Provincias Unidas - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:37:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Provincias Unidas - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 The Spears or the Surrender of Breda (1625) https://historylab.es/the-spears-or-the-surrender-of-breda-1625/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-spears-or-the-surrender-of-breda-1625 Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/las-lanzas-o-la-rendicion-de-breda-1625/ War conflicts in the Spanish Monarchy. The image shows the painting by Velázquez, entitled "The Spears", or "The Surrender of Breda", executed around 1635.

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]]> From the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the Netherlands fought for independence from Spain in a long war, known as the Flanders War or the Eighty Years’ War. In 1590, the city of Breda, important for its strategic position to launch new offensives, was taken by the Dutch, and between 1609 and 1621 enjoyed a truce that expired when Philip IV ascended to the Spanish throne, who resumed the war and the clashes with the United Provinces of the North. To captain the expedition to Breda and lead the Flanders Thirds, the monarch appointed the Genoese aristocrat Ambrosio de Spinola, who would be in charge of fighting the Dutch with 40,000 men. Breda, which was defended by Justin de Nassau of the House of Orange, was besieged in 1625 so that it could not receive supplies and ammunition. The troops garrisoning the city finally surrendered on 5 June 1625, with the Spanish generals decreeing that the defeated were to be treated with respect and dignity. This treatment is depicted in the play, where it can be seen how the enemy is treated with chivalry. In the foreground we see how the victorious general receives, almost affectionately, the key from the defeated enemy.

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