Spain Her Enemies And The Revolt Of The Netherlands 1559 1648

The great war in Europe of the 16th and 17th centuries King Philip II of Spain became the monarch of the Hapsburg Netherlands, which included territory in modern day Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, by the decree of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. While the legitimacy of this act may have been indisputable according to the principles of 'absolutist divine right' the relationship between the new monarch and his subjects soon descended into acrimony because Spain was far from the Netherlands and France lay between the two nations making effective rule problematic. Furthermore, the Dutch had accepted the Protestant Reformation which eschewed papal authority whilst Spain remained staunchly Catholic. The oppressed northerners yearned for independence from everything they believed alien and before long the seventeen provinces rose in rebellion. There followed a long period of conflict which spanned the reigns of successive Spanish monarchs, drew in France, Scotland, the England of Elizabeth I and involved religious divisions which, as usual, justified the brutal excesses of sectarianism. The war brought forth soldiers of fortune of great talent and the redoubtable Spanish infantry tercios to the fields of conflict. Finally the Dutch prevailed, won their freedom and established a republic which heralded the 'Dutch Golden Age'. This intriguing history, which has been taken from Grattan's broader work on the history of the Netherlands by the Leonaur Editors, specifically describes the painful birth of what became a modern European nation. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

England's response to the Revolt of the Netherlands (1568–1648) has been studied hitherto mainly in terms of government policy, yet the Dutch struggle with Habsburg Spain affected a much wider community than just the English political elite. It attracted attention across Britain and drew not just statesmen and diplomats but also soldiers, merchants, religious refugees, journalists, travellers and students into the conflict. Hugh Dunthorne draws on pamphlet literature to reveal how British contemporaries viewed the progress of their near neighbours' rebellion, and assesses the lasting impact which the Revolt and the rise of the Dutch Republic had on Britain's domestic history. The book explores affinities between the Dutch Revolt and the British civil wars of the seventeenth century - the first major challenges to royal authority in modern times - showing how much Britain's changing commercial, religious and political culture owed to the country's involvement with events across the North Sea.

In 1568, the Seventeen Provinces in the Netherlands rebelled against the absolutist rule of the king of Spain. A confederation of duchies, counties, and lordships, the Provinces demanded the right of self-determination, the freedom of conscience and religion, and the right to be represented in government. Their long struggle for liberty and the subsequent rise of the Dutch Republic was a decisive episode in world history and an important step on the path to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And yet, it is a period in history we rarely discuss. In his compelling retelling of the conflict, Anton van der Lem explores the main issues at stake on both sides of the struggle and why it took eighty years to achieve peace. He recounts in vivid detail the roles of the key protagonists, the decisive battles, and the war’s major turning points, from the Spanish governor’s Council of Blood to the Twelve Years Truce, while all the time unraveling the shifting political, religious, and military alliances that would entangle the foreign powers of France, Italy, and England. Featuring striking, rarely seen illustrations, this is a timely and balanced account of one of the most historically important conflicts of the early modern period.

The Dutch revolt against Spanish rule in the sixteenth century was a formative event in European history. The Origins and Development of the Dutch Revolt brings together in one volume the latest scholarship from leading experts in the field, to illuminate why the Dutch revolted, the way events unfolded and how they gained independence. In exploring the desire of the Dutch to control their own affairs, it also questions whether Dutch identity came about by accident. The book makes the most recent research available in English for the first time, focusing on: * the role of the aristocracy * religion * the towns and provinces * the Spanish perspective * finance and ideology.

This collection of essays contains an impressive body of the author's work on the history of Spain in the seventeenth century, which has focused particularly on the issues of high politics, international strategy and military infrastructure. The essays consistently illustrate R.A. Stradling's revisionist emphasis on aspects of the Spanish monarchy's 'survival', as opposed to orthodox treatments fixated upon 'decline'. The major questions about Spain in the period are all addressed: the quality of leadership, in particular that of Olivares and his master, Philip IV; the effect of war and the strains imposed by the demands of military provision; and the perception and reality of the 'decline'.Stimulating and immediate in style, the great majority of the essays are the result of sustained research work in the archives of Spain and other western European countries, as well as concentrated consideration of the broader contexts. They are all concerned to highlight interpretation and relevance in a way that enlivens the specific issues under review.

These studies focus on Spain's relations with England from the last stages of the Elizabethan war to the opening years of the Cromwellian regime. Particular attention is given to the issue of religion and to the character and conduct of peacetime diplomacy - and intelligence gathering. In the first studies, Professor Loomie deals with the policies of Philip II and preparations for the 1597 Armada. The following articles examine Spanish attitudes towards the Stuart court and an unknown cultivation of the ’Independents’ during and after the Civil War.

The Revolt in the Netherlands erupted in 1566 and tore apart the Low Countries. In Memory Wars in the Low Countries, 1566-1700 Jasper van der Steen explains how public memories of the Revolt in the Habsburg Netherlands in the South and the Dutch Republic in the North diverged and became the objects of fierce contestation in domestic political struggles, on both sides of the border and throughout the seventeenth century. Against widespread assumptions about the supposed modernity of cultural memory Memory Wars argues that early modern public memory did not require the presence of state actors, nationalism and modern mass media in order to play a role of political importance in both North and South.