Donec Auferatur Luna

Donec Auferatur Luna Kenny A. J. Macco I Donec Auferatur Luna Exploring Early Modern Terrorism in the Low Countries (1566-84) and the Plausibility of a Nexus with Exile. By Kenny A. J. Macco Prof. Dr. Geert Janssen Second reader: Dr. Samuel Kruizinga University of Amsterdam August 2019 19,509 words Cover: Blurred adaptation and excerpt of Maarten van Heemskerck’s (1539-43), St. Lawrence Altarpiece. Permanent Collection of Linköping Cathedral, Denmark. ‘Mijn Schilt ende betrouwen, Sijt Ghy, o Godt mijn Heer; Op U soo wil ick bouwen, Verlaet my nemmermeer. Dat ick doch vroom mach blijven, U dienaer taller stondt, Die tyranny verdrijven, Die my mijn hert doorwondt. (...) Als David moeste vluchten, Voor Saul den tyran, Soo heb ick moeten suchten, Met menich edelman; Maer Godt heeft hem verheven, Verlost uut alder noot, Een Coninckrijck ghegheven, In Israel seer groot.’ The Wilhelmus (Geuzenliedboek 1581) I Abstract The following question was explored in this thesis: ‘Can terrorism be traced in the Early Modern Low Countries (1566-1584), and did exile experience play a role in this?’ This central question was divided into four subquestions. The first asked is whether violence – a fundamental precondition for terrorism – was legitimized. Four influential writers with a history of exile and a selection of propaganda material were studied. Violence was barely legitimized by the selected writers, except for Aldegonde, but it was in propaganda. The religious, political, and economic grievances were similar in these sources and align with the literature about the contextual background of the Dutch Revolt. The second question asked whether cases of terrorism can be found between 1566 and 1584. Following the conceptual definition of Alex Schmid, an open approach became possible (similar to Marc Juergensmeyer’s approach) and cases of terrorism were indeed found. The third question referred to Habsburg policies in order to counter and/ or prevent violence (terrorism). These policies were often repressive and harsh. Consequently, instead of countering terrorism, this approach only deepened grievances and legitimized the rebel cause. The final question referred to the role of exile in violent radicalization. The question whether exile experience played a role in the violent radicalization of terrorists has been nuanced by applying four arguments. The first argument questioned the proposed causality. Different Beggars are exemplary for the fact that violent radicalization happened before their flight. The second argument nuanced the assumption of violent radicalization. The majority of exiles did not radicalize violently. Thirdly, focusing on the elite increases the plausibility of an alternative explanation: many elitist rebels had to flee in order to prevent persecution. Furthermore, those fleeing were often the most active, enterprising, radical, and were part of a social network and material means enabling their flight. A final argument diversified the influence of exile temporally. In the 1570s, the Protestant organization in exile came under the influence of other radicalized exiles. From then on, new refugees arrived among aggrieved individuals, some of them readying themselves for violent revenge. It is plausible that the influence of exile increased from then on. Furthermore, a connection between exile experience and violent radicalization of Catholic refugees is more plausible due to the circumstances and the role of the Jesuits. The endeavor to drive evil and darkness out and establish a just social, political and economic order fell within a religious framework. How the circumstances were interpreted and coped with depended on the positionality of the actors involved. To conclude then, this thesis shows that Early Modern terrorism in the Low Countries was ultimately influenced by a religious framework (macro), while economic and political (meso and micro) factors played important proximate roles among terrorists. The terrorists and the Habsburg regime were similar in their approach in that both fought against their perception of evil, summarized by the emblem Philip II got in his cradle: Donec Auferatur Luna. II Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 I) Theory and Concepts ............................................................................................................... 4 A) Defining Terrorism .......................................................................................................... 6 B) Counterterrorism and Violent Radicalization ................................................................. 7 C) Debating Violent Radicalization in Exile .......................................................................... 9 D) Overview Thesis ............................................................................................................ 13 II) Justifying Violence ................................................................................................................. 14 A) The Road to Rebellion ................................................................................................... 14 B) Justifying Violence and Rebellion .................................................................................. 22 C) The Role of Violence in Propaganda ............................................................................. 31 III) Terrorism and Counterterrorism in the Low Countries ....................................................... 36 A) Iconoclasm (1566) as Terrorism .................................................................................... 36 B) The Beggars and the Spread of Violent Rebellion ......................................................... 39 C) Terrorism during the Counter-Reformation.................................................................. 49 D) Habsburg Policies of Counterterrorism ......................................................................... 55 IV) Discussing Exile Influence on Violent Radicalization/ Terrorism ......................................... 60 A) The Assumption of Causality ......................................................................................... 61 B) The Assumption of Violent Radicalization .................................................................... 67 C) Elitist Myopia in Relation to the Beggars ...................................................................... 73 D) Temporal Nuance .......................................................................................................... 75 Conclusion and Discussion ........................................................................................................ 77 Sources ...................................................................................................................................... 81 III Donec Auferatur Luna Introduction Until recently there was a consensus among terrorism researchers that this sort of violence is typically modern.1 Different contemporary terrorism scholars pushed the frontier of terrorism research by exploring its application before the revolutionary Jacobin La Terreur-regime, on which the term ‘terrorism’ is inspired.2 These contemporary scholars perceive terrorism as a universal phenomenon and limit the influence of La Terreur to the term alone.3 A necessary though insufficient precondition for terrorism is violent radicalization.4 Different scholars argued that exile had a generally radicalizing influence on those who helped organize the Dutch Revolt.5 However, a nexus between exile and ‘violent’ radicalization has barely been studied. In this thesis, both terrorism and the plausibility of a nexus between exile and terrorism will be explored among Protestants and Catholics in the Early Modern Low Countries (1566-1584). Both the monopolization of terrorism by modernity and the plausibility of a nexus with exile is questioned critically in this thesis. Terrorism and exile are important in contemporary western societies so that this study might be valuable input for contemporary challenges. The exploration starts by asking the following research question: ‘Can terrorism be traced in the Early Modern Low Countries (1566-1584), and did exile experience play a role in this?’ The different chapters in this thesis serve as building blocks and four subquestions are discussed chronologically. The first chapter serves as the foundation for this thesis. It discusses and proposes a universal definition for terrorism in section A, while counterterrorism and violent radicalization are discussed and defined in section B. A separate and extended discussion of the definition is necessary, due to the contested nature of terrorism and in order to anticipate on expected objections that studying pre-modern terrorism is anachronistic. Section C describes different theoretical positions in relation to exile experience and its 1 Standard narrative according to Carola Dietze, Die Erfindung des Terrorismus in Europa, Russland und den USA 1858-1866 (Hamburg 2016). 2 Timothy Tackett, The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution (Cambridge 2015). 3 David Rapoport’s longue durée study is one example. Other examples are Robert Appelbaum’s 4 Alex P. Schmid, ‘Chapter 2: The Definition of Terrorism.’ In The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research, edited by Alex P. Schmid (New York 2011), 86. 5 Among them are Heiko Oberman, Andrew Pettegree, Alastair Duke, Judith Pollmann, Geert Janssen.

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