The institutionalization of Habsburg-Dutch border controls during the Eighty Years War

Abstract

This article discusses the formation of the Habsburg-Dutch border between roughly 1572 and 1648. The boundary was formed during the Eighty Years War between the Spanish-Habsburg dynasty and the seccesionist Republic of United Provinces, separating the Republic from the remaining Habsburg territories in the Low Countries. The border therefore counts as a remarkable territorial innovation, one that quickly required the institutionalization of all sorts of measures to control the border. Such institutionalization took many different forms during (and after) the War, but three central 'drivers' can be deemed highly important: the need to respond to the enemy accross the frontier, the suggestions from on-site subjects, and discussions with such subjects and other subordinates. The importance of these elements reveals that the institutionalization of the new border was surely not a state-centred or state-sponsored affair, but rather depended on the varied interactions between several actors.

Keywords

• Institutionalization
• borders, border controls, Eighty Years War