680. The Netherlands: The Revolt that Made The Modern World (Part 4)

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The Rest Is History 1h 11m 3 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 3 months ago
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Dominic Sandbrook 0:01
This episode is brought to you by Lloyd's Business and Commercial Banking.
Tom Holland 0:06
One of the great things about finance is that it may result in you having to pay tax. And this was a constant grumble in Anglo-Saxon England, which was the most heavily taxed country in the whole of Christendom. And just when the Anglo-Saxons thought it couldn't get any worse, they got conquered by King Canute. And Canute imposed a tax rate that was effectively... 100%.
Dominic Sandbrook 0:31
Yeah, well, that was one very big change, Tom. But another tax change is upon us. And this is the advent of making tax digital for income tax. And if you're at all concerned about it, this is where Lloyd's come in, because they're here to help make that change much simpler for you with a useful HMRC-recognised accounting tool that will help you stay in line with all the making tax digital requirements.
Tom Holland 0:59
And the brilliant thing about this is that it is free for Lloyd's business account customers. So when it is time to digitise your income tax, you can bank on Lloyd's. Search Lloyd's business accounts to find out more.
William Dalrymple 1:16
This episode is brought to you by my favourite London review of books. William here from Empire, briefly crossing the Goldhanger network borders. In our journey to unpick the complexities of the past, it's clear that history is not a straight line. It's a vast, intricate and complex tapestry. To truly understand a political revolution or the fall of a dynasty, you have to build up the picture piece by piece. You need diary entries and poetry that capture the scale of emotions, the secret correspondence of a diplomat and the sharp, discerning insights of the era's great thinkers. And it's this art of the deep dive that the London Review of Books champions. They bring together the world's leading thinkers and interrogate a rich range of topics through long-form essays.
William Dalrymple 2:00
Try three months of the LRB completely free when you sign up today. Subscribe at lrb.me forward slash trial. That is LRB. b.me forward slash trial to try three months of the london reviewer books for free just do it it's the most wonderful journal in the country and you will never regret it so
Dominic Sandbrook 2:57
Hello, everybody. So that all-time banger was Het Wilhelmus, the national anthem of Holland, or as it should be called, the Kingdom of the Netherlands. And if you enjoyed it, if you're a big fan of the Orange national team, I have tremendous news for you because there are another four 14 verses. Now, Tom, obviously this is an anthem close to your heart because of your nominative determinism. We've done three anthems so far. We've done the United States, we have done Great Britain, and we have done Germany. Very well known, I think, all these three. If you're Dutch... This will be well known too. If you're not Dutch, probably much less well known. But there is a case, isn't there, that of all the world's national anthems, even though this was only adopted in 1932, this has the deepest, the longest, the richest history.
Tom Holland 4:03
Yeah, because it has actually been the great anthem of Dutch patriotism for four and a half centuries. So long, long before it became enshrined as the Dutch national anthem. And I will quote from the official website of the Royal House of the Netherlands, which has a very convenient English translation. The melody of the Wilhelmus originated during the siege of the French city of Chartres in 1568. So listeners may be wondering why Chartres, who composed it. And we will be coming to this later in the episode. And the website then goes on to say the first known reference to the lyrics dates from 1572. And so there we have it, direct from the Dutch royal family. The Wilhelmus originated sometime between 1568 and 1572.
Tom Holland 4:52
So that is, you know, compared, say, to God Save the King. That is very, very precise. And those dates, not coincidentally, constitute a key fulcrum point in one of history's absolutely top revolts, the Dutch Revolt. So why is the Dutch Revolt one of history's absolutely top revolts? Well, I think for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is very seismic in terms of the geopolitics of Europe.

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