Family Matters: William of Orange and the Habsburgs after the Abdication of Charles V (1555–67)*

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 459-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Geevers
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Dutch Revolt

AbstractThe Habsburgs and the Nassaus, who collaborated during the reign of Charles V, clashed sharply during the reign of Philip II: William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, became the leader of the Dutch Revolt. Instead of focusing on religious and political matters in the Netherlands, this article examines the underlying development of both men's dynastic identity to explain this new hostility. I argue that Habsburg family affairs — the division of the dynasty into two branches — led to an increasingly Spanish dynastic identity on Philip's part, while William could not, or would not, break free from his German-focused family identity, leading to a crucial loss of common ground between the two men.

scholarly journals The Netherlands (Dutch Revolt/ Dutch Republic)

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk van Nierop
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
The Other ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Dutch Revolt ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

By the middle of the 16th century the Netherlands consisted of some twenty principalities and lordships, loosely connected under the rule of Emperor Charles V. The heir of the dukes of Burgundy, Charles ruled these lands as his own patrimony. They roughly covered the area of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, as well as a strip of northern France. During the rule of Philip II, king of Spain (r. 1555–1598), Charles’s son and successor, a revolt broke out. From c. 1580 onward Philip succeeded in bringing the southern provinces of the Netherlands (roughly modern-day Belgium) back to obedience, while the northern provinces (roughly the area covered by today’s Netherlands) retained their independence. The northern provinces came to be known as the “United Netherlands” or the “Dutch Republic,” the southern ones as the “Spanish Netherlands.” What had begun as a rebellion turned into regular warfare between the Dutch Republic, on the one side, and Spain and the Spanish Netherlands, on the other. The so-called Twelve Year Truce interrupted the fighting between 1609 and 1621. It was not until 1648 that the belligerents finally concluded peace. After 1585 (the capture of Antwerp by the Spanish army), the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands gradually drifted apart as they became two separate states, and, even more slowly, they developed their own national cultures and identities. The consequence for historiography is that the history of the Netherlands until the end of the 16th century is best studied as a whole, while the histories of the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands during the 17th century are usually studied separately.

Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Same Society: The Fall of Convivencia in Medieval Spain

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 121-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Highfield
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Medieval Spain ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Christian Brothers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Council Of State

On 1 March 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain. Ten years later the Moorish inhabitants of Castile were offered the alternative of conversion or emigration. The fate of the Moors in the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon was deferred until the reign of the emperor Charles V. But though he kept the inquisition out of Aragon for forty years, he did not succeed in reconciling his Morisco subjects with their Christian brothers. Philip II failed much more notably. For his policy stimulated the great Morisco revolt of 1568–70. Thereafter they were scattered round the kingdom in a forced diaspora. In 1582 their expulsion was proposed in the council of state. Finally in 1609–10 the government of Philip III, chastened by the twelve years truce in the Netherlands, set about the expulsion of all the three hundred thousand or so Moriscos who remained.

Introduction

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jaap R. Bruijn
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Dutch Revolt ◽  
Arbitrary Rule ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Provincial Autonomy

During the Middle Ages a number of territories within the boundaries of the modern Netherlands, Belgium and northern France each developed similar ruling institutions in the form of local parliaments or states. In the fifteenth century, the dukes of Burgundy succeeded in joining most of these territories together under a single ruler, but the tradition of provincial autonomy remained strong. At long last, the Habsburg emperor Charles V (who reigned 1515-1555) ruled all the territories, seventeen in number. The seat of the central government was established at Brussels, with the rights of the provincial institutions being largely oppressed in favour of the Brussels' court. From 1556 onwards, however, Charles V's son and successor, King Philip II of Spain, and his governors rekindled the old spirit of provincial opposition against centralized rule by pursuing fierce religious and fiscal policies. The Protestant iconoclasm of 1566 shook the foundations of their power and caused Philip to install the Duke of Alba as his military governor. Alba's high-handed and arbitrary rule subsequently provoked the Dutch revolt. In 1572, after some initial disturbances, the provincial ruling States of Holland and Zeeland, under the leadership of William of Orange (the Silent), launched a revolt against Alba that soon gained the support of other provinces. A long and fierce struggle ensued, finally to result in the birth of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, comprising Holland, Zeeland and the five other northern provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland, Overijssel, Groningen and Friesland....

Church Ordinances and Regulations of the Dutch Synods ‘Under the Cross’ (1563-1566) Compared With the French (1559-1563)

1991 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 187-205
Author(s):  
F. R. J. Knetsch
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Elizabeth I ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Church

In 1559 Philip II left the Netherlands for Spain, where, from then on, he was to rule his empire. The government of the Provinces united by his father, Charles V, was left to his bastard sister Margaret, Duchess of Parma. Although she faithfully followed the Habsburg line, which in religion meant opposing Protestantism, her reign was characterized by a certain lack of firmness, enabling opposing factions to assert themselves. Shortly before Philip’s departure, Henry II, his French rival, had died in a tournament. His children and widow were as unable to quell the religious unrest in France as Margaret was in the Netherlands. In this situation, Calvinism grew irresistibly: from around 1555, it had already increased greatly in strength under Henry II, and in 1559 it had managed to hold a synod in Paris. That synod, as well as drawing up a Confession of Faith, produced its Discipline or Church Ordinance; and the best way of tracing the growth of Calvinism is to examine how rapidly the synods met, and to see how the Church Ordinances were adjusted to meet particular circumstances. That this development in the French Reformed Church had repercussions in the adjoining Netherlands, where the same language was spoken, at least in part, needs scarcely to be emphasized. Besides, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Calvinist refugee congregations were established in England, and these, in turn, could be used as bases for serving the Netherlands.

II. The Low Countries

1956 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 234-245
Author(s):  
Gordon Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Unique Outcome ◽  
The Middle Ages

The contest between monarchy and representative institutions had a unique outcome in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century as a result of several factors. The most obvious of these is the fact that their rulers had inherited a royal title in Castile and Aragon. The financial and administrative institutions of the modern state which the monarchs attempted to introduce into their possessions in the Low Countries were therefore bound to be regarded as foreign importations. They conflicted with the representative institutions which had grown up in the Netherlands as elsewhere in Europe during the Middle Ages. The chief of these, the Estates-General, continued to flourish in the Low Countries long after they had entered upon hopeless decline in France and Spain. Moreover, the wealth of the Low Countries, industrially, commercially, and financially the most advanced region of sixteenth-century Europe, made them an attractive target for the Hapsburg bureaucracy, harried as it was by the gargantuan task of financing the wars of Charles V and Philip II.

Why Did the Dutch Revolt Last Eighty Years?

1976 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 53-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Parker
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
European History ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Dutch Revolt ◽  
Political Costs ◽  
Modern European History

THE Dutch Revolt lasted longer than any other uprising in modern European history—from the iconoclastic fury in August 1566 to the Peace of Munster in January 1648; and it involved more continuous fighting than any other war of modern times—from April 1572 to April 1607 (with only six months' cease-fire in 1577) and from April 1621 to June 1647. Its economic, social, and political costs were enormous. The longevity of the revolt becomes even more remarkable when one remembers that the two combatants were far from equal. The areas in revolt against Spain were small in size, in natural resources, and in population—especially in the first few years. In 1574 only about twenty towns, with a combined population of 75,000, remained faithful to William of Orange; Amsterdam, the largest town in Holland, stayed loyal to the king until 1578. Against the ‘rebels’ Philip II could draw on the resources of Spain, Spanish America, Spanish Italy and, of course, the Spanish Netherlands. Although by the seventeenth century the odds had narrowed somewhat—by then there were seven ‘rebel’ provinces with a combined population of over one million—Spain could still call on vastly superior resources of men and money. There were a number of occasions in the course of the war when Spain seemed to stand on the threshold of success. In 1575, for example, the con-quest of the islands of Duiveland and Schouwen in South Holland divided the rebel heartland in two and appeared to presage the collapse of the revolt. A decade later, in 1585, Antwerp was re-captured against all predictions, leaving Holland and Zealand dispirited and prepared to discuss surrender. As late as 1625, with the reconquest of Breda in Brabant and Bahia in Brazil, Spain's final victory seemed near. But total success never came. Spain never regained the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands and by 1648 Philip IV counted himself lucky to have retained the ten southern ones.

III. The New World

1956 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 246-257
Author(s):  
Woodrow Borah
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
New World ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Spanish Empire ◽  
Spanish Population ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Governmental Institutions

The Spanish Empire in America was thoroughly different in development from the Spanish possessions in Europe. Naples, Sicily, and the Netherlands were European states with populations of cultural background at least equal to the Spanish, with the same religion, with systems of law recognized as of equal merit, and with governmental institutions the monarch was sworn to uphold. There could be no massive penetration of such states by Spanish population and customs. Indeed, during the reign of Charles V, his subjects could not be certain where the empire had its seat; so that the anger of the Spanish at Charles’ Flemish favorites arose more from their fear of colonial status than from annoyance at the painfully generous gifts made from their pockets. It was only in the reign of Philip II that the center of one Hapsburg empire was firmly set in Spain.

scholarly journals Reformations and Revolt in the Netherlands, 1500–1621

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Pollmann ◽  
Alastair Duke ◽  
Geert Janssen
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Dutch Revolt ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Southern Netherlands ◽  
Reformation History ◽  
Religious Landscape

The Low Countries have a special place in Reformation history, both because of the great diversity of the religious landscape and because they experienced a genuine Reformation “from below,” as well as fierce repression of Protestant heresies. Protests against the latter helped to trigger the revolt that resulted in the split of the Habsburg Netherlands. In the northern Netherlands, the Dutch Republic gave the Reformed Church a monopoly of worship but also guaranteed freedom of conscience to dissidents. The southern Netherlands, once “reconciled” with the Habsburgs and having expelled its Protestant inhabitants, became a bulwark of the Counter-Reformation. For more on the revolt, see the Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation article “The Netherlands (Dutch Revolt/Dutch Republic)” by Henk van Nierop.

The ‘Spanish Chapel’ of Philip II

1952 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Isabel Pope
Keyword(s):  
Philip Ii ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Introductory Section ◽  
Keyboard Music

In the introductory section of La Música en la Corte de Carlos V (Barcelona, 1944), Dr. Higinio Anglés published a series of documents from the Archives at Simancas which showed that a Chapel composed exclusively of Spanish musicians was attached to the Royal Court of Spain as early as 1526 and existed simultaneously with the Emperor's Flemish Chapel from that time. The Spanish Chapel was established by the Empress, Isabel of Portugal, the wife of Charles V, who acted as his regent during his many and prolonged absences from Spain. While the Flemish Chapel regularly accompanied the Emperor on his journeys, the chapel of the Empress belonged to her household and remained permanently in Spain. It is interesting to note the name of Antonio de Cabezón in the first list of cantors of this chapel. The name of the great composer of keyboard music appeared continuously among the musicians attached to the Royal Court until he died in 1566.

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