European Kingdoms

Spanish Netherlands (Southern Netherlands) (Low Countries)
AD 1581 - 1713

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Modern Belgium sits between the Netherlands to the north and France to the south, with Germany to its east and Luxembourg at its south-east corner within the Low Countries.

With Habsburg control of the empire, Belgian lands were first dominated by the Spanish Habsburgs (from 1555), being known as the Spanish Netherlands, and then by the Austrian Habsburgs (from 1713), as the Austrian Netherlands. As Bourbon France descended into revolutionary fervour, a brief moment of independence came under the United Belgian States (1789-1790).

In 1794 the territory was invaded and occupied by revolutionary France. From 1815-1830, it formed part of the new 'United Kingdom of the Netherlands'. Dissatisfied with this, the Belgians split away in 1830, and declared their own kingdom of the Belgians soon afterwards in an event which has been termed the Belgian Revolution.

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(Information by William Willems and Peter Kessler, with additional information from External Links: Philippe becomes new Belgian king as Albert II abdicates (BBC News), and The Belgian Dynasty (Royal Family of Belgium), and Belgium.be (Official Information & Services website), and A Short History of Holland, Belgium & Luxembourg (available for download as a PDF from Stanford University), and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Kemmelberg (A History Files microsite).)

1556

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicates, dividing the empire between his son, Philip II - who becomes king of Spain with its Spanish Empire colonies and governor of the Habsburg Netherlands - and his brother, Ferdinand, who receives the Holy Roman empire, Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary.

Philip heads what now becomes the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, and his Netherlands becomes the Spanish Netherlands.

1566 - 1568

The 'Beeldenstorm' or 'Great Iconoclasm' dispute breaks out in the Habsburg Low Countries, specifically in Steenvoorde (now in French Flanders), just twenty kilometres from the Kemmelberg as the crow flies (see feature link). The duke of Alba is sent to the Netherlands to quell the burgeoning revolt.

From the rebellious provinces of Holland and Zeeland in the north, the west of Flanders, Brabant, and the vicinity of Tournai, the 'forest beggars' spread all over the Low Countries. More and more ordinary citizens band together and head the resistance movement.

Catholic art and statues are destroyed and Catholic priests and preachers are targeted and killed by Calvinist Protestants. The rampage ignites the Eighty Years War from 1568 (lasting until 1648). Several northern provinces in the Spanish Netherlands are backed by France as they fight against Spanish rule.

1573

The so-called 'forest beggars' have managed not only to largely take over the rebellious provinces, they have also largely converted the inhabitants of those provinces to Calvinism, something about which the strictly Catholic Habsburgs are enraged. This is despite Jan Camerlynck, one of their captains in the Flemish Westwartier, having been captured, tortured, and then brutally executed in 1568.

1581

In July 1581, seven provinces from the northern Netherlands claim independence from the Habsburgs of Spain to become the republic of the United Netherlands, while Spain continues to rule the southern provinces which become known as the Spanish Netherlands. The Habsburgs are thrown out of the Netherlands.

William, who remains stadhouder, now governs Holland along with the Staten Generaal (the representatives of the seven provinces). The Staten-Generaal continues to select members of the House of Orange to govern the Netherlands as stadhouder (even though there is no longer any monarch). They are kings in all but name.

1648

The near-constant warfare and rapid change brought about by the Reformation and its Papal response, the Counter Reformation, is finally ended by the Peace of Westphalia. Under its terms, which also wrap up the Thirty Years War, Pomerania is carved up, with Sweden losing Further-Pomerania to Brandenburg-Prussia, while retaining Nearer-Pomerania.

In parallel, the Peace of Münster marks the end of the Eighty Years War and recognition for the independent Dutch republic. In addition, control by the Dutch and its ruling House of Orange over the 'Generality Lands' - southern Catholic lands near the border with the Catholic Habsburg Spanish Netherlands - is now recognised and consolidated.

1702 - 1715

Spain is involved in the War of Succession as Austria, Britain, and Portugal dispute the Bourbon accession. Lorraine is occupied during the war, forcing the ducal court to flee.

The conclusion of the war sees Spain giving up Milan, Naples, Sardinia, and the Spanish Netherlands to Austria, and Sicily to the duchy of Savoy. The Papal States are forced to hand over the territories of Parma and Piacenza to Austria, a definite blow to the papacy's prestige.

Philip, duke of Anjou, is recognised as the Bourbon King Philip V of Spain, but only on the condition that the Bourbon crowns of Spain and France can never be united under a single ruler. The 'Spanish Netherlands' becomes the 'Austrian Netherlands'.