ABSTRACT
Habsburg princes emulated the dynastic piety by participating in public acts of devotion and extending their patronage to religious foundations. Dynasty and piety were considered the key values guiding the quintessential Habsburg ruler. Archdukes Albert was the very embodiment of the political culture. The very concept of dynastic political culture implied that other polities played by other rules. Albert was in no position to dictate policies to the Spanish monarchy, but he could provoke Madrid to come to terms with the - often inconvenient-realities prevailing in the Low Countries and the surrounding regions. Albert led the way in an exercise of damage limitation, resulting in a partition between claimants and religions that would remain in place until the end of the eighteenth century. Albert the ruler and the political regime that he embodied decidedly deserve a different appraisal in the historiography of the Dutch Revolt and of the decline of Habsburg hegemony in Europe.
