News and diplomacy in the Anglo-Dutch public sphere, 1685-1713

This thesis examines Anglo-Dutch news culture between the accession of James II (1685) and the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). It is a study of how news was exchanged between the Dutch Republic and England and how Dutch and English statesmen attempted to manage it. A significant amount of news travelled across the North Sea in oral, written and visual forms, reflecting the close, but complicated, relationship between the Dutch and the English. Longstanding religious and economic ties between the two countries were strengthened in these years by military alliance in a conflict with France which lasted for almost twenty-five years, and a dynastic union under William III of Orange from 1689-1702. Yet pre-existing commercial and maritime rivalries endured, and a legacy of conflict engendered suspicion and resentment between the two allies. Anglo-Dutch news culture reflected and helped to define this complex relationship. English news was consumed by the Dutch in printed, oral and visual forms, whilst the Netherlands was the principal entrepot for European news into England. This exchange of news fostered a transnational Anglo-Dutch public, but the transmission of sensitive and censorious news also undermined Anglo-Dutch cooperation. Consequently, diplomats from both countries attempted to manage Anglo-Dutch news culture through a mixture of coercion and cooperation in order to strengthen their alliance or by turns to undermine it. This thesis draws on an array of textual, visual and material sources of news and places them alongside diplomatic correspondence to develop a holistic understanding of news and the context in which it was produced, disseminated and received. It provides an original study of Anglo-Dutch relations at the turn of the eighteenth century, placing news at its heart. More broadly, it reveals the intertwined relationship between diplomacy and news provision and how news exchange helped to foster a transnational public sphere.