“Heroes and villains”: Habsburg Supremacy over the Ottomans in Triumphal Celebrations in the Spanish Netherlands

When the siege of Vienna in 1683 by the Ottoman Turks ended with a victory for the armies of Emperor Leopold I (1653-1705; member of the Habsburg’s Austrian branch) and his allies, the news was announced in the Spanish ruled Southern Netherlands (today: Belgium) through prints and public celebrations. For many years Charles II king of Spain (1661-1700, last of the Habsburg’s Spanish branch) had been losing his control over events in the Southern Netherlands: the land was impoverished by the war against the French king Louis XIV (1643-1715) and was economically in ruins. On top of this the Catholic Church in the Southern Netherlands, one of the most ardent supporters of the Spanish monarch, also had to tighten its purse strings because of the economic crisis and was divided because of the Jansenist conflict. Remarkable public celebrations picturing the victories on the Ottomans, like the ommeganck (‘Festive parade’) in Antwerp of 8 September 1685 or the Triumphale pompa (‘Triumphal pomp’) of 1686 in Brussels, were widely supported by the urban and religious elites of the Southern Netherlands. Triumphal arches and theatrical cars accompanied with music and dances displayed the victorious Roman emperor and the Spanish monarch together, pretending the Spanish Habsburgs were still in full power. ...http://www.donjuanarchiv.at/fileadmin/DJA/Veranstaltungen/Symposia/Symposia2011/Symposium%20Ottoman%20Empire%20%26%20European%20Theatre%202011.pdfstatus: publishe