Dr Esther van Raamsdonk

I am a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-24) at the Centre for the 果冻传媒 of the Renaissance, 果冻传媒. This project examines the politics of seventeenth-century biblical translation and adaptation in the Dutch Republic and England with a monograph, entitled The State Bibles: The Politics of Anglo-Dutch Translation and Adaptation, forthcoming with OUP/BA in 2025.

Previously, I was an AHRC-funded postdoctoral researcher for 鈥楴etworking Archives鈥� at Queen Mary University, London, and the University of Oxford, a digital humanities project that performs networking analysis on the Tudor and Stuart State Papers in the National Archives. I completed a Ph.D. at the University of Exeter on Milton, Marvell, and Anglo-Dutch Relations.

My first monograph is entitled Milton, Marvell, and the Dutch Republic (Routledge, 2021).

Esther.van-Raamsdonk@warwick.ac.uk

Interests:

Anglo-Dutch relations; English and Dutch Republican writings; Arminianism; Political propaganda; Biblical narratives; John Milton; Andrew Marvell; John Dryden; Constantijn Huygens; Joost van den Vondel

British Academy Project:

Title: The Politics of Biblical Narrative in a Seventeenth-Century Anglo-Dutch Context

This study explores the influence of political thought on the production of vernacular versions of the Bible in England and the United Provinces during the seventeenth century, and contemporary literary adaptations of biblical narratives in these countries. The diverse ways in which biblical narratives were depicted, allegorised, adapted, and published, reveal much about the aims, fears and tensions defining this seminal period in both nations鈥� history. As well as underpinning further development of a transnational critical methodology, the project will produce new readings of canonical literary works, establish the importance of the period鈥檚 transnational cultural sphere, and re-evaluate the sociocultural impact of scriptural texts.

Selected Publications

Monographs:

The State Bibles: The Politics of Anglo-Dutch Translation and Adaptation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, British Academy Series, forthcoming 2025).
Milton, Marvell, and the Dutch Republic, in the series Renaissance and Early Modern Studies in Worlds of Knowledge (Routledge: 2021),

Edited Collections:

With Sjoerd Levelt and Michael D. Rose, eds., Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Early Modern World (Routledge, 2023),

Edited Special Edition of a Journal:

With Yann Ryan, Ruth Ahnert, and Philip Beeley, Network Analysis and the Early Modern Archive, Huntington Library Quarterly, 86.2 (June 2024).

Articles:

'The Politics of Sixteenth-Century Anglo-Dutch Bible Translation', in The Literary Heritage of Anglo-Dutch Relations, c. 1050-1600 (Oxford University Press, British Academy Publications, 2023).
鈥楳aritime Mirrors: Littoral Rhetoric in Marvell鈥檚 Dutch Satires鈥�, Andrew Marvell: The Poet at 400 (Oxford University Press, British Academy Publications, 2022): 149-165.
鈥楴icholaas Heinsius en Isaac Vossius: Een gedeelde vijand鈥�, De Zeventiende Eeuw: Cultuur in de Nederlanden in interdisciplinair perspectief (Jaarboek Werkgroep De Zeventiende Eeuw, 2022): 61-72.
With Ruth Ahnert, 鈥楳ilton鈥檚 Correspondence Network鈥�, Renaissance and Reformation, 44.3 (2022): 81-110.
鈥楳ilton鈥檚 Dutch Satan and Vondel鈥檚 English Lucifer鈥�, Renaissance Studies, 36.1 (2022): 65-84.
With Alan Moss (Radboud University of Nijmegen), 鈥楢cross the Narrow Sea: A Transnational Approach to Seventeenth-Century English and Dutch Travelogues鈥�, The Seventeenth Century, (online 2018), 35.1 (2020): 105-124.
鈥楥reation in Milton鈥檚 Paradise Lost and Vondel鈥檚 Adam in Ballingschap (1660)鈥�, Milton Quarterly, 51.2 (May 2017): 96-110. .
鈥楧id Milton Know Dutch?鈥�, Notes and Queries, 63.1 (March, 2016): 53-56.

Book Chapters:

With Sjoerd Levelt and Michael D. Rose, 鈥楳ost Ancient Allies and Familiar Neighbours鈥�, in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Early Modern World (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023): 1-19,
With Michael D. Rose, 鈥楶lockhoy鈥檚 Portable Utopia: Bridging Radical Circles in England and in The Netherlands鈥�, in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Early Modern World (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023): 235-245.
With Yann Ryan, 鈥榃hat is Dutch in the Stuart State Papers鈥�, in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Early Modern World (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023): 133-143. .
鈥楲isa Jardine: An Explorer in Anglo-Dutch History鈥�, in Anglo-Netherlands Society Centenary Publication 1920-2020 (commissioned by the Anglo-Netherlands Society, 2020): 99-108.

Funding:

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2020 鈥� 2024).
AHRC Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Networking Archives, Queen Mary University, London and University of Oxford (2018-2019).

AHRC doctoral studentship, University of Exeter (2013 鈥� 2016).
University of Exeter Activity Award (Dec 2015).
AHRC Research Support Training Grant (Apr 鈥� Jun 2015).
Harting Scholarship, Bangor and Utrecht University (2011 鈥� 2012).

Qualifications:

Ph.D., University of Exeter.

Masters in English Literature 1500-1700, Bangor University.

Bachelor in English Language and Culture, Utrecht University.