The Political Rediscovery of the Dutch Revolt in the Seventeenth-Century Habsburg Netherlands

Historiography of the Dutch Revolt has traditionally emphasised that it was painful and inopportune for seventeenth-century people in formerly rebellious South Netherlandish provinces to use memories of the rebellion in support of political arguments. More recently, scholars have turned this idea on its head by stressing the importance of memories of the Revolt in legitimating dynastic power as well as denigrating enemies around 1600. References to the conflict were often euphemistic, implicit and devoid of detailed discussions of events. Later in the seventeenth century, however, Southern pro... Mehr ...