Maurits of Nassau and the Survival of the Dutch Revolt: Comparative Insurgences

233 Pages·2020·0.756 MB·English

by  Nicholas Ridley

Maurits of Nassau and
the Survival of the Dutch Revolt
This book describes the crucial period in the monumental 80-year Dutch
struggle against the Spanish Empire, through which a small nation gained
its independence from one of the mightiest European powers. Dr. Ridley
shows how, even though the Dutch Revolt was at its lowest point,
Maurits of Nassau and the Dutch fought on and the Revolt survived.
It was a turbulent time, with complex diplomacy and shifting alliances,
assassination plots, France torn by civil war, Spain spearheading the
Counter-Reformation, England facing invasion, and Europe eventually
convulsed with the Thirty Years’ War. In all these, the Dutch Revolt was
a significant factor.
The book also explores subsequent insurgencies over the following
3 centuries, when nationalist groups revolted against European powers,
and analyses and identifies essential factors for a successful insurgency.
The key roles of finance and international relations in insurgencies are
emphasised. This volume will be informative and compelling reading for
readers and students of history, international relations, and insurgencies.
Nick Ridley, is currently Visiting Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores
University. He has formerly worked as an intelligence analyst with
the Metropolitan Police and Europol, has taught at several European
universities, and has trained police and security forces in Africa and at
NATO Centres of Excellence-Defence against Terrorism.
Routledge Research in Early Modern History
Series editor:
Renato Lancelotta
Maurits of Nassau and the Survival of the Dutch Revolt
Comparative Insurgences
Nick Ridley
The Economic Causes of the English Civil War
Freedom of Trade and the English Revolution
George Yerby
Edwin Sandys and the Reform of English Religion
Sarah L. Bastow
Murder, Justice, and Harmony in an Eighteenth-Century French Village
Nancy Locklin
The Dirty Secret of Early Modern Capitalism
The Global Reach of the Dutch Arms Trade, Warfare and Mercenaries
in the Seventeenth Century
Kees Boterbloem
The Social Fabric of Fifteenth-Century Florence
Identities and Change in the World of Second-Hand Dealers
Alessia Meneghin
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.
routledge.com/Routledge-Research-in-Early-Modern-History/
book-series/RREMH
Maurits of Nassau and
the Survival of the
Dutch Revolt
Comparative Insurgences
Nick Ridley
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2020 Taylor & Francis
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ISBN: 978-0-367-34607-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-32683-7 (ebk)
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: The Dutch Revolt and Other Revolts 1
PART I
The Revolt 3
1 Early Days 5
2 William of Orange Forges a Nation 11
PART II
Maurits of Nassau and the Survival of the
Dutch Revolt 25
3 Sufficient Armed Forces 27
4 English Support, Leicester’s Ambition, Oldenbarneveldt’s
Steadiness 36
5 Parma’s About Turn—And Maurits’s Counterstroke 44
6 Politicians Meddling, Flanders “Invaded” 56
7 The Twelve Years’ Truce—And a Diplomatic
Victory 63
8 Internal Strife Within the Republic . . . 74
9 . . . But the Economy Expands 85
10 1621, Renewal of War Looms—And Playing
for Time 99
11 War Again—And the Dark Hour Before
the Dawn 109
vi Contents
12 Reasons Why the Dutch Revolt Survived 118
13 The Sinews of War 127
PART III
Later Revolts and Insurgencies 147
14 Revolts and Insurgencies Over the Next
3 Centuries 149
PART IV
Maurits of Nassau 203
15 Maurits of Nassau: His Achievement 205
Appendix I: The 1620s Spanish Trade Embargo Against
the Dutch Republic 210
Appendix II: The Governance of the Dutch Navy:
The 5 Admiralties 211
Appendix III: The Regents and the Dutch Republic 213
Bibliography and Works Consulted 217
Index 222
Acknowledgements
The author is particularly grateful for the kind advice and guidance of
Professor Martin Prak of the University of Utrecht and for the kind advice
of Professor Judith Pollman of the University of Leiden.
In addition, the author wishes to thank the staff of the Netherlands
National Library in The Hague and the Netherlands National Archives
in The Hague for their assistance, valuable assistance which was given
with unfailing courtesy, friendliness, and efficiency.
Most importantly. the author owes a large debt of gratitude for the
translations, for the preliminary proofreadings and for the advice, con-
stant support and patience of Ingrid.

Introduction
The Dutch Revolt and Other Revolts
This book is about Maurits of Nassau and the survival of the Dutch
Revolt, with comparisons to other revolts and insurgences. The prin-
cipal subject of the book, Maurits of Nassau, was a remarkable indi-
vidual during a period of intense struggle in which a remarkable people
gained their independence. The struggle for independence lasted for over
3 generations and is known to history as the Eighty Years’ War. At its
end, the Dutch Republic was officially acknowledged as a sovereign and
independent nation state by Spain, which, although declining, was still
an empire. The 7 northern provinces of the Spanish Netherlands had
successfully revolted and had won their independence from one of the
greatest European powers of the era. As part of this struggle, Maurits of
Nassau had ensured the survival and continuation of the Revolt.
There has been and is much scholarship by eminent historians of
this period and of the long event of the Dutch struggle. Some histori-
ans have designated it the “Eighty Years’ War”. The author has drawn
upon and has taken guidance from the works of these eminent scholars
and historians, particularly the older but still valuable works of H.T.
Colenbrander, drawn from groundbreaking archival documentation
techniques, the works of C.V. Wedgwood and of Peiter Geyl, as well as
those of the more modern works of Geoffrey Parker, the monumental
works of Jonathan Israel, those of Arnaud van Cruyningen and of Theo
van Deusen. Geoffrey Parker, in his trenchant account of the Revolt con-
taining incisive analysis, points to one school of historians who insist
that the Dutch Revolt was not one but several revolts, each with differ-
ent causes. Accordingly, he divides his work into 3 revolts spanning the
respective periods 1565–1568, 1568–1576, and 1576–1581 This current
book, whilst fully respecting and acknowledging their scholarship, will
take the traditional term of the singular “Dutch Revolt”. Significantly,
Parker, in his The Dutch Revolt, entitles one of his chapters, chapter 5,
covering the period of much of Maurits’s activities as “Independence and
Survival” (italics mine). There are many factors affecting the success or
failure of revolts, rebellions, and insurgencies and to what extent one sin-
gle factor is important varies from struggle to struggle. However, for the