The Netherlands

VII

History

Historical accounts of the Netherlands date from the 1st century bc, when Roman forces led by Julius Caesar conquered most of the present area of the country. At the time the region was inhabited by Frisians, a Germanic tribe that lived in the north, and by other Germanic and minor Celtic tribes.

A

The Roman Era

Before the conquest, the Romans had annexed lands to the southeast extending beyond the Rhine River. They penetrated the Netherlands region mainly to control the several mouths of the Rhine, which were then farther to the north than they are now. Under Roman rule, general peace and prosperity prevailed for more than 250 years. Roman traders entered the area freely, selling products from Italy and Gaul. The Romans built temples, established a number of large farms, and introduced their civilization to the region.

About ad 300 the hold by the Romans began to weaken, and German tribes pushed into the area from the east. The Frisians, in the north, held their ground, but Saxons occupied the eastern part of the region, and the Franks moved into the west and south.

B

The Middle Ages

The Franks were the most powerful of the invaders. Their lands extended southward into what is now northern France and eastward across the Rhine. Eventually, the Frankish kings subjugated the Frisians and the Saxons and converted them to Christianity. By 800 the entire territory of the Netherlands was part of the realm of Charlemagne. After Charlemagne died, his empire disintegrated, and in 843 the Treaty of Verdun divided the empire into three parts. The Netherlands became part of Lotharingia (Lorraine) and still later, in 925, part of the Holy Roman Empire. At that time a Dutch nation did not exist, and the immediate loyalties of the inhabitants were to local lords. Gradually over the next centuries the whole region came to be called the Low Countries, or Netherlands, including present-day Belgium.

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During the 9th and 10th centuries Scandinavian raiders, called Vikings, frequently invaded the coastal areas, sailing far up the rivers in search of loot. The need for a stronger system of defenses against such marauders gradually led to an increase in the power of the local rulers and their vassals, the nobles, who were largely a warrior class. Concurrently, the towns began to grow in importance, as artisans and merchants settled in them and improved their defenses.

The period from the 9th to the 14th centuries was a period of rapid development of the Dutch economy and landscape. A fast growing population reclaimed large amounts of land from lakes and marshes and founded hundreds of new settlements, which gradually developed into powerful towns. Over time, The Netherlands became an important trading center. Under the leadership of wealthy merchants the towns began to challenge the power of the nobles who ruled the countryside. The merchants often supported the regional ruler in his campaigns against unruly vassals, at the same time exacting from him privileges designed to promote commerce and to strengthen the town and the position of the merchant class.

In the early Middle Ages political entities such as the counties of Flanders and Holland, the bishopric of Utrecht, and the duchies of Brabant and Gelderland were established. In the far north, however, the Frisians did not submit to a regional ruler but continued to obey their local headmen. The association of The Netherlands with the Holy Roman Empire remained largely nominal throughout the Middle Ages. Some trade was conducted with German coastal cities to the east, such as Bremen and Hamburg, but the major cultural influence came from France.

C

The Renaissance

Through marriage, war, and political maneuvering, most of the region comprising the present-day Netherlands—Holland, Utrecht, Noord-Brabant, and Gelderland—came into the hands of the dukes of Burgundy during the 15th and early 16th centuries. By 1519 this area was under the benevolent control of Holy Roman emperor Charles V, of the Spanish branch of the house of Habsburg, who was also king of Spain. In 1555, however, Charles resigned both Spain and the Netherlands to his son, Philip II, who was Spanish by birth and education and had little liking for his northern European territories. His oppressive rule led to the epochal war of independence waged from 1568 to 1648 by the Dutch against Spain, then the most powerful nation in Europe.

D

The Struggle for Independence

The political disaffection between the Low Countries and Spain coincided with the Protestant revolt against the Roman Catholic church, which was the state church of Spain. Calvinism, a Protestant movement, rapidly gained ground during this period; its adherents established in the Low Countries a well-organized church that was prepared to challenge the Roman Catholic church, particularly the Inquisition, a church institution that sought to control heresy. In 1566 riots in which mobs destroyed images in Catholic churches spread across the country. In response, a wrathful Philip sent to The Netherlands Spanish troops commanded by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Third Duke of Alba. The excessively harsh policies of the duke and of the Inquisition resulted in open revolt in the Low Countries. William I, the Silent, prince of Orange, who was one of the principal noblemen of the region, led the revolt. Initially unsuccessful, the Dutch then concentrated their efforts in the north. After William’s naval supporters, called the Sea Beggars, seized the Holland port of Brill (Brielle) in 1572, the rebels took control of most northern towns, which became the bases of the revolt. William tried to maintain the unity of north and south but was unable to hold the north against the brilliant campaigns of reconquest led by a new Spanish commander, Alessandro Farnese.

In 1579 the Union of Utrecht, an anti-Spanish alliance of all northern and some southern territories, was formed. The union signified the final divergence of the northern part of the Low Countries, which later became The Netherlands, from the southern part, which later became Belgium. The Union of Utrecht became the nucleus of the present Dutch nation. In 1581 the Dutch provinces within the Union of Utrecht proclaimed their independence from Spain. Subsequently, the new nation suffered a series of reverses in the war with Spain, sustaining a major loss when William the Silent was assassinated in 1584. By 1585 the Spanish had reconquered practically all the south, including the important port of Antwerp. Eventually, however, the tide of war turned in favor of the Dutch. From 1585 to 1587 English troops were sent overseas to aid the insurgent cause, and in 1588 the English destroyed the great Spanish Armada, a victory that drastically curtailed the ability of Spain to wage war abroad. The seven provinces in the Union of Utrecht were cleared of Spanish troops by 1600.

From 1609 to 1621 a truce was in effect between the Spanish and the Dutch, but the war subsequently dragged on until 1648, when the Spanish signed the Treaty of Münster, by which the sovereignty of the Dutch Republic of the United Provinces was recognized. The republic thus severed all theoretical ties with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire and became one of the great powers on the Continent, a republic in the midst of monarchies.