Ambrosius Bosschaert
(bapt. Antwerp, 18 Nov. 1573; d The Hague, 1621).Flemish flower and still-life painter, active mainly in the Netherlands (he is recorded in Middelburg from 1593 to 1613 and afterwards worked mainly ...
Amsterdam
City in the county of Holland. A small town that only developed into a real city during the 13th and 14th centuries from a Frisian peat settlement. Gradually, a port ...
Antonio Pérez
(1540–1611)Spanish statesman, autobiographer, and letter-writer, the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pérez, a priest who became secretary to Charles V and Philip II. Antonio was educated in Alcalá de ...
Arminianism
The doctrine of James Arminius or Harmensen (d. 1609), a Dutch Protestant theologian whose views were opposed to those of Calvin, especially on predestination.
Augustus I
(1526–86),Elector of Saxony, was born in Freiberg on 31 July 1526, the younger son of Heinrich, duke of Saxony, a member of the Albertine branch of the Wettin family. ...
Bernardino de Mendoza
(c.1540–1604),Spanish diplomat, soldier, and writer on warfare who travelled in the entourage of the duke of Alba to Italy and Flanders in 1567. In 1578 he was appointed ambassador ...
Brussels
The capital of Belgium and of the Belgian province of Brabant; the headquarters of the European Commission is located there.
Celio Malespini
(1531–c.1609),Venetian condottiere and translator who served as a soldier in the Spanish army in the Netherlands during the Revolt of the Netherlands and later fought in Italy. He translated ...
Charles IX
(1550–74),King of France, was the second son of King Henri II and Catherine de Médicis; before his accession he was known as duke of Orléans. In 1560, aged 10 ...
Compromise of Breda
A petition submitted on 5 April 1566 to Margaret of Parma, the Habsburg regent of the Netherlands, by a group of Dutch noblemen and civic officials. The petition objected to ...
Council of Blood
(1567–8),A tribunal, officially known as the ‘Council of Troubles’, established by the duke of Alba with a view to quelling the Revolt of the Netherlands. The seven-man tribunal, which ...
Count of Nassau Louis
(1538–74),Dutch leader in the Revolt of the Netherlands, the son of William of Nassau and the younger brother of William of Orange. He was raised in the Lutheran faith ...
Count of Nassau Maurice
(1567–1625),Stadtholder of the United Provinces and (from 1618) prince of Orange, was the second son of William of Orange, the grandson (through his mother) of Maurice of Saxony, and ...
Duke of Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo
(c. 1507–82)Spanish statesman and general. He rose to prominence in the armies of Emperor Charles V. A stickler for discipline and a master of logistics, he contributed significantly to the defeat of ...
Dutch art
Painting and graphic art produced from the early 15th century to the present day in the seven Dutch northern provinces of the Netherlands. These seven provinces were Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, ...
Dutch East India Company
A chartered company established (1602) under the aegis of Prince Maurice of Nassau to coordinate the activities of companies competing for trade in the East Indies and to act as an arm of the Dutch ...
Dutch Literature
The courtly poets of the Netherlands in the Middle Ages first began to adapt Italian models when Dirk Potter van der Loo (c.1365–1428), a secretary at the court of the ...
Filips van Montmorency Horn, Graaf van
(c. 1524–68)Flemish soldier and statesman. He had a long record of distinguished service to both Emperor Charles V and Philip II of Spain but, as a member of the regency council in the Netherlands ...
Flanders
A region in the south-western part of the Low Countries, now divided between Belgium (where it forms the provinces of East and West Flanders), France, and the Netherlands. It was a powerful medieval ...
Flemish art
Painting, graphic art, and sculpture produced in an area similar in size to that of modern Belgium and Luxembourg, formerly known as the Southern Netherlands. Flemish art assumed a major ...
