TheSpanish Fury (or the Spanish Terror) was a number of violent sackings of cities (lootings) in theLow Countries or Benelux, mostly by SpanishHabsburg armies, that happened in the years 1572–1579 during theDutch Revolt. In some cases, the sack did not follow the taking of a city. In others, the sack was ordered, or at least not restrained, by Spanish commanders after the fall of a city.
The most notorious Spanish Fury was thesack of Antwerp in November 1576. In English, this, and the mutinouscampaign of 1576 in general, tends to be what is meant by "Spanish Fury". In Dutch, the term includes a wider range of sackings, in particular the city punishments of 1572.[1][2][3] The events of the Spanish Fury contributed to the creation ofanti-Spanish sentiment in many parts of Europe.
Several requests were made for relaxation of religious coercion in theLow Countries, including a rejected petition by acovenant of noblemen in the winter of 1565–66. The summer brought renewed violent outbursts oficonoclasm, in which 'Beeldenstorm'Calvinists destroyed religious images inCatholic monasteries and churches. TheBattle of Oosterweel in March 1567 was the first Spanish military response to the many riots and a prelude to or the start of theEighty Years' War.[Note 1]TheSpanish King's captain-generalAlba, theIron Duke, with 10,000 men made the first military use of theSpanish Road. He was granted powers exceeding those of the king's half-sisterMargaret of Parma, who had maneuvered bothGranvelle andWilliamthe Silent of Orange to the background while trying to reconcile local priorities with Spanish orders. Upon their meeting, judging the duke's inflexibility on extreme positions, the duchess resigned. He replaced her as governor-general of theSeventeen Provinces and unlawfully instituted theCouncil of Troubles in September of that same year. This court-martial style tribunal often sentenced political opponents and religiousReformists to death; the more than 1,000 executions caused it to be called the 'Council of Blood'.
Don Fadrique's deployment of the Army of Flanders, 1572Massacre of Naarden, 1 December 1572, Spanish soldiers slaughtering local civilians (17th century etching byJ. Luyken)British Museum, LondonThe pillaging of Maastricht in 1576
TheSea Beggars, having been driven out of English harbours by Elizabeth I,captured Brielle on 1 April 1572. This foothold triggered an anti-royalist rebellion in the Counties ofZeeland and ofHolland. Other cities in the Low Countries that showed signs of rebellion against the increased taxation and prosecution ofProtestants, or did not allow troops of either side in,[4]became vigorously forced into Catholicism and total political obedience to the Spanish Crown.[5]
Looting a conquered town was not uncommon, and Governor Alba took it a step further by intentionally setting horrifying examples against sympathy for the rebels.[6][7]
TheSpanish Fury at Mechelen was the earliest event known by this term. After Orange's lieutenantBernard of Merode had taken and controlled the city ofMechelen for a month, he and his men left because a much stronger Spanish force was coming. Despite welcoming the latter by singingpsalms ofpenitence in a gesture of surrender, from 2 October 1572, under command of Governor Alva's[Note 2] sonFadrique, during three days the city was sacked by his slaughtering, raping and pillaging troops. Alva reported to KingPhilip II (who later imprisoned him) that "no nail was left in the wall".[8][9][10]
TheArmy of Flanders that sacked Mechelen reconqueredDiest andRoermond, marched on toGuelders, and in November easily regainedZutphen, which had been taken for Orange in June. Don Fadrique ordered his men to kill the garrison and allowed them to murder and plunder the city. After theSpanish Fury at Zutphen, the counties on its north capitulated.[11]
By December atNaarden, Holland, the inhabitants negotiated their surrender but the city was sacked and burnt down, and only 60 people survived theMassacre of Naarden.[11]
By December 1573, high, yet ineffective, financial expenditures, and complaints about the sheer cruelty of the governor's expeditions, led Philip II toRequesens, where he replaced Alba, who returned to Spain. The notorious 'Council of Blood' ordered no more executions, and was officially abolished in June 1574 by Requesens, but remained in session until summer of 1576.
In October 1576, during the city ofMaastricht's rebellion against its fortress because of continued heavy payments, German soldiers of the Spanish garrison followed city council's orders and stood aside. While some Spanish troops held out at one of the gates, others fled with the garrison's commanderFrancisco de Montesdoca to captainMartín de Ayala's minor fortification atWyck just across theRiver Maas bridge. Though Montesdoca was offered safety during negotiations, he was arrested in the heat of this dispute. He was liberated while soldiery arriving fromDalem and those of Wyck captured the city. As few Spanish lives had been lost, the Germans were excused but had to make camp in neighbouring villages.
The Spanish Fury of October 1576 refers to the subsequent punishment of the city with a pillaging bloodbath.[3][13][14][15]
Upon Requesens' death in March 1576, the Spanish king appointed his own half-brotherDon Juan as Governor-General of the Netherlands but hesitated several months before notifying him. Even then, Don Juan did not hurry to proceed to the Netherlands. The abandoned officers and ordinary soldiers were not being paid and started a mutinous looting campaign.
The Spanish Fury atAalst, a city that had always been loyal, showed that the military insurgencies that had occurred more than occasionally since 1573, had totally run out of hand by July 1576.[16][17] Rampant soldiers sacked about 170 places inBrabant.[3]
The Spanish Fury at Antwerp, the most famous event by this name, also known as theSack of Antwerp, occurred when the forces coming from Aalst and those from Maastricht met in November 1576. A thousand buildings were torched and as many as 17,000 men, women, and children were killed.[18]
ThePacification of Ghent by which both Calvinists and Catholics decided to expel all Spanish troops, and for which negotiations had been going on since the sack of Aalst, was signed a few days after Antwerp's fate.[17]It was acceded to on 12 February 1577 by governor-general Don Juan when he signed thePerpetual Edict. A few months later, despite the agreed terms, Don Juan began planning a new campaign against the Dutch rebels, who found an ally in England'sElizabeth I.[Note 3]Though never recognized by Philip, an arrangement by Catholics put his nephewMatthias of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, in the position of governor of the Netherlands until 1581.[Note 4][10][19]
Alexander Farnese, son of Margaret of Parma, reconquered a large part of the Netherlands by methods found honourable by friend and foe. Thereupon theUnion of Arras was signed and only weeks later, on 23 January 1579, theUnion of Utrecht, at which the separation between southern and northern Netherlands became a fact. But the War was not finished.
Between 12 March and 1 July 1579, both sides suffered hard in thesiege of Maastricht.[Note 5]The victorious attackers then held a second Spanish Fury at Maastricht which killed all but 400 people out of a population of 30,000.[18]
^The 80 Years' War can be seen to have started on 13 March 1567 with the defeat of the rebels atOosterweel, or eleven days later, whenbesieged Valenciennes surrendered. The rebels' first victory, in May 1568 atHeiligerlee, is by theDutch often regarded as the start of the War.
^ QueenMary I of England had married King Philip II of Spain to ensure continued reimposing of Catholicism on England: an heir would have prevented her Protestant half-sister Elisabeth's succession to the throne. The latter had been imprisoned by Mary in the aftermath ofWyatt's rebellion. On 29 July 1554 Philip wrote to a correspondent inBrussels, "the marriage was concluded for no fleshly consideration, but to remedy the disorders of this kingdom and to preserve the Low Countries." (Porter, Linda (2007).Mary Tudor: The First Queen. pp. 464. Piatkus Books Ltd, London, UK, 2009.ISBN978-0-7499-0982-6. p. 320) In 1558, 'Bloody Mary' had died without such heir, de facto having kept the throne of a country in crisis warm for Elizabeth.
^ Philip II would much later appoint another son of his sisterMaria andEmperor Maximilian II, Matthias' brotherErnest as governor-general of the Spanish Netherlands.
^Caffin, Charles H (February 1912). "V. The Scientific-Artistic Organization of Holland in the Seventeenth Century".Art for Life's Sake – An Application of the Principles of Art to the Ideals and Conduct of Individual and Collective Life. The Prang Company, New York–Chicago–Boston–Atlanta–Dallas, USA (ex. University of Toronto Library N7445C25c.1ROBA online by Scribd.com). p. 38.ISBN978-1-120-15859-8. (paperback pub. by Kessinger Publishing). Archived fromthe original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved4 August 2011.Philip replied by dispatching Alva and ten thousand troops, who inaugurated the 'Spanish Fury,' in which eighteen thousand six hundred persons were put to death, beside those who were killed in armed resistance.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Krüger:"Die 'Spaanse Furie' wütete über mehrere Jahre: Mecheln, Zutphen und Naarden wurden geplündert, ebenso Haarlem, Oudewater und Bommende. Am Schlimmsten aber traf es Antwerpen"
^abcVan der Schoot, Y."De Hervorming te Brugge"(PDF) (in Dutch). www.protestantsekerkbrugge.be. Retrieved31 July 2011.
^Burg (2003, eLibrary 2005) p. 168–169: "in Madrid,Alba was accused of following his own whims rather thanPhilip's. According toHenry Kamen,Medinaceli reported to the king that 'Excessive rigour, the misconduct of some officers and soldiers, and theTenth Penny, are the cause of all the ills, and not heresy or rebellion.' ... One of the governor’s officers reported that in the Netherlands 'the name of the house of Alba' was held in abhorrence."
^Arnade (2008)p. 226–229 For the sack of Mechelen, Arnade also refers to: Marnef, GuidoHet Calvinistisch bewind te Mechelen, 1580–85. Kortrijk-Heule, 1987.
^Russel, William (1789)."Part I. From the Rise of the Modern Kingdoms to the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648".The History of Modern Europe: With an Account of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and a View of the Progress of Society from the Rise of the Modern Kingdoms to the Peace of Paris in 1763. Vol. 3. G.G.J. – J. Robinson – A. Hamilton. pp. 9–11. Retrieved18 August 2011.
Tracy, James D (2008).The Founding of the Dutch Republic – War, Finance, and Politics in Holland, 1572–1588. Oxford University Press, Oxford. p. 343.ISBN978-0199209118.
Burg, David F. (2003).A World History of Tax Rebellions – An Encyclopedia of Tax Rebels, Revolts, and Riots from Antiquity to the Present. Routledge, New York & London, 2004 (Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005). pp. 168–170: 1567 Revolt of the Netherlands.ISBN0415924987. (alk. paper). (Master e-book). (Adobe eReader format). Or,if and while it is (again) available, the most relevant chapter only:
Groen van Prinsterer, Guillaume.Archives ou correspondance inédite de la maison d'Orange-Nassau (première série) (in Old French and Dutch). Leiden, 1847 (Online bydbnl, 2009).
German translation:Groen van Prinsterer, Guillaume (1837). "Nº 1, 2, 3: Archives ou correspondance inédite de la maison d'Orange-Nassau".Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Literatur, 30-er Jg. (1837) (in German). Translated by Schlosser. Heidelberg University J.C.B. Mohr. pp. 1–87. Retrieved6 August 2011.
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