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Inquisition of the Netherlands is terse and would benefit from more citations. Google scholar shows some potential sources.
Creating a strong page will be difficult. Historians skirt the subject. Wikipedia pages:
In summary, related Wikipedia pages and multiple books manage to avoid a direct discussion of the Inquisition of the Netherlands. I suspect (conjecture!) that few records are available. The Dutch Inquisition plausibly contributed to the Dutch Revolt, to the Eighty Years' War and then to the Thirty Years' War, one of the bloodiest wars in European history. It should be of great interest.
A bit of reading about the Dutch Revolt suggests that record keeping may not have been a priority. "Heresy was Alba's central interest. His Council of Troubles - with a staff of 170 researchers, prosecutors, and soldiers/executioners - got to work. According to Dutch sources, by its end the Council of Troubles put eighteen thousand Dutch men and women to death. Other tallies have it closer to nine thousand. Alba's own head count was twelve thousand. But killing via the formal proceedings of the Council were only a fraction of the total." Amsterdam, Shorto, 2013, 9780385534574, p 74 Armies marched. Towns (of 2000) surrendered. Every inhabitant was killed. The town was then burnt. Was the Council of Troubles part of the Inquisition? Alba arrived after the Inquisition ended?
Causes of the Dutch Revolt is more informative. It mentions the Dutch Inquisition with some statistics (and sources). "Between 1523 and 1566, more than 1,300 people were executed as heretics, far more relative to the overall population than, for instance, in France." This implies to me that the Dutch Inquisition was relatively influential in Dutch history. "A total of about 9,000 people were eventually convicted by the council, though only 1,000 were actually executed, as many managed to go into exile." So, maybe 1 (in Causes) to 18 (Shorto's highest number) thousand people were executed by the Council of Troubles? A lot of uncertainty.
Council of Troubles has some statistics for that tribunal alone. It says that records were lost, but some duplicates exist "in Spanish archives".
The subject of this article seems important, but finding sources may be challenging. Sources are not consistent, even in basic definitions. Histories of the Netherlands mention the Inquisition. Histories of Inquisitions neglect the Netherlands. Wikipedia policies regarding original research will complicate editing. One of the minor complications in any search for information is the lack of a standard name for the region that would eventually become Belgium and the Netherlands - Amsterdam, Antwerp, Belgium, Burgundy, Dutch, Flanders, Netherlands... Zeeland. 104.173.68.20 ( talk) 19:47, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
What I (as a reader) would like is a page that summarizes the books on the subject. Unfortunately I cannot find even chapters or papers on the subject.
Plausible outline (from Spanish Inquisition)
"The Antwerp courts between 1557 and 1562 executed 103 dissidents. More heretics died in this one northern city in five years than in the whole of Spain in the entire sixteenth century. Overall, in the Habsburg Netherlands at least 1,300 persons were executed for heresy between 1523 and 1566." Kamen, 2014, p 377 CONFIRM QUOTE BEFORE PUBLISHING. (These figures are quoted by Kamen from recent publications.)
Much is made of the difference between Inquisitions without explicitly stating what the differences were. The Spanish Inquisition was particularly feared. Given that Inquisitions were secretive organizations, did the public know the difference? Do we?
The article should be as clear as possible on who, what, when, where and why. I doubt that history supplies those answers. Is there a list of Inquisitor Generals? Do any of them have biographies? Do any of the heretics have names? Were there any lesser punishments than death? Were executions public spectacles? Were there any crimes other than Protestantism? If we cannot supply the facts, can we at least say what information is available? 104.173.68.20 ( talk) 20:14, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
Please feel free to alter this page in any way you see fit; I'm currently waiting 'til I have more time to do so myself. Personally I believe the topic to be of great import and interest, and I have not found any degree of the material contained here in the other articles you mention. I think that saying that the Netherlands Inquisition was merely a part and parcel of that of Spain is somewhat inaccurate; although it was partially run by Spaniards, the different temperaments of the nations in question meant that the methods were utterly at variance - while there were but few anti-Catholics in Spain, the moiety of the Dutch population was heretic. At one point, Pope Pius issued a bull wherein the life of every man and woman in the Netherlands was declared forfeit - and the rigour with which this was put into effect was quite extraordinary. Such is hardly covered under the purely Spanish topic.
This is only offered as a raison d'être for my page; thanks for your input anyway.
Le Sanglier des Ardennes ( talk) 04:48, 9 August 2015 (UTC)
Historians have reached a consensus that there was no Spanish Inquisition in The Netherlands. They only ever had jurisdiction in Spain. Mentions of the Spanish Inquisition in historical sources are based on rumors or were made for propaganda purposes. The Spanish Inquisition kept records and none are to be found about activities in The Netherlands.
I used most of the sources cited under References on the talk page for my dissertation and they don't mention any actual activities of the Spanish Inquisition in The Netherlands. Only the perception of the Spanish Inquisition or rumors about it.
Historical revision of the Inquisition - The Revolt of the Netherlands
That Wikipedia page does mention a "Dutch Inquisition" but that doesn't seem to have existed either. As far as I remember, the persecution of heretics was done by the state and its representatives. The local inquisition, being an institution under the Catholic Church, in the Netherlands was mainly focused on censorship.
This article was nominated for deletion on 6 December 2019. The result of the discussion was keep. |
This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Inquisition of the Netherlands is terse and would benefit from more citations. Google scholar shows some potential sources.
Creating a strong page will be difficult. Historians skirt the subject. Wikipedia pages:
In summary, related Wikipedia pages and multiple books manage to avoid a direct discussion of the Inquisition of the Netherlands. I suspect (conjecture!) that few records are available. The Dutch Inquisition plausibly contributed to the Dutch Revolt, to the Eighty Years' War and then to the Thirty Years' War, one of the bloodiest wars in European history. It should be of great interest.
A bit of reading about the Dutch Revolt suggests that record keeping may not have been a priority. "Heresy was Alba's central interest. His Council of Troubles - with a staff of 170 researchers, prosecutors, and soldiers/executioners - got to work. According to Dutch sources, by its end the Council of Troubles put eighteen thousand Dutch men and women to death. Other tallies have it closer to nine thousand. Alba's own head count was twelve thousand. But killing via the formal proceedings of the Council were only a fraction of the total." Amsterdam, Shorto, 2013, 9780385534574, p 74 Armies marched. Towns (of 2000) surrendered. Every inhabitant was killed. The town was then burnt. Was the Council of Troubles part of the Inquisition? Alba arrived after the Inquisition ended?
Causes of the Dutch Revolt is more informative. It mentions the Dutch Inquisition with some statistics (and sources). "Between 1523 and 1566, more than 1,300 people were executed as heretics, far more relative to the overall population than, for instance, in France." This implies to me that the Dutch Inquisition was relatively influential in Dutch history. "A total of about 9,000 people were eventually convicted by the council, though only 1,000 were actually executed, as many managed to go into exile." So, maybe 1 (in Causes) to 18 (Shorto's highest number) thousand people were executed by the Council of Troubles? A lot of uncertainty.
Council of Troubles has some statistics for that tribunal alone. It says that records were lost, but some duplicates exist "in Spanish archives".
The subject of this article seems important, but finding sources may be challenging. Sources are not consistent, even in basic definitions. Histories of the Netherlands mention the Inquisition. Histories of Inquisitions neglect the Netherlands. Wikipedia policies regarding original research will complicate editing. One of the minor complications in any search for information is the lack of a standard name for the region that would eventually become Belgium and the Netherlands - Amsterdam, Antwerp, Belgium, Burgundy, Dutch, Flanders, Netherlands... Zeeland. 104.173.68.20 ( talk) 19:47, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
What I (as a reader) would like is a page that summarizes the books on the subject. Unfortunately I cannot find even chapters or papers on the subject.
Plausible outline (from Spanish Inquisition)
"The Antwerp courts between 1557 and 1562 executed 103 dissidents. More heretics died in this one northern city in five years than in the whole of Spain in the entire sixteenth century. Overall, in the Habsburg Netherlands at least 1,300 persons were executed for heresy between 1523 and 1566." Kamen, 2014, p 377 CONFIRM QUOTE BEFORE PUBLISHING. (These figures are quoted by Kamen from recent publications.)
Much is made of the difference between Inquisitions without explicitly stating what the differences were. The Spanish Inquisition was particularly feared. Given that Inquisitions were secretive organizations, did the public know the difference? Do we?
The article should be as clear as possible on who, what, when, where and why. I doubt that history supplies those answers. Is there a list of Inquisitor Generals? Do any of them have biographies? Do any of the heretics have names? Were there any lesser punishments than death? Were executions public spectacles? Were there any crimes other than Protestantism? If we cannot supply the facts, can we at least say what information is available? 104.173.68.20 ( talk) 20:14, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
Please feel free to alter this page in any way you see fit; I'm currently waiting 'til I have more time to do so myself. Personally I believe the topic to be of great import and interest, and I have not found any degree of the material contained here in the other articles you mention. I think that saying that the Netherlands Inquisition was merely a part and parcel of that of Spain is somewhat inaccurate; although it was partially run by Spaniards, the different temperaments of the nations in question meant that the methods were utterly at variance - while there were but few anti-Catholics in Spain, the moiety of the Dutch population was heretic. At one point, Pope Pius issued a bull wherein the life of every man and woman in the Netherlands was declared forfeit - and the rigour with which this was put into effect was quite extraordinary. Such is hardly covered under the purely Spanish topic.
This is only offered as a raison d'être for my page; thanks for your input anyway.
Le Sanglier des Ardennes ( talk) 04:48, 9 August 2015 (UTC)
Historians have reached a consensus that there was no Spanish Inquisition in The Netherlands. They only ever had jurisdiction in Spain. Mentions of the Spanish Inquisition in historical sources are based on rumors or were made for propaganda purposes. The Spanish Inquisition kept records and none are to be found about activities in The Netherlands.
I used most of the sources cited under References on the talk page for my dissertation and they don't mention any actual activities of the Spanish Inquisition in The Netherlands. Only the perception of the Spanish Inquisition or rumors about it.
Historical revision of the Inquisition - The Revolt of the Netherlands
That Wikipedia page does mention a "Dutch Inquisition" but that doesn't seem to have existed either. As far as I remember, the persecution of heretics was done by the state and its representatives. The local inquisition, being an institution under the Catholic Church, in the Netherlands was mainly focused on censorship.