When the treaty of Montils-lez-Tours was signed on October 30, 1489, “peace” was formally arranged between the French, the Habsburg ducal government under Albert of Saxony in the Low Countries and the rebelling cities of Flanders. Despite this, Philip of Cleves and Albert of Saxony seem to have read the treaty in very different ways and could not agree with each other about what it actually meant. Also, Bruges and Ghent, still the two most powerful Flemish cities, were not quite ready to accept the peace either, meaning instead of a peace, the situation in Flanders could better be described as a stalemate. Albert of Saxony would try his best to fix the economy of Flanders, whilst Philip of Cleves, ensconced firmly within the town of Sluis, would do his best to wreck it, living every kid’s dream and becoming a pirate. This continuing unrest in Flanders would directly lead to an outburst of violence in Holland, where finally, after 150 years of on-again off-again conflict, the Hook and Cod wars would come to an end.

Read More

We take a look at the growth and development of spirituality and religion in the Low Countries. From pagan tribalism to the rise and dominance of Catholicism, the arrival and growth of Judaism and Islam and their long term impacts in the Low Countries, the whirlwind of the reformation, and the institution of a Calvinist doctrine in the north and a continued Catholic tradition in the south. We will finish by looking at the state of religiosity and spiritualism in the Low Countries today. So say your prayers, folks, because if we are going to successfully tackle a topic as huge and potentially filled with controversy as this in without offending, well, everybody, it’s going to take an indomitably non-denominational miracle.

Read More

In this episode of The Low Countries Radio, we are going to delve into some of the sports that have developed in, or been adopted by and grown in, Belgium and the Netherlands.

We will hear about people who listen intently to birds in little boxes while they keep track of their calls on a big long stick, others who jump over canals using a big long stick, as well as a bunch of people skating the famous Elfstedentocht and smashing a very hard ball across a field using their hands.

So saddle up, wait for the starting gun...on your mark. Ready... set...go!

Read More

By the summer of 1485, Maximilian of Habsburg had quashed the first major revolt against his rule and regained control over Flanders, in the name of his young son Philip. He then set off for Germany to become King of the Romans, leaving the administration of his realms in the hands of an interim government. When he returned to the Low Countries in the middle of 1486, Maximilian decided that the best thing to do would be to drain the purses of his subjects, again, and go on a campaign against France. This failed miserably, once again inciting rebellious intent, particularly in Ghent and Bruges. Trying to keep control over the estates, Maximilian called for the States General to assemble in Bruges in early 1488. However, when he arrived prior to this and tried to get his mercenary soldiers into the city, the workers guilds rose up against him, locked the gates and made the new King of the Romans an involuntary guest in Bruges.

Read More

The Low Countries have long held mystery and intrigue for people around the world. Over thousands of years, innumerable myths and legends have sprung out of this small corner of Europe, while many more have been created by bemused foreigners looking in from the outside.

Why do the Japanese love a dog from Flanders? Why do Americans admire a Dutch boy who stuck his finger in a dyke? Why are there so many swans in Bruges? Why were cats thrown off the belfry in Ypres? And why is 'The Flying Dutchman' a scary phenomenon?

Read More

After being forced to sign the Treaty of Arras in late 1482, Maximilian of Habsburg found his authority in Flanders challenged by a group of powerful nobles and patrician merchants from the big cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres. Using their social, economic and political clout, as well as the physical possession of Maximilian’s children, an alternative government was set up in Flanders in the form of a regency council, allied to the French king. But when Louis XI died in 1483, and the rest of the Low Countries decided they preferred Maximilian to the Flemish, the course was, once again, set for full scale revolt, open warfare and Flemish cities fighting against the man who claimed the right to rule them. Welcome back to your favourite podcast, the History of Flemish revolts.

Read More

The Low Countries have long been a metaphorical petri dish of social and technological advancements in Europe. As such, the list of Dutch and Flemish inventions, innovations and discoveries is long and broad-reaching indeed. In this episode, we intend on doing an exploration of our own into the history of some of the intellectual leaps which sprang forth from this soggy corner of Europe and spread far and wide across the globe. Since there is such a vast array of things to choose from, we decided that we would need some kind of framing device to help give this story a bit of order. Just rattling off a long list of names, objects, or scientific theorems would not make for a very compelling narrative. And creating a top 5 or top 10 list would be a bit too ‘Buzzfeed’ for our tastes. So instead, we have decided to shuffle completely out of the box and turn to one of the greatest TV shows of the 1990s, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, to help us structure the stories of Low Country inventions and discoveries because, well, why not? So let's delve into the wonderful world of inventions and discoveries in the Low Countries, looking at some world-changing innovations through the categories of...Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart!

Read More

After the death of Mary of Burgundy in March 1482, the Low Countries were thrust into a period of turmoil the likes of which they had not seen for around... five whole years. The reigning sovereign was dead and her heir, Philip, was not even four years old. In Flanders, the estates and particularly the city of Ghent, successfully set a course of obstruction against Maximilian, defying his attempts to hold the regency for his young son and stopping him from continuing waging war against France. Because of this, Maximilian was backed into a corner and forced to sign the embarrassing Treaty of Arras with the French king Louis XI in late 1482. One of the consequences of this was that Louis withdrew the support he had been giving to destabilising elements across the Burgundian realm. Although the defiance of Flanders had thwarted Maximilian’s plans against France, stopping the war also allowed him to put more energy into negating the prickly thorns of defiance that had risen in Liege and Utrecht. Within this context, the two most powerful bishops in the Low Countries would face some difficult between 1482 and 1483. One of them would be stabbed in the face and his body dumped in a river, while the other would find himself being taken prisoner and hauled off in a fertiliser cart to Amersfoort, literally sitting in a pile of poo.

Read More

Upon marrying Mary of Burgundy in August 1477, the first thing Maximilian of Habsburg had to do was focus on stopping the French invasion of the Burgundian territories. This was, after all, the main reason why their union had been accepted by the various power bases of the Low Countries, most notably the States General. War requires money, of course, and Maximilian didn’t really have any. Due to the constraints of the Great Privilege, he was limited in what options he had to get some, so his first recourse was to do what Flemish counts and Burgundian dukes had done forever and demand cash from the Flemish estates, which he did almost immediately after getting hitched. At first they were happy to cooperate, but when he attempted to roll back the rights gained by the Great Privilege, discontent grew and Maximilian found himself exposed to the ire of, you’ll never guess where, Ghent. The conflict with France dragged on and Maximilian found himself embroiled in factional squabbling and uprisings closer to home in Guelders, Holland and Utrecht, as well as within the court. All of this meant that, when Mary of Burgundy unexpectedly died in March, 1482, conditions inside the pressure cooker which was the Low Countries were once again primed to blow the lid right off.

Read More

The eruption of violence across the Low Countries in March and April of 1477 led to Mary of Burgundy effectively being in the custody of the city of Ghent. Although the rebellious citizens of Ghent had taken lethal retribution for what they saw as the crimes of the previous administration, they had done nothing to solve the most pressing issue facing the Low Countries. This was, en fait, the marauding French army. Despite the signing of the Great Privilege, in the chaos of the invasion and uprisings, some territories, such as Guelders and Liège, proclaimed independence, some had alternative suggestions for succession and it seemed a real possibility that all of the Low Countries might just be eaten up by Louis XI. Everybody knew that it was necessary to get the much-harried Duchess Mary married, but the question was - to whom? Louis XI had offered up his son the dauphin, Charles the Bold and the Emperor had already arranged her betrothal to Maximilian of Habsburg and now the emboldened city of Ghent decided to throw another name in the mix - Adolph, the once again Duke of the once again independent Guelders. But in the end, after much correspondence with Margaret of York and an extremely slow journey down the Rhine, it was to Maximilian of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, that Mary was eventually married on the 19th of August, 1477. It was an event which would intimately bind the Low Countries to one of Europe’s most long-lasting dynasties.

Read More

The Dutch language and its extended influence can be found on every continent. In this special, we explore where the Dutch language came from and look at how the history of migration into the Low Countries impacted its development. On top of that, we take a look at how the Dutch language has not only shaped other languages, but also, through colonialism, has imprinted itself into the cultural and geographical landscapes of the world. That’s right, in this episode of The Low Countries Radio you are going to listen to an Australian do his best to explain Dutch. Geweldig!

Read More

Charles the Bold’s death at the beginning of 1477 set off a political tsunami which crashed over the Low Countries, like a rising tide from the North Sea, sweeping away the old structures and drowning those too slow to react. Unlike today, where information is transmitted around the world at nearly the speed of light, in 1477 it took awhile for the news to break and for the reality of the situation to be revealed to all parties. For those in the Low Countries, they were like the people you see in a grainy holiday film, standing on a tropical beach, looking out at the horizon as the water recedes far beyond where it normally goes, looking at the fishing boats beached on the sand, scratching their heads thinking, “this is weird, what’s happening?”, all-the-while being completely unaware of the devastating wave that was barrelling towards them, already too late to escape from the destruction it would bring. That devastation would include imminent attack by France, popular revolts in numerous cities, the forced acceptance of a whole new constitution for the Burgundian state and the beheadings of two of the most powerful people in the Burgundian governing apparatus.

Read More

As Charles the Bold spent the final years of his life campaigning, two women became integral parts of Burgundian society and politics - his daughter, Mary of Burgundy, and his wife, Margaret of York. Mary, whose mother Isabella of Bourbon died when she was young, is often portrayed as little more than a pawn in her father’s machinations. Those machinations sent him to an icy demise when Mary was just nineteen years old, however, and she was thrust into the centre of the political upheavals which rocked the Low Countries. But Mary did not face this turmoil alone, because in 1468 her father had married Margaret of York, an English princess who directly linked the political tumult of England during the War of the Roses, with that of Burgundy. These two, step-mother and step-daughter, formed a particular bond which they would need to rely on after Charles’ death in order to protect the Burgundian state from the threats it faced. In this episode we are going to rewind-in-time a little and explore the lives, characters, connections and actions of Mary of Burgundy and Margaret of York before Charles the Bold’s death.

Read More

Why do the Dutch hang school bags on flagpoles, place giant blow-up dolls on their front lawn and have clocks without numbers in their pubs? And why do the Flemings celebrate newborns by eating ‘poop beans’? In this podcast, we are delving into some of the unique and peculiar customs, social norms and rituals of Flanders and the Netherlands and see the different ways in which these traditions have evolved over time. We follow the trajectory of traditions a typical life would encounter, from the cradle to the grave.

Read More

Earlier this year, the Chief Chocolate Officer of Tony's Chocolonely, Henk Jan Beltman, was arrested for spray painting a Black Lives Matter slogan next to a statue of one of the most notorious Dutch colonial figures, Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The statue stands on the corner of the Beurs van Berlage, an iconic building in the centre of Amsterdam, and one in which Tony's Chocolonely have set up shop today. When speaking to the media after being released without charge, Beltman said "Jan Pieterzoon Coen was one of the largest slave traders in our history, which must be indicated with such a statue. We cannot rewrite history and I am normally not fond of graffiti, but with this action I hope to keep the social debate going.” To this end, Tony's approached us and asked us to create a podcast for their staff which would help them better understand the historic connections Amsterdam has with both the chocolate industry and the slave trade. Amsterdam is a city which has been involved in the cocoa trade and chocolate production almost since the bean’s first introduction into Europe. It is in Amsterdam that the history of modern economics, slavery and chocolate intersect.

Read More

The final two years of Charles the Bold’s life would see him achieve one of his life’s ambitions, uniting his northern and southern domains as one continuous territory, before suffering a hattrick of defeats at the hands of the Swiss, which would leave him unrecognisably dead, naked and half-eaten in a frozen pool of water. Having come to peace terms with the Emperor when abandoning the siege of Neuss in mid-1475, Charles turned his attention to his plans with Edward IV of England to jointly conquer France. Louis XI successfully bribed Edward, however, foiling this plan. Charles instead decided to go and crush those who had crossed him by conquering Lorraine and getting his grip on Savoy, from which he could invade Switzerland. This was a great idea in theory, but his own infamous lack of mercy provoked a stronger-than-expected unity amongst his enemies, which compounded the financial problems he was facing after years of constant military campaigns. Defeats at Grandson, Murten and finally Nancy, saw the past glories of the House of Valois-Burgundy reversed and, as he was presciently warned by one of his advisors before crushing Liege, returned to a dream. Perhaps a more accurate description, though, is that they were thrust into a nightmare.

Read More

After being rebuffed in his royal ambitions at Trier in 1473, Charles the Bold became embroiled in a series of power struggles with neighbouring imperial lands during the final years of his life. In Upper Alsace, which the Duke of Austria, Sigismund, had mortgaged to him, Charles installed a man named Peter von Hagenbach as his bailiff, whose tyrannical tendencies united a coalition of Swiss and Alsatian towns which teamed up with Sigismund, forming an anti-Burgundian alliance called the League of Constance. This coalition set about rejecting and ejecting the Burgundians from Upper Alsace. Basically, conditions conspired to continuously concern Charles and the League of Constance would contemptuously constrain his constant compulsions for control over consecutively connected constituencies. He also declared himself protector of Cologne, which was in revolt against its prince-bishop, and set about laying siege to the rebellious town of Neuss. All of this so worried important sectors of the imperial nobility that war was declared on the Duke of Burgundy by the Emperor. Charles found himself faced with enemies on all fronts and after almost a year of laying siege to Neuss, was forced to abandon it without success. His finances were in tatters and his prestige was diminished, but still, Charles had high hopes that he could turn his fortunes around.

Read More

Charles the Bold inherited from his predecessors a lust for territorial expansion. When an old conflict in Guelders reared its head in 1468, Charles put himself in position to intervene there in much the way he had in Liège. Not just satisfied with this, he also sent a strongly worded letter to the power-brokers of Friesland, suggesting that they should think about accepting him, the Count of Holland, as their rightful ruler. Aaah, remember the days of haughty princes threatening Frisians with subjugation? Well, they’re back! By 1473 Charles’ army was in Guelders and threatening Friesland. Now, more regions of the Low Countries would be exposed to the process of Burgundian centralisation, which Charles ramped up by establishing the Parlement of Mechelen. Charles had become so powerful that he had started making eyes at not only a royal title, but an imperial one. In Triers in late 1473 Charles went to meet the emperor and, to all onlookers, it was pretty clear that he was going to leave this meeting with a crown on his head. Spoiler alert: he wouldn’t.

Read More

At the beginning of 1468, after having crushed a second uprising in Liège in the space of two years, Charles the Bold set about the all-important task of figuring out who he was going to marry. At the same time, he was once again being dragged into affairs in France as petulant nobles there began once more to grumble about his nemesis, French king, Louis XI. Although Charles and Louis’ enmity stretched back to before either of them had taken the reigns of power, it had become focused on the region of the Somme towns, which Charles’ father had remarkably ceded to Louis before his death, but which Charles had re-taken possession of in the treaty of Conflans. While preparing to go to war against France, Liège erupted once more into revolt. A papal legate named Onofrio de Santa Croce was sent to Liège in order to try to find a peaceful resolution to this on-going social unrest, and although he did a remarkable job in trying to find a pathway through the murkiness, in the end he was unsuccessful. On October 30, 1468, Charles the Bold, accompanied by a no doubt unhappy French King, Louis XI, would begin a final sack of Liège which would see the city burn for 7 weeks.

Read More