Language and Power

„D'acquistare e governare e mantenere gl'imperii sono tre instromenti: la lingua, la spada et il tesoro." (Tomaso Campanella)
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The focus of my thesis lies on the political relevance of the Spanish language in the Netherlands under Philip II, who as king of Castile was as the same time sovereign of the Seventeen Provinces between Thionville and Groningen. The corpus I examined (mainly the correspondence between the courts in Brussels and Madrid) shows that the choice of language was far more frequently determined by political and ideological factors than has hitherto been assumed. As early as 1562, when the trouble between king Philip and the noblemen in the Netherlands entered a new critical stage, Italian and Spanish were introduced by Margareta di Parma in Brussels and the king in Madrid in the form of a „second channel" of communication in which things of higher importance were discussed. With the arrival of the duke of Alba in 1567, the language of this „unofficial correspondence" became entirely Spanish and proved to be an outstanding instrument to undermine the power of the institutions in the Netherlands. Had the noblemen in the Netherlands not opposed the use of Spanish before the Revolt if it suited certain purposes, language now became a strategic tool and Spanish was judged upon as negative for ideological or propagandistic reasons. Especially the upper classes and those Netherlanders living outside the Seventeen Provinces (in exile or for professional reasons) increasingly perceived the Netherlands as a unity and also held their language in higher esteem. The supporters of the Dutch Revolt instrumentalised their own language as a weapon and argument against „Spanish rule". Philip's few plans for Spanish „language planning" such as the creation of a chair for Spanish at the University of Leuven and an exchange programme for students of the Universities of Salamanca and Leuven, were never realised, partly due to financial reasons. One chapter of this work treats with the language policy in Switzerland and France in the 17th and 18th century. In concordance with Tomaso Campanella cited above, the findings of my thesis can be summed up thus: Three instruments are an imperative for statecraft: language, military and money.