Belgium Under Spanish Rule

BELGIUM UNDER SPANISH RULE From this time onwards the whole of the southern part of the Netherlands once more recognized Philip II. as its sovereign. The system set up by the peace of Arras (May in all the reconquered provinces was not one of Spanish domination, but simply of dynastic union with Spain. The country recognized Philip II. as its legitimate sovereign, but retained its autonomy. The king was represented by a governor-general at Brussels. The council of State, the privy council and the council of finance 1 For earlier history see NETHERLANDS ; FLANDERS ; BRABANT; LIEGE.

which acted with him were, however, composed entirely of natives of the country. All the provinces were confirmed in their con stitutions and privileges. The only departments in which the king had sole control were the command of the army and foreign policy. Taxes could not be levied without the consent of the provinces. This was the principal safeguard of national autonomy ; Philip II. and his successors dared not withdraw it for fear of causing a fresh revolution.

Although the peace of Arras represented the capitulation of the king of Spain in the political sphere, it gave him complete victory on the religious question. In all the provinces which Farnese reconquered the Protestants were obliged either to be come reconciled to the Catholic Church or to emigrate, and Belgium, or the Spanish Netherlands, as it was then called to distinguish it from the United Provinces, henceforth became an exclusively Catholic country.

The reconquest of Belgium by Farnese was intended to be merely the prelude to that of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands. The United Provinces were supported, however, by France and England, and under Maurice and Frederick Henry, the sons of William of Orange, they successfully repelled all the efforts of Philip II.'s generals. The destruction of the Spanish Armada in Aug. 1588 and the fact that Farnese was obliged to go to France tc make war on Henry IV. gave them opportunities of which they were not slow to take advantage.

Albert and Isabella.

The able Farnese died, worn out, on Dec. 3, 1592, and was succeeded as governor by the Archduke Ernest, after whose death (Feb. 1595) Philip II. decided to try a new method : The government was entrusted to the Archduke Albert (Feb. 1596), and he was instructed to conclude peace with France (peace of Vervins, May 2, 1598) so as to have his hands free for the reconquest of the United Provinces. Hoping that the Provinces would be less recalcitrant to an independent sovereign than to the Spanish crown, the king married Albert to his daughter Isabella, and on May 6, 1598, handed over the whole of the Netherlands to the newly married couple as a sovereign State. Its independence was, however, more apparent than real, and the stipulation that Catholicism was to be the only religion tolerated destroyed any prospect of winning over the United Provinces, which clung more passionately than ever to their Calvinism.

The war therefore continued. Albert was an unskilful general, and was defeated at Nieuport by Maurice of Nassau. Ambrose Spinola then took charge of military operations, and this enabled Albert to obtain possession of Ostend in 1604 ; but no decisive success was achieved in the north. In 1609 Albert had to con clude a twelve years' truce with the United Provinces.

The archdukes made use of the twelve years' truce to con solidate their position in the Spanish Netherlands and to re organize Catholicism in the country on a firm basis with the aid of the Jesuits, who from that time onwards exercised a pre dominant influence over the religious and intellectual life of the country. They impressed themselves upon it so strongly that the results may be traced even down to the present day. The reign of Albert and Isabella was the last period of brilliance which Belgian civilization enjoyed until the 19th century. It was at this time that the school of Rubens (1577-164o) flourished at Antwerp, Justus Lipsius enhanced the reputation of the University of Louvain, and the Jesuits, who produced a brilliant group of scholars in Belgium, began the monumental work of the Acta Sanctorum (q.v.; see also BOLLANDISTS).

As Albert and Isabella had no children, it was clear that after their death Belgium would revert to the king of Spain. Albert died in 162I, and Isabella henceforth acted merely as governor for Philip IV. On the expiry of the twelve years' truce, war was resumed, with unfortunate results for Spain. Frederick Henry of Nassau captured Bois-le-Duc (1629) and Maestricht on Aug. 22, 1632. A conspiracy formed by the nobility in the same year bore significant witness to the discontented state of the country.

The situation became still more critical when, a few months after the death of Isabella (Dec. 1, 1633), France concluded an alliance with the United Provinces. The new governor, Cardinal Infante Don Ferdinand, was at first successful in resisting the double attack of the French and the Dutch. On Oct. io, 1637, however, Frederick Henry entered Breda, and Arras surrendered to the king of France on Aug. 9, 164o. The Cardinal Infante's successor, Don Francisco de Melo, was beaten by the prince de Conde at Rocroi on May 19, 1643. In 1644 the Dutch obtained possession of Dalhem, Rolduc and Fauquemont, and in 1645 the capture of Hulst put them in complete possession of the left bank of the estuary of the Scheldt.

The Peace of Munster.

It was now clear that Spain could not continue to fight on two fronts. In order to have his hands free for the war with France, Philip IV. resigned himself to con cluding peace finally with the United Provinces at Munster on Jan. 3o, 1648. The independence of the United Provinces was at last recognized, and all the districts which they had conquered in Flanders, Brabant and Limburg were ceded to them. Philip IV. also granted their request for the perpetual closing of the Scheldt, thus sacrificing Antwerp to Amsterdam and the prosperity of Belgium to that of Holland.

Louis

XIV.—Even this surrender to the rebel republic did not enable the king of Spain to wage war successfully on France. He suffered a series of defeats, alternating with treaties, each one of which represented a further cession of territory to the enemy. The Spanish governors who succeeded the Archduke Leopold (1647-1656) : Don Juan, the son of Philip IV., the marquis of Caracena, the marquis of Castel Rodrigo, the grand commander of Castille, the count of Monterey, the duke of Villa Hermosa, Alexander Farnese, the marquis of Grana and the marquis of Gastanaga, did not receive from the exhausted Spanish monarchy sufficient money or troops to enable them to fight successfully against the king of France with his unexhausted resources. Af ter the defeats of Lens (1648), and the Dunes (1658) the peace of the Pyrenees was concluded on Nov. 7, This treaty gave Louis XIV. the greater part of Artois and a number of fortresses along the southern frontier of Belgium. Under the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (May 2, 1668) he also re ceived Charleroi, Binche, Ath, Douai, Tournai, Lille and Courtrai. Spain recovered Courtrai, Binche and Charleroi by the peace of Nijmwegen (Aug. Io, 1678), but lost in exchange Valenciennes, Maubeuge, Cambrai, Saint-Omer, Poperinghe, Cassel, Bailleul and Ypres. The "chambres de reunion" created by Louis XIV. made further annexations even though the two countries were at peace. Some of the annexed districts were restored under the Peace of Ryswick (Sept. 20, 1697), when Louis XIV. was for the first time compelled to give way before the general European coalition against him.

Less than three years later, on Nov. 1, 1700, Charles II., the last remaining descendant of Philip II., died at Madrid without issue. In his will he left the whole of the Spanish monarchy, in cluding the Catholic Netherlands, to Philip of Anjou, Louis XIV.'s grandson, who took the title of Philip V.

War of the Spanish Succession.

It was obvious that Louis XIV. would not fail to take the opportunity offered by Charles II.'s will to make himself master of Belgium. From the beginning of his reign he had been constantly endeavouring to make that country an outpost of France. England and the republic of the United Provinces were equally determined to prevent him from acquiring a position so likely to be dangerous to them. In Feb. 1701, Louis XIV. caused his grandson to hand over to him the government of the Netherlands, with the complicity of the gov ernor, Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria. Thenceforward war was inevitable. William III., in his dual capacity as stadtholder of Holland and king of England, had a double reason to fear French expansion, and he was at once the initiator of the war and the one who carried it on most actively.

Marlborough's victory at Ramillies (May 23, 1706) compelled the French to evacuate Belgium, and all their efforts to return were unsuccessful. The country was provisionally administered by a "Conference" composed of English and Dutch until such time as Europe should have decided on its future. This was done by the Peace of Utrecht (April it, 1713), when Belgium received as its sovereign the emperor Charles VI., the head of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg.