Editing First Anglo-Dutch War (section)

===Political tensions===
[[File:FirstAngloDutchwar.png|thumb|300px|Sites of the major battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War]]

The commercial tensions between England and the Netherlands were intensified when the English Parliament passed the [[Navigation Act 1651]].<ref name="Coward125">Coward (2002), p. 125</ref> This limited Dutch trade with any of the English colonies in America unless the shipping was done in "English bottoms" i.e. English ships. Indeed, any cargo to English ports or the ports of English colonies from anywhere in the world was required to be carried in English ships.<ref name="Israel715"/> Furthermore, the Navigation Act forbade all trade with those [[English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms|English colonies that retained connections and sympathy for the royalist cause of Charles I]]. To have accepted the terms of the Navigation Act was seen by the Dutch as agreeing to subordinate Dutch trade to the English trading system.<ref name="Coward125"/><ref name="Israel714">Israel (1995), p. 714</ref> This insulted Dutch pride and damaged their economy, but the more immediate cause of the war was the actions of the English navy and privateers against Dutch shipping. In 1651, 140 Dutch merchantmen were seized on the open seas. During January 1652 alone, another 30 Dutch ships were captured at sea and taken to English ports. Protests to England by the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] of the United Provinces were of no avail: the English Parliament showed no inclination toward curbing these seizures of Dutch shipping.<ref name="Israel715"/>

During the English Civil War, the Dutch [[Stadtholder]] [[Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange|Frederick Henry]] had given significant financial support to [[Charles I of England]], to whom he had close family ties. The [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] had been generally neutral and refused to become involved with representatives of either king or parliament; it also attempted to mediate between the two sides, an attitude that offended both English Royalists and its parliament.<ref name="Groenveld544-5">Groenveld (1987), pp. 544–545</ref><ref name="Rowen73">Rowen (1990), p. 73</ref> Frederick Henry's influence was lessening with the growth of strongly republican sentiment among the ruling class, and he could not involve the Netherlands in direct support for Charles I, particularly as his country was still at war with Spain.<ref name="Rowen74">Rowen (1990), p. 74</ref><ref name="Godwin371">Godwin (1827), p. 371</ref>

After the death of Frederick Henry in March 1647, his son, stadtholder [[William II of Orange]], attempted to extend the power of the stadtholderate particularly through maintaining the size of the army, which he commanded and using his supporters in six provinces to outvote Holland, the most prosperous province, in the States General.<ref name="Coward125-6">Coward (2002), pp. 125–126</ref><ref name="Godwin371"/> Following the end of the Eighty Years' War and the execution of his father-in-law, Charles I, William attempted to support the English Royalist cause to an extent that gave concern to even his own followers, and which involved him in disputes with the more committed republicans, particularly those in Holland.<ref name="Rowen81">Rowen (1990), p. 81</ref> The execution of Charles outraged the Orangists, and the Dutch republicans that had attempted to save Charles' life,<ref name="Rowen82">Rowen (1990), p. 82</ref> but the execution did not prevent the States General from continuing a policy of broad neutrality, dealing unofficially with the English parliament while allowing Royalist envoys into the country.<ref name="Groenveld552-3">Groenveld (1987), pp. 552–553</ref> The Commonwealth and the Dutch Republic had many things in common: they were both republican and [[Protestant]] and many members of States General sympathised with the aims of the English parliamentarians and, while strongly against its [[regicide]], supported a pragmatic policy of neutrality, in opposition to the Royalist-supporting stadtholder.<ref name="Rowen81-2">Rowen (1990), pp. 81–82</ref> The impasse between the two sides ended with the sudden death of William II in November 1650. His attempts to involve the Netherlands in action against the English Commonwealth in support of the exiled Charles II could have led at least to limited hostilities and possibly outright war and lead to a republican reaction.<ref name="Rowen91-2">Rowen (1990), pp. 91–92{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> Shortly before his death, William attempted to gain control of Amsterdam by a coup, and then imprisoned six leading members of the States of Holland, but they were released when he died.<ref name="Godwin371-2">Godwin (1827), pp. 371–372</ref> These six led the province of Holland to assume the leadership of the republican movement, the [[Loevestein faction]], which saw the Netherlands as a free republic without a stadholder. The resulting [[First Stadtholderless period]] began when William II died in 1650, although it was not until January 1651 that the last of the seven provinces agreed to it.<ref name="Groenveld555">Groenveld (1987), p. 555</ref>