Sublime

This tendency in the coastal areas to deal with problems privately, to tend towards decentralization and a rough kind of democracy, was to form the basis of the administrative tradition which, in the end, would determine Dutch political culture for centuries to come.

For cities inside Canaan, they should operate by a principle called cherem, under which everything is dedicated to YHWH and devoted to destruction.

Jourdain, ‘a clever fellow’ according to Coen, stood his ground and unexpectedly invoked the principle of self-determination. He summoned an assembly of the local headmen and, knowing full well their answer, asked them in the presence of the Dutch whether they would trade with him. To which wordes all the country people made a great shoute saying ‘

Turning their back on a maritime future may have been a concession to their gentry officials (who disliked eunuch influence), but it was also a bow to financial constraints and the supreme priority of dynastic survival.

Amsterdam participated in this, but only with one ship: “the peace cog of Amsterdam

Mercy triumphs over judgment.