Resumen
Resumen de El tulipán negro
Para quién es
For readers who love historical adventure with a warm heart, short chapters and a clear contest between kindness and envy. A love story, a jealous rival and the quest to grow a black tulip add to the appeal.
De qué trata este libro
The Black Tulip is a historical novel by Alexandre Dumas, written with his collaborator Auguste Maquet and published in 1850. It is set in the Dutch Republic in the 1670s. It follows a quiet young man whose only passion is growing flowers, and who is swept into a political storm he never wanted. Dumas wrote many adventure tales, but this one is smaller in scale than The Three Musketeers. It stays close to a few people, a few rooms and one plant.
The book gives you a clear picture of a country in crisis, a mob in The Hague, a prison in a fortress, and a rivalry that begins over a garden fence. It also gives you a love story that grows under hard conditions, and a prize of 100,000 guilders for a flower that does not yet exist. You will meet a gentle hero, a bitter rival and a jailer's daughter who is wiser than anyone around her. Let us begin with the Dutch crowd that sets everything moving.
En este resumen
- 1A mob murders the brothers De WittFree
- 2A gardener cares only for tulips
- 3Envy next door grows into a plot
- 4A sealed packet puts a life at risk
- 5In prison, Rosa becomes his friend
- 6What the story says and how it is told
Idea clave 1 de 6
A mob murders the brothers De Witt
The story opens in The Hague in 1672. The Dutch Republic is at war, and the people blame their leaders. Johan de Witt, the former Grand Pensionary, and his brother Cornelius are the targets of that anger. The crowd supports the young Prince William of Orange, who is waiting for power.
Cornelius de Witt has been accused of plotting against the Prince and is held in prison. His brother Johan comes to visit him. Outside, the mob gathers, and Dumas shows how quickly a street can turn from talk to violence. The brothers are dragged out and killed, and this event is real history.
This opening matters because it sets the price of being linked to the wrong name. Before the murder, Cornelius de Witt has sent a godson a sealed packet to keep safe. He does not explain what it holds. That small act of trust will reach far into the life of a man who has never cared about politics.
Dumas uses the killing to show that private people can be caught by public events. A reader meets danger first as a crowd, then as a single sealed parcel. Both belong to the same story, and the book moves between them with ease.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Cornelius van Baerle
- A wealthy flower grower from Dordrecht, he is Cornelius de Witt's godson and Isaac Boxtel's unsuspecting rival.
- Rosa
- Gryphus's kind and resourceful daughter befriends Van Baerle when he becomes a prisoner under her father's watch.
- Isaac Boxtel
- Van Baerle's jealous neighbour and fellow flower grower watches his rival's garden and covets the same prize.
- Gryphus
- Rosa's harsh father is the head jailer at Loevestein, where he treats Van Baerle with deep suspicion.
- Cornelius de Witt
- A Dutch statesman and Johan's brother, he entrusts his godson Van Baerle with a sealed packet.
- Johan de Witt
- Cornelius de Witt's brother is a former Dutch leader opposed by supporters of William of Orange.
- William of Orange
- The young Prince is the political rival of the De Witt brothers and the focus of popular support.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 74,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 55 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about El tulipán negro
What is The Black Tulip about?
It follows Cornelius van Baerle, a Dutch tulip grower in the 1670s, who is caught up in political violence after the murder of the De Witt brothers. He is jailed, while a rival and a prize for a black tulip drive the plot.
Is The Black Tulip based on a true story?
Partly. The murder of Johan and Cornelius de Witt in The Hague in 1672 is real history, and tulip growing was a Dutch passion. Van Baerle, Rosa and Boxtel are invented characters.
When was The Black Tulip written?
It was published in 1850 by Alexandre Dumas, who worked with Auguste Maquet. Dumas wrote it at the height of his career, after his well-known novels of the 1840s.
Why is the tulip black in The Black Tulip?
The black tulip is the prize that Van Baerle wants to grow. A society in Haarlem offers 100,000 guilders for it, and it stands for a beauty that seems almost impossible to reach.
Is The Black Tulip hard to read?
No. The chapters are short, the plot is simple to follow and the style is quick and clear.