Memory wars in the Low Countries, 1566-1700

In 1566, the Revolt of the Netherlands against the Habsburg overlord Philip II of Spain erupted. The conflict broke the Low Countries in two parts: the Dutch Republic in the North and the Habsburg Netherlands in the South. In these two polities, two radically different narratives about the conflict emerged. Throughout the seventeenth century, people in the North remembered the Revolt as a successful struggle for freedom while inhabitants of the South remembered the conflict less vividly. Historians of the Dutch Republic have shown that in the North a canonical narrative arose about the origins of the conflict. Since they rest on the nationalist-inspired assumption that this was a self-evident development, they have left unaddressed the question of how and why such a narrative came into being. Historians of the Habsburg Netherlands have interpreted the 'silences' in the South as proof that, there, people had forgotten the rebellion. There are no comparative studies that try to explain why and how memories of the past diverged. This study examines how and why such conflicting interpretations of the Revolt arose, why they remained relevant throughout the seventeenth century, and what role memories of the Revolt played in Northern and Southern identity formation.