Alexandre Dumas was French.They were officials
in the government of the Dutch Republic.And in 1672, William, Prince of Orange, became
Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic.Alexandre Dumas' most famous stories are: The
Three Musketeers (1844), Twenty Years After (1845),
The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-1845), The Viscount
of Bragelonne (1844-1850) and The Black Tulip (1850).These
states were Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland,
Friesland, Groningen and Overijssl.Dumas died on 5th December 1870 at Puys, near
Dieppe, in northern France.In the middle of the nineteenth century, Alexandre
Dumas heard two interesting stories about the Nether-
lands.Dumas started to write
historical plays and novels.Then Dumas himself wrote a
novel about the Netherlands in the 1670s.The area in the north was the Dutch Repub-
lic.John and Cornelius De Witt did not want a new
Stadtholder.In 1689, William became King of England,
Scotland and Ireland and he moved to Britain.In the seventeenth century, many people in the
Netherlands grew tulips.From the seventeenth century, thousands of
Dutch people grew tulips.Then, the people planted their bulbs in
the ground in the winter The flowers grew again in
the spring
Tulip flowers are many different colours.In the sev-
enteenth century, many people tried to grow black
tulips.He was born on 24th July
1802 in Villers-Cotterets, in
northern France.He
was one of the most popular French writers of the
nineteenth century.Dumas liked good food, fine wines and beautiful
women.He travelled to many
countries.They were stories about the Netherlands in the
seventeenth century.One of these stories was about two brothers, John
and Cornelius De Witt.The brothers lived in The
Hague in the seventeenth century.At that time, the Netherlands belonged to two
countries.The Dutch
Republic was often called the Seven States.Today, this
area is sometimes called Holland and it is sometimes
called the Netherlands.Earlier, the ruler of
the Seven States had been the Stadtholder.There were battles on land and in ships at
sea.The first tulips were brought
to the Netherlands from Turkey in 1571.Stories; songs and poems were written
about tulips.In the summer, they took the
tulip bulbs out of the ground.They put the bulbs in
6
drying-rooms.There was going to be a big prize for the grower
of the first black tulip.In the 1840s, Dumas read about the De Witts.And
 he heard stories about tulips in the Netherlands.His father
was an important soldier - a
general in Napoleon's army.Dumas' mother.was the
daughter of an innkeeper.In 1823, Dumas went to
Paris.Dumas became a famous man.Later, he
owed money to many people.Place: The Netherlands.He put the
two interesting stories into his new novel.The area in the south had belonged to Spain
for many years.This was the Spanish Netherlands.Today, most of this area is called
Belgium.Seven states were joined in this republic.The Hague was the capital city
of the Seven States.Many people wanted a new ruler.But there
5
had not been a Stadtholder for some years.In the
1670s, some people wanted a new Stadtholder.But other people
did not want a Stadtholder - they wanted a king.They wanted King Louis XIV of France.They put the De Witts in prison.On 27th August
1672, a crowd of angry people murdered the brothers.From 1672 to 1678, the Republic was at war with
France and England.The French army fought the
Dutch army.Soon, every-
body in the Netherlands loved the flowers.Everybody
wanted tulips.The land in the Netherlands is good.Tulips grow
well there.They grew tulips in the
ground, in the spring.He called the
story, The Black Tulip:He wanted to become a lawyer.But he worked
in the house of a rich man.They were exciting and
they were successful.He spent a lot of money.He gave money to his friends.Then he had to write
more books.He had to get more money.He was 68 years old.A Note About This, Story
Time: 1671 to 1673.But
France wanted this land, and in 1668, France took a
large part of the land.In the 1670s, there was trouble in the Seven States.They
wanted William, Prince of Orange.They were against the Prince of Orange.But most of the people wanted a new government.In 1677, William of Orange married an English
princess.Then
he wrote a romantic adventure story.