The Origins of the Modern European State System, 1494–1618 by M.S. Anderson

Author:M.S. Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge

The Netherlands revolt takes root

A continuous armed struggle against Spanish rule in the Netherlands began in April 1572. In that month the minor port of Brill in Holland was captured by determined opponents of Alba’s regime operating from ports in south-east England. These ‘Sea Beggars’ (Gueux de Mer) had been active for some time as privateers, often indistinguishable from pirates; and they were passionately Calvinist. It at once became clear that in some parts of the Netherlands at least they had touched off deep anti-Spanish feeling. Within ten days of the taking of Brill several towns in Holland were in revolt against Spanish rule. Nevertheless it seemed likely that the rebellion would be swiftly crushed. Elizabeth, true to her view of English interests, wished to remain on at least reasonably good terms with Philip II. Even though the Spanish ambassador in London, de Spes, had been expelled in the previous year because of his involvement in a serious Catholic plot against her, she hoped that he might be replaced by a more discreet and tactful successor and that relations would not be broken off. She had been trying to get rid of the Sea Beggars since at least June 1571 and was glad to see them leave England. William of Orange, for his part, was taken by surprise by the capture of Brill. He was also annoyed, since he was planning a new invasion from Germany, that he had been given no opportunity to work in concert with its captors, whose intolerant Calvinism he in any case disliked.

Alba’s reaction was swift and ruthless. He had first to deal with a potentially serious crisis when in May 1572 Louis of Nassau captured Mons, only a few miles from the French frontier. For a moment this seemed to open the possibility that the Huguenots, with Coligny now apparently a dominant figure in Paris, might launch a full-scale invasion of the southern Netherlands. But the massacre of St Bartholomew put paid to any such possibility,21 a small Huguenot force sent to raise the siege of Mons which Alba had begun was easily routed, and Orange’s effort at invasion from Germany also collapsed. The way was now open to regain what had been lost in Holland. But there the active and determined Calvinist minority, in spite of its small numbers, was gaining ground. In July 1572 the states of Holland recognized Orange as governor of the province: ostensibly he was still acting in the name of Philip II, but in fact a considerable rebellion was now under way. In 1572–3 Alba won some significant successes, yet the revolt was not crushed. Holland was difficult to conquer because of the rivers that intersected it and the low-lying and often waterlogged country, some of which could be easily flooded as a defensive measure by breaching the dykes that held back the sea. Zeeland, the other province to which the rebellion had spread, was made up largely of islands and was even more difficult to subdue. Some

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