The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 17: 1570-72

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

Rating 4.2

Word count: 85K words
Chapters: 9

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.The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 17: 1570-72 by John Lothrop MotleyAuthor: 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 from the previous one, covering 1570–1572, a phase in Motley's The Rise of the Dutch Republic in which the conflict intensifies further. As a nineteenth-century work of historical narrative, its strength lies in scene-setting and character portrayal: the author weaves political maneuvering, religious confrontation, and military action into a coherent story, giving readers a clear impression of how the Dutch revolt unfolded. The free text digitized by Project Gutenberg also makes this once widely read work easily accessible again. It should be noted that Motley's narrative is strongly partisan, with the selection of material serving his moral framework, and it cannot replace modern scholarship. A suitable approach is to read this volume alongside the adjacent volumes of the same work, while remaining alert to the author's rhetoric, treating it both as history and as a text for observing how the nineteenth-century English-speaking world imagined national freedom.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read the earlier volumes of the work and wish to follow the narrative further
Enthusiasts interested in early modern European religious and political conflict
Students in the humanities concerned with the rhetoric and narrative traditions of historical writing

Not a good fit for

Rigorous researchers expecting modern scholarly annotation and source criticism
Readers who want a single introductory book and are unwilling to enter a multi-volume system
Beginners who find nineteenth-century English long sentences difficult

Reading tips

Read in sequence with the previous volume, noting the continuity of the situation and of characters' positions between 1570 and 1572.
Keep pen and paper ready to sort out the main figures and factional relationships, avoiding confusion of threads in a multi-volume narrative.
When you encounter clearly approving or disapproving statements by the author, pause for a moment to consider their basis and possible opposing perspectives.
After finishing, compare the relevant chapters of a modern general history to see where emphases differ.

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 this volume overlap much with the previous one?

The volumes are divided by date; this volume covers 1570–1572 and adjoins rather than overlaps the previous period. Since historical narrative requires explaining antecedents, the opening may briefly review the earlier situation, but the main content is a new period. Reading continuously helps maintain a coherent understanding of people and events; if reading out of sequence, it is advisable first to grasp the situation at the end of the previous volume before entering this one.

Why is it said that it cannot replace modern research works?

Motley's work was written in the nineteenth century, and its source base, annotation standards, and framing of questions differ from contemporary scholarship; the narrative carries strong moral judgments and partisan leanings. It can help readers understand the narrative thread of the Dutch revolt and the tradition of English-language historiography, but specific facts, figures, and causal explanations should be based on modern research with references. Reading the two side by side balances readability and accuracy.

What if the original English is hard to read?

You can first use the search and translation tools of the electronic text to handle long sentences and unfamiliar words, and divide the reading into sections by chapter, reading only a small section at a time. When names of people and places are dense, build a simple reference table before continuing. If it is still difficult, read a general history of the Netherlands in Chinese first to establish a framework, then return to this volume to appreciate the tone and structure of the original narrative; the reading burden will be noticeably lighter.

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.