Erasmian humanism paved the way for the spread of the Protestant Reformation in the Swiss Confederation. Basel’s printing houses played a major role in the diffusion of Luther’s ideas, which were then further disseminated by preachers in other cities. Supported by Zurich’s ruling council, Huldrych Zwingli played a key role in spreading the Evangelical movement in Switzerland. Anabaptism also attracted many adherents, but persecution effectively marginalised the movement and limited it to rural areas. Central Switzerland remained staunchly Catholic, and a brief war broke out between Catholic and Protestant Confederates in 1531. The resulting Peace of Kappel rolled back the progress of reform and created a bi-confessional structure within the Confederation. The Catholic cantons formed a majority but they were countered by the powerful Reformed cities of Zurich, Basel, Bern and Schaffhausen. Through the second half of the century these cities allied with Geneva and developed a strong Swiss Reformed identity in response to both German Lutherans and the Tridentine Catholicism that spread from Italy. Confessional tensions were particularly marked in areas jointly governed by Protestant and Catholic members of the Confederation, but competing religious loyalties were never strong enough to overcome their shared political identity as Swiss.

This chapter tracks Grotius’ career as an official serving the province of Holland and the city of Rotterdam up to his arrest in the late summer of 1618. After an introduction on his work as a lawyer in The Hague, his service as advocate-fiscal (public prosecutor) of the Court of Holland (1607-1613) and as pensionary of Rotterdam (1613-1618) is described against the background of the emerging religious conflicts within the Dutch Republic. A special section is devoted to Grotius’ diplomatic activities, especially his membership of a Dutch mission to London in the spring of 1613, where he tried to win king James’ support for the ecclesiastical politics of the States of Holland.

Chapter 4 focuses on the ideas and activities of republican underground networks in England and Europe. It addresses the ways in which various groups of republicans conceptualised their cause and their visions for a restoration of the Commonwealth government in England. The Northern Rising in 1663, which saw Neville arrested and led to his banishment from the country, was among the more prominent attempts of the underground community in England to restore republican rule. Sidney meanwhile was driving an agenda for change from the Continent, gathering allies and money to invade England with the help of foreign troops. Ludlow, however, hesitated to join any conspiracies, both out of distrust for the republicans’ European allies and out of fear of jeopardising his position in Switzerland. The conspirators’ activities culminated in the aborted Sidney Plot of 1665, which on the one hand exposed the fractures in the exile community and, on the other, changed the exiles’ longer-term prospects by dashing their hopes for an imminent return to republican rule at home.

Graffiti and street art is ubiquitous – it may even be one of the fastest expanding artistic movements. 1 According to a Dutch daily evening newspaper, the presence of graffiti and street art in Amsterdam and Rotterdam has increased significantly between 2014 and 2016. The number of square meters of graffiti on metro trains in Amsterdam alone rose by 50 % (from 6.000 to 9.000 square meters) during these years. 2 In particular Amsterdam has become one of the most influential graffiti and street art scenes in the world:3 it actively hosts exhibitions of graffiti and street art. 4 In its Street Art Museum Amsterdam, 5 an advanced collection of Dutch graffiti and street artworks is preserved. But also in the very south of the Netherlands, the city of Heerlen features a wide collection of colourful graffiti artworks in the city centre, whereby the municipality pursues a conscious and respecting policy towards street and urban art. 6 One of the most famous graffiti and street artists from the Netherlands is Ces53. Whilst Ces53 started as a graffiti artist, he now also makes sculptures, as a more elaborated form of street art. 7 Another Dutch painter and street artist is Super A, who is known for realistic paintings of a dreamy and surreal atmosphere.