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The Dutch Golden Age 3 September 2018I. Origins
‘the State of the United Provinces, after a prodigious growth in riches, beauty, extent of commerce,
and number of inhabitants, arrived at length to such a height (by the strength of their natives, their
fortified towns and standing-forces, with a constant revenue proportioned to the support of all this
greatness) as made them the envy of some, the fear of others, and the wonder of all their
neighbours.’
Sir William Temple, 1673
The Dutch flourished but were also at constant war during this time.
Time of great sophistication, at the same time the Dutch were able to do crimes > like slavery and
genocide.
Dutch Republic was seen as something special.
Temple > classic thought about the Republic.
Special but not disconnected to the rest of Europe.
|> Lot of influences from Europe > all connected.
To understand we have to look at European culture as well.
How did the Dutch Republic come about?
II. The Low Countries in the 1550s
• Political: a ‘composite’ state of largely independent provinces.
• Culture and identity: heavily fragmented – the ‘elusive Netherlands’.
• Social: high levels of urbanisation and literacy.
1550s > no such thing as the Netherlands.
The ‘illusive’ (denkbeeldig) Netherlands.
|> No single language > Dutch, German, French, etc..
|> No natural borders > no rivers (rivers did cut the land in two), no mountains.
|> No political unity
|> Multiple currencies with different values
|> Provinces were often at war with each other.
|> Not one name for them > Flemish, Dutch, etc..
1555
Charles V, duke of Burgundy > manages to get the land what we call
‘the Netherlands’ under one ruler.
|> One ruler over different provinces, not one ruler over
one country.
1549 > seventeen provinces are a whole and are inherited by
Charles V’s son when he dies.
|> The provinces are being glued together.
Low countries are extremely urbanised.
|> Means that there are high levels of literacy and that
trade is really important.
Provinces have an independent authority which is important for
them.
III. The Dutch Revolt
• Tensions
1. Particularism vs. centralisation
2. The rise of Protestantism
3. Economic crisis
, • The opposition organises in 1566, leading to escalation.
• The Habsburg response – ignoring Dutch sensitivities – alienates the crucial ‘middle parties’
• The province organise themselves, first in the Pacification of Gent (1576) and then in the
Union of Utrecht (1579). The Act of Abjuration (1581) detaches the Netherlands from the
Habsburg dynasty.
• These were all unforeseen developments; no one had intended the formation of an
independent Protestant republic in the northern Netherlands.
Problems develop.
|> Who governs the country?
|> Government is professionalized.
|> Rise of Protestantism.
|> Hot bed for Calvinism.
|> New books and information can flourish in the cities.
|> Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.
|> Economic crisis in the 1560s, even famine in some parts.
Reform bishoprics
Habsburg government want to change the way the bishoprics govern.
|> Bad for protestants and people that fight for an independent authority/government.
Cardinal Granvelle.
Willem van Oranje forms a league against the cardinal.
Petition to Margaretha van Parma to stop the activities of the Inquisition > she complies.
Hagenpreken.
Beeldenstorm >1566 > not the intent of Margaretha van Parma.
Lead to unexpected developments:
• Anger against centralisation
• Religious problems
• Famine
Blood Counsel (Raad van Beroerten, Bloedraad) > Problem was that the local governments were
ignored and people were convicted in a national government.
Duke of Alba beheads men that could have become his allies.
This is the moment when war becomes inevitable.
|> Beheading Count of Egmont.
|> Willem van Oranje has to flee the country.
1568 > Willem van Oranje starts a military campaign.
Watergeuzen > guerrilla forces take Ten Briel and other cities and start a revolt.
,Not a story of Catholics vs. Protestants.
Alba is great at eliminating the ‘middle group’.
It is said that the one who gets the middle group on their side
will win the revolt.
Alba doesn’t build a Catholic force nor does he use propaganda.
|> Not into Dutch particularism.
This ‘middle group’ consists of moderate Catholics that are mad
because their churches have been smashed and people that are
mad about the way Alba is governing the country.
|> They do not really belong to one of the sides.
Willem van Oranje starts a propaganda campaign.
|> He emphasizes that the war is not because of religion
but that people are fighting because they are Dutch.
|> Being Dutch resembles: not being Spanish.
Problem of the middle group is getting bigger.
Spanish troops are underpaid and they start to lose.
Pacification of Ghent > almost all the provinces come together to fight against the Spanish troops.
|> This works for a while, but falls apart after a short time
due to religious conflicts.
Protestants in the south.
Unie van Atrecht > in response the Unie van Utrecht is made.
Coincidence in the way the revolt is starting.
Slowly forming two camps > revolt is getting more organized.
In need of foreign support > foreign prince to become overlord.
Ask Elizabeth I to become queen, and king of French to become
king.
|> Both deny the offer.
Duke of Anjou tries to become overlord of the Netherlands.
Provinces decide to govern themselves as one country.
Beginning of the Netherlands as one country begin to show.
Another 67 years of war against the Spanish.
|> War is internationalized > fight the Spanish in other
countries > Indies, Brazil, etc..
The war moves to other parts of the world.
The act of Abjuration > illustrative for things that happened that weren’t really meant to happen.
|> Wanted a king and got a republic.
IV. How did the Dutch ‘win’?
• No longer explained as simply the consequence of Dutch heroics.
• A king with a ‘grand strategy’ and many other priorities (e.g. advancement of Ottomans in
Mediterranean; involvement of Portugal, England, France in 1580s and 1590s).
• Logistics (e.g. government in Madrid and Brussels: problem of distance; urbanisation and
military importance of towns; natural circumstances in Holland: rivers, lakes, wetlands).
• Strengths of the Dutch? (e.g. economic and maritime progress of Holland: polarization and
Spanish violence.)
The Dutch didn’t really win.
Didn’t work out the way they wanted it to work out.
, Weird that the Dutch survived the conflict considering that the Habsburgs were rich and had very
strong troops.
‘the king of Spain had to coordinate his response with the needs of a huge global empire. The royal
response to events in the Netherlands was, therefore, shaped and determined by Philip II’s imperial
strategy …’
Geoffrey Parker
Philips II > list of priorities.
|> Spain was most important followed by Italy.
|> The last thing on the list were the Low Countries.
Only when everything else went well for the Spanish they could focus on the situation in the Low
Countries.
|> Points were troops and money were pulled back from the Low Countries and put in more
‘important’ conflicts > period of time in the Low Countries to breathe.
‘the sluggishness with which your Majesty takes decisions on the affairs of this country is damaging
both our Catholic faith and your service’.
Count of Egmont to Philip II, 1566
Logistic.
The king was far away from the Low Countries > took forever to take decisions.
‘there would not be time or money enough in the world to reduce by force the 24 towns that have
rebelled in Holland, if we are to spend as long in reducing each one of them as we have taken over
similar ones so far’
Governor-general Requesens to Philip II, 1574.
Geography of the Low Countries.
Took a lot of time and effort to take these cities.
Weather was wetter and colder.
V. Consequences
• The course of the Revolt shaped the geography, political structure, economic policies, and
culture of the Dutch Republic.
• It’s global expansion was inspired by the conflict with Spain (and Portugal).
• Dutch identity was a necessary precondition for success in the struggle against Spain.
• (Collective) war memories shaped Dutch mentalities throughout the Golden Age.
Dutch Republic more coincidence than design.
Because of the rivers the country was put in two sides > north and south.
Dutch colonial enterprises were directly a product of war aim.
To finance the war they (the Dutch) had to engage in this particular kind of trade.
Dutch Calvinists identified with the ‘chosen people’ (Jews) of the old testament.
Willem van Oranje > defining Dutchness > all victims of Spain.
Black legend > idea of how evil the Spanish were.
|> Started in the Dutch revolt.
Even people that weren’t really victims saw themselves as victims of the Spanish.
Sense of victimhood, while at the same time a sense of pride.
The war was a precondition for the Dutch Republic.
|> When the war could end the Republic would fall apart.
|> No mutual enemy to unite for.
1648 > Peace with Spain.
Conflict drags on for longer than necessary.
Inhabitants knew that war was important for their prosperity and their way of life.
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