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The House of Israel 67

glo-Saxon refugees settled in the Low Countries. Thomas land. The Quakers, like many other sects, were prod-
a’ Becket escaped to Holland. Time and again Dutch sol- ucts of Dutch sectarianism -- William Penn’s wife and
diers have fought on English soil, where some of their de- mother were Dutch.
scendants now are. In 1165, for example, Henry II fought
the Welsh with Flemish and Brabant troops. Dutch gunsmiths, tapestry-makers, glaziers,
printers and especially skilled drainage workers
With Dutch help, England had, soon after the pe- brought many new arts. Dutch engineers helped to
riod of Edward I, become the chief wool-growing country drain the fens of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and
in Europe and the services of the cloth manufacturers of many other counties -- one Dutch engineer alone re-
the Netherlands were promised: “They shall feed on fat claimed about 400,000 acres. Dutch immigrants
beef and mutton till nothing but fullness shall stint their helped to develop Manchester and the cotton industry;
stomachs.” Again, thousands of weavers came over as in- Newcastle and the manufacture of steel; and Sheffield,
structors and assistants to the English. England at this time where they introduced knife-making. Dutch felt-mak-
was still a farming country, and the capital and enterprise ers laid the foundation of the hat industry; Dutchmen
of the Dutch were also courted, with the result that such ar- made the cables and cordage for the Royal Navy; they
tisans as linen-weavers, felt-makers and clock-makers introduced paper, soap, saltpetre, silk and lace-mak-
were introduced. Dutch printing presses became famous at ing. They took to England that most important com-
an early date. modity -- tea!

The first complete English Bible came from Hol- How the Dutch were influenced by English
land, and Caxton learned his trade in the Netherlands. culture we can understand when we remember that
Many English writers like Wyclif, Chaucer and Thomas among the English writers who lived in Holland were
More spent some time in Holland and many of their coun- such outstanding men as Thomas Elliot, Thomas
trymen took refuge in the Netherlands during the Wars of Wyatt, John Locke, Marlowe, Raleigh, Cartwright and
the Roses. The closest relations between England and the Ben Jonson. Butler and John Payne took their theatre
Dutch existed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. company over to Leyden in 1636.
England was still short of all sorts of manufactures and
most of the trade was in Dutch hands; even English Stalwart, pioneering Dutch folk have, in their
fish-markets were supplied by Dutch fishermen. All this scores of thousands, moved to the overseas countries
stimulated a close contact with Dutch methods, institu- of the English-speaking Family of Nations. They have
tions and industries. always proved a worthy, stabilizing force in these new
lands.
Intense Dutch immigration prepared the way for
a Dutch prince on the British throne and for a large part In 1688, William of Orange was invited to
England owes its subsequent prosperity to the effect of re- England “to restore English liberty and to protect the
ligious persecutions in the Netherlands. In 1527, when Protestant religion.” And after the death of William,
England’s population numbered 5,000,000, London alone close literary relations existed between the two coun-
had 15,000 Flemings. In 1562, 40,000 more arrived and as tries. Bearing in mind this long cultural interaction be-
many in the following years. On the other hand, royal ac- tween England and the Netherlands, there is no doubt
tion against the Plymouth Brethren drove English Protes- that the Dutch have felt themselves to be something
tants to Holland; but Cromwell again sent for Dutch more than mere allies of Britain in her struggle against
divines as teachers. Thousands of English Protestants evil.
were to help the Dutch in their fight with the Spaniards,
and English religious separatists went to Leyden and some One further point of supreme interest is that
sailed from there with the Mayflower to found New Eng- Salic Law -- a Continental law which excludes fe-

The Berean Voice September-October 2002