A short history of Belgium

by Léon van der Essen

CHAPTER VII

PHILIP II AND THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS AGAINST SPANISH RULE (1555-96)

The revolt of the Netherlands against Spain is not merely an event of local Belgian history; it belongs to the political history of Europe. It is an episode of those long and cruel wars of religion which, beginning in Scotland after the constitution of the first Presbyterian Covenant, set aflame the whole of Western Europe. Of course, the occasion for the wars differed in each country, but the cause was the same in every case and the question which was to be supreme in Europe, Catholicism or Protestantism, actuated them all. In this tremendous struggle all questions were finally reduced to one, and as social influences aligned themselves on one side or the other, the tide turned in favor of or against the church. Catholics and Protestants supported their brethren in the faith on the other side of the frontiers. Each side sought a decisive victory; divided influence or co-ordinate recognition was acceptable to neither. Timid persons and politicians seeking to remain neutral were carried away by the current or submerged by it. Neutrality was impossible; everyone was forced to take part in the struggle.

The kings of France, lacking principles and decision, found their own forces divided and were unable to carry out a real international policy. On the other hand, Elizabeth, Queen of England, resolutely ranged herself on the side of international Protestantism, assisting and often directing its attacks. Against her, Philip II of Spain, considering himself as the absolute defender of Catholicism in Europe, set his nationality and his faith. Lacking decision in political matters, he showed no indecision in matters of faith. Against him arose the league of Protestants throughout Europe. They realized that, if he was defeated and his country crushed, the church would be defeated throughout the world. The Protestants therefore concentrated their attack on him in the Netherlands. The geographical position of the latter made interference with England, France, and Germany especially feasible; but they were at the same time the weakest spots in Philip’s dominions. Revolt blazed within their borders—such revolt as might result in bringing his power to an end. This Philip realized full well, and determined to go to any limit in order to keep the Netherlands. Nothing was left undone which would serve to suppress every attempt at revolt. This object it was which dictated his unhappy policy in the Netherlands, a policy that resulted in the loss of the northern part, and ultimately in the founding of the separate state of the United Provinces (Holland).

The true meaning of the wars of religion in the Netherlands cannot be properly understood without taking these considerations into account. It will also be useful to consider the characters of those prominently involved in the tragedy, before narrating the details of the tragedy itself.

Philip II, King of Spain and sovereign of the Netherlands, was above all a Spaniard. Educated in Spain, he found himself unable to understand the Belgians as his father had. He did not appreciate their pride, their deep love of liberty, and their respect for the privileges granted them. An autocratic king, he was haughty as only a Spaniard can be. Deeply convinced of the superiority of Catholicism, and possessing principles absolutely rigid in character, he was incapable of compromise—in short, a real bigot. In political affairs he endeavored to arrange every detail himself, and personally to read piles of dispatches by the light of a candle in his dark room in the Escurial. He labored day and night, constantly immersed in thought, and was remarkably slow in reaching a decision. When, however, his mind was finally made up, it was usually too late. Events had progressed in the meantime and when his orders reached the theater of war they could not be carried out, since the situation had entirely changed. That slowness of decision brought him many disasters. Nevertheless, he was an excellent father to his children, and there are extant letters written by him to his daughters, in which it is difficult to recognize the lonely thinker of the Escurial.

He paid a short visit to his subjects in the Netherlands at the beginning of his reign (1557), but left no sympathetic impression behind. His sister, Duchess Margareta of Parma, remained in the country to govern the people during his absence. He was absent to the end. His Flemish subjects never saw him again. From Madrid he directed the affairs of the Belgians, and studied the dispatches which reached him every week.

Margareta, offspring of the amour of Emperor Charles V with the daughter of a Flemish upholsterer from Audenaerde, had been educated for a time in Brussels and had then gone to Italy, where she successively married Alessandro de’ Medici and Ottavio Farnese, the latter being Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Although of masculine character, loving sport and exercises, Margareta possessed the feminine characteristics of vanity and shrewdness. She had acquired in Italy a disposition to engage in combinazione, and succeeded in playing the game often under very difficult circumstances. Philip of Spain left her as an assistant in her political councils a man of real diplomacy, Cardinal de Granvelle.

Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Burgundian in origin, was a loyal servant of his master. He was the man of the raison d’état. Philip II never had a more faithful minister. Granvelle desired only the welfare of the King and of the state he represented, and was heroic enough to assume the responsibility for the drastic measures taken by his sovereign. He was a man of real political genius, clear-sighted, absolutely unselfish. The main object of his political plans was that Spain should rule the seas, and it was he who urged Philip II to send the famous Armada against England.

When Philip II began his reign in the Netherlands, the financial situation of the government was distressing. Charles V had left heavy debts created by his numerous wars. Public opinion was defiant, influenced as it was by ill will for the unsympathetic King and by the baseless fear that the scheme of erecting new dioceses would be the precursor of the terrible Spanish Inquisition.