That Is Where God Comes In. Jacob Duym's Ghedenck-boeck (1606) as Argumentative Discourse

Abstract

According to the subtitle, the Ghedenck-boeck (1606) by Jacob Duym learned the reader to forever memorize all evil and malevolence brought about by the Spaniards and their adherents, as well as the great love and fidelity, displayed to the Netherlands by the princes of the Dutch House of Nassau. In this compilation of six stage plays Duym has evoked images from the past, in order to argue that a fair war was better than a fake peace (the title of the last play). They showed the treache­rous Spanish enemy as well as the brave-fearless actions of the Dutch, opposing individual Spanish characters to Dutch ones, from the House of Nassau. This paper describes how Duym managed to bring the content of the first five plays as premises into the final play, for instance by applying the technique of moving over from the particular to the general and the other way around. The contribution of God offered an intermediate link, as to see the different individual events in the wider perspective of the common interest and the public welfare of the United Provinces.