'C'estoit comme songe et mocquerie de parler de pardon.' Obstructie bij een pacificatiemaatregel (1566-1567)

Abstract

‘C’estoit comme songe et mocquerie de parler de pardon.’ Blocking a peace initiative (1566-1567)

After the Compromise of the Nobles and a spurt of iconoclasm in 1566, a general pardon — a collective amnesty — was repeatedly proposed as a strategy to pacify the Low Countries and reaffirm royal power. This article describes how and why the suggestion to issue a general pardon provoked policymakers in Brussels and Madrid to place major obstacles in its path, even though the collective amnesty was in fact drawn up as a salutary measure. Alternate reactions from key players such as Philip II, Margarita de Parma, the Duke of Alba and Cardinal Granvelle actually corresponded to well-defined patterns and conceptions of issuing a pardon.