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The black tulip

by Alexandre Dumas & Auguste Maquet (1802–1870)

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 33 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"The Black Tulip" by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet is a historical novel written in the mid-19th century. The narrative unfolds in the backdrop of 17th-century Holland, revolving around the tumultuous political landscape characterized by the rivalry between the Orange party, led by Prince William of Orange, and the De Witts, two brothers who represent a more republican approach to governance. The story centers on the political machinations and brutalities faced by these characters, particularly Cornelius and John de Witt, as well as the fervor for a mythical black tulip that becomes symbolic within the plot. The opening of "The Black Tulip" introduces a charged atmosphere in The Hague, where the populace is roused against the De Witts and their supposed crimes against the new Stadtholder, William of Orange. As Cornelius de Witt faces brutal accusations of plotting William's assassination, tensions rise dramatically when the public gathers to witness his exile. At the same time, the narrative presents John de Witt, heartbroken yet determined to protect his brother. Their impending doom is accentuated by rising mob anger and a political climate filled with betrayal and intrigue. Amidst this chaos, a subplot surrounding the pursuit of the black tulip begins to emerge, setting the stage for a intertwining tale of passion, politics, and the quest for beauty in a world torn apart by hatred.

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  • Tulip Mania, 1634-1637
  • Witt, Johan de, 1625-1672
  • Netherlands · History · 1648-1714

Read the opening

Chapter 1: A Grateful People

On the 20th of August, 1672, the city of the Hague, always so lively, so neat, and so trim that one might believe every day to be Sunday, with its shady park, with its tall trees, spreading over its Gothic houses, with its canals like large mirrors, in which its steeples and its almost Eastern cupolas are reflected,—the city of the Hague, the capital of the Seven United Provinces, was swelling in all its arteries with a black and red stream of hurried, panting, and restless citizens, who, with their knives in their girdles, muskets on their shoulders, or sticks in their hands, were pushing on to the Buytenhof, a terrible prison, the grated windows of which are still shown, where, on the charge of attempted murder preferred against him by the surgeon Tyckelaer, Cornelius de Witt, the brother of the Grand Pensionary of Holland was confined.

If the history of that time, and especially that of the year in the middle of which our narrative commences, were not indissolubly connected with the two names just mentioned, the few explanatory pages which we are about to add might appear quite supererogatory; but we will, from the very first, apprise the reader—our old friend, to whom we are wont on the first page to promise amusement, and with whom we always try to keep our word as well as is in our power—that this explanation is as indispensable to the right understanding of our story as to that of the great event itself on which it is based.

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Contents

Show all 33 chapters
  1. Chapter 1: A Grateful People
  2. Chapter 2: The Two Brothers
  3. Chapter 3: The Pupil of John de Witt
  4. Chapter 4: The Murderers
  5. Chapter 5: The Tulip-fancier and his Neighbour
  6. Chapter 6: The Hatred of a Tulip-fancier
  7. Chapter 7: The Happy Man makes Acquaintance with Misfortune
  8. Chapter 8: An Invasion
  9. Chapter 9: The Family Cell
  10. Chapter 10: The Jailer’s Daughter
  11. Chapter 11: Cornelius van Baerle’s Will
  12. Chapter 12: The Execution
  13. Chapter 13: What was going on all this Time in the Mind of one of the: Spectators
  14. Chapter 14: The Pigeons of Dort
  15. Chapter 15: The Little Grated Window
  16. Chapter 16: Master and Pupil
  17. Chapter 17: The First Bulb
  18. Chapter 18: Rosa’s Lover
  19. Chapter 19: The Maid and the Flower
  20. Chapter 20: The Events which took place during those Eight Days
  21. Chapter 21: The Second Bulb
  22. Chapter 22: The Opening of the Flower
  23. Chapter 23: The Rival
  24. Chapter 24: The Black Tulip changes Masters
  25. Chapter 25: The President van Systens
  26. Chapter 26: A Member of the Horticultural Society
  27. Chapter 27: The Third Bulb
  28. Chapter 28: The Hymn of the Flowers
  29. Chapter 29: In which Van Baerle, before leaving Loewestein, settles: Accounts with Gryphus
  30. Chapter 30: Wherein the Reader begins to guess the Kind of Execution: that was awaiting Van Baerle
  31. Chapter 31: Haarlem
  32. Chapter 32: A Last Request
  33. Chapter 33: Conclusion

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About this edition

This free edition of The black tulip by Alexandre Dumas & Auguste Maquet comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #965, released 1997-07-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Historical Novels, Novels, French Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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