'Die dit Biljet afscheurt, sal een Kogel tot vereeringh genieten'. Pamfletten, petities en publieke politiek in de late zeventiende eeuw

'Whosoever tears off this poster will be treated to a bullet'. Pamphlets, petitions and public politics in the 17th century.

The disaster of 1672 was a watershed in Dutch history. The large number of simultaneous (bloody) revolts in different cities, and the massacre of the politicians Johan and Cornelis de Witt at the hands of their own citizens, ensured that from then on office-bearers were more than ever aware of the fact that they could be held accountable for their actions. The fact that 1672 saw the publication of an unparalleled number of pamphlets, including an entirely new medium (the printed petition) signifies a closely related change in political culture: from 1672 onwards, Dutch citizens structurally used the printed petition as a tool for political opposition. This article describes the background of these printed petitions and shows when, how and why citizens decided to spread these publications.