Everything about The Southern Netherlands totally explained
The
Southern Netherlands ( ) were a part of the
Low Countries controlled by
Spain (
Spanish Netherlands, 1579-1713),
Austria (
Austrian Netherlands, 1713-1794) and captured by
France (1794-1815). This region comprised most of modern
Belgium (except the officially
lower rhenish Prince-Bishopric of Liège) and
Luxembourg (including the
homonymous present
Belgian province) as well as, until 1678, most of the present
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France. Different from French
Burgundy and the republican Northern Netherlands, these states kept access to the
Burgundian Circle of the
Holy Roman Empire until its end.
Their 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, which 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' defense 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 wasn't 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 isn't derived from the latter).
Spanish Netherlands
The
Spanish Netherlands (Dutch:
Spaanse Nederlanden, Spanish:
Países Bajos españoles) in broad sense were the
Seventeen Provinces, that came under Habsburg rule after 1482. After 1556 they were under the Spanish Habsburg branch. The northern provinces separated from Habsburg rule during the
Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) and became the independent
United Provinces after the
Oath of Abjuration of 1581. The southern provinces remained under Habsburg rule and formed the Spanish Netherlands in strict sense.
The Spanish Netherlands originally consisted of the whole of the
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 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:
Deux-Nèthes
Dyle
Escaut
Forêts
Jemmape
Lys
Meuse-Inférieure
Ourte
Sambre-et-Meuse
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.
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