Les Casseurs de l’ été 1566: L’ iconoclasme dans le Nord, by Solange Deyon and Alain LottinLille, citadelle de la Contre-Réforme, 1598–1668, by Alain Lottin

Abstract

Alain Lottin’s important works on the Reformations in the French-speaking Low Countries have been reissued by Septentrion. The texts remain the same as those of the second editions, but the bibliographies of both monographs have been augmented with recent works and there are more illustrations in the new volumes. Although Lottin’s works are now classic studies, as they have not been reviewed in this journal before an overview is provided here. Les Casseurs de l’été 1566, first published in 1982, is a study of the widespread and intense movement of iconoclasm which occurred in the Low Countries between 1566 and 1567, with particular reference to the French-speaking regions of Flanders, Hainault, Lille and Douai. As with the provinces to the north, in the summer of 1566, Protestants in the Nord region ‘cleansed’ churches and abbeys of images and Catholic worship, installing reformed ministers and services instead. Their successes were short lived; Philip II determined to quash the rebellion. After some indecision on the part of the regent, Margaret of Austria, a peace of sorts was created locally by magistrates and governors, enhanced by the arrival of the Duke of Alba and his troops. But Alba punished the Netherlands harshly and executed many participants, including the loyal Counts of Egmont and Horn. The repression solved nothing, led to further revolt and the ultimate secession of the United Provinces. In the first half of the book, the origins and events of the southern movement and its suppression are described in colourful detail. In the second half, the causes of the iconoclastic outburst are assessed. The rise of Protestantism, and particularly its Calvinist version; contemporary attitudes of the Reformed and of Catholics to images; the economic circumstances of the mid-1560s, with high food prices and difficulties in the textile industries; the religious policies of Philip II in the Netherlands; the role of the nobility; the sociology of the ‘altar breakers’; all are analysed in detail.