Dutch Influences on English Literary Culture in the Early Renaissance, 1470–1650

Abstract

During the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Low Countries made a series of important contributions to English literature. Through such agents as the printers of Antwerp and Amsterdam, and the movements of Dutch scholars and Calvinist refugees, the Low Countries exerted a continuous impact on the literary culture of England. This article examines the scope of Dutch influence during the English Renaissance, indicates some of its key effects, and provides an overview of existing scholarship on the subject.