The Revolt of the Netherlands
The Netherlands were a varied and disparate collection of principalities, bishoprics, and cities that had been gathered together by the dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century. Duke Charles the Bold had managed to lose the nascent unity of the territories, in 1477, with some lands going to the Empire and some to France.
There were actually two Burgundies: the county and the duchy. The County was to the south, in what became known as Franche-Comté, part of the early medieval Kingdom of Arles. The Low Countries were part of the Duchy of Burgundy.
There were a dozen or more various governments in the Low Countries at the beginning of the 16th century. Among the more important were Flanders, Holland, Utrecht, Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Hainault and Luxembourg. France usually laid at least some claim to Flanders, and there were border disputes aplenty.
The Habsburgs married into the ducal family, and so the old County of Burgundy fell first to Maximilian I and then to his son Charles, who was actually born in Ghent, which is in Belgium.
Charles went far toward imposing ducal rule, using the Burgundian model, on the various provinces. This wasn't received with great joy, but Charles had managed to mollify the nobility and generally to keep the towns quiet, with the exception of a major rebellion in his home town of Ghent in 1539. He crushed that revolt personally. Charles also introduced the Inquisition into the Netherlands and imposed harsh anti-Protestant laws in something the Dutch called the Edict of Blood (1550) because so many people were condemned by it.
Early Protestant Movements
Lutheranism arrived in the Netherlands around the same time it did everywhere else. The influence of Erasmus (who was Dutch) was international, but he reflected a certain tradition of Christian humanism that did exist and was sympathetic to the criticisms of the reformers. In fact, the Netherlands had its own very strong reform tradition, including people like Gerhard Groote and Thomas ŕ Kempis.
Still, while Lutheranism found its niche, Anabaptism made far greater inroads. In fact, the Netherlands produced some of the most notable Anabaptist leaders, including Jan of Leiden and Menno Simons (from Friesland). Anabaptists also provided the majority of the first Dutch martyrs.
In the 1540s, John Lasko organized the first Reformed church, in East Friesland. This community fled to London after 1548. Other Dutch refugees arrived in London in the ensuing years, and something like a Dutch Reformed Church took shape in exile. This community went to Emden (in Holland) in 1553, when Queen Mary came to the throne in England.
Calvinism arrived in the later 1550s. Preachers came here from Geneva just as they were going elsewhere, and the congregational approach fit very nicely with the localist, particularist traditions of the land. This movement, already strong, was supplemented by Huguenot refugees in the 1560s as France began its religious wars.
Government in the Netherlands
There were somewhere between fifteen and twenty lay governments in the Netherlands, depending on which decade you choose. Eventually the number settled on seventeen. Each one of these had their own representative assembly, called the States. They were much the same as elsewhere, made up of nobles and commoners and clergy, most multicameral (that is, one assembly for the commoners, one for the lords, etc.).
All these States from time to time sent representatives to a States-General, which tended to be the body that dealt directly with the duke or emperor (depending on who was ruling at the time). This had been the big innovation under Charles the Bold, perpetuated and elaborated by Charles V. They'd also created some centralized bodies for taxation and justice.
The provinces were essentially independent states, with not only their own Estates, but their own courts, taxes, and armies. An office we will soon hear more about was the Stadtholder, who often served as the commander-general in times of war.
You should picture layers of government. At the local level were individual town governments, which often exercised jurisdiction over the surrounding countryside. At the provincial level were the States and their governing apparatus, including the Stadtholder. Those were the native, traditional organs of government. Above that was the ducal (now imperial) structure, which was mostly foreign in form and was to a certain extent even staffed by foreigners.
Beginnings of the Revolt
The Emperor turned over rule of the Netherlands to his son, Philip, in 1555. Almost from the beginning, there were problems. This was not unusual when the previous monarch had reigned for a long time. Whether through popularity or a strong hand, the final years of the monarch's rule were often a time for suppressing or deferring grievances, and these had a tendency to pour forth in the first years of the new king's reign. This was doubly true in the Netherlands, where the complaints had to do not only with recovery of rights, redress of wrongs and the sort, but also with religious matters.
The first boiling point came in 1556 when the nobles censured the war with France, arguing that Philip was using the war as an excuse to place Spanish troops in the Netherlands.
In 1558, Philip levied a new tax, to be collected for nine years. The States-General allowed the tax, but insisted that it be collected by agents under their control. Philip wanted to use his own agents because the native ones were notoriously ineffecient and corrupt.
Then came 1559 and the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, an end to the Habsburg-Valois wars. With peace, the States said Philip should withdraw his troops. He wanted to keep them, as a guarantee against French treachery, but quite a loud dispute developed and he eventually gave in. In fact, he left the Netherlands that same year and never returned. He made his half-sister, Margaret of Parma, governess of the Netherlands, with a Walloon noble named Granvelle as her chief adviser.
Granvelle, operating under Philip's orders, managed to aggravate relations still further when he tried to re-organize the episcopal structure. As with other initiatives, the move made sense from the crown's point of view because the old system was inefficient and corrupt. It was a salutary reform, except the patient didn't want to get better. The introduction of several new bishops broke up lines of power all across the Netherlands, and Granvelle bore the brunt of the criticisms. Philip was forced to recall him in 1564. During the uproar, the Count of Egmont and the Prince of Orange emerged as the leaders of the opposition.
With the nobles openly defiant, the religious situation verging on chaos, and the various towns rumbling dangerously, Margaret sent repeatedly to Madrid for advice. Philip's response was to take a hard line; in November 1565 he sent a letter stating that he would rather not rule at all than to rule heretics. There was to be no compromise on religious matters.
As can be seen, from the beginning, political discontent combined with religious discontent, and both were fueled by the fact that the opposite side could so readily be associated with foreigners and especially with Spain. It was a potent combination that tended to create in the seventeen provinces a growing sense of national identity. It was by no means a single, unified sense of identity, for religious divisions ran deep. The Catholics were still in the majority, and the nobility still felt the right to rule was theirs by nature and by Divine Providence. It would take a long time to sort out, though, and much bloodshed.
The Summer of Miracles
In April 1566, Margaret's son Alexander got married in Brussels. It was a grand occasion and most of the Dutch and Walloon nobility were in attendance. The nobles met in various combinations in various inns around town, for dinners and drinks. Out of these more or less casual meetings, a movement grew. Within only a few days, a formal group emerged, bound into a League by oaths, with a written petition asking Margaret to repeal the Edict of Blood and subsequent edicts that had been aimed at eradicating Protestantism. A delegation marched off to Margaret's palace and presented it. A member of the Council of State remarked that the petitioners were little more than a band of beggars. The Leaguers adopted the nickname and became the Beggars (in French: gueux; in Dutch: geus).
That summer of 1566, Calvinism ignited across the Netherlands in what came to be known as the Summer of Miracles. Thousands gathered at open-air sermons to listen to hedge-preachers (that is, to people not formally ordained). Everyone knew where this could lead, for they had the examples of the German Bundschuh revolts, the example of Münster, and countless other social-political rebellions in the name of religion. But the government was at this critical moment all but paralyzed as Margaret sent off to Madrid for instructions on how to handle the crisis.
So the preaching went on, unchecked, over July and August. As with many popular movements, the tone became more and more radical with each passing day. Outside Ghent, the crowds were as large as twenty thousand. The events were intoxicating for the participants. At the sermons, people formed a circle, with women and children in the center, and the men on the outside, armed and ready to defend the community of faithful. On occasion, the preaching stretched over two or three days, and people camped on the spot, recalling the Anabaptist communities of the 1530s and 1540s, or the Taborites of the previous century. It became easy to begin to think of themselves as an authority unto themselves, set to do God's work in the world.
An example of this can be taken from Antwerp that August. Calvinist preachers were active there, alarming the local authorities. One of Margaret's councillors took it on himself to assemble some troops, just in case. In response, a Dutch noble named Brederode brought one hundred and fifty of his own men into the city, where they were welcomed as liberators. Margaret sent William, the Prince of Orange, to defuse the situation. She didn't much like William, as he was one of the chief members of the opposition, but he was the only one in her government who had sufficient authority and prestige with Brederode. The Beggars left, and Orange's troops entered, and things settled down. The incident illustrates the competing sources of authority in the Netherlands: the Spanish government, the League of Nobles (represented by William), the Beggars (represented by Brederode), the local nobles and towns (the city authorities who'd first taken alarm), and the Calvinist preachers. It was a recipe for political chaos.
Also in August, the image-breaking (iconoclasm) began. The Calvinists regarded the finery of the Catholic churches as an impediment to true religion and an affront to God. Not only the icons and crucifixes must go (keep in mind that most crucifixes were not plain wooden crosses, but were richly decorated and had the figure of Jesus upon them), but the organs must be torn out, the sacramental altars removed, the windows broken, the paintings and statuary destroyed, and the plate and vestments and other "popish" paraphernalia taken away as well. It was an exhilarating, largely impromptu event. Much smashing and hacking, trampling into what had been a restricted space where one was always required to behave oneself, and which had always exuded an oppressive sense of authority. This was frequently followed by a kind of parade in which the booty of the church was carried through town or out to a field and burned. Without doubt, some of the more precious items might have quietly found their way into pockets.
That the people of the Netherlands were ready and even eager for iconoclasm can be seen in how quickly the movement spread. It began in Poperinghe on the 14th, in Oudenarde on the 18th, Antwerp on the 20th, Ghent and Amsterdam on the 22nd, Leyden and Delft on the 23rd, Utrecht on the 25th. "Spread like wildfire" is the only phrase that comes to mind.
Margaret desperately tried to defuse the situation. On the 23rd she issued permission for Calvinist preaching to take place anywhere it was already occurring; that is, she effectively, though only temporarily, rescinded the Edicts. She declared that Catholic worship must be left undisturbed, though, and that Calvinist preaching not spread further. Even this much, the Calvinists were not inclined to grant. They were on fire with the Holy Spirit and felt nothing should obstruct the preaching of the Word.
Those in authority, however, were badly frightened. It didn't matter the religion; Catholic and Lutheran alike condemned the iconoclasm, and all feared the spectre of social revolution. Most outraged of all, though, was King Philip of Spain. Rumors soon surfaced that there would be retribution for the Summer of Miracles. The League of Nobles began discussing armed resistance.
Rebellion
In December 1566, a Calvinist synod was held in Antwerp. The members formulated a right of resistance, and Brederode was chosen to command any troops that might be raised. The first skirmish came near Valenciennes and showed that the revolt was still being driven from the bottom up.
Calvinists had taken over the town. In December 1566, Margaret declared the town to be in a state of rebellion and sent troops. Spontaneously, minor nobles and townsmen in the district formed militia and came to the defense of the city. They were defeated and dispersed, with some of the survivors fleeing to join Brederode. This was the first "Beggar" army.
William of Orange tried to steer a middle course from Antwerp. He disliked all extremists, political or religious, and was steadfast throughout his life in trying to create some sort of unified national identity from the stewpot that was the Netherlands. He refused to take the loyalty oath that Margaret was now demanded (Egmont, by contrast, had agreed), but at the same time he refused to admit a Calvinist army and shut the gates on them. The city was subjected to a heart-rending spectacle as the Calvinists—led by Count Tholouse at the time—were defeated by Margaret's forces in full view from the city walls.
It was obvious that the Calvinists were not strong enough to rebel on their own. Orange, compromised because he refused the loyalty oath, thought it wise to remove to his brother-in-law's lands in Saxony. Brederode, too, fled the country. The rebellion was over, almost before it had begun.
Philip understood that the revolt was serious. He had already ordered up an army and chosen a commander. In June 1567, the Duke of Alba crossed the Alps with an army of about ten thousand men. This was the army whose passing so alarmed the French Huguenots in that year.
On the surface, the situation looked promising for the king. The Spanish troops were among Europe's finest. There could be no possibility of the rebels winning a victory in the field against them. Besides, most public authorities had been rather spooked by the events of 1566 and were ready to discuss compromise.
Duke of Alba
Alba arrived in Brussels 22 August 1567. He was a hard-liner, a man after Philip's own heart. His job was to bring an end to all the nonsense, to suppress the heretics, and to make sure the Netherlands began paying its fair share of taxes. He at once created a new Council of State, which soon was given a new name by the Calvinists: the Council of Blood.
Incredibly, Egmont and Hoorne (Philippe de Montmorency), who had also fled, returned on 7 September. They appear to have believed that they could confront Alba and present their grievances. It was a foolish blunder. On 9 September, Alba arrested them, along with two others. This caused a tremendous outrage, for Egmont and Hoorne were members of the Order of the Golden Fleece, whose members were by law and tradition exempt from arbitrary arrest.
The Council of Blood proceeded to come down hard on the country. Alba seized the estates of fugitives, arrested thousands over the next few years and executed hundreds. And levied taxes to pay for it all. Antwerp, for example, coughed up a payment which was used to build a castle to house a garrison of Spanish troops. The town had been forced to pay for its own occupation!
There were spontaneous outbursts of resistance, but they were futile. Brederode died in February 1568, leaving the Prince of Orange the only viable resistance leader. He was so lukewarm on religion, though, neither ardent Calvinists nor ardent Catholics trusted him.
In April 1567 a small invasion, not led by Orange, met with a string of successes. The local Spanish commander was killed in battle. To teach a lesson, Alba had eighteen captured nobles beheaded in Brussels in the market square. On 5 June, he executed Egmont and Hoorne. The executions shocked the country, not only because the victims were all noble, but because of the brutality of the act. Alba had them executed simultaneously. After the executions, he marched his army to Groningen where he easily defeated the invasion.
Orange invaded in September 1568. He'd had much difficulty finding money and allies. His German relatives and other German Protestants gave him encouraging words, but little else. He was forced to roll the dice and hope the people of the Netherlands would flock to his standard.
They didn't. By then, they'd been cowed by Alba and the Spanish troops, and not merely because of executions. Every town had its appointed Spanish governor now. Where needed, the governor was supplemented by troops, garrisoned at the expense of the citizens and residing in hastily-constructed castles. When the towns did not rise up, Orange found himself isolated. He actually marched right through the Netherlands to France without fighting a battle. Alba was content to let him go.
In March 1569, Alba put forward a proposal for a ten-percent sales tax, called the Tenth Penny. It sparked a new round of protests and resistance, this time led by the merchants. Alba didn't care. He was under orders to recover the costs of his expedition and to send money to Spain besides. When Utrecht tried to claim exemption, Alba brought the entire States of that province up on charges of having been disloyal in 1566. The Council of Blood pronounced a verdict of guilty, and Alba declared that the provinces legal privileges were thereby forfeit. The tax was levied.
The Sea Beggars
Even as Alba's grip on the Netherlands was tightening, dangerous elements were slipping through his grasp. Orange was still outside the country and was assembling new forces for another attempt. Not least among these was an alliance with the Huguenot leader, Coligny.
Also on the edges of the country, another force was emerging: the Sea Beggars. These were essentially pirates or, more correctly, privateers, on much the same model as Drake and Hawkins over in England. They were ship captains who were given special permission (letters of marque) by William to plunder the ships of the enemy, splitting the profits. Their prize money helped finance a new army, but it also helped finance a steady expansion of the Sea Beggars themselves. With trade disrupted, and with the burdensome new tax, the choice between arduous mercantile activity or patriotic piracy was becoming easy.
On 1 April 1572 the Sea Beggars under the leadership of Lumey de la Marck, captured The Brill, an important port. This was no brave invasion attempt. Rather, the Sea Beggars had been based in English ports for a time and in early 1572 Queen Elizabeth had kicked them out. She was trying to play nice with Spain at the time. There's nothing more desperate than a pirate with no port for his ship. When they arrived at The Brill, the town council panicked and fled. The Sea Beggars simply sailed in and took over.
Lumey held the town in the name of the Prince of Orange. A few days later, the town of Flushing asked the Sea Beggars to liberate it, and they gladly obliged. Enkhuisen followed. It was becoming a kind of invasion by sea. In late May, William's brother Louis of Nassau, who was also in France, invaded Hainaut with a Huguenot army. Alba judged this the greater danger and left the north to the Sea Beggars. Over the course of that summer, town after town was captured by the Sea Beggars, whose ships could sail well up the shallow estuaries and rivers. In every case, the town was held "in the name of the Prince" and exiles came rushing back to help keep it.
Another front opened when the Count of Bergh invaded Gelderland. He won much of it and invaded Overysel, too. By August, the Sea Beggars were in Frisia. Finally, once again somewhat behind the wave of events, William invaded on 27 August. With the support of France, he hoped to overwhelm the Spanish.
Crisis
Three days prior, however, was the massacre of St Bartholomew's Day in Paris. As Orange pressed his invasion, any hope of help from the west vanished. Orange was defeated in September and had to pull back. He could not hope to defeat Alba without help. Louis of Nassau surrendered on 19 September. William was in despair. He went to Holland, to throw his lot in with the Beggars. In a letter to his brother, he declared that he expected to die there.
The threat from the French gone, Alba moved north. He sacked Mechlin in Brabant. His son, Don Frederick, invaded from the east and sacked Zutphen and Naarden.
In July, the States of Holland recognized William of Orange as their Stadholder. This turned out to be their first step toward independence, toward substituting some native office in place of a foreign monarch as the source of authority. At this point, Holland was still technically loyal to the Habsburgs, but it was clearly making moves that were irreversible. Another such came in April 1573 when Orange openly joined the Reformed Church. He'd now identified not only with political rebellion but with heresy as well.
With the collapse of French support, and the failure of a general uprising, this second rebellion also ground to a halt. One of the more dramatic moments came with the siege of Haarlem, which lasted from November 1572 until July 1573. Haarlem had a lake at its back and so could not be cut off from supplies. Don Frederick actually transported a fleet overland from the Zuider Zee, cut the city off and finally forced its surrender.
Despite the successes, it was clear that Alba was failing strategically and had made himself so hated that there was no chance of peace in the Netherlands so long as he was around. Reluctantly, Philip recalled him to Spain in 1573. He was replaced by Don Louis de Requesens, who moved quickly to heal wounds. He abolished the Tenth Penny and granted a general pardon. It was, however, too late. The rebellion had gained its own internal momentum and went on unabated. Symbolic of this was the siege of Leiden, which went on from October 1573 until August 1574.
Sack of Antwerp
In April 1574, a German army was wiped out and Louis of Nassau killed at the Battle of Mook. This was the last serious rebel army in the field and its elimination should have assured victory. But Spain was out of money and the soldiers were owed many months of back pay. After the victory they mutinied and marched to Antwerp, looting as they went. They put Antwerp to the sack. Eight thousand citizens were killed. This sealed Dutch hatred of the Spanish.
In the autumn of 1575, the fiscal crisis finally caught up with Philip and he repudiated his debts. It wasn't quite bankruptcy, but it did mean that no one would lend him money for a while, and that meant no new military initiatives in the Netherlands. Because of the on-going financial difficulties, Spain continued to make the occupied territories pay for the troops themselves. Relations between troops and citizens were bad enough; the quartering simply made the burden all the heavier.
Requesens continued to try to negotiate with the rebels and compromises were offered. All talks broke down, however, on the question of the Spanish troops. The Dutch insisted these be removed, Requesens could not do that, and Philip would not. Some resolution might have been found, since Requesens was the first Spanish governor who seemed sincerely to want to find a way to peace. He died, however, in March 1576 and the situation deteriorated again for want of leadership.
Don Juan
Holland and Zealand were now officially free of Spanish rule, having declared themselves so in 1575. The Calvinists were still a minority, but they'd been the driving force in the conflict and were nearly everywhere in positions of power. They represeed the Catholics because every Catholic was potentially a friend of Spain and a traitor to both God and country.
In August 1576, Philip chose his (illegitimate) son Don Juan to be the new governor. Don Juan was the hero of Lepanto and was immensely popular in Spain. He raised an army and started north, creating deep anxiety among the rebel provinces.
In September, Brabant called a States General in the south, every bit as unauthorized as that of Dordt had been. It was attended by representatives from Flanders and Hainault, and later by Gelderland. This assembly chose Aerschot to be the commander of the Catholic cause. But one member of the Council of State, De Roda, was at Antwerp, supported by a Spanish garrison, and he declared that since he was the only member who had not been subjected to imprisonment or threat of force, only he constituted the legitimate government. Most of the other Spanish garrisons (at Ghent, Valenciennes, Utrecht, Maastricht and elsewhere) declared for De Roda. So the southern, Catholic States-General were at once faced with a civil war among Catholics. The main goal was the disciplining or ejection of the Spanish soliders. Some turned to the Brabantine States-General, but others turned to the Dutch.
Orange was invited to Ghent, to liberate the city from its Spanish garrison, and that's where he was when the States-General approached him with peace proposals. That fall was the massacre in Antwerp, which horrified everyone. A week later, the Pacification of Ghent was signed.
The Pacification revoked all Edicts against religion. It confirmed Orange in his Stadholderships. Holland and Zealand promised not to attack their Catholic neighbors, and it was agreed there would be a true States-General, involving all the provinces, which would address the general religious questions. The signatories to the Pacification had only the shakiest legal grounds for these actions. It was effectively a declaration of independence by both the Protestant North and the Catholic South, an agreement to settle their own affairs.
This is the climate into which Don Juan walked that winter. He had no army (it was still marching) and little money. After some attempts at negotiation he reluctantly accepted the terms of the Pacification (February 1577). Holland and Zealand, however, refused to recognize his authority. With inadequate resources, the new governor had to stand by while the Dutch regained control of Antwerp, and the Brabantines recovered Brussels, and the citizens of both pulled down the hated Spanish citadels. The radicals in Brussels even forced the States of Brabant to make Orange their "Ruwart" (the Brabantine equivalent of a stadholder). In Ghent, the radicals caused the arrest of Aerschot and the leading members of the States of Flanders, and the old government that had been dismantled by Charles V in 1540 was re-established.
These events mark the high tide of radical, Calvinist movements in the southern provinces. There were strong contingents who wanted to follow Holland's model, but they weren't strong enough. A backlash soon developed.
The States-General, worried they were losing control, appealed to Archduke Matthew of Habsburg to replace Philip as monarch. It was a conservative choice, since Matthew was after all still a Habsburg. But at least he wasn't Spanish! It appears the States-General wanted him to be little more than a figurehead, and he seemed amenable to that role. The States-General formed a new Council of State, but a number of rebels, including William of Orange, were on it. Matthew made a splendid entrance into Brussels and the new Netherlandish state could for a time pretend it had won its liberty.
Spain, however, was not for a moment resigned to this new situation. Don Juan finally got his troops—only three thousand, but they were Spanish veterans. These arrived January 1578. He invaded at once, marching from Luxembourg towards Flanders. He met a much larger Netherlandish army near Gembloux and routed it. For a moment, the country was wide open, but Don Juan hesitated, still lacking sufficient forces to hold what he'd won, and the Prince of Orange was able to recover.
The Calvinists continued to make inroads, at Ghent and elsewhere in Flanders. This was a violation of the spirit of the Pacification, which envisioned all parties standing pat until the subject could be treated at the national level. The Calvinist movement, though, was incapable of stopping itself. They held another synod at Dordt and presented a formal request for religious freedom to Matthew and the Council of State.
Over the summer of 1578, the remains of the army fragmented across southern Flanders. Some gathered under the leadership of the Baron of Montigny, managed to capture a couple of towns, and gave themselves the name of Malcontents. They were firmly Catholic, devoted to protecting their homeland from the Hollanders as well as from the Spanish, and they wanted a return to the terms of the Pacification of Ghent.
In October, Don Juan died. Alexander of Parma, Margaret's son, took over. In December he marched on Gelderland. The nobles there feared the supremacy of Holland and objected to strict Calvinism. They didn't care for the Spanish, either, but they had nowhere else to turn for military aid. On 23 January 1579,the Union of Utrecht was signed. Part of the terms of the agreement was that the authorities could take whatever steps needed to ensure public order. Effectively this permitted the suppression of Catholicism and the introduction of Calvinism throughout the Dutch-held territories. All through 1578 and 1579, Catholic churches were attacked, services disrupted, priests and monks beaten and even killed.
Opposing the Union of Utrecht was the Union of Arras, formed the same year, but Walloon and Catholic instead of Dutch and Calvinist. This was the early shape of the two countries now known as Belgium and The Netherlands.
The Duke of Parma
In March 1580, Duke Alexander of Parma held Luxembourg, the Walloon provinces of the Union of Arras, and the area of Groningen and Drente that had come over to him when Rennenberg defected to the Catholic side. Parma was, over the next decade, able to capture Flanders, Brabant, Gelderland, Maastricht (Limburg), and Overysel. What held out were Holland, Zealand and Freisland.
In 1581, Matthew of Habsburg stepped aside as titular ruler of the Netherlands. The Dutch turned, reluctantly, to Henri of Anjou, a member of the French royal house. The Dutch States-General formally deposed Philip at this point. Philip, in turn, put William of Orange under imperial ban and put a price on his head. Henri was a poor leader for a Calvinist cause, though, and proved to be a disappointment.
Military campaigns continued and now neither side was paying its troops regularly, and mutinies were frequent. Bands of soldiers might be found anywhere, flying the Spanish flag, the Dutch flag, or no flag at all.
In January 1583, Anjou tried by force to take control of Antwerp, but the citizens rallied and drove him out. At once a general reaction against the French ensued. Since Henri was Catholic, this easily developed into another wave of attacks on churches and clergy. Anjou returned to France, disgusted with the Dutch. Through all this, Orange had been the chief advocate of a French alliance, and his reputation suffered for it.
With the States-General in disarray, Parma was able to roll up town after town, though some required hard fighting. He followed a different line than Alba had, though. He re-established Catholicism everywhere he went, but he allowed the Calvinists the chance to sell their possessions and leave in peace, or else convert back to the Roman Catholic Church. This had the effect of creating a steady stream of emigrés streaming north to Holland.
The Duke of Anjou died 10 June 1584, removing the only sovereign alternative to Philip. Then, on 10 July, William of Orange was assassinated. In this crisis, the various States in the north held firm. The revolt did not unravel with William's death, though that had certainly been the expectation. This was the clearest evidence possible that the revolt was deep-seated among the people themselves and not the result (as Catholic propaganda had it) of Orange's unseemly ambitions.
Earl of Leicester
Leadership did not vanish. Orange's son, Maurice of Nassau, was still young, but he soon stepped into the void left by his father. Meanwhile, overtures were made to King Henri III of France, but he rejected them. In 1585 emissaries were sent to England. Elizabeth would not accept sovereignty, but in August she did agree to send the Earl of Leicester with 4,000 men to be Governor-General, without a very clear definition of what that meant.
Earlier that spring, in March, Brussels had surrendered to Parma. Mechlin surrendered in July, and Antwerp (besieged since the previous year) in August. Especially in the fall of Antwerp, England was blamed for not getting the troops in time to save the city.
Antwerp now belonged to Parma, but the Sea Beggars controlled the seas and they now cut the city off from all trade. The commercial life of the city collapsed and thousands fled, many coming to Amsterdam. Antwerp had seen its greatest days in the 1560s and 1570s. Spanish control did not cause its decline, but it certainly precipitated the decline. From this point on, everyone could see that Antwerp was past its prime and could see that Amsterdam was on the rise.
The English troops finally arrived in October. Leicester, though, chronically broke and hampered by lukewarm support from London, won only minor victories. He returned to England twice in two years, seeking money and men, then he gave up altogether. He concluded, as others had done, that the Dutch were impossible to govern.
New Leadership
In 1585 Maurice was made Stadholder of Holland. William Louis became Stadholder of Friesland, and Oldenbarnevelt became Advocate of Holland. These three men were the next wave, carrying the revolt into a new generation.
Leicester left in 1587 (he formally resigned in 1588). After that, the United Provinces, as they were coming to be called, gave up looking for an external protector and determined to rule themselves on their own authority. It wasn't without precedent. There was the example of Venice, for one; but it was unprecedented in the north. Politically, the Dutch were on new ground.
Urged on by Oldenbarnevelt, the States of Utrecht, Gelderland and Overysel made Maurice their Stadholder as well. He was now military commander of six of the seven United Provinces. His cousin, William Louis, held the seventh (Friesland). The House of Orange was something like a ruling house, yet they were not monarchs.
The Armada
1588 was a turning point in the revolt. When Spain attacked England, Elizabeth no longer had to be coy about supporting the Calvinists in the Netherlands. The tremendous effort by Philip to invade England (which extended beyond 1588) diverted huge amounts of resources away from the Low Countries. Also in 1588, King Henri III had the Duke of Guise murdered, leading to a revival of the Catholic League in France and a new round of religious wars there. The following year, Henri himself was murdered and a Huguenot became King of France. Parma had to be pulled twice into France to save Paris (1590, 1591). He died in 1592. All these events relieved a great deal of pressure on the young Maurice and gave Holland time to prepare for another round in the struggle, for Philip of Spain would--as he'd said years before--never consent to rule heretics.
In the United Provinces, Oldenbarnevelt provided the political leadership while Maurice and William Louis were busy creating the army of the future. Starting in 1591 they took the offensive, recovering Breda and Nymwegen and the province of Overysel.
The Archdukes
In 1594 Philip made Archduke Ernst governor of the Netherlands (Philip of course never recognized the independence of the United Provinces). It's notable that when Ernst died in 1595 and the government was for a time openly in the hands of a Spaniard (Fuentes), the southern Netherlands did not rise up in revolt. Parma had done his work well. The Spanish army had been in occupation for a decade. The Jesuits had done good work to restore Catholicism, and many of the Calvinists had fled to Holland. The southern ten provinces were well on their way to becoming the Spanish Netherlands.
In 1595 Henri IV of France and Elizabeth of England formed an alliance with the United Provinces against Spain. Even so, the Spanish under Fuentes made progress, which was halted not by Dutch arms but by another royal bankruptcy. Archduke Albert arrived in 1596 and Fuentes retreated to the background.
Maurice took the offensive in 1597, fighting a famous cavalry battle at Tournhout. As a result of this campaign, most of the areas in the seven provinces that had been held by Spain were recovered. Maurice's military reputation was considerably enhanced and he become rather the darling of the military world. Commanders from all over Europe visited him to learn his techniques. Among them (some years later) was a young Gustavus Adolphus.
In 1598 Henri IV made peace with Spain (and turned Catholic), freeing Philip to turn his full attention to the Netherlands. The King of Spain died the same year, but the military operations went forward without pause, and Philip III carried on with his father's policies. Once change of potential significance was that the Netherlands were a separate Habsburg territory, held by a man who happened also to be the King of Spain, but who never considered trying to make it into a Spanish possession. The title to the Netherlands passed not to Philip III but to Archduke Albert. Spain was still the driving force, however. Albert was married to Philip's sister and it was Spanish, not Austrian, troops in the citadels of Flanders and Brabant and Luxembourg.
Religious Arrangements
Religious reform had been going on for some time in the United Provinces. In Holland and Zealand it was as early as the 1570s, but in other areas such as Groningen, it didn't come until the late 1590s. The majority of the population was still either openly Catholic or were still clinging to Catholic practices. The problems of converting the population were much the same here as elsewhere: a tendency for ordinary folk to be less ardent than their ministers, a shortage of trained ministers, and the constant threat of Catholic resurgence. The response, too, was much the same: unflagging zeal at the core, and a reliance on the government to secure orthodoxy. This included disenfranchising Catholics from public office, establishment of Calvinist universities (e.g., Leiden), establishment of public schools, and the use of visitations.
The shortage of ministers was the first problem. As elsewhere, the solution for the first generation was to use insofar as possible the existing clergy. Catholic priests were given a choice: keep their peace and accept a small government stipend, or learn the Calvinist faith, pass an examination, and become a Reformed minister. Even where the latter was done, visitation committees (first sent in the 1590s) found ministers who still celebrated a Mass at Easter, still had basins of holy water or statues or altars, refused to marry their "housewives", still blessed the crops, and so on. Nor was the population out of sympathy. Those same committees found chapels in out-of-the-way places, crucifixes at roadsides or displayed at funerals. One report states clearly that it was the common folk themselves who clung to the old ways:
"In baptizing and marrying this rector does not follow one way, but still accommodates himself according to people's inclinations."
In the south, Catholic reform had been hindered by the revolt. Not until Parma had secured the south was the post-Tridentine Church able to make any progress in the Union of Arras. The key step here was the introduction of the Jesuits. Their preaching, their schools, and their discipline all set an example and gave hope and direction for pious Catholics. In them the Catholic Church had a reply to the Calvinist ministers, in learning and in fervor. What had been the Netherlands, a mish-mash of tiny provinces, was on its way to becoming two nations religiously as well as politically.
Toward a Settlement
In 1600 the Spanish army was yet again in mutiny. The States-General ordered Maurice (who was doubtful about the plan) to invade Flanders and sweep the coastal cities. At the same time, they sent pamphlets urging the southerners to rise up for liberty. So confident were they, the States General moved to Ostend, to be in closer communication with the army.
Which performed admirably. Maurice swept through the coastal towns as planned, encountering little opposition. Control of the ports, the Dutch had learned, was the key to victory.
The plan hinged on three assumptions: the Spanish forces were in disarray, the Flemish people would revolt, and Maurice would win victory in the field. Only the last of those proved true.
The Spanish soldiers had indeed mutinied, but the Archduchess Isabella, daughter of the great king of recent memory, herself went to the troops and persuaded them to fight. Maurice was at Nieuwpoort when a Spanish army suddenly was reported nearby. A sharp battle ensued, fought right on the beaches, and Maurice won a complete victory. Now, surely, the Flemings would rise!
They did not. Instead of rolling on to great victories, Maurice obediently laid siege to Nieuwpoort, against his better judgment. When the town did not surrender quickly, he put his army onto ships and sailed back to Holland. He knew he did not have sufficient force to get caught in a siege, nor could his army liberate Flanders if Flanders did not want to be liberated. He'd beat the Spaniards once, but a single failure would leave the United Provinces undefended.
Why didn't Flanders rebel? It's a difficult question to answer, but certain considerations can be identified. For one, the Flemings had rebelled. Twice. Both times their rebellion and been crushed, and both times the Flemish people had suffered terribly. Perhaps the price could not be paid a third time.
Moreover, rebellion carried a religious risk. The propaganda of the States-General avoided religion, speaking only of liberty, but the Flemings knew what happened when the Calvinists occupied a town or region. Since both the Flemish nobility and the town oligarchies were by now firmly Catholic, the call to liberty did not reassure them that their religion would be respected.
To name but one more of many factors, the ruler of the southern provinces was the Archduke—Habsburg, to be sure, but not Spanish. His wife, despite being Spanish, had made herself well-liked since her arrival in 1598. The people of Flanders--and these same considerations apply to the other nine provinces as well--no longer had to be loyal to the hated Spanish. It was the thinnest of veils, but it obscured enough, and the war-weary Flemings were eager for any pretext that would bring peace. They could even hope the garrisons, most loathed of all, might one day be removed. If only those Northerners would leave them alone!
The States-General of the south made an attempt at peace after the failure in Flanders. Their representatives met with the States-General of the United Provinces at Bergen-op-Zoom. The talks quickly failed. Oldenbarnevelt talked of rebellion while the men from Brussels talked of obedience, and that was that. No common ground could be located.
The Archduke now launched his own offensive, aimed at Ostend. To everyone's surprise, the siege lasted for three years. Along with Maurice's Flemish expedition, this illustrates the stalemate perfectly. The Dutch could never win permanently on land, yet so long as they controlled the sea, their strongholds were invulnerable to Spain.
The Twelve Years Truce
By 1606 the situation was recognized by all parties. Spain was again in desperate financial straits and could not prosecute the war. The United Provinces had tried and failed on every front, with every tactic. A vociferous war party still existed--Maurice himself was its most notable proponent--but they could do little more than rail and exhort. Oldenbarnevelt pressed steadily for peace. That it was difficult to attain is attested by the fact that it took three years and resulted not in a treaty but only a truce.
In the end, the Twelve Years Truce (1609) was a major victory for the United Provinces. They were treated with as a sovereign power, though not quite recognized as such, and were confirmed in the territories they occupied. They won twelve years of peace, which benefitted the merchants of Amsterdam far more than it did the Union of Arras or the court at Madrid. Their rights to trade, even in the Far East, were acknowledged. The Spanish Netherlands got little enough but peace, but that was perhaps what was most needed. The Archdukes could finally govern.
The Truce Breaks Down
The Dutch would now discover what others had discovered: that it was difficult to rule the Dutch. With a political settlement in hand, the Seven Provinces were now free to have religious differences come to the forefront. This is not the place to discuss the theologies involved, but the Dutch Calvinists split into factions that included the Arminians and the Gomarists. There was a general correlation of these to a social and economic tension between the nobles and the merchant classes. And these in turn found their representative leaders in Maurice on the one side (Gomarist) and Van Oldenbarnvedlt (Arminian) on the other.
In 1617 the government issued a document popularly called the Sharp Resolution, which was aimed at the Gomarists. In reaction, Prince Maurice had Van Oldenbarnveldt arrested. He was executed in 1619. Hugo Grotius, the other prominent Arminian, fled the country.
Final Conflict
The truce expired and Spain again tried to win back the Seven Provinces by force of arms.
Siege of Breda, 1625 (Maurice dies) Admiral Spinola captures the city. 1628 Piet Hein captures the Spanish treasure fleet.
Frederick Henry captures 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629. 1635 he leads the March along the Meuse.
1639 Spain sends an armada and 20,000 troops. Defeated in the Battle of the Downs. This was Spain's last effort and marks the last time she was ever able to put a large navy to sea.
Very little fighting over the next few years, though there were some maneuverings. Final settlement was by the Treaty of Münster, 30 January 1648, which was one of the multiple treaties collectively known as the Treaty of Westphalia.
Conclusions
The Dutch Revolt was significant for our period first and foremost because it resulted in a political entity that claimed the right to govern itself. This was not quite unprecedented, but it was certainly rare. The Dutch model would be referred to in the later 17th and 18th centuries by other peoples looking to establish their independence.
Secondarily, the Dutch Revolt created a Calvinist nation in the seven United Provinces. The Provinces were an important source of Calvinist thought and evangelism, and were also a refuge to others (this is where the Puritans went, prior to sailing to America).
Third, while other factors were also significant, the wars with the Dutch played a role in the decline of Spain. Whole armies and entire fleets were swallowed up there.