‘Sou niet te duchten staen gewetens scharpe dwang’: Politieke beschouwingen in Joost van den Vondels Palamedes en Baruch de Spinoza’s Theologisch-Politiek Traktaat

Abstract

In 1625 Joost van den Vondel published Palamedes, a play that is usually readas an allegory on the execution of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. When reading Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise (1670) it appears that the history of thisexecution still was relevant. Because the two authors share this topic one would suppose a certain connection. Yet, in the factual Vondel and Spinoza studies, the dominant theory states there is little that binds the two authors. With my analyses of their texts I would like to show that it could be useful to approach their connection from another perspective.