Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2016 Wrestling with Neptune: The olitP ical Consequences of the Military Inundations during the Dutch Revolt Robert Tiegs Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Tiegs, Robert, "Wrestling with Neptune: The oP litical Consequences of the Military Inundations during the Dutch Revolt" (2016). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3931. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3931 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. WRESTLING WITH NEPTUNE: THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE MILITARY INUNDATIONS DURING THE DUTCH REVOLT A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Robert John Tiegs B.A., University of South Dakota, 2005 M.A., University of North Dakota, 2009 May 2016 To Jenn and the twins. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Every dissertation and work of research is a journey. Although less dangerous than recovering stolen gold or destroying a magic ring, the task is similarly daunting. Just like Frodo, I could not have completed my quest without the help and support of a strong fellowship of advisors, family, and friends. At different times in my journey all of them have provided me with the aid and encouragement which I required. The assistance and counsel from my advisor, Dr. Christine Kooi, and committee members, Dr. Suzanne Marchand and Dr. Victor Stater, was indispensable. At crucial points in my expedition their aid and backing ensured that I had everything I needed to continue on my way. Their glowing letters of recommendation helped me secure a seat at Columbia University’s early modern Dutch course, which vastly improved my language skills, and the Elmer L. Anderson Research Grant, which gave me access to the Resolutions of the States of Holland, upon which the majority of this dissertation is based. In the final steps of this journey they have again provided timely support, championing my cause and helping me earn the Graduate School Fellowship for the spring semester 2016. This award allowed me to devote myself completely to the task of completing my dissertation without the distraction of teaching adjunct courses. Special thanks must go to my advisor, Dr. Kooi. I am sure that some of my drafts, filled with “Tiegs-isms,” my own special brand of word repetitions, split infinitives, and dangling participles, tried her patience. That I am at this final stage of my academic journey is in no small part because of her. I could not have asked for a better advisor. I have been equally fortunate with my relationships outside the walls of academia. Part of what made my particular quest so challenging was that in the middle of it, I ventured to the mythical land of “Canada.” This strange realm, full of odd drinks such as the “double double,” iii became my home. My wife (Jenn) and I moved there to begin a new quest, that of starting a family, knowing it would complicate the pursuit of my PhD. It was the right decision for us. My academic quest is now drawing to a close and our family is going to double this year with a set of twins. Yet I could not have finished my first task without the loving support of so many family and friends. Jenn has provided constant encouragement, and believed in me even when I doubted myself. As Frodo tells Samwise, “I would not have gotten very far without you.” My parents-in-law, Doug and Athina, also deserve mentioning as they helped us settle into life in Canada. To my friends, Jami, Craig, and all the rest, thank you for all that did you to help me along in my journey. I am happy to announce that with everyone’s support I have reached the end of my quest; I am a doctor now. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………..iii LIST OF TABLES..………………………………………………………………………………vi LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………vii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………….…………viii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...1 CHAPTERS CHAPTER ONE - THE POLDERMODEL AND THE MILITARIZATION OF THE LANDSCAPE…..................................................................................................................6 CHAPTER TWO - HOLLAND’S LANDSCAPE PRIOR TO THE REVOLT................38 CHAPTER THREE - “BETTER BROKEN LAND THAN LOST LAND”: MILITARY INUNDATIONS DURING THE DUTCH .......................................................................53 CHAPTER FOUR - THE DIFFICULT JOURNEY: THE BREAKDOWN OF THE POLDERMODEL…………………………………………………………………........100 CHAPTER FIVE: REPAIRING THE POLDERMODEL: THE POLITICAL CAREERS OF ABRAHAM VAN ALMONDE, PAULUS BUYS, AND JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT....................................................................................................147 CHAPTER SIX: MAINTAINING THE POLDERMODEL – EXPORTING AND SYSTEMATIZING THE INUNDATIONS……………………………........................192 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………238 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………244 VITA…………………………………………………………………………………………....254 v LIST OF TABLES 1. FORTRESS COMPARISON TABLE……………………………………….................214-215 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1. SPANISH LINES OF ATTACK AND RESUPPLY………………………………………....65 2. MAP OF THE MILITARY INUNDATIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF LEIDEN...…………..82 3. MAP OF THE ISLANDS OF SOUTHERN HOLLAND…………………………………….92 4. MAP OF THE DIEMER DIKE……………………………………………………...............182 5. MAP OF THE BORDERS OF THE UNION OF UTRECHT……………………................194 6. INUNDATIONS DURING THE SIEGE OF ANTWERP…………………………………..198 7. INUNDATIONS ALONG THE NORTHERN COAST OF FLANDERS…………………..202 8. SIMON STEVIN’S IDEAL FORTIFICATION SYSTEM………………………………….220 9. PLAN FOR THE DEFENSE OF WILLEMSTAD………………………………………….225 10. ACTUAL DEFENSES OF WILLEMSTAD……………………………………………….226 11. PROPOSED INUNDATIONS FOR 1589 WATERLINE…………………………………233 vii ABSTRACT Over the course of several centuries during the Middle Ages the people of Holland developed a vast water-management infrastructure to protect themselves against flooding. They found that the best way to maintain these defenses was through cooperation and consensus forming at the local and regional level. Those who would be affected by an inundation were given the chance to participate in the decision-making process over flood prevention. These environmental influences led those in Holland to develop the poldermodel, a culture based on discussion, debate, compromise, and consensus forming. In the late sixteenth century a series of natural and human-made floods would test the limits of the poldermodel in Holland. In November 1570 the All Saints Day Flood struck the province (arguably the worst flood ever) devastating its flood defenses. Before they had time to repair all the damages, war erupted in 1572 as those in Holland revolted against their Spanish Habsburg sovereign. Outmatched by the Habsburg forces, the Holland rebels frequently used floods for strategic ends. They carried out these military inundations almost indiscriminately and with little regard for the long-term consequences. That the rebels adopted the motto “better broken lands than lost lands” demonstrates how far they were willing to go with the use of the military inundations. These floods broke the poldermodel in Holland, as many of the different cities represented in the provincial assembly, the States of Holland placed civic priorities above all else. The city of Gouda simply refused to send delegates to the meetings until a nearby dike was repaired which had been during a siege. This civic particularism prevented discussion, debate, and the ability to form consensus. It was the individuals with water-management experience which ultimately repaired the poldermodel. They developed a number of ways to satisfy the viii civic interests and rebuild the discussion culture in the province. When the war resumed following a short truce from 1576 to 1579 known as the Pacification of Ghent, the States of Holland maintained the poldermodel by shifting the burden of the inundations onto neighboring provinces, and constructing fortifications to keep the enemy out of Holland. ix INTRODUCTION Did the Hollanders flood their lands through foolishness or in an act of madness questioned the Maas river. To which the Ocean responded, “Not through foolishness, nor madness, but from great need,” as the Spanish Habsburg government wanted them dead. The chronicler Pieter Bor included this imagined dialogue in his compendious account of the Dutch Revolt (1572-1648). The point of this conversation was to make sense of the epic relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, in which the Dutch military purposefully flooded roughly half of the province of southern Holland to save the city.1 The two bodies of water were right to question the practice; intentional floods were anathema to Dutch historical experience of tirelessly working to protect the land from inundations. For centuries, those in Holland and the other low-lying provinces of the Low Countries had protected the landscape from floods only through great effort and determination. In the Middle