History of the Dutch-Speaking Peoples 1555-1648

596 Pages·2001·28.879 MB·English

by  Pieter Geyl

HISTORY OF THE
DUTCH-SPEAKING
: PEOPLES
i 1555-1648 P
PIETER GEYL

HISTORY OF THE
DUTCH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
1555-1648
Pieter Geyl, who was born at Dordrecht in 1887 and
educated at the University of Leyden, was the greatest
Dutch historian of his time, and a scholar of European
renown. In 1913 he came to London as the correspondent
for a Dutch newspaper, and in 1919 he was appointed
Professor of Dutch Studies at London University. He later
returned to the Netherlands as Professor of Modern
History at the University of Utrecht, where he remained
until his retirement in 1958. During the Second World
War, he was imprisoned in a German concentration camp,
and wrote Napoleon: For and Against (1944). He produced
many books on Dutch history, including The Netherlands
Divided, 1609-1648 (1936), and several volumes of essays
on which Debates with Historians (1962) and Encounters in
History (1963) are the best known. He died in 1966.
Also by Pieter Geyl
Napoleon: For and Against
Debates with Historians
Encounters in History
HISTORY OF THE
DUTCH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
1555-1648
Pieter Geyl
v
PHOENIX
PRESS
5 UPPER SAINT MARTIN' S LANE
LONDON
WC2H 9EA
A PHOENIX PRESS PAPERBACK
Originally published in Great Britain
as The Revolt of the Netherlands 1555-1609
and The Netherlands Divided 1609-1648 by
Williams & Norgate Ltd, 1932 and 1936
This paperback edition published in 2001
by Phoenix Press,
a division of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd,
Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
London wc2H gEA
Copyright © by Pieter Geyl 1932, 1961
The moral right of Pieter Gey] to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the copyright owner and the above
publisher of this book.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it may not
be resold or otherwise issued except in its original binding.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
ISBN I 84212 225 8
This Phoenix Press edition combines the two volume The
Revolt of the Netherlands 1555-1609 and The Netherlands in the
Seventeenth Century 1609-1648 into one.
The Revolt of the Netherlands 1555-1609 is the first volume
in Pieter Geyl’s magnificent — but sadly incomplete — History
of the Dutch-Speaking Peoples. In this superb panorama of
politics and war, Gey] tells the epic story of the Netherlanders’
heroic struggle against the might of Spain, and of the rise and
establishment of the Dutch Republic. As such, it remains the
definitive account of one of the central episodes in early
modern European history. But it also addresses issues which
remain alive and important today: the relation between
religious belief and political action, the complex questions of
national identity, and the problems besetting a small country
struggling to survive in a great-power world. Above all, it is
suffused by the author’s abiding belief in the vitality of
European civilisation.
The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century, 1609-1648 is the
second volume in Pieter Geyl’s History of the Dutch-Speaking
Peoples. In this masterly account of how the Netherlanders
finally won their freedom, he describes the uneasy truce with
Spain, the arrest and execution of Oldenbarnevelt, the resump-
tion of war in 1621, the uncertain alliance with France, and the
eventual establishment of Dutch independence in 1648. At the
same time, Geyl also provides an unforgettable portrait of
Dutch life during the first half of the seventeenth century —
an era of unprecendented domestic prosperity, of extensive
colonial expansion in the East Indies and North America, and
of outstanding cultural achievement, most brilliantly exempli-
fied in the works of the young Rembrandt.
PHILIP II OF SPAIN
1555-98
CONTENTS
THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS
1555-1609
PREFACE 16
INTRODUCTION
I Earty NETHERLANDS HISTORY 23
The Nation and the Dynasty 23
II UNDER CHARLES V 35
Continued State-Building 35
B Civilization 4I
c The Disruption of Catholic Unity 50
p National Sentiment 60
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
AND THE SPLIT
I THE PRELUDE, 1555-1572 69
A The High Nobility 69
B The First Outburst 79
c The Tyranny of Alva 99
II HOLLAND AND ZEALAND IN REVOLT (1572-1576) 119
III “Tue ENTIRE FATHERLAND” IN REVOLT 145 .
A Under the Pacification of Ghent 00
B_ Religious Strife and Separate Unions 161
IV THE SPLIT 181
A Parma’s Conquests, 1580-1589 181
CONTENTS
The Establishment of a North Netherlands
State 203
The Conquests of Maurice 217
Stalemate
233
Conclusion of the Twelve Years’ Truce,
1606-1609 250
V REVOLUTIONS IN NEFHERLANDS CIVILIZATION 260
A Before the Split 263
B After the Split 274
THE NETHERLANDS IN THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1609-1648
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 297
PREFACE TO FirST EDITION 299
INTRODUCTION 301
THE GULF IN RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL
—
Lire WIDENS 306
A The South under Albert and Isabella 397
B The Religious Disputes in the North 326
Cc Uncalvinistic Tendencies in Religious and
Intellectual Life
351
The Synod of Dort and the Consolidation of
Calvinistic Supremacy 358
II THE War (1621-1648)
372
A The Menacing Power of the Habsburgs
372
Frederick Henry Captures ’s Hertogenbosch
375
Unsuccessful Efforts at Reunion 382
The French Alliance of 1635 396
ooaOo North and South Face to Face 399