The Frigid Golden Age: Climate Change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560–1720

The Dutch Republic was something of an outlier in the seventeenth century. Compared to its many neighbors struggling with demographic, economic, and political turmoil, the Dutch enjoyed relative stability and strong economic growth. Golden Age success seems all the more notable because it occurred during the coldest decades of the Little Ice Age (lia). Scholars are increasingly connecting the variability and extreme weather of the lia to social disorder across Europe; more recently this discussion has assumed global proportions.¹ Dutch success has never fit neatly into this narrative, however. “There was something about the Dutch Republic,” Degroot argues, “that let its citizens thrive during the coldest decades of the Little Ice Age” (5). Employing an impressive range of documentary sources and drawing from the most recent work in historical climatology, this book demonstrates that climate and weather were very much a part of Dutch Golden Age success....