The Early Modern Making of the Refugee: Agents of Humanitarianism

The 2025 Erasmus Lectures in the History and Civilization of The Netherlands and Flanders, Harvard University

Speaker: Geert Janssen, University of Amsterdam

Sponsors: Erasmus Lectureship in the History and Civilization of The Netherlands and Flanders and the Early Modern Workshop in the Department of History, Harvard University

The 2025 Erasmus Lectures in the History and Civilization of The Netherlands and Flanders: Geert Janssen (University of Amsterdam), “The Early Modern Making of the Refugee” Robinson Hall Basement seminar Room.  Oct 28: Inventing Refugee Identities; Nov 4: Agents of Humanitarianism; Nov 11: Pillars of the Dutch Empire.

Tuesday Oct 28

Inventing Refugee Identities

Refugees have existed since antiquity, yet it was in the early modern era that they first emerged as a clearly defined social category. This lecture investigates when, where, and why certain migrant groups began to describe themselves as ‘refugees’, and shows how the war-ridden Low Countries became an unlikely crucible for the formation of refugee identities. It also considers the unintended consequences of this discursive invention - particularly for displaced communities that failed to meet its confessionalized criteria.

Tuesday Nov 4

Agents of Humanitarianism

The growing numbers of displaced minorities in early modern Europe coincided with the rise of support groups that advocated refugee protection, coordinated charitable relief, and shaped public discourse through emerging media. This lecture situates the Dutch Republic at the heart of these transnational solidarity networks, assessing the agency of religious minorities and other stakeholders. In doing so, it interrogates the connections between early modern practices of refugee aid and the development of modern humanitarian cultures.

Tuesday Nov 11

Pillars of the Dutch Empire

Historians have often portrayed refugees as marginalized victims of modernizing states, yet in the early modern world they also played a formative role in building those very states. This lecture argues that the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic depended heavily on displaced minorities to advance its military, maritime, and colonial ambitions. By examining the reciprocal relationship between governments and dispersed communities, it reveals how the recognition of refugee status could serve both confessional regimes and imperial expansion.