The Eighty Years' War

The Eighty Years’ War faced the seventeen provinces from the Netherlands against the King of Spain. The rebellion began in 1568 and ended in 1648.

The expenses caused by the Eighty years’ war, that lasted the same number of years that its name indicates, finished with the sink of the Spanish economy. Most of the money came from the gold and silver found in America but the war was long enough to exhaust the Spanish kingdom. And during this war, The Black Legend about Spain was born.

Flanders was very important for the Spanish Empire. It was a constant threat for England and France.

The end of the war reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster (a treaty part of the Peace of Westphalia), when the Dutch Republic was recognized as an independent country.

Glossary: The Spanish Empire

Constant: happening a lot or all the time.

Fernando the Catholic: King of Sicily 1468-1516.

Golden Age: a period of time, sometimes imaginary, when everyone was happy, or when a particular art, business, etc. was very successful

Isabel the Catholic: She was queen of Castilla 1474 to 1504.

Lutherans: They are Christians that followed Martin Luther, a religious German man.

María de Borgoña: Her husband was Maximiliano I. She was born in Brussels the 13 of February.

Masterpieces: a work of art such as a painting, film, or book that is made with great skill

Maximiliano I: He was born in Austria the 22 oh March of 1459.Her wife was Maria of Borgoña.

Netherlands: It is a country in the Norwest zone of Europe.

Reign: “the sun never sets on the Spanish Empire”

Sink: to (cause something or someone to) go down below the surface or to the bottom of a liquid or soft substance.

The Black Legend: The Black Legend (Spanish: La Leyenda Negra) is a style of historical writing or propaganda that demonizes the Spanish Empire, its people and its culture. The first to describe this phenomenon was Julián Juderías in his book The Black Legend and the Historical Truth (Spanish: La Leyenda Negra y la Verdad Histórica), an influential and controversial critique published in 1914, that explains how modern European historiography has traditionally presented Spanish history in a deeply negative light, ignoring any positive achievements or developments. For this anti-Spanish literature, Juderías coined the term black legend. Later writers have supported and developed Juderías' critique. In 1958, Charles Gibson argued that Spain and the Spanish Empire historically presented as "cruel, bigoted, exploitative and self-righteous in excess of reality."

Threat: a suggestion that something unpleasant or violent will happen, especially if a particular action or order is not followed.

History through Art: Paintings during the Spanish Empire

Philip II of Spain berating William the Silent. Prince of Orange by Cornelis Kruseman, painting from 19th century. This scene was purported to have happened on the dock in Flushing when Philip departed the Netherlands.

Philip, who was also nominally King of England through his marriage to Mary I, did not govern in person but appointed Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of savoy as governor-general to lead the central government.

When Philip left for Spain in 1559 political tension was increased by religious policies. Not having the liberal-mindedness of his father Charles V, Philip was a fervent enemy of the Protestant movements of Martin Luther, John Calving, and the Anabaptists. Towards the end of Charles’ reign enforcement had reportedly become lax. Philip, however, insisted on rigorous enforcement, which caused widespread unrest. To support and strengthen the attempts at Counter-Reformation Philip launched wholesale organizational reform of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands in 1559, which resulted in the inclusion of fourteen dioceses instead of the old three.

Introduction: The Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire was one of the first empires of global extent. Charles V’s only legitimate son, Philip II of Spain parted the Austrian possessions with his uncle Ferdinand. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile was never great enough to provide the soldiers needed to support the Empire. When he married Mary Tudor, England was allied to Spain.

Spain was not yet at peace, as Henry II of France came to the throne in 1547 and immediately renewed conflict with Spain. Charles’s success; Philip II, aggressively prosecuted the war against France, crushing a French army at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy in 1558 and defeating Henry again at the Battle of Gravelines.

The Peace of Cateau- Cambrésis, signed in 1559, permanently recognized Spanish Claims in Italy. In the celebrations that followed the treaty, Henry was killed by a stray splinter from a lance.

France was stricken for the next thirty years by chronic civil war and unrest, and during this period removed from effectively competing with Spain and the Habsburg family in European power games.

Freed from effective French opposition, Spain; saw the apogee of its might and territorial reach in the period 1559-1643.  The opening for the Genoese banking consortium was state bankruptcy of Philip II in 1557, which threw the German banking houses into chaos and ended the reign of the Fugger as Spanish financiers. The Genoese bankers provided the unwieldy tabs burg system with fluid credit and a dependably regular income. In return the less dependable shipments of American silver were rapidly transferred from Seville to Genoa, to provide capital for further ventures.

Felipe II

Nació en Valladolid el 21 de mayo de 1527, hijo del emperador Carlos I y de Isabel de Portugal. Tomó el trono en 1556 y, hasta 1598, gobernó el enorme imperio integrado por Castilla, Aragón, Cataluña, Navarra, Valencia, el Franco-Condado, los Países Bajos, Sicilia, Cerdeña, Milán, Nápoles, Orán y Túnez, toda la América española (menos Norteamérica) y Filipinas.

En 1580 fue nombrado rey de Portugal, por lo que se anexionó Brasil y los territorios afroasiáticos portugueses. Se casó 4 veces y el futuro heredero, Felipe III, nació de su 4º matrimonio con Ana de Austria.

Felipe II fue un hombre muy trabajador, pasaba la mayor parte de su tiempo en su despacho, era un hombre reservado, serio, poco amante de las fiestas, viajes y evitaba el contacto con las personas.

El recuerdo que queda de su reinado es muy negativo fuera de España y discutido dentro de ella.

Durante su gobierno, el imperio español se extendió a través de sus colonias, por el Atlántico y el Océano Pacífico. Su imperio fue el primer imperio global de la historia, porque por primera vez un imperio abarcaba posiciones en todos los continentes.

Se decía durante su reinado que “el sol no se ponía en el Imperio“.

Le encantaba la música y la pintura. Tenía una colección preciosa de obras maestras en El Escorial. Aunque el Monasterio del Escorial era considerado su palacio, su habitación era espartana y tenía muy poco mobiliario. 

Carlos I de España y V de Alemania

Nació en los Países Bajos, en Gante (Flandes), a las tres y media de la madrugada, el martes 24 de febrero en 1500. Sucedió así: La embarazada Doña Juana I comenzó a sentir fuertes dolores en el vientre. Creyendo a que se debía a una digestión, acudió al baño, y allí sin ayuda de nadie dio a luz a su primer hijo varón. Quería ponerle el nombre de Juan en recuerdo de su fallecido hermano, pero finalmente fue bautizado como Carlos. Era hijo de Juana I y Felipe I de Habsburgo.

Juana I “la loca”, llamada así porque tras la muerte de Felipe I en 1500, enloqueció. Aunque nunca perdió el título de reina de Castilla, no estuvo en condiciones de reinar.

Carlos I reunió la herencia de territorios de sus 4 abuelos: Austria y el título de emperador (de su abuelo materno Maximiliano I de Austria), Borgoñona que comprendía los Países Bajos, Franco condado y Luxemburgo (de su abuela paterna, María de Borgoñona), Aragón de su abuelo materno Fernando el Católico y Castilla de Isabel la Católica. A través de Aragón heredaba también los reinos de Sicilia, Nápoles, Cerdeña y Jerusalén; y por medio de Castilla, las Islas Canarias y América Española. El 30 de enero de 1516 el nieto de los Reyes Católicos fue proclamado Rey en Madrid y se convirtió así en el primer monarca hispano de la casa de Austria o Habsburgo

El reinado de Carlos I consistía en: Holanda y Centro Europa. Estableció elevados impuestos, lo que causó revueltas sociales en la nación. En su reinado tuvo muchos problemas políticos y religiosos a nivel internacional. El rival principal más poderoso de España era Francia. Hubo muchas batallas entre ellos. También se enfrentó a los turcos por ver quien se quedaba con el mar Mediterráneo. Y también luchó contra los luteranos, que no aceptaban la autoridad de Papa.

Todos estos problemas hicieron que Carlos I abandonara el trono en 1556. Dio los territorios de Centro Europa a su hermano, Fernando y el resto del imperio a Felipe II.