The Dutch Revolt in the Spanish Theatrical Imagination

The Dutch Revolt and the ensuing Eighty Years’ war (Guerras de Flandes) (1568–1648) is the historical episode that more closely intertwines Spain and the Low Countries. For most Spaniards of the time the causes of the revolt against the legitimate overlord Philips II were difficult to understand, whereas the people of the Low Countries justified their actions with their threatened liberty and religion. The long war in the cold North against the revolting subjects of the King of Spain was to become a fixed element in the lives and imagination of the Spaniards of the early modern period. Theatre, as the mass spectacle par excellence of the time, was an extremely effective channel to convey a wide array of propagandistic and ideological messages, also being one of the mediums where contemporary war conflicts could be most impressively represented. Drama directly presented a war culture that must have been reflected in the collective consciousness. In this way, the Dutch Revolt also conquered a prominent space in the Spanish courtyard theatres. Star playwright Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562–1635), considered to be the true artificer of Spanish national drama, was the first to produce plays that dealt with the war in the Low Countries. Although he has been frequently considered as a defender of the Spanish status quo, Lope de Vega’s plays are nuanced in his showing the opposing motivations of the two parties. They also reveal that Lope was well-informed about the causes and character of the war, namely that it was a conflict of a civil dimension dividing the population of the Low Countries. All Spanish authors of war chronicles stress this aspect in their first accounts of the war. His plays also offer a reflection on the character of the war and its implications for the military and civilians, rendering them particularly valuable. From the streets to the stage, the Dutch Revolt was part of Spanish culture.