Letters from the Synod of Dort
Reports sent from Dordrecht to the English ambassador at The Hague by his chaplain, John Hales, who attended the public sessions of the synod in the winter of 1618–1619. They are an eyewitness account of how the Remonstrants were heard and dismissed.
Hales signs himself the ambassador’s chaplain and dates his letters from Dort, most of them in both the old and the new calendar. He describes each session soon after it took place: who spoke, what was proposed and how the president, whom he calls the praeses, handled the business.
He writes as an English observer who belonged to neither Dutch party. He was present for the sessions he describes, though the Latin speeches he gives are his summaries. His letters are cited in the Synod of Dort for the appearance of Simon Episcopius and the other cited Remonstrants on 6 December 1618 and for their dismissal by the president in January 1619.
Cited in
- 1618 to 1619, firm date