Violet Soen, Professor of Early Modern Religious History at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Faculty of Arts)
The sixteenth-century Revolt in the Low Countries hinged upon a rebellion against the landlord, Philip II, also King of Castile and Aragón. Reasons for rebellion were manifold, and political reform measures, social aspirations and religious reform moulded into an explosive cycle of violence, which in the 1576-1577 seemed out of control. At that time, the pleas for peace originated in the same circles where those for resistance and rebellion had originated. This project will specifically examine the right of resistance and the duty of reconciliation in three peace projects during that troublesome period: the Pacification of Ghent of November 1576, promulgated by the States-General, the Eternal Edict of Marche-en-Famenne of February 1577, endorsed by the new Habsburg Governor-General Don Juan de Austria, and the lesser-known Religionsvrede from July 1578, propagated by elites in the States-General, including William of Orange and Archduke Matthias of Austria. Comparing the solutions to engineer peace and new political regimes, this project will make clear how the reformation served as a touchstone for both resistance, reconciliation and peacemaking in the Dutch Revolt.
