History of the Netherlands

In November, 1508, Margaret of Austria made a stunning entrance onto the stage of international politics when she personally led negotiations with the French in the town of Cambrai to create a grand alliance against the Republic of Venice. Margaret was able to bring together an unlikely super-group composed of her father, Maximilian, his two biggest rivals, French King Louis XII and Ferdinand of Aragon, as well as the Pope, Julius II. Combined, they would form what became known as the League of Cambrai. 1508 had begun with Imperial and French troops clashing in Italy when Maximilian launched an ill-fated and badly coordinated attack on Venice in the middle of winter, after which he was forced to sign a humiliating truce. Summoning the diplomatic skills she had honed over a life time traversing the various courts of Europe, Margaret of Austria was thereafter able to ensure that the attention and, more importantly, the swords and cannons of these various monarchs were shifted away from the Low Countries and instead pointed towards Italy. By bringing the war in Guelders to a temporary cessation, the negotiations led by Margaret at Cambrai would also see the land-holdings of Venice carved up between the aforementioned powers. The War of the League of Cambrai would see a blitzkrieg level of success for the French in April 1509, but Maximilian, in his typical fashion, would struggle to take hold of the moment, hindered by a lack of money and troops. In September, 1509, he would personally lead a failed attempt to besiege the town of Padua, which would be the last consequential action he would make in Italy for several years. While the League of Cambrai would quickly fall apart amongst the competing interests of its members, its creation brought about a much needed moment of respite for the war-fatigued people of Holland and Brabant.

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Margaret of Austria’s ability to fight the war with Guelders in 1508 was hampered by events involving her father Maximilian on the other side of the Alps in Italy. The balance of power in Italy had been disrupted in 1499 when French King Louis XII had led an invasion into Milan. Over the next few years the biggest players on the European chess-board, such as Louis XII, Aragonese King Ferdinand, Maximilian and a couple of Popes, would duke it out across Italy in a series of conflicts that would become known as the Second and Third Italian wars. The players would variously join forces, switch sides and do whatever it took to enhance their own positions, especially in the Kingdom of Naples, and in the end they would somehow all end up with one common enemy: Venice. Our intention in this episode is to give more detailed context to these wars so that, in the next episode, we can tie it all together with the diplomatic stylings of Margaret as she wove together an unlikely alliance to go lay the smack down on the most serene republic.

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In this episode, we want to take a more granular look at the Guelders war by zooming in on the events as they affected one city in particular, Amsterdam, during a roughly one year period from the end of 1507 until December 1508. Mainly, we want to develop a perspective of how people who were not dukes, bishops or princesses, but rather the regular Jans and Geertjes; citizens of a small but powerful town, whose lives were greatly impacted by the actions and decisions of those above them on the social hierarchy ladder of life that existed at the time. We have been on imaginative journeys through Amsterdam before, once in the 1420s (Episode 22) and more recently (in Episode 53) as we explored the shipbuilding traditions that were, by then, well established. Well, we figured there is no harm in going back, some twenty years on from that most recent adventure, to see what has become of our caulker and how he may have experienced a tumultuous year in Amsterdam as the Guelders war suddenly erupted on the city’s doorsteps. Our account of this time is mostly based on the history of Amsterdam written by city historian Jan Wagenaar, published between 1760-67. Wagenaar was given unrestricted access to the city archives and this use of primary sources means that his account is full of the vivid details you are about to live through. So kick back, relax, and transport yourself back in time, to the early autumn of 1507…

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In March, 1507, Margaret of Austria was appointed by her father Maximilian as his procureur-général in the Low Countries, meaning she essentially took the reigns of power in those lands over from him. This marked the beginning of her first period of regency for her nephew, Charles, the 7 year old son of her recently deceased brother Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile. On top of this, she was also given the responsibility of looking after Philip and Joanna’s children, the aforementioned Charles, as well as his older sister Eleonor and his younger sisters Isabella and Mary. Upon returning to the Low Countries, Margaret would set up her court in the town of Mechelen, where she would be responsible for guiding these four through the remainder of their childhoods and education. Margaret of Austria faced challenges personally and politically on all fronts, but her first forays into international diplomacy would need to focus on the English King Henry VII. She would rely on all the diplomatic skills she had garnered over her tumultuous life so far to extricate herself from (yet another) a marriage proposal and her lands from the disastrous intercursus malus trade deal.

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During the first decade of the 16th century, one of the primary concerns
for the towns, cities and ducal governments of the Low Countries was
the war the Habsburgs were waging with Charles of Egmont over the title
of Duke of Guelders. The war in Guelders complicated the already
convoluted political structure that had developed across the Low
Countries over the course of the previous half century. In this episode,
we’re going to focus on Guelders again, but this time to see how the
war was intimately entangled in a web of relationships between the
different layers of nobility, both domestic and foreign, and how the
interests of the Habsburg dynasty often clashed with the interests of
the people who lived within their domains. When Philip the Handsome
sailed away to Spain, Charles of Egmont seized the opportunity to
restart the war, meaning the defence of the Habsburg lands was left to
the man Philip had put in charge in his absence, his Stadhouder General,
Guillame de Croy, the Lord of Chievres. Philip’s premature death would
completely rearrange the pieces on the chess board as the Low Countries
were once again plunged into a succession crisis. There was one giant
mess left behind for the person who would ultimately become regent for
Philip’s infant son Charles to clean up... And that person would be
Philip’s sister, Margaret of Austria.

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SHOW NOTES: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-59-successive-crises-amidst-a-looming-succession-crisis

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