Geert Janssen is Professor of Early Modern History and Head of Department of History, European Studies, Religious Studies, and Latin American Studies (CEDLA).  

Trained as an early modernist, I have developed a broad interest in European history between 1500-1800, in particular its political and religious cultures, and the history of (global) migration. My publications include studies of political clientage, religious conflict, and of refugees and humanitarian culture. Much of my work is concerned with the Low Countries, including the Dutch revolt, the Dutch Republic and its 'golden age' of the 17th century.

Educated at Groningen (BA/MA) and Leiden (PhD), I started my career as lecturer at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. I took up my current position at the University of Amsterdam in 2013. Funding from the NWO (Rubicon, Veni, Vici), the British Academy, the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, and Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds Vlaanderen has been instrumental in finding my way into academia. Visiting fellowships at St Andrews, Leuven and Mainz enabled me to broaden my intellectual horizon. I am a recipient of the Carla Musterd Teaching Award (2006) and Gerald Strauss Book Prize (2015). More information about current projects, including the NWO-Vici programme The Invention of the Refugee in Early Modern Europe, can be found under 'Research'.

Selected publications

• Refugee Politics in Early Modern Europe, co-edited with David de Boer (Bloomsbury, 2024).
• De vluchtelingenrepubliek. Een migratiegeschiedenis van Nederland, co-edited with David de Boer (Prometheus, 2023).
• The Cambridge Companion to the Dutch Golden Age, co-edited with Helmer Helmers (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Dutch edition: De zeventiende eeuw, co-edited with Helmer Helmers and Judith Noorman (Leiden University Press, 2021).
• The Dutch Revolt and Catholic Exile in Reformation Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2014; paperback edn, 2016).
• Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation, co-edited with Alexandra Bamji and Mary Laven (Routledge, 2013; paperback edn, 2024).
• Creaturen van de macht. Patronage bij Willem Frederik van Nassau (1613-1664) (Amsterdam University Press, 2005). Translated as Princely Power in the Dutch Republic: Patronage and William Frederick of Nassau (1613-64) (Manchester University Press, 2008).

From the start I have thoroughly enjoyed working with students who have often inspired me to broaden my range and think in different directions. Among other things, I teach the first year survey course 'Early Modern History' and am keen to supervise students in the field of early modern history as well as in areas related to my research, including the (Counter) Reformation, the history of migration, exile and humanitarianism, and the Dutch Republic. 

I have recently supervised MA theses on Jewish manuscript production in early modern Amsterdam, Regime change in Haarlem during the Dutch revolt, William of Orange and Balthazar Gerard, News culture and diary-writing practices in 1672, and the Dutch experience in Brazil.

Political history

As a political historian, I am particularly interested in the 'soft' side of early modern politics: networks, language, ritual and (unwritten) codes of conduct. My Princely Power in the Dutch Republic (2005/2008) focused on patronage practices at the court of the stadholders (provincial governors) in the Dutch Republic. Primarily based on the extensive diaries of William Frederick of Nassau (1613-1664) it examined how clientage shaped political mentalities in the early modern Netherlands. I have also done some work on ceremonial culture at the Orange court in The Hague (e.g. Funeral processions in the United Provinces).

Religious history

Much of my recent work concerns the history of religious conflict and identity formation. The Dutch Revolt and Catholic Exile in Reformation Europe (2014) studies the impact of flight, displacement and forced migration on Counter-Reformation culture. By mapping the Catholic diaspora during the Dutch revolt, it seeks to explain how exile worked as a catalyst of religious radicalisation and transformed the world views, networks and identities of early modern refugees. Together with Alexandra Bamji and Mary Laven, I edited the Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation (2013/2024).

Migration history

I have a broad interest in the cultural history of migration, including early modern exile, humanitarianism and transnational solidarity networks. My inaugural lecture, Nieuw Amsterdam (2014) examined the ways in which immigrants and emigrants shaped notions of 'Dutchness' in the early modern period and facilitated their spreading across the globe. I'm currently involved with the project The Invention of the Refugee in Early Modern Europe. Funded through a VICI-grant from NWO, it seeks to map the emergence of the refugee as a social and political category in Europe. 

Main publications

Books

• The Dutch Revolt and Catholic Exile in Reformation Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2014; paperback, 2016). Awarded the 2015 Gerald Strauss Prize by the Sixteenth Century Society.
• Princely Power in the Dutch Republic: Patronage and William Frederick of Nassau (1613-64) (Manchester University Press, 2008). Dutch edition: Creaturen van de macht. Patronage bij Willem Frederik van Nassau (1613-1664) (Amsterdam University Press, 2005).
• Het stokje van Oldenbarnevelt (Verloren, 2001).

Edited volumes

• Refugee Politics in Early Modern Europe, co-edited with David de Boer (Bloomsbury, 2024).
• De vluchtelingenrepubliek. Een migratiegeschiedenis van Nederland, co-edited with David de Boer (Prometheus, 2023).
• The Cambridge Companion to the Dutch Golden Age, co-edited with Helmer Helmers (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Dutch edition: De zeventiende eeuw, co-edited with Helmer Helmers and Judith Noorman (Leiden University Press, 2021)
• Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation, co-edited with Alexandra Bamji and Mary Laven (Ashgate, 2013; reprinted Routledge, 2024).

Articles

• 'Refugees in Europe and the Atlantic World', in: Catia Antunes, Eric Tagliacozzo (ed.), The Cambridge History of Global Migrations [Vol.1] (Cambridge University Press, 2023), pp. 549-563 [see PDF attachment below].
• 'The Legacy of Exile and the Rise of Humanitarianism', in: Brian Cummings, Ceri Law, Karis Riley, Alexandra Walsham (ed.), Remembering the Reformation (Routledge, 2020), pp. 226-242 [see PDF attachment below]
• 'Migration', in: Helmer Helmers, Geert Janssen (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Dutch Golden Age (Cambridge University Press, 2018), pp. 49-66 [see PDF attachment below]
• 'The Republic of the Refugees. Early Modern Migrations and the Dutch Experience', The Historical Journal 60 (2017), pp. 233-252 [see PDF attachment below]
• Nieuw Amsterdam. Inaugural lecture Universiteit van Amsterdam, 12-12-2014 [see PDF attachment below]
• 'Less is More. Geschiedenis in het Rijksmuseum', BMGN-Low Countries Historical Review 129-1 (2014), pp. 146-155. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘The Exile Experience’, in: Alexandra Bamji, Geert Janssen, Mary Laven (ed.), Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation (Ashgate, 2013), pp. 73-90. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘The Counter-Reformation of the Refugee: Exile and the Shaping of Catholic Militancy in the Dutch Revolt’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 63 (2012), pp. 671-92. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘Quo Vadis? Catholic Perceptions of Flight and the Revolt of the Low Countries, 1566-1609’, Renaissance Quarterly, 64 (2011), pp. 472-99. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘The Dutchness of the Dutch Golden Age’, The Historical Journal, 53 (2010), pp. 805-17. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘Political Ambiguity and Confessional Diversity in the Funeral Processions of Stadholders in the Dutch Republic’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 40 (2009), pp. 283-301. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘Exiles and the Politics of Reintegration in the Dutch Revolt’, History, 94 (2009), pp. 37-53. [see PDF attachment below]
• ‘Dynastieke transfer in de Republiek. De politieke en religieuze betekenis van de stadhouderlijke begrafenisstoet’, BMGN-Low Countries Historical Review, 122 (2007), pp. 208-232.
• ‘Political Brokerage in the Dutch Republic. The Patronage Networks of William Frederick of Nassau (1613-64)’, in: Marika Keblusek, Badeloch Noldus, Hans Cools (ed.), Your Humble Servant. Agents in Early Modern Europe (Verloren, 2006) pp. 65-80.
• ‘Dutch Clientelism and News Networks in Public and Private Spheres. The Case of Stadholder William Frederick’, in: Joop Koopmans (ed.), News and Politics in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800) (Peeters, 2005) pp. 151-165.
• 'Patronage en corruptie. Publieke en private rollen van een stadhouder in de Republiek’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, 2 (2005) pp. 47-67

I enjoy disseminating my research to a wider public and am keen to collaborate with museums, heritage institutions and popular media. Over the years, I have done advisory work for:

TV productions

• Het Verhaal van Nederland: Oranje Nassau, afl. 1; afl. 2, NPO 1, 2024
• School TV: Willem van Oranje: leider van de Opstand, NPO, 2024
• Europa in... Der Zeit des Absolutismus, (ZDF), May 2023
• Het Rampjaar 1672: afl. Oranje buitenspel, NTR Televisie (NPO 2), October 2022
• Het Verhaal van Nederland: afl. Geuzen en Papen, NTR Televisie (NPO 1), March 2022
• De Strijd om het Binnenhof: afl. Oldenbarnevelt, NTR Televisie (NPO 2), January 2021
• Mythos Nordsee, Terra X (ZDF), October 2020
• 80 jaar Oorlog: afl. Geloof, NTR Televisie (NPO 2), October 2018
• 'Amsterdam in the Golden Age', BBC's Great Continental Railway Journeys (BBC 2), October 2016

Radio, podcasts

• De jurk en het scheepswrak: afl: de koninklijke jurk, (NTR podcast), April 2023
• Op de vlucht voor de geuzen, OVT, (Radio 1), December 2022
• De term Gouden Eeuw ter discussie, Met het oog op morgen (Radio 1), September 2019
• Pop-up college op de pont, 385 jaar Universiteit van Amsterdam, September 2017
• 'Oost-Indisch Huis: een omstreden monument?', De Ochtend (Radio 1), October 2016

Museum exhibitions

• Rijksmuseum (Gerard ter Borch en de Vrede van Munster, 1999; Maurits, prins van Oranje, 2000; 80 jaar oorlog, 2018; RijksApp, 2018) 
• Fries Museum (De Friese Nassaus, 2003)
• Oude Kerk Amsterdam (Kalkar kerkschatten, 2018)

I enjoy disseminating my research to a wider public and am keen to collaborate with museums, heritage institutions and popular media. Over the years, I have done advisory work for:

TV productions

• Het Verhaal van Nederland: Oranje Nassau, afl. 1; afl. 2, NPO 1, 2024
• School TV: Willem van Oranje: leider van de Opstand, NPO, 2024
• Europa in... Der Zeit des Absolutismus, (ZDF), May 2023
• Het Rampjaar 1672: afl. Oranje buitenspel, NTR Televisie (NPO 2), October 2022
• Het Verhaal van Nederland: afl. Geuzen en Papen, NTR Televisie (NPO 1), March 2022
• De Strijd om het Binnenhof: afl. Oldenbarnevelt, NTR Televisie (NPO 2), January 2021
• Mythos Nordsee, Terra X (ZDF), October 2020
• 80 jaar Oorlog: afl. Geloof, NTR Televisie (NPO 2), October 2018
• 'Amsterdam in the Golden Age', BBC's Great Continental Railway Journeys (BBC 2), October 2016

Radio, podcasts

• De jurk en het scheepswrak: afl: de koninklijke jurk, (NTR podcast), April 2023
• Op de vlucht voor de geuzen, OVT, (Radio 1), December 2022
• De term Gouden Eeuw ter discussie, Met het oog op morgen (Radio 1), September 2019
• Pop-up college op de pont, 385 jaar Universiteit van Amsterdam, September 2017
• 'Oost-Indisch Huis: een omstreden monument?', De Ochtend (Radio 1), October 2016

Museum exhibitions

• Rijksmuseum (Gerard ter Borch en de Vrede van Munster, 1999; Maurits, prins van Oranje, 2000; 80 jaar oorlog, 2018; RijksApp, 2018) 
• Fries Museum (De Friese Nassaus, 2003)
• Oude Kerk Amsterdam (Kalkar kerkschatten, 2018)