The Treaty of London, the Twelve Years Truce and Religious Toleration in Spain and the Netherlands (1598–1621)

Chapter 13 The Treaty of London, the Twelve Years Truce and Religious Toleration in Spain and the Netherlands (1598–1621)

Werner Thomas

Introduction

In European historiography since the 17th century, Spain has always been seen as the ultimate defender of Catholicism against Protestantism. The Black Legend created an image of a country that was ruled by the Holy Inquisition, and in which even the King could not escape the orders of the inquisitors.1 A regime of terror, dominated by auto-da-fé, torture and the stake kept the Spaniards within the boundaries of orthodoxy. Bartolomé Bennassar even refers to it as a pédagogie de la peur.2 Religious tolerance was not exactly a concept that was and is related to the Spanish Monarchy. Benjamin Kaplan’s latest book on the practise of toleration in Early Modern Europe, for example, omits Spain completely, except when discussing intolerance.3

1 On the Black Legend, see Sverker Arnoldsson, La leyenda negra. Estudios sobre sus orígenes (Goteborg, 1960); William S. Maltby, The Black Legend in England (Durham, 1971); Koenraad W. Swart, ‘The Black Legend during the Eighty Years’ War’ in John S. Bromley and Ernst H. Kossmann (eds.), Britain and the Netherlands, vol. 5: Some Political Mythologies (The Hague, 1975), 36–57; Julián Juderías, La Leyenda Negra (2nd edn., Madrid, 1986); Miguel Molina Martínez, La leyenda negra (Madrid, 1991); Ricardo García Cárcel, La Leyenda Negra. Historia y opinión (Madrid, 1992); Alain Barsacq and Bernardo J. García García (eds.), Hazañas bélicas y leyenda negra. Argumentos escénicos entre España y los Países Bajos (Madrid, 2004); Rómulo Carbia, Historia de la leyenda negra hispano-americana (Madrid, 2005); Werner Thomas, ‘De mythe van de Spaanse inquisitie in de Nederlanden van de zestiende eeuw’, Bijdragen en mededelingen betreffende de geschiedenis der Nederlanden, 105 (1990) 325–353. 2 Bartolomé Bennassar, ‘L’inquisition ou la pédagogie de la peur’ in idem, L’Inquisition espag- nole, XVe–XIXe siècle (Paris, 1979), 105–141. 3 Benjamin Kaplan, Divided by Faith. Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, Mass./London, 2007). On the contrary, in his latest book, All Can Be Saved. Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World (New Haven/London, 2008), Stuart B. Schwartz analyses in a masterly way tolerant attitudes among ordinary peo- ple in Spain, Portugal and their overseas territories.

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A similar image still exists of the Southern Netherlands governed by the Archdukes Albert of Austria and Isabella Clara Eugenia. Both sovereigns are seen as creatures of the Spanish King and slaves of their religious bigotry. Albert even received the nickname of ‘grave digger of Protestants’. In contrast to the religious climate in the United Provinces, their country was a bastion of intolerance, and it was this lack of openness towards dissenters that led to its economic and political decline.4 In reality, since the reign of Charles V (1516–1558), the Spanish Monarchy pursued a two-track policy towards religious dissidents. So did even Philip II. Towards the subjects of other sovereigns, the Spanish King made the political interests of the Crown prevail over any religious considerations whatsoever. Thus, he allowed the so-called Alba-Cobham Agreement of 1575, concluded between the Duke of Alba and Henry Cobham,5 that granted the subjects of the Queen of England religious toleration in Spain and the Netherlands, and in 1597 he came to an arrangement with the merchants of the Hanseatic League, allowing them the same rights as their English colleagues.6 In both cases, Philip’s forbearance was mainly inspired by commercial and political motives. In other words, in 1575 as well as in 1597, arguments of raison d’état more than religious fanaticism shaped the Monarchy’s religious policy. Towards his own subjects, on the contrary, Philip defended the principle of cuius regio, eius religio. He was of the opinion that as the sovereign of the Netherlands, he was entitled to determine the religion in his northern provinces. No subject of the King was allowed to practise any other religion but Catholicism. Religious dissidence was considered as the first step to

4 Cf. Roland Baetens, De nazomer van Antwerpens welvaart. De diaspora en het handelshuis De Groote tijdens de eerste helft der 17de eeuw (Brussels, 1976), vol. 1, 230, where the author describes the Merchant Adventurers’s call for toleration as an ‘insuperable barrier’ for the Spanish authorities in Brussels. See also Denis Diagre, ‘L’Archiduc Albert, souverain-modèle ou ange exterminateur?’ in Anne Morelli (ed.), Les grands mythes de l’histoire de Belgique, de Flandre et de Wallonie (Brussels, 1995), 117–128. On the historiography of the Archdukes, see Werner Thomas, ‘La Corte de los archiduques Alberto de Austria y la Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia en Bruselas (1598–1633). Una revisión historiográfica’ in Ana Crespo Solana and Manuel Herrero Sánchez (eds.), España y las 17 provincias de los Países Bajos. Una revisión historiográfica (XVI–XVIII) (Cordoba, 2002), vol. 1, 355–386. 5 Julio Retamal Favereau, Diplomacia anglo-española durante la Contrarreforma ([Santiago de Chile], 1981), 31, 46–52; Carlos Gómez-Centurión, Felipe II, la empresa de Inglaterra y el comer cio septentrional (1566–1609) (Madrid, 1988), 71 ff.; Werner Thomas, La represión del protes- tantismo en España, 1517–1648 (Leuven, 2001), 271–276. 6 Antonio Domínguez Ortiz, ‘El primer esbozo de tolerancia religiosa en la España de los Austrias’ in idem, Instituciones y sociedad en la España de los Austrias (Barcelona, 1985), 184–191 at 185.