Delivering the News from Abroad: French-Language Gazettes Published in the Dutch Republic During the Second Half of the 17th Century

Abstract

The article presents the emergence of the three major French-language gazettes published in the Dutch Republic during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Gazette d’Amsterdam, Gazette de Leyde, and the Gazette de Rotterdam. All of them had Huguenot publishers, especially after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The gazettes became famous during the two major wars of the King Louis XIV, the War of the Great Alliance, and the War of the Spanish Succession. They were circulated in large numbers not only among the Huguenot diaspora but also in France. At that time, France had only one gazette, the constitutional Gazette de Paris. The three Huguenot gazettes presented updated reports from every major city or military camp. Their reports and their attitude towards France, however, varied. This article enlightens the attitude of each Huguenot gazette towards France, presenting reports of the last two years of the War of the Great Alliance.