merchant and a sailor's wife?
“Unfortunately, it turned out to be difficult to filter opinions from the letters. Letters were often sent via email and there was a risk that they would fall into the wrong hands (which is what happened to these letters). Too strong a political opinion was burdensome for the letter writers, so the letter writers practiced self-censorship.”
“In addition, the purpose of the letter from that time was to inform and to give a sign of life, not to convince the reader of an opinion. The author did not give that very firmly. Anyone who wanted to express their opinion and convince people could write a pamphlet. This often happened anonymously, so as not to get into trouble with government authorities.”
Do you see any changes in the topics discussed during the year?
“For my research I mainly used letters from May and November and you can see a big difference in these months. In May the war had just broken out and the letters started on this subject. Only then did the letter writers move on to personal information.”
“A few months later, the reverse is the case. The war has been going on for a while so that is no longer the main news. First the personal misery is discussed, such as the shortages and the uncertainty, before the writers turn to the current affairs. For example, a woman writes that she can come and eat with the children with neighbor Antje every Sunday. This way the stomachs of the children are well filled at least once a week.”
Can existing ideas go in the trash after your research?
“In studies from a few decades ago, scientists still assumed that up to about 1800 parents had little love for their children:mothers often left breastfeeding to the nurse and many children died young. Parents were not attached to their children, was the idea. Today people think differently about this, but these letters really give proof of parental love. Women write lovingly to their husbands about the children:how they grow up, learn to stand and walk, what clothes they wear and what they learned at school. And how they call for their father.”
“In addition, the hijacked letters have never been studied on a large scale before, except for the Letters as booty project at Leiden University, which looks at language use. My research is the first PhD research into the letters with a cultural-historical approach to the Disaster Year. The letters offer a new look at this period, namely from below. They form a unique source:in previous studies into the Disaster Year, primary source material from the lower class has never been used. This aspect has been neglected until now.”
Historical Literature Judith Brouwer (Amsterdam, 1979) will receive her PhD on 12 September at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen for her dissertation 'Life signs. Hijacked letters from the Disaster Year 1672.'
Her research builds on her research master's thesis at the UvA, about a few dozen letters stolen from the Disaster Year.
“During my studies, I had already opted for Historical Literature and followed many history courses. This is how I rolled towards cultural history and I continued this line during my PhD. The boundaries between the disciplines are often not so strict. Historical Literature cannot do without History and vice versa either.”
The commercial edition of her dissertation, titled Life Signs, will be available from December 2013. Hijacked letters from the Disaster Year 1672 in the shops.