THE FRANCO-DUTCH WAR

CNG 108, Lot: 1104. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCO-DUTCH WAR (Hollandse Oorlog), Low Countries. Deventer. Besieged by Christoph Bernhard Freiherr von Galen, Bishop of Münster, 1672. AR Rijksdaalder Klippe (33x35mm, 28.03 g). Emission of 18 May 1672. Dated 1672. Crowned eagle facing, head left, with wings displayed above Ao 1672., Blank. P&W De66; Fortuyn Droogleever 187; Delmonte, Argent 696; Mailliet 13; Lasser 1208; CNM 2.12.93. In NGC encapsulation, 4212320-003, graded AU 55. Toned.

Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.5922 (Numismatica Genevensis SA VII, 27 November 2012), lot 679 (hammer CHF 4500).

The Franco-Dutch War, sometimes called the Dutch War (1672-1678), was a conflict between the Dutch Republic and a coalition composed of France, Sweden, the Bishoprics of Münster and Köln (Cologne), and England. The lands of the Austrian Habsburgs, Brandenburg-Prussia, and Spain, later joined with the Dutch Republic to form the Quadruple Alliance. The first year of the war is often known as het Rampjaar (the Disaster Year), because a full-scale invasion by English, French, and German forces took the Dutch Republic completely by surprise.

Following his defeat of the Fronde, and now king in his own right, Louis XIV (1643-1715), considering the Dutch to be economic rivals, seditious republicans, and Protestant heretics, began to prepare for war with the Dutch Republic. This was a slow process, since the two nations had been allies since the time of the Dutch Revolt. The Dutch signing of the Triple Alliance in 1668 with England and Sweden in support of Spain changed this arrangement since it checked French expansion in the Spanish Netherlands in the French War of Devolution (1667-1668). Carefully, Louis shifted the alliances of England and Sweden away from the Republic. Then, through a series of maneuvers, the French forces, along with an English expeditionary force, occupied the seven provinces. The Dutch public panicked and rioted. In the ensuing chaos, the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt, were seized and lynched by a mob, who believed that the brothers were involved in an attempt to assassinate William of Nassau (later William III of England). William was proclaimed stadhouder. France’s promises to England stiffened Dutch resistence. The siege of Groningen then failed, and a series of Dutch naval victories under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter turned the tide toward the Dutch.

At this same time, the Dutch were acquiring allies. Brandenburg-Prussia, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Charles II of Spain. In 1673, Louis turned away from the Dutch and turned to the Spanish Netherlands. At Maastricht, where Louis personally oversaw French operations, the commander of the musketeers, Charles d’Artagnan, perished. Among the English delegation overseeing the battle was a young John Churchill, who would distinguish himself in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), as the 1st Duke of Marlborough.

From 1676 through 1678, Louis’ main strategy was to undermine this new coalition. The marriage of Mary, the daughter of Charles II to William of Nassau, meant that now England would be on the side of the Dutch. Louis quickly tried to campaign before the English could re-enter the war against him. After victories at Ghent and Ypres, Louis gained considerable territory through the Treaty of Nijmegen, which ended the war in 1678.