Give up Flanders? The dilemma of separating or preserving the Low Countries during the first half of Philip II’s reign (1555/6-1579)

Abstract

The possibility of separating the Low Countries from the rest of the estates inherited by Philip II was taken into consideration to counteract the Dutch Revolt. The separation could take shape through a dynastic marriage arranged by the two branches of the House of Habsburg and endowed with those territories. Members of the Imperial (and minor) branch of the dynasty expressed explicit ambitions over the Seventeen Provinces during this conflictive context. But they were not the only ones. Other dynastic relatives no less ambitious than the Habsburgs of Vienna shared the logic that the Revolt offered an opportunity to achieve this heritage through the formal endowment of Philip II. This article analyses the pressures that the Spanish monarch received from the Court of France, the Imperial Court and the Papacy to carry out the separation of the Burgundian Legacy from the Spanish inheritance in the form of a dowry for one of his daughters, Isabella or Catherine, during the 1570’s.