Martin Antonio Del Rio. Die Chronik ueber Don Juan de Austria/La cronica sobre don Juan de Austria. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2003. 304 pp. EUR 39.80 (paper), ISBN 978-3-486-56750-2.

Reviewed by Christopher Storrs (University of Dundee)
Published on H-German (July, 2004)

For eighty years successive Spanish monarchs struggled to retain their dominion over the entire Low Countries in what is variously known as the Dutch Revolt or the Eighty Years War. Inevitably, that conflict generated a great deal of interest, even polemic in both the Dutch Republic and Spain. The book under review was in many respects part of the debate in Spain. Its author, Martin del Rio, was born in Antwerp in 1551 of Spanish ancestry. After studying at Paris, Douai and Louvain he obtained his doctorate at Salamanca and was subsequently appointed auditor general (a military lawyer) of the Army of Flanders by his patron, Don Juan of Austria, Philip II's illegitimate half-brother, who was at that time Governor General of the Spanish Low Countries. In 1580, his patron now dead (and replaced by Alessandro Farnese, Prince of Parma, who oversaw the remarkable recovery of the southern Netherlands for Spain), Martin del Rio entered the Society of Jesus (perhaps in order to gain favor with Parma?) and returned to Flanders as a university professor of theology. By 1597 he had moved to Graz, teaching theology there between 1601 and 1603. In 1602 he returned to Spain (to Valladolid), before returning to Flanders, dying in Brussels in 1608.

Del Rio was a prolific reader and writer. Among his many works was a treatise on witchcraft that influenced Philip II's order on witchcraft of 1592--an English translation of which, edited by P.G. Maxwell-Stuart, was published by the University of Manchester Press in 2000. Del Rio, whose friends included Justus Lipsius, was esteemed by such contemporaries as Quevedo but, for Voltaire, was the epitome of the fanaticism and credulity so decried by the Enlightenment. Another of del Rio's publications was his Comentarios de las Alteraciones de los Estados de Flandes sucedidas despues de la llegada del senor don Juan de Austria a ellos, hasta su muerte, a Spanish version of a text originally written in Latin; it was published (under a pseudonym) in Madrid in 1601. It is this work which Miguel Angel Echevarria Bacigalupe has edited and which is under review.

Martin del Rio's book is in five parts, or books. Book 1 sets the scene, describing the Low Countries, and its institutions, before narrating events between the departure of Philip II from Flanders in 1559 to the arrival there of the newly-appointed Governor General, Don Juan, in November 1576. The following books give an account of Don Juan's governorship until his death in 1579, a period marked by some of the most dramatic developments of the Dutch Revolt: the sack of Antwerp (1576), the Perpetual Edict (1577) and so on. At the start of book 1, del Rio declares that he intends not only to give us the facts but to enable us to see the causes of them, which he says is the real fruit to be obtained from history; in addition, he says, referring to his legal background--or rather his experience as an administrator of justice--he will show neither fear nor favor. In some respects, then, Martin del Rio is asserting his claim to be considered a dispassionate historian and not merely a chronicler. In fact, he participated in some of the events he describes and is therefore himself an eye witness. Del Rio also includes in his narrative contemporary materials, for example, some of the correspondence between Philip II and Don Juan.

In fact, of course, del Rio has an agenda, and that includes the defense of the reputation of his patron, Don Juan, the description of whose death is followed by a very positive evaluation (whitewash?) of the erstwhile Governor General. For del Rio, Don Juan was a soldier and man of action, who preferred to act rather than to consult, to waste time in pointless discussion. If there is a villain, it is the Prince of Orange (who accused Don Juan of seeking absolute power). Beside, behind or below this polarity of leading figures, we are shown "rebels" who are inclined to heresy and sexual licence and--on the other hand--Castilians ready to fight and suffer for their king. In some respects, the account reflects del Rio's military background and connections, although some of the insights we might have expected, or hoped for from a (military) auditor (and which might flesh out other accounts of life in the Army of Flanders) are, sadly, lacking.

The editor and his collaborator have provided a very helpful edition of the text of the Spanish edition of 1601, with useful accompanying notes, a very useful appendix of people mentioned and a bibliography. The notes identify, for example, differences between the original Latin and the published Spanish text. However, either in the introduction or the footnotes accompanying the main text, more might have been done to identify the points where del Rio's text touches on a matter of debate--and how reliable he is on the point. Don Juan's governorship is often regarded as a turning point in the Dutch Revolt, his seizure of the fortress of Namur--an admission of his failure to resolve the Revolt (and restore Philip II's authority) by peaceful means--which was followed by the return of the recently departed tercios and the renewal of the armed struggle. Del Rio gives an account of this episode, and there is a hint of the apologetic about it, but it would have been helpful if the editor(s) had noted something about the historiography and significance of the episode. More broadly, this reviewer would have welcomed some attempt to relate Del Rio's work to the changing historiographical image and interpretation of Don Juan, by no means an obscure figure. How, for example, does the picture given by del Rio stand with Bartolome Bennassar's recent study? (There are one or two omissions from the bibliography, for example Torne's study of Don Juan's English ambitions, which had some relevance to his governorship of the Low Countries). However, these are minor criticisms when set against the larger achievement. Miguel Angel Echevarria Bacigalupe and Friedrich Edelmayer are to be congratulated on making available again this very readable and important work of contemporary history written by an engaged member of what we might call the Hispano-Flemish ascendancy, and dealing with one of the defining struggles of early modern Europe.

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Citation: Christopher Storrs. Review of Rio, Martin Antonio Del, Die Chronik ueber Don Juan de Austria/La cronica sobre don Juan de Austria. H-German, H-Net Reviews. July, 2004.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=9571

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