Violet Soen

Reconquista and Reconciliation in the Dutch Revolt: The Campaign of Governor-General Alexander Farnese (1578-1592)

Abstract The campaign in the Low Countries led by governor-general Alexander Farnese from October 1578 onwards resulted in the reconquest of more cities for the King of Spain than had been achieved by any of his predecessors or successors. It serves here as a starting point for a contextual analysis of the relationship between the ruler and the city defiant during the Dutch Revolt, not only to cast new light on the oft-neglected and complex Spanish Habsburg policies, but also to understand the broader context of questions of resistance and reconciliation during the Dutch Revolt. Most capitulation treaties accorded by Farnese show at least four features at odds with the pattern of repression of urban revolts. The governor aimed at keeping the civic patrimony intact, he granted full pardon and oblivion, he conditionally restored urban privileges and he often felt obliged not to insist on immediate reconciliation with the Catholic Church. The divergent reactions to this Habsburg policy indicate that the Dutch Revolt showed striking features of a civil war, in which not only the conditions of revolt but also of reconciliation caused discord.

How to do Transregional History: a concept, method and tool for Early Modern Border Research.

This article argues that the method of transregional history offers a valuable new tool for studying early modern territorial borders. Where existing research strands do not always suffice to accommodate the complexity of such boundaries, this new concept can serve as an alternative. Firstly, transregional history points out that early modern boundaries were not the outcome of actions that were pursued at one spatial level, be it local, regional, national, transnational, or global, but existed at multiple negotiated levels at once. Secondly, the method prompts historians: a) to not predefine “the” singular border of the region under scrutiny, but to follow historical actors as they shifted from one course of action to another in dealing with these multiple borders; and b) to question what transcended the boundaries of a region instead of highlighting how they separated one “unique” area from the next. In doing so, transregional history helps to reformulate questions about territorial boundaries, to make novel heuristic choices in research where and when borders matter, and, hence, to improve our understanding of transboundary historical change.

The Inquisitorial Office in the Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Low Countries: A Dynamic Perspective

The long acknowledged Mediterranean character of the early modern Inquisition(s) has recently been positioned within a global context. This article aims to integrate the Habsburg Low Countries into this newly emerging picture. Firstly, it argues that the Inquisition there should be understood as an office rather than as a tribunal: only individual inquisitors were called upon as specialised judges for offending clerics, or for judicial procedures de fide conducted by laymen. Secondly, this article emphasises that the inquisitorial office underwent continual redefinition in the four decades of its existence. Hence, the situation in the Low Countries offers a contrast to the religious persecution in France and England, where secular courts more clearly monopolised jurisdiction over heresy, and to the institutionally organised tribunals on the Iberian and Italian peninsulas.

The Act of Cession, the 1598 and 1600 States General in Brussels and the Peace Negotiations during the Dutch Revolt

The Act of Cession provided a new stimulus for peace negotiations with the rebellious provinces. Time and again during the Dutch Revolt, contacts between Brussels and The Hague were made in order to proceed to more formal peace negotiations. What might come more to a surprise then, is that the Act of Cession led twice to the convocation of a States General in Brussels, once in 1598 and again in 1600. This was after all the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy which had opposed time and again such convocation throughout the preceding conflict. This chapter ponders why this double gathering happened in a short time span of two years, and how this affected the peace negotiations during the Dutch Revolt. The developments within the 1598-1600 peace process decisively configured the political context for the conclusion of the Twelve Years Truce in 1609. Keywords: Act of Cession; Brussels; Dutch Revolt; Spanish Habsburg Monarchy; Twelve Years Truce

Trent: What Happened at the Council by John W. O'Malley (review)

John W. O’Malley, who has distinguished himself as the preeminent historian of Catholicism in the early-modern period, has turned his attention to the most important event of that period, the Council of Trent (1545–63). Far from being a boring assembly of like-minded prelates and theologians who confidently reaffirmed traditional teachings and put order into a Church shaken by the challenge of Protestantism,