Habsburg Communication in the Dutch Revolt (Amsterdam University Press - Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age)

This study takes a unique approach to the Dutch Revolt (1567-1609) by focusing on the largely untold story of the Habsburg regime and its local supporters in the Low Countries. The author takes a holistic approach and examines a variety of print and non-print—written, oral, and theatrical—media in order to discover how the regime made use of the different communication channels available. In addition, available sources have been used to document ordinary people’s responses to the conflict and the various messages they encountered in the public sphere. The result sheds new light on the Habsburg regime’s approach to communication and opinion-forming, while also providing a useful corrective to our understanding of rebel propaganda.