The Complexities of the Dutch Revolt and the Spanish Empire: A Historical Analysis

Summary

The late 16th century saw political turmoil in both the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburg rule and the Spanish Empire. The Dutch Revolt saw mutinies on both sides, leading to the Pacification of Ghent, which ultimately unraveled. The religious peace was a feature of the accords signed between William of Orange and the towns of Holland and Zeeland that joined the Beggar cause. However, the United Provinces of the Netherlands did not universally accept Calvinism as the authorized church. On the other hand, the Spanish Empire under Philip II’s rule was divided between the imperialists’ globalizing myth and the burden of sustaining the empire. The demands to maintain the Hispano empire grew after the Ottoman fleet ambushed the Habsburg force. Ultimately, this led to French and English engagement that mirrored their increasing involvement in the Flanders war to the north.

The Dutch Revolt: Analysis of Political Unrest and Religious Conflict
The Mystique of the Spanish Empire: Globalizing Myth vs. Assigned Burdens
The Ottoman Ambush and Hispano Empire Resource Burdens
The Romance of Empire and Spanish Invasions

Q&A

Q: What caused the unravelling of the Pacification of Ghent?
A: The Pacification of Ghent came unraveled less than three years after its signing because the decision to postpone discussion of differences over religion meant it came unstuck.

Q: Did Holland and Zeeland universally accept Calvinism as the authorized church?
A: No, they did not. While Calvinism was supposed to be the authorized church in the new order, Holland and Zeeland were Calvinist only in the sense that parts of western Europe today are Christian.

Q: What did Spanish leader Alexander Farnese’s strategy entail?
A: Farnese’s strategy involved luring the nobility back with promises of pardons and pensions. His troops remained in place despite his promises to remove them, however, and a new wave of mutinies in the 1590s caused major unrest.

Q: What was the globalizing myth of the Spanish Empire under Philip II’s rule?
A: The globalizing myth of a universal monarchy that did not dare to call itself an empire was encapsulated in the Escorial, the heart of Philip’s monarchy.

Q: What caused tensions regarding demands to protect the Spanish empire against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean?
A: The tensions stemmed from demands to protect the empire against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean after the Ottoman fleet ambushed a Habsburg force sent by the viceroy of Sicily to the island of Djerba in North Africa.

Q: What led Spanish schemes for an English invasion?
A: Spanish schemes for an English invasion dated back to the summer of 1559 when Philip sailed down the Channel from the Netherlands en route for Spain, even though he rejected the proposition as risky and impolitic.

The Dutch Revolt

The late 16th-century Dutch Revolt against Spanish Habsburg rule saw mutiny on both sides. The large size and town garrisoning of the Flanders Army gave their mutinies greater impact. In 1576, Spanish mutineers sacked the town of Aalst. This led to the arrival of Don John of Austria, who invaded the rebel-held town of Antwerp, destroying over 1,000 houses and killing 7,000 people. The States General agreed to the Pacification of Ghent and to expel the occupying army, but the decision to postpone discussion of differences over religion meant it came unstuck less than three years later.

A religious peace was a feature of the accords signed between William of Orange and the towns of Holland and Zeeland. These towns joined the Beggar cause. Although Calvinism was supposed to be the authorized church in the new order, Holland, and Zeeland were Calvinist only in the same sense that parts of western Europe today are Christian. In urban southern Netherlands, two Calvinist magistrates arrested the Duke of Aerschot and his servants and put in place a special committee of artisans. This caused a coup in Amsterdam, expelling the Catholic magistrates and clergy.

Spanish leader Alexander Farnese’s strategy involved luring the nobility back with promises of pardons and pensions. His troops remained in place despite removing them after the promise. A new wave of mutinies in the 1590s, however, caused major unrest. The future of the northern Netherlands remained undetermined longer. The seven provinces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands were not united by religion. The Netherlands was not a haven of religious liberty as it imagined, and towns and provinces in the north often expelled Catholics as risks to security. The United Provinces of the Netherlands became a state-like structure, thanks to the military victories orchestrated by Mauritz of Nassau and William of Orange’s son.

The Mystique of the Spanish Empire

Philip II came to the Spanish throne in 1556 and inherited dominions in Europe and overseas. His advisers had difficulty giving conceptual shape to his rule, but believed in Christendom. They thought that Philip II was pre-eminent over other powers in it. The globalizing myth of a universal monarchy that did not dare to call itself an empire was encapsulated in the Escorial, the heart of Philip’s monarchy. Although the imperial idea he came to embody was particularly Spanish, the empire was not.

The Spanish empire in the Americas was run as an administrative state. And decisions had to be taken thousands of miles away. The more information came in, the more difficult it was to sift, analyze, and decide. Opportunities existed for those with a vivid imagination to elaborate plots against the Spanish which then became part of the imperial rumor-mill.

Juan de Oñate proposed to move the northern limits of Mexico 1,000 miles northwards into the Rio Grande, eventually laying claim to ‘New Mexico’ and suppressing resistance with brutality. In Chile, Pedro de Valdivia led his followers south of the Biobío river, building a fort and founding Concepción, inflicting defeats on the local population and dividing them into overlordships. This led to an uprising that initially lasted for four years and almost drove the Spaniards out of Chile. The burden of sustaining the Spanish empire rested on the resources of Castile and its overseas dominions. The resulting game of robbing Peter to pay Paul passed for ‘grand strategy’.

The Ottoman Ambush and Hispano Empire Resource Burdens

The demands to maintain the Hispanic empire grew in the wake of the Portuguese acquisition. This led to French and English engagement mirroring their increasing involvement in the Flanders war to the north. Spanish schemes for an English invasion dated back to the summer of 1559. At that time, Philip sailed down the Channel from the Netherlands en route for Spain, even though he rejected the proposition as risky and impolitic. He became persuaded that such an intervention was an integral part of ‘the war in the Netherlands, which is as holy as a war can be’.

In 1560, the Ottoman fleet ambushed a Habsburg force sent by the viceroy of Sicily to the island of Djerba in North Africa. The strategic significance of the Ottoman victory was immense. Ottoman galleys were launched in the western Mediterranean to raid Spanish commerce and land forces were dispatched to seize fortresses on the Tunisian coast. In 1565, a great siege of the Knights of St. John on the island of Malta ended in victory for the Knights, but Ottoman naval power was not finally broken by the empire until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The Romance of Empire and Spanish Invasions

The burden of sustaining the empire, as noted before, rested on the resources of Castile and its overseas dominions. The resulting game of robbing Peter to pay Paul passed for ‘grand strategy’. The initial tensions stemmed from demands to protect the empire against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. The tensions then led to increased involvement in the Flanders war to the north.

The Spanish schemes to invade England date back to the summer of 1559 when Philip sailed down the Channel from the Netherlands en route for Spain. At first, he rejected the proposition as risky and impolitic. However, he became persuaded that such an intervention was an integral part of ‘the war in the Netherlands, which is as holy as a war can be’. The Spanish empire believed in the globalizing myth of a universal monarchy that did not dare to call itself an empire.