M.G.K. van Veen

Spiritualism in The Netherlands: From David Joris to Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert

A comparison between the ideas of David Joris (1501-56) and Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert (1522-90) provides further evidence of the far-reaching influence of spiritualism in the Netherlands. Joris is known in history as an arch-heretic and an ecstatic visionary. Coornhert, on the other hand, who was acquainted with the Stad-holder of the Netherlands, is revered as a forerunner of tolerance and rationalism. Their ideas, however, show marked similarities. During the years of religious persecutions, they each warned against risking ones life for external ceremonies. Making a sharp distinction between inward and outward religion, they pled for a religion of the heart. Amidst religious quarrels and persecutions they offered the believer a certain anchorage. One need not choose among the confusing number of churches, but only strive for a higher, more spiritual status, for faith working through love.

Calvinists vs. Libertines: A New Look at Religious Exile and the Origins of ‘Dutch’ Tolerance

This chapter re-conceptualizes the narrative of the Dutch Reformation. For the most part scholars have looked to the winners in the struggles within the Reformed Church, explained their success by turning to their exile experiences to explain their strong sense of righteousness in the face of adversity and their discipline and organization in the face of diaspora. The chapter examines a group of religious exiles whose experience abroad was quite different, and who returned to the Netherlands not as committed Calvinists, but as some of the most notorious and influential Libertines. It describes the experiences of four men, Hubert Duifhuis, Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, Caspar Coolhaes and Herman Herberts, who spent time as religious exiles in the German Rhineland. Each had experience there that showed them that broadly-conceived, supraconfessional, inclusive, and tolerant policies were a perfectly legitimate model for a public church. Keywords: Calvinists; Caspar Coolhaes; diaspora; Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert; Dutch reformation; German Rhineland; Herman Herberts; Hubert Duifhuis; Libertines; religious exiles