Beeldenstorm/Image-breaking

Image-breaking In the good catholic Netherlands were between August 10th 1566 and the beginning of October, hundreds of churches, chapels, abbeys and monasteries altars, sculptures, christening fellows, chorus chair and organs destroyed, paintings, ecclesiastic garments, liturgical and other books were torn. There are different factors why this happened: political, religious and economic-social. The political factor: the authorities crisis in the Netherlands After signing the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1599, Filips II could finally fulfil his long nourished wish and return to Spain. As a substitute he appoint his half-sister Margaretha van Parma. According to the secret instructions he gave to her, she should let her advice by the ‘Raad van State’ and the ‘Geheime Raad’. After some time the high nobles felt subordinated, because important things were settled behind their backs. In 1561 Oranje en Egmont resigned as a member of the ‘Raad van State’, because they did not want to take responsibility for measures, that were take behind their back by cardinal Granvelle. The following year the resistance against Granvalle increased and the “Liga van de hoge edelen” arised. In March 1563 Oranje, Egmont and Horne requested the king to fire Granvelle, if he did not do that they would not participate anymore on the meeting of the ‘Raad van State’. After the regent, who suspected Granvalle of a crime, insisted that Granvelle should be fired, the king agreed and demanded that he should be removed from the Netherlands. After the leave of Granvelle, in March 1564, the high nobles persued a policy of despair and system slyness. In the ‘Raad van State’ the high nobles wanted to deal with everything, also with the things that belonged to the other two councils. There arise a complete chaos, which hindered the administration. The high nobles wanted a gathering of the ‘Staten-Generaal’ to discuss the political, financial and the religious situation of the country. In the end of December 1564 was decided that Egmont would be send to Spain, to tell the king about the needs and misery of the country. In Spain Egmont was smothered with personal favours, but he did not accomplish anything of a matter to the Netherlands. The answer of the king did not come for months. According to the letters of Segovia was the answer that no changes were going to be made, only the heretic persecution was intensified. When the letters of Segovia became public, it caused a chaos in the country. The rumour had it that the king wanted to introduce the Spanish inquisition in the Netherlands.
The religious factor: the spreading of the Calvinism Before his leave out of the Netherlands, Filips II did not issue new placards against the heretics, but he did demand to apply the placards of emperor Karel. The peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, which improved the relation with France, opened the borders for the Calvinistic propaganda from France. The foundation of new bishoprics, which should promote the Roman Catholic religion in the Netherlands and prevent the progress of the Calvinism, was crossed. The nobles were displeased about the regulation that the new bishops and most prominent canons had to be graduated in theology or ecclesiastic law. Through this prescription the child realm noble families were practically kept from the bishop seats, they did study at an university, but they thought in below their dignity to obtain degrees. The clergymen were also displeased, the bishops who lost a great deal of their bishopric and their income, the big Brabant abbeys lost their independence. Ultimately the people were displeased too, because they feared an intensified inquisition. In 1564 the application of the decisions of the ‘Concilie van Trente’, who had beneficial reformations in mind and wanted to put an end to disgraceful state of affairs on religious territory, were crossed by the ‘Raad van State’, the ‘Geheime Raad’ and the provincial counsils. On the meeting of the ‘Raad van State’, in the end of December 1564, the people who were present discussed the pressing measures on the religious territory. Oranje argued that they had to see that the king should loose his severity against the heresy. It was impracticable through the placards, the inquisitors, the bishops and the decrees to fight against the heresy like earlier. Like said before, the sending of Egmont to Spain was a failure. The strict requirements, which stands in the letters of Segovia about the inquisition and the application of the placards, were a serious tactical mistake. The ‘Vier Leden van Vlaanderen’ began a resistance action against the way of acting of the inquisitor Pieter Titelmans, after the magistrate of Bruges refused to inform the bishop about the judicial file of caught heretics. In martyrologia there are clues that executions of protestants strongly decreased after the recall of Granvelle and the power take-over of the high nobles, though the Calvinism won more followers since 1560. When the negative result of the sending of Egmont to Spain were known, were in Spa meetings between the Lutheran Lodewijk van Nassau, the Calvinistic nobles and a clergyman. When the content of the letters of Segovia became known, twenty young nobles came together in Brussels. They decided to found an alliance with the cause to make an end to the inquisition and soften the placards. They made a manifesto, that would be signed in the following months by more than 500 nobles, as well Catholics as Protestants. On April 5th 1566 the 200 members of the ‘Verbond der edelen’ went on a march in Brussels. Brederode gave to the regent a petition, where they requested that inquisition and the application of the placards should be suspended, till the king settled the religious affairs with the ‘Staten-Generaal’. The regent promised that she, in expectation of a design of the moderation of the placards, requests the inquisitors and the magistrates to work grant. False rumours were spread in connection with the answer of the regent, the reforms imagined that everything was allowed. A synod in Antwerp decided to organise hedge sermons everywhere. On this more numerous meetings, preachers proclaimed that everybody should return to pure belief and that idolatry not only should be removed from the hearts, but also from the eyes. Because of the authorities crisis in the Netherlands, the placard from July 3rd 1566, that forbid hedge sermons, remained a dead letter. The economic-social factor The economic-social factor has undoubtedly practised a big influence on the development of the events in the Netherlands after the leave of Filips II. In 1599 were the Netherlands definitely not so prosperous as it is pictured very often. The still growing national debt did gone up to 9 million guilders. Without money the government could not recruit native troops and they did not had the opportunity to send the plundering Spanish troops away. It lasted till early 1566 before the Spanish troops left the Netherlands. In 1563 the abbots of the Brabant abbeys in the provincial states denied to allow prayers, as long the abbeys did not get their independence back. The government renounced the literally applying of the papal bulls. The forgoing hopeless situations of the finances of the country was a consequence of the antiquated fiscal system. Already in November 1556 Emmanual Filibert van Savoie had said that the fiscal system would lead to resistance. According to L.J. Rogier we could see this prediction fulfilled in the Image-breaking and in the encouragement or lead, which many part of countries gave. The medieval fiscal system harmed only the farmers and country nobles and not the rich Antwerp merchants. But not only the farmers and country nobles were reformed, the merchants too, they were most followers of the Calvinism and the Lutheranism. After the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, which brought an important political distraction, there followed a couple of years of fast increase of the trade. The wages increased and they increased even faster than the prices. Than came the trade difficulties of England, which created in the period 1563-1564 a situation of a real crisis. After 1564 the wages decreased, which was really hard for the untrained. In 1564 and 1565 the Netherlands were afflicted by hard winters. Because the grain harvest failed and the plots on the Sont, which hindered the import of grain, the prises of grain grew, in December 1565 they reached the highest point, and after that they decreased again. The famine could not have been so pinching when you think of the fact that Spanish wheat were send not discharged back to Spain again. During the Image-breaking there was ‘breaked’ in random by wandering groups, but also according to plans and even orderly by the government. There was plundering, but plundering was also crossed or anticipated. The instigators, pacers, leaders and executors of the Image-breaking were not everywhere the same persons of similar rank and position. It is not possible to know the motives of each individual who participated with the Image-breaking. The character of the Image-breaking was not decided by the executors, but by the instigators, pacers and leaders. The aim of the Image-breaking was to clean the church of idolatry and to make the churches fit for the execution of the reformed religion. On numerous places the reformed requested disposition of a church, on more numerous places was even after the Image-breaking preached in ‘clean’ churches. To stop the Image-breaking, the regent signed the ‘Accoord van 23 augustus’, that allowed the preached outside the cities, on the places where was preached till then. The reformed were not pleased with this agreement. On the synod in Gent on October 1st, a petition was made wherein they requested the king to allow religious freedom and they offered him a sum of three million gold guilders. The petition was only an excuse to collect money to recruit troops, because the wanted to help the threatened Calvinism. The armed resistance failed and the rebels were defeated. The sending of the duke of Alva and the foundation of a exceptioncourt to punish the rebels – the preachers, the image-breakers and everyone who raised their weapons against the king -, was a tactical mistake. When the duke of Alva arrived in the Netherlands, the hedge sermons already stopped and the quiet was restored. It will never be possible to put a list together of all the damaged and ruined things by the image-breakers, or to make an accurate calculation of the caused damage. Extremely rare are the remained inventories of the destructions that were handed over tot the regent and afterwards to the ‘Raad van Beroerten’. In the north of the Netherlands was in 1572, 1580 and later, even harder broken than in 1566. How many abbeys were plundered and burned down by the French revolutionaries, which invaded in the Netherlands? Maybe later caused damaged was ascribe to the Image-breaking. The Image-breaking was in the first place a religious phenomenon. The authorities crisis and the unfavourable economic-social situation celebrated everywhere, but the Image-breaking took mainly place in the districts where the reformed religion counted the most followers, on the places where the hedge sermons took place or where the inhabitants were present at the hedge sermons.