Kletskoppen, mergpijpen en een snufje nootmuskaat. De geheime rol van tafelen in vroegmoderne Nederlandse diplomatie

In the late sixteenth to eighteenth-century Dutch Republic, food and drink played an important role during diplomatic missions and city entries of stadtholders and allied rulers. Sharing a meal or raising one’s glass fostered social cohesion – at least in theory. This applied not only to rulers and their diplomatic corps, but also to prominent citizens, merchants, and sometimes even the ‘common’ man and woman who depended on the charity of poor relief institutions. Moreover, festive meals often served as excellent covers for forging political alliances and exchanging secret diplomatic information. This contribution aims to show that food and drink, or the lack thereof, could have a significant or even lasting impact on social and diplomatic relations. The article focuses on four cities that were on the route of almost every ceremonial entrance in the Republic, namely Amsterdam, Alkmaar, Gouda, and Vlissingen, as well as a special mission of a Dutch envoy in France, one of the Republic’s most important diplomatic relations in the early modern period.