Regents and Rebels The Revolutionary World of an Eighteenth-Century Dutch City - Studies in Social Discontinuity

This book examines Deventer, the Dutch province of Overijssel, and its experience of revolution in the Summer of 1787 within the context of long-range structural change in early modern Europe. The "patriots" in Deventer removed officials who remained loyal to the old regime and wrote a new constitution of government which proclaimed the sovereignty of the people. But Anglo-Prussian intervention cut short the revolution and Prince William V of Orange was restored to the throne. The author explores the social and political dimensions of popular collective action in the urban context and analyzes the conditions under which ordinary people could determine their own political future.;Challenging the theories of revolution, the author concludes that, despite their failure to defend themselves against outside intervention, the Dutch Patriots managed to destroy essential elements of the old regime and helped to lay the foundations of modern political culture.