Spanish Netherlands

State formation

Before falling under Spanish control, the Netherlands provinces were united under one crown of the Dukes of Burgundy, and then Charles V. Born in Ghent in 1500, in 1516 he adopted the Spanish crown as Charles I, and in 1519 became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire . . As a result, vast territories — Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, part of Italy, Spain and its colonies in America — were under the rule of the Habsburgs. The ruler of the Seventeen Provinces, Charles V was in the period 1515-1555 ^[1] .

In the administrative structure of the districts of the Holy Roman Empire, the lands of the Netherlands were part of the Burgundy district . In 1548, Karl decided to change the status of this administrative unit in order to more closely unite its various lands. At the imperial Reichstag in Augsburg, the Burgundy district (including Friesland and a number of other lands annexed under Charles V to the Dutch possessions of the Habsburgs) was declared a single inseparable complex of lands in 17 provinces. The district gained independence, in particular, from the imperial Reichstag, whose decisions ceased to be binding on him ^[2] .

The following year, 1549, Charles V issued the edict “ Pragmatic Sanction ”, according to which the Netherlands became a separate state, independent of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France. The highest sovereignty over the Netherlands was transferred to the sovereigns from the Habsburg house. The administration of the Netherlands was transferred to the governor (general staff - halter , stat-huder ), in which there was a State Council. Most of this council belonged to the local, Dutch aristocracy. The highest class representative body became the General States . Most of the central government in the Netherlands was concentrated in Brussels . Later, in 1581, it became the de facto capital of the state ^[3] .

“From the point of view of international law, the Netherlands has become an independent state, remaining connected with other states in the possession of the Habsburg house only in the field of foreign policy.” ^[4]

For Charles V, this was not an end in itself. In affirming the Pragmatic sanction on the General States, the emperor was certain that control of the Seventeen Provinces would remain in the hands of the Habsburg house. Compared to the Spanish crown, they were of much greater value. Of Karl’s reign, out of the 5 million gold gains of the entire kingdom, 2 million came from the Dutch provinces, while America and Spain individually provided only 1 million each, that is, four (?) Four times less ^[1] .

The Reign of Philip II

Charles V renounced his sovereignty over non-Austrian possessions, including the Netherlands, on October 25, 1555 in favor of his son Philip. On January 16, 1556, he likewise handed him the Spanish crown. As a result of the division of the empire, Philip II received Spain, the Kingdom of both Sicilies , the Netherlands, Franche-Comté , Milan , possessions in America and Africa. Strengthening the vertical of power (absolutism), Philip deprived Aragon and Castile, as well as Catalonia - the most economically important regions for the empire - a significant part of medieval liberties ^[1] .

While Charles V was a native of the Netherlands, Philip II was a foreigner for this country, brought up in Spain. To this was added a conflict with a centralized government and a religious schism in which the king, as a Catholic, began a decisive struggle against the "Protestant heresy." This policy of Philip II aroused discontent, and then the appearance of the opposition-minded layers of the Dutch nobility and aristocracy. Prince William of Orange , Earl of Egmont , Earl of Horn and others became opposition to the king ^[1]

The opposition organized themselves in the Union Agreement (“Compromise”), on behalf of which on April 5, 1566, in Brussels, the Spanish governor Margaret of Parma submitted a petition demanding to stop religious persecution, take away historical “liberties” and convene General States to solve the problems ^[1] . In the return manifesto on August 25, 1566, the governor made several concessions. She promised an amnesty to members of the union of nobles. They fully accepted its conditions, dissolved their alliance, and, together with government forces, embarked on an armed suppression of the uprising, seeking to curry favor with their previous "sins." On August 25, the Prince of Orange reported in a letter to Margarita of Parma that, on his orders, two iconoclasts were hanged on the market square, and another twelve were subjected to various punishments ^[3] .

Nevertheless, the remaining reign of Philip II was marked by a series of mass unrest and unrest - the Dutch bourgeois revolution began (a chronology of the main events in TSB ) ^[5] :

• In August 1566, the Iconoclastic rebellion began in Flanders.
• In the summer of 1567, Spanish troops entered the Netherlands under the command of the Duke of Alba (Fernando Alvarez de Toledo).
• in 1568 and 1572, William of Orange, who fled to Germany, relying on the help of German Protestant princes and French Huguenots, twice invaded the Netherlands with troops. In both actions, the prince suffered a military defeat.
• On April 1, 1572, after the seizures of the Sea of Brille , a general uprising began in Holland and Zealand. In the summer of that year, having gathered in Dordrecht , the representative bodies (states) of these rebellious provinces made a number of important decisions on the organization of power.
• In the autumn of 1572, William Oransky was awarded the highest executive power and the supreme military command. The defense of Haarlem in December 1572 - July 1573, Alkmaar in 1573 and Leiden in October 1573 - October 1574 ended in defeats from the Spanish army. However, in 1573, the Spanish government was forced to withdraw Alba from the Netherlands.
• In 1574, a meeting of the synod was held in Dordrecht, which laid the solid organizational foundations of the Calvinist church in the north of the country. Calvinism became the spiritual banner under which the struggle for the elimination of Spanish rule and feudal arbitrariness unfolded.
• After the victorious anti-Spanish uprising on September 4, 1576 in Brussels, the center of the anti-Spanish movement moved to the southern provinces.
• In the fall of 1576, the General States of all the Dutch provinces were assembled, and on November 8, 1576 the Ghent peace was promulgated ( fr. La Pacification de Gand , see The Netherlands Revolution ) - an agreement between the northern (Calvinist) and southern (Catholic) provinces.
• On February 12, 1577, the General States entered into an Eternal Edict with the new Spanish governor, Don Juan of Austria , an agreement on reconciliation with the Spanish king on the condition that he recognizes Ghent peace.
• However, on June 24, 1577, don Juan captured the fortress of Namur and began to gather forces to suppress the Dutch revolution.
• In September 1577, William of Orange arrived in Brussels from Holland, who was elected the Rward (ruler) of Brabant. The leadership of the political life of the country passed into his hands.
• In October 1578, the Spanish governor Don Juan died, who was succeeded by the skilled politician and commander Alexander Farnese .
• In the fall of 1578, the uprising of the province of Gennegau , led by Catholic nobles. They were joined by the nobles of Artois , Douai and Orshe . On January 6, 1579, they concluded the Union of Arras between themselves and actually repelled themselves from the revolutionary Protestant provinces.
• In response to this, the provinces of the North signed the Union of Utrecht on January 23, 1579, which was later joined by the Protestant cities of Flanders and Brabant .
• On May 17, 1579, the Arrassians entered into a separate agreement with Philip II.
• On June 15, 1580, Philip II issued a decree outlawing the Prince of Orange.
• On July 26, 1581, the General States of the Northern Provinces responded with a counter- act of deposition of Philip II and proclaimed their duke Francois of Alencon , brother of the King of France.

• Age of the Reformation. Europe (Rus.) / Redkoll .: Badak A.N. et al. (Total 26 people). - M .: AST, 2002. - S. 624. - ISBN 985-13-0267-8 .

• Lavorini M. Age of the Reformation. Europe = Carlo V. Il Sovrano Di Tre Continenti (Russian) . - M .: Niola-Press, 2010. - P. 128. - (Secrets of history). - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-366-00568-5 .
• Chistozvonov A.N. The Dutch bourgeois revolution of the 16th century (Russian) . - M .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1958.
• Chistozvonov A.N. The Dutch bourgeois revolution of the 16th century (Russian) // Big Soviet Encyclopedia , 3rd ed.: Spr (enz) / Gl.red. A.M. Prokhorov. - M .: Sov. Encyclopedia, 1974. - T. 17: Morshiy-Nikish . - S. 615: ill., Maps .

• PJF Koop. De rechtshistorische betekenis van het Keizerschap van Karel V voor de Nederlandse staatsvorming (Danish) . - Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid, 1998 .-- ISBN 985-13-0267-8 .