One central problem that resulted from the federal nature of the #Dutch republic was secrecy: How could one keep a secret with so many actors involved? This was almost a mission impossible, although one tried several measures such as an oath of secrecy to deal with the problem.
When dealing with Dutch #emdiplomacy you inevitably come across two other big issues: the Protestant character of Dutch #earlymodern#diplomacy and the importance of trade and commercial interests. For @helmers_h and @NinaLamal these are not contradictory interests. However, they argue that “commerce, geopolitics, and protestantism were perfectly reconcilable”. (4/5)