Handbook of Key Global Financial Markets, Institutions, and Infrastructure

Chapter 18

Low Countries Finance, 1348–1700

O. Gelderblom and J. Jonker

Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Outline

Introduction

Common Origins

Going Separate Ways: The Dutch Revolt

Holland’s Exceptionalism

Entering a Vicious Debt Circle

Constrained by Local Particularism: The Austrian Netherlands

Conclusion

Further Reading

Introduction

From the late Middle Ages onward, the Low Countries played a central role in global conflicts and trade, and displayed remarkable economic dynamism. Public financing challenges were at the center of financial innovation, and those challenges reflected the influences of trade and war on government fiscal affairs.

During this period, commercial farming, trade, and manufacturing grew rapidly in the coastal ...