Eighty years war (Dutch Rebellion) - books?

[[DnC]]

I was wondering which book I should purchase about this period? I haven't delved in this as much as I would have wanted to for a long while now, therefore I want to change that.

Which books are good in your opinion? And do you still know how much it costs and where to buy it? I'm looking for a book preferably in Dutch, however English would be okay aswell.

Also does anyone know any good books about the Dutch-Anglo Wars? I have already read about it on Wikipedia, but would like to learn more.

With both it would be nice if it has (detailed) information about the battles fought, such as the four day naval battle between the Dutch and English during their second war. I'm interested in naval and land battles alike.

[Brutus]

For Dutch culture, politics and economics as a whol in the period 1477-1806 (though mainly about the years 1566-1795), I can recommend Jonathan I. Israel's The Dutch Republic. It's Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806. It may have been translated in Dutch. Israel is one of the greatest non-Dutch experts on the Republic, so I can recommend his other work as well.

Another great (Dutch this time) scholar on the subject is Simon Groenveld. You may be able to find his De Tachtigjarige Oorlog somewhere still.

The magazine Bijdragen en Mededelingen Betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden might hold many articles you might find interesting as well.

I would also recommend this reference site from Leiden university's 'Vaderlandse Geschiedenis'-department and especially this site for more particular references about the Revolt.

On more general information, a general history of the Netherlands or, for example, the Geschiedenis van Holland II 1572-1795 (only about the 'gewest' Holland), can help a great deal. From there, you might try to find a more specific work on a certain theme in a decent library.

On a side-note, since childhood I found Thom Roep and Co Loerakker's comic strip Van Nul tot Nu (5 volumes, though part 5 isn't as good) to be quite amusing. They are actually also quite accurate, though they deal with most details quite briefly (they have to, as they try to display the whole of 'Dutch' history from prehistory to the 1980's in 4 volumes).

For now, I'm out of further references (I'm mostly concerned with the preceding period), but other patrons will most likely be much abler to help you further.

[[DnC]]

Thanks a lot Brutus!
I'm defenitly interested in Israel's and Groeneveld's work, I hope I can find it somewhere. Elcheapo.nl might find it

However do they also focus on the battles?

Edit: Yes, yes, yes found Israel's book and it seems to be translated

[Brutus]

You're welcome [DnC]. Israel doesn't focus on battles, I'm afraid. It is however a very nice background work. About Groenveld (not Groeneveld) I don't know for sure, although he wrote some articles about certain battles and sieges. Mostly about their political/social/economical/religious impact though.

For the Spanish army, I can also recommend Geoffrey Parker's The army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567-1659: the logistics of Spanish victory and defeat in the Low Countries’ wars. Parker seems to have written quite a lot about Early Modern warfare, especially during the reign of Philip II.

About battles itself, I'm less proficient. I once wrote a bit about the siege of Breda in 1624-'25 (about which has been written quite a lot), but I can't find my work right now (It should contain a list of several interesting titles).

I do however remember that many local historians and museums (both in the Netherlands and Belgium) have very extensive knowledge about their local heroes and local battles. Some local historians have written books which may be hard to find but which contain literally every detail about a siege or a fleet. Small museums can hold real treasures for someone genuinely interested, and some towns still display their 500 to 400-year old battlements. I can recommend towns like Brill (Den Briel), Veere (now a very small town on Walcheren), Willemstad and slightly older places like Geertruidenberg, Heusden and Bergen op Zoom (yes, I'm from the south). My birth village still holds an old earthwork 'fortress' (schans) used during several sieges of Breda (there were 4 in total between 1581 and 1637, making that the town switched hand 5 times. Therefore Breda almost earned the name: 'Whore of the war', but that honour eventually went to Schenkenschans, which managed to switch hand 6 times during the war.). In Hellevoetsluis there even is displayed a maquette of the whole fleet William III used to invade England in 1688.

[[DnC]]

Thanks again and that's some funny info about Schenkenschans and Breda!

The only bit a history from "that" time around here can be found on the Bataviawerf. Maybe they have some more extensive knowledge about the era and hopefully Dutch naval warfare.

Anyways I'm still interested in at least Israel's work and the book costs only €36,- at bol.com. I think I'll buy that one. Haven't found Groenveld's work yet. Maybe Boom or some other bookstore has it?

Anyways you gave me another idea, maybe the musea have their own websites and perhaps even know where some good books about that era can be purchased.

[Brutus]

The Bataviawerf is quite nice, I've been there once. Those decks are damn low!

Good luck searching! Groenveld may have been sold out, but maybe some library still has it.

[[DnC]]

A little while ago I went to Omniworld - Cambuur in Almere (Cambuur lost 0-2 by the way. Ha Ha! My dad's a Cambuur supporter) and when we were going home I wanted to see the Batavia. My father stopped near a boat and there were people inside having diner with lights, candles and all. At first I was thinking why in the hell are people inside there at this hour. Those lights and candles didn't really look safe to me either on such a precious ship. I was also baffled by how small the ship was. I could have sworn it was bigger. Then I wanted to see how far their progress was with the Zeven Provinciën and when we gotten near it we suddenly saw this big, gigantic ship in the water and we both said "I already thought that other boat wasn't the Batavia". Heh. That small boat looked a bit simular to the Batavia in the dark.

That was truly a stupid and odd moment.

It is a really amazing sight to see! I'm really curious how the Zeven Provinciën will turn out when it's done. I'm sure it will be astonishing.