About this episode

This episode explores the complexities of the war over the title of Duke of Guelders and its impact on the political landscape of the Low Countries in the early 16th century.

During the first decade of the 16th century, one of the primary concerns for the towns, cities and ducal governments of the Low Countries was the war the Habsburgs were waging with Charles of Egmont over the title of Duke of Guelders. The war in Guelders complicated the already convoluted political structure that had developed across the Low Countries over the course of the previous half century. In this episode, we’re going to focus on Guelders again, but this time to see how the war was intimately entangled in a web of relationships between the different layers of nobility, both domestic and foreign, and how the interests of the Habsburg dynasty often clashed with the interests of the people who lived within their domains. When Philip the Handsome sailed away to Spain, Charles of Egmont seized the opportunity to restart the war, meaning the defence of the Habsburg lands was left to the man Philip had put in charge in his absence, his Stadhouder General, Guillame de Croy, the Lord of Chievres. Philip’s premature death would completely rearrange the pieces on the chess board as the Low Countries were once again plunged into a succession crisis. There was one giant mess left…

Topics covered

• 16th century history
• Habsburgs
• Duke of Guelders
• nobility
• political structure
• war
• succession crisis

Keywords

• Habsburgs
• Charles of Egmont
• Guelders
• Margaret of Austria
• political crisis
• nobility
• war
• succession

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Habsburg dynasty

Places: Low Countries

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