I’m Will, a history geek from the United States, and this site—plus accompanying Facebook page—is the result of a strange rabbit hole I’ve fallen into. What began with a love of maps and a passing reference to the “Dutch Revolt” in a book about the American War for Independence has unexpectedly yet inexorably lead me to a wider, deeper interest in the Renaissance-era Low Countries.

For the past several years, I’ve been diving deep into the historical anthropology of this era. This has chiefly been to sate my own ravenous curiosity with a practical application as a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (that remarkable and curious hybrid of historical cosplay meeting living history), where I’m known as Jonkheer Hugo van Harlo.

But as I’ve learned more, I’ve become increasingly convinced these are stories deserving to be told—and better known to English language audiences.

I’m not a professional historian, but I am committed to getting it right—with academic sources (primarily in English as I continue to improve my Dutch), understanding the historiography, and with great respect to the many scholars doing the real work of research.

If you’re not familiar with the Renaissance Netherlands (and most of us aren’t), then the many names of people and places will be confusing and lack context. What even do I mean by Netherlands? The modern country? Well yes, but actually no.

The fact is the Low Countries were a mish-mash of territories, rulers, and cultures through the medieval period. What began in c. 1500 with the Habsburg ambition to unify these disparate lands transformed—quite unexpectedly to all involved—into civil war and a breakaway state as the northern provinces established the Dutch Republic. Through all the political and military turmoil, people went on living their lives—either as refugees or under the threat of war and pillaging. The continued to be art, culture, education—and no small amount of religious turmoil, as well.