A musical intermezzo

On this joyful 30th April 2013 some musical entertainment from the early modern period.

One is called 'Marlbrough ne revient pas', and written after the battle of Malplaquet of September 1709. It tells how Sarah Churchill is told that her husband found his death on the fields of Malplaquet.

Le roi et mort, vive le roi: The funeral march for Louis XIV.

And finally, William Croft's ode for the peace of Utrecht, now 200 years ago.

(Please ignore any commercials)

Treaty of Utrecht 300 years

Today is a bit of a special day. Today, 300 years ago on 11 April 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed between several of the belligerents of the War of the Spanish Succession and saw an end to the conflict that started in 1701. See the Wiki for some more information.

Though one of the few quality newspapers in the Netherlands, NRC Handelsblad, devotes an article on the Treaty of Utrecht, they miss at least one very crucial point: how did they manage to remove any mention in the article of the Dutch Republic as one of the main, not to say most important, opponents of France? Is this simply lack of the journalist's understanding of history, or that deep ingrained believe in the peaceful past of the Dutch?

It is a bit like writing about the Yalta Conference, and omitting the United States as one of the participants ....

Comics on the Peace of Utrecht

Some time ago a Dutch website devoted to the Peace of Utrecht was discussed on this blog. Apparently, a series of comics on this peace treaty, and the preceding war, is made by various artists. Several sample pages can be found at the following url:
http://www.vredevanutrecht2013.nl/Home/Over/Vrede-van-Utrecht-Stript.aspx
It is nice to see such attention to this important event in European history.

The text is in Dutch only, but I think that the drawings are clear enough.The text, and coverage of historical events, seem to suffer a bit from oversimplification (only judging from these few sample pages). Somehow Germany existed already in 1700 and, there is the suggestion that the war was between France and German, with England and the Dutch Republic helping Germany.
But fair enough, it is not an Osprey publication :-)

Treaty of Utrecht 1713

Last week, on April 11th, it was 298 years ago that the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, marking the official end of the War of Spanish Succession. The treaty provided in the division of the Spanish empire between the Habsburg and Bourbon contestants, England gained some new possessions like Gibraltar and Newfoundland, and the United Provinces were happy enough with the right to garrison several towns in the Austrian Netherlands (formerly Spanish), the so-called barrier towns.

The war between France and the Holy Roman Empire would continue for an extra year, however. This war was ended by signing of the treaty of Rastatt and the treaty of Baden.

Apparently, this event will be given a lot of attention in Utrecht in 2013: Vrede van Utrecht in 2013. Looking at that website it looks more like a cultural event and somehow the organiser came up with the "Utrecht principles".

It is hard to find a reference to the War of the Spanish Succession, and it is a pity that the organisers did not put more effort in the historical context. Now it is presented as if the Treaty of Utrecht

brought an end to a series of devastating wars that had claimed many millions of lives over a period of almost two centuries. This was the first time that peace had been achieved through diplomacy and dialogue.

(quoted from the website)

In my opinion the historical knowledge of the organisers is insufficient, certainly given the very immodest and pretentious presentation on the events in 2013. Possibly it is simply another excuse to organise a festival, and are they using some hollow sounding, but easily accepted, phrases to attract a large audience and give it some self-importance and self-justification.