I. Brussels, Palais des Académies, 20 21 & 22 October 2005 II. Rome, Reale Istituto Neerlandese and Academia Belgica, 17 & 18 November 2005

The conference Alessandro Farnese e le Fiandre / Alexander Farnese and the Low Countries will bring together scholars of different countries who have studied Alexander Farnese and his role in the genesis of modern Europe and of the modern states of Belgium and The Netherlands – the former Burgundian-Habsburg Low Countries – in particular. The first basis was laid, from 1933 to 1937, by the Belgian scholar and academician Léon Van der Essen in his magisterial five-volume study Alexandre Farnèse, prince de Parme, gouverneur general des Pays-Bas 1545-1592, based primarily on the Farnesian archive (Carte farnesiane) in Naples, unfortunately greatly damaged in 1943. In 1950, during a conference at the Academia Belgica di Roma, Van der Essen hailed the duke as a representative of the ‘common glory of Italy and Belgium’, thus signalling the close of a long drawn-out rehabilitation process set in motion centuries before. At his death in 1592, Alessandro Farnese’s image was surely in need of refurbishment: he was unpopular with nobles and officials in the Spanish Low Countries, envied by his contemporaries, and mistrusted by Philip II. The ensuing ‘propaganda offensive’, wagered by his son and heir Ranuccio and by his relatives, was successful: pamphlets, historical works, portraits and other imagery made him into the conditor Belgii admired by Van der Essen. An important symposium organized by the Belgian Historical Institute of Rome almost four hundred years after his death stressed the European dimension of the Farnese’s ambitions; complementary to this, the proposed conference will focus on the importance of the Farnese rule for the history of the Low Countries, within a broader cultural-historical context. The archival foundations of Van der Essen’s research, i.e. the Carte farnesiane and its crucial series Fiandre, are today greatly endangered: although believed to be mostly lost, an important part survives, but in a very fragile state. The conference means to make the international scholarly community aware of this situation and to hopefully set in motion a rescue operation.

Organisators: Hans Cools (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut te Rome); Krista De Jonge (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven); Sebastiaan Derks (Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, Den Haag); Jean-Marie Duvosquel (Académie royale de Belgique/Université Libre de Bruxelles); Sabine Frommel (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, IVe section à la Sorbonne, Paris); Walter Geerts (Director, Academia Belgica di Roma)

Part I - A Prince’s Education. Alessandro Farnese, from Italy to the Low Countries. Brussels, Palais des Académies, 20-22 October 2005

As the only son of Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma and Piacenza, and of Madama, as Margaret of Parma, illegitimate daughter of Charles V, was known in Italy, Alessandro Farnese was a product both of Italy and of the Low Countries: partly educated at the princely courts in Italy, partly at the Brussels court where his marriage to Mary of Portugal took place in 1565. Part I of the symposium will study the education of the young prince from different perspectives: letters, art and architecture; the warrior’s craft, the manners of the courtier, and the savoir-faire of the politician. An important focal point will be offered by the manuscript now at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, which is nowadays seen as an important witness to the prince’s initiation into the field of architectura civilis. This part will also situate the prince’s first experiences in these different domains within the broader European cultural-historical context. His multi-faceted education nevertheless could not save him from the particular pitfalls of life at the Spanish court, between Brussels and Madrid: this problematic will be further examined in Part II.

Welcome – Thursday 20 October 5 pm – 6 pm

Introduction – Thursday 20 October 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm

Alain Lottin, Université d’Artois, Au cœur de l’histoire européenne : Alexandre Farnèse (1545-1592)
Hans Cools & Sebastiaan Derks, Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut, Rome, Instituut Nederlandse Geschiedenis, The Hague, Léon van der Essen, Alexandre Farnèse et la nation belge

Opening reception – Thursday 20 October 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm

I L’uomo universale – Friday 21 October 9.00 am - 1.00 pm Sabine Frommel, Ecole pratique des Hautes-Etudes, IVe section à la Sorbonne, I commentarii di Varie Regole e Dissegni di Architettura Civile e Militare. Le Manuscrit conservé à l’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana, 32.B.14 (Cors. 663) Giuseppe Bertini, Parma, Francesco Luisino: precettore e segretario di Alessandro Farnese Christoph Luitpold Frommel, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Francesco Paciotto, architect to the Farnese

Coffee break 11.15-11.30 am

Bruno Adorni, Parma, Alessandro Farnese e l’architettura militare nei ducati di Parma e di Piacenza (avec résumé en français) Charles van den Heuvel, University Library, Universiteit Leiden, The training of noblemen in the arts and sciences in the Low Countries around 1600. Treatises, didactical material, notebooks and maps

II The Prince’s Image, Part One – Friday 21 October 2.30 pm – 5.45 pm Marzio Dell’Acqua, Archivio di Stato, Parma, La smemorazione del potere: equilibrismi dei Farnese per pubblicizzare i gesti di Alessandro (avec résumé en français) Arno Witte, Universiteit Utrecht, The Farnese ‘Salone’ as a failed memorial to Alessandro Farnese: between individual fame and family politics

Coffee break 16.00-16.15

Diane Bodart, Université de Poitiers, Les visages d’Alexandre Farnèse: de l’héritier du duché de Parme à l’invicible défenseur de la Foi Marcello Fantoni, Georgetown University at Florence, Alessandro Farnese come ‘perfetto capitano’

III The Courtier between Parma, Brussels and Madrid, Part One – Saturday 22 October 9.00 am – 1 pm Krista De Jonge, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Le milieu culturel de la cour de Bruxelles et Alexandre Farnèse Almudena Pérez de Tudela y Gabaldón, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Alejandro Farnesio y su relación con la corte española: creación de una imagen y presentes diplomáticos

Coffee break 10.30 – 10.45 am

Liesbeth Geevers, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlandish aristocracy between the two courts of Brussels and Madrid, 1561-1567 José Eloy Hortal Muñoz, Madrid, Alessandro Farnese y la corte de Felipe II: luchas y facciones cortesanas en las cortes de Madrid y Bruselas entre 1585 y 1592 Bernardo García García, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Parma al servicio de la Monarquía: trayectoria cortesana, gobierno político y experiencia militar

Part II. Serving the King. Alessandro Farnese and the Habsburg Low Countries. Rome, Reale Istituto Neerlandese and Academia Belgica, 17-18 November 2005

Alessandro Farnese, warrior of great renown, was celebrated by contemporary and modern historians alike for his talents as a strategist; his career as a military commander, as a diplomat and as a governor-general peaked with the surrender of the Calvinist republics of Ghent and Antwerp in 1584-1585. During the rebellion of the Low Countries, he was able to win back the southern provinces for the Catholic Church and for the Spanish Crown and thus contributed to the creation of two independent States: the actual kingdoms of Belgium and the Netherlands. This, the accepted image still current in the historiography of the Dutch Revolt, needs to be examined afresh from an interdisciplinary point of view. Following Part I, Part II of the symposium will also address the particular ambitions the Farnese family tried to realize while ostensibly loyal to Spanish Habsburg rule, and the implications thereof for the history of the Low Countries.

Welcome – Thursday 17 November 9 am – 10 am

IV Alessandro Farnese and the Dutch Revolt, Part One – Thursday 17 November 10 am – 12.30 pm Gustaaf Janssens, Archives du Palais royal, Bruxelles/Commission royale d’histoire/Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Les premières épreuves politiques du gouverneur-général Hugo de Schepper, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, La stratégie politique et militaire d’Alexandre Farnèse Henk van Nierop, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Alessandro Farnese and William of Orange

V Alessandro Farnese and the Dutch Revolt, Part Two – Thursday 17 November 2 pm – 4 pm Guido Marnef, Universiteit Antwerpen, Reconquering a rebellious city: Alessandro Farnese and the siege and recatholicization of Antwerp Raymond Fagel, Universiteit Leiden, Alexander Farnese and Francisco Verdugo: the war in the north-east Monique Weis, Université Libre de Bruxelles/FNRS, Alexandre Farnèse, les Allemagnes et la Révolte des Pays-Bas (1578-1592)

Coffee break 4 pm – 4.15 pm

VI Le Guerre delle Fiandre e l’Italia - Thursday 17 November 4.15 pm – 6.15 pm Giampiero Brunelli, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Esercizi di scrittura della nobiltà romana nelle Fiandre. Il Compendio delle principali attioni militari fatte nella Fiandra dal principe Alessandro Farnese, di Tarquinio Capizucchi Angelantonio Spagnoletti, Università di Bari, Le dinastie italiane e le guerre delle Fiandre Pieter Martens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Il ruolo degli ingegneri militari nelle guerre delle Fiandre durante il governo di Alessandro Farnese (1578-1592)

VII The courtier between Brussels and Madrid, Part Two – Friday 18 November 10 am – 12.30 pm Mía Rodríguez-Salgado, The London School of Economics and Political Sciences, A mart of trust: Philip II and Alexander Farnese René Vermeir, Universiteit Gent, Alexandre Farnèse et le Conseil Suprême des Pays-Bas et de Bourgogne à Madrid, 1588-1598 Alicia Estebán Estringana, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, La sucesión de Alejandro Farnesio en los Países Bajos leales. El gobierno del territorio y la gestión de las finanzas militares en la década de 1590

VIII The Prince’s Image, Part Two – Friday 18 November 2 pm – 4 pm Silvia Maria Mantini, Università dell'Aquila, L’aquila in volo: potere imperiale e continuità dinastica da Margherita d’Austria al figlio Alessandro Farnese Roberto Sabbadini, Firenze, I Farnese e le immagini di Alessandro, duca e capitano Violet Soen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Alexander Farnese and the clementia principis. A Reassessment of his ‘Method of Clemency’

Coffee break 4 pm – 4.15 pm

IX Alessandro’s Legacy – Friday 18 November 4.15 pm – 6.15 pm Hans Cools, Reale Istituto Neerlandese a Roma, A Machiavellian prince? – The character of Alessandro Farnese according to contemporary Dutch treatises Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez, Universiteit Utrecht, ¿'En el templo de la Fama'?: El príncipe de Parma en la literatura y la historiografía española del Siglo de Oro Sebastiaan Derks, Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, The Hague, The Carte farnesiane in Naples: histories written and unwritten