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113-643: In the Low Countries , a stadtholder ( Dutch : stadhouder [ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər] ) was a steward , first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The stadtholder was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795). The title was used for the highest executive official of each province performing several duties, such as appointing lower administrators and maintaining peace and order, in

226-746: A Low Countries derby ( Derby der Lage Landen ), is a sports event between Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium separated in 1830 from the (northern) Netherlands. The new country took its name from Belgica , the Latinised name for the Low Countries, as it was known during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). The Low Countries were in that war divided in two parts. On one hand, the northern Federated Netherlands or Belgica Foederata rebelled against King Philip II of Spain ; on

339-757: A compromise was personally reached between Emperor Ferdinand and Morone, the papal legate . An important invention of Ferdinand was the Hofkriegsrat (Aulic War Council), officially established in 1556 to coordinate military affairs in all Habsburg lands (inside and outside the Holy Roman Empire). Together with the Reichshofkanzlei  [ de ] (established in 1559, merging the Imperial and Austrian Chancelleries, thus also dealing with affairs of both Imperial and Habsburg lands) and

452-455: A conquest of the Low Countries with the shortest possible notice, to forestall the French, and prevent Allied air power from threatening the strategic Ruhr Area of Germany. It would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. As much as possible of the border areas in northern France should be occupied. Germany's Blitzkrieg tactics rapidly overpowered

565-537: A critical role in the settlement of the religious issue in the empire. After decades of religious and political unrest in the German states, Charles V ordered a general Diet in Augsburg at which the various states would discuss the religious problem and its solution. Charles himself did not attend, and delegated authority to his brother, Ferdinand, to "act and settle" disputes of territory, religion and local power. At

678-563: A direct cognate, "stead holder" (in modern Dutch "stad" means "city", but the older meaning of "stad" – also "stede" – was "place", and it is a cognate of English "stead", as "instead of"); it was a term for a " steward " or " lieutenant ". However, this is not the word for the military rank of lieutenant, which is luitenant in Dutch. Stadtholder s in the Middle Ages were appointed by feudal lords to represent them in their absence. If

791-424: A lord had several dominions (or, being a vassal , fiefs ), some of these could be ruled by a permanent stadtholder , to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A stadtholder was thus more powerful than a governor, who had only limited authority, but the stadtholder was not a vassal himself, having no title to the land. The local rulers of the independent provinces of the Low Countries (which included

904-562: A massive but ultimately unsuccessful assault on Ferdinand's capital: the Siege of Vienna , which sent Ferdinand to refuge in Bohemia. A further Ottoman invasion was repelled in 1532 (see Siege of Güns ). In that year Ferdinand made peace with the Ottomans, splitting Hungary into a Habsburg sector in the west (Royal Hungary), and John Zápolya's domain in the east ( Eastern Hungarian Kingdom ),

1017-462: A military leader, Ferdinand was a capable organizer with institutional imagination who focused on building a centralized government for Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia instead of striving for universal monarchy. He reintroduced major innovations of his grandfather Maximilian I such as the Hofrat (court council) with a chancellery and a treasury attached to it (this time, the structure would last until

1130-641: A part of Hungary that would later provide the basis for the conquest of the whole kingdom by the Habsburgs. In his own possessions, he built a tax system that, though imperfect, would continue to be used by his successors. His handling of the Protestant Reformation proved more flexible and more effective than that of his brother and he played a key part in the settlement of 1555, which started an era of peace in Germany. His statesmanship, overall,

1243-561: A position he would hold until his death (his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg held the post in the remaining two provinces, Friesland and Groningen). Tensions nonetheless persisted between Orangists and republicans in the United Provinces, sometimes exploding into direct conflict. Maurice in 1618 and William III of Orange from 1672 replaced entire city councils with their partisans to increase their power:

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1356-475: A ship without wind". Low Countries Historically, the regions without access to the sea linked themselves politically and economically to those with access to form various unions of ports and hinterland , stretching inland as far as parts of the German Rhineland . Because of this, nowadays not only physically low-altitude areas, but also some hilly or elevated regions are considered part of

1469-537: Is the blind poet Bernlef , from c.  800 , who sang both Christian psalms and pagan verses. Bernlef is representative of the coexistence of Christianity and Germanic polytheism in this time period. The earliest examples of written literature include the Wachtendonck Psalms , a collection of twenty five psalms that originated in the Moselle-Frankish region around the middle of

1582-585: The Act of Abjuration , the representative function of the stadtholder became obsolete in the rebellious northern Netherlands – the feudal lord himself having been abolished – but the office nevertheless continued in these provinces who now united themselves into the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands . The United Provinces were struggling to adapt existing feudal concepts and institutions to

1695-618: The Austrian Netherlands . The United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1830) temporarily united the Low Countries again before it split into the three modern countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. During the early months of World War I (around 1914), the Central Powers invaded the Low Countries of Luxembourg and Belgium in what has been come to be known as the German invasion of Belgium . It led to

1808-496: The Dutch Revolt . Each of the provinces had its own laws, customs and political practices. The new policy, imposed from the outside, angered many inhabitants, who viewed their provinces as distinct entities. It and other monarchical acts, such as the creation of bishoprics and promulgation of laws against heresy , stoked resentments, which fired the eruption of the Dutch Revolt . After the northern Seven United Provinces of

1921-652: The Franco-Flemish School were highly sought by the leading classes of all Europe. In 1477 the Burgundian holdings in the area passed through an heiress— Mary of Burgundy —to the Habsburgs . Charles V, who inherited the territory in 1506, was named ruler by the States General and styled himself as Heer der Nederlanden ( lit.   ' Lord of the Netherlands ' ). He continued to rule

2034-489: The Free County of Burgundy , which were part of their realm but geographically disconnected from the Low Countries. Governor Mary of Hungary used both the expressions les pays de par deça and Pays d'Embas ("lands down here"), which evolved to Pays-Bas or Low Countries . Today the term is typically fitted to modern political boundaries and used in the same way as the term Benelux . The name of

2147-679: The Fugger family . Ferdinand defeated Zápolya at the Battle of Tarcal in September 1527 and again in the Battle of Szina in March 1528. Zápolya fled the country and applied to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for support, making Hungary an Ottoman vassal state. This led to the most dangerous moment of Ferdinand's career, in 1529, when Suleiman took advantage of this Hungarian support for

2260-739: The Habsburg Netherlands , Kingdom of Naples , Duchy of Milan and Spain's possessions in the Americas , went to his son, Philip . Ferdinand became suo jure monarch in Austria and succeeded Charles as Holy Roman Emperor. This course of events had been guaranteed already on 5 January 1531 when Ferdinand had been elected the King of the Romans and so the legitimate successor of the reigning emperor. Charles's choices were appropriate. Philip

2373-691: The Hofkammer  [ de ] (the Finance Chamber, which received imperial taxes from the Reichspfennig meister ), it formed the core of the Habsburg government in Vienna. The Reichshofrat was revived to deal with affairs concerning imperial prerogatives. In 1556, an ordinance was issued to ensure Imperial and dynastic affairs were managed separately (by two groups of officials from

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2486-737: The Holy Roman Empire and developed encouraging relationships with German princes. In addition, Ferdinand also developed valuable relationships with the German banking house of Jakob Fugger and the Catalan bank, Banca Palenzuela Levi Kahana. The key events during his reign were the conflict with the Ottoman Empire , which in the 1520s began a great advance into Central Europe, and the Protestant Reformation , which resulted in several wars of religion. Although not

2599-457: The Kingdom of France or the Holy Roman Empire . While the further history the Low Countries can be seen as the object of a continual struggle between these two powers, the title of Duke of Lothier was coveted in the low countries for centuries. In the 14th and 15th century, separate fiefs came gradually to be ruled by a single family through royal intermarriage . This process culminated in

2712-572: The Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior . They were inhabited by Belgic and Germanic tribes . In the 4th and 5th century, Frankish tribes had entered this Roman region and came to run it increasingly independently. They came to be ruled by the Merovingian dynasty , under which dynasty the southern part (below the Rhine ) was re- Christianised . By the end of the 8th century,

2825-658: The Treaty of Nagyvárad , Ferdinand induced the childless Zápolya to name him as his successor. But in 1540, just before his death, Zápolya had a son, John II Sigismund , who was promptly elected king by the Diet. Ferdinand invaded Hungary, but the regent, Frater George Martinuzzi , Bishop of Várad , called on the Ottomans for protection. Suleiman marched into Hungary (see Siege of Buda (1541) ) and not only drove Ferdinand out of central Hungary, he forced Ferdinand to agree to pay tribute for his lands in western Hungary. John II Sigismund

2938-504: The stadtholder of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland was normally also appointed Captain-General of the Dutch States Army and Admiral-General of the confederate fleet, though no stadtholder ever actually commanded a fleet in battle. In the army, he could appoint officers by himself; in the navy only affirm appointments of the five admiralty councils. Legal powers of the stadtholder were thus rather limited, and by law he

3051-497: The victorious campaign of Charles V against the German Protestants in 1547. The same year, he also defeated a Protestant revolt in Bohemia , where the estates and a large part of the nobility had denied him support in the German campaign. This allowed him to increase his power in this realm. He centralized his administration, revoked many urban privileges and confiscated properties. Ferdinand also sought to strengthen

3164-593: The 9th century. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I (10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia , Hungary , and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564. Before his accession as emperor, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the House of Habsburg in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor . Also, he often served as Charles' representative in

3277-527: The Austrian estates, but all parties refused such an innovation. In Hungary, the monarchy remained elective until 1627 (with Habsburgs' female inheritance rights being acknowledged in 1723), although the kings that followed Ferdinand would always be Habsburgs. A rudimentary union between Austria, Hungary and Bohemia was formed though, on the basis of common legal status. Ferdinand had an interest in keeping Bohemia separate from imperial jurisdiction and making

3390-1007: The Duke in his capacity of duke, count or lord. In the 16th century, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V , also King of Spain, who had inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, completed this process by becoming the sole feudal overlord: Lord of the Netherlands. Only the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and two smaller territories (the Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy and the Duchy of Bouillon ) remained outside his domains. Stadtholder s continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King Philip II , his son and successor in Spain and

3503-566: The French invasion of 1747, the regents were forced by a popular movement to accept William IV, Prince of Orange , stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen , as stadtholder in the other provinces. On 22 November 1747, the office of stadtholder was made hereditary ( erfstadhouder ) everywhere (previously only in Friesland). As William (for the first time in the history of the Republic) was stadtholder in all provinces, his function accordingly

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3616-662: The French occupation. On 13 November 1813 he returned to the Netherlands to accept the invitation. On 16 March 1815 he assumed the title of King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . The stadtholderate was taken as a political model by the Founding Fathers of the United States with regard to the executive powers – Oliver Ellsworth for example arguing that without its influence in the United Provinces, "their machine of government would no more move than

3729-485: The German language and culture later in his life, he also grew close to the German territorial princes. After the death of his brother-in-law Louis II , Ferdinand ruled as king of Bohemia and Hungary (1526–1564). Ferdinand also served as his brother's deputy in the Holy Roman Empire during his brother's many absences, and in 1531 was elected King of the Romans , making him Charles's designated heir in

3842-419: The German occupation of the two countries. However, the German advance into France was quickly halted, causing a military stalemate for most of the war. In the end, a total of approximately 56,000 people were killed in the invasion. During World War II , when Adolf Hitler 's gaze turned his strategy west toward France, the Low Countries were an easy route around the imposing French Maginot Line . He ordered

3955-450: The Low Countries (the electoral Imperial title would be held by his brother Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his heirs in the separate Austrian branch of Habsburgs). Due to the centralist and absolutist policies of Philip, the actual power of the stadtholder s strongly diminished, compared to the landvoogd (es) or governor-general. When, in 1581, during the Dutch Revolt , seven of the Dutch provinces declared their independence with

4068-647: The Low Countries formed a core part of a much expanded Francia and the Merovingians were replaced by the Carolingian dynasty . In 800, the Pope crowned and appointed Charlemagne Emperor of the re-established Roman Empire . After the death of Charlemagne , Francia was divided in three parts among his three grandsons. The middle slice, Middle Francia , was ruled by Lothair I , and thereby also came to be referred to as "Lotharingia" or "Lorraine". Apart from

4181-601: The Low Countries, including Luxembourg and the south of Belgium. Within the European Union , the region's political grouping is still referred to as the Benelux (short for Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg). During the Roman Empire , the region contained a militarised frontier and contact point between Rome and Germanic tribes . The Low Countries were the scene of the early independent trading centres that marked

4294-617: The Netherlands, particularly in his allotment of the Spanish kingdom to Philip. In France, the kings and their ministers grew increasingly uneasy about Habsburg encirclement and sought allies against Habsburg hegemony from among the border German territories, and even from some of the Protestant kings. In the Netherlands, Philip's ascension in Spain raised particular problems; for the sake of harmony, order, and prosperity Charles had not blocked

4407-586: The Netherlands. However, in official use, the name of the Dutch kingdom is still Kingdom of the Netherlands , Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (plural). This name derives from the 19th-century origins of the kingdom which originally included present-day Belgium. In Dutch, and to a lesser extent in English, the Low Countries colloquially means the Netherlands and Belgium, sometimes the Netherlands and Flanders —the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium. For example,

4520-483: The Ottomans happy even after they responded by sending troops. Ferdinand's general Castaldo suspected Martinuzzi of treason and with Ferdinand's approval had him killed. Since Martinuzzi was by this time an archbishop and Cardinal , this was a shocking act, and Pope Julius III excommunicated Castaldo and Ferdinand. Ferdinand sent the Pope a long accusation of treason against Martinuzzi in 87 articles, supported by 116 witnesses. The Pope exonerated Ferdinand and lifted

4633-661: The Protestants. At first, Ferdinand accepted this situation and he gave considerable freedom to the Bohemian estates. In the 1540s, the situation changed. In Germany, while most Protestant princes had hitherto favored negotiation with the emperor and while many had supported him in his wars, they became increasingly confrontational during this decade. Some of them even went to war against the emperor, and many Bohemian (German or Czech) Protestants or Utraquists sympathized with them. Ferdinand and his son Maximilian participated in

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4746-513: The Reformation, and had tolerated a high level of local autonomy. An ardent Catholic and rigidly autocratic prince, Philip pursued an aggressive political, economic and religious policy toward the Dutch, resulting in a Dutch rebellion shortly after he became king. Philip's militant response meant the occupation of much of the upper provinces by troops of, or hired by, Habsburg Spain and the constant ebb and flow of Spanish men and provisions on

4859-633: The Romans , who thus became his designated successor. "This had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe. Ferdinand rescued Bohemia and Silesia from the Hungarian wreckage, making his north-eastern flank more secure. He told the Austrian Landtag, the assembled representatives of the nobility, at Linz in 1530 that 'the Turks cannot be resisted unless the Kingdom of Hungary

4972-415: The Romans . This was followed with succession in Bohemia, and in 1563, the crown of Hungary. Ferdinand died in Vienna in 1564 and is buried in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. After his death, Maximilian ascended unchallenged. Ferdinand's legacy ultimately proved enduring. Though lacking resources, he managed to defend his land against the Ottomans with limited support from his brother, and even secured

5085-438: The States, the stadtholder could very indirectly influence the general policy. In Zeeland , the Princes of Orange , who after the Dutch Revolt most often held the office of stadtholder there, held the dignity of First Noble , and were as such a member of the States of that province, because they held the title of Marquis of Veere and Flushing as one of their patrimonial titles. On the Republic's central 'confederal' level,

5198-402: The army of Suleiman drew nearer he yielded and on 23 July 1532 the peace was concluded at Nuremberg where the final deliberations took place. Those who had up to this time joined the Reformation obtained religious liberty until the meeting of a council and in a separate compact all proceedings in matters of religion pending before the imperial chamber court were temporarily paused. In 1538, in

5311-409: The conference, which opened on 5 February, Ferdinand cajoled, persuaded and threatened the various representatives into agreement on three important principles promulgated on 25 September: After 1555, the Peace of Augsburg became the legitimating legal document governing the co-existence of the Lutheran and Catholic faiths in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire, and it served to ameliorate many of

5424-491: The connection between Bohemia and the empire looser (Bohemia did not have to pay taxes to the empire). As he gained the rights of an Imperial prince-elector as king of Bohemia, he was able to give Bohemia (as well as associated territories such as Upper and Lower Lusatia , Silesia and Moravia ) the same privileged status as Austria, therefore affirming his superior position in the empire. In December 1562, Ferdinand had Archduke Maximilian , his eldest son elected King of

5537-413: The country of the Netherlands has the same etymology and origin as the name for the region Low Countries, due to "nether" meaning "low". In the Dutch language itself De Lage Landen is the modern term for Low Countries, and De Nederlanden (plural) is in use for the 16th century domains of Charles V , the historic Low Countries, while Nederland (singular) is the normal Dutch name for the country of

5650-436: The country to the brink of civil war . Through Prussian military intervention in 1787 , Prince William V of Orange was able to suppress this opposition, and many leaders of the Patriot movement went into exile in France. The stadtholderate was strengthened with the Act of Guarantee (1788). The exiles returned with French armies in the winter of 1795 and overcame the frozen Dutch Water Line . William V fled to England, and

5763-418: The death of his grandfather Maximilian I and the accession of his now 19-year-old brother, Charles V, to the title of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, Ferdinand was entrusted with the government of the Austrian hereditary lands, roughly modern-day Austria and Slovenia . He was Archduke of Austria from 1521 to 1564. Though he supported his brother, Ferdinand also managed to strengthen his own realm. By adopting

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5876-430: The defences of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. All three countries were occupied from May 1940 until early 1945. During the occupation, their governments were forced into exile in Britain. In 1944, they signed the London Customs Convention , laying the foundation for the eventual Benelux Economic Union , an important forerunner of the EEC (later the EU ). One of the Low Countries' earliest literary figures

5989-467: The depleted Kingdom of Hungary was, at that time, Ferdinand's largest source of revenue. When he took control of the Bohemian lands in the 1520s, their religious situation was complex. Its German population was composed of Catholics and Lutherans. Some Czechs were receptive to Lutheranism, but most of them adhered to Utraquist Hussitism , while a minority of them adhered to Roman Catholicism . A significant number of Utraquists favoured an alliance with

6102-442: The early Dutch Republic . As multiple provinces appointed the same stadtholder, the stadtholder of the powerful province of Holland at times functioned as the de facto head of state of the Dutch Republic as a whole during the 16th to 18th centuries, in an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary title under Prince William IV of Orange . His son, Prince William V ,

6215-424: The economic power of Hungary for the Ottoman wars. During the Ottoman wars the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary shrank by around seventy percent. Despite these enormous territorial and demographic losses, the smaller, heavily war-torn Royal Hungary had remained economically more important to the Habsburg rulers than Austria or Kingdom of Bohemia even at the end of the 16th century. Out of all his countries,

6328-421: The eighteenth century. The core included a court council, privy council, central treasury and a body for military affairs, with the written business conducted by a common chancery. In his time and in practice, Bohemia and Hungary resisted cooperating with the structure but the German territories widely imitated it. Ferdinand was also a patron of the arts. He embellished Vienna and Prague. The University of Vienna

6441-568: The empire. Charles abdicated in 1556 and Ferdinand adopted the title "Emperor elect", with the ratification of the Imperial diet taking place in 1558, while the kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula, the Spanish Empire , Naples , Sicily , Milan , the Netherlands and Franche-Comté went to Philip , son of Charles. According to the terms set at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515, Ferdinand married Anne Jagiellonica , daughter of King Vladislaus II of Hungary and Bohemia on 22 July 1515. Both Hungary and Bohemia were elective monarchies , where

6554-421: The encouragement of the free flow of goods and craftsmen. Dutch and French dialects were the main languages used in secular city life. Historically, the term Low Countries arose at the Court of the Dukes of Burgundy , who used the term les pays de par deçà ("the lands over here") for the Low Countries as opposed to les pays de par delà ("the lands over there") for the Duchy of Burgundy and

6667-400: The estates and also moving the Habsburg court to Prague . The success was only partial, as the Diet refused to recognise Ferdinand as hereditary lord of the kingdom. The throne of Hungary became the subject of a dynastic dispute between Ferdinand and John Zápolya , Voivode of Transylvania . They were supported by different factions of the nobility in the Hungarian kingdom. Ferdinand also had

6780-503: The excommunications in 1555. The war in Hungary continued. Ferdinand was unable to keep the Ottomans out of Hungary. In 1554, Ferdinand sent Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq to Constantinople to discuss a border treaty with Suleiman, but he could achieve nothing. In 1556 the Diet returned John II Sigismund to the eastern Hungarian throne, where he remained until 1570. De Busbecq returned to Constantinople in 1556, and succeeded on his second try. The Austrian branch of Habsburg monarchs needed

6893-412: The face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant princes and France. Thus the defense of central Europe was subcontracted to Ferdinand as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the empire. Charles V abdicated as archduke of Austria 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes elect Ferdinand as King of

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7006-478: The first province to rebel, Holland, as a replacement of the royal stadtholder (He had previously held the post as an appointee of Philip II.). His personal influence and reputation was subsequently associated with the office and transferred to members of his house. After his assassination, however, there was a short-lived move to install Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester as governor-general of Elizabeth I before Maurice in 1590 became stadtholder of five provinces,

7119-430: The future) for a Bohemian to gain advancement in the Austrian government. An elected king himself, he gradually nudged the monarchy towards becoming hereditary, which would finally succeed under Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor . In 1547 the Bohemian Estates rebelled against Ferdinand after he had ordered the Bohemian army to move against the German Protestants . After suppressing the revolt, he retaliated by limiting

7232-470: The governments of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary remained distinct though. His approach to Imperial problems, including governance, human relations and religious matters was generally flexible, moderate and tolerant. Ferdinand's motto was Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus : "Let justice be done, though the world perish". Ferdinand was born in 1503 in Alcalá de Henares , Castile , the second son of Philip I of Castile and Joanna of Castile . He shared

7345-410: The heirs. By streamlining the succession law in all Seventeen Provinces and declaring that all of them would be inherited by one heir, Charles effectively united the Netherlands as one entity. After Charles' abdication in 1555, the Seventeen Provinces passed to his son, Philip II of Spain . The Pragmatic Sanction is said to be one example of the Habsburg contest with particularism that contributed to

7458-419: The higher aristocracy (the magnates or barons) and the Hungarian Catholic clergy in a rump Diet in Pozsony ( Bratislava in Slovak) on 17 December 1526. Accordingly, Ferdinand was crowned as King of Hungary in the Székesfehérvár Basilica on 3 November 1527. The Croatian nobles unanimously accepted the Pozsony election of Ferdinand I, receiving him as their king in the 1527 election in Cetin , and confirming

7571-498: The imperial capital. Since 1542, Charles V and Ferdinand had been able to collect the Common Penny tax, or Türkenhilfe (Turkish aid), designed to protect the empire against the Ottomans or France. But as Hungary, unlike Bohemia, was not part of the empire, the Imperial aid for Hungary depended on political factors. The obligation was only in effect if Vienna or the empire was threatened. The western part of Hungary over which Ferdinand had dominion became known as Royal Hungary. As

7684-447: The latter effectively a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. Together with the formation of the Schmalkaldic League in 1531, this struggle with the Ottomans caused Ferdinand to grant the Nuremberg Religious Peace . As long as he hoped for a favorable response from his humiliating overtures to Suleiman, Ferdinand was not inclined to grant the peace which the Protestants demanded at the Diet of Regensburg which met in April 1532. But as

7797-480: The new situation and tended to be conservative in this matter, as they had after all rebelled against the king to defend their ancient rights. The stadtholder no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, appointed by the States of each province (e.g. the States of Holland and West Friesland and the States of Friesland ). Although each province could assign its own stadtholder , most stadtholder s held appointments from several provinces at

7910-426: The northwest; and the followers of Huldrych Zwingli were excluded from considerations and protections under the Peace of Augsburg. According to the Augsburg agreement, their religious beliefs remained heretical. In 1556, amid great pomp, and leaning on the shoulder of one of his favourites (the 24-year-old William the Silent ), Charles gave away his lands and his offices. The Spanish Empire , which included Spain,

8023-412: The office of stadtholder was abolished that year, when the French revolutionary forces installed the Batavian Republic . Similarly, while from 1572 in the Southern Netherlands the Habsburg lords continued to appoint provincial stadtholders for the region, this ceased when they were annexed by France in 1794. In 1806, Napoleon established the Kingdom of Holland , putting his younger brother Louis on

8136-506: The original coastal County of Flanders , which was within West Francia , the rest of the Low Countries were within the lowland part of this, " Lower Lorraine ". After the death of Lothair, the Low Countries were coveted by the rulers of both West Francia and East Francia . Each tried to swallow the region and to merge it with their spheres of influence. Thus, the Low Countries consisted of fiefs whose sovereignty resided with either

8249-486: The other, the southern Royal Netherlands or Belgica Regia remained loyal to the Spanish king. This divide laid the early foundation for the later modern states of Belgium and the Netherlands. The region politically had its origins in the Carolingian empire ; more precisely, most of the people were within the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia . After the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia, the Low Countries were brought under

8362-589: The parliaments had the sovereign right to decide about the person of the king. Therefore, after the death of his brother-in-law Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, at the Battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, Ferdinand immediately applied to the parliaments of Hungary and Bohemia to participate as a candidate in the royal elections. On 24 October 1526 the Bohemian Diet, acting under the influence of chancellor Adam of Hradce , elected Ferdinand king of Bohemia under conditions of confirming traditional privileges of

8475-421: The political secession of the autonomous Dutch Republic (or "United Provinces") in the north, the term "Low Countries" continued to be used to refer collectively to the region. The region was temporarily united politically between 1815 and 1839, as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands , before this split into the three modern countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The Low Countries were part of

8588-569: The position of the Catholic Church in the Bohemian lands, and favoured the installation of the Jesuits there. In the 1550s, Ferdinand managed to win some key victories on the imperial scene. Unlike his brother, he opposed Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and participated in his defeat. This defeat, along with his German ways, made Ferdinand more popular than the emperor among Protestant princes. This allowed him to play

8701-567: The present-day Netherlands , Belgium and Luxembourg ) made extensive use of stadtholder s, e.g. the Duke of Guelders appointed a stadtholder to represent him in Groningen . In the 15th century the Dukes of Burgundy acquired most of the Low Countries, and the constituent parts (duchies, counties, lordships) of these Burgundian Netherlands mostly each had their own stadtholder , appointed by

8814-640: The privileges of Bohemian cities and inserting a new bureaucracy of royal officials to control urban authorities. Ferdinand was a supporter of the Counter-Reformation and helped lead the Catholic response against what he saw as the heretical tide of Protestantism. For example, in 1551 he invited the Jesuits to Vienna and in 1556 to Prague. Finally, in 1561 Ferdinand revived the Archdiocese of Prague , which had been previously liquidated due to

8927-652: The real power. But Isabella's hostile intrigues and threats from the Ottomans led Martinuzzi to switch round. In 1549, he agreed to support Ferdinand's claim, and Imperial armies marched into Transylvania. In the Treaty of Weissenburg (1551), Isabella agreed on behalf of John II Sigismund to abdicate as king of Hungary and to hand over the Holy Crown of Hungary and regalia. Thus Royal Hungary and Transylvania went to Ferdinand, who agreed to recognise John II Sigismund as vassal Prince of Transylvania and betrothed one of his daughters to him. Meanwhile, Martinuzzi attempted to keep

9040-427: The reawakening of Europe in the 12th century. In that period, they rivalled northern Italy as one of the most densely populated regions of Western Europe. Guilds and councils governed most of the cities along with a figurehead ruler; interaction with their ruler was regulated by a strict set of rules describing what the latter could and could not expect. All of the regions mainly depended on trade, manufacturing and

9153-604: The reform of Maria Theresa ) and added innovations of his own such as the Raitkammer (collections office) and the Hofkriegsrat , conceived to counter the threat from the Ottoman Empire, while also successfully subduing the most radical of his rebellious Austrian subjects and turning the political class in Bohemia and Hungary into Habsburg partners. While he was able to introduce uniform models of administration,

9266-449: The reformed philosophies, and was probably the closest the Holy Roman Empire ever came to a Protestant emperor; he remained nominally a Catholic throughout his life, although reportedly he refused last rites on his deathbed. Other historians maintain he was as Catholic as his brother, but tended to see religion as outside the political sphere. Charles' abdication had far-reaching consequences in Imperial diplomatic relations with France and

9379-474: The rule of the House of Valois , who were the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy . At the height of Burgundian influence, the Low Countries became the political, cultural, and economic centre of Northern Europe , noted for its crafts and luxury goods, notably early Netherlandish painting , which is the work of artists who were active in the flourishing cities of Bruges , Ghent , Mechelen , Leuven , Tournai and Brussels , all in present-day Belgium. Musicians of

9492-702: The rule of various lordships until they came to be in the hands of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy . Hence, a large part of the Low Countries came to be referred to as the Burgundian Netherlands . After the reign of the Valois Dukes ended, much of the Low Countries were controlled by the House of Habsburg . This area was referred to as the Habsburg Netherlands , which was also called the Seventeen Provinces up to 1581. Even after

9605-611: The ruler of Austria, Bohemia and Royal Hungary, Ferdinand adopted a policy of centralisation and, in common with other monarchs of the time, the construction of an absolute monarchy . In 1527, soon after ascending the throne, he published a constitution for his hereditary domains ( Hofstaatsordnung ) and established Austrian-style institutions in Pressburg for Hungary, in Prague for Bohemia, and in Breslau for Silesia . Ferdinand

9718-609: The same institution) though. In his time, the influence of the Estates in these institutions were limited. For each Länder group , regiments (or governments) and treasury offices were created. Unlike Maximilian I and Charles V, Ferdinand I was not a nomadic ruler. In 1533, he moved his residence to Vienna and spent most of his time there. After experiencing the Turkish siege of 1529, Ferdinand worked hard to make Vienna an impregnable fortress. After his 1558 accession, Vienna became

9831-443: The same name, birthday (March 10th), culture and customs with his maternal grandfather, Ferdinand II of Aragon and became the latter’s favorite grandchild, their own mothers also had the same name, Juana Enriquez and Joanna of Castile. After the death of his father in 1506, his maternal grandfather, Ferdinand II of Aragon, assumed guardianship of the prince. He was raised in the royal household and received an education in literature,

9944-428: The same time. The highest executive and legislative power was normally exerted by the sovereign States of each province, but the stadtholder had some prerogatives, like appointing lower officials and sometimes having the ancient right to affirm the appointment (by co-option ) of the members of regent councils or choose burgomasters from a shortlist of candidates. As these councils themselves appointed most members of

10057-476: The sciences, and languages. Ferdinand was a good student and grew up to be a patron of the arts and a patron of scholars at his court. The prince did not learn German until he was a young adult. Music played an important part in his childhood. When he was an infant, his maternal grandmother, Isabella I of Castile , ordered that among the 24 servants attending the newborn, there should be four musicians. In 1505, after Isabella's death, King Ferdinand established for

10170-802: The seventeen declared their independence from Habsburg Spain in 1581, the ten provinces of the Southern Netherlands remained occupied by the Army of Flanders under Spanish service and are therefore sometimes called the Spanish Netherlands . In 1713, under the Treaty of Utrecht following the War of the Spanish Succession , what was left of the Spanish Netherlands was ceded to Austria and thus became known as

10283-688: The so-called Spanish Road from northern Italy, through the Franche-Comté , to and from Flanders. Charles abdicated as emperor in August 1556 in favor of his brother Ferdinand. Given the settlement of 1521 and the election of 1531, Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and suo jure Archduke of Austria. Due to lengthy debate and bureaucratic procedure, the Imperial Diet did not accept the Imperial succession until 3 May 1558. The Pope refused to recognize Ferdinand as emperor until 1559, when peace

10396-558: The so-called "Changings of the Legislative" ( Wetsverzettingen ). By intimidation, the stadtholder s tried to extend their right of affirmation, while they also attempted to add the remaining stadholderships like Friesland and Groningen to their other holdings. In reaction, the regents in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel, after the death of William II in 1650, appointed no stadtholder , and banned his son William from

10509-489: The so-called Turk Tax ( Türkensteuer ) to finance his campaign against the Ottoman threat. In spite of the huge Austrian sacrifices, he was not able to collect enough money to pay for the expenses of the defence costs of Austrian lands. His annual revenues only allowed him to hire 5,000 mercenaries for two months; thus Ferdinand asked for help from his brother, Emperor Charles V, and started to borrow money from rich bankers like

10622-484: The so-called evangelical and reformed traditions. Other confessions had acquired popular, if not legal, legitimacy in the intervening decades and by 1555, the reforms proposed by Luther were no longer the only possibilities of religious expression: Anabaptists , such as the Frisian Menno Simons (1492–1559) and his followers; the followers of John Calvin , who were particularly strong in the southwest and

10735-653: The stadtholdership by an Act of Seclusion , something overcome by popular feeling during the catastrophic events of 1672, the Dutch Year of Disaster ( Rampjaar ), when the future William III of England was swept to power. After the death of William III in 1702 they again abstained from appointing a stadtholder. These periods are known as the First Stadtholderless Period and the Second Stadtholderless Period . After

10848-489: The success of the Protestants. After the Ottoman invasion of Hungary the traditional Hungarian coronation city Székesfehérvár came under Ottoman occupation. Thus, in 1536 the Hungarian Diet decided that a new place for coronation of the king as well as a meeting place for the Diet itself would be set in Pressburg . Ferdinand proposed that the Hungarian and Bohemian diets should convene and hold debates together with

10961-509: The succession to him and his heirs. In return for the throne, King Ferdinand promised to respect the historic rights, freedoms, laws and customs of the Croats when they united with the Hungarian kingdom and to defend Croatia from Ottoman invasion. Brendan Simms notes that the reason Ferdinand was able to gain this sphere of power was Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in

11074-504: The support of his brother, the Emperor Charles V . On 10 November 1526, John Zápolya was proclaimed king by a Diet at Székesfehérvár , elected in the parliament by the untitled lesser nobility (gentry). Nicolaus Olahus , secretary of Louis, attached himself to the party of Ferdinand but retained his position with his sister, Queen Dowager Mary . Ferdinand was also elected King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia , etc. by

11187-481: The tensions between followers of the "Old Faith" ( Catholicism ) and the followers of Luther, but it had two fundamental flaws. First, Ferdinand had rushed the article on reservatum ecclesiasticum through the debate; it had not undergone the scrutiny and discussion that attended the widespread acceptance and support of cuius regio, eius religio . Consequently, its wording did not cover all, or even most, potential legal scenarios. The Declaratio Ferdinandei

11300-488: The territories as a multitude of duchies and principalities until the Low Countries were eventually united into one indivisible territory, the Seventeen Provinces , covered by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 , while retaining existing customs, laws, and forms of government within the provinces. The Pragmatic Sanction transformed the agglomeration of lands into a unified entity, of which the Habsburgs would be

11413-624: The throne. He abdicated his throne in 1810 in favour of his son Louis II . He ruled for nine days, until his uncle Napoleon took charge himself, annexing the kingdom to the French Empire, until its fall in 1813. Soon after the French army withdrew from the Netherlands, William Frederick , the son of William V , was invited by the Triumvirate of 1813 to become the first 'Sovereign Prince'. William had been living in exile in London during

11526-577: The younger Ferdinand a household with 62 servants and his own music chapel. In the summer of 1518 Ferdinand was sent to Flanders following his brother Charles 's arrival in Castile as newly appointed King Charles I the previous autumn. Ferdinand returned in command of his brother's fleet but en route was blown off-course and spent four days in Kinsale in Ireland before reaching his destination. With

11639-570: Was a mere official. His real powers, however, were sometimes greater, especially given the martial law atmosphere of the 'permanent' Eighty Years War . Maurice of Orange after 1618 ruled as a military dictator, and William II of Orange attempted the same. The leader of the Dutch Revolt was William the Silent (William I of Orange); he had been appointed stadtholder in 1572 by the States of

11752-440: Was able to introduce more uniform governments for his realms and also strengthen his control over finance in Bohemia, which provided him with half of his revenue. The governments basically remained independent of each other though. An Austrian could make a career in Bohemian administration but usually only after naturalization, except for some royal protégés such as Florian Griespeck, while it was virtually unheard of (in contrast with

11865-453: Was also supported by King Sigismund I of Poland , his mother's father, but in 1543 Sigismund made a treaty with the Habsburgs and Poland became neutral. Prince Sigismund Augustus married Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria , Ferdinand's daughter. Suleiman had allocated Transylvania and eastern Royal Hungary to John II Sigismund, which became the " Eastern Hungarian Kingdom ", reigned over by his mother, Isabella Jagiellon , with Martinuzzi as

11978-469: Was cautious and effective. On the other hand, when he engaged in more audacious endeavours, like his offensives against Buda and Pest , it often ended in failure. Fichtner remarks that Ferdinand was a mediocre military commander (thus the many difficulties in dealing with the Ottomans in Hungary) but an energetic and very imaginative administrator, who produced a framework for his empire that endured into

12091-515: Was culturally Spanish: he was born in Valladolid and raised in the Spanish court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. Ferdinand was familiar with, and to, the other princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Although he too had been born in Spain, he had administered his brother's affairs in the empire since 1531. Some historians maintain Ferdinand had also been touched by

12204-400: Was in the hands of an Archduke of Austria or another German prince'. After some hesitation, Croatia and the Hungarian rump joined the Habsburgs. In both cases, the link was essentially a contractual one, directly linked to Ferdinand's ability to provide protection against the Turks." The Austrian lands were in miserable economic and financial conditions, but Ferdinand was forced to introduce

12317-472: Was not debated in plenary session at all; using his authority to "act and settle," Ferdinand had added it at the last minute, responding to lobbying by princely families and knights. While these specific failings came back to haunt the empire in subsequent decades, perhaps the greatest weakness of the Peace of Augsburg was its failure to take into account the growing diversity of religious expression emerging in

12430-516: Was reached between France and the Habsburgs. During his reign, the Council of Trent came to an end. Ferdinand organized an Imperial election in 1562 in order to secure the succession of his son Maximilian II. Venetian ambassadors to Ferdinand recall in their Relazioni the emperor's pragmatism and his ability to speak multiple languages. Several issues of the Council of Trent were solved after

12543-544: Was reorganized. He also called Jesuits to the capital city, attracted architects and scholars from Italy and the Low Countries to create an intellectual milieu surrounding the court. He promoted scholarly interest in Oriental languages. The humanists he invited had a major influence on his son Maximilian. He was particularly fond of music and hunting. While not a gifted commander, he was interested in military matters and participated in several campaigns during his reign. He

12656-623: Was restyled Stadhouder-Generaal . After William IV's death in 1751, his infant son was duly appointed stadtholder under the regency of his mother. The misgovernment of this regency caused much resentment, which issued in 1780 in the Patriot movement , seeking to permanently limit the powers of the stadholderate. The Patriots first took over many city councils, then the States of the province of Holland , and ultimately raised civil militias to defend their position against Orangist partisans, bringing

12769-650: Was the last stadtholder of all provinces of the Republic, until fleeing French revolutionary troops in 1795. His son, William I of the Netherlands , in 1815 became the first sovereign king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . The title stadtholder is roughly comparable to the historical titles of Lord Protector in England, Statthalter in the Holy Roman Empire and Governor-general of Norway . Stadtholder means "steward". Its component parts literally translate as "place holder," from Latin locum tenens , or as

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