The Island at the Center of the World (44 page)

“Whether it is not”:
NYHM
4:124.

“being himself protected”: Jameson,
Narratives,
214.

“whereas we acknowledge”:
NYHM
4:125.

“it will be best”: Ibid., 126.

the council of twelve: Docs. Rel., 1:202–203.

“And whereas the Commonality”: Ibid., 203.

The ugliest assault: Jameson,
Narratives,
226–29.

“Did the Duke of Alva”: Ibid., 228; “Broad Advice,” in Murphy, trans.,
Vertoogh van Nieu Nederland,
149.

It also reinforced: For specifics on the development of tolerance in the Dutch psyche, I am relying on Jaap Jacobs, “Between Repression and Approval.”

In its very seeding: For this insight I am indebted to Willem Frijhoff, “New Views on the Dutch Period of New York.”

the settlers tried to maintain: Events in this paragraph come from
NYHM
2:32, 33, 34–35, 39–40, 70, 87, 88, 96; 4:119, 197.

CHAPTER
7

“so much so”: Adriaen van der Donck,
A Description of New Netherland,
trans. Hanny Veenendaal and the author, 15.

“The trees are then”: Ibid., 48.

“Above the highlands”: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Johnson, 63–64.

bears: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Goedhuys, 59.

eagles: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Johnson, 49.

birds: Ibid., 51.

winds: Ibid., 58.

“several kinds of plums”: Ibid., 23.

watermelon: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Goedhuys, 37–38.

“The plants which are”: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Johnson, 28.

“know of no limits”: Ibid., 5.

“We, Adriaen van der Donck”: A. J. F. van Laer,
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts,
573–74.

searching for a young woman:
NYHM
4:173.

“It is your duty”: Van Laer,
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts,
636.

“What pleases me”: Ibid., 631.

“Your principal fault”: Ibid., 636.

“outrageous”: Ibid., 640.

“pursued each other”: E. B. O'Callaghan,
The
History of New Netherland,
1:460.

one of the patroon's prized black stallions: A. J. F. van Laer, trans. and ed.,
Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck,
1:61, 67–68, 79.

“I take it very ill”: Van Laer,
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts,
616, 649, 650, 666.

“From the beginning”: Ibid., 631.

“Your Honor may”: O'Callaghan,
History of New Netherland,
1:462.

“go naked”: Benjamin Schmidt, “Innocence Abroad: The Dutch Imagination and the Representation of the New World, c. 1570–1670,” 18.

“equal to the average”: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Goedhuys, 90.

“repel rain”: Ibid., 101.

“Declensions and conjugations”: Ibid., 115.

“fresh wounds and”: Ibid., 119.

“devil-hunting”: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Johnson, 95.

“Public authority”: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Goedhuys, 133.

“Had he written”: Thomas O'Donnell, Introduction, in Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Johnson, x.

did not appear in print: Ada Van Gastel, “Van der Donck's Description of the Indians: Additions and Corrections,”
William and Mary Quarterly,
July 1990.

“wind, stream, bush”: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Goedhuys, 127.

“The offering is hung up”: Ibid., 129.

“one of the younger”: Ibid., 130.

“dishonestly designed”: O'Callaghan,
History of New Netherland,
1:338–39.

a million acres: Shirley Dunn, “Enlarging Rensselaerswijck.” Dunn says at its height Rensselaerswyck extended “700,000 or more acres.” I am also figuring in the Van Rensselaer tract called Claverack.

June 18 meeting described: Docs. Rel., 1:212–14.

he had recently arrived in New Amsterdam: The New Netherland council minutes for 1644 (
NYHM
4:190) show that on June 6 Van der Donck was in court at Fort Amsterdam.

“Almighty God”: Docs. Rel., 1:190–191. I am grateful to Dr. Willem Frijhoff of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for elaborating for me his argument that Van der Donck was the author of much of the correspondence generated by the colonists, and that Bogardus was likely responsible for some of what was written in 1643 and 1644. My theory expands on his. His argument is spelled out in his book
Wegen van Evert Willemsz.: Een Hollands weeskind op zoek naar zichzelf, 1607–1647,
735–38.

expired in August: A. F. A. van Laer,
Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck, 1648–1652,
1:10; Docs. Rel. 1:431, 532–33.

“For the sake of appearances”: Docs. Rel., 1:211. The original incorrectly gives the date as November 1642.

CHAPTER
8

The island of St. Martin: Details of the attack on St. Martin are spelled out in Charles T. Gehring and J. A. Schiltkamp, trans. and eds.,
Curaçao Papers, 1640–1665,
32–35, and in the pamphlet “Broad Advice.”

“pluck up the skinn”: From Peter Lowe's
Discourse on the Whole Art of Chyrurgerie
(1596), as quoted in Richard A. Leonardo,
History of Surgery,
153.

“Let him prepare”: John Woodall,
The Surgeon's Mate
(1617), as quoted in Henry H. Kessler and Eugene Rachlis,
Peter Stuyvesant and His New York,
48.

Stuyvesant letter: Martha Eerdmans,
Pieter Stuyvesant: An Historical Documentation,
52–55.

ferocious micromanagement: Gehring and Schiltkamp,
Curaçao Papers,
37–48.

abusing his landlord's: “Broad Advice,” trans. H. C. Murphy, 160, refers to Stuyvesant as having “formerly stolen the daughter of his own landlord at Franiker, and was caught at it, and let off for the sake of his father, otherwise he would have been disgraced.”

Van Brugge: Charles T. Gehring,
Council Minutes, 1652–1654,
223.

Farret: Biographical information comes from J. D. Uhlenbeck, “Genaelogie van het geslacht Farret.” He appears in most sources as Johan, but the genealogy gives his name at birth as John.

correspondence in verse: The poetry exchange between Farret and Stuyvesant is in the collection of the Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum, Amsterdam. I worked from a transcription done by J. P. Puype, librarian of the museum, in the collection of Charles Gehring at the New Netherland Project. Hanny Veenendaal of the Netherlands Center gave me a colloquial translation.

which was discovered: I. N. P. Stokes, ed.,
Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498–1909,
4:Supplementary Addenda for 1645.

four hundred and fifty Dutch soldiers: Gehring and Schiltkamp,
Curaçao Papers,
36–39.

He thought he had seen: My thanks to Charles Gehring for suggesting I follow these 450 soldiers who would repeatedly cross paths with Stuyvesant.

In one such effort: Joao Capistrano de Abreu,
Chapters of Brazil's Colonial History, 1500–1800,
83.

yaws, dysentery: Medical and battle conditions in Brazil come from F. Guerra, “Medicine in Dutch Brazil.”

“leather, dogs, cats, and rats”: Duarte de Albuquerque Coelho,
Memorias diarias de la guerra del Brasil,
quoted in Abreu,
Chapters of Brazil's Colonial History,
82.

“What mad thunder ball”: My thanks to Elisabeth Paling Funk for translating this poem for me.

fell in love with: For some of the information on Stuyvesant's return to the Netherlands I am relying on Alma R. VanHoevenberg, “The Stuyvesants in the Netherlands and New Netherland.”

“so that the entire”: Docs. Rel., 1:213.

Meanwhile, in Scotland: There are many accounts of this scene. I am relying in part on the roundup of the earliest descriptions that appears in chapter 21 of J. Cameron Lees,
St. Giles', Edinburgh: Church, College, and Cathedral, From the Earliest Times to the Present Day.

“making a seat”: Charles Carlton,
Charles I: The Personal Monarch,
166.

“Some more cavalry”: Docs. Rel., 1:127.

“News is received,” etc.: Docs. Rel., 1:127, 133, 134.

“Thou shalt not”: Exodus 22:18, King James Version.

It is easy: I am relying on Barbara Mowat, “Prospero's Book,” for an understanding of the mix of theology and sorcery in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.

“came to New England”: Docs. Rel., 1:305.

Lady Deborah Moody: John Winthrop,
Journal of John Winthrop,
Richard Dunn, James Savage, and Laetitia Yaendle, eds., 462–63.

Anne Hutchinson: For Hutchinson's story, I am relying on Ibid., 473–46, and on Selma R. Williams,
Divine Rebel: The Life of Anne Marbury Hutchinson,
chapters 1, 9, and 14.

“that Abraham's children”: E. B. O'Callaghan,
The
History of New Netherland,
1:257.

Doughty turns out: Information on the Doughty-Kieft conflict comes from Adriaen van der Donck's
Remonstrance of New Netherland,
Docs. Rel., 1:305, and from the pamphlet “Broad Advice,” 159.

it appears Van der Donck: The dates Doughty and Van der Donck were both at court in New Amsterdam are in
NYHM
4, 266–274. It's possible that only Van der Donck's opponent, Simon Pos, appeared in person on the dates mentioned in the records, in which case Van der Donck and Mary Doughty could have met later in July, when Van der Donck returned from the north.

“Every thing is, by God's”: Docs. Rel., 1:157.

He came downstairs that morning: The scene between Agheroense, Van der Donck, and Kieft comes from Adriaen van der Donck,
A Description of New Netherland,
trans. Diederik Willem Goedhuys, 48–49.

The gift was to be: Ibid., 129.

twenty-four thousand acres: Van der Donck,
Description,
trans. Jeremias Johnson, ed. Thomas F. O'Donnell, xxvii.

On August 30, 1645: Details on the Fort Amsterdam peace treaty come from
NYHM
4, 232–34.

The civil war in England: For my lightning account of the Battle of Naseby, I consulted Joshua Sprigge,
Anglia rediviva;
Mark Kishlansky,
A Monarchy Transformed,
165–66;
After the Battle of Naseby
(painting by Sir John Gilbert); and the village of Naseby Website (
www.hillyer.demon.co.uk
).

The day of deliverance: Information on Stuyvesant's arrival comes from the pamphlet “Broad Advice,” 162–64, and Van der Donck,
Remonstrance,
Docs. Rel., 1:309–10.

CHAPTER
9

“Peacock like”: Docs. Rel., 1:310.

“like a father”: Docs. Rel., 1:446.

A drunken knife fight:
NYHM
4, 365–67.

“to be chained”: Ibid., 369.

green stubbled-glass goblets: Pieces of such glasses, which were common in the Dutch Republic at the time, were excavated from New Amsterdam homes dating to precisely this period. Backgammon and cribbage pieces have also been unearthed. Sources: Joyce Goodfriend, “The Sabbath Keeper”; Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall,
Unearthing Gotham: The Archaeology of New York City,
Introduction; Nan Rothschild et al., “The Archaeological Investigation of the Stadt Huys Block.”

“Is he not well aware”: Docs. Rel., 1:195–96.

“Can he, the Secretary”: Docs. Rel., 1:198–99.

“Was it ever heard”:
NYHM
4, 370–71.

“with false and bitter”: Docs. Rel., 1:203–204.

magnanimously offered:
NYHM
2, 407. The contract is for 450
schepels;
a
schepel
equals 0.764 bushels.

Van der Donck was involving: For this insight into Van der Donck as budding politician, I am grateful to Dr. Ada Louise Van Gastel, who sketches it in chapter 4 of her dissertation, “Adriaen van der Donck, New Netherland, and America.”

“Honorable Gentlemen!”: The letter is in Docs. Rel., 1:205–209. I am grateful to Dr. Willem Frijhoff for sharing with me his arguments in support of Van der Donck as the letter's author.

“Thou shalt not revile”:
NYHM
4, 406–407.

“People may think”: “Remonstrance,” Docs. Rel., 1:310.

Stuyvesant amended the sentences:
NYHM
4, 417–22.

the ship
Princess:
Details regarding the cargo of the
Princess
come from Charles Gehring, “Wringing Information from a Drowned Princess,” and Simon Groenveld, “New Light on a Drowned Princess—Information from London.”

It was largely: Edmund S. Morgan,
The Puritan Dilemma,
59–61, 103–104.

Stuyvesant-to-Winthrop letter: Charles Gehring, trans. and ed.,
Correspondence, 1647–1653,
6–7; Baxter: Ibid., 8.

“Crazines of my head”: Ibid., 8.

“hoping all the English”: Ibid., 9.

He commissioned a detailed: Charles Gehring, trans. and ed.,
Delaware Papers: Dutch Period, 1648–1664,
1–12, and endnote 1.

“is the greatest insult”: Ibid., 18.

“My lord”: Ibid., 12.

“inquire diligently”: Ibid., 22.

“the most notable”:
NYHM
4, 338–41.

a Scotsman named: The Forrester affair is detailed in Ibid., 442–45.

Sir Edmund Plowden: The Plowden affair is told in Van der Donck's “Remonstrance,” Docs. Rel. 1:289, and the broader story is given in Murphy, “Representation of New Netherland,” in Coll. New-York Historical Society, 2nd series, vol. 11, 1849, 322–26. Plowden's original 1632 petition to King Charles—stating that he and his compatriots are “willing at their own cost” to plant a colony “at a remote place, called Manati or Long Isle”—is logged in Public Records Office, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574–1660, 6:154. I'm also relying here on John Pennington, “An Examination of Beauchamp Plantagenet's Description of the Province of New Albion.”

There was one other: Details of Van den Bogaert's end are found in
NYHM
4, 480–81, and A. F. A. van Laer,
Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck, 1648–1652,
105. I have also relied on Charles Gehring et al., trans. and eds. of Harmen Meyndertz van den Bogaert's
A Journey into Mohawk Country and Oneida Country, 1634–1635,
xxi.