Historical region of the Low Countries (1556?1714)
Spanish Netherlands
(
Spanish
:
Paises Bajos Espanoles
;
Dutch
:
Spaanse Nederlanden
;
French
:
Pays-Bas espagnols
;
German
:
Spanische Niederlande
) (historically in Spanish:
Flandes
, the name "Flanders" was used as a
pars pro toto
[4]
) was the
Habsburg Netherlands
ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of
States
of the
Holy Roman Empire
in the
Low Countries
held in
personal union
by the
Spanish Crown
. This region comprised most of the modern states of
Belgium
and
Luxembourg
, as well as parts of northern
France
, the southern
Netherlands
, and western
Germany
with the capital being
Brussels
. The
Army of Flanders
was given the task of defending the territory.
The Imperial fiefs of the former
Burgundian Netherlands
had been inherited by the Austrian
House of Habsburg
from the extinct
House of Valois-Burgundy
upon the death of
Mary of Burgundy
in 1482. The
Seventeen Provinces
formed the core of the
Habsburg Netherlands
which passed to the Spanish Habsburgs upon the abdication of Emperor
Charles V
in 1556. When part of the Netherlands separated to form the autonomous
Dutch Republic
in 1581, the remainder of the area stayed under Spanish rule until the
War of the Spanish Succession
.
History
[
edit
]
Background
[
edit
]
A common administration of the Netherlandish fiefs, centered in the
Duchy of Brabant
, already existed under the rule of the Burgundian Duke
Philip the Good
with the implementation of a
stadtholder
and the first convocation of the
States General of the Netherlands
in 1464.
[5]
His granddaughter Mary had confirmed a number of privileges to the States by the
Great Privilege
signed in 1477.
[6]
After the government takeover by her husband Archduke
Maximilian I of Austria
, the States insisted on their privileges, culminating in a
Hook
rebellion in
Holland
and
Flemish revolts
. Maximilian prevailed with the support of Duke
Albert III of Saxony
and his son
Philip the Handsome
, husband of Joanna of Castile, could assume the rule over the Habsburg Netherlands in 1493.
Philip as well as his son and successor
Charles V
retained the title of a "
Duke of Burgundy
" referring to their Burgundian inheritance, notably the Low Countries and the Free
County of Burgundy
in the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburgs often used the term Burgundy to refer to their hereditary lands (e.g. in the name of the Imperial
Burgundian Circle
established in 1512), actually until 1795, when the
Austrian Netherlands
were lost to the
French Republic
. The
Governor-general of the Netherlands
was responsible for the administration of the Burgundian inheritance in the Low Countries. Charles V was born and raised in the Low Countries and often stayed at the
Palace of Coudenberg
in Brussels.
By the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1549
, Charles V declared the Seventeen Provinces a united and indivisible Habsburg dominion. Between 1555 and 1556, the House of Habsburg split into an Austro-German and a Spanish branch as a consequence of Charles's abdications: the Netherlands were left to his son
Philip II of Spain
, while his brother King
Ferdinand I
succeeded him as
Holy Roman Emperor
. The Seventeen Provinces,
de jure
still fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, from that time on
de facto
were ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as part of the Burgundian heritage.
Eighty Years' War
[
edit
]
Philip's stern
Counter-Reformation
measures sparked the
Dutch Revolt
in the mainly
Calvinist
Netherlandish provinces, which led to the outbreak of the
Eighty Years' War
in 1568. In January 1579 the seven northern provinces formed the Protestant
Union of Utrecht
, which declared independence from the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as the
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands
by the 1581
Act of Abjuration
. The Spanish branch of the Habsburgs could retain the rule only over the partly Catholic
Southern Netherlands
, completed after the
Fall of Antwerp
in 1585.
Better times came, when in 1598 the Spanish Netherlands passed to Philip's daughter
Isabella Clara Eugenia
and her husband Archduke
Albert VII of Austria
. The couple's rule brought a period of much-needed peace and stability to the economy, which stimulated the growth of a separate South Netherlandish identity and consolidated the authority of the House of Habsburg reconciling previous anti-Spanish sentiments. In the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at
Brussels
. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the "Archdukes", as they were known, was
Peter Paul Rubens
. Under Isabella and Albert, the Spanish Netherlands actually had formal independence from Spain, but always remained unofficially within the Spanish sphere of influence. With Albert's death in 1621 they returned to formal Spanish control, although the childless Isabella remained on as governor until her death in 1633.
The failing wars intended to regain the 'heretical' northern Netherlands meant significant loss of (still mainly Catholic) territories in the north, which was consolidated in 1648 in the
Peace of Westphalia
, and given the peculiar inferior status of
Generality Lands
(jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces):
Zeelandic Flanders
(south of the River
Scheldt
), the present Dutch province of
North Brabant
and
Maastricht
(in the present-day Dutch province of
Limburg
).
French conquests
[
edit
]
As the power of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs waned in the latter decades of the 17th century, the territory of the Netherlands under Habsburg rule was repeatedly invaded by the French and an increasing portion of the territory came under French control in successive wars. By the
Treaty of the Pyrenees
of 1659 the French annexed most of
Artois
, and
Dunkirk
was ceded to the English. By the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
(ending the
War of Devolution
in 1668) and
Nijmegen
(ending the
Franco-Dutch War
in 1678), further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including
Cambrai
,
Walloon Flanders
, as well as
half of the County of Hainaut
(including
Valenciennes
). Later, in the
War of the Reunions
and the
Nine Years' War
, France annexed other parts of the region that were restored to Spain by the
Treaty of Rijswijk
1697.
During the
War of the Spanish Succession
, in 1706 the Habsburg Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch
condominium
for the remainder of the conflict.
[7]
By the peace treaties of
Utrecht
and
Rastatt
in 1713/14 ending the war, the Southern Netherlands returned to the Austrian
Habsburg monarchy
forming the
Austrian Netherlands
.
Provinces
[
edit
]
From 1581 the Habsburg Netherlands consisted of the following territories, all part of modern Belgium unless otherwise stated:
- the
Duchy of Brabant
, except for
North Brabant
part of the
Generality Lands
of the
Dutch Republic
in 1648, including the former
Margraviate of Antwerp
(now mostly Belgium, some in Netherlands)
- the
Duchy of Limburg
, except for Limburg of the States part of the Dutch Generality Lands from 1648
- the
Duchy of Luxembourg
, a sovereign state from 1815 (
parts
in modern Belgium, France and Germany)
- the
Upper Quarter
(
Bovenkwartier
) of the
Duchy of Guelders
(Now Netherlands and Germany: the area around
Venlo
and
Roermond
, in the present Dutch province of
Limburg
, and the town of
Geldern
in the present German district of
Kleve
)
- the
County of Artois
, ceded to
France
by the 1659
Treaty of the Pyrenees
(now in France)
- the
County of Flanders
, except for
Zeelandic Flanders
part of the Dutch Generality Lands from 1648,
Walloon Flanders
ceded to France by the 1678
Peace of Nijmegen
(now in Belgium and France
French Flanders
)
- the
County of Namur
- the
County of Hainaut
, southern part with
Valenciennes
ceded to France by the 1678 Peace of Nijmegen (now in Belgium and France)
- the
Lordship of Mechelen
[note 1]
- the
Tournaisis
- the Prince-Bishopric of Cambrai (the
Cambresis
), not part of the Seventeen Provinces, incorporated by King Philip II in 1559, ceded to France by the 1678 Peace of Nijmegen (now in France: roughly the central part of the
departement
Nord
)
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Bander, James (1 December 2014).
Dutch Warships in the Age of Sail 1600-1714: Design, Construction, Careers & fates
. Seaforth Publishing. p. 51.
ISBN
978-1-84832-157-1
. Retrieved
11 January
2024
.
- ^
Preston, Rupert (1974).
The Seventeenth Century Marine Painters of the Netherlands
. F. Lewis. p. 88.
ISBN
978-0-85317-025-9
. Retrieved
11 January
2024
.
- ^
Demographics of the Netherlands
Archived
2011-12-26 at the
Wayback Machine
, Jan Lahmeyer. Retrieved on 20 February 2014.
- ^
Perez, Yolanda Robriguez (2008).
The Dutch Revolt through Spanish eyes: self and other in historical and literary texts of Spanish Golden Age (c. 1548?1673)
(Transl. and rev. ed.). Oxford: Peter Lang. p. 18.
ISBN
978-3-03911-136-7
. Retrieved
5 April
2016
.
- ^
“The States General.” Staten Generaal, www.staten-generaal.nl/begrip/the_states_general.
- ^
Koenigsberger, H. G. (2001). Monarchies, States Generals and Parliaments: The Netherlands in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
9780521803304
.
- ^
Bromley, J.S. (editor) 1970,
The New Cambridge Modern History Volume 6: The Rise of Great Britain and Russia, 1688?1715/25
, Cambridge University Press,
ISBN
978-0521075244
(p. 428)
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