The Revolt in the Low Countries is one of the major conflicts of early modern Europe. Though it is mostly seen as a war between the Dutch and the Spanish, in reality it was a complex civil war with international involvement. This book returns to the original war narratives of the period, re-establishing the multi-faceted character of the conflict.

By the end of the sixteenth century, stories about the Revolt in the Low Countries (c. 1567–1648) had begun to spread throughout Europe. These stories had very different authors with very different intentions. Over time the plethora of sources and interpretations faded away, leaving us with opposing canonical narratives. The Dutch and Spanish national myths were forged on the basis of two visions of the conflict: as a liberation war against cruel Spanish oppressors and as a glorious episode in the history of the Spanish Empire. This volume delves into the early, seemingly anecdotal stories of the war to map the great variety and interconnection of the narratives. It asks such questions as how did the Jesuits write about the Revolt, what can we find in Italian chronicles and how did the war look from the perspective of a local nobleman or a Spanish commander?

Introduction: early modern war narratives and the Revolt in the Low Countries – Raymond Fagel1 ‘Do not reveal that I wrote this’: diplomatic correspondence, news and narratives in the early years of the civil war in the Low Countries – M. J. Rodriguez-Salgado2 The fabrication of Francisco de Valdés: episodic narratives in Spanish and Dutch chronicles on the siege of Leiden (1573–4) – Leonor Álvarez Francés3 The year of the Furies: military correspondence around the Sack of Antwerp (1576) – Beatriz Santiago Belmonte4 ‘Lode della nazione italiana’: Italian historians on the Spanish soldiers – Cees Reijner5 Narrating mutiny in the Army of Flanders: Cristóbal Rodríguez Alva’s La inquieta Flandes (1594) – Miguel Martínez6 Orange’s Spanish mulatto and other side-changers: narratives on Spanish defection during the Revolt in the Low Countries – Raymond Fagel7 How a defeat became a victory: the siege of Ostend in contemporary Dutch war coverage and post-war chronicles (1601–15) – Werner Thomas8 North and South: a comparison of episodic war narratives during the Revolt in the Low Countries – Jasper van der Steen9 Chaplains and soldiers: experience and narratives in the Low Countries (1567–1648) – Vincenzo Lavenia10 ‘Was bis daher gepassiert solt vergessen und vergeben sein’: cross-border nobleman Sweder Schele’s (1569–1639) accounts of army commanders during the Revolt in the Low Countries and Thirty Years’ War – Raingard Esser and Dániel Moerman11 Geoffrey Parker’s Universal Soldier revisited: European military history and human universals – Gregory HanlonIndex

By the end of the sixteenth century, stories about the Revolt in the Low Countries (c. 1567–1648) had begun to spread throughout Europe. These stories had very different authors with very different intentions. Over time the plethora of sources and interpretations faded away, leaving us with opposing canonical narratives. The Dutch and Spanish national myths were forged on the basis of two visions of the conflict: as a liberation war against cruel Spanish oppressors and as a glorious episode in the history of the Spanish Empire. This volume delves into the early, seemingly anecdotal stories of the war to map the great variety and interconnection of the narratives. It asks such questions as how did the Jesuits write about the Revolt, what can we find in Italian chronicles and how did the war look from the perspective of a local nobleman or a Spanish commander?