A 'financial revolution' reconsidered: public finance in Holland during the Dutch Revolt, 1568-1648

The formation of the Dutch state has recurrently been related to a 'financial revolution' dating from the 1540s, which created a market for provincial 'renten' (annuities) funded by provincial excises and eagerly bought by rentiers in the province of Holland. New research into Holland's public finance shows that a 'tax revolution' was for several decades a much more important factor in Dutch state formation than the capital market. The loan component of Holland's financial revolution only materialized after 1600 and was built on short-term 'obligations' rather than on long-term renten and on merchants rather than on rentiers.