Philip's Foreign Policy (The Netherlands) (3) Flashcards
From 1566, where was Philip’s attention focused?
From his first trip, how did he gain an appreciation of the independent spirit of the 17 provinces and ambitions of the nobility?
- growing involvement in the affairs of the Netherlands (a key part of the empire)
- nobles turned against professional administrators of Granvelle following government disputes and Philip was forced to dismiss him
- 1566: higher aristocracy went on strike by resigning their offices
How did Philip’s relationship with the Netherlands differ from that of his father, Charles?
- he had little personal knowledge of the states (was born and raised in Spain, had only visited the Netherlands 3 times)
- under Charles, the Netherlands had felt at the centre of the empire (Charles born there, there that he abdicated)
- Charles was seen as a ruler with genuine commitment to their well-being
In the past, what was the generally held view of Philip’s aims in regards to the Netherlands? (by both historians and contemporaries, eg. Elizabeth I)
- that he wished to impose despotic rule over the Low Countries
- make them a base from which to force Protestant countries in Europe to reintroduce Catholicism
- this is now considered too extreme
What are now considered Philip’s two aims in the Netherlands?
- establish firm government in which his rights as ruler are protected
- ensuring the position of Catholicism
Why was appointing Margaret of Parma as governor-general in the Netherlands a bad idea? (Philip’s first mistake)
- spent most of her life in Italy
- little experience of Netherlands
What was Philip’s second mistake in the Netherlands? Who was angered? Why were they angered?
- creation of an inner advisory council
- made up of three known supports of centrally controlled government
- angered nobles (esp. William of Orange)
- felt that their position gave them the right to advise Margaret of Parma, felt that attempt was being made to lead to more centralised government, would lead to loss of their traditional power and prestige
- went against political tradition of Netherlands, all states were equal and decisions made by consensus
What was Philip’s third mistake in the Netherlands?
- left a garrison of Spanish troops behind him in Netherlands
- feared this was a sign of imposing Spanish authority
What was Philip’s fourth mistake in the Netherlands, related to religious policy?
How else did religion/ politics intertwined motivate the first revolt?
- Granvelle: planned to increase number of bishops in Netherlands from 4 to 18
- argued it would make it easier for them to tend to peoples spiritual needs and discourage heresy
- many abbots were forced to resign their positions to new bishops
- Granvelle made cardinal - alienated Dutch politcial elites
- church reforms - church offices provided an invaluable source of income and patronage
Incidentally, how would increasing the number of bishops also increase Philip’s political power?
- Philip would decide who was appointed to a bishopric
- bishops would have seats in local and national assemblies (provincial estates)
How were firmer attempts made to deal with the growing threat of Protestantism?
- IQ increased in size
- further edicts against heresy issued
- Protestant texts burned
- death sentences for attending Protestant services
Serious opposition was created as a result of Philip’s policies - how does his reaction demonstrate the Spanish government at its most ineffective?
- there were long delays while Margaret waited for clarification of action to take (Philip never visited himself so tried to monopolise decision-making from afar)
- baron de Montigny sent to Madrid in 1566 to obtain concessions
- Philip decided to make concessions but matters had already got out of hand ie. ‘Iconoclastic fury’ (Calvinist riot and seriously damaged Catholic churches) - motivated by religious extremism?
In 1567, the Duke of Alba was sent to Netherlands. Why?Was this a good decision?
- to deal firmly with what was considered a ‘rebellion’
- sent with 10,000 troops
- no, Marge seemed to have matters under control and order was being speedily restored
On Philip’s instructions, what did Alba do? Which policy caused most trouble? What was this trouble?
- set up a ‘Council of Troubles’
- sentenced 1000+ people to death for involvement in 1566 disturbances
- Orange exiled
- 9000 people lost all/part of their land
- provided anti-Spanish propaganda - Alba tried to set up a 10% sales tax (Tenth penny)
- definitely the second policy - led to second outbreak - would have caused widespread effects
(Pierson: example of crisis management, not long planning as Alba needed more money for troops)
- Netherlands had enjoyed earlier times of prosperity so they resented heavy taxation
- by 1572: large areas of northern Netherlands (Holland and Zeeland) were in revolt led by William of Orange
How did Philip try and deal with the second revolt of the Netherlands? Was he successful?
- replaced Alba with Requesens as governor-general in 1573 (showed inconsistency in government)
- Requesens made concessions to rebels
- too late to be effective
- Philip wouldn’t consider religious tolerance or a reduction of his rights as ruler (all Requesens could offer was 6 months for Protestants to leave)
After Requesens’ unfortunate death in 1576, there was an intervening period before Don John took up position as governor-general. Why in this period did the once loyal southern states join with the North against the Spanish?
- there were attacks made on a number of loyal towns (Antwerp) by mutinous Spanish troops (unpaid, starving) - 8,000 lives
- ‘Spanish fury’ led to belief that Spanish couldn’t protect them and the previously loyal southern states joined the North (made a reality of Spanish tyranny)
