Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden. Deel 119

[p. 150]

Summaries

Alastair Duke, The Elusive Netherlands: the Question of National Identity in the early Modern Low Countries on the Eve of the Revolt

The idea of the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands having any sort of national identity is usually met with understandable scepticism. The constitutional obstacles to the construction of such an identity were formidable, not least the piecemeal formation of the Burgundian dynastic state, whose prince owed homage to the kings of France and to the Holy Roman Emperor for their territories, and some of whose subjects could still seek justice in ‘foreign’ courts. Not surprisingly the early modern Low Countries baffled foreigners, but even those thoroughly familiar with the region did not know whether it belonged to ‘Gallia’ and ‘Germania’, and in particular how the Habsburg Netherlands related to an entity as vague as ‘Nider teutschelant’. The rich yet problematic nomenclature for the Low Countries testifies to these difficulties, which were aggravated by the protean configuration of the Habsburg state and by uncertain relationship between ‘Dutch’ and ‘Teutsch zung’. The state-building activities of Charles V certainly did not resolve the political and cultural confusion, but by 1555 these had helped to foster a stronger consciousness of the Low Countries as a distinctive political community, especially in the ‘core’ provinces. On the eve of the Revolt this found expression, ironically, in the emerging opposition to the presence of Spanish soldiers and to the central government's religious policy.

Jelle Haemers, The dominant state. The Gent revolt (1449-1453) in nineteenth and twentieth century historiography

In this survey of the historiography of the Gent revolt (1449-1453), the author argues that the position adopted by historians in the nineteenth and twentieth century was largely determined by their own views about government. The romanticists, in their historical accounts, reflected their own time, namely the legitimate resistance of Dutch freedom-fighters against a Francophone oppressor. While nationalistic positivists regarded revolts as a threat to the mediaeval state they adored. In the face of tumultuous events, post-war historians identified undemocratic values in the contemporary constitution and subsequently abandoned the legitimizing discourse of the ‘modern state’. As a result of the tendency in twentieth-century politics towards more consultation and more spectacle, late-mediaeval street violence was assessed in a more positive light. Ritual violence was seen as a social action. The author concludes that the historians' opinion about the violence executed by the government as well as the collective action of the subjects was dominated by their view of the state under which they themselves were living.

[p. 151]

Piet de Rooy, Violence in the polders

There is a staunch Whig tradition in Dutch historiography coupled with a strong inclination to emphasize moderation and tolerance as key features in Dutch history. The explanation for the relatively low level of violence, however, is rather weak or missing altogether. This article presents a case that links the low level of violence to three positive factors: the Netherlands was situated, geopolitically speaking, in the eye of the storm; there were relatively few cases of famine; and, it had no iron and coal basins that could easily be exploited. Violence, therefore, tended to manifest itself in the form of strict social control: specifically developed through the process of keeping tight control of religious differences, which culminated in the system of pillarization in the nineteenth century and continued as a means of suppressing the class war. This throws some light on one specific aspect of modern Dutch history, namely that far from being weak (as maintained in the Whig tradition), the state and societal organizations strengthened each other, as a result of which they were able to dispel all manner of unrest and discontent.