Every so often I stumble upon something obscure yet dead-on to explaining the contribution of the Flemish to the discovery and settlement of the New World. A while back it was
the piece by Professor Verlinden. Today it is this superb article that has been hidden in dusty tomes for more than fifty years. Because I am fortunate to work near a library that holds a vast array of periodicals I was able to access this piece. For all of you without the access - but yet with the burning desire to confirm what you might suspect of the Flemish contribution to the New World, I post this for you.
The Flemish influence on the Pilgrims Part 6: Excerpts From, “The Cultural Impact of the Flemish Low Countries on Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England”
By John J. Murray – The American Historical Review, Vol. 62, No.4, (1957); pp. 837-854
“Historians have treated at some length the cultural impact of Celt, German, Scandinavian, Frenchman, Spaniard, and Italian, but they have too often ignored the significance of the Flemings. This is indeed curious, for cultural currents from the Flemish speaking Low Countries seriously although quietly helped to shape the flow of British life, especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the long run, their significance was perhaps equal to and in some respects superior to the combined influences of Italy and France….
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