Eighty Years' War

Eighty Years' War

Relief of Leiden after the siege, 1574.

Date 1568-1648

Location The Low Countries

(Worldwide Colonial Warfare)

Result Peace of Münster

Independence of the Dutch Republic

Belligerents

United Provinces

England

German Protestants

Huguenots

France

Spanish Empire

Holy Roman

Empire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eighty Years' War, or Dutch War of

Independence, (1568–1648)[1] began as a revolt of theSeventeen Provinces against Philip II of Spain, thesovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands.

After the initial stages Philip II deployed his armies andregained control over most of the rebelling provinces.However, under the leadership of the exiled William ofOrange the northern provinces continued their resistanceand managed to oust the Spanish armies, and establishedthe Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Thesubsequent war continued, although the heartland of therepublic was no longer threatened. The war ended in1648 with the Peace of Münster when the DutchRepublic was recognised as an independent country.

1 Causes of the war2 Prelude3 The Dutch Revolt

3.1 Insurrection, Repression andInvasion (1566–1572)3.2 Rebellion (1572–1576)3.3 From Pacification of Ghent toUnion of Utrecht (1576–1579)3.4 Secession and Reconquest(1579–1588)3.5 The Dutch Republic resurges(1588–1609)

4 Twelve Years' Truce5 Resumption of the war

5.1 Dutch intervention in theearly stages of the Thirty Years'War (1619–1621)5.2 The Republic under siege(1621–1629)5.3 The Republic sallies forth(1629–1635)5.4 Franco-Dutch Alliance(1635–1640)5.5 Endgame (1640–1648)

6 The Peace of Münster7 Aftermath

7.1 New border between Northand South7.2 Political situation

Eighty Years' War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years'_War

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8 See also9 References10 Sources11 External links

In the decades leading to the war, the Dutch had become increasingly discontented with Habsburg rule. Amajor cause of Dutch discontent was the heavy level of taxation the population was required to pay, whilesupport and guidance from the government was hampered by the size of the empire. At that time theSeventeen Provinces were known in the Habsburg empire as De landen van herwaarts over, and in FrenchLes pays de par deça ("those lands around there"). In practice this meant that the Dutch provinces werebeing continually criticized for acting without permission from the throne, while the latter was not practicalsince any request for permission sent to the throne would take at least four weeks for a response to return.This unrest was further amplified by the presence of Spanish troops brought in to oversee the order in these

provinces.[citation needed]

While Spain maintained a policy of strict religious uniformity within the Roman Catholic Church, enforcedby the Inquisition, a number of Protestant denominations gained ground in the Seventeen Provinces. TheLutheran movement of Martin Luther, the Anabaptist movement of the Dutch reformer Menno Simons, and

the Reformed teachings of John Calvin all gained followers by the middle of the 16th century.[citation needed]

This led to the Beeldenstorm, or "Iconoclastic Fury", in 1566, in which hundreds of churches were stripped

of statuary and other religious decoration.[citation needed]

Main article: Causes of the Dutch revolt

Emperor Charles V began the gradual abdication of his several crowns in October 1555. His son Philip IItook over as overlord of the conglomerate of duchies, counties and other feudal fiefs known as the Habsburg

Netherlands.[2] At the time this was a personal union of seventeen provinces with little in common beyondtheir overlord and a constitutional framework assembled during the preceding reigns of Burgundian andHabsburg rulers, dividing power between city governments and local nobility, provincial States and royalstadtholders, the States-General of the Netherlands, and the central government possibly represented by aRegent, assisted by three councils: the Council of State, Privy Council and Council of Finances. The balance

of power was heavily weighted toward the local and regional governments.[3]

Philip did not assume the reins of government in person but appointed a governor-general EmmanuelPhilibert, Duke of Savoy, and from 1559 on, a Regent (his half-sister Margaret of Parma) to lead the centralgovernment. These Regents governed in close cooperation with Netherlandish nobles, like William, Prince ofOrange, Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, and Lamoral, Count of Egmont. Philip introduced anumber of Spanish councillors in the Council of State, foremost Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, aFrench-born cardinal who gained a large influence in the Council, much to the chagrin of the Dutch councilmembers.

When Philip left for Spain in 1559 the political strains were increased by religious policies. Like Charles V,Philip was a fervent enemy of the Protestant movements of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Anabaptists.Charles had outlawed heresy in special placards that made it a capital offense, to be prosecuted by aNetherlandish version of the Inquisition, leading to more than 1,300 people executed as heretics between

1523 and 1566. [4] Towards the end of Charles' reign enforcement had reportedly become lax. Philip,


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Iconoclastic Fury of 1566 by Dirk van

Delen

however, insisted on rigorous enforcement and this caused a lot of popular unrest.[5] To support andstrengthen the attempts at Counter-Reformation Philip launched a wholesale organisational reform of theCatholic Church in the Netherlands in 1559, which resulted in the inclusion of fourteen dioceses instead ofthe old three. The new hierarchy was to be headed by Granvelle as archbishop of the new archdiocese ofMechelen. The reform was especially unpopular with the old church hierarchy as the new dioceses were to

be financed by transferring a number of rich abbeys.[6] Granvelle became the focus of the opposition againstthe new governmental structures; and the Dutch nobles under the leadership of Orange engineered his recallin 1564.

After the recall of Granvelle, Orange persuaded Margaret and the Council to ask for a moderation of theplacards against heresy. Philip delayed his response, and in the meantime the opposition against his religiouspolicies gained more widespread support. Philip finally rejected the request for moderation in his Lettersfrom the Segovia Woods of October, 1565. In response, a group of members of the lesser nobility, amongwhom Louis of Nassau, a younger brother of Orange, and the brothers John and Philip of St. Aldegonde,prepared a petition for the abolition of the Inquisition for Philip. This Compromise of Nobles was supportedby about 400 nobles, both Catholic and Protestant, and was presented to Margaret on 5 April 1566.Impressed by the massive support for the compromise, she suspended the placards awaiting Philip's final

ruling.[7]

Main article: Dutch Revolt

Insurrection, Repression and Invasion (1566–1572)

Calvinist protest against the wealth of the church led to theiconoclastic fury (Dutch: Beeldenstorm) across the Netherlands.Margaret, and authorities at lower levels, feared insurrection andmade further concessions to the Calvinists, such as designatingcertain churches for Calvinist worship. Some provincial governors,foremost Philip of Noircarmes of Hainaut, who suppressed the revoltof the Calvinists led by Guido de Bres in Valenciennes, and Orangeas stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, took decisive action to quellthe disturbances. In March 1567 at the Battle of OosterweelCalvinists under John of St. Aldegonde were defeated by a royalistarmy and all rebels summarily executed. In April 1567, Margaret

reported to Philip that order had been restored.[8] However, by thetime this news reached Philip in Madrid the Duke of Alba had

already been dispatched with an army to restore order.[9] Rather than working with Margaret, Alba tookover command and Margaret resigned in protest. Alba established the Council of Troubles (soon to benicknamed Blood Council) on 5 September 1567, which conducted a campaign of repression of suspectedheretics and people deemed guilty of the already extinguished insurrection. Many high-ranking officials werearrested on various pretexts, among them the Counts of Egmont and Horne who were executed for treasonon 5 June 1568, while attesting to their Catholic orthodoxy on the scaffold. Of the 9,000 accused, about

1,000 were executed, and many fled into exile, including William of Orange.[10]

Orange's exile in Dillenburg became the center for plans to invade the Netherlands. Louis of Nassau crossedinto Groningen from East Friesland and defeated a small royalist force at Heiligerlee on 23 May 1568.Shortly thereafter, a Sea Beggars squadron defeated a royalist fleet in a naval battle on the Ems. However, aHuguenot army invading Artois was pushed back into France and annihilated by the forces of king CharlesIX of France in June. Orange marched into Brabant, but with money running out he could not maintain his


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Capture of Brill in 1572 by Jan

Luyken

mercenary army and had to retreat.[11]

Philip was suffering from the high cost of his war against the Ottoman Empire, and ordered Alba to fund his

armies from taxes levied in the Netherlands.[12] Alba went against the States General by imposing sales taxesby decree on 31 July 1571. Alba commanded local governments to collect the unpopular taxes, which

alienated even loyal lower governments from the central government.[13]

Rebellion (1572–1576)

With the potential threat of invasions from France, Alba concentrated his force in the Southern Netherlands,

in some cases removing troops from garrisons in the North.[14]

This left the port of Brill almost undefended. Sea Beggars expelledfrom England captured the city on 1 April 1572. An attempt by Count

Boussu, to recapture the city, failed.[15] The news of the capture ofBrill led the cities of Flushing and Veere to go over to the Rebels on 3

May.[16] Orange quickly responded to this new development, bysending a number of emissaries to Holland and Zeeland withcommissions to take over local government on his behalf as

"stadtholder".[17] Diederik Sonoy persuaded the cities of Enkhuizen,Hoorn, Medemblik, Edam, Haarlem, and Alkmaar to defect toOrange. The cities of Oudewater, Gouda, Gorinchem, and Dordrechtyielded to Lumey. Leiden declared itself for Orange in a spontaneousrevolt. The States General started to convene in the rebel city of

Dordrecht,[18] and by July 18, only the important cities ofAmsterdam, and Schoonhoven openly supported the Crown.Rotterdam went to the rebels soon after the first meetings in

Dordrecht. Delft remained neutral for the time being.[19] CountWillem IV van den Bergh, Orange's brother-in-law, captured the cityof Zutphen, followed by other cities in Gelderland and neighboringOverijssel. In Friesland rebels had seized several cities. The royalstadtholder, Caspar de Robles sacked Dokkum in reprisal, killing

many citizens [20] Louis of Nassau captured Mons by surprise on 24May. Orange marched to Mons for support, but was forced to

withdraw through Mechelen, where he left a garrison. Alba had troops sack Mechelen, after which many

cities hastened to pledge renewed loyalty to Alba.[21]

After dealing with Orange's threat in the South, Alba sent his son Fadrique to the two rebellious provincesGelderland and Holland. Fadrique started his campaign by sacking the fortress city of Zutphen in Gelderland.

Hundreds of citizens perished and many rebellious cities in Gelderland, Overijssel and Friesland yielded.[22]

On his way to Amsterdam, Fadrique came across Naarden, which surrendered on 22 November 1572; and toset another example, Fadrique herded all of Naarden's citizens (reportedly including a Roman Catholicpriest) into their church, which was subsequently set on fire. All 3,000 citizens perished. This time however,

this strengthened rebellious cities in their resistance, as they realized surrender would not help them.[23] In

Haarlem the citizens, aware of the fate of Naarden, prevented capitulation and put up a resistance.[23] The

city was under siege from December until 13 July 1573, when it collapsed due to hunger.[24] While a severeblow to the Rebel cause, the loss of Haarlem, had given the rebels time to improve their defenses. TheAlkmaar resulted in a rebel victory after the sluice gates were opened and the area surrounding the city was

flooded, making a further siege impossible.[25]

In the Battle on the Zuiderzee on 11 October 1573, a Sea-Beggar squadron defeated the royalist fleet,


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rendering the Zuider Zee under rebel control. A blockage against the royalist city of Amsterdam wasestablished. The Battle of Borsele and the Battle of Reimerswaal established naval superiority for the rebels

in Zeeland, and led to the fall of Middelburg in 1574, which had been besieged by the rebels since 1572.[26]

In November 1573, Fadrique started the siege of the city Leiden. The first stage of the siege ended in March1574, when the Spanish troops had to deal with a mercenary force led by Orange's brothers Louis and Henryof Nassau-Dillenburg who engaged the Spanish troops in the Mookerheyde, which resulted in a clear Spanish

victory.[27] The second stage of the siege of Leiden started in May 1574. The polders surrounding Leiden

were flooded and a sea beggar fleet manage to lift the siege on October 2, 1574.[28] Gilles de Berlaymont,lord of Hierges, the last royal stadtholder of Holland, captured and sacked Schoonhoven, and Oudewater in

August 1575.[29] By this time, Alba had been replaced as regent by Requesens. In the Summer of 1575

Requesens ordered Cristobal de Mondragon to attack the Zeeland city of Zierikzee,[29] which surrenderedon July 2, 1576; however, the Spanish troops mutinied and left Zierikzee. Philip had not been able to pay histroops for two years, since he defaulted on all government debts in September 1575 and his creditors did not

extend further credit.[30]

From Pacification of Ghent to Union of Utrecht (1576–1579)

Main articles: Pacification of Ghent and Union of Utrecht

The Spanish mutineers marched on Brussels, on the way sacking the city of Aalst. The loyal provinces hadreluctantly backed the royal government against the Rebellion so far, but now a loyal city had been sacked.After the death of Requesens the States of Brabant raised their own troops to protect Brussels. Philipe deCroÿ, Duke of Aerschot, stadtholder of Flanders took over government and allowed the States-General tostart peace negotiations with the States of Holland and Zeeland. All agreed that the Spanish troops should bewithdrawn. There was also agreement on the suspension of the placards against heresy and freedom ofconscience. The Pacification of Ghent was signed after the Spanish mutineers went on a murderous rampage

in the city of Antwerp on 4 November.[31] The next regent, Don Juan arrived on 3 November, too late toinfluence events. The States-General induced Don Juan's agreement to the Pacification of Ghent in thePerpetual Edict on February 12, 1577. The Spanish troops were withdrawn. Don Juan broke with the States-

General in July, and fled to the safety of the citadel of Namur.[32]

Philip's financial difficulties were straightened out by the end of 1577.[33] This enabled him to send a newSpanish army from Italy, under the command of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. These troops arrived inJanuary 1578, and were soon venturing into the territory of the States-General. Parma routed the States-General's troops in the Battle of Gembloux on 31 January 1578, allowing royalist forces to advance toLeuven. New troops raised by the States General with support of Elizabeth of England defeated the Spanish

armies at the Rijmenam.[34] The States-General were not able to exploit their advantage. Parma became thenew governor general after the death of Don Juan and laid siege to Maastricht in 1579. Parma's troopsentered the city on 29 June. Parma and his deputies were unable to prevent a massacre of the garrison or

Maastricht's civilians.[35]

Holland had started the construction of a ring defense of trace-italienne type fortresses to stop Spanish

armies roaming around in their lands.[37] Among the new fortresses were Geertruidenberg, ZevenbergschenHoek (both across the Hollands Diep in Brabant, as the north bank of that estuary was sparsely populated),Gorinchem, Loevestein castle and Woudrichem (at important confluences of rivers), Muiden and Naarden

(on the eastern approaches of Amsterdam).[38]

The remaining royalist cities in Holland were won over to the rebel cause. Haarlem, Weesp and Muiden

swore allegiance to Orange as stadtholder for the States-General on 22 January 1577.[39] Amsterdam went

over to the rebels after negotiations, and under pressure from the continuing sea beggar blockade.[40]


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The Dutch Maiden in the Garden[36] of

Holland by Philip Galle

Alliances between Holland, Utrecht and Gelderland were created to

increase border defense.[41] This left many cities in Hollandover-garrisoned, and these companies of mercenaries were given inthe service of the States-General allowing the establishment ofgarrisons in the Southern provinces (e.g. in Mechelen, Antwerp,Brussels and Maastricht), and fighting Hierges from Utrecht and the

Germans of Nicholas von Polweiler from around Roermond[42] Theinterest of the States of Holland became evermore focussed on theinterest of the Northern provinces, and in spite of warnings of Orangeabout advances of Parma in Brabant, Holland formalised thedefensive Union of Utrecht with its eastern and northern neighbors,

on 23 January 1579.[43]

Secession and Reconquest (1579–1588)

Ironically, the conservative Walloon provinces had beaten the radical northerners to the punch by signingtheir own defensive Union of Arras on 6 January 1579. This treaty (to which initially only Hainault, Artoisand Lille–Douai–Walloon Flanders acceded) reconfirmed the Pacification and the Perpetual Edict, andoffered Spain the neutrality of these provinces if it would accept and guarantee these stipulations. Spain wasalso to refrain from basing its troops in the provinces as long as they were not threatened by invasion. OnceParma accepted these conditions the grievances of the conservative Catholics against Spain were satisfiedand they could make a separate peace in the form of the Treaty of Arras in May 1579, in which they

renewed their allegiance to Philip under these conditions.[44]

Meanwhile, Orange and the States-General in Antwerp were less than enthusiastic about the Union ofUtrecht. They would far prefer a broader based union, still based on the Pacification and the "religiouspeace", which both the unions of Utrecht and Arras implicitly rejected. However, rapid developments indivergent directions in both north and south made the attempts at maintaining unity moot. In the north theadherents of the Union of Utrecht managed to consolidate their position in the provinces of Friesland andGelderland by May, though not without a struggle with the conservatives. However, Overijssel remaineddivided and in Groningen the city and the stadtholder for the States-General, Count Rennenberg, kept theirdistance. By the time of the Treaty of Arras it was clear that the split had hardened, and Orange thereforefinally conceded defeat and signed the Union of Utrecht on 3 May 1579, while encouraging the Flemish and

Brabant cities in Protestant hands to also join the Union.[45]

At this time, on the initiative of Emperor Rudolph II a final attempt was made to attain a general peacebetween Philip and the States-General in the German city of Cologne. As both sides insisted on mutuallyexclusive demands these peace talks only served to make the irreconcilability of both parties obvious; thereappeared to be no more room for the people who favored the middle ground, like Count Rennenberg.Rennenberg, a Catholic, now made up his mind to go over to Spain. In March 1580 he called for theprovinces in his remit to rise against the "tyranny" of Holland and the Protestants. However, this only servedto unleash an anti-Catholic backlash in Friesland and Overijssel. The States of Overijssel were finallyconvinced to adhere to the Union of Utrecht. Nevertheless, Rennenberg's "treason" posed a severe strategicthreat for the Union, especially after Parma sent him reinforcements in June. He managed to capture most of

Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel in the next months.[46]

The territory under nominal States-General control was steadily shrinking in other parts also. Parma madesteady progress. After taking Maastricht in June 1579, he seized Kortrijk in February 1580, after afour-month siege. The States-General replied by recapturing Mechelen in April after which the victorious

English mercenaries sacked the town in what has become known as the "English Fury".[47] Orange by nowwas convinced that the only way to avert total defeat was to regain support of the moderates, alienated byCalvinist radicalism; reassure the still-loyal Catholics in the South; and retain the trust of the German


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Lutheran princes and the king of France. To attain these objectives he now persuaded the States-General tooffer sovereignty over the Netherlands to the younger brother of king Henri of France, François, Duke ofAnjou, who in 1578 had already intervened on behalf of the States-General. Anjou was an orthodoxCatholic, but also a Politique, who in 1576 had brought about the Edict of Beaulieu, which for a whileensured religious peace in France. As such he was acceptable to moderates in both camps. He also wouldbring the military and financial support of his brother. Brabant and Flanders (but not Holland and Zeeland)supported this scheme and the States-General concluded the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours in September 1580with Anjou. The latter arrived in Antwerp in January 1581, where he took an oath to in effect govern as a

"constitutional monarch", and was acclaimed by the States-General as Protector of the Netherlands[48]

The secession of the States-General and the area under their nominal control from the Spanish Crown wasformalized by the Act of Abjuration of July 26, 1581. The main effect of this Act was to force a number of"fence-sitting" magistrates in the rebellious provinces to finally declare their true allegiance. Many old-guardregents now resigned and were replaced with people whose loyalty to the anti-Spanish cause was not indoubt. The Act also intensified the propaganda war between both sides, as it took the form of a manifest,setting out the principles of the Revolt, just as Orange's Apologie in answer to Philip's ban of June, 1580,outlawing him, had done. Both documents are redolent of resistance theories that were also disseminated by

the Huguenot Monarchomachs.[49] As such they alienated yet another group of moderates.[50]

Unfortunately, Orange's attempt to paper over the disunity within the States-General by bringing in Anjoudid not succeed. Holland and Zeeland acknowledged him perfunctorily, but mainly ignored him, and of theother members of the Union of Utrecht Overijssel, Gelderland and Utrecht never even recognized him. InFlanders his authority never amounted to much either, which meant that only Brabant fully supported him.Under Anjou's nominal direction the split between the north and south was further emphasized. He governedwith a Council of State that, though nominally unitary, was in practice divided in two distinct bodies, eachresponsible for a different theater of war. Anjou himself concentrated his French troops in the south, leavingHolland and its allies to fence for themselves against Rennenberg (which suited them fine). He proved

signally unable to stanch Parma's inexorable advance, however.[51]

Ironically, Parma had long been hampered by the provision in the Treaty of Arras which prohibitedstationing of Spanish mercenaries (the troops of the best quality) in the provinces that belonged to theSouthern union. However, after his war with the Turks had finally ended, Philip's finances had significantlyimproved and he had been able to steadily increase the number of troops available to Parma. By October,1582, Parma had an army of 61,000 troops available, mostly of high quality. By that time the Walloonprovinces also relented their opposition against taking in Spanish troops. These improvements were soontranslated into military successes. In June, 1581 Parma had already captured Orange's own town of Breda,thereby driving a wedge into the territory of the States-General in Brabant. In 1582 he made further

advances into Gelderland and Overijssel[51] There the war had been going to and fro between the forces ofthe Union of Utrecht and the royalists. Rennenberg had died in the Summer of 1581, but was ably replacedby Francisco Verdugo, who pushed south to Lochem in 1582 after first having seen off the Englishmercenaries of Sir John Norris (of Rijmenam fame) opposing him in Friesland. Capturing Lochem mighttopple Zutphen and Deventer also. He was forced to lift his siege of Lochem, but on his way back northcaptured the fortress city of Steenwijk, the key to the north-east of the Netherlands, which always had

eluded Rennenberg.[52]

Orange was the victim of an assassination attempt by Juan de Jáuregui on March 18, 1582. He survived, butsuffered severe injuries which put him out of the running for an appreciable time. Meanwhile, Anjou hadbecome weary of the restraints placed on his authority by the civilians of the States-General and heattempted to seize power in Flanders and Brabant by way of a military coup. He seized Dunkirk and severalother Flemish cities, but in Antwerp the citizens (remembering 1576) came to arms and massacred theFrench troops in the streets, an event known as the French Fury of January 17, 1583. The popularity of bothAnjou and Orange (who was seen as his main promotor) now sank to new lows, especially in Antwerp.Nevertheless Orange tried to arrange a reconciliation, but both Anjou and the people of Brabant had had


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Hellburners at Antwerp by Famiani

Strada

enough and Anjou left for France in June, 1583.[53]

Morale in the cities still held by the States-General in the South sagged. Dunkirk and Nieuwpoort fell withouta shot to Parma, leaving only Oostende as a major rebel enclave along the coast. In despair, Orange now leftBrabant for good. He again established his headquarters in the Dutch city of Delft in July 1583, followed bythe States-General in August (the latter eventually settled in nearby The Hague). He was back where hestarted from in 1576. His prestige with the States of Holland and Zeeland had appreciably declined sincethose halcyon days, however. The States had since greatly increased their self-confidence as a budding

government.[54]

Meanwhile, Parma's Army of Flanders made inexorable progress. It captured Ypres in April 1584, Bruges inMay, and Ghent in September. In this desperate situation Orange started to entertain thoughts of finallyaccepting the vacant crown of the Count of Holland, which some of his ardent supporters, notably PaulusBuys, had first pressed upon him in 1581. However, since that time enthusiasm had waned, and Amsterdam(led by the regent Cornelis Hooft), Gouda and Middelburg now opposed the plan. In any case, the plan

became moot when Orange was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard on 10 July 1584.[55]

The assassination for a while put the States of Holland in disarray, which left the initiative to the muchdiminished States of Flanders and Brabant in the States-General. The latter were by now getting desperate asthey controlled only slivers of their provinces (Parma had by now put Antwerp under siege). They believedthat their only succour could come from France. On their behest the States-General therefore started adebate on the merit of once more offering sovereignty to king Henri III of France in September, and overHooft's and Amsterdam's objections a Dutch embassy was sent to France in February, 1585. But the situationin France had deteriorated, the religious strife between Huguenots and Catholics flaring up again, and Henri

did not feel strong enough to defy Philip, so he declined the honor.[56]

Meanwhile, the "Calvinist republic" of Antwerp was being brought toheel by Parma. He had cut its supply-line from the north by placing apontoon bridge across the Scheldt river downstream from the city.The usual starvation tactic now began to take hold on the city of80,000. Morale declined, also because one of the last Brabantholdouts, Brussels, surrendered in March 1585. After a Dutchamphibious assault (during which an attempt was made to blow upthe ship-bridge with the use of "Hellburners") failed in April, the cityfinally surrendered in August. Parma (who was well aware of thecounter-productivity of Alba's terror tactics) treated the inhabitantsleniently, but many Protestants nevertheless migrated to the northernprovinces, swelling the stream of often wealthy merchants and skilledlaborers with a Protestant background that sought refuge there in this

period. A side effect of this wholesale migration was that the economic strength of the reconquered

provinces steadily declined, while that of especially Holland and Zeeland mightily increased.[57]

The States-General in their extremity now turned to the English monarch Elizabeth I with an offer ofsovereignty. Elizabeth had been approached as early as 1573 by the States of Holland with a similar offer forthe province, but then she haughtily declined, as she generally disapproved of rebellion (and Dutchmen).Now, however, the English government reconsidered in view of the gains Parma was making, which also hadthe unwanted effect of strengthening Catholic anti-government sentiment in England. Elizabeth (thoughdeclining to take up the offer of sovereignty) therefore decided to extend an English protectorate over theNetherlands, be it under strict conditions to protect her interests. She offered to send an expeditionary forceof 6,350 foot and 1,000 horse, the cost to be shared by the States-General, provided her nominee, RobertDudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, would be put in both military and political charge of the country as governor-general. Furthermore, he should govern through a reconstituted Council of State, on which the Englishgovernment would have two voting members (one of which was the Clerk of the Privy Council, Sir Thomas


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Wilkes), and she was to be given the fortresses of Flushing and Brill as surety for the loans she extended.The States-General agreed to this in the Treaty of Nonsuch of August 20, 1585. This was the first instance inwhich the rebel state was diplomatically recognized by a foreign government (the treaty with Anjou having

been "private").[58]

Leicester's intervention in the Netherlands proved to be a mixed blessing. He was to be a rallying point forthe forces in the Netherlands that were opposed to the hegemony of the States of Holland. As a protector ofthe Puritans in England, he was seen as a natural ally by the "strict" faction of Calvinists in the Netherlands,who had opposed Orange's policy of "religious peace" and now were arrayed against the "lax" Dutch regentswho favoured an Erastian Church order, a bone of contention for many years to come. Those Dutch regents,ably led by the Land's Advocate of Holland, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, opposed Leicester from the startbecause they rightly identified him as the focus of the opposition in the Netherlands to the power they hadacquired during the course of the Revolt. Beside the hard-line Calvinists, that opposition consisted of theDutch nobility, whose power had declined in favour of that of the despised merchant class that the regentsrepresented, and the factions in the other provinces, such as Utrecht and Friesland, that heartily resented

Holland's supremacy.[59]

The first conflict arose during the negotiations with Leicester in January, 1586 over the exact contents of hiscommission as governor-general. The Treaty of Nonsuch provided that stadtholders for the individualprovinces would henceforth be appointed by the Council of State, so as to give England a say in the matter.Nevertheless, in Friesland and Groningen William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg (the son of Orange'sbrother Jan), and in Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel Adolf van Nieuwenaar had been appointed by theStates-General in early 1585, before the treaty. In a show of bad faith the States of Holland and Zeeland had

then appointed the second legitimate son of Orange, Maurice of Nassau,[60] stadtholder in their provincesjust before Leicester arrived. To add insult to injury, the States insisted that all stadtholders derived theirauthority from the sovereign States of the provinces that appointed them, so Leicester could claim no say inthe matter (an argument that would play an important role in future constitutional conflicts). Confronted

with this fait accompli he had no choice but to acquiesce.[61]

Leicester also clashed with Holland over matters of policy like the representation of the States of Brabantand Flanders, who by now no longer controlled any significant areas in their provinces, in the States-General.From 1586 on they were barred from taking part in the deliberations over Leicester's objection, though hemanaged to retain their seats in the Council of State for them. Once the States-General were thus deprived ofthe membership of the last Southern provinces, one may in effect start using the name Dutch Republic forthe new state. Holland also opposed Leicester's embargo on "trade with the enemy." Superficially, this madesense from a strategic point of view, and the embargo proved quite effective after Leicester put it in force inApril 1586, causing much hardship in the Spanish-controlled territories in the next Winter. However, theembargo also hit the Dutch merchants very hard, as much of the grain trade on the Baltic was now divertedto England. The Dutch regents therefore preferred a system of control with licenses that had the added

benefit of bringing in much-needed revenue. For the moment Leicester prevailed on this point, however.[62]

The political strains between Leicester and Holland intensified when the Calvinist hard-liners, in Utrecht, ledby Gerard Prouninck, seized power in that province in August, 1586. This provided Leicester with ananti-Holland power base from which he could make difficulties for the Dutch regents in other provinces,especially Friesland, also. When Leicester temporarily returned to England in December, 1586, Hollandimmediately set to work to recover the lost ground. New regulations were put in force that required everyofficer in the pay of Holland to accept his commission from the stadtholder, Maurice, who also had toapprove all troop movements. Leicester's trade embargo was emasculated. Meanwhile, much mutualirritation had arisen between the Dutch populace and the English troops garrisoned in many towns. InJanuary 1587 the English garrisons at Deventer and Zutphen defected to Spain, followed by those in Zwolle,Arnhem and Ostend. This contributed to anti-English feeling under the populace, which helped underminethe pro-English Utrecht faction, that had been agitating for offering sovereignty to Elizabeth once again.When Leicester returned to the Netherlands he found his friends weakened so much that he concluded that


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he would have to seize power by force to get the situation under control. After preparations during theSummer, Leicester occupied Gouda, Schoonhoven and a few other cities in September 1587. An attempt toarrest Maurice and Oldenbarnevelt in The Hague failed, however, as did an attempted insurrection ofhardline Calvinists in Leiden. When a personal attempt by Leicester to get Amsterdam in his camp alsofailed, he gave up and returned to England in December, 1587. Thus ended the last attempt to keep theNetherlands a "mixed monarchy", under foreign overlordship. The northern provinces now entered a period

of more than two centuries of republican government.[63]

The Dutch Republic resurges (1588–1609)

The Dutch Republic was not proclaimed with great fanfare. In fact, after the departure of Leicester theStates of the several provinces and the States-General conducted business as usual. To understand why, onehas to look at the polemic that took place during 1587 about the question who held sovereignty. The polemicwas started by the English member of the Council of State, Sir Thomas Wilkes, who published a learnedRemonstrance in March 1587, in which he attacked the States of Holland because they undermined theauthority of Leicester to whom, in Wilkes view, the People of the Netherlands had transferred sovereignty inthe absence of the "legitimate prince" (presumably Philip). The States of Holland reacted with an equally

learned treatise, drawn up by the pensionary of the city of Gouda, François Vranck[64] on their behalf, inwhich it was explained that popular sovereignty in Holland (and by extension in other provinces) in the viewof the States resided in the vroedschappen and nobility, and that it was administered by (not transferred to)the States, and that this had been the case from time immemorial. In other words, in this view the republic

already existed so it did not need to be brought into being.[65] Vranck's conclusions reflected the view of theStates at that time and would form the basis of the ideology of the States-Party faction in Dutch politics, intheir defense against the "monarchical" views of their hard-line Calvinist and Orangist enemies in future

decades.[66]

The latter (and many contemporary foreign observers and later historians) often argued that the confederalgovernment machinery of the Netherlands, in which the delegates to the States and States-Generalconstantly had to refer back to their principals in the cities, "could not work" without the unifying influenceof an "eminent head" (like a Regent or Governor-General, or later a stadtholder). However, the first years ofthe Dutch Republic proved different (as in hindsight the experience with the States-General since 1576, ablymanaged by Orange, had proved). Oldenbarnevelt proved to be Orange's equal in virtuosity of parliamentarymanagement. The government he informally led proved to be quite effective, at least as long as the war

lasted.[67] In the three years after 1588 the position of the Republic improved appreciably, despite setbacks

like the betrayal of Geertruidenberg to Parma by its English garrison in 1588.[68] The change was due toboth external and internal factors, that were interrelated.

Main article: Financial history of the Dutch Republic

Internally, probably thanks to the influx of Protestant refugees from the South, which temporarily became aflood after the fall of Antwerp in 1585, the long-term economic boom was ignited that in its first phasewould last until the second decade of the next century. The southern migrants brought the entrepreneurialqualities, capital, labor skills and know-how that were needed to start an industrial and trade revolution. Theeconomic resources that this boom generated were easily mobilized by the budding "fiscal-military state" inthe Netherlands, that had its origin, ironically, in the Habsburg attempts at centralization earlier in thecentury. Though the Revolt was in the main motivated by resistance against this Spanish "fiscal-militarystate" on the absolutist model, in the course of this resistance the Dutch constructed their own model that,though explicitly structured in a decentralized fashion (with decision-making at the lowest, instead of thehighest level) was at least as efficient at resource mobilization for war as the Spanish one. This started in thedesperate days of the early Revolt in which the Dutch regents had to resort to harsh taxation and forcedloans to finance their war efforts. However, in the long run these very policies helped reinforce the fiscal andeconomic system, as the taxation system that was developed formed an efficient and sturdy base for the


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debt-service of the state, thereby reinforcing the trust of lenders in the credit-worthiness of that state.Innovations, such as the making of a secondary market for forced loans by town governments helpedmerchants to regain liquidity, and helped start the financial system that made the Netherlands the firstmodern economy. Though in the early 1590s this fiscal-military state was only in its early stages and not asformidable as it would become in the next century, it still already made the struggle between Spain and the

Dutch Republic less unequal than it had been in the early years of the Revolt.[69]

Externally, the preparations Philip was making for an invasion of England were all too evident. This growingthreat prompted Elizabeth to take a more neutral stance in the Netherlands. Oldenbarnevelt proceeded

unhindered to break the opposition.[70] She appreciated that she needed Dutch naval cooperation to defeatthe threatened invasion and that opposing Oldenbarnevelt's policies, or supporting his enemies, was unlikelyto get it. The position of Holland was also improved when Adolf of Nieuwenaar died in a gunpowderexplosion in October 1589, enabling Oldenbarnevelt to engineer his succession as stadtholder of Utrecht,

Gelderland and Overijssel by Maurice, with whom he worked hand in glove.[71]

Oldenbarnevelt managed to wrest power away from the Council of State, with its English members (thoughthe Council would have an English representation until the English loans were repaid by the end of the reignof James I). Instead, military decisions were more and more made by the States-General (with itspreponderant influence of the Holland delegation), thereby usurping important executive functions from the

Council.[72]

The role of the budding Dutch navy in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in August 1588, has often beenunder-exposed. It was crucial, however. After the fall of Antwerp the Sea-Beggar veterans under admiralJustinus van Nassau (the illegitimate elder brother of Maurice) had been blockading Antwerp and theFlemish coast with their nimble flyboats. These mainly operated in the shallow waters off Zeeland andFlanders that larger warships with a deeper draught, like the Spanish and English galleons, could not safelyenter. The Dutch therefore enjoyed unchallenged naval superiority in these waters, even though their navywas inferior in naval armament. An essential element of the plan of invasion, as it was eventuallyimplemented, was the transportation of a large part of Parma's Army of Flanders as the main invasion forcein unarmed barges across the English Channel. These barges would be protected by the large ships of theArmada. However, to get to the Armada, they would have to cross the zone dominated by the Dutch navy,where the Armada could not go. This problem seems to have been overlooked by the Spanish planners, but itwas insurmountable. Because of this obstacle, England never was in any real danger. However, as it turnedout, the English navy defeated the Armada before the embarkation of Parma's army could be implemented,turning the role of the Dutch moot. The Army of Flanders escaped the drowning death Justinus and his men

had in mind for them, ready to fight another day[73]

Henry IV of France's succession to the French throne in 1589 occasioned a new civil war in France, in whichPhilip soon intervened on the Catholic side. He ordered Parma to use the Army of Flanders for thisintervention and this put Parma in the unenviable position of having to fight a two-front war. There was atfirst little to fear from the Dutch, and he had taken the added precaution of heavily fortifying a number ofthe cities in Brabant and the north-eastern Netherlands he had recently acquired, so he could withdraw hismain army to the French border with some confidence. However, this offered the Dutch a respite from hisrelentless pressure that they soon put to good use. Under the two stadtholders, Maurice and William Louis,the Dutch army was in a short time thoroughly reformed from an ill-disciplined, ill-paid rabble of mercenarycompanies from all over Protestant Europe, to a well-disciplined, well-paid professional army, with manysoldiers, skilled in the use of modern fire-arms, like arquebuses, and soon the more modern muskets. The useof these fire-arms required tactical innovations like the counter-march of files of musketeers to enable rapidvolley fire by ranks. Such complicated manoevres had to be instilled by constant drilling. As part of theirarmy reform the stadtholders therefore made extensive use of military manuals, often inspired by classicalexamples of Roman infantry tactics, such as the ones edited by Justus Lipsius in De Militia Romana of 1595.Jacob de Gheyn II later published an elaborately illustrated example of such a manual under the auspices ofMaurice, but there were others. These reforms were in the 17th century emulated by other European armies,


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Musket instruction by Jacob de Gheyn

II

like the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. But the Dutch army developed them first.[74]

Besides these organisational and tactical reforms, the twostadtholders also developed a new approach to siege warfare. Theyappreciated the peculiar difficulties of the terrain for this type ofwarfare in most of the Netherlands, which necessitated much laborfor the digging of investments. Previously, many soldiers disdainedthe manual work required and armies usually press-ganged haplesspeasants. Maurice, however, required his soldiers to do the digging,which caused an appreciable improvement in the quality of the work.Maurice also assembled an impressive train of siege artillery, muchlarger than armies of the time usually had available, which enabledhim to systematically pulverize enemy fortresses. He was to put thisto good use, when the Republic went on the offensive in 1591.Already in 1590 Breda was recaptured with a ruse. But the next year

Maurice used his much enlarged army[75] with newly developedtransportation methods using rivercraft, to sweep the IJssel-rivervalley, capturing Zutphen and Deventer; then invade theOmmelanden in Groningen, capturing all Spanish forts; and endingthe campaign with the conquest of Hulst in Flanders and Nijmegen inGelderland. In one fell swoop this transformed the eastern part of theNetherlands, which had hitherto been in Parma's hands. The nextyear Maurice joined his cousin William Louis in the siege of Steenwijk, pounding that strongly defendedfortress with 50 artillery pieces, that fired 29,000 shot. The city surrendered after 44 days. During the samecampaign year the formidable fortress of Coevorden was also reduced; it surrendered after a relentless

bombardment of six weeks. Drenthe was now brought under control of the States-General.[76]

Despite the fact that Spanish control of the northeastern Netherland now hung by a thread, Holland insistedthat first Geertruidenberg would be captured, which happened after an epic text-book siege, which even thegreat ladies of The Hague treated as a tourist attraction, in June 1593. Only the next year the stadtholdersconcentrated their attention on the northeast again, where meanwhile the particularist forces in Friesland, ledby Carel Roorda, were trying to extend their hegemony over the other north-eastern provinces. This wastemporarily resolved by a solution imposed by Holland, putting Friesland in its place, which the Frisiansunderstandably resented. Holland also attempted to avoid the expense of a lengthy siege of the stronglydefended and strongly pro-Spanish city of Groningen by offering that city an attractive deal that wouldmaintain its status in its eternal conflict with the Ommelanden. This diplomatic initiative failed however, andGroningen was subjected to a two-month siege. After its capitulation the city was treated leniently, thoughCatholic worship was henceforth prohibited and the large body of Catholic clergy that had sought refuge inthe city since 1591 forced to flee to the Southern Netherlands. The province of Groningen, City andOmmelanden, was now admitted to the Union of Utrecht, as the seventh voting province under acompromise imposed by Holland, that provided for an equal vote for both the city and the Ommelanden inthe new States of Groningen. In view of the animosity between the two parties, this spelled eternal deadlock,so a casting vote was given to the new stadtholder, William Louis, who was appointed by the States-General,

in this instance.[77] The fall of Groningen also rendered Drenthe secure and this area was constituted as aseparate province (as annexation by either Friesland or Groningen was unacceptable to the other party) withits own States and stadtholder (again William Louis), though Holland blocked its getting a vote in the States-

General.[78]

The fall of Groningen also changed the balance of forces in the German county of East Friesland, where theLutheran Count of East Frisia, Edzard II, was opposed by the Calvinist forces in Emden. The States-Generalnow laid a garrison in Emden, forcing the Count to recognize them diplomatically in the Treaty of Delfzijl of1595. This also gave the Republic a strategic interest in the Ems River valley, which was reinforced duringthe stadtholders' large offensive of 1597. Maurice first seized the fortress of Rheinberg, a strategic Rhine


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crossing, and subsequently Groenlo, Oldenzaal, and Enschede, before crossing into Germany and capturingLingen and the county of the same name. This reinforced Dutch hegemony in the Ems valley. Capture ofthese cities secured for a while the dominance of the Dutch over eastern Overijssel and Gelderland, which

had hitherto been firmly in Spanish hands.[79]

Meanwhile, however, the civil war in France was drawing to a close. The Dutch viewed this with sometrepidation, because though Henry IV was the winner, the end of hostilities after the Peace of Vervins ofMay, 1598 would free the Army of Flanders again for operations in the Netherlands. Soon after, Philip died,and his Will provided a new surprise. It turned out that he had willed the Netherlands to his daughter Isabellaand her husband Archduke Albert, who would henceforth reign as co-sovereigns. This sovereignty waslargely nominal as the Army of Flanders was to remain in the Netherlands, largely paid for by the new kingof Spain, Philip III. Nevertheless, ceding the Netherlands made it theoretically easier to pursue a compromisepeace, as both the Archdukes, and the chief minister of the new king, the duke of Lerma were less inflexibletoward the Republic than Philip II had been. Soon secret negotiations were started which, however, provedabortive because Spain insisted on two points that were nonnegotiable to the Dutch: recognition of thesovereignty of the Archdukes (though they were ready to accept Maurice as their stadtholder in the Dutchprovinces) and freedom of worship for Catholics in the north. The Republic was too insecure internally (theloyalty of the recently conquered areas being in doubt) to accede on the latter point, while the first point

would have invalidated the entire Revolt. The war therefore continued.[80]

However, peace with France and the secret peace negotiations had temporarily slackened Spain's resolve topay its troops adequately and this had occasioned the usual widespread mutinies. The Army of Flanders nowtemporarily in disarray, Oldenbarnevelt and the civilians in the States-General spied a strategic opportunityto deal the Archdukes a heavy blow. They forced a deep strike into Flanders on a reluctant Maurice in thedirection of the port of Dunkirk that had grown into a hotbed of privateers that did much damage to Dutchshipping. Maurice now flung his model army into Flanders after a large amphibious operation from Flushingand started his advance along the coast. This incursion brought an immediate end to the "industrial action" ofthe Spanish troops, enabling Albert to launch a strike into Maurice's flank. Somewhat hindered by all sevenmembers of the States-General, who tried to micro-manage the campaign as deputies-in-the-field, Mauricewas now cornered by Albert near the port of Nieuwpoort and forced to give battle on 2 July 1600. This wasa test by fire of the Dutch army and the new tactics developed by the stadtholders against the still-formidable Spanish infantry and Maurice was none too sure about its outcome. However, the new tactics ofvolley-fire and artillery-supported infantry fighting got the better of the Spanish pikemen and Maurice

personally routed the Spaniards in a cavalry charge.[81] It was a close-run thing, however, and strategicallyworthless, as Maurice retreated post-haste to the safety of Zeeland. To add insult to injury, a privateer fleetmanaged to break the blockade of Dunkirk and wreaked havoc on the Dutch herring fleet soon, destroying

10% of the fleet of Dutch herring busses in August.[82]

The next four years showed an apparent stalemate. The Archdukes decided that before taking on theRepublic it was important to subdue the last Protestant enclave on the Flemish coast, the port of Ostend. Thesiege took three years and eighty days. Meanwhile the stadtholders mopped up some more Spanishfortresses, like Grave in Brabant and Sluys and Aardenburg in what was to become States Flanders. Thoughthese victories deprived the Archdukes of much of the propaganda value of their own victory at Ostend, theloss of the city was a severe blow to the Republic, and it brought about another Protestant exodus to the

North.[83]

The supreme command of the Army of Flanders had now been transferred to Ambrosio Spinola who provedto be a worthy opponent of Maurice. In a brilliant campaign in 1605 he first outwitted Maurice by feigningan attack on Sluys, leaving Maurice far in his rear while he actually attacked the eastern Netherlands by wayof Münster, Germany. He soon appeared before Oldenzaal (only recently captured by Maurice) and thepredominantly Catholic city opened its gates without firing a shot. Next he captured Lingen. With bothtowns in Spanish hands the Dutch had to evacuate Twenthe and retire to the IJssel river. Spinola returned thenext year and caused a panic in the Republic when he invaded the Zutphen quarter of Gelderland, showing


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that the interior of the Republic was still vulnerable to Spanish attack. However, Spinola was satisfied withthe psychological effect of his incursion and did not press the attack. Maurice decided on a rare autumncampaign in an attempt to close the apparent gap in the Republic's eastern defenses. He retook Lochem, buthis siege of Oldenzaal failed in November 1606. This was the last major campaign on both sides before theTruce that was concluded in 1609. The strategic result of the Spanish gains of 1605–06 was that the Twentheand Zutphen quarters were to remain a kind of No man's land right down to 1633, during which they were

forced to pay tribute to the Spanish forces that often roamed there at will.[84]

Both sides now embarked on an intensification of the fortress-building spree that had begun in themid-1590s, enveloping the Republic in a double belt of fortresses on its outer borders (an outer Spanish andan inner Dutch belt). This belt ran from Emden in the northeast via Bourtange, Coevorden, Zwolle, the lineof the IJssel, with Deventer and Zutphen; to Arnhem and Nijmegen, and then west, along the Meuse toGrave, Heusden and Geertruidenberg; and finally south along the line through Bergen op Zoom to Lillo,

north of Antwerp, and west again to the coast at Cadzand via Sluys.[85] The Dutch fortresses, mostly outsidethe provinces of the Union of Utrecht proper, were garrisoned with mercenary troops that, though paid forthe account of individual provinces, were under federal command since 1594. The Dutch Staatse leger(States Army) had therefore become a truly federal army, consisting mostly of Scottish, English, German andSwiss mercenaries, but commanded by a Dutch officer corps. This standing army almost trebled in size to

50,000 between 1588 and 1607.[86]

Main articles: Twelve Years' Truce and Synod of Dort

The cost of fortress-building and the upkeep of the large standing armies put both Spain and the Republicunder severe fiscal strain. Also because of the slump in trade that was caused by the efficient trade embargoimposed by Spain on the Dutch since 1598 the Dutch regents estimated that they could not safely increasethe already heavy burden of taxation. In September 1606 Oldenbarnevelt therefore urged the States ofHolland to seek an accommodation with Spain. This met with a surprisingly favorable reception from Spain,as Philip III and the Duke of Lerma had already resolved to concede sovereignty, if that proved inevitable inorder to halt the war. What prompted them to this concession was the inroads that the Dutch East IndiaCompany (or VOC), that had been chartered by the States-General in 1602, had been making in thePortuguese empire's sphere of influence in the East Indies. After all, since 1580 there had been a union ofthe crowns of Spain and Portugal. The conquest of a number of Portuguese possessions in Ambon, Ternateand Tidore in 1605 by the VOC caused such consternation that a Spanish presence was quickly establishedto counterbalance Dutch gains. Philip wanted this stopped, and Oldenbarnevelt seemed initially amenable tosuggestions that the VOC be suppressed and another project to charter a similar Dutch company for theAmericas be aborted. The Archdukes, on instructions from Madrid, therefore secretly declared in March1607, that they were willing to negotiate a peace with the States-General, as representatives of free lands

over which they made no claim. A ceasefire in the Netherlands was signed in April 1607.[87]

However, the negotiations were almost aborted immediately when it was discovered that the Dutch hadmade no concessions in writing in the armistice-agreement, and it therefore appeared that Spain hadconceded a major point without obtaining anything in return, which was seen as a major humiliation for theCrown. About the same time the news was received of a major defeat a Dutch fleet under admiral Jacob vanHeemskerk had dealt the Spanish navy in the Battle of Gibraltar of 25 April 1607. The Spanish indignationgrew even more, when it transpired that Oldenbarnevelt's verbal undertakings to suppress the VOC provedworthless, as he simply could not deliver on such a promise in view of the political situation in the Republic.This apparent deception put paid to the prospects of a permanent peace, so the only feasible outcome of the

negotiations might be a truce of limited duration.[88]

Oldenbarnevelt's peace initiatives met with stringent opposition from Maurice, Amsterdam, and Zeeland for


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different reasons (Zeeland, for instance, was making good money in the "trade with the enemy" across theblockaded Scheldt, and stood to lose from a truce during which trade relations would be normalized). Theopposition engaged in a lively pamphlet war to influence public opinion, but Oldenbarnevelt managed topersuade the Holland regents. He pointed out that a truce would lessen the fiscal pressures; help reviveDutch commerce with the Iberian Peninsula, which had by default fallen almost exclusively into Englishhands, after the peace James I of England concluded in 1604 with Spain; and free the hands of the Dutch

elsewhere in Europe (as in the Sound where Denmark at the time was hindering the Dutch Baltic trade[89])to defend their commercial interests by force if necessary. He argued also that the loss of trade with the

Indies would be outweighed by the positive effects on European trade of a lifting of the embargoes.[90]

Spain now offered a truce with a duration of twelve years, provided the Republic would grant freedom ofworship for Catholics. Again, Oldenbarnevelt had to refuse this concession as the political situation in theRepublic made that impossible. He was able to offer a short truce (until 1613) in the Indies, and thesuppression of the proposed Dutch West India Company for the time being. Philip rudgingly accepted andthe Truce was signed at Antwerp on 9 April 1609, marking the official recognition by Spain of the Republic

as a diplomatic entity "as if" it were a sovereign state. The Dutch Revolt had officially ended.[91]

The immediate result for the Republic was that it was now also officially recognized by other Europeanstates as a sovereign nation. In 1609 France and England received Dutch resident ambassadors, and soonafter diplomatic relations were opened with the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Morocco, and the OttomanPorte. Diplomatic recognition also enabled the Republic to start building a network of consulates acrossEurope. But the Republic felt free in its relations with other European powers, as when it forced James I to

back down in a conflict over English unfinished cloth in 1614 with an economic boycott.[92]

The Truce also had negative effects. Dutch long-distance trade to the Indies and the Americas suffered,because the Spanish and Portuguese colonialists were given a respite to improve their defenses overseas. Theofficial embargo on trade with the Americas had ended, but the colonists now imposed their own "unofficial"one, limiting Dutch trade with Caracas and the Amazon region. Temporary setbacks in the Indies caused theprice of VOC shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange to fall from a high of 200 in 1608 to 132 after theTruce started. The Zeeland transit traffic to the Southern Netherlands declined sharply. On the other hand,the lifting of the Dutch blockade of Antwerp and the Flemish coast helped revive the trade in Flemish textileproducts, just as the Flemish textile industry experienced a revival itself. This worked to the detriment of therecently booming Dutch textile industry. Wages of predominantly former Flemish textile workers in cities

like Leiden plummeted as a result.[93]

The political unrest this economic downturn caused, helped aggravate the political crisis that theOldenbarnevelt regime faced during the latter part of the Truce. This crisis followed from dissension aboutthe religious policy of the Holland regents, but became conflated with the monarchical aspirations of thestadtholders, especially Maurice. Everybody in Dutch Calvinist circles of whatever hue agreed that the"True Religion" should be supported by the State. Local authorities therefore paid for the upkeep of thechurches of the Dutch Reformed Church, the only officially recognized religion since the States of Hollandhad prohibited other kinds of worship in 1573, and for the Livings of its preachers and schoolmasters. Thismeant that the church was a "Public Church". In 1606 a theological quarrel developed between two Leidenprofessors, Jacobus Arminius and Franciscus Gomarus. The result of the argument was that outsiders startedto take sides, and that this led to often physical abuse by, and of, the contestants. The partisans of Arminiustherefore addressed the Five articles of Remonstrance to the States of Holland, in which they exposited theirviewpoints on Calvinist doctrine, and asked the States to take a standpoint. To help the States decide adisputation between two six-man teams of Arminians and Gomarists was held before the States in July 1610,in which the Gomarists presented a "Counter-Remonstrance", in which they gave their arguments against theRemonstrants' doctrinal position, at the same time asking the States to back off, and leave the matter to aNational Synod. Unfortunately, the States did not take this sensible suggestion (possibly because theysuspected that such a Synod would result in the condemnation of the Remonstrants as heretics on a majority

vote, a result they wanted to avoid).[94]


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While the States of Holland were dithering about a decision, unrest about the quarrel began to spread aroundthe Republic, disturbing the public peace and causing political problems in that the regents began to takesides, often in favor of the Remonstrants, whereas the common people, incited by the dominees, often optedfor the Counter-Remonstrant viewpoint. The eminent Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius, after a visit to England inan abortive effort to dissuade James I from intervening in the quarrel, came up with what he viewed as asolution. In his view, a public church must of necessity be a "big tent" that would accommodate as manybelievers as possible. He believed that this was the case in the Church of England that allowed all kinds ofdoctrinal variations under its wing, from crypto-Catholics to Puritans. The Dutch partisans (like thePuritans), however, envisaged a church of "pure" believers (themselves), in which there would be no placefor "unbelievers", like their opponents. To achieve Grotius' lofty ideal it would be necessary to tone downthe doctrinal differences, affording toleration of different viewpoints, except in relation to the most basictenets of the Christian faith (like belief in the Trinity) that everybody would accept (he therefore drew theline at Socinianism). Disagreements about less basic tenets, like the ones that divided Remonstrants andCounter-Remonstrants, should be left to an individual's conscience in accordance with the freedom ofconscience enshrined in the Union of Utrecht. Grotius knew full well that neither party was ready to concedethis and he therefore proposed to legislate his proposal in the form of a States of Holland resolution thatwould, up to a point, curtail freedom of expression (i.e. the freedom to hurl anathemas at ones opponents) insuch a way as to restore public order. The resolution would define matters that would be open to debate, andmatters that would not be. Preachers who would defy the States in this matter could then be disciplined by

the authorities, if need be by depriving them of their Livings.[95]

Oldenbarnevelt supported Grotius in this policy (though it could be seen as an assault on the autonomy ofthe Public Church) and together they managed to drive the placard through in 1614 against opposition frommany sides. Initially, and superficially, the policy seemed to work, but eventually it ended in the ruin of theOldenbarnevelt regime. This was due to the following factors. First, Oldenbarnevelt failed in maintainingunity on his policy in the States of Holland (Amsterdam opposed him), and thereby weakened the hegemonicposition of Holland in the Republic as a whole. Secondly, though the States put their thumb in the scales infavor of the Remonstrants with this policy (as those, being a minority, were in danger of being driven out ofthe public church), the Counter-Remonstrants maintained their strength among dominees and schoolmasters,and so indirectly among the common people. Finally, the social unrest as a consequence of deterioratingeconomic circumstances for the staunchly "strict" Calvinist ex-Flemish laborers (who opted en masse for the

Counter-Remonstrants) destabilized the State in 1617–18.[96]

Mob violence in many Holland and Utrecht cities against Remonstrant regents ensued. The federal garrisonsand civic militias refused to intervene to protect the regents (a pattern we also observe at the end of the Firstand Second Stadtholderless Periods, when likewise States-Party regimes were overturned). The Remonstrantregents now felt so threatened that they resorted to the desperate measure of the so-called "SharpResolution" of the States of Holland of 4 August 1617, which authorized city governments to raise

mercenary troops, called waardgelders,[97] outside the federal army or civic militias, to maintain publicorder. This drew an immediate protest from Maurice and from the other provinces on constitutional grounds.They asserted that the Union of Utrecht prohibited the raising of troops by individual cities without consentfrom the States-General. Even more threatening to the federal supremacy had been the provision in theSharp Resolution that asserted that units in the federal army paid for the account of Holland owed theirprimary allegiance to that province. This was a restatement of Holland's old constitutional position that theprovinces were supremely sovereign, and the Union no more than a confederation of sovereign provinces.Maurice,and the other provinces (except Utrecht), now claimed that the States-General possessed an

overriding sovereignty in matters of common defense and foreign policy[98]

Many expected a military coup after the cities of Leiden and Utrecht actually raised corps of waardgeldersand used them to purge the civic militias of Counter-Remonstrant sympathizers. Maurice proceededcautiously, however, preferring to undermine the political support of the Oldenbarnevelt regime in Holland.A revolutionary situation developed in a number of cities in Holland where Remonstrant town councils wereoverturned by popular intervention. To counter this, the Remonstrant regents proposed in January 1618 to


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Disarming the waardgelders in Utrecht, 31 July 1618, by

Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot

withhold part of Holland's contribution to theGenerality budget and use the money to raisemore waardgelder companies. Maurice nowmobilized the support of the five provincesopposing Holland and Utrecht for a States-General resolution disbanding the waardgelders.This was voted through on 9 July 1618, with fivevotes to two, Holland and Utrecht opposing.Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius, in desperation, nowoverplayed their hand: appealing to therequirement for unanimity in the Union treaty,they sent a delegation to the federal troops inUtrecht (that were supposed to disarm thewaardgelders in that city) with instructions thattheir first allegiance was to the province that

paid them, and that they were to ignore instructions by the stadtholder in case of conflict. This intervention

was construed by their opponents as treason. Prince Maurice[99] now brought up additional federal troops toUtrecht and started to disarm the waardgelders there on 31 July 1618. There was no resistance. The politicalopposition to his actions imploded as Oldenbarnevelt's Utrecht ally, Gilles van Ledenberg, advocaat of the

Utrecht States, fled to Holland[100]

Perceiving that resistance was useless, Oldenbarnevelt and his Remonstrant allies now capitulated. Leidendisbanded its waardgelders voluntarily in August, and Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius acquiesced in theconvening of a National Synod to arbitrate the Arminian controversy.

On 28 August 1618, however, the States-General passed a secret resolution to authorize Maurice to arrestOldenbarnevelt, Grotius, Ledenberg and Rombout Hogerbeets. This was justified with an appeal to theasserted residual sovereignty of the States-General that overrode that of the States of Holland. After thearrest these leaders of the Oldenbarnevelt regime were indicted for high treason and brought before an ad

hoc tribunal[101] consisting mostly of opponents of the accused. The trial took a long time. Meanwhile,

Maurice proceeded to purge the Holland ridderschap[102] and the vroedschappen of a number of cities thathad been governed by Remonstrant regents up to then. He replaced the old regents with adherents of theCounter-Remonstrant faction, often nouveau riche merchants that had little experience in governmentaffairs. These purges constituted a political revolution and ensured that his Orangist regime would besecurely in charge of the Republic for the next 32 years. Henceforth the stadtholder, not the Advocate ofHolland, would direct the affairs of the Republic, mainly through his parliamentary managers in the Hollandridderschap. The Holland leadership was emasculated by making sure that the position of Grand

Pensionary[103] would henceforth be filled by a succession of mediocre, incompetent and pliable Orangists,

at least up to the appointment of Johan de Witt in 1653[104]

Meanwhile the National Synod was convened in the city of Dordrecht in November, 1618. The deliberations

of this august body[105] progressed slowly. Only in the Spring of 1619 did it get around to condemning theRemonstrants for heresy, and casting them out of the Public Church. A more lasting accomplishment of theSynod was that it commissioned an "authorized" translation of the Bible in Dutch, a language that thetranslators had to make up from Dutch, Brabantish and Flemish elements; the translations therefore

contributed mightily to the unification of the Dutch language.[106]

The trial of Oldenbarnevelt cum suis ended soon afterwards. In view of the composition of the tribunal theresult was a foregone conclusion, even though the defendants put up a spirited defense. After all, they werethe most eminent jurists in the Republic. The defense primarily rejected the competence of the court andfurthermore claimed that treason against the Generality was not possible, because the federal state did notexist apart from the sovereign provinces. The court rejected the latter argument, claiming that in actuality


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sovereignty was divided between the Generality and the provinces. In its view, the Sharp Resolutioncontravened the Union of Utrecht and could therefore be construed as high treason. However, (as anillustration of the muddled procedures), when Oldenbarnevelt was convicted on 12 May 1619, it was not ofthis high-treason, but of a contrived charge of conniving with Spain. This Oldenbarnevelt kept denying till his

last breath, when he was beheaded the next day. He refused to ask for mercy, to Maurice's annoyance,[107]

and he received none, despite the fact that Maurice's stepmother Louise de Coligny, and the Frenchambassador, pleaded for Oldenbarnevelt's life. Ledenberg equally received a death sentence, but committed

suicide. Hogerbeets and Grotius were sentenced to life-imprisonment[108]

Thus ended the life of Oldenbarnevelt

...a man of great activity, business, memory and wisdom – yes, extra-ordinary in every

respect[109]

in the words of the notation about the execution in the register of the resolutions of the States of Holland on13 May 1619.

Dutch intervention in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War (1619–1621)

Main article: Thirty Years' War

It is impossible to know whether the course of history would have been different without the overthrow ofthe Oldenbarnevelt regime and the judicial murder of the old statesman. However, it is true thatOldenbarnevelt's diplomatic acumen and his restraint were sorely missed in the following months and yearswhen the new Dutch regime became embroiled in a dangerous military adventure in the Holy RomanEmpire. Oldenbarnevelt had no ambition to have the Republic become the leading power of ProtestantEurope, and he had shown admirable restraint when, in 1614, the Republic had felt constrained to intervenemilitarily in the Jülich-Cleves crisis opposite Spain. Though there had been a danger of armed conflictbetween the Spanish and Dutch forces involved in the crisis, both sides took care to avoid each other,

respecting each others spheres of influence.[110]

The new regime in The Hague felt differently, however. While civil war was avoided in the Republic, a civilwar did start in the Bohemian Kingdom with the Second defenestration of Prague on 23 May 1618. TheBohemian insurgents were now pitted against their king, Ferdinand, who would soon succeed his uncleMatthias (the former States-General governor-general of the Netherlands) as Holy Roman Emperor. Theycast about for support in this struggle and on the Protestant side only the Republic was able and willing to

provide it. This took the form of support for Frederick V, Elector Palatine, a nephew of Prince Maurice[111]

and a son-in-law of James I, when Frederick accepted the Crown of Bohemia the insurgents offered him (hewas crowned on 4 November 1619). His father-in-law had sought to restrain him from doing this, warningthat he could not count on English aid, but Maurice encouraged him in every way, providing a large subsidyand promising Dutch armed assistance. The Dutch had therefore a large role in precipitating the Thirty Years'

War.[112]

Maurice's motivation was the desire to manoeuvre the Republic in a better position in case the war withSpain would resume after the expiration of the Truce in 1621. It was not a foregone conclusion that theTruce would not be renewed, but it had become less likely, as both in Spain and in the Republic more

hard-line factions had come to power.[113] Though civil war had been avoided in the Republic, national unityhad been bought with much bitterness on the losing Remonstrant side, and Maurice for the moment had togarrison several former Remonstrant-dominated cities to guard against insurrection. This encouraged the


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Detail from a pamphlet about the Winter King

Spanish government, perceiving internal weakness in the Republic, to choose a bolder policy in theBohemian question than they otherwise might have done. The Bohemian war therefore soon degeneratedinto a proxy war between Spain and the Republic. Even after the Battle of White Mountain of November1620, which ended disastrously for the Protestant army (one-eighth of which was in the Dutch pay), theDutch continued to support Frederick militarily, both in Bohemia and in the Palatinate. Maurice alsoprovided diplomatic support, pressing both the Protestant German princes and James I to come to Frederick'said. When James sent 4,000 English troops in September 1620, those were armed and transported by the

Dutch, and their advance covered by a Dutch cavalry column.[114]

In the end the Dutch intervention was in vain.After just a few months, Frederick and his wifeElizabeth fled into exile at The Hague, wherethey became known as the Winter King andQueen for their brief reign. Maurice pressedFrederick in vain to at least defend the Palatinateagainst the Spanish troops under Spinola andTilly. This round of the war went to Spain andthe Imperialist forces in Germany. James heldthis against Maurice for his incitement of thelosing side with promises that he could not keep.[115]

There was continual contact between Mauriceand the government in Brussels during 1620 and1621 regarding a possible renewal of the Truce.

Albert was in favor of it, especially after Maurice falsely gave him the impression that a peace would bepossible on the basis of a token recognition by the Republic of the sovereignty of the king of Spain. WhenAlbert sent the chancellor of Brabant, Petrus Peckius, to The Hague to negotiate with the States-General onthis basis, he fell into this trap and innocently started talking about this recognition, instantly alienating hishosts. Because nothing was as certain to unite the northern provinces as the suggestion that they shouldabandon their hard-fought sovereignty. If this incident had not come up, the negotiations might well havebeen successful as a number of the provinces were amenable to simply renewing the Truce on the old terms.Now the formal negotiations were broken off, however, and Maurice was authorized to conduct furthernegotiations in secret. His attempts to get a better deal met with counter-demands from the new Spanishgovernment for more substantive Dutch concessions, however. The Spaniards demanded Dutch evacuationof the West and East Indies; lifting of the restrictions on Antwerp's trade by way of the Scheldt; andtoleration of the public practice of the Catholic religion in the Republic. These demands were unacceptable

to Maurice and the Truce expired in April, 1621.[116]

The war did not immediately resume, however. Maurice continued sending secret offers to Isabella after

Albert had died in July, 1621[117] through the intermediary of the Flemish painter and diplomat Peter PaulRubens. Though the contents of these offers (which amounted to a version of the concessions demanded bySpain) were not known in the Republic, the fact of the secret negotiations became known, and disquieted theproponents of restarting the war, like the investors in the Dutch West India Company, that after a long delaywas now finally about to be founded with as a main objective bringing the war to the Spanish Americas.

Opposition against the peace feelers therefore mounted, and nothing came of them.[118]

The Republic under siege (1621–1629)

Another reason the war did not immediately resume was that king Philip III died shortly before the Truceended. He was succeeded by his 16-year old son Philip IV, and the new government under Gaspar deGuzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares had to get settled. The view in the Spanish government was that the Trucehad been ruinous to Spain in an economic sense. In this view the Truce had enabled the Dutch to gain very


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Siege of Breda by Jacques Callot

unequal advantages in the trade with the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean, thanks to their mercantileprowess. On the other hand, the continued blockade of Antwerp had contributed to that city's steep declinein importance (hence the demand for the lifting of the closing of the Scheldt). The shift in the terms of tradebetween Spain and the Republic had resulted in a permanent trade deficit for Spain, that naturally translateditself into a drain of Spanish silver to the Republic, which was seen as a "bad thing" in those times. TheTruce had also given a further impetus to the Dutch penetration of the East Indies, and in 1615 a navalexpedition under Joris van Spilbergen had raided the West-Coast of Spanish South-America. Spain feltthreatened by these incursions and wanted to put a stop to them. Finally, the economic advantages had giventhe Republic the financial wherewithal to build a large navy during the Truce, and enlarge its standing armyto a size where it could rival the Spanish military might. This increased military power appeared to bedirected principally to thwart Spain's policy objectives, as witnessed by the Dutch interventions in Germanyin 1614 and 1619, and the Dutch alliance with the enemies of Spain in the Mediterranean, like Venice andthe Sultan of Morocco. The three conditions Spain had set for a continuation of the Truce had been intendedto remedy these disadvantages of the Truce (the demand for freedom of worship for Catholics being made asa matter of principle, but also to mobilize the still sizable Catholic minority in the Republic and so destabilize

it politically).[119]

Despite the unfortunate impression the openingspeech of chancellor Peckius had made at thenegotiations about the renewal of the Truce, theobjective of Spain and the regime in Brusselswas not a war of reconquest of the Republic.Instead the options considered in Madrid wereeither a limited exercise of the force of weapons,to capture a few of the strategic points therepublic had recently acquired (like Cleves),combined with measures of economic warfare,or reliance on economic warfare alone. In theevent Spain opted for the first alternative.Immediately after the expiration of the Truce inApril 1621, all Dutch ships were ordered out ofSpanish ports and the stringent trade embargoesof before 1609 were renewed. After an intervalto rebuild the strength of the Army of Flanders,Spinola opened a number of land offensives, in which he captured the fortress of Jülich (garrisoned by theDutch since 1614) in 1622, and Steenbergen in Brabant, before laying siege to the important fortress city ofBergen-op-Zoom. This proved a costly fiasco as Spinola's besieging army of 18,000 melted away throughdisease and desertion. He therefore had to lift the siege after a few months. The strategic import of thishumiliating experience was that the Spanish government now concluded that besieging the strong Dutchfortresses was a waste of time and money and decided to henceforth solely depend on the economic-warfareweapon. The subsequent success of Spinola's siege of Breda did not change this decision, and Spain adopted

a defensive stance militarily in the Netherlands.[120]

However, the economic warfare was intensified in a way that amounted to a veritable siege of the Republicas a whole. In the first place, the naval war intensified. The Spanish navy harassed Dutch shipping that hadto sail through the Strait of Gibraltar to Italy and the Levant, thereby forcing the Dutch to sail in convoyswith naval escorts. The cost of this was born by the merchants in the form of a special tax, used to financethe Dutch navy, but this increased the shipping rates the Dutch had to charge,and their maritime insurancepremiums also were higher, thus making Dutch shipping less competitive. Spain also increased the presenceof its navy in Dutch home waters, in the form of the armada of Flanders, and the great number of privateers,the Dunkirkers, both based in the Southern Netherlands. Though these Spanish naval forces were not strongenough to contest Dutch naval supremacy, Spain waged a very successful Guerre de Course, especially

against the Dutch herring fisheries, despite attempts by the Dutch to blockade the Flemish coast.[121]


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Main article: Economic history of the Netherlands (1500-1815)

The herring trade, an important pillar of the Dutch economy, was hurt even more by the other Spanish formsof economic warfare, the embargo on salt for preserving herring, and the blockade of the inland waterwaysto the Dutch hinterland, which were an important transportation route for Dutch transit trade. The Dutchwere used to procuring their salt from Portugal and the Caribbean islands. Alternative salt supplies wereavailable from France, but the French salt had a high magnesium content, which made it less suitable forherring preservation. When the supplies in the Spanish sphere of influence were cut off, the Dutch economywas therefore dealt a heavy blow. The salt embargo was just a part of the more general embargo on Dutchshipping and trade that Spain instituted after 1621. The bite of this embargo grew only gradually, because theDutch at first tried to evade it by putting their trade in neutral bottoms, like the ships of the HanseaticLeague and England. Spanish merchants tried to evade it, as the embargo also did great harm to Spanisheconomic interests, even to the extent that for a time a famine threatened in Spanish Naples when the Dutch-

carried grain trade was cut off.[122] Realizing that the local authorities often sabotaged the embargo, theSpanish crown built up an elaborate enforcement apparatus, the Almirantazgo de los paises septentrionales(Admiralty of the northern countries) in 1624 to make it more effective. Part of the new system was anetwork of inspectors in neutral ports who inspected neutral shipping for goods with a Dutch connection andsupplied certificates that protected neutral shippers against confiscation in Spanish ports. The English and

Hanseatics were only too happy to comply, and so contributed to the effectiveness of the embargo.[123]

The embargo grew to an effective direct and indirect impediment for Dutch trade, as not only the directtrade between the Amsterdam Entrepôt and the lands of the Spanish empire was affected, but also the partsof Dutch trade that indirectly depended on it: Baltic grain and naval stores destined for Spain were nowprovided by others, depressing the Dutch trade with the Baltic area; the carrying trade between Spain andItaly now shifted to English shipping etc. The embargo was a double-edged sword, however, as some Spanishand Portuguese export activities likewise collapsed as a consequence of the embargo (such as the Valencian

and Portuguese salt exports).[124]

Thanks to the belt of Spanish fortresses around the Republic, often near the great European rivers that flowinto the sea in this area, and to the fact that Spanish forces conquered the Palatinate and other areas inwestern Germany that abutted these trade routes, during the first stage of the Thirty Years' War, Spain wasalso able to physically close off these inland waterways after 1625 for Dutch river traffic. The Dutch werethus also deprived of their important transit trade with the neutral Prince-Bishopric of Liège (then not a partof the Southern Netherlands) and the German hinterland in these years. Dutch butter and cheese pricescollapsed as a result of this blockade (and rose steeply in the affected import areas), as did wine and herringprices (the Dutch monopolized the French wine trade at the time), but the steep price rises in the SpanishNetherlands, sometimes accompanied by food shortages, led to an eventual relaxation of this embargo. Itwas eventually abandoned, because it deprived the Brussels authorities from important revenues from

custom duties.[125]

The economic-warfare measures of Spain were effective in the sense that they depressed economic activityin the Netherlands, thereby also depressing Dutch fiscal resources to finance the war effort with, but also bystructurally altering European trade relations, at least until the end of the war, after which they reverted infavor of the Dutch. Neutrals benefited, but both the Dutch and the Spanish areas suffered economically,though not uniformly, as some industrial areas benefited from the artificial restriction of trade, which had aprotectionist effect. The "new draperies" textile industry in Holland permanently lost terrain to itscompetitors in Flanders and England, though this was compensated for by a shift to more expensive

high-quality woollens.[126] Nevertheless, the economic pressure and the slump of trade and industry itcaused was not sufficient to bring the Republic to its knees. There were a number of reasons for this. Thechartered companies, both VOC and WIC, provided employment on a large enough scale to compensate forthe slump in other forms of trade and their trade brought great revenues. Supplying the armies, both in the

Netherlands and in Germany, proved a boon for the agricultural areas in the Dutch inland provinces.[127]


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The fiscal situation of the Dutch government also improved after the death of Maurice in 1625. He had beentoo successful in gathering all reins of government in his own hands after his coup in 1618. It is true that hecompletely dominated Dutch politics and diplomacy in the first years afterwards, even monopolizing theabortive peace talks before the expiration of the Truce. Likewise the political Counter-Remonstrants weretemporarily in total control, but the downside of all this was that his government was overextended, with toofew people doing the heavy lifting on the local level, which was essential to make the government machinerun smoothly in the highly decentralized Dutch polity. Holland's conventional role as leader of the politicalprocess was temporarily vacated, as Holland as a power center was eliminated. Maurice had to doeverything by himself with his small band of aristocratic managers in the States-General. This situationdeteriorated even more, when he had to spend long periods in the field as commander-in-chief, during whichhe was unable to personally direct affairs in The Hague. His health soon deteriorated, also detracting fromhis efficacy as a political and military leader. The regime, depending on Maurice's personal qualities as a

virtual dictator, therefore came under unbearable strain.[128]

Not surprisingly, in the period up to his death the strategic and military position of the Republic deteriorated.It had to increase the standing army to 48,000 men in 1622, just to hold the defensive ring of fortresses,while Spain increased the Army of Flanders to 60,000 men at the same time. This put a great strain on theRepublic's finances at a time when tax rates were already dangerously high. Yet at the same time theRepublic had no other option than to sustain the imploding German Protestant forces financially. For thatreason the Dutch paid for the army of Count Ernst von Mansfeld that was cowering against the Dutch borderin East Friesland after its defeats against the Spanish and Imperial forces; it was hoped that in this way acomplete encirclement of the Republic could be avoided. For a while the Republic pinned its hope onChristian the Younger of Brunswick. However, his Dutch-financed army was crushed at Stadtlohn, near theDutch border by the forces of the Catholic League under Tilly in August, 1623. This setback necessitated areinforcement of the Dutch IJssel line. Spinola, however, failed to take advantage of the new situation, lulledinto complacency by Maurice's unceasing peace-feelers. He was back in 1624, however, besieging Breda,and Dutch morale slumped, despite the diplomatic success of the Treaty of Compiègne with Louis XIII ofFrance, in which the latter agreed to support the Dutch military effort with an annual subsidy of a million

guilders (7% of the Dutch war budget).[129]

Maurice died, aged 58, in April 1625, and was succeeded as Prince of Orange and captain-general of theUnion by his half-brother Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. It took several months, however, to obtain hisappointment as stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, as it took time to agree on the terms of his commission.This deprived the regime of leadership in a crucial time. During this time the moderate Calvinist regentsstaged a comeback in Holland at the expense of the radical Counter-Remonstrants. This was an importantdevelopment, as Frederick Henry, unlike his brother, could not lean exclusively on the latter faction, butinstead took a position "above the parties", playing off the two factions against one another. A side effect ofthis was that more normal political relations returned to the Republic, with Holland returning to its centralpolitical position. Also, the persecution of the Remonstrants now abated with the Prince's connivance, and

with this renewed climate of tolerance, political stability in the Republic also improved.[130]

This improvement in internal affairs helped the Republic overcome the difficult years of the sharpesteconomic-warfare phase, described above. During the lull in the military pressure by Spain after the fall ofBreda in 1625 the Republic was able to steadily increase its standing army, thanks to its improved financialsituation. This enabled the new stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen, Ernst Casimir, to recaptureOldenzaal, forcing the Spanish troops to evacuate Overijssel. Diplomatically, the situation improved onceEngland entered the war in 1625 as an ally. Frederick Henry cleared the Spaniards from eastern Gelderlandin 1627 after recapturing Grol. The Dutch victory in the Battle in the Bay of Matanzas in 1628, in which aSpanish treasure fleet was captured by Piet Pieterszoon Hein, contributed even more to the improving fiscalsituation, at the same time depriving Spain of much needed money. However, the greatest contribution to therelative improvement of the Dutch position in 1628 was made by the fact that Spain overextended itselfagain, when it participated in the War of the Mantuan Succession. This caused such a depletion of Spanishtroops and financial resources in the theatre of war in the Netherlands, that the Republic for the time being


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Frederick Henry and Ernst Casimir at the siege of

'sHertogenbosch by Pauwels van Hillegaert

achieved a strategic superiority: the Army of Flanders declined to 55,000 men while the States Army

reached 58,000 in 1627.[131]

The Republic sallies forth (1629–1635)

Meanwhile, the Imperialist forces had surged in Germany after the initial setback from the intervention ofChristian IV of Denmark in the war in 1625. Both the Danes and Mansfelt were defeated in 1626 and theCatholic League occupied the northern German lands that had hitherto acted as a buffer zone for theRepublic. For a while an invasion of the eastern part of the Republic seemed imminent in 1628. However,the relative might of Spain, the main player up to now in the German civil war, was ebbing fast. By April1629 the States Army counted 77,000 soldiers, half as much again as the Army of Flanders at that point intime. This allowed Frederick Henry to raise a mobile army of 28,000 (the other troops were used in the fixedgarrisons of the Republic) and invest 's-Hertogenbosch. During the siege of this strategic fortress city theimperialist and Spanish allies launched a diversionary attack from Germany's IJssel line. After crossing thisriver, they invaded the Dutch heartland, getting as far as the city of Amersfoort, which promptlysurrendered. The States-General, however, mobilized civic militias and scrounged garrison troops fromfortresses all around the country, assembling an army that at the height of the emergency numbered no lessthan 128,000 troops. This enabled Frederick Henry to maintain his siege of 's-Hertogenbosch. When Dutchtroops surprised the Spanish fortress of Wesel, which acted as the principal Spanish supply base, this forcedthe invaders to retreat to the IJssel. 's-Hertogenbosch surrendered in September 1629 to Frederick

Henry.[132]

The loss of Wesel and 's-Hertogenbosch (a citythat had been fortified according to the mostmodern standards, often incorporating Dutchinnovations in fortification), in short succession,caused a sensation in Europe. It demonstratedthat the Dutch, for the moment, enjoyed strategicsuperiority. 's-Hertogenbosch was the linchpin ofthe ring of Spanish fortifications in Brabant; itsloss left a gaping hole in the Spanish front.Thoroughly shaken, Philip IV now overruledOlivares and offered an unconditional truce. TheStates-General refused to consider this offer,until the Imperialist forces had left Dutchterritory. Only after this had been accomplishedthey remitted the Spanish offer to the States ofthe provinces for consideration. The populardebate that followed split the provinces.Friesland, Groningen and Zeeland, predictably,

rejected the proposal. Frederick Henry appears to have favored it personally, but he was hampered by thepolitical divisions in the province of Holland where radical Counter-Remonstrants and moderates wereunable to agree. The Counter-Remonstrants urged in guarded terms a final eradication of "Remonstrant"tendencies in the Republic (thus establishing internal "unity") before a truce could even be considered. Theradical Calvinist preachers urged a "liberation" of more of the Spanish Netherlands. Shareholders in the WICdreaded the prospect of a truce in the Americas, which would thwart the plans of that company to stage aninvasion of Portuguese Brazil. The peace party and the war party in the States of Holland therefore perfectly

balanced each other and deadlock ensued. Nothing was decided during 1629 and 1630.[133]

To break the deadlock in the States of Holland, Frederick Henry planned a sensational offensive in 1631. Heintended to invade Flanders, and make a deep thrust toward Dunkirk, like his brother had done in 1600. Hisexpedition was even larger. He embarked 30,000 men and 80 field guns on 3,000 rivercaft for hisamphibious descent on IJzendijke. From there he penetrated to the Bruges-Ghent canal that the Brussels


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government had dug to circumvent the Dutch blockade of the coastal waters. Unfortunately, at this stage asizeable Spanish force appeared in his rear and this caused a row with panicky deputies-in-the-field that, asusual, were micro-managing the campaign for the States-General. The civilians prevailed, and a very angry

Frederick Henry had to order an ignominious retreat of the Dutch invading force.[134]

Finally, in 1632, Frederick Henry was allowed to deliver his death blow. The initial move in his offensive wasto have a reluctant States-General publish (over the objections of the radical Calvinists) a proclamationpromising that the free exercise of the Catholic religion would be guaranteed in places that the Dutch armywould conquer that year. The inhabitants of the Southern Netherlands were invited to "throw off the yoke ofthe Spaniards." This piece of propaganda would prove to be very effective. Frederick Henry now invadedthe Meuse valley with 30,000 troops. He took Venlo, Roermond and Sittard in short order. As promised, theCatholic churches and clergy were left unmolested. Then, on June 8, he laid siege to Maastricht. A desperateeffort of Spanish and Imperialist forces to relieve the city failed and on August 20, 1632, Frederick Henrysprang his mines, breaching the walls of the city. It capitulated three days later. Here also, the Catholic

religion was allowed to remain.[135]

The infanta Isabella was now forced to convene the southern States-General for the first time since herinauguration in 1598. They met in September (as it turned out for the last time under Spanish rule). Mostsouthern provinces advocated immediate peace talks with the Republic so as to preserve the integrity of theSouth and the free exercise of the Catholic religion. A "southern" States-General delegation met the"northern" States-General, represented by its deputies-in-the-field in Maastricht. The "southern" delegatesoffered to negotiate on the strength of the authorization given in 1629 by Philip IV. However, Philip andOlivares secretly cancelled this authorization, as they considered the initiative of the southern States-General

an "usurpation" of royal power. They never intended to honor any agreement that might ensue.[136]

On the Dutch side, there was the usual disunity. Frederick Henry hoped to achieve a quick result, butFriesland, Groningen and Zeeland opposed the talks outright, while divided Holland dithered. Eventually,those four provinces authorized talks with only the southern provinces, leaving Spain out. Evidently, such anapproach would make the resulting agreement worthless, as only Spain possessed any troops. The peaceparty in the Republic finally brought about meaningful negotiations in December 1632, when valuable timehad already been lost, enabling Spain to send reinforcements. Both sides presented demands that wereunreconcilable at first, but after much palaver the southern demands were reduced to the evacuation ofPortuguese Brazil (which had been invaded by the WIC in 1630) by the Dutch. In return, they offered Bredaand an indemnity for the WIC for giving up Brazil. The Dutch (over the opposition of the war party thatconsidered the demands too lenient) reduced its demands to Breda, Geldern, and the Meierij area around's-Hertogenbosch, in addition to tariff-concessions in the South. Furthermore, as they realized that Spain

would never concede Brazil, they proposed to limit the peace to Europe, continuing the war overseas.[137]

By June 1633 the talks were on the verge of collapse. A shift in Dutch politics now ensued, which wouldprove fateful for the Republic. Frederick Henry, sensing that the talks were going nowhere, proposed to putan ultimatum to the other side to accept the Dutch demands. However, he now lost the support of the "peaceparty" in Holland, led by Amsterdam. These regents wanted to offer further concessions to gain peace. Thepeace party gained the upper hand in Holland, for the first time since 1618 standing up to the stadtholder andthe Counter-Remonstrants. Frederick Henry, however, managed to gain the support of the majority of theother provinces and those voted on 9 December 1633 (overruling Holland and Overijssel) to break off the

talks.[138]

Franco-Dutch Alliance (1635–1640)

While the peace negotiations had been dragging on, events elsewhere in Europe of course had not stood still.While Spain was busy fighting the Mantuan war, the Swedes had intervened in the Thirty Years' War inGermany under Gustavus Adolphus in 1630, supported by French and Dutch subsidies. The Swedes used thenew Dutch infantry tactics (enhanced with improved cavalry tactics) with much more success against the


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Siege of the Schenkenschans by Gerrit van Santen

Imperialist forces than the German Protestants had done and so gained a number of important successes,

turning the tide in the war.[139] However, once Spain had her hands free again after the end of the war inItaly in 1631, she was able to bring her forces in the northern theater of war up to strength again. TheCardinal-Infante brought a strong army up, by way of the Spanish Road, and at the Battle of Nördlingen(1634) this army, combined with Imperialist forces, using the traditional Spanish tercio tactics, decisivelydefeated the Swedes. He then marched immediately on Brussels, where he succeeded the old InfantaIsabella who had died in December 1633. Spain's strength in the Southern Netherlands was now appreciably

enhanced.[citation needed]

The Dutch, now no longer any prospect of peace with Spain, and faced with a resurgent Spanish force,decided to take the French overtures for an offensive alliance against Spain more seriously. This change instrategic policy was accompanied by a political sea-change within the Republic. The peace party aroundAmsterdam objected to the clause in the proposed treaty with France that bound the Republic's hands byprohibiting the conclusion of a separate peace with Spain. This would shackle the Republic to Frenchpolicies and so constrain its independence. The resistance to the French alliance by the moderate regentscaused a rupture in the relations with the stadtholder. Henceforth Frederick Henry would be much moreclosely aligned with the radical Counter-Remonstrants who supported the alliance. This political shiftpromoted the concentration of power and influence in the Republic in the hands of a small group of thestadtholder's favorites. These were the members of the several secrete besognes (secret committees) towhich the States-General more and more entrusted the conduct of diplomatic and military affairs.Unfortunately, this shift to secret policy-making by a few trusted courtiers also opened the way for foreigndiplomats to influence policy-making with bribes. Some members of the inner circle performed prodigies ofcorruption. For instance, Cornelis Musch, the griffier (clerk) of the States-General received 20,000 livres forhis services in pushing the French treaty through from Cardinal Richelieu, while the pliable GrandPensionary Jacob Cats (who had succeeded Adriaan Pauw, the leader of the opposition against the alliance),

received 6,000 livres.[140]

The Treaty of Alliance that was signed in Paris in February 1635, committed the Republic to invade theSpanish Netherlands simultaneously with France in 1635. The treaty previewed a partitioning of that countrybetween the two invaders. If the inhabitants would rise against Spain, the Southern Netherlands would beafforded independence on the model of the Cantons of Switzerland, however with the Flemish seacoast,Namur and Thionville annexed by France, and Breda, Geldern and Hulst going to the Republic. If theinhabitants resisted, the country would be partitioned outright, with the Francophone provinces and westernFlanders going to France, and the remainder to the Republic. The latter partitioning opened the prospect thatAntwerp would be re-united with the Republic, and the Scheldt reopened for trade on that city, somethingAmsterdam was very much opposed to. The treaty also provided that the Catholic religion would bepreserved in its entirety in the provinces to be apportioned to the Republic. This provision wasunderstandable from the French point of view, as the French government had recently suppressed theHuguenots in their strongpoint of La Rochelle (with support of the Republic), and generally was reducingProtestant privileges. It enraged the radical Calvinists in the Republic, however. The treaty was not popular

in the Republic for those reasons.[141]

Dividing up the Spanish Netherlands provedmore difficult than foreseen, however. Olivareshad drawn up a strategy for this two-front war,that proved very effective. Spain went on thedefensive against the French forces that invadedin May 1635 and successfully held them at bay.The Cardinal-Infante brought his full offensiveforces to bear on the Dutch, however, in hopesof knocking them out of the war in an earlystage, after which France would soon come to

terms herself, it was hoped. The Army of Flanders now again numbered 70,000 men, at least at parity with


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the Dutch forces. Once the force of the double invasion by France and the Republic had been broken, thesetroops emerged from their fortresses and attacked the recently conquered Dutch areas in a pincer movement.In July 1635 Spanish troops from Geldern captured the strategically essential fortress of the Schenkenschans.This was situated on an island in the Rhine near Cleves and dominated the "back door" into the Dutchheartland along the north bank of the river Rhine. Cleves itself was soon captured by a combined

Imperialist-Spanish force and Spanish forces overran the Meierij.[142]

The Republic could not let the capture of the Schenkenschans stand. Frederick Henry therefore concentrateda huge force to besiege the fortress even during the winter months of 1635. Spain held tenaciously on to thefortress and its strategic corridor through Cleves. She hoped that the pressure on this strategic point, and thethreat of unhindered invasion of Gelderland and Utrecht, would force the Republic to give in. The plannedSpanish invasion never materialized, however, as the stadtholder forced the surrender of the Spanish garrison

in Schenkenschans in April 1636. This was a severe blow for Spain.[143]

The next year, thanks to the fact that the Cardinal-Infante shifted the focus of his campaign to the Frenchborder in that year, Frederick Henry managed to recapture Breda with a relatively small force, at thesuccessful fourth Siege of Breda, (21 July–11 October 1637). This operation, which engaged his forces for afull season, was to be his last success for a long time, as the peace party in the Republic, over his objections,managed to cut war expenditure and shrink the size of the Dutch army. These economies were pushedthrough despite the fact that the economic situation in the Republic had improved appreciably in the 1630s,following the economic slump of the 1620s caused by the Spanish embargoes. The Spanish river blockadehad ended in 1629. The end of the Polish–Swedish War in 1629 ended the disruption of Dutch Baltic trade.The outbreak of the Franco-Spanish War (1635) closed the alternate trade route through France for Flemishexports, forcing the South to pay the heavy Dutch wartime tariffs. Increased German demand for foodstuffs

and military supplies[144] as a consequence of military developments in that country, contributed to theeconomic boom in the Republic, as did successes of the VOC in the Indies and the WIC in the Americas(where the WIC had gained a foothold in Portuguese Brazil after its 1630 invasion, and now conducted athriving sugar trade). The boom generated much income and savings, but there were few investmentpossibilities in trade, due to the persisting Spanish trade embargoes. As a consequence, the Republicexperienced a number of speculative bubbles in housing, land (the lakes in North Holland were drainedduring this period) and, notoriously, tulips. Despite this economic upswing, which translated into increasedfiscal revenues, the Dutch regents showed little enthusiasm for maintaining the high level of militaryexpenditures of the middle 1630s. The échec of the Battle of Kallo of June, 1638 did little to get moresupport for Frederick Henry's campaigns in the next few years. These proved unsuccessful; his colleague-

in-arms Hendrik Casimir, the Frisian stadtholder[145] died in battle during the unsuccessful siege of Hulst in

1640.[146]

However, the Republic gained great victories at other locations. The war with France had closed the SpanishRoad for Spain, making it difficult to bring up reinforcements from Italy. Olivares therefore decided to send20,000 troops by sea from Spain in a large armada. This fleet was destroyed by the Dutch navy underMaarten Tromp and Witte Corneliszoon de With in the Battle of the Downs of 31 October 1639. This leftlittle doubt that the Republic now possessed the strongest navy in the world, also because the Royal Navy

was forced to stand by impotently while the battle raged in English territorial waters.[147]

Endgame (1640–1648)

The war overseas was going well for the Republic also. It was mainly fought by the proxies, the VOC andWIC, that had been given quasi-sovereign rights to wage war and conclude treaties on behalf of theRepublic. After the invasion of Portuguese Brazil by a WIC amphibious force in 1630, the extent of NewHolland, as the colony was called, grew gradually, especially under its governor-general Johan Maurits ofNassau-Siegen, in the period 1637–1644. It stretched from the Amazon river to Fort Maurits on the SãoFrancisco River. Soon a large number of sugar plantations flourished in this area, enabling the company to


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Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen by

Jan de Baen

dominate the European sugar trade. The colony was the base forconquests of Portuguese possessions in Africa also (due to thepeculiarities of the trade winds that make it convenient to sail toAfrica from Brazil in the Southern Hemisphere). Beginning in 1637with the conquest of Portuguese Elmina Castle, the WIC gainedcontrol of the Gulf of Guinea area on the African coast, and with it ofthe hub of the slave trade to the Americas. In 1641, a WICexpedition sent from Brazil under command of Cornelis Jolconquered Portuguese Angola. The Spanish island of Curaçao (withimportant salt production) was conquered in 1634, followed by a

number of other Caribbean islands.[148]

The WIC empire in Brazil started to unravel, however, when thePortuguese colonists in its territory started a spontaneous insurrectionin 1645. By that time the official war with Portugal was over, asPortugal itself had risen against the Spanish crown in December,1640. The Republic soon concluded a ten-year truce with Portugal,but this was limited to Europe. The overseas war was not affected byit. By the end of 1645 the WIC had effectively lost control ofnorth-east Brazil. There would be temporary reversals after 1648,when the Republic sent a naval expedition, but by then the Eighty

Years' War was over.[149]

In the Far East the VOC captured three of the six main Portuguese strongholds in Portuguese Ceylon in theperiod 1638–41, in alliance with the king of Kandy. In 1641 Portuguese Malacca was conquered. Again, the

main conquests of Portuguese territory would follow after the end of the war.[150]

The results of the VOC in the war against the Spanish possessions in the Far East were less impressive. Thebattles of Playa Honda in the Philippines in 1610, 1617 and 1624 resulted in defeats for the Dutch. Anexpedition in 1647 under Maarten Gerritsz. de Vries equally ended in a number of defeats in the Battle ofPuerto de Cavite and the Battles of La Naval de Manila. However, these expeditions were primarilyintended to harass Spanish commerce with China and capture the annual Manila galleon, not (as is often

assumed) to invade and conquer the Philippines.[151]

The revolts in Portugal and Catalonia, both in 1640, weakened Spain's position appreciably. Henceforththere would be increasing attempts by Spain to commence peace negotiations. These were initially rebuffedby the stadtholder, who did not wish to endanger the alliance with France. Cornelis Musch, as griffier of theStates-General, intercepted all correspondence the Brussels government attempted to send to the States on

the subject (and was lavishly compensated for these efforts by the French).[152] Frederick Henry also had aninternal political motive to deflect the peace feelers, though. The regime, as it had been founded by Mauriceafter his coup in 1618, depended on the emasculation of Holland as a power center. As long as Holland wasdivided the stadtholder reigned supreme. Frederick Henry also depended for his supremacy on a dividedHolland. At first (up to 1633) he therefore supported the weaker moderates against the Counter-Remonstants in the States of Holland. When the moderates gained the upper hand after 1633, he shifted hisstance to support of the Counter-Remonstrants and the war party. This policy of "divide and conquer"enabled him to achieve a monarchical position in all but name in the Republic. He even strengthened it,when after the death of Hendrik Casimir, he deprived the latter's son William Frederick, Prince ofNassau-Dietz of the stadtholderates of Groningen and Drenthe in an unseemly intrigue. William Frederickonly received the stadtholderate of Friesland and Frederick Henry after 1640 was stadtholder in the other six

provinces.[153]

But this position was only secure as long as Holland remained divided. And after 1640 the opposition to thewar more and more united Holland. The reason, as often in the Republic's history was money: the Holland


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regents were less and less inclined, in view of the diminished threat from Spain, to finance the huge militaryestablishment the stadtholder had built up after 1629. Especially as this large army brought disappointingresults anyway: in 1641 only Gennep was captured. The next year Amsterdam succeeded in getting a

cutback of the army from over 70,00 to 60,000 accepted over the stadtholder's objections.[154]

The Holland regents continued their attempts at whittling down the stadtholder's influence by breaking upthe system of secrete besognes in the States-General. This helped wrest influence from the stadtholder'sfavorites, who dominated these committees. It was an important development in the context of the generalpeace negotiations which the main participants in the Thirty Years' War (France, Sweden, Spain, theEmperor and the Republic) started in 1641 in Münster and Osnabrück. The drafting of the instructions forthe Dutch delegation occasioned spirited debate and Holland made sure that she was not barred from theirformulation. The Dutch demands that were eventually agreed upon were:

cession by Spain of the entire Meierij district;recognition of Dutch conquests in the Indies (both East and West);permanent closure of the Scheldt to Antwerp commerce;tariff concessions in the Flemish ports; and

lifting of the Spanish trade embargoes.[155]

While the peace negotiations were progressing at a snail's pace, Frederick Henry managed a last few militarysuccesses: in 1644 he captured Sas van Gent and Hulst in what was to become States Flanders. In 1646,however, Holland, sick of the feet-dragging in the peace negotiations, refused to approve the annual warbudget, unless progress was made in the negotiations. Frederick Henry now gave in and began to promotethe peace progress, instead of frustrating it. Still, there was so much opposition from other quarters (thepartisans of France in the States-General, Zeeland, Frederick Henry's son William) that the peace could not

be concluded before Frederick Henry's death on March 14, 1647.[156]

Main article: Peace of Münster

The negotiations between Spain and the Republic formally started in January, 1646 as part of the moregeneral peace negotiations between the warring parties in the Thirty Years' War. The States-General senteight delegates from several of the provinces as none trusted the others to represent them adequately. Theywere Willem van Ripperda (Overijssel), Frans van Donia (Friesland), Adriaen Clant tot Stedum (Groningen),Adriaen Pauw and Jan van Mathenesse (Holland), Barthold van Gent (Gelderland), Johan de Knuyt(Zeeland), and Godert van Reede (Utrecht). The Spanish delegation was led by Gaspar de Bracamonte, 3rdCount of Peñaranda. The negotiations were held in what is now the Haus der Niederlande in Münster.

The Dutch and Spanish delegations soon reached an agreement, that was based on the text of the TwelveYears' Truce. It therefore confirmed Spain's recognition of Dutch independence. The Dutch demands(closure of the Scheldt, cession of the Meierij, formal cession of Dutch conquests in the Indies and Americas,and lifting of the Spanish embargoes) were generally met. However, the general negotiations between themain parties dragged on, because France kept formulating new demands. Eventually it was decided thereforeto split off the peace between the Republic and Spain from the general peace negotiations. This enabled thetwo parties to conclude what technically was a separate peace (to the annoyance of France that maintainedthat this contravened the alliance treaty of 1635 with the Republic).

The text (in 79 articles) of the Treaty was fixed on 30 January 1648. It was then sent to the principals (kingPhilip IV of Spain and the States-General) for ratification. Five provinces voted (against the advice ofstadtholder William) to ratify on 4 April (Zeeland and Utrecht being opposed). Utrecht finally yielded topressure by the other provinces but Zeeland held out and refused to sign. It was eventually decided to ratifythe peace without Zeeland's consent. The delegates to the peace conference affirmed the peace on oath on


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Swearing of the Peace of Münster by

Gerard ter Borch

Map of the Netherlands c. 1593 by

Cornelis de Jode

History of theNetherlands

This article is part of a series

15 May 1648 (though the delegate of Zeeland refused to attend, and

the delegate of Utrecht suffered a possibly diplomatic illness).[157]

In the broader context of the treaties between France and the HolyRoman Empire, and Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire of 14 and24 October 1648, which comprise the Peace of Westphalia, butwhich were not signed by the Republic, the Republic now also gainedformal "independence" from the Holy Roman Empire, just like theSwiss Cantons. In both cases this was just a formalization of asituation that had already existed for a long time. France and Spaindid not conclude a treaty and so remained at war until the peace ofthe Pyrenees of 1659. The peace was celebrated in the Republic withsumptuous festivities. It was solemny promulgated on the 80thanniversary of the execution of the Counts of Egmont and Horne on 5 June 1648.

New border between North and South

The Dutch Republic made some territorial gains in the SpanishNetherlands but did not succeed in regaining the entire territory lostbefore 1590. The end result of the war therefore was a permanentsplit of the Habsburg Netherlands into two parts that roughlycorresponded with present-day Netherlands and Belgium-Luxembourg. Overseas, the Dutch Republic gained (through theintermediary of its two chartered companies, the United East IndiaCompany and the Dutch West India Company) important colonialpossessions, largely at the expense of Portugal. The peace settlementwas part of the comprehensive 1648 Peace of Westphalia, whichformally separated the Dutch Republic from the Holy RomanEmpire. In the course of the conflict, and as a consequence of itsfiscal-military innovations, the Dutch Republic emerged as a GreatPower, whereas the Spanish Empire lost its European hegemonic

status.

Political situation

Soon after the conclusion of the peace the political system of theRepublic entered a crisis. The same forces that had sustained theOldenbarnevelt regime in Holland, and that had been so thoroughlyshattered after Maurice's 1618 coup, had finally coalesced againaround what was to become known as the States-Party faction. Thisfaction had slowly been gaining prominence during the 1640s until theyhad forced Frederick Henry to support the peace. And now theywanted their peace dividend. The new stadtholder, William II, on theother hand, far less adept as a politician than his father, hoped tocontinue the predominance of the stadtholderate and the Orangistfaction (mostly the aristocracy and the Counter-Remonstrant regents)as in the years before 1640. Above all, he wanted to maintain the largewartime military establishment, even though the peace made thatsuperfluous. The two points of view were irreconcilable. When theStates-Party regents started to cut down the size of the standing army


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Early History

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Frankish Realm/The Franks

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to a peace-time complement of about 30,000, a struggle for power inthe Republic ensued. In 1650 the stadtholder finally followed the pathof his uncle Maurice and seized power in a coup d'état, but died a fewmonths later from smallpox. The power-vacuum which followed wasquickly filled by the States-Party regents, who founded their newrepublican regime that has become known as the First Stadtholderless

Period.[158]

Thanks to the lifting of the Spanish embargoes, and to the fact thatcosts to Dutch merchants and shippers appreciably declined after thepeace, because the expensive convoys were no longer necessary andthe rates of maritime insurance declined, Dutch trade on the IberianPeninsula and the Mediterranean exploded in the decade after thepeace, as did trade in general, because trade patterns in all Europeanareas were so tightly interlocked via the hub of the AmsterdamEntrepôt. Dutch trade in this period reached its pinnacle; it came tocompletely dominate that of competing powers, like England, that hadonly a few years previously profited greatly from the handicap theSpanish embargoes posed to the Dutch. Now the greater efficiency ofDutch shipping had a chance to be fully translated into shipping prices,and the competitors were left in the dust. The structure of Europeantrade therefore changed fundamentally in a way that was advantageousto Dutch trade, agriculture and industry. One could truly speak ofDutch primacy in world trade. This not only caused a significant boomfor the Dutch economy, but also much resentment in neighboringcountries, like first the Commonwealth of England and later France.Soon, the Republic was embroiled in military conflicts with thesecountries, which culminated in their joint attack on the Republic in1672. They almost succeeded in destroying the Republic in that year,but the Republic rose from its ashes and by the turn of the century, shewas one of the two European power centers, together with the France

of Louis XIV of France.[159]

The success of the Dutch Republic in its struggle to get away from theSpanish Crown had damaged Spain's Reputación, a concept that,

according to Olivares' biographer J.H. Elliot,[160] strongly motivatedthat statesman.

Portugal was no party in the peace and the war overseas between theRepublic and that country resumed fiercely after the expiration of theten-year truce of 1640. In Brazil and Africa the Portuguese managed to reconquer most of the territory lostto the WIC in the early 1640s after a long struggle. However, this occasioned a short war in Europe in theyears 1657–60, during which the VOC completed its conquests in Ceylon and the coastal areas of the Indian

subcontinent. Portugal was forced to indemnify the WIC for its losses in Brazil.[161]

Dutch–Portuguese WarBattles of the Eighty Years' WarEuropean wars of religionSynod of DordrechtUnion of Delft


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Arauco War – a costly and contemporary war of the Spanish Empire in the Americas

^ The Dutch States-General, for dramatic effect,decided to promulgate the ratification of the Peaceof Münster (which was actually ratified by them on15 May 1648) on the 80th anniversary of theexecution of the Counts of Egmont and Horne, 5June 1648. See Maanen, H. van (2002),Encyclopedie van misvattingen, Boom, pg. 68.ISBN 9053528342.

1.

^ Technically they formed the Burgundian Circlethat under the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 was tobe transferred as a unit in hereditary succession inthe House of Habsburg.

2.

^ Cf. Koenigsberger, pp. 184–1923.^ Tracy, pg. 664.^ Tracy, pg. 685.^ Tracy, pp. 68–696.^ Tracy, pp. 69–707.^ Tracy, pp. 71–728.^ Tracy, pg. 729.^ Tracy, pp. 77–7810.^ Tracy, pp. 78–7911.^ Parker, pp. 118–120; Parker discusses thefinancial difficulties the Spanish Crown almostcontinually encountered, when it often had to fightseveral wars at the same time as the war in theNetherlands, which forced it to declare bankruptcyseveral times; see Parker, ch. 6, FinancialResources

12.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 167–16813.^ Tracy, pg. 8014.^ Tracy, pp. 80–8115.^ Tracy, pg. 8216.^ Israel (1995), pg. 17517.^ Israel (1995), pp. 174–17518.^ Tracy, pg. 8319.^ Israel (1995), pg. 17720.^ Israel (1995), pg. 178; Tracy, pg. 8621.^ Israel (1995), pg. 17822.^ a b Tracy, pg. 9223.^ Tracy, pp. 92–9324.^ Israel (1995), pg. 18025.^ Israel (1995), pg. 18126.^ Tracy, pg. 9527.^ Tracy, p. 9728.^ a b Tracy, p. 9929.^ Koenigsberger, p. 262; Parker, p.127; Parkermentions that Spain had to default on its loans in1560 (after a war with France), 1575, 1596, 1607,1627, 1647 and 1653, every time putting the wareffort in jeopardy; the 1575 default led directly tothe 1576 mutiny of foreign troops in the Army ofFlanders, Parker, p. 127

30.

^ Koenigsberger, pp. 260–272; Tracy, pp. 135–13631.

^ Tracy, pp. 137–13832.^ The system of "contributions" Requesensadopted in 1574 outside the areas where regulartaxes could be collected, helped to augmentrevenue from the Netherlands (though it did nothelp avert the mutiny of 1576). Parma later"improved" on this system of forced contributionsby regularizing the arbitrary exactions of theSpanish troops in the form of brandschattingen, toa system of formalized extortions, in whichcommunities paid "protection money" to theSpanish "superintendent of contributions" to avoidbeing sacked, Parker, pp. 120–122

33.

^ Tracy, pg. 14134.^ Tracy, pg. 14235.^ In old Dutch the word for "garden" often means"fence."

36.

^ Tracy, pp. 149–15037.^ Tracy, pg. 15038.^ Tracy, pg. 15239.^ Tracy, p. 153-440.^ Tracy, pg. 15641.^ Tracy, pg. 159; Israel (1995), pp. 191–19242.^ The treaty is often called the "constitution" ofthe Dutch Republic. This is only partially true,however. This "constitution" in the main consistedof the constitutional framework that had organicallygrown in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlandsin the previous decades, which structure wassimply retained by the Republic. However, thearticles of the treaty provided additional buildingblocks for the constitution by providing an explicitframework for the budding Confederation. It wassigned in the city of Utrecht by the representativesof Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, the Ommelandenaround Groningen city, and the stadtholder ofGelderland, Orange's brother Jan, who presumed tosign for the divided States of Gelderland.Ironically, Jan van Nassau was reluctantlyaccepted by the anti-Orange and anti-Holland blocin the Gelderland States, because they mistook himfor a Lutheran moderate, and as such a bulwarkagainst Calvinist encroachments; Israel (1995), pg.191

43.

^ Koenigsberger, pp. 290–29144.^ Israel (1995), pp. 201–245.^ Israel (1995), pp. 205–20846.^ Israel (1995), pg. 20847.^ The role of the Archduke Matthias as nominalgovernor-general had now become superfluous, andhe was bought off with a generous annuity inMarch [1581]; Israel (1995), pp. 208–9

48.

^ Though Van Gelderen maintains that the Dutchversions actually antedate the monarchomach

49.


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publications; Van Gelderen, pp. 269–276^ Israel (1995), pp. 209–1150.^ a b Israel (1995), p. 21251.^ Tracy, pp. 168–16952.^ Israel (1995), p. 21353.^ Israel (1995), pp. 213–454.^ Israel (1995), pp. 214–655.^ Israel (1995), pp. 218–956.^ Israel (1995), pg. 21957.^ Israel (1995), pp. 219–2058.^ Israel (1995), pp. 221–259.^ Orange's eldest son, Philip William, now thePrince of Orange, was in Spanish hands; the secondson Justinus van Nassau, was illegitimate.

60.

^ Israel (1995), pg. 22461.^ Israel (1995), pp. 225-662.^ Israel (1995), pp. 228–3063.^ Entitled in translation:Short exposition of theright exercised from old times by the knighthood,nobles and towns of Holland and Westvrieslandfor the maintenance of the liberties, rights,privileges and laudable customs of the country;Van Gelderen, p. 204

64.

^ Van Gelderen, pg. 209; Koenigsberger, pp.308–10

65.

^ Van Gelderen, pp. 206–766.^ Koenigsberger, pg. 31367.^ Israel (1995), pg. 23468.^ Glete, pp. 145–5569.^ Israel (1995), pp. 235–770.^ Israel (1995), pg. 23771.^ Israel (1995), pp. 238–4072.^ ISRAEL, J.I. AND PARKER, G. (1991) "OfProvidence and Protestant Winds: the SpanishArmada of 1588 and the Dutch armada of 1688",in: The Anglo-Dutch moment. Essays on theGlorious Revolution and its world impact.Cambridge U.P., ISBN 0-521-39075-3; pp. 349–51

73.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 267–71; Glete, pp. 155–6274.^ It grew from 20,000 in 1588 to 32,000 by 1595;Israel (1995), pg. 242

75.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 241–576.^ In later years, Groningen, like the other provinceswould itself appoint its stadtholder.

77.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 246–5078.^ Israel (1995), pg. 25379.^ Israel (1995), pp. 253–25780.^ Thanks mainly to its easily memorable date, thisbattle is one of the few most Dutchmen are able torecite. Together with Turnhout this was one of thefew pitched battles the States Army was able towin. However, remember who won the war:Jemmingen, Jodoigne and Gembloux never seemedto afford Spain a decisive advantage.

81.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 258–982.^ Israel (1995), p. 26083.^ Israel (1995), pp. 261-284.^ Israel (1995), pg. 263, map85.^ Israel (1995), pp. 263–7; Glete, pg. 15586.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 399–40187.^ Israel (1995), pp. 40288.^ The Republic formed an alliance with Swedenand the Hanseatic League to force Denmark tolower its tolls in 1613; Israel (1995), pg. 406

89.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 403–490.^ Israel (1995), pp. 404–591.^ Israel (1995), pp. 405–692.^ Israel (1995), pp. 409–10, 43793.^ Israel (1995), pp. 421–694.^ Israel (1995), pp. 424–43295.^ Israel (1995), pp. 434–896.^ This was a Dutch bastardization of the Germanword "Warte Gelt", or "retainer", and at the timewas a general Dutch designation for "mercenary".

97.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 438–4398.^ He had succeeded his half-brother Philip Williamas Prince of Orange, after the latter's death inFebruary 1618

99.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 443–8100.^ The Generality, other than the individualprovinces, did not have a judicial branch. In caseswhere using the court system of, for instance,Holland was not possible the States-Generaltherefore commissioned special courts. In itself,this was not unusual. It need not imply that the trialwould be unfair.

101.

^ College of Nobles; this was the co-opting collegethat represented the Holland nobles in the States,with one vote.

102.

^ Oldenbarnevelt's title of Advocate was nowabolished and replaced with this new title.

103.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 448–56, 458104.^ Beside a number of Dutch theologians there weredelegations of the sister-churches in England,Scotland and Switzerland; even James I took apersonal interest.

105.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 456–9, 460–5106.^ A few years later Oldenbarnevelt's sonsconspired to kill Maurice in revenge and one ofthem was sentenced to death. This timeOldenbarnevelt's widow pleaded for mercy. Whenasked why she had not done this in the case of herhusband, she replied that her son was guilty, buther husband had been innocent. [1](http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Utrecht)

107.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 458–9108.^ MOTLEY, J.L. (1874) The Life and Death of Johnof Barneveld: Advocate of Holland. Vol. 2, pg. 392

109.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 407–8110.^ Frederick was the son of Maurice's half-sisterCountess Louise Juliana of Nassau

111.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 465–9112.^ The Duke of Lerma had been replaced by his sonin 1618

113.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 469–71114.^ Israel (1995), pg. 471115.^ Israel (1995), pp. 472–3116.


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^ Under the terms of the Will of Philip II thepretended sovereignty over the Netherlands nowreverted to Philip III.

117.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 473–4118.^ Israel (1990), pp. 3–7119.^ Israel (1990), pp. 8–10120.^ Israel (1990), pp. 11–15121.^ Israel (1990), pp. 21–2122.^ Israel (1990), pp. 15–8123.^ Israel, pp. 20–1124.^ Israel (1990), pp. 23–4125.^ Israel (1990), pp. 25–27126.^ Israel (1990), pp. 32–33127.^ Israel (1995), pp. 480–1128.^ Israel (1995), p. 479-480, 483–484129.^ Israel (1995), pp. 485–96130.^ Israel (1995), pp. 497–9131.^ Israel (1995), pp. 506–7132.^ Israel (1995), pp. 508–13133.^ Israel (1995), pg. 513134.^ Israel (1995), pp. 515–6135.^ Israel (1995), pg. 517136.^ Israel (1995), pp. 518–9137.^ Israel (1995), pp. 521–3138.^ Glete, pp. 204, 208139.^ Israel (1995), pp. 523–7140.^ Israel (1995), pp. 527–8141.^ Israel (1995), pp. 528–9142.^ Israel (1995), pp. 529–30143.^ The Republic functioned as the main arsenal for144.

the Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War;PUYPE, P.J., HOEVEN, M. VAN DER (1996) TheArsenal of the World: The Dutch Arms Trade inthe Seventeenth Century, Batavian LionInternational, ISBN 9067074136^ Hendrik Casimir succeeded his father ErnstCasimir as stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen andDrenthe in 1632.

145.

^ Israel (1995), pp. 530–6146.^ Israel (1995), pg. 537147.^ Israel (1995), pg. 934148.^ Israel (1995), pg. 935149.^ Israel (1995), pg. 936150.^ Cf. ROESSINGH, M. (1968) "Nederlandsebetrekkingen met de Philippijnen", in: Bijdragen totde Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde, jrg. 124, no. 3,pp. 482–504 (http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv/article/viewFile/2568/3329)

151.

^ Israel (1995), p. 540152.^ Israel (1995) pp. 538–9153.^ Israel (1995), pg. 541154.^ Israel (1995), pg. 542155.^ Israel (1995), pp. 544–6156.^ Israel (1995), pp. 596–7157.^ Israel (1995), pp. 597–609158.^ Israel (1989), pp. 197–292159.^ ELLIOT, J.H. (1986) The Count-Duke ofOlivares. The Statesman in an Age of Decline.Yale University: New Haven and London

160.

^ Israel (1989), pp. 248–50161.

Gelderen, M. van (2002), The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt 1555–1590, CambridgeUniversity Press, ISBN 0-521-89163-9Glete, J. (2002),War and the State in Early Modern Europe. Spain, the Dutch Republic andSweden as Fiscal-Military States, 1500–1660, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-22645-7Israel, Jonathan (1989), Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585–1740, Clarendon Press, ISBN0-19-821139-2Israel, Jonathan (1990), Empires and Entrepôts: The Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy, and the Jews,1585–1713, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 1852850221Israel, Jonathan (1995), The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477–1806, ClarendonPress, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-873072-1Koenigsberger, H.G. (2001), Monarchies, States Generals and Parliaments: The Netherlands inthe Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 928-0-521-04437-0Parker, G. (2004) The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567–1659. Second edition.Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-54392-7 paperbackTracy, J.D. (2008), The Founding of the Dutch Republic: War, Finance, and Politics in Holland1572–1588, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-920911-8

(Dutch) De Bello Belgico (http://dutchrevolt.leidenuniv.nl/)(Dutch) Correspondence of William of Orange (http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/WVO)Dutch Revolt on Rijksmuseum.nl (http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_encyclopedia


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/00047156?lang=en)(Spanish) La Guerra de Flandes, desde la muerte del emperador Carlos V hasta la Tregua de losDoce Años (http://bvpb.mcu.es/en/catalogo_imagenes/grupo.cmd?path=11000459&forma=&presentacion=pagina&forma=&posicion=1&accion_ir=Go)(Dutch) "Nederlandse Opstand" on www.onsverleden.net (http://www.onsverleden.net/)

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