Spanish Netherlands
| Spanish Netherlands | ||||||||||
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Spaanse Nederlanden Pays-Bas espagnols Países Bajos Españoles |
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Province of the Spanish Empire States of the Holy Roman Empire |
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Motto Plus Ultra "Further Beyond" |
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 Spanish Netherlands (grey) in 1700
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| Capital | Brussels | |||||||||
| Languages | Dutch, French, Latin, Spanish | |||||||||
| Religion | Catholic, Protestant | |||||||||
| Government | Governorate | |||||||||
| Governor | ||||||||||
| • | 1581–1592 | Alexander Farnese (first) | ||||||||
| • | 1692–1706 | Maximilian Emanuel (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern | |||||||||
| • | Act of Abjuration | 26 July 1581 | ||||||||
| • | War of the Reunions | 1683–1684 | ||||||||
| • | Truce of Ratisbon | 15 August 1684 | ||||||||
| • | Nine Years' War | 1688–1697 | ||||||||
| • | War of Succession | 1701–1714 | ||||||||
| • | Treaty of Rastatt | 7 March 1714 | ||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||
| • | 1700 est. | 1,794,000 | ||||||||
| Currency | Gulden | |||||||||
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Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden); French: Pays-Bas espagnols) was the collective name of States of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, held in personal union by the Spanish Crown (also called Habsburg Spain) from 1581 to 1714. This region comprised most of modern Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as parts of northern France and western Germany. The capital was Brussels.
The Imperial fiefs of the former Burgundian Netherlands had been inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg from the extinct House of Valois-Burgundy upon the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482. The Seventeen Provinces formed the core of the Habsburg Netherlands which passed to the Spanish Habsburgs upon the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1556. When part of the Netherlands separated to form the autonomous Dutch Republic in 1581, the remainder of the area stayed under Spanish rule until the War of the Spanish Succession.
A common administration of the Netherlandish fiefs, centred in the Duchy of Brabant, already existed under the rule of the Burgundian duke Philip the Good with the implementation of a stadtholder and the first convocation of the States General of the Netherlands in 1437. His granddaughter Mary had confirmed a number of privileges to the States by the Great Privilege signed in 1477. After the government takeover by her husband Archduke Maximilian I of Austria, the States insisted on their privileges, culminating in a Hook rebellion in Holland and Flemish revolts. Maximilian prevailed with the support of Duke Albert III of Saxony and his son Philip the Handsome could assume the rule over the Habsburg Netherlands in 1493.
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