History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the

Motley, John Lothrop, 1814-1877Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.1

Word count: 118K words
Chapters: 12

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Author: Motley, John Lothrop, 1814-1877. Language: English. Class: DH: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg. Release Date: Jan 1, 2004

Editor's review

This volume continues Motley's narrative of the history of the Dutch Republic around its founding, beginning with the turning point of the assassination of William the Silent and showing how the cause of independence advanced with difficulty amid military pressure and internal strife. Motley's writing has a pronounced moral-narrative cast, with vivid characters and dramatically rendered scenes, suited to readers who want to enter sixteenth-century European politics through narrative. At the same time, as a public-domain electronic text, it offers a sample of how the nineteenth-century English-speaking world wrote about "freedom against tyranny." Its value lies not only in historical facts but in how the historian organizes materials and evaluates figures. Because the narrative threads are numerous, it is advisable to use it alongside maps, chronologies, and related general histories, treating it as thematic reading on a particular phase rather than as the only introductory book.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History enthusiasts who want an in-depth look at the key turning points of the Dutch Revolt
Literary or history readers studying the narrative style of nineteenth-century English historiography
Learners who need public-domain English historical sources for textual analysis or translation practice
Readers interested in early modern European military and diplomatic history

Not a good fit for

Rigorous researchers expecting contemporary scholarly annotation, bibliographies, and source criticism
General readers who want a single-volume history of the Netherlands and are unwilling to follow a multi-volume narrative
Readers impatient with long English sentences and nineteenth-century rhetoric

Reading tips

Read it as one segment of a multi-volume history: first confirm the starting and ending dates, then connect it with the preceding and following volumes.
Keep notes on characters' allegiances and cities' affiliations while reading to reduce confusion from multiple narrative threads.
When encountering long speeches or letters, skim first to grasp the main idea, then return to examine the rhetoric closely.
After finishing, evaluate Motley's narrative stance in a paragraph, practicing the distinction between historical facts and the historian's judgments.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does it overlap with the previous volume?

Both volumes begin with the death of William the Silent, and their titles and descriptions are highly similar; they may be different volumes of the same work or different electronic text versions. It is advisable to check the volume number, file size, and chapter starting points before deciding whether to read both.

Can I read it directly without a historical background?

You can, but it is easy to lose direction in the multi-threaded narrative. It is advisable first to understand the basic background of the sixteenth-century Netherlands and Spanish rule, and to prepare a chronology and maps; the reading experience will be much smoother.

What are the characteristics of this book's view of history?

Motley belongs to the nineteenth-century English historiographical tradition, and his narrative has a clear framework of freedom versus tyranny, with rather sharp praise and blame. Readers may appreciate its narrative tension while noting its value judgments and selection of materials; it should not be taken as a neutral overview.

Is the electronic edition suitable for printing and reading?

Public-domain electronic texts are usually long, and whether to print depends on personal habit. If printing, it is advisable to divide it by chapter and attach maps and a chronology for easy reference; if reading on screen, use the search function to locate names and places.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Motley, John Lothrop, 1814-1877 Author

John Lothrop Motley (1814–1877) was an American historian and diplomat, known for his historical works on Dutch independence and the Dutch Revolt. His major work, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, narrates in detail how the Dutch provinces threw off Spanish rule and established a republican government, combining rigorous scholarship with a strong narrative drive. His History of the United Netherlands continues the account of political and military developments from the death of William the Silent to the end of the sixteenth century. The collection here contains 103 of his works, mostly different volumes and editions of these general histories. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted; his works show a respect for primary sources and a talent for portraying major historical turning points, and they have had a lasting influence on the study of Dutch history in the English-speaking world.