Exile Memories and the Dutch Revolt

Johannes Müller, Ph.D. (2014), is lecturer of German literature and culture at Leiden University. He has published on early modern literature, migration and religion and is co-editor of the volume Memory before Modernity. Practices of Memory in Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2013).

• IntroductionThe revelation of the pastMemories and the continuation of the diaspora Migration and memoryTransmigration and its multiple tiesDiasporic imagination and patriotic discourseExile memories and their changing meanings1. Imagining the diasporaThe formation of diaspora narrativesIn defense of the diaspora‘Exile theology’ and confessional identityMaking sense of exile Punishing the wicked – chastising the electExile and persecution as the marks of God’s true childrenExile as God’s commandAt home in the diaspora2. Recapturing the patriaMemory and the anticipation of the future‘Hot’ and ‘cold’ memoryKeeping the past aliveExile and the reclaiming of the homeland‘Memoria magistra vita’Remapping the Netherlands3. Strangers, burghers, patriotsRe-imagining Southern Netherlandish identity in the exile townsThe social and political position of southern migrants in the Dutch RepublicLeiden and Haarlem as exile townsHaarlem and the memory of the London martyrsRemembering Flemish radicalismRich or poor immigrants?Memory as ‘a salutary warning’Managing counter-memoryDisseminating inclusive exile identitiesInscribing migrant memories into the local memory canon Fragmentary discourses4. The reinvention of family historyFamily memories and the change of generationsFamily memories between the diaspora and host societiesReinventing family historyThe geographical re-imagination of the family pastPermeable memories5. Ancient landmarks of the fathers – maintaining old networksIn pursuit of a fleeing horsemanAt home, here and abroadMaintaining ties The stranger churches and the continuation of diasporic networksSouthern institutions in the Dutch Republic6. Godly wanderers – Exile memories and new cultures of religious exclusivism Pilgrims behind the fiery columnPuritanism and the fashioning of transnational identitiesLondon: Cultivating the model churchFrankfurt: Trans-confessional Pietism and diasporic networksBuilding the New Jerusalem – Frankfurt and the ‘Holy Experiment’‘The trying fires of persecution’Conclusion – Permeable memoriesList of archival sourcesList of printed sourcesSecondary literatureIndex

“Müller’s study is an important addition to our understanding of the cultures of exile produced by the religious upheavals of the early modern era. Memory culture among immigrant communities, he convincingly demonstrates, is essential to assessing the culture of religious identity more generally. The book is thoroughly researched and carefully argued, with an eye for nuance and subtlety. Students of early modern religious, cultural and social history will find this to be an illuminating work.”Christine Kooi, Louisiana State University. In: Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 48, No. 2 (2017), pp. 503-505. ”Exile Memories is a well-written book with many appealing examples. What makes this study so useful is its scale: Müller follows various generations and reconstructs their position within society. […] It is without doubt a book that should receive the attention of cultural and church historians, but also of people interested in (constructed-)identity and memory studies.”Annemieke Romein, in: BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, Vol. 132 (October 2017).