The Dutch Revolt

CNG 108, Lot: 1007. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DUTCH REVOLT (Nederlandse Opstand), Low Countries. Amsterdam. Besieged by the States-General, December 1577-8 February 1578. AR 40 Stuiver Klippe (38x38mm, 26.87 g). Emission of 5 January 1578. Type 1. Dated 1578. Crowned city coat-of-arms with lion supporters; 1578 · XL below; all within circular pearl border; soldeervaasje (solder pot) stamp above / (star) P (star)/AR · ET/(star) FO (star) in three lines; all within wreath. P&W Am 01; Gelder, Noodmunten, 109; Delmonte, Argent 186; Mailliet 1; Lasser 1125; CNM 2.02.1. In NGC encapsulation, 3640349-003, graded AU 55. Toned.

Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.26422 (Numismatica Genevensis SA VII, 27 November 2012), lot 531 (where it hammered CHF 2200 on an estimate of CHF 800.

Beginning with the capture of Den Briel in April 1572 by the Watergeuzen, most of the important cities in Zeeland and Holland sided with the rebels. Other cities, such as Amsterdam and Middelburg, remained loyal to the King and the Catholic cause. During this next phase of the conflict (1572-1585), the Low Countries was beset by repeated sieges of various cities by both sides. Because of the nature of the terrain there, with its numerous polders, dikes, wastelands and waterways, it was impossible for the Spanish to employ standard military tactics – large-scale armies deployed on the field of battle. During the Middle Ages, Dutch cities, like others across Europe, had been encircled with thick outer walls interspersed with towers. With the invention of gunpowder and the cannon, new fortification technologies were devised (including the construction of projecting bastions), making these already fortified cities akin to impregnable citadels.

Between 1573 and 1585 − a critical period in this second phase of the rebellion − the rebellion in the Low Countries divided along religious lines. Although the harsh Alba was replaced as the governor General of the Netherlands by the moderate and short-lived Luis de Requesens (who would die in early 1576), such moderation was to little avail as Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma, succeeded Requesens. Farnese was the son of Ottavio Farnese, the second Duke of Parma, and Margaret, the illegitimate daughter of the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V. His mother’s status in no way hindered her relations with her half-brother Philip II; in turn, Alessandro Farnese appears to have enjoyed a similar relationship with his uncle. In 1578, he was appointed Governor General of the Netherlands. A keen warrior who fought at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, he had the opportunity to display his military skills against the Netherlandish rebels who had since revolted against Spain. As a result, Farnese was able to return the southern provinces to the Spanish throne, a process that was concluded with the Treaty of Arras on 6 January 1579.

In response to the Treaty of Arras, the seven Calvinist provinces of the North united under Willem in the Union of Utrecht on 23 January 1579. Thus, the once cohesive Low Countries were divided into a Southern Catholic portion, loyal to the Spanish king, and a rebellious Calvinist group to the north. To make matters worse, on 26 July 1581, the States General at the Hague signed the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration), a formal declaration that those states under the Union of Utrecht were no longer bound in their loyalty to Philip II, who had forfeited his rights by failing his obligations and violating their ancient rights. Immediately after the signing of the Act, the Spanish sent a large army to recapture the rebellious northern provinces, now known as the United Provinces. Parma reconquered large portions of Flanders and Brabant, as well as large sections of the northeastern provinces. In 1585, the city of Antwerp was captured. Then the largest city in the Low Countries, almost half of its inhabitants fled north. Spanish success seemed assured when Willem van Oranje was assassinated the previous year by a Spanish operative at the Prinzenhof in Delft.

Following the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe, the northern provinces directly offered the crown to the English and French monarchs. The youngest son of Henri II, François, the Duc d'Anjou and Alençon was the first invited by Willem. A young man who supported the Protestants in his own country and was looking for his own territory to rule, the Duc d'Anjou and Alençon accepted, assuming the title "Protector of the Liberty of the Netherlands". After a delayed arrival (see his role in the Siege of Kamerijk), he was welcomed by a series of "Joyous Entries" into Brabant and Vlaanderen. Anjou was not a popular figure with the Dutch and the Flemish, who considered the Catholic French as enemies. Furthermore, his authority was limited. To compensate for this, Anjou decided to take direct control of several Flemish cities, including Antwerp. There, he attempted to take the city by trickery, but the citizen militia ambushed him and destroyed his troops in what was known as the "French Fury." Barely escaping with his own life, Anjou died shortly thereafter of malaria. On the other hand, the English preferred to continue with indirect aid. Following the assassination of Willem van Oranje in 1584 and the signing of a treaty between the French Catholics and Spain to destroy the Huguenots, England was compelled to act in a more direct way. Under the terms of the Treaty of Nonesuch in 1585, Robert Dudley, First Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth’s long-time favorite, was appointed Governor-General and sent with an English expeditionary force to support the Dutch in 1586. Dudley, however, publicly unpopular, proved to be a poor commander and within a year of his arrival returned to England, eventually to command the land troops preparing for an anticipated invasion of England by the Spanish as part of the Spanish Armada.

Following the departure of the Earl of Leicester, the States General appointed Willem's son, Maurits van Oranje, as Captain General of the Dutch forces. From then until 1609, when the Twelve Years' Truce was instituted, Maurits took advantage of Spanish attention elsewhere and the numerous mutinies of Spanish troops in the region to strengthen his position and expand his territories. In addition to Dutch ships assisting the English against the Spanish, Dutch forces laid siege to a number of fortified pro-Spanish border towns. At home in the heartland of Holland, the peace created by this period of Dutch advance helped to usher in the Gouden Eeuw, or Dutch Golden Age of trade and art. In 1609, the United Provinces and the Spanish-controlled southern provinces established a ceasefire. Mediated by the French and English, this period was known as the Twelve Years' Truce (1609-1621). While both sides negotiated for a more permanent peace, the Dutch took advantage of the opportunity to strengthen their fleet to protect their sea trade, which had increased greatly with the establishment of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) in 1602. When hostilities again broke out in 1621, it was Dutch shipping that provided the decisive factor.

The final phase of the revolt (1621-1648) was due largely to irreconcilable demands for religious minorities in each of the two states. In addition, the Dutch trade interests conflicted with those of the Spanish, especially in the lucrative East Indies and the Americas, where the Dutch would establish a foothold on Manhattan in 1624. At this point, the revolt became a part of the larger Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). During this period, Maurits died at the Siege of Breda (1625). In 1629, Maurits' successor, his brother Frederik Hendrik van Oranjie, successfully captured 's-Hertogenbosch, a serious blow to the Spanish, because it was considered to be impregnable. In 1632, Frederik began his "March along the Meuse" –- a maneuver designed conquer the cities of Vlaanderen. Overall, this strategy failed, due a lack of support by the Flemish, who now mistrusted the Calvinists more than the Spanish. The Dutch, however more successful on sea, raiding Spanish holdings in the Caribbean. The capture of a Spanish treasure fleet in the 1628 Battle in the Bay of Matanzas helped fund Frederik's siege of 's-Hertogenbosch. Maarten Tromp's decisive defeat in 1639 of an Spanish armada containing 20,000 troops bound for Vlaanderen in a last-ditch large-scale attempt to reconquer the Republic at the Battle of the Downs effectively ended Spanish hopes for retaking the northern provinces, as well as ending forever Spanish dominance on the sea. The Dutch Revolt finally ended with the Treaty of Münster in 1648 as part of the Peace of Westphalia, which at last recognized the de jure independence of the Republic.

According to Maillet, the silver for this issue was provided by the city’s statue of Sint-Nicolaas.

In the Dutch Revolt, Amsterdam initially refused to join Holland, Zeeland, and the southern provinces, all of whom wanted to push the Spanish from Dutch territory. In late 1577, the rebel Dutch forces blockaded the city. The blockade ended in February of 1578, when Amsterdam grudgingly agreed to join the rebellion against Spain. Soon after, the Catholic town council was replaced by Protestant members loyal to William, Prince of Orange, thus positioning Amsterdam as a participant in the Dutch struggle for independence. During the blockade, the city struck several denominations of silver siege coinage.