The founding of the Dutch Republic : war, finance, and politics in Holland, 1572-1588 / James D. Tracy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tracy, James D.

Contributor:

Hazel M. Hussong Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Netherlands--History--Eighty Years' War, 1568-1648.

Netherlands.

History.

Netherlands--Politics and government--1556-1648.

Politics and government.

Netherlands--Economic conditions.

Economic conditions.

Physical Description:

viii, 343 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008.

Summary:

In 1572, towns in the province of Holland, led by William of Orange, rebelled against the government of the Habsburg Netherlands. The story of the Dutch Revolt is usually told in terms of fractious provinces that frustrated Orange's efforts to formulate a coherent programme. In this book James D. Tracy argues that there was a coherent strategy for the war, but that it was set by the towns of Holland. Although the States of Holland were in theory subject to the States General, Holland provided over 60 per cent of the taxes and an even larger share of war loans. Accordingly, funds were directed to securing Holland's borders, and subsequently to extending this protected frontier to neighbouring provinces.

Shielded from the war by its cordon sanitaire, Holland experienced an extraordinary economic boom, allowing taxes and loans to keep flowing. The goal-in sight if not achieved by 1588 - was a United Provinces of the north, free and separate from provinces in the southern Netherlands that remained under Spanish rule. With Europe increasingly under the sway of strong hereditary princes, the new Dutch Republic was a beacon of promise for those who still believed that citizens ought to rule themselves.

Contents:

I The Habsburg Netherlands, 1549-1567

Prologue: Prince Philip's Tour of the Low Countries, 1549 11

1 The Habsburg-Valois School of War 24

2 War Finance and Fiscal Devolution 37

3 Holland as a Body Politic, I: The Habsburg Era, to 1567 52

II War in Holland, October 1572-July 1576

Prologue: Repression, Rebellion, and Revolt, 1567-1572 77

4 Toward a Workable Strategy for Defensive Warfare 88

5 The New Fiscal Regime 101

6 Holland's Rulers: The Urban Oligarchies 116

III Holland and the 'Closer Union', July 1576-December 1582

Prologue: The States General at War with Spain 135

7 Holland's Garden 148

8 Paying for an Ever More Expensive War 171

9 Holland as a Body Politic, II: Seeds of Discord 194

IV A New Republic, 1583-1588

Prologue: Parma's Offensive, 1583-1588 215

10 The Securing of Holland's Forward Frontier, 1583-1588 225

11 Holland's Pyramid of Credit 242

12 Partisan Strife, 1583-1588: Holland and its Critics 269

Epilogue: The Dutch Republic in Europe's Republican Tradition, c.1590-1650 297.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [315]-331) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Hazel M. Hussong Fund.

ISBN:

9780199209118

0199209111

OCLC:

163605200