Diplomatic propaganda in the Dutch Republic and France, 1609-1674

This dissertation investigates the practices and theories of printed propaganda among seventeenth-century Dutch and French diplomats. It argues that early modern diplomats had more developed and explicit understandings of propaganda than has so far been assumed. The dissertation shows that these diplomats drew from contemporary political philosophy and theories of mind to formulate their publication strategies, and demonstrates how this knowledge was put into practice using a series of case studies. The first two chapters investigate two major diplomatic crises between the Dutch Republic and France to understand how French diplomats evaluated the political effects of pamphleteering within these conflicts. The third and fourth chapters focus on the role of embassy secretaries in coordinating international pamphleteering campaigns in early modern Europe and transferring knowledge about past campaigns within diplomatic circles. The fifth chapter investigates how diplomats understood the psychological effects of propaganda, focusing in particular on contemporary notions of the soul, the animal spirits, and the faculties of reason and will. It argues that subtle differences within diplomats’ understanding of these faculties influenced their views on the desirability and feasibility of particular approaches to propaganda. The dissertation argues the use of and need for a sustained dialogue between studies on early modern public politics and propaganda studies.