1st Edition
Dynastic Colonialism Gender, Materiality and the Early Modern House of Orange-Nassau
Dynastic Colonialism analyses how women and men employed objects in particular places across the world during the early modern period in order to achieve the remarkable expansion of the House of Orange-Nassau. Susan Broomhall and Jacqueline Van Gent explore how the House emerged as a leading force during a period in which the Dutch accrued one of the greatest seaborne empires. Using the concept of dynastic colonialism, they explore strategic behaviours undertaken on behalf of the House of Orange-Nassau, through material culture in a variety of sites of interpretation from palaces and gardens to prints and teapots, in Europe and beyond.
Using over 140 carefully selected images, the authors consider a wide range of visual, material and textual sources including portraits, glassware, tiles, letters, architecture and global spaces in order to rethink dynastic power and identity in gendered terms. Through the House of Orange-Nassau, Broomhall and Van Gent demonstrate how dynasties could assert status and power by enacting a range of colonising strategies.
Dynastic Colonialism offers an exciting new interpretation of the complex story of the House of Orange-Nassau‘s rise to power in the early modern period through material means that will make fascinating reading for students and scholars of early modern European history, material culture, and gender.
This book is highly illustrated throughout. The print edition features the images in black and white, whereas the eBook edition contains the illustrations in colour.
List of Figures Notes on Naming Acknowledgements Introduction Section 1: Claiming Spaces Chapter 1: Propagating the Orange: Gender, material culture and the early modern trajectory of the House of Orange-Nassau Chapter 2: Planting the Orange: The expansion of the House of Orange-Nassau across Europe Chapter 3: Trading Places: Orange-Nassau involvement in the Dutch colonial expansion Section 2: Materialising Power Chapter 4: Object Orange: Material culture in the rise of the House of Orange-Nassau Chapter 5: Collecting the world: Orange-Nassau global power on display in Europe Conclusion Bibliography
Biography
Susan Broomhall is Professor of Early Modern History at The University of Western Australia. Her previous publications include Spaces for Feeling (2015) and (co-authored with Jennifer Spinks) Early Modern Women in the Low Countries: Feminising sources and interpretations of the past (2011).
Jacqueline Van Gent is Associate Professor of Early Modern History at The University of Western Australia. Her previous publications include (co-edited with Raisa Toivo) "Gender, Objects and Emotions in Scandinavian History", Special Issue of Journal of Scandinavian History (2016) and Magic, Body and the Self in Eighteenth-Century Sweden (2009).
"Dynastic Colonialism is a richly detailed book that offers a refreshing take on colonial expansion in the pre-industrial age. Well-presented and lucidly written, it offers an important contribution to this major field in early modern history."
Danielle van den Heuvel, University of Kent, UK
