The Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius is often falsely credited with the invention of gin in the mid 17th century, although the existence of genever is confirmed in Philip Massinger's play The Duke of
Milan (1623), when Sylvius would have been about nine years old. It is further claimed that English soldiers who provided support in Antwerp against the Spanish in 1585, during the Eighty YearsWar,
were already drinking genever for its calming effects before battle, from which the term Dutch Courage is believed to have originated. By the mid 17th century, numerous small Dutch and Flemish
distillers had popularized the re-distillation of malt spirit or malt wine with juniper, anise, caraway, coriander, etc., which were sold in pharmacies and used to treat such medical problems. When William of Orange, ruler of the Dutch Republic, occupied the British throne with his wife Mary in what has become known as the Glorious Revolution, gin became vastly more popular, particularly in crude, inferior forms, where it was more likely to be flavoured with turpentine as an alternative to juniper.
