Comments by "Lynott Parris" (@DenUitvreter) on "History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday" channel.

  1. This video is entirely wrong on the Dutch monarchy. 1581 was the year of the Dutch declaration of independence, stating that a ruler had to serve his people and king Philip II of Spain had left the throne of the Netherlands by being a tyrant with his religious prosectution (the freedom to believe what you want was already codified in 1579) and denied the absolute rule of kings, the right of kings to determine how to believe in god, and the divine right of kings. This DOI materially was very much like the American DOI from 200 years later which was inspired on it. This led to the Dutch Republic that would feed Europe with new ideas for the coming centuries. The Oranges were often appointed Stadtholder (steward) by the states, it was an office of the Dutch Republic, not a hereditary title, the Oranges were princes but not from the Netherlands, they were princes of . At the height of the Dutch Republic's power, there was no Stadtholder but the son of humble woodstacker was in charge as kind of a prime-minister. The Netherlands only became a kingdom in 1806, when Napoleon made his brother Louis king after conquering the Netherlands. After Napoleon was beaten the then allmighty British Empire decided it needed a buffer state between France, and a buffer monarchy against republicanism. The Dutch, who ironically had given the UK today's constitutional monarchy by invading England in 1688, got an absolute monarchy from the British in return, the family picked was related to the Stadtholders. This of course didn't work with the republican traditions, and the Netherlands became a constitutional monarchy a couple of decades later, also Belgium split off as an seperate country again, as it was seperate during the Dutch Republic. This is of course very important to the historical significance and the possibilities for abolishment of the monarchy. Some say it's still a republic, but so tolerant it even tolerates a monarchy. It's also allows for an inbetween, we could go back to the Dutch Republic, and appoint a member of the now royal family as Stadtholder. We could keep the fun bits like the to be renamed king's day, and it's important bits like a family link with the past, a highly regarded figurehead in trade relations, and an important office that's not marred by day to day politics and political interests. We can also ditch the first born principle, and together with the Orange family select the most fitting and willing candidate. It would also allow for stopping them from being too greedy, and make sure the powers they have and don't have are formalized better. The poor research is really a shame. English sources often get Dutch history wrong, but the Dutch Republic is well documented even in English and the English wikipedia gets most things right.
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  2. The research on this one was far from professional. She claims the Dutch monarchy was founded in 1581, but that was the year of the declaration of independence and the beginning of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch monarchy was only established in 1813. Allthoug often wrong on Dutch history, even not so hard to find anglophonic sources like Wikipedia get this one right.
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  3. Stadtholder was not a heriditary position and the Oranges weren't monarchs. It was custom to appoint an Orange in that position, but not always and their title Prince of Orange had nothing to do with their power in the Dutch Republic other than being an important family from Willem 'the silent' of Orange as the father of the fatherland.
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  4.  @LindsayHoliday  Not that I support Zwarte Piet, but he hasn't been the bogey man anymore for a very long time. He would never made it into the 21st century like that. The fact that he has become the friendly most loved one who helps out the old bishop who forgets a lot is part of the explanation why it has been under the radar until the 2010's. I can see how the American and British tradition of deragatory blackface has made face painting problematic for everybody, but let's not forget that the Americans changed it to Santa Claus because they couldn't stand the idea of a black fictional character bringing presents and entering their houses at night. Racial hatred has never been part of Zwarte Piet. On the contrary, it started out as an attempt to bring up children with a positive image of blacks by an abolitionist. It made a very effective disguise to fool the little kids of course.
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  5. William of Orange wasn't invited by parliament, he invited himself. He was already planning an invasion of England and asked 7 lord parliamentarians to invite him, a plot involving John Locke who lived and worked in the Dutch Republic, to make it look less of an invastion and conquest and avoid bloodshed and future instability. It was his propaganda war, gaining popular and nobility support that He wasn't forced by parliament to accept anything, London was full of Dutch troops and English soldiers weren't allowed near Londen, he had the country occupied and under his control. But his aim was a stable protestant GB with religious tolerance to prevent the Dutch Republic and protestantism alltogether from being ended by catholic absolute monarchs of Europe uniting against the Dutch Republic. England, France, Spain, half of Germany together against the Dutch Republic would be too much and is was already an extremely close call in 1672. As appointed leader of the Dutch Republic, Stadtholder (steward) he already was used to not having absolute power, religious tolerance and the bill of rights was something the Dutch already had (regained) for a century. Het was not a Dutch prince, he was a Dutch civil servant and prince of the principality of Orange in Southern France. The mighty army that invaded wasn't his, it was the Dutch Republic's and the Dutch states that appointed him and provided this army didn't care for his personal glory and power, they did care for not having a catholic enemy in England, they cared a lot.
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  6. A mistake? It's entirely wrong, denying that The Netherlands has been a republic for longer than it has been a monarchy.
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  7. Which was an appointed office. Stadtholders were elected and oppointed by the States, usually it was one of the Orange family but it was not a heriditary job. And the job wasn't always there. At the height of it's power, the Dutch Republic was lead by the son of a humble woodstacker.
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