Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
battles rebellious Protestant princes.
1535
On Amsterdam's Dam Square, Anabaptist rebels
are hanged, drawn, and quartered.
1540
Emperor Charles' son, Philip of Spain, invites
the Inquisition to Spain.
1556
Philip II, based in Spain, succeeds his father as
ruler of the Netherlands and intensifies the wars
on Protestants (especially Calvinists).
1566
In a wave of anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish fury,
extreme Protestants storm Catholic churches,
vandalizing religious objects and converting the
churches to Protestant (the Iconoclasm). Philip II
sends soldiers to the Low Countries to establish
order and punish rebels and heretics.
1568
Holland's Protestant counts rally around William
“The Silent” of Orange, demanding freedom
from Spanish Habsburg rule (the Beggars'
Revolt). This begins 80 years of on-again-off-
again war with Spain, called...the Eighty Years'
War.
1572-1573
The Spanish conquer Haarlem after a long siege,
but Haarlem's brave stand inspires other towns to
carry on the fight.
1578
Amsterdam switches sides (the Alteration),
joining the Protestant independence movement.
Extreme Calvinists control the city for several
decades, officially outlawing Catholic services.
Within a few years, Spanish troops are driven
south out of Holland, and future battles take
place mostly on Belgian soil.
1580
Holland and Belgium go separate ways in
the war. Holland's towns and nobles form
a Protestant military alliance (the United
Provinces) against Catholic Spain, while Belgium
remains Catholic, with Brussels as the capital of
Spanish Habsburg rule.
1585
Antwerp, northern Europe's greatest trading city
(pop. 150,000), falls to Spanish troops. In the
chaos, business plummets, and many Protestant
merchants leave town. Industrious Amsterdam
steps in to fill the vacuum of trade.
1588
Elizabeth I of England defeats the Spanish
Armada (navy), breaking Spain's monopoly on
overseas trade.
1602
The Dutch East India Company (VOC), a
government-subsidized trading company,
