The publication in EMLO of the correspondences of the wives of six seventeenth-century stadtholders offers an unprecedented opportunity to analyse female power and influence in the political circles of the Dutch Republic at the Orange and Stuart courts in The Hague and their counterpart at the Frisian court in Leeuwarden. This virtual exhibition sets out biographical information for each of these six women, focusing upon a selection of their letters to demonstrate the different types of correspondence and spheres of activity in which they were involved. In addition, it describes and illustrates the physical centres of power — the palaces in which they lived, worked, and raised their families.
In 1580 Stadtholder Willem Lodewijk van Nassau-Dillenburg purchased and took up residence at the Rolkemahuis in Leeuwarden, which had been built in…
The correspondence displayed here showcases examples of the different types of letter sent and received by six of the Dutch and Frisian stadtholders'…
