1

Some Italian voices on the Dutch liberty, 1560s-1640s1

The peace treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, signed in 1559, had put an end to decades of

warfare between the Habsburg and the Valois monarchies. Its main consequence for

the Italian peninsula was the establishment over there of a Pax Hispanica. Henceforth,

the Kingdoms of Sicily, Sardinia and Naples and the Duchy of Milan were firm

Habsburg possessions. Moreover, the papal states, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the

smaller principalities along the banks of the Po River, such as the Duchies of Parma

and Piacenza or Mantua, and the Genoese republic were all considered to be to some

degree Habsburg client states or at very least its stable allies. Only the Venetian

republic remained outside the Habsburg orbit.2

Meanwhile, in the 1560s, a Revolt had erupted in the north-western Habsburg

dominions. Contrary to all expectations the Duke of Alba and his punitive

expeditionary force did not succeed to pacify the Netherlands. What originally had

seemed to be a civil war, gradually developed into an international armed conflict.3

In the 1590s, the young Republic brought to a halt the Habsburg recapture. Although

both sides obtained some successes throughout the next few decades, the Habsburg

troops never seemed able to seriously threaten Holland and Zeeland, the core

provinces of the rebels.4 In April 1609, representatives of the Habsburg rulers in

Brussels and Madrid agreed to the Twelve Years’ Truce. Thereby they de facto

1 Abbreviations used: BAV Urb. Lat. = Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana. Codices Urbinates Latini;

BMGN = Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden/The Low

Countries Historical Review; DBI = Dizionario Biographico degli Italiani. I’m grateful to Martin van

Gelderen, Gert Gielis, Nina Lamal, Raymond Kubben and Violet Soen for their comments and

suggestions. Of course, all remaining errors are mine. 2 For a classic description of this state of affairs see e.g. C. Vivanti, C. Vivanti, ‘Le due monarchie

sull’Italia’, in: R. Romano & Idem (eds.), Storia d’Italia. Dalla caduta dell’impero Romano al secolo XVIII. La

società medievale e le corti del Rinascimento (Turin 1974), pp. 389-397. Brief, but shrewd analyses of

Spanish domination on the Italian peninsula can be found in G. Hanlon, The Twilight of a Military

Tradition. Italian Aristocrats and European conflicts, 1560-1800 (New York 1998), pp. 47-69 and idem,

Early Modern Italy, 1550-1800. Three Seasons in European History (Basingstoke and London 2000), pp. 74-

75. Th. J. Dandelet & John A. Marino (eds.), Spain in Italy. Politics, Society and Religion. 1500-1700

(Leiden and Boston 2007) offer an overview of recent scholarship on the theme. 3 A compelling discussion of Alba’s term as a governor-general and an assessment of his policies is to

be found in P. Arnade, Beggars, Iconoclasts, & Civic Patriots. The Political Culture of the Dutch Revolt

(Ithaca and London 2008), pp. 166-211. More on the transformation of the Dutch Revolt from a civil

war into an international conflict in S. Groenveld, Het Twaalfjarig Bestand, 1609-1621. De jongelingsjaren

van de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden (The Hague 2009), pp. 26-32. 4 J.I. Israel, The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall. 1477-1806 (Oxford etc. 1995), pp. 241-275.

2

recognized the Republic as a viable state.5 In the new round of fighting that ensued

after the expiration of the Truce, on balance the Habsburg forces suffered further

losses. In 1648, out of necessity their representatives and those of the Republic finally

signed a peace treaty in the Westphalian city of Münster.6

Obviously this story sounds quite familiar to us. However, contemporaries did not

know yet the outcome of the conflict. Everywhere policy makers, merchants, and

members of the learned elites followed with great interest the course of the wars in

the Netherlands.7 Habsburg dignitaries and their supporters feared a domino effect.

According to them an eventual victory of the rebels would compromise Spanish

hegemony and threaten the survival of the Catholic Church in north-western

Europe.8 Observers that were less biased shared that opinion. Italians were even

keener on news and commentaries about the troubles in the Low Countries, as most

local governments participated in one way or another in the Habsburg war effort.9

Spanish supply lines passed via Italy, taxes levied in Habsburg Italy were spent in

the Netherlands and although it is impossible to calculate exact numbers, between

the 1560s and the 1640s on aggregate tens of thousands of Italian soldiers must have

served over there.10

Consequently at first most Italian administrators and commentators rather self-

evidently supported the Habsburg cause. In their opinion, rebels defied the divine

authority and they undermined the monopoly of the Catholic Church in religious

matters. Moreover the Habsburg armies offered Italian aristocrats the chance to gain 5 S. Groenveld, Het Twaalfjarig Bestand, pp. 33-66. 6 J.I. Israel, The Dutch Republic, pp. 544-546 and M. Prak, Gouden Eeuw. Het raadsel van de Republiek

(Nijmegen 2002), pp. 45-51 (also published in English as The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century.

The Golden Age (Cambridge etc. 2005). 7 J. Pollmann, ‘Internationalisering en de Nederlandse Opstand’, in: BMGN, vol. 124 (2009) , pp. 515-

535. 8 F. González de León and G. Parker, ‘The grand strategy of Philip II and the revolt of the

Netherlands’, in: G. Darby (ed.), The Origins and Development of the Dutch Revolt (London and New

York 2001), p. 116. 9 S. Moretti, ‘La trattatistica italiana e la guerra: il conflitto tra la Spagna e le Fiandre (1566-1609)’, in:

Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento, vol. 20 (1994)’, p. 133 and G. Hanlon, The Twilight,

pp. 69-80. For the involvement of the Medici dynasty in the Habsburg efforts to suppress the Dutch

Revolt see e.g. B. Dooley, ‘Art and Information Brokerage in the Career of Don Giovanni de’Medici’,

in: H. Cools, M. Keblusek & B. Noldus (eds.), Your Humble Servant. Agents in Early Modern Europe

(Hilversum 2006), pp. 83-89. 10 G. Parker, The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567-1659. The Logistics of Spanish Victory and

Defeat in the Low Countries’ Wars (Cambridge etc. 2004 second edition), in particular pp. 23-24 and pp.

177-179.

3

military experience they lacked at home and to cover themselves with glory on the

battlefield.11 However, once the Twelve Years’ Truce was signed and the Dutch

Republic had gained international standing, in the works of some Italian authors

transpired as well a form of admiration for their enemies. After all, the Dutch

Republic could be considered as a collection of city states. Its successes recalled the

past glory of the comune. In fact, in a brief span of time that Republic had grown into

one of the most important European trading hubs. Apparently liberty of conscience

had entailed prosperity and while its administrative system seemed chaotic, in

practice it offered stability.12 No wonder that the Dutch lust for freedom, even if they

feared it as a primitive source, impressed all foreign observers, but in particular the

Italians.13 As one of them remarked: ‘notwithstanding the fact that the King (= Philip

III; HC) was entitled to rule these lands (= the United Provinces; HC), it seemed good

to him to grant them their liberty, as it was impossible to tame these people.’14

Thus, in this paper, I shall try to reconstruct these shifting images of the Dutch

Revolt. Therefore we first have to understand which kind of information was passed

on from the Netherlands to Italy and how this worked in practice. Subsequently, I

shall put forward a rather tentative classification of Italian works on the Eighty

Years’ War. Then, in a final section, I shall discuss the possible impact of these

writings on contemporary Italian debates on revolts, political theory and statecraft.

However, as I present here but the first results of a research project that has started in

the fall of 2010, I hope more detailed and refined analyses will follow in future.15

11 G. Hanlon, The Twilight of a Military Tradition, pp. 261-274 and S. Moretti, ‘La trattatistica’, pp. 129-

132. 12 M. Prak, ‘The Dutch Republic as a Bourgeois Society’, in: The Low Countries Historical Review, vol. 125

(2010), p. 137. 13 M. van Gelderen, ‘De Nederlandse Opstand (1555-1610): van vrijheden naar oude vrijheid en de

vrijheid der conscientien’, in E.O.G. Haitsma Mulier & W.R.E. Velema (eds.), Vrijheid. Een geschiedenis

van de vijftiende tot de twintigste eeuw (Amsterdam 1999), 27 14 My translation of ‘... sia parso bene a Sua Maestà di alienar de suoi Regni parte di queste Provincie,

lasciando ad essi quella libertà che non potendo egli soggiogare vien da loro tanto ostinatamente difesa sapendo

benissimo il Re che quei popoli che hanno per coperta et refugio sono indomabili ...’ out of the Discorso delle

ragioni et avvantaggi della pace e tregua per il Re Cattolico. Manuscript kept in Rome, Biblioteca

Corsiniana e dei Lincei, segn. 36 c 24, f. 608v. Also quoted by S. Moretti, ‘La trattatistica’, pp. 132-133. 15 This research project is funded by FWO-Flanders and it is entitled The Netherlands in the news. Italian

messages, opinions and histories about the Eighty Years’ War (ca. 1560- ca. 1640). Currently two PhD

students, Nina Lamal and Emma Grootveld are working on it and they are expected to submit their

theses between 2014 and 2015.

4

In Europe, from the late fifteenth century onwards, a market for international news

had developed. The well-known diaries of Venetian patrician Marino Sanudo for

instance, teach us what kind of news at that time was available in the Laguna.16

Indeed, throughout the early modern period, Venice and Rome were hubs, where

‘information managers’ compiled all sorts of messages that were available.17 These

managers or ‘proto journalists’ edited their files. Subsequently, they sold such

handwritten avvisi (literally this means messages) or newsletters on the local market

or they forwarded them to fixed subscribers, such as foreign princes or banking

companies, like the Fuggers. Recent research by Zsuzsa Barbarics and Renate Pieper

into the avvisi that the Fugger firm received in Augsburg, suggests that by the 1570s

Antwerp had become the third hub, after Venice and Rome, on the European news

market.18 By that time, on average fifty five newsletters a year or one fifth of all avvisi

that the Fuggers received had been compiled in Antwerp. Another ten letters a year

were sent from other places in the Netherlands, mainly Amsterdam and Brussels.

Barbaris and Pieper do not relate this increase in Antwerp newsletters to the

outbreak of the Dutch Revolt. However their figures are quite close to the number of

newsletters from the Netherlands that Guidobaldo II, Duke of Urbino, received in

these years. For from autumn 1566 to autumn 1567 they amounted to forty four. In

1568, the year in which the Counts of Egmond and Horn were decapitated and

William of Orange formally entered into a rebellion against Philip II, by crossing the

river Meuse with his army, even fifty two newsletter from the Netherlands were sent

to Urbino.19 On average, this amounts to one letter every week. Clearly, in these years

banking companies and Italian princes took great interest in the troubles in the Low

Countries. Although the anonymous editors of the Urbino letters reported accurately

and full of detail on the strange events taking place in these far flung countries, they

16 M. Sanudo, I diarii. 58 Vols., ed. R. Fulin (Venezia 1879-1903). Cf. M. Infelise, ‘From merchants’ letters

to handwritten political avvisi: notes on the origin of public information’, in: F. Bethencourt & F.

Egmond (eds.), Correspondence and Cultural Exchange in Europe, 1400-1700 (Cambridge etc. 2007), p. 36. 17 M. Infelise, ‘Roman avvisi: information and politics in the seventeenth century’, in: G. Signorotto &

M.A. Visceglia (eds.), Court and Politics in Papal Rome, 1492-1700 (Cambridge etc. 2002), pp. 211-214. 18 Z. Barbarics and R. Pieper, ‘Handwritten newsletters as means of communication in early modern

Europe’, in: F. Bethencourt & F. Egmond (eds.), Correspondence and Cultural Exchange in Europe, 1400-

1700 (Cambridge etc. 2007), pp. 75-77. 19 All these avvisi for the years 1566-1568 can be consulted in BAV Urb. Lat. 1040. Especially the

execution of Egmond and Horn, on 5 June 1568, impressed Italian observers. The Duke of Urbino

received three different avvisi, dated on 6, 12 and 14 June, in which the event was related; ff. 564v,

565v and 570r. Cf. G. Darby, ‘Narrative of events’, in: idem (ed.), The Origins and Development of the

Dutch Revolt (London and New York 2001), pp. 16-18.

5

framed as well the minds of their readers.20 For instance, those who fled Alba’s

Council of Troubles were consistently labelled as ‘fuorusciti’, a noun the Italian

political elites knew well, as it was used to tag political exiles.21

During this first phase of the Revolt printed news reports or pamphlets in Italian on

events in the Netherlands remained rather rare.22 However, those that were

published were aimed to arouse support for the Habsburg and Catholic cause. Thus,

in 1568, avvisi on the victories obtained by the Duke of Alba were printed twice in

Bologna and in Rome.23 Four years later, two nearly identical printed accounts on the

atrocities committed by the troops of William of Orange against thirteen Carthusian

monks and the secretary of the local bishop in the Guelders city of Roermond were

put on sale in Rome and in Venice.24

20 ’Framing’ is a term used often in journalism studies to indicate how authors shape the minds of their

readers using deliberately words and grammatical structures with strong connotations. Cf.

http://www.journalism.org/node/445 (last retrieved on 2 October 2011). 21 See for instance BAV Urb. Lat. 1040, f. 526v (Anversa, 23.03.1568) or f. 601r (Anversa, 21.08.1568).

More on the connotation of the term fuorusciti in F. Ricciardelli, The Politics of Exclusion in Early

Renaissance Florence (Turnhout 2007) and C. Shaw, The Politics of Exile in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge

etc. 2000). 22 However we must take into account that a great number of news letters printed in the sixteenth

century meanwhile has been lost. For the sake of comparison, in 1566, the so-called Wonderyear when

iconoclasm struck the Netherlands, at least twenty one newsletters and pamhlets on that event were

published in the Low Countries. Cf. A. Duke, ’Dissident Propaganda and Political Organization at the

Outbreak of the Revolt of the Netherlands’, in: Ph. Benedict & alii (ed.), Reformation, Revolt and Civil

War in France and the Netherlands, 1555-1585 (Amsterdam 1999), p. 124. 23 N., I felici successi del sereniss. re catholico in Fiandra, & della vittoria hauuta per l'eccell. sig. duca d'Alua

luogotenente generale di s.m. catholica in quelle contra gli Vgonotti suoi ribelli. Et dell'allegrezza che ne fece tre

di la santita di n.s. papa Pio quinto. Referendo gratie a Dio benedetto di cosi gran benefici, Bologna, alli 20 di

d’agosto 1568 (copy kept in Florence, Biblioteca nazionale Centrale) and N., Primi, e secondi auuisi della

felicissima vittoria hauuta in Fiandra contra gli heretici, per l'eccellentissimo s. duca d'Alua secondo le lettere

mandate al card. Pacecco, al card. Granuela, & al s. ambasciatore di sua maiesta catholica in Roma. E secondo la

relation del cap. Cariglio de Melo mandato da sua ecc. a n. signore. Doue si narrano le cose per ordine col

numero de morti, & i nomi degli huomini segnalati, & illustri. Et la vittoria hauuta in Francia contra gli

Vgonotti, & con vn epigramma in lode del signor duca d'Alua, In Roma : per gli heredi di Antonio Bladi

stampatori camerali, 1568 (copy kept in Perugia, Biblioteca comunale Augusta). 24 N., L'inaudite et monstruose crudeltà usate da gli heretici contra li ministri di Dio, nell'espugnatione della

città di Ruremonda in Fiandra il dì 23 di luglio 1572, In Roma: per li heredi di Antonio Blado stampatori

camerali, [1572] (copy kept in Rome, Biblioteca Angelica) and N., L'inaudite et horrende crudeltà vsate da

gli heretici contra i religiosi, nella espugnatione della città di Ruremonda di Fiandra, il dì 23. di luglio 1572, In

Venetia, appresso Domenico Farri, 1572 (copies kept in Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizzi; Torino,

Biblioteca Reale and Venice, Biblioteca nazionale Marciana). More on the so-called martyrs of

Roermond in B. Hartmann, De martelaren van Roermond (Oegstgeest 2009), pp. 32-50.

6

The translation into Italian of official documents served similar purposes. In 1574, the

complete text of the royal pardon Philip II and his advisors had prepared, was

printed in Bologna and Venice.25 Three years later, it seemed that all foreign troops,

thus including the Italians, would be paid off by the States General and subsequently

disbanded. Such were the clauses of the Perpetual Edict concluded by the States

General and Philip II’s new governor-general, Don Juan, the hero of Lepanto (1547-

1578). The Italian public could take notice from the agreement in a complete

translation, published in Milan.26

The advent of Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592) as governor-general of the Low

Countries saw a significant increase of printed materials in Italian on the Dutch

Revolt.27 Obviously Alessandro Farnese’s famous victory, winning the siege of

Antwerp in 1585, gave rise to a number of enthusiast news reports. Editions of the

avviso that spread the news were printed in Bologna, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan,

Reggio (Emilia), Parma, and Verona and maybe several other towns.28 In total, within

25 [Philip II], Il perdono generale che il re Filippo concede a tutti paesi, stati, et luochi di Fiandra che voranno

ritornare alla solita, & antica obedienza. Con il numero de personaggi che sono esclusi dal sudetto perdono fuori.

Et con la restitutione de beni, honori, & gradi, a coloro che lo accettaranno. Publicato dal s. comendator

maggiore capitano generale, & luogotenente per detta m. in quelle parti di Fiandra, In Bologna, per

Alessandro Benacci, 1574 (copy kept in Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria) and [Philip II], Il perdono

generale che il re Filippo concede a tutti paesi, stati, et luoghi di Fiandra che voranno ritornare alla solita, et

antica obedienza. Con il numero de personaggi che sono esclusi dal sudetto perdono fuori. Et con la restitutione

de beni, honori, et gradi a coloro che lo accettaranno. Publicato dal s. comendator maggiore capitano generale, &

luogotenente per detta maestà in quelle parti di Fiandra, In Venetia: per Vicenzo Viani, 1574 (copies kept in

Treviso, Biblioteca comunale; Udine, Biblioteca arcivescovile di Udine and Ventimiglia, Biblioteca

civica Aprosiana). More on the tortuous redaction and publication of the royal pardon in V. Soen, Geen

pardon zonder paus! Studie over de complementariteit van het koninklijk en pauselijk generaal pardon (1570-

1574) en over inquisiteur-generaal Michael Baius (1560-1576) (Brussels 2007), pp. 266-273. 26 N., Editto perpetuo, qual viene a trattare dell'accordio ... della pace ... nelli paesi di Fiandra &c. publicati nella

città di Brusselle, alli 17. del mese di febraro 1577, In Milano: appresso Pacifico Pontio, 1577 (copy kept in

Milan, Biblioteca nazionale Braidense). See on Don Juan’s previous career and his appointment in the

Netherlands V. Soen, ‘Philip II’s Quest. The Appointment of Governors-General during the Dutch

Revolt’, in: BMGN, vol. 126 (2011), pp. 11-13. 27 Various aspects of Farnese’s governorship in the Netherlands will be discussed in K. de Jonge & H.

Cools (eds.), K. De Jonge & Hans Cools (eds.), Alexander Farnese and the Low Countries (Turnhout 2012),

forthcoming. More on Dutch and French pamphlets about Farnese in M. Stensland, ‘Not as bad as all

that: the strategies and effectiveness of loyalist propaganda in the early years of Alexander Farnese's

governership’, in: Dutch crossing, vol. 31 (2007), pp. 91-112 and C. Verbelen, Het beeld van Alexander

Farnese in pamfletten. Studie met de focus op enkele prominente gebeurtenissen tijdens zijn gouverneurschap

1578 – 1592 (unpublished M.A. thesis) (Leuven, 2009) (can be consulted on the internet:

http://www.scriptiebank.be/NL/index.php?page=44&cat=7&id=1263). 28 N., Nuouo auiso, e particolar discorso, della mirabile espugnatione d'Anuersa. Con le capitulationi, & trattati

di essa. Ottenuta, dal serenissimo, inuitissimo, & massimo Alessandro Farnese. Con le solenità, e trionfi fatti

7

Alexander’s lifetime not less than thirty three Italian pamphlets, mostly panegyrics,

about his exploits were published.29

In these years Cesare Campana (1540-1606) started as well to write his history of the

Dutch Revolt in three volumes.30 Campana, who was by profession a school teacher

and a tutor of various Venetian noblemen, took a pro-Habsburg and more in

particular a staunchly Catholic stance. He described the inhabitants of the

Netherlands as ‘rebellious and savage tribes’ against whom Philip II was entirely

justified to take action.31 According to Campana, who had written as well a world

history, 32 these kinds of conflicts fitted into a pattern. They were part of an epic

struggle of the civilised people against a barbarous heresy. Moreover that heresy

would cause poverty and distress for the people who professed it.33

Obviously, clerics had a part in these struggles against heresy. It is no hazard that in

these same years the campaign to promote the elevation to the altars of the so-called

martyrs of Gorcum, a group of nineteen clerics of which eleven were Franciscan

friars, took root.34 In Italy, between 1584 and 1595 no less than seven accounts of their

sufferings were printed in Ancona, Bologna, Mantua, Naples, Piacenza, and at least

twice in Rome.35 They were all based on a compilation by Agostino Castello (-1584), a

mentre s.a. sereniss. prese l' Ordine del tosone, di s.m. catholica, 1585. Various versions of this pamphlet

printed in Bologna, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Reggio (Emilia), Parma and Verona have been preserved. 29 This count is based on the database Edit 16. Censimento nazionale delle edizioni italiane del XVI

secolo (http://edit16.iccu.sbn.it/web_iccu/ihome.htm); last consulted on 3 October 2011.

More on Farnese’s capture of Antwerp in G. Marnef, ‘De Val van Antwerpen (1585): betreurd en/of

gevierd?’, in: J. Tollebeek & H. te Velde (eds.), Het geheugen van de Lage Landen (Rekkem 2009), pp. 130-

137. 30C. Campana, Della guerra di Fiandra fatta per difesa di religione da Catholici Re di Spagna Filippo secondo e

Filippo terzo di tal nome, per lo spatio di anni trentacinque, descritta fedele, e diligentemente (Vicenza presso

Giorgio Greco 1602), 3 vols. G. Benzoni, ‘Campana, Cesare’ in DBI. Vol. 17 (Rome 1974), pp. 331-334

offers a biographical entry on this author. 31 C. Campana, Della guerra di Fiandra. Vol. 1, 1. My translation of ‘la ferocita di quei ribellanti popoli’.

The passage is taken from the dedication of the book to Carlo Emanuele I, duke of Savoy. 32 C. Campana, Delle historie del mondo, descritte dal sig. Cesare Campana ... Nouamente ristampate,

diligentemente corrette, ampliate, & migliorate, con l'aggiunta delle guerre di Fiandra occorse ne' medesimi

tempi, scritte dal medesimo autore, & poste a' suoi luochi (Venezia presso Giunti 1607 second edition), 4

vols. 33 Cf. S. Moretti, ‘La trattatistica’, pp. 137-138. 34 Cf. L. Duerloo, ‘Pietas Albertina. Dynastieke vroomheid en herbouw van het vorstelijke gezag’, in:

BMGN, 112 (1997), pp. 10-11. 35 A. Castello, Trionfo glorioso de frati minori osseruant. martirizati dalli heretici nella Fiandra, & nella

Francia (Six different editions printed between 1581 and 1594 at Ancona, Bologna, Mantua, Naples,

Piacenza and Rome. At least one Roman version of the pamphlet has been lost).

8

Napolitan Franciscan friar, who emphasized in his story the heroism of the members

of his order. Notwithstanding this propaganda effort, it would take about a century

before the martyrs were duly canonized in 1675 by Pope Clement X.36

Another Napolitan, the nobleman Cesare d’Evoli (1532-1598), gave rise to a new

genre in the Italian literature on the Dutch Revolt. This officer out of Farnese’s army

in 1583 published an account of his adventures in the Low Countries with a Roman

print shop.37 Apparently the book sold well, as already three years later it was

reissued under a slightly altered title.38 Cesare’s prose reads as a manual for the

military, discussing for instance at length which kind of swords were most apt for

men to men combats or how to confront a formation of pikemen on the battlefield.

But even more interesting is the series of military handbooks written and published

in Antwerp by Italian members of the Spanish army during the Twelve Years’ Truce.

The Napolitan aristocrat and knight of Malta, Fra Lelio Brancaccio (ca. 1560-1637)

served the Habsburg monarchy at its various theatres of war, from the

Mediterranean over Northern Italy to the northern German plains and Flanders, in a

long and distinguished career. 39 Drawing on his experience, in 1610 he published a

manual on the various duties officers had to perform in the army.40 Obviously the

book gained some notoriety, as it was republished a decade later in Milan and once

again, more than thirty years after the first edition in 1641 in Venice. According to

Brancaccio’s friend, the Florentine nobleman Giralomo Fortini, 41 the author’s heroic

deeds on the battlefield had caused panic amongst their Dutch enemies42 and he had

36 L. Duerloo, ‘Pietas Albertina’, p. 11. 37 C. d’Evoli, Dell'ordinanze e battaglie di Cesare D'Euoli signor napolitano. Al sereniss. signore il s.

Allessandro Farnese principe di Parma, & Piacenza, & generale di sua maesta catolica in Fiandra, In Roma: per

gli heredi d'Antonio Blado stampatori camerali, 1583 (copy kept in Naples, Biblioteca nazionale

Vittorio Emanuele III). Unfortunately we know very little about Cesare’s life and career. 38 C. d’Evoli, Degli alloggiamenti di campagna del sig. Cesare D'Euoli napolitano ... In Roma: [Tito e Paolo

Diani], 1586 (copy kept in Naples, Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III). 39 A biographical notice can be found in G. De Caro, ‘Brancaccio, Lelio’, in: DBI. Vol. 13 (Rome 1971),

pp. 787-789. 40 L. Brancaccio, I carichi militari di fra' Lelio Brancaccio caual. Hierosolomitano del Consiglio collaterale per

S.M. cattolica nel Regno di Napoli e suo maestro di campo e consiglier di guerra ne gli Stati di Fiandra (a preso

Joachimo Trognesio, Anversa 1610). 41 These qualifications come out of Giralomo Fortini’s poem that served as a preface to Brancaccio’s

Carichi Militari. 42 Spavento a i Belgi

9

covered the Italian nation once again with glory. Now even the Moors and the

Persians would fear their men of arms.43

A year later, thus in 1611, yet another knight hospittaler, the Milanese Lodovico

Melzo (1558-1617),44 published his Regole militari ... sopra il governo e servitio della

cavalleria.45 The author dedicated his work to Archduke Albert of Austria, who had

the great merit to have brought for the first time in half a century peace to the

Netherlands. As Melzo’s title already suggests, according to him the light cavalry

was by far the most important division of the army. As it was volatile and quick, it

could intervene everywhere on the battlefield.

One last Milanese aristocrat who served in the Low Countries and produced

manuals on military affairs was Flaminio della Croce.46 His Theatro Militare was

published in 1617.47 Eight years later, when the war had resumed once again, it was

followed by his L’essercito della cavalleria ed’altre materie.48 Also these two books were

printed in Antwerp.

The military men, who were the authors of these manuals, all had a profound respect

for their enemies. During their campaigns, sustaining or laying sieges, they had come

to understand how difficult it was to beat these Dutchmen. Some of them reflected as

well on their experiences in histories of the Revolt. Pompeo Giustiniani, for instance,

born on the isle of Corsica into a family of Genoese noblemen, had been an army

officer during the siege of Ostend.49 He dedicated his account of the struggle, which

runs from 1601 until the conclusion of the Truce to his commander Ambrogio

Spinola.50 Giustiniani acknowledged that the Dutch soldiers had fought with great

43 L’Italia à soggiocar lo Scita, e’l Moro, E à farsi più che mai temuta, è chiara. 44 A biographical notice is published by A. Dattero, ‘Melzi, Ludovico’, in: DBI. Vol. 73 (Rome 2009), pp.

398-400. 45 L. Melzo, Regole militari sopra il governo e servitio particolare della cavalleria di Fr. Lodovico Melzo

cavalier di San Giovanni gerosolimitano de i consigli secreto di Milano e di guerra ne'Paesi Bassi per S.M.

Cattolica suo tenente generale della cavalleria (In Anversa appresso Gioachimo Trognaesio 1611). 46 Unfortunately, I have not yet succeeded to retrieve more biographical information on this man. 47 F. della Croce, Theatro militare (Antverpiae, apresso Henrico Aertssio = Hendrik I Aertssens 1617). 48 Idem, L'Essercitio della cavalleria et d'altre materie del Capitano Flaminio della Croce gentilhuomo Milanese

diviso in cinque libri ... dedicato alla sacra cesarea real maestà del imperatore Ferdinando II (in Anversa,

appresso Henrico Aertssio,1625). 49 D. Busolini, ‘Giustiani, Pompeo’, in: DBI. Vol. 57 (Rome 2001), pp. 362-364. More on the siege of

Ostend in W. Thomas ed., De val van het nieuwe Troje. Het beleg van Oostende, 1601-1604 (Leuven), 2004. 50 P. Giustiniani, Della guerra di Flandra, libri sei (a preso Joachimo Trognesio, Anversa 1609).

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valour. Moreover, in contrast to Cesare Campana, Giustiniani was convinced that the

wars had not caused distress to the Republic. On the contrary, Holland and Zeeland

had become rich and populous precisely because they had initiated and sustained the

Revolt. Therefore the delegates of these two provinces for a long time had opposed

the idea of a truce. When the Truce had finally come about, this was perceived, also

by Giustiniani as a defeat for the Habsburg party: the United Provinces had turned to

become ‘Free States’51 and in their Republic a ‘great variety of opinions’52

converged.53

Whereas Pompeo Giustiniani had limited himself to a description and an analysis of

the last decade of the Revolt up to the Twelve Years’ Truce, Franceso Lanario (1588-

ca. 1624), a member of the Napolitan noblesse de robe and future governor of the city

of Catania, wanted to understand what had been the causes of the Revolt.54

According to him, this was the most formidable war that was ever fought and thus

he wanted to know why it had lasted for more than four decades. As a youngster in

his early twenties Lanario had travelled to the Netherlands, just before the

conclusion of the Truce. He regretted that he had arrived too late to participate in the

actual fighting. As he experienced life in the garrison of the Antwerp citadel to be

rather dull, he started to study the history of the Revolt. Most likely, Lanario had

learned the Dutch language (at least on a reading level), and in order “to make his

history more trustworthy, he had interviewed some more experienced and older

soldiers who had survived the events.”55 Francesco Lanario laid down the results of

his investigation into a concise history of about two hundred pages of the Revolt up

to the conclusion of the Truce. It was published in Antwerp in 1615 under a title that

precisely relates what you get when reading the book: ‘A short story of the Dutch

Revolt’.56 Within a year a Venetian and a Milanese edition followed suit. French,

German, and Spanish translations were published in the following years.57

51 ‘Stati liberi’: P. Giustiniani, Della guerra di Flandra, 19. 52 ‘varieta di pareri’: P. Giustiniani, Della guerra di Flandra, 309. 53 More on Giustiniani’s opinion of the Republic in S. Mastellone, ‘Holland as a Political Model in Italy in

the Seventeenth Century’, in: BMGN, (98, 1983), p. 571. 54 Biographical information on Lanario is rather scarce, see however F. Marletta, ‘Don Francesco

Lanario e gli scrittori Leccesi’, in: Rinascenza Salentina, 1943, pp. 1-28 and his entry on the website:

http://dutchrevolt.leiden.edu/dutch/geschiedschrijvers/ (last consulted on 5 October 2011). 55 F. Lanario, Le guerre di Fiandra brevemente narrate da don Francesco Lanario del consiglio di guerra di sua

M. Cattolica ne' Paesi Bassi, In Anversa apresso Geronimo Verdussen, 1615, p. 1: “con maggior sicurezza

poter credere alla relatione d’alcuni soldati vecchi ch’anchor sopravivono. 56 My translation of the title: Le guerre di Fiandra brevemente narrate. 57 Cf. The entry on Lanario on http://dutchrevolt.leiden.edu/dutch/geschiedschrijvers/

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It is worthwhile to analyse in some more detail what Lanario had to say about the

Act of Abjuration: “In these days, Orange made the States meet at The Hague, in

Holland. At that meeting a document was produced that contained the reasons for

which they had hailed Anjou as their new prince. As they put it, the King had

intended to violate the consciousness of these people and to reduce them to

miserable serfdom and that was against their privileges. Therefore, they declared

themselves henceforth to be free from their oath of allegiance.”58 Obviously the key

notions here are two: a. the connexion made between the presence of Anjou and the

Act of Abjuration59 and b. the conclusion that by this Act the states had become free.

Against such free people it was hard to fight and to win a war. Francesco Lanario

thus did not conceal his disgust to some of the Spanish excesses, such as the Antwerp

Fury.60 He was very well aware that the Revolt was not only a Dutch, but rather some

kind of European civil war and that the Habsburg monarchy had spent an enormous

amount of money on the enterprise.61

Even more explicit was the Genoese merchant and republican Geronimo

Conestaggio,62 who after having first written a rather favourable account of the

fusion of the Spanish and the Portuguese crowns, published in 1614 once again in

Venice, a history of the Dutch Revolt during the 1570s. Conestaggio’s book would be

reissued in the 1630s in Cologne. The Genoese author emphasized the mistakes made

by Philip II, which gave him such a bad press. According to Conestaggio these

mistakes by Philip were so enormous, that in the end he therefore could not do any

58 My translation of F. Lanario, Le guerre di Fiandra, p. 83: Haveva di quei giorni l’Oranges fatto ragunar gli

Stati all’Haia, in Olanda, nella qual radunanza fu formata una Scrittura, che conteneva le cagioni, per le quali

era stato chiamato l’Alansone per loro nuovo Prencipe: cio è, com’essi dicevano, per aver il Re voluto violentar le

coscienze di quei popoli, e ridurli ad una misera servitù, contro i loro privilegij, dichiarondosi essi perciò liberi

dal giuramento di fedeltà. 59 More on the presence of François d’Alençon duke of Anjou (1555-1584) in the Netherlands and his

nomination as ‘defender of the Dutch liberties’ in A.-L. van Bruaene ‘Spectacle and Spin for a Spurned

Prince. Civic Strategies in the Entry Ceremonies of the Duke of Anjou in Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent

(1582)’, in: Journal of Early Modern History, 11 (2007), pp. 263-284. 60 Cf. S. Moretti, ‘La trattatistica’, pp. 146-147. 61 F. Lanario, Le guerre di Fiandra, p. 208. My paraphrase of the following text: In questa maniera ha

terminato la guerra memorabile de’ Paesi Bassi, la quale ha costato alla Corona di Spagna un’inestimabil tesoro,

e nella quale hanno sparso il sangue, si può dir, tutte le nationi d’Europa. 62 A biographical sketch of Conestaggio and references to the different editions of his work are to be

found in M. Cavanna Ciappina, in: DBI. Vol. 27 (Rome 1982), pp. 770-772.

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longer a good thing. And thus a prince that ruled half the world lost this war. That

was for sure, a remarkable thing.

Maartje van Gelder in her recent article on Conestaggio’s Della guerra della Germania

inferiore has emphasized that the author had numerous business contacts in Antwerp

and Amsterdam and that he had stayed in both cities during the War.63 However,

according to me it is no hazard that his book, just as the histories by Giustiniani, who

meanwhile had joined the Venetian army in its struggle against the Ottomans and

Lanario were either published or republished in Venice.

In fact the Venetian Republic was highly critical of Habsburg power.64 By

consequence, Venice was the first European state to receive an official ambassador

from the United Provinces.65 When one reads their formal reports to the Senate (or

relazioni) one is struck once again by the emphasis these envoys put time and again

on the free status of the Dutch Republic. Thus in the words of Tomaso Contarini, in

1610: ‘by the recent Truce these Lordships have been declared to be free Princes.’66

Ten years later Girolamo Trevisano stressed that: ‘they (that is to say the States) in

the course of forty two years of terrible warfare have become a superpower,

withdrawing themselves from the Lordship of the King of Spain and declaring

themselves to be free.‘67 In 1626 Alvise Contarini opened his report stating that: ‘The

Seven Provinces of the Low Countries that are nowadays united under the name of

the States General have shaken of the violent yoke of the House of Austria in order

not to violate the freedom of their old privileges.’68 Contarini went on to state that

the Truce had declared these lands a ‘free and independent lordship.’69 Their

63 M. van Gelder, ‘In liefde en werk met de Lage Landen verbonden: de Genuese koopman en literator

Giralomp Conestaggio (ca. 1530-1614/15)’, in: M. van Gelder & E. Mijers (eds.), Internationale

handelsnetwerken en culturele contacten in de vroegmoderne Nederlanden (Maastricht 2009), pp. 47-49. 64 More on the traditional animosity between the Venetian Republic and Habsburg Spain in, R.

Mackenney, ‘A Plot Discover’d? Myth, Legend and the Spanish Conspiracy against Venice in 1618’, in:

J. Martin & D. Romano (eds.), Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State,

1297-1797 (Baltimore and London 2000), pp. 186-191. 65 M. van Gelder, Trading Places. The Netherlandish Merchants in Early Modern Venice (Leiden and Boston

2009), pp. 31-32. 66 P.J. Blok, Relazioni Venetiane. Venetiaansche berichten over de Vereenigde Nederlanden van 1600-1795 (The

Hague 1909), p. 28: nella quale (that is to say the Truce) vengono quei Signori dechiariti Principi liberi. 67 P.J. Blok, Relazioni Venetiane, p. 131: che nel spatio di 42 anni di una crudelissima guerra ne è derivata la

loro grandezza, essendosi soitratte del Dominio del Re di Spagna et postisi in liberta. 68 P.J. Blok, Relazioni Venetiane, p. 161: Le sette Provincie ne Paesi Bassi unite hoggidi con nome di Stati

Generali, sottrattesi dat giogo violente di Casa d’Austria per non violare la libertà de loro antiche privileggi. 69 Ibidem: Principato libero, indipendente

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inhabitants were not any longer rebels and with the use of arms they had recovered

their freedom.

Indeed according to all Italians that feared or opposed Habsburg dominance, the

Republic’s strive for freedom was its most distinguishing characteristic. Religious

differences by contrast, were hardly touched upon by these authors. That sense for

freedom had a long life and was also noticed as well outside Venice right into the

Spanish dominions. It was for instance as well at the heart of the differences between

Cardinal Bentivoglio and Faminio Strada on the nature of Dutch freedom. Should it

be considered as a positive value, as stressed by Bentivoglio? Or was that freedom an

expression of human hubris and thus at the origin of civil discord, as one can make

up from the reading of Strada?70

The Neapolitans rebels out of the 1640s apparently were well aware of these

differences. They modelled their Revolt on the Dutch example.71 Thus the author of

the Discorso fatto al popolo napoletano per eccitarlo alla libertà, published anonymously in

1647 instilled his fellow Neapolitans: ‘To have no fear of the Spaniard’s power, for

they allowed themselves to be expelled from the seven Provinces of Flanders (sic!) by

Dutch fishermen; and though they were supported on that occasion by your forces,

they were powerless to resist. What, then, can they do without you, against, you.’72 –

Alas, we know how that story ended. Remains though the fact that the Dutch Revolt,

and thus as well the Act of Abjuration, provided a powerful legacy to those in Early

Modern Europe and beyond who strived for a positive, republican form of Liberty.

70 S. Mastellone, ‘Holland as a Political Model’, pp. 576-577. The same author gives references to the

biographies of both authors and the numerous editions of their works. See for Bentivoglio’s

appreciation of the Dutch liberty as well: M. van Gelderen, ‘De Nederlandse Opstand’, p. 27. 71 S. D’Alessio, Contagi. La rivolta napoletana del 1647-’48: linguaggio e potere politico (Firenze 2003), pp.

75-83. 72 I have not been able to retrieve the original pamphlet. However, it is quoted by W. te Brake, Shaping

History. Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500-1700 (Berkeley 1998), p. 109.