Struggling sovereignty. Workshop on the Spanish Netherlands in the Late Seventeenth Century

The aim of the workshop on 29th and 30th September in Paderborn is to reassess the quality of the Spanish Netherlands as a state in the late 17th century and to gain new insights into early modern state formation processes. The workshop is organised by the chair for Flemish history in collaboration with the Belgienzentrum of the University of Paderborn.

Attending the Workshop

Everyone is welcome to take part in this workshop and the discussions. Anyone wishing to take part is asked to contact Yves Huybrechts (yves.huybrechts@uni-paderborn.de) until August 31st, 2025.

The workshop's program can be found below.

29^th September 2025 

Morning Session 

09:00. Registration and coffee 

09:30. Greetings on behalf of the Historical Institute and the Belgienzentrum of the University

(Prof. Dr. Johannes Süßmann)

09:45. Opening speech and organizational remarks 

(Yves Huybrechts, University of Paderborn) 

10:15. The Spanish Low Countries and the resilience of a polycentric imperial structure of urban republics (1648-1701) 

(Manuel Herrero Sánchez, Pablo de Olavide University of Seville) 

11:00. “Cur si Circulus est non nominetur?” The Habsburg Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Westphalia (1648-1664) 

(Aurélien Destain, University of Luxembourg & Université Haute-Alsace) 

11:45. General discussion 

12:15. Lunch break 

Afternoon session 

13:00. Expansionist policy and legal legitimation strategies of Louis XIV in the War of Devolution. The Spanish Netherlands in the political conception of the Sun King in the 1660s

(Guido Braun, Université Haute-Alsace CRESAT)

13:45. Former enemies, new allies: Spain, the Habsburg Netherlands, and the Republic against France, 1648-1659 

(René Vermeir, Ghent University) 

14:30. General discussion

15:00. Coffee break

15:15. ‘Tot secourse ende verlossynghe van dese provintie’ The role of the Estates of Flanders in the defence of the country against the French invasions, 1650-1700.

(Brent Lievens, Ghent University)

16:00. Luxembourg in the face of French Justice, 1684-1698 

(Jonathan Stuart Keogh, University of Luxembourg)  

16:45. General discussion 

18:00. Dinner for Speakers

30th September 2025 

Morning sessions 

09:00. The Troubled Decade. The III prince of Ligne, Flemish Elite and the governors of the Low Countries (1659-1668) 

(Laura Perona Guillén, University of Castilla-La Mancha) 

09:45. The Subversive Subcourt: The Political Role of the Court of Brussels in the 17th Century 

(Dries Raeymaekers, Radboud University Nijmegen) 

10:30. General discussion

11:00. Coffee break

11:15. Public provision in difficult times: grain policies in the Spanish Netherlands in the second half of the 17th century

(Hiram Kümper, University of Mannheim)

12:00. General discussion

12:15. Lunch break

Afternoon session 

13:15. The Governor and the President. A Court Agency between Brussels and Madrid, 1683-1685

(Roberto Quirós Rosado, Autonomous University of Madrid)

14:00. Kowtowing to the Dutch or a sign of active policy making? The 1681 reform of the customs tariffs under governor Farnese

(Yves Huybrechts, University of Paderborn)

14:45. General discussion 

15:15. Coffee break 

15:45. Final conclusions and future projects 

16:15. Remarks on publication opportunities 

Struggling Sovereignty. Workshop on the Spanish Netherlands in the Late Seventeenth Century

What is the state of historical research regarding the political, institutional and economic history of the Spanish Netherlands in the second half of the Seventeenth Century? What do we know about how they faced a general context of frequent wars, rapidly changing borders and alliances, as well as scientific curiosity and colonial expansion? The possessions of the Spanish Habsburgs in the Southern Low Countries, roughly corresponding to today's Belgium and Luxembourg (without Liège), the so-called Spanish Netherlands, lay at a strategic crossroads between the maritime powers, France and the Germanic lands. Its urban density, many navigable rivers, productive agricultural sector and relatively high industrial output made them a target over which Europe quarrelled. Many questions of grand strategy, especially revolving around French hegemony, pivoted on the question of who controlled the Spanish Netherlands. Simultaneously, this area was gripped by the perception of general crisis – in particular economically – as well as being neglected by the Spanish monarch. Yet, in current debates on the struggles of the time, the Spanish Netherlands are often treated as the mere object of larger interests and powers, not as an autonomous subject. How this “state” actively responded to the challenges and whether it at all qualified as a state, or rather as a mere dependency of Spain, is seldomly asked. This workshop aims to shed light on the active part of these Netherlands in the many dilemmas they faced economically, militarily and financially. How did they survive in the battlefield of struggling sovereignty?

This workshop serves to create a network between ongoing research, as well as discuss and reappraise the position as a central part of Europe between 1650 and 1700. While the idea of the Spanish Monarchy as being caught in “decadencia” in the last decades of the seventeenth century has been thoroughly revised by Spanish historians, the position and fate of the Low Country possessions still leaves much to be investigated. The old ideas of this area being reduced to a miserable fate, of suffering from a succession of unfit governors that made urgently needed reforms impossible or even blocked the state formation process can, persist because research has largely neglected the period before the Anjou regime or the advent of Austrian rule.

This is regrettable, since particularly this period is considered to have been decisive for the birth of the modern state and the European state system. A more concentrated look on the role of the Spanish Netherlands themselves as a state would therefore provide exciting new insights/questions of statehood, state policies (e.g. regarding the economy), state formation, sovereignty as well as rivalries between European states are overarching themes of the workshop but we welcome papers on all subjects in some way related to the history of the Spanish Netherlands in the Late Seventeenth Century.

Possible Subjects

1. The role of state agents at the "central" and local level;
2. Diplomatic efforts and means of diplomacy of the governors-general;
3. The organisation of the Spanish-Netherlands' defences against French aggression
4. Territorial policy, e.g. the offering of parts of the territory in return for support;
5. Conflicts between the Spanish central institutions and the Brussels court over finances, military, economy, etc.
6. The interference of neighbouring powers in the Spanish Netherlands;
7. Attempts to reorganise governmental structures as well as the economy;
8. The informal networks of the higher nobility in the Spanish Netherlands;
9. The influence of juridical treatises and pamphlets on questions concerning the position of the Spanish Netherlands;
10. The role of the changing governors and their personal networks and expertise.

Other proposals are more than welcome!

We look forward to receiving your paper proposals. Kindly send them to yves.huybrechts@uni-paderborn.de until March 31st, 2025. Proposals should contain no more than 300 words and be accompanied by a short CV.