William the Silent and the Dutch Revolt

Comparative Starting Points and Triggering of Insurgencies

Nick Ridley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000406764
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

William the Silent and the Dutch Revolt examines the first stages of the Dutch struggle against Spanish rule during the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The book analyses the causes of growing discontent in the Netherlands and the various stages of the revolt, focusing on the key tipping points where discontent and violent upheaval escalated to become a national struggle for independence. The book also provides comparative analyses of insurgencies in the modern era and examines how popular discontent throughout history has often developed into struggles for full independence. The book is a key resource for scholars and students of early modern European history, as well as those interested in the history of revolts.

Part I

The Netherlands and the Empire

1 Charles V and Philip II

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, most of the differing provinces of the Netherlands formed part of the Duchy of Burgundy. Burgundy originally was a feudal duchy giving fealty and homage to the King of France – John II (John the Good, defeated at the battle of Poitiers in 1356 by the English during the Hundred Years War) – who had two sons. His eldest, the Dauphin, was his heir; the second son, Philip, was enforced as the Duke of Burgundy. Philip married Margaret – the Countess of Flanders – and more territory was acquired by the duchy. Philip’s son, John, to become known as “John the Fearless”, married Margaret, the Countess of Holland, and further expanded the territory of the duchy. Under John the Fearless and later dukes, the duchy became increasingly independent from the royal French control and became a European power to be reckoned with by the other European powers.

The successor to John, Duke Philip the Good, implemented a form of centralised administration in the 1430s. The States-General were formed, a central forum drawn from the representatives of the differing states, or representative bodies from the differing territories of Burgundy. There was a Central Accounting Office, centralising the finances of the duchy, with a Treasurer and a general auditor. Also, an order was created, open to worthy nobles of Burgundy – the Order of the Golden Fleece.

However, the territories of Burgundy were separate and at times had shifting boundaries. The territories comprising the duchy were located from the northern part of the Low Countries, the north-western part of the Holy Roman Empire, north-eastern France, Franche-Comté on the imperial– French border, and down the Rhone Valley. The last ruler of the duchy, Charles the Rash, overreached himself in ambition and attempted alliances. Burgundy, as a separate power, fell in 1477 after a final battle with France. France under Louis XI, by building up military forces and by shrewd alliances, had slowly but surely worked towards the destruction of Burgundy. After 1477, the Burgundian territories were carved up between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Most of the provinces of the Netherlands fell under the Empire in varying forms of subjugation.

Under the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian, the provinces of Friesland and Groningen were brought into the imperial rule during the period from 1500 to 1515, although substantial resistance and anti-imperial tradition and active resistance continued in the north by the time the Duke Charles, the future Emperor Charles V, became ruler of all the Netherlands, officially so proclaimed at Leuven in the province of Brabant in January 1515.

Charles became the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519 after an election in which he had been confronted by several rival candidates from various European powers. To ensure his electoral victory, he had to bear substantial election expenses, including bribes, to the various electors of the Empire and, in so doing, heavily dependent on loans from the German banking family, the Fuggers. Servicing the debt and being beholden to foreign financiers was to be a regular occurrence for the Hapsburg rulers of both Spain and the Empire. Constantly short of funds for both servicing current debts and needing more loans, the comparatively wealthy Netherlands provinces were to be looked to, through the States-General, as sources of revenues to alleviate the dire financial situation. Fortunately, for the Netherlands, the Regent from 1550 to 1555 – Mary of Hungary and Charles’ sister – was far more in touch and empathised with the Netherlands than the imperial advisors, or even Charles himself. In the early 1540s, the government of the Netherlands tried to impose a general income tax. It was met with a united opposition from the different states of the provinces. In early 1543, the government, led by Mary, sensibly withdrew the proposed income tax. The province of Tournai moved towards compromise with a grant of 12,000 florins, raised by its own provincial authorities and officials. Other provinces followed with similar grants by late 1544, having been given the rights to raise their own revenues. It was a win-win; Mary and the government gained some revenues, and the sovereignty and rights of the provincial states were protected and recognised.

However, the wars of the Emperor Charles V in the late 1540s and early 1550s voraciously consumed monies, and more revenues were needed. The Netherlands government was called upon to provide large sums. Most of these were for wars and policies outside the Netherlands and not directly benefitting the Netherlands, a fact which the differing states all noted and resented. By the time Charles V abdicated his position as the Holy Roman Emperor and ceased ruling all his territories in 1555, the Netherlands government had a deficit of 7 million livres.¹

The States-General consisted of delegates from the individual provincial states. The provincial states differed in their composition of delegates. In the States of Holland, it was formed by delegates from six major towns together with a small number of nobles, who sat in the Knights Chamber. The Flanders States were formed from delegates from the principal cities, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and a group of nobles from a country district. The States of Brabant and the States of Artois had delegates from towns, nobility, and lower rural classes, but the delegates from the towns had the predominant vote. In Gelderland (originally not part of the States-General but a province of the Netherlands) in the north, there were four differing assemblies, known as the four quarters. Irrespective of their composition, however, the delegates from the provincial states to the States-General were strictly mandated by their states and were on a tight rein. Any differences or any unanticipated or major proposals on future policy that came to light during the States-General, the delegates had to refer back, even physically return to and consult with, their respective provincial states. Also the provincial states themselves consisted delegates from the towns and areas of the province, also on an equally tight rein, and delegates in the provincial states had also to refer back and consult with the towns they represented The result was many delays in completing legislation, and, for the ruler, it meant delays in the granting of taxes and revenues. During one assembly in 1476, the representative of the Duke of Burgundy, his Chancellor, in exasperation humorously inquired if the States-General delegates were instructed by their states as to how many times and the amounts they were allowed to drink during their journey.² The remark was ill-received. The provinces, through their states, were fiercely protective of their autonomy and rights and privileges.

Under Charles V, the various diverse component parts of the Netherlands were more centralised. In 1523, a conflict in the Friesland area ended with the province of Friesland acknowledging the overlordship of the Emperor. Its subjugation was achieved with the assistance of the province of Holland. In 1528, the province of Utrecht was annexed, and Charles deliberately maintained it as a separate entity from that of Holland, which had designs on annexing it for itself.³ The province of Overijssel also came within the imperial jurisdiction in the same year, and it was followed by the province of Gelderland (with its semiautonomous quarters) in 1543. Then in June 1548, the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire met at Augsburg. At that meeting they agreed to Charles’ urging that the Hapsburg Netherlands territories be recognised as one entity but as a separate administrative unit that is still part of the Holy Roman Empire (part of the Burgundian Circle) yet remain autonomous under the direct rule of the Hapsburgs. Four months later, the Diet agreed to the “Pragmatic Sanction” whereby on the death of Charles V the Netherlands territories as a single entity would pass to his successors, and all the territories therein would be under the central institutions. These central institutions for all the Netherlands were based in Brussels where a Council of State sat, deciding overall policies, a Council of Finance, and the Hof or Supreme Court, deliberating in Mechelen. The individual provinces retained the powers of raising troops and levying taxes and conducting justice in the provincial Hof but still had in many cases differing laws and customs. The provincial states sat in each province, extremely conscious and jealous of their privileges and functions. However, each province since 1549 had the right, which invariably they exercised, to send delegates to represent the province in the Netherlands States-General.

The provinces, including Flanders and Artois which had not been part the Empire, were taken in to become a part of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. These provinces become known as “the seventeen provinces” and were to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the Reichskammergericht, or imperial supreme court, and the authority of the imperial Diet. However, they paid their taxes directly to the Emperor and were liable to participate in the defence of the Empire if it was threatened by foreign powers and provide military resources and men to the Emperor when required and financed. The latter amount was to be twice as much as that provided by the individual electors. If the external danger was to the south-east from the Turks, then the finances provided would amount to three times as much as that provided by the individual elector.⁴

Charles V was preoccupied at the beginning of his reign as Emperor with affairs in Spain, but in the 1530s he returned to the Netherlands. He was based at Mechelen, his beloved and adopted capital of the Netherlands provinces. Under Charles V, the Netherlands became a more homogeneous entity, more centralised, and more under the control of the Hapsburg. These developments were accepted because they proved beneficial and efficient, and also because of an general affinity of the Netherlands’ populace with Charles V who, as the Holy Roman Emperor, cultivated this and publicly identified his respect and particular affinity for the Netherlands.

The Holy Roman Empire was itself an extremely hybrid collection of territories and jurisdictions, and the status of “the seventeen provinces” was just one example of the large but loose confederative structure that was to be a major part of Europe from early Mediaeval times to the late eighteenth century. The “seventeen provinces”, even after the Burgundian Treaty of 1548, still had significant differences and enjoyed differing privileges. One historian states the confederative relationship between the Netherlands provinces and the Empire as the provinces “…were in theory a part of the Holy Roman Empire, a quaint political fiction of which no one took any practical notice”.⁵

At last one other historian, while not denying the looseness of the connection, emphasises the strong tie with – and the sovereignty of – the Hapsburgs over these provinces of the Netherlands and as such their being part of the Empire in certain aspects.⁶

It was into this collection of provinces, themselves part of a loose confederation of the Holy Roman Empire, that William of Nassau, future Prince of Orange and who became known as William the Silent, was born and grew up.

William was born in 1533; he was the eldest son of a noble of the Holy Roman Empire, William, the Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. William, the Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, was himself a younger son, and the bulk of family estates in the Netherlands was in the hands of the older brother, Henry. Young William enjoyed a pleasant if quiet existence on the Dillenburg estates. The town of Dillenburg stood east of the Rhine about 80 kilometres south-east of Cologne.

During the Reformation in the early 1530s, his father William changed his religion, adopting the Lutheran faith for himself, his family, and for all churches within his estates and holdings. He did this in a moderate way, with a certain degree of tact and toleration to those who wished to personally remain Catholic so his conversion passed off peacefully, as did the fortunes of the county of Nassau-Dillenburg. Thanks to the father William keeping a low profile and remaining politically neutral, the county suffered little impact during the turbulent years of the Reformation.

In this comparatively peaceful environment on the estates of Dillenburg, the young William the Silent grew up, enjoying the idyllic and genteel childhood, and undertook education and training that befit his position as the eldest son of a minor noble.

William’s uncle Henry, as we have seen was the elder brother of Count William and possessed the bulk of the estates of the county of Nassau- Dillenburg. Henry had been a boyhood friend of the young Charles, the future Emperor Charles V. Henry had married into yet more noble land, having wed a daughter of the French noble house of Chalons, whose holdings included the princedom of Orange, a small principality entirely within the Kingdom of France, but technically sovereign and independent. Henry by this marriage also gained many minor baronies each one owning a small estate.

Henry’s possessions, including the principality of Orange, passed to his son Rene, cousin of the young William the Silent. Rene was 15 years older than William. On the encouragement – in reality an imperial command of the Emperor Charles V Rene, at a comparatively young age, Rene made a will stipulating that the beneficiary of all his lands and titles would be his young cousin William. The elder count William was still alive. Charles V’s motives for ordering Rene to make such a will was to ensure that in the event of Rene dying unexpectedly, his large and numerous lands would not go by default to the elder count William, a Lutheran. By contrast, these lands going to the young William would be a minor difficulty; the religion of a child heir could easily be corralled by suitable (Catholic) tutors and mentors, and eventually be altered. Rene dutifully made the will in accordance with the Emperor Charles V’s wishes and promptly forgot about it. He had plenty of noble life in front of him, and when the time came a realistic will to bequeath all to his future heirs would be made. Rene matured, became a loyal courtier at the Emperor’s court, ruled his estates and served as a soldier, commanding troops in the imperial armies.

During the course of one invasion by imperial troops into France, the French fort of Saint-Dizier was besieged. The fort put up a staunch defence and held out until the end of war remaining in French hands. A peace accord eventually was signed between the Empire and France; the French defenders stood down and the imperial troops departed. However, they left behind many dead, including Rene, who in July 1544 had been shot by a defender’s musket bullet while standing in siege lines before St Didier. William, at the age of 11, had come into an inheritance as holder of the Princedom of Orange, a large part of the province of Brabant, part of the provinces of Flanders and Luxembourg, holdings in Franche-Comté which were valued at over 150,000 livres in revenue every year, and 50 small baronies, as well as his original county of Nassau-Dillenburg.

This meant an end to the comparatively idyllic upbringing of young William, the eldest son of a small landholding noble. With his new possessions and titles, he was a significant ruler in the Netherlands and the Empire. This necessitated him joining the imperial court in the Netherlands and becoming a courtier and commander in a form of service to the Emperor. He renounced his original small inheritance from his father Count William in favour of his brother John, who became John of Nassau. William assumed his new titles and joined the imperial court at Brussels.

The young William had the Emperor as a mild father-figure, and court life and education were different from that of Dillenburg but not unpleasant. His formal education was taught to him by a ‘safe’ tutor. However fond the Emperor’s court may have become of young William, his lands were large and potentially powerful, and it was necessary to ensure that his upbringing would result in him being on the right side, the holy side, of the Catholic–Lutheran divide. The tutor was Jerome Perronet, son of the distinguished minister of Charles V, Nicholas Perronet, and the younger brother of Antoine de Perronet, the Bishop of Arras. William may have enjoyed the tutoring of Jerome de Perronet, but in the future he was to have a different reaction to the impact of the activities of Antoine de Perronet, the Bishop of Arras.

As William grew up to his late teens and learned the true religion and was schooled in etiquette, statecraft, and diplomacy, the Emperor Charles permitted that he was at consultative meetings and valued his opinions. When Charles, ever busy, ever facing down threats to the Empire, was not present in the Netherlands, his Regent Mary of Hungary took the reins of government, and she too valued William’s company. Mary of Hungary was an authoritarian Regent, but overall she governed the Netherlands wisely and with degrees of tolerance; William’s natural perceptiveness and tolerant disposition led him to see and learn further the values of wise governance from Margaret of Hungary.

During this period, William was at court, taking up one or two traditional ceremonial duties for several years. ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I The Netherlands and the Empire
• Part II William the Silent and the Revolt
• Part III Other Revolts and Insurgencies
• Part IV William the Silent and the forging of a nation
• Appendix I: The financial state of Spain
• Appendix II: Requesens, the diplomat and his attempts at reconciliation
• Bibliography and works consulted
• Index