A map of the dominion of the
Habsburgs following the
Battle of Mühlberg (1547) as depicted in
The Cambridge Modern History Atlas (1912); Habsburg lands are shaded green. From 1556 the lands in a line from the Netherlands, through to the east of France, to the south of Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily were retained by the Spanish Habsburgs.
The
Southern Netherlands (, , ) were a part of the
Low Countries controlled by Spain (
Spanish Netherlands, 1579–1713), Austria (
Austrian Netherlands, 1713–94) and captured by France (1794–1815). This region comprised most of modern
Belgium (except for three
Lower-Rhenish territories: the
Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the
Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy and the
County of Bouillon) and
Luxembourg (including the
homonymous present
Belgian province), and in addition some parts of
The Netherlands (namely the
Duchy of Limburg now split in a
Dutch and
Belgian part) as well as, until 1678, most of the present
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France. Unlike French
Burgundy and the republican Northern Netherlands, these
allodial states kept access to the
Burgundian Circle of the
Holy Roman Empire until its end.
Place in the broader Netherlands
As they were very wealthy, the Netherlands in general were a jewel in the ever debt-burdened
Habsburg crown, but unlike others of the Habsburg dominions, they were led by a
merchant class. It was the
merchant economy which made them wealthy and the Spanish attempts at increasing
taxation, to finance the Habsburg wars
1, was a major factor in their proud defence of ancient privileges. This together with resistance to the religious intolerance of the
Catholic Spanish
monarchy led to a general rebellion of the Netherlands against Spanish rule in the 1570s. Although the northern seven provinces, led by
Holland and
Zeeland, established their independence as the
United Provinces after 1581, the southern Netherlands were reconquered by the Spanish general
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. The Southern Netherlands passed to the Austrian Habsburgs after the
War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century. Under Austrian rule, the provinces' defence of their ancient privileges proved as troublesome to the reforming Emperor
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor as it had to his ancestor
Philip II two centuries before, leading to a major rebellion in 1789-1790. The Austrian Netherlands were ultimately lost to the
French Revolutionary armies, and annexed to France. Following the war, Austria's loss of the territories was confirmed, and they were joined with the northern Netherlands as a single kingdom under the
House of Orange at the 1815
Congress of Vienna.
The Congress first joined the Southern Netherlands to the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands under the
House of Orange-Nassau, but with the south-eastern third of Luxembourg Province made into the autonomous Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg, because it was claimed by both the Netherlands and
Prussia.
In 1830 the predominantly Roman Catholic southern half became independent as the Kingdom of
Belgium (the northern half being predominantly
Calvinist). The autonomy of Luxembourg was recognised in 1839, but an instrument to that effect was not signed until 1867. The King of the Netherlands was Grand Duke of Luxembourg until 1890, when
William III was succeeded by his daughter,
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands - but Luxembourg still followed the
Salic law at the time, which forbade a woman to rule in her own right, so the union of the Dutch and Luxembourger crowns then ended. The north-western two-thirds of the original Luxembourg remains a province of Belgium. The flags of the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg () and of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands () are still distinguished only in the
tint of their colours (although the former is not derived from the latter).
Spanish Netherlands
The
Spanish Netherlands (Dutch:
Spaanse Nederlanden, Spanish:
Países Bajos españoles) was a portion of the
Low Countries controlled by
Spain from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. When part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule and became the
United Provinces in 1581 the remainder of the area became known as the
Spanish Netherlands and was still under the control of
Spain. This region comprised modern
Belgium,
Luxembourg as well as part of northern France.
The Spanish Netherlands originally consisted of the whole of the
- the Upper Quarter (Bovenkwartier) of the duchy of Guelders (around Venlo and Roermond, in the present province of Dutch Limburg)
The capital was
Brussels in Brabant.
In the early seventeenth century, there was a flourishing court at
Brussels, which was under the government of King
Philip III's half-sister
Archduchess Isabella and her husband,
Archduke Albert of Austria. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the "Archdukes", as they were known, was
Peter Paul Rubens. Under the Archdukes, the Spanish Netherlands actually had formal independence from Spain, but always remained unofficially within the Spanish sphere of influence, and with Albert's death in 1621 they returned to formal Spanish control, although the childless Isabella remained on as Governor until her death in 1633.
The failing wars intended to regain the 'heretical' Northern Netherlands meant significant loss of (still mainly Catholic) territories in the north, which was consolidated in the 1648
Westphalian peace, and given the peculiar, inferior status of
Generality Lands (jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces) :
Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (south of the river
Scheldt), the present Dutch province of
Noord-Brabant and
Maastricht (in the present Dutch province of Limburg).
In the wars between the French and the Spanish in the seventeenth century, the territory of the Spanish Netherlands was repeatedly nipped at. The French annexed
Artois and
Cambrai by the
Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, and
Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the Treaties of
Aix-la-Chapelle (ending the
War of Devolution in 1668) and
Nijmegen (ending the
Franco-Dutch War in 1678), further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including most of
Walloon Flanders (around the city of
Lille), as well as much of
Hainault (including
Valenciennes). In the later
War of the Reunions, and the
Nine Years War France annexed other parts of the region.
Austrian Netherlands
Under the
Treaty of Utrecht (1713), following the
War of the Spanish Succession, what was left of the Spanish Netherlands was ceded to Austria and thus became known as the
Austrian Netherlands. However, the Austrians themselves generally had little interest in the region (aside from a short-lived attempt by Emperor
Charles VI to compete with British and Dutch trade through the
Ostend Company), and the fortresses along the border (the
Barrier Fortresses) were, by treaty, garrisoned with Dutch troops. The area had, in fact, been given to Austria largely at British and Dutch insistence, as these powers feared potential French domination of the region.
Throughout the latter part of the eighteenth century, the principal foreign policy goal of the Habsburg rulers was to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for
Bavaria, which would round out Habsburg possessions in southern Germany. In the 1757
Treaty of Versailles, Austria agreed to the creation of an independent state in the Southern Netherlands ruled by
Philip, Duke of Parma and garrisoned by French troops in exchange for French help in recovering
Silesia. However the agreement was later revoked by the
Third Treaty of Versailles and Austrian rule continued.
In 1784
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor did take up the long-standing grudge of
Antwerp, whose once-flourishing trade was destroyed by the permanent closing of the
Scheldt, and demanded that the
Dutch Republic open the river to navigation. However, the Emperor's stance was far from militant, and he called off hostilities after the so-called
Kettle War, known by that name because its only "casualty" was a kettle. Though Joseph did secure in the
1785 Treaty of Fontainebleau that the Southern Netherlands would be compensated by the Dutch Republic for the continued closing the Scheldt, this achievement failed to gain him much popularity.
The Austrian Netherlands rebelled against Austria in 1788 as a result of
Joseph II's centralizing policies. The different provinces established the
United States of Belgium (January 1790). Austrian imperial power was restored by Joseph's brother and successor,
Leopold II by the end of 1790.
French annexation
After the
French Revolution, in 1794 the entire region (including territories that were never under Habsburg rule, like the
Bishopric of Liège) was overrun by France ending the existence of this territory as Spanish/Austrian Netherlands. This was resisted by the
Flamingant movement organized by
Roman Catholic clergy. It became an integral part of France, and was divided into
départements:
Austria confirmed the loss of its territories by the
Treaty of Campo Formio, in 1797.
After the defeat of
Napoleon in 1815 the region was given to the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands, however after the
Belgian Revolution of 1830 it separated and became the independent state of
Belgium.
See also
Footnote
- Note 1: The example of these expensive wars which is best known to English-speaking people is that of the Spanish Armada. However, that came in 1588, a little after the Dutch had become exasperated to the extent of signing the Union of Utrecht in 1579.
Category:County of FlandersCategory:History of BelgiumCategory:History of SpainNetherlandsCategory:History of AustriaCategory:Former polities in the Netherlandsca:Països Baixos espanyolsde:Spanische Niederlandeel:Νότιες Κάτω Χώρεςes:Países Bajos de los Habsburgoeo:Hispana Nederlandofr:Pays-Bas du sudfr:Pays-Bas espagnolsid:Belanda Selatanit:Paesi Bassi del Sudhe:ארצות השפלה הדרומיותhu:Dél-Németalföldms:Belanda Sepanyolnl:Spaanse Nederlandennl:Zuidelijke Nederlandenja:南部ネーデルラントno:De spanske Nederlandenepl:Niderlandy Hiszpańskiept:Países Baixos Espanhóisru:Южные Нидерландыth:สเปนิช เนเธอแลนด์sv:Spanska Nederländernauk:Австрійські Нідерландиzh:南尼德蘭
