Conflicting Words: The Peace Treaty of Münster (1648) and the political culture of the Dutch Republic and the Spanish monarchy

The Peace of Münster, signed between the Catholic Monarchy and the United Provinces in 1648, went against the political culture of both polities. The fact that the Spanish Monarchy definitively accepted the independence of its former subjects clearly negated the policy put forward by the Monarchy during the "eighty" years that the war lasted and to the Monarchy's declared main goals. For the United Provinces, signing a peace with the archenemy without having brought liberty and religious freedom to ten of the seventeen provinces that formed part of the ancient Burgundian circle was also considered by important groups in the "rebel" provinces as a defection. Portraying the political culture of both the Catholic Monarchy and the United Provinces, this work analyses the views held in both territories concerning the points which were discussed in pamphlets and treatises published during the peace negotiations. It also traces the origin of the arguments presented, showing how they were transformed during the period under study, and discusses their influence, or presence, in the diplomatic negotiations among the ambassadors of the United Provinces and the Catholic Monarchy in the German town of Münster. These discussions are inserted in the wider framework of a Christian realm that had to reassess its own values as a consequence of the confessionalisation process and the Thirty Years' War, which affected not only the Empire but, in one way or another, all Central and Western Europe.Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Rebels Confronting rebellion Religion and revolt: The United Provinces The Spanish attitude towards rebellion . ‘No reason to revolt': Privileges and rebellion . Sacrilege and rebellion . Negotiating with rebels in an international setting: From Cologne to Münster Chapter 2. Tyrants Tyranny's two faces and the problem of tyrannicide Fighting usurpers: Defining the tyrant in the Spanish Monarchy . The usurper's unjust rule . Distinguishing between impious tyrants and misguided rulers Defying tyrannical rule in the Low Countries and Catalonia . The tyrant's intolerable behaviour . Trusting the tyrant's word: The Dutch road to Münster Chapter 3. Authority Sources, extension and limits to kingly power in the Spanish Monarchy . The power of kings . The morals of power Refashioning authority in the United Provinces . Defining political authority . The peace negotiations with the Spanish Monarchy as a catalyst for internal strife Chapter 4. Negotiating sovereignty Hispanic attempts at a protectorate over the United Provinces (1628-1632) Relinquishing sovereignty: The Treaty of Munster (1648) . The incomplete Republic . A patrimonial concept of sovereignty Transferring the rights over the Low Countries . Negotiating spiritual sovereignty Monarchia in Ecclesia The Dutch Republic and the problem of spiritual sovereignty 192 Chapter 5. Negotiating religious coexistence and toleration The politics of confessionalization . The Spanish Monarchy and its confessional reason of state . From the ‘Arminian troubles' to William ii's stadholderate: Religious allegiances and politics in the United Provinces Religious tolerance and confessional coexistence . Tolerance as (the lesser) evil . Dutch tolerance and its limits The Dutch Republic and its Catholic subjects: negotiating coexistence in Den Bosch Chapter 6. An invalid conclusion or a peace not meant to last (but which did) Bibliography IndexPublished version of EUI PhD thesis, 200