WEBVTT 1 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:25.480 Hello, and welcome to Western SIV, Episode two hundred and ninety four, 2 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:30.679 The Dutch Revolt. We've spent the last several episodes covering the reign of Queen 3 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:34.640 Mary the First of England. But of course Mary had a husband, albeit 4 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:40.799 for a short time. That man was Philip the Second of Spain. Philip 5 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:46.920 was truly one of the first early modern monarchs in European history. His modernized 6 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:52.000 bureaucracy run out of his palace, the Escorial, was the first thing to 7 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:57.439 inch toward a modern bureaucracy in Western history. Philip was a man with huge 8 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:03.879 ambitions, and those ambitions financed by Aztec and Inca gold and silver. The 9 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:10.239 New World functioned as Philip's effective atm to pay for some of the conflicts I 10 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:15.120 will discuss today. Yet what is also interesting is how for all of his 11 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:19.519 advantages, Philip would be so vexed by the Low Countries, or as we 12 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:23.319 might call it in the Netherlands. This was an age when money bought you 13 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:29.599 the best military, but that did not mean that you won. Military thinkers 14 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:33.239 were still very much evolving from the Middle Ages, and Philip was about to 15 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:59.519 run headlong into these issues and more. One English commentator in the sixteen hundreds 16 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:06.640 referred to the Netherlands as quote the great bog of Europe, but he also 17 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:10.639 went on to describe it as a place where quote gold is more plentiful than 18 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:17.919 stones end quote. According to him, continuing his statements, what is it 19 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:23.599 which there may not be found in plenty? Again referring to the Netherlands, 20 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:29.199 they make by their industry all the fruits of the vast earth their own, 21 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:34.479 even their knaves, are worth a million of ours, for they are in 22 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:39.479 a boisterous rudeness, can work and live in toil, whereas ours will rather 23 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:46.560 lay themselves into poverty, and like cabbages left out in the winter, wrought 24 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:52.759 away in the loathsomeness of a nauseus sloth end quote. Love. That last 25 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:54.240 phrase, by the way, might be one of my favorites. I'm going 26 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:58.879 to trot that out every once in a while when students aren't, you know, 27 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:01.960 working to their full potential, rotting away like cabbages left out in the 28 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:07.080 winter. And all that. Now, foreigners always marveled at the wealth of 29 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:15.479 the hard working traders, the Dutch, the Englishman scoffed in an egalitarian nation 30 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:22.000 of self satisfied activists, where the gentry, as he writes, is scarce. 31 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.919 He wrote furthermore that quote every man is his own herald, and he 32 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.879 that has but wit to invent a coat may challenge it as his own end 33 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:38.400 quote. In this case, the English complaint would have jibed with those of 34 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:46.719 the Spaniards, looking over a strictly hierarchical culture, and a preference for poverty 35 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:53.039 over labor, honor over trade, and a downright obsession with the purity of 36 00:03:53.159 --> 00:04:00.280 blood. And of course we're a stone. The Netherlands seemed to be nothing 37 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:06.319 in the early sixteen hundreds, if not a tinder box for religious controversy. 38 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:15.399 It seems as though every Puritan, every Protestant cult has a fouling somewhere in 39 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:23.079 the Netherlands. It's this, more than anything else, the Dutchman's permissive attitude 40 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:29.399 to faith that would continue to set them against their Spanish overlords all the way 41 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:34.639 until sixteen forty eight. But as I mentioned, as troublesome as religion might 42 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:40.519 be, the reality was the Netherlands was vital to the Spanish economy. Over 43 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:46.879 three quarters of Castilian wool, virtually the region's only export, was sold and 44 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:51.360 produced in the Netherlands. Spain needed the Low countries to process its wool, 45 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:58.920 and Philip also had personal reasons to treasure the Netherlands. His father was born 46 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:04.240 at Ghent, his grandfather, Ebruges. Philip himself could trace his lineage all 47 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:10.000 the way back to the Capatian kings of France. He took deep pride in 48 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:15.439 the fact that he was descended from such a legendary dynasty. The idea of 49 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.879 the Netherlands as a single entity, however, was an artificial construction, an 50 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:28.199 artificial construction of imperialist powers. In fifteen forty nine, Charles the Fifth had 51 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:33.160 joined Flanders and Artois to the Dutch and German speaking provinces that had formerly been 52 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:38.800 part of the Holy Roman Empire, and assumed for himself the title of Lord 53 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:44.160 of the Netherlands, a title he invented. Representatives of the different provinces or 54 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:47.920 states met in a powerful parliament known as the States General, but there was 55 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:55.879 absolutely no tradition among any of them of political unity. Disastrously, Charles isolated 56 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:00.560 the intellectually and spiritually experimental Dutch from a religious tolerance forced upon him in the 57 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:09.000 Empire by the German princes, thus exposing the Dutch to decades of autocratic Habsburg 58 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:15.319 intolerance. Had Charles simply approached his Dutch subjects in the same way that he 59 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.959 approached his German ones, this story may have turned out a lot different. 60 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:27.639 Instead, he negotiated a massive restructuring of the Netherlands Church with the Papacy that 61 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:32.959 was kept secret from the Dutch until it was announced. He subjected this politically 62 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:43.600 unstable collection of independently minded peoples to nearly crippling levels of taxation. Philip would 63 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:49.519 then continue and strengthen his father's policies and permanently stationed garrisons of dreaded professional Spanish 64 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:57.199 troops known as deceros in the Netherlands as a result, in a somewhat ironic 65 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:02.120 rerun of Charles's experience with the Spanish Calmuneros that covered many, many episodes ago. 66 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:06.800 When Philip returned to Spain in fifteen fifty nine, he left his illegitimate 67 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:12.199 half sister Margaret of Parma, as regent in Brussels, and the Dutch were 68 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:18.480 incensed, feeling downright colonized. So then in fifteen sixty five, the States 69 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:24.240 General sent one of the most powerful Dutch aristocrats, the Count of Egmont, 70 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:29.480 to Spain to negotiate directly with Philip. Egman returned convinced that the King had 71 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:33.360 personally offered a more conciliatory policy toward Protestants and freedom of worship in general. 72 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:41.199 He even had signed an agreement that hinted at further compromise. But within months 73 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:45.600 that an infamous document that is known today by historians as the Letter from the 74 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:50.399 Segovia Woods. Philip wrote instructing Margaret that no leniency was to be shown to 75 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:57.800 any heretic. Far from introducing a new policy of religious tolerance, he was 76 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:01.600 determined to strengthen the Inquisition in the Netherlands, and to make his point, 77 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:07.759 he ordered that six radical Protestant and a Baptists whom Margaret had hoped to pardon, 78 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:13.519 instead be quote brought to justice end quote. And this is definitely the 79 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:20.120 Queen Mary style of justice we're talking about here. Now. Whatever Philip had 80 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:24.720 said to the Count of Angmo will never know, probably, but he certainly 81 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:31.040 appeared to have broken his word. At least that's how the Count perceived it. 82 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:35.720 It was a decision that made him appear three really bad things in the 83 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:41.720 eyes of the Dutch. One foreign good newsing about that two week and three 84 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:48.679 dishonest, and then on top of it, into this story is going to 85 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:54.879 enter another character, a true wild card, if you will, Philip's own 86 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:03.000 son and heir, his deformed son, Don Carlos. Don Carlos was well, 87 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:09.960 we would say troubled today. Once he was given a giant turtle as 88 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:16.159 a present, which bit his finger. Don Carlos responded by biting off the 89 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:22.240 turtle's head with his teeth. But he was the heir to the throne, 90 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:28.159 a fact which worried Philip and had worried Charles the Fifth before him. Don 91 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:35.759 Carlos was already troubled when, at a young age, he fell down a 92 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:41.440 flight of stairs while chasing a gardener's daughter, whom he enjoyed striking with wooden 93 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.080 rods just deserts. Perhaps he struck his head multiple times. On the way 94 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:50.720 down, he cracked his skull so badly that it was visible through the wound. 95 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:58.279 Said wound soon became infected, and physicians around Don Carlos vigorously debated the 96 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:01.799 best way to treat him. One wanted to cut a hole in his skull 97 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:05.799 to relieve the pressure. Others simply wanted to purge him across Spain, Masses 98 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:11.240 were said for the air, and religious processions abounded. Carlos lapsed into a 99 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:18.000 delirium, and a famous Modisco doctor was called, but his various caustic ointments 100 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:22.679 only brought the patient closer to death's door. Philip could not bear the suffering 101 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.639 and retreated to a nearby monastery to pray. He must have wondered privately whether 102 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:33.519 the boy's death might not be for the best. Not the last time he 103 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:37.080 would wonder that. But then the Duke of Alba suggested they bring out the 104 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:43.639 mummified body of a priest, Diego de Alcala, locally revered as a great 105 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:48.879 healer of the sick, both in life and now in death. The desiccated 106 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:54.919 remains were laid down beside the sick bed and the semi conscience. Don Carlos 107 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:01.120 asked that his eyes be forced open so that he should see. He reached 108 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:05.960 over and touched the cadaver quote, after which he drew his hands across his 109 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:13.759 diseased face end quote. Within hours, a miraculous recovery had begun, so 110 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.320 that a week later the doctors could begin draining puss from the abscesses that had 111 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:24.799 formed around Don Carlos's eyes. Five weeks later, his recuperation was complete, 112 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:33.240 but the prolonged trauma had made Don Carlos's physical and mental condition worst. Philip 113 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:39.519 made efforts to control his son by placing important and powerful men within his household, 114 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:46.159 but Carlos was as ambitious as he was deranged. In fifteen sixty five, 115 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:50.519 he planned to go to Aragon and announce himself king. Only one of 116 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:56.440 Philip's deputees managed to hold the boy back from that bizarre illusion of grandeur. 117 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:01.159 But before long, Don Carlos would go for from a headache to a major 118 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:07.240 political liability, and the cause for that escalation would be the Netherlands. The 119 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:13.720 first the situation in the Netherlands had to escalate itself. That happened on the 120 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:18.240 fifth of April fifteen sixty six. On that day, the Beggar's Revolt began. 121 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:26.039 Three hundred armed men broke into the palace and demanded that Margaret of Parma, 122 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:31.799 Phillip's regent, disband the inquisition in the Netherlands. She had no choice 123 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:37.159 and so complied. One of her counselors loudly proclaimed that she had nothing to 124 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.919 fear from these quote unquote Beggars, and suddenly this little rebellion had a name. 125 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:48.279 Three days later, these men held their famous Beggars Banquet, during which 126 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:54.639 they swore never to abandon their cause for religious toleration. But now things were 127 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.720 getting out of hand. On July seventh, Margaret wrote to Philip, letting 128 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:03.840 him know that she had effectively lost control over the region. She believed the 129 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:11.320 problem was Protestantism, particularly the Calvinists. Everywhere she wrote, there were shouts 130 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:16.200 of long Live the Beggars. Evidently the name stuck. These groups quickly began 131 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:22.480 whitewashing local churches in Calvinist's style. The Prince of Orange reportedly told Margaret that 132 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:28.799 the crowds would soon turn on her and she would be dead. The Spanish 133 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:35.279 court was aghast. Eventually, the powerful but warlike Duke of Alba agreed to 134 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:39.799 serve as governor of the Netherlands and bring the region to heal. Margaret gladly 135 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:45.200 agreed to step down the following year, fifteen sixty seven, and so in 136 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.200 the spring of fifteen sixty six, the Duke of Alba set sail for the 137 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:54.039 Netherlands. In the meantime, Philip's heir, Don Carlos, had descended into 138 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:01.279 hopeless lunacy. According to one reliable diplomatic reporte he walks hunched over and seems 139 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:05.080 weak on his legs, but is much given to violence to the point of 140 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:11.799 cruelty end quote. On one occasion, he rode Philip's prize horse so brutally 141 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:18.039 that the animal died. Another report said, quote, he has abandoned himself 142 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:22.440 to such chaos that the joy among the Spaniards at having a native prince is 143 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.080 as great as the doubts they have about his ability to govern. Yet end 144 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:31.480 quote, However, he could be generous, bind the affection and favor even 145 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:35.840 of the servants in his father's household. He borrowed heavily from money lenders, 146 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:41.440 to gamble, and especially to lavish gifts on women, notably Philip's attractive young 147 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:46.679 Queen Elizabeth of val Waw. Philip did his best to hold out hope, 148 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:52.200 perhaps even when all else seemed lost. He encouraged Don Carlos to attend meetings 149 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.159 of the Council of State, where he at least seems to have behaved humanly. 150 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:03.120 But then Don Carlos flew off the rails when he found out that Philip 151 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:07.720 had appointed the Duke of Alba as the governor of the Netherlands. For whatever 152 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.799 deranged reason, Carlos had come to believe that the Netherlands was his, both 153 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:16.879 his birthright and his personal possession. From then on, he began an almost 154 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:24.120 maniacal series of plots to seize the Netherlands for himself. He first reached out 155 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:28.879 to Philip's half brother, Don John of Austria, hoping the Austrian noble would 156 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:33.080 support his claim. Philip knew about all this. He hoped that Don John 157 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:37.840 would talk some sense into the boy, but that seemed impossible. No. 158 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:43.399 Don John reported back the Prince was determined to rebel. By now, Philip 159 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.960 knew he had to act. The question was whether this was a matter of 160 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:52.480 his son's incompetence or treason, But the fact of the matter was Philip now 161 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:58.279 had no choice. He had to do something. So shortly before midnight on 162 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.919 the eighteenth of January fifteenth sixty eight, Philip himself put on his armor, 163 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:07.080 and I do mean that literally got four of his senior ministers together and walked 164 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:12.799 into Don Carlos's apartments. We took all his important papers and weapons away, 165 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:18.200 and then calmly Philip ordered that the windows be boarded up and an armed guard 166 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:23.679 set at the door. Don Carlos was officially a prisoner in his own home. 167 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:30.240 With nothing else he could do, Don Carlos turned all his violence and 168 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:33.840 rage on himself. He tried to starve himself to death. He swallowed his 169 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:40.320 signet ring because he thought diamonds were poisonous. Finally, after attempting to eat 170 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:45.519 himself to death, literally he ate four hole partridges, he fell ill with 171 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:49.759 a fever. On the twenty fourth of July, Don Carlos, heir to 172 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:56.080 the throne, finally mercifully died. The court, led by Philip, went 173 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:02.399 into mourning. Yet ever since, there have been persistent rumors amongst historians that 174 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:06.960 Don Carlos did not die of natural causes. He was murdered by his father, 175 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.920 who had him poisoned. True, well, I certainly cannot say, 176 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:19.160 but I will say if he did, he had his reasons. As Alba 177 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:26.279 approached Brussels, the population was terrified. The duke had a terrible reputation for 178 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:30.519 cruelty. Now he was at the head of an army of ten thousand, 179 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:34.559 with no one able to stop him. At the same time, two Spanish 180 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:42.039 Protestants published an absolutely scathing tract, the Quote Art of the Holy Spanish Inquisition, 181 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:48.440 offering europe An apparently authoritative account of the atrocities of the Inquisition, which 182 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:55.799 Philip now seemed prepared to visit upon the Netherlands with abandon. The local nobility 183 00:17:56.279 --> 00:18:00.599 was so petrified that they threw their lot in with Margaret, and she managed 184 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:06.079 to restore order. Margaret, sensing the situation was under control, wrote to 185 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:11.720 Philip begging him to recall Alba, but it was too late. The moment 186 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:17.400 that Alba entered Brussels, the purge was on. He arrested many leading nobles 187 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:23.720 and instituted a new tribunal known ominously as the Council of Blood. A terrified 188 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:30.039 peace settled across the Low countries, but thousands of Netherlanders were fleeing abroad. 189 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:33.960 William of Orange retreated to his ancestral lands in Germany, and others went to 190 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:41.599 France. Eleven thousand weavers from Ghent alone came to England, and Norwich by 191 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:47.880 itself allowed four thousand Flemings to settle there. The oldest Dutch Protestant church in 192 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:51.920 continuous use is in the Austin Friars in the city of London. In fact, 193 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.759 by the spring of fifteen sixty eight, William of Orange, the natural 194 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:00.119 leader of the Dutch patriots in exile, was able to coordinate a series of 195 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:04.440 armed incursions, but he was no match for Alba, who kept the Patriot 196 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:08.559 army in the field until Orange ran out of money to pay his mercenaries. 197 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:15.079 But Alba also resorted to the only psychological weapon he really believed in terror. 198 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.759 He had two Dutch leading nobles publicly executed for high treason in the main square 199 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.920 of Brussels, with three thousand Spanish troops on duty to keep order. For 200 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:34.880 the next three years, he prosecuted a relentless campaign of persecution against anyone suspected 201 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:41.359 of rebellion or heresy. The figures are staggering. Nine thousand were imprisoned, 202 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:47.759 fined, or had their property confiscated. As many as seventeen hundred were executed, 203 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:52.640 ten times as many victims as the Spanish Inquisition would execute during the whole 204 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:59.440 of Philip's reign. Many more fled, perhaps as many as sixty thousand total 205 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:06.000 in fifteen sixty seven, in fifteen sixty eight, then in fifteen sixty eight, 206 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:11.039 with an arrogance that could only be described as breathtaking. Alba erected in 207 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:18.079 Antwerp a bronze statue of himself trampling the rebellious Dutch under his horse's hoofs making 208 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:23.319 matters worse. This was all cast from melted down cannon he had captured from 209 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:30.279 the rebellious Dutch. It was modeled on medieval images of the Spanish patron Saint 210 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:36.720 James the Moor Slayer riding down Muslims, and caused such outrage that Philip had 211 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:41.119 it removed and destroyed. Sure, the Duke of Alba was a brilliant soldier 212 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:45.160 in a strategist when it came to battle, but he had no idea how 213 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:49.440 to run the subtleties of government. At sixty years old, he was an 214 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:56.079 old man who quickly tired of trying to win the peace. Alba was not 215 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:59.319 only an old man now by the standards of the age, but he was 216 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:04.359 also sick, ailing with gout. Alba repeatedly begged Philip's permission to return to 217 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:10.480 the warmer climates of Spain. Finally, in fifteen seventy two, the King 218 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:15.319 began the process of bringing this aging general home. But before he could retire, 219 00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:19.599 the Dutch erupted in rebellion. Alba was now too sick to direct the 220 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:26.160 Spanish troops in the field, and that task fell to his equally psychopathic but 221 00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:33.079 equally inexperienced son, Fadrique. Father and son approached the campaign of rebellion with 222 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:38.839 appalling cruelty, only made worse by the riotous mood of the troops who had 223 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:41.799 not been paid for months. And that's going to be the key. By 224 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:48.519 the way these Spanish soldiers went on the rampage at Milenken and put the entire 225 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:55.200 population of Nard into the sword. There could have been no more powerful encouragement 226 00:21:55.240 --> 00:22:00.640 for the Dutch, and when Fadrique advanced on Harlem, he found the citizens 227 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:07.000 stealed for a fight to the death. They realized they had no choice. 228 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:11.200 Even children now helped to break the siege, skimming across the ice on their 229 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:17.119 skates under the cover of fog to bring supplies, and three hundred armed women 230 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:21.599 played their part in the fighting. Instead of an easy victory that they had 231 00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:26.519 anticipated, Fadrique's army had to dig in during the harsh winter. In early 232 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:32.119 skirmishing, a contingent of Crack troops was devastated when it tried to engage a 233 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:36.960 handful of armed Dutch vessels trapped in the ice. Suddenly, a group of 234 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:41.839 musketeers emerged from the boats, wearing skates and slipped fast and shore across the 235 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:48.400 frozen sea, firing volley after volley at their veteran Spanish assailants, who skithered 236 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:56.440 and skidded helplessly on the ice. Alba later commented that quote, it is 237 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.200 the most novel business that has ever been heard of, end quote, and 238 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:06.319 ordered seven thousand spares of skates to be made. The Spanish besiegers became so 239 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:11.759 desperate that even Veddici suggested raising the siege, but his father responded as followers 240 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:15.640 quote, if you strike camp without the town's surrender, I shall disown you 241 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:18.759 as a son. But if you die in the siege, I shall take 242 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.960 your place in person. And if we both fail, your mother will come 243 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:26.920 from Spain to do in battle what her son has neither the valor nor the 244 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:33.160 patience to achieve. End quote. But assault after assault failed. In the 245 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:37.240 end, Alba understood that this war would be won or lost at sea. 246 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:42.759 In late May fifteen seventy two, the Spanish won a decisive naval battle, 247 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:48.440 and as a result by the end of July, Harlem had fallen. By 248 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:51.920 this point, the Spanish troops, as I mentioned before, had not been 249 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:56.279 paid for months and months on end, and they proceeded to ruthlessly sack the 250 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:00.640 city. The garrison's throats were cut all time, two thousand of them. 251 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:07.359 Any women within the city were raped. The town was devastated. Though he 252 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.720 may have been cruel, the Duke of Alba abhorred the breakdown of any order. 253 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:19.000 He ordered the ringleaders of this riotous event to be shot by their own 254 00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:25.559 men, and just like that, Alba and his son found themselves despised not 255 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:30.880 only by the Dutch, but by their Spanish subjects as well. Moreover, 256 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:34.839 these massacres, as I mentioned, and this most recent one and Harley backfired. 257 00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:40.440 Every Dutch town now realized it had to fight to the death, It 258 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:45.480 had to hold out at all costs. All fake and the Duke of Alba 259 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:55.680 did was make their job more difficult by showing cruelty after cruelty. Fadrique besieged 260 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:00.680 Al Kamar in August and September, but even against an army of ten thousand, 261 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:07.279 this teeny tiny town held out. Every man, woman and child had 262 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:12.799 helped to achieve the victory. On the eighteenth of December fifteen seventy three, 263 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:18.960 Alba finally rose from his sick bed and left Brussels, never to return. 264 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:22.400 On his way home, he summarized the reality of the Dutch problem for his 265 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:27.920 king as follows quote. The greater part of the states have always aspired to 266 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:33.599 liberty of conscience and the principle that whatever is dought in the privacy of one's 267 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:37.200 own home should not be subject to inquiry. If your majesty grants them freedom 268 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:42.119 of worship, they will pay whatever taxes you demand. Neither side wants another 269 00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:47.720 ruler, but you should understand that they want you to be their ward under 270 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:52.680 their tutelage. End quote. Now, even though he was giving this advice 271 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:56.799 to Alba, any such tolerance of religion was heresy in and of itself, 272 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:04.119 and the idea of diluting an absolute monarchy was anathema. As he said himself 273 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:07.920 later on, had he been given the resources to stamp out heresy in the 274 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.759 Netherlands, he almost certainly would have done so, even if he had to 275 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:17.799 destroy the dikes in order to visit a flood of seawater upon the heretics their 276 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:22.200 farms. And their cities. He repeatedly complained to Philip about the impossibility of 277 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.319 winning the war because he didn't have enough money to pay his troops, but 278 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:30.599 the King retorted simply, quote, I shall never have enough money to satisfy 279 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:37.720 your greed end quote. Philip finally understood he couldn't afford to borrow enough money 280 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:44.839 to defeat the Dutch, and in fact Alba's war of vengeance and cruelty had 281 00:26:44.839 --> 00:27:11.079 bankrupted him. It is worth noting for a moment how shocking this was. 282 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:17.279 The gold and more importantly, the silver that flowed into Europe i e. 283 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:22.799 Spain from the New World was a massive boon to essentially every European economy, 284 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:30.680 but it gave Spain a tremendous, albeit temporary, financial advantage. It also 285 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:37.920 led to the first period of sustained price inflation in European history. As inca, 286 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:42.119 gold and silver poured into Europe, the prices for just about everything rose. 287 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:48.759 This was also the age when international banking really took off. Trade boomed 288 00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:53.920 as a result of the influx of cash, and now Europeans they needed ways 289 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:02.200 to finance international transactions at a level that had never before been imagined. The 290 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.160 famous Fuger family of Augsburg were the banking heavy weights of the early sixteenth century, 291 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:14.240 borrowing across Europe at relatively low rates of interest in order to lend in 292 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:18.880 the lucrative market at the Flemish city of Antwerp. Their ability to accumulate real 293 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:25.559 money, gold, silver and coin in the strategic centers of Charles the Fifth's 294 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:32.640 military operations enabled them to dominate the market in Habsburg sovereign debt. Their bills 295 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:37.160 of exchange, or as they called them, banknotes, were considered so secure 296 00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:41.319 that people began to treat them as though they were actually gold or silver. 297 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:48.200 In fact, for the first time, paper became currency, but the Fuguers 298 00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:55.440 and the other German bankers were charting in their account books essentially a voyage of 299 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:00.960 monetary discovery, just like the explorers of the New World. Their ships might 300 00:29:02.039 --> 00:29:07.880 hit rocks. They overexposed themselves to Charles borrowing and were badly hurt by his 301 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:15.319 occasional forced reorganization of his debt and the risk adverse Germans reduced their involvement as 302 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:18.240 a result, the old nobility of Genoa stepped in to fill the gap, 303 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:25.160 encouraged by the bond that the naval Commander Andrea Doria and his family had forged 304 00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:30.559 with the Habsburgs. The Spanish crown borrowed in two basic ways. The foundation 305 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:37.039 stone of sovereign debt was juros, a range of government bonds securized in one 306 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:41.759 way or another with a guaranteed rate of interest over the life of the loan. 307 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:47.880 The interest was increasingly linked to some specific source of income, perhaps a 308 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:52.920 lean against what were called acabbola, which was a sales tax raised in cast 309 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:57.000 deal on salt, wine and other commodities, or against the rents payable on 310 00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:03.039 certain Crown estates. The recovery of the payment was often the responsibility of the 311 00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:07.920 bankers themselves. Then there were the other type, that were referred to as 312 00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:15.279 assentios. These were a vertable kaleidoscope of floating debt, usually agreed upon in 313 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:19.279 an ad hoc basis in order to fund a particular project or campaign, on 314 00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:25.160 which the crown paid an extremely high rate of interest for a relatively short period, 315 00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:33.079 after which creditors usually agreed to consolidate the assentios into juros. Until the 316 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:36.720 fifteen sixties, the bankers who lent money to the crown largely did so out 317 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:40.200 of their own pockets. But in a world a wash with money, the 318 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:44.599 Genoese were determined to borrow as much as possible from the tradesmen, merchants, 319 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:48.920 noblemen, farmers, and even peasants from across Europe who wanted to lend it 320 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:52.400 to them. They then found all sorts of ways and putting that money to 321 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:57.640 work. But the Spanish crown was always the major client that drove the European 322 00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:03.119 debt market. In fact, Philip's government was so hungry to fund its huge 323 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:11.119 expenditure that it regularly outbid more useful creditors such as farmers and industrialists, driving 324 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.440 up interest rates and contributing to the rampant inflation, which devalued the principle of 325 00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:22.440 crown debt and was also very damaging to the economy. And the last part 326 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.160 there is the key. Certainly, Charles the fifth and Philip the Second were 327 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:32.200 smart men, but they didn't understand the market forces at play. The more 328 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:37.119 they borrowed, the more they increased their own borrowing costs, and the more 329 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:42.400 New world silver they imported, the less that silver was worth. It would 330 00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:47.200 be like if you went to an atm, but every time you went it 331 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:52.599 gave you less and less of your money now. Wars are expensive. They 332 00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:55.359 always have been, they always will be, just asked the British, who 333 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:00.720 won two World Wars, but lost their empire harshly as a result. Philip 334 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:04.160 had a lot of money, sure, but he couldn't afford to fight the 335 00:32:04.279 --> 00:32:07.880 Dutch, the French, and, as we will see, the Ottomans simultaneously. 336 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:14.000 Of all these wars, the Dutch revolt was the most ruinous for Philip, 337 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:17.599 probably because it had been completely avoidable. Moreover, as I mentioned, 338 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:23.880 the Spanish needed the Netherlands to process its wool. War disrupted trade, and 339 00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:29.480 that made matters so bad for Philip that by the late fifteen seventies he was 340 00:32:29.559 --> 00:32:35.599 essentially only able to make the interest payments on all his debts. On September 341 00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:42.119 the first, fifteen seventy five, Philip effectively declared bankruptcy, the first sovereign 342 00:32:42.119 --> 00:32:47.799 and history to formally default on their debts. The Genoese retaliated by withdrawing his 343 00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:52.839 banking facilities in the Netherlands, and Philip's new military commander there complained that he 344 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:58.880 couldn't find a single penny to pay for his men. He wrote to the 345 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:05.920 King, short of a miracle the whole military machine will fall in ruins. 346 00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:10.640 It was quite the prophecy. The light Cavalry, for example, rode six 347 00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:16.880 years pay, and in fifteen seventy six the soldiers mutined after committing a series 348 00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:22.640 of terrible atrocities, including the especially brutal sack of Friendly Antwerp, remembered in 349 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:29.799 history as the Spanish Fury. The army of the Netherlands mutinied and abandoned the 350 00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:35.599 coastal countries of Holland and Zealand. The States General worked quickly to unite all 351 00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:39.039 seventeen provinces of the Netherlands in an act known as the Pacification of Ghent, 352 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:45.039 which established a humiliating general peace that required the removal of all Spanish troops and 353 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:52.039 officials from both the Spanish and Dutch Low countries. The Dutch had bankrupted Mighty 354 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:57.839 Philip by forcing him to keep such a large army in the field for so 355 00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:06.119 long, had taken charge of themselves everything all but had fought for, and 356 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:13.079 every penny that he had spent had gone to waste. Philip had paid a 357 00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:17.360 high price for all of this. The negotiations now began for the restructuring of 358 00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:22.639 all of his debts again, there could be no doubt that the bankers would 359 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:25.719 have agreed to some solution in due course. Philip may have threatened to go 360 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:31.000 elsewhere for his credit. While his activities underpinned such a huge proportion of the 361 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:37.000 European economy that without his borrowing the whole system would have eventually collapsed. But 362 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:43.679 the process would have proved considerably more painful had it not been for the intervention 363 00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:51.159 in fifteen seventy seven of Providence. That year, silver receipts from the Americas 364 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:55.800 broke every record because one of the great technological developments in history of silver production, 365 00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:01.199 the so called patio method, was now in use in both Peru and 366 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:07.920 Mexico. With the promise of new American riches, Philip and his bankers finally 367 00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:15.159 reached an agreement known to history as the Medio General, which imposed a brutal 368 00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:22.920 tax of almost forty percent on nearly fifteen million ducats of short term debt. 369 00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:29.159 Cooked into all this was a provision of a new loan of five million ducats, 370 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:35.880 and so the cycle of sovereign solvency and default started again. As ever, 371 00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:44.519 the American that is to say, Mexican and Peruvian silver financed Habsburg aspirations 372 00:35:45.079 --> 00:35:50.639 throughout Europe. The problem for Philip was that even by the fifteen fifties, 373 00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:53.559 as I mentioned, the surface deposits of silver and gold in the New World 374 00:35:54.159 --> 00:36:00.039 had all but dried up. He needed new methods to extract the wealth that 375 00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:05.079 lay deeper beneath the surface. He got it the patio method, but not 376 00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:09.880 until fifteen fifty seven, and took time for the new techniques that involved essentially 377 00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:15.719 combining silver or with mercury to separate it out, and then later heating the 378 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:20.159 mixture to burn off the mercury. But when he did, when it went 379 00:36:20.199 --> 00:36:24.760 into production, the results were astounding. Between fifteen seventy five and fifteen eighty 380 00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:30.679 the production of silver from Peru was four times would it have been previously. 381 00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:35.480 But it was too late to save Spain and its battle with the Dutch. 382 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:40.280 Ultimately, the Dutch Revolt lasted longer than any other uprising in modern European history. 383 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:45.639 In the end, it lasted nearly eighty years. It came to define 384 00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:50.840 daily life for generations of both those who lived in the Netherlands and those who 385 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:54.719 fought there. The Dutch were fighting on their home soil, their navy. 386 00:36:54.760 --> 00:36:59.480 Throughout the conflict was consistently more agile, and in the end it won more 387 00:36:59.480 --> 00:37:05.960 engagement. But really the reason Spain lost the Dutch Revolt had little to do 388 00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:09.599 with the Dutch themselves. Philip would lose in the Netherlands because he had so 389 00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:16.280 badly over committed himself. The Dutch could afford to focus only on the Spanish. 390 00:37:16.920 --> 00:37:23.159 The Spanish could not. Moreover, the Spanish were standing on the beach 391 00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:29.880 trying to hold back the tide. They were desperately trying to achieve what were 392 00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:35.119 unachievable goals, and if I'm being honest, some of the blame for all 393 00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:40.320 these failures lies squarely at Philip's feet. He didn't learn from his father's experience 394 00:37:40.840 --> 00:37:46.840 dealing with religious toleration and dissent in Germany. But worse still, he never 395 00:37:46.960 --> 00:37:52.360 once personally visited the region. For a man who considered the Netherlands to be 396 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:59.679 his birthright, that was inexcusable. Now, as we're going to see, 397 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:04.440 the Dutch Revolt was not the only reason for the collapse of the Spanish Empire 398 00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:08.400 and the end of Spain's Golden Age, but it certainly did not help. 399 00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:17.039 Next week we head back to England as Elizabeth the first takes the throne. 400 00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:21.440 If you're interested in more Western Sieve in the interim, you can check out 401 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:23.960 the links in the show notes. Try a seven day free trial of Western 402 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:29.559 SIEV two point zero and get back in it with the Romans. We're deep 403 00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:32.119 into it now with them in the Punic Wars, and I'm having a lot 404 00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:37.000 more fun covering that in a lot more detail.