ABSTRACT
To the student of religious repression the ‘Inquisition’ in the Habsburg Netherlands presents a paradox, for its notoriety seems scarcely justified by either the extent of its activities or by its comparatively brief existence. Certainly the Inquisition properly so-called, the apostolic inquisition, which operated fitfully in the Low Countries and which faded from the scene some time before 1576 cannot bear comparison with the powerful inquisitorial bodies that developed in the Spanish monarchy, Portugal or the Roman Inquisition. Yet between 1559 and the first stirrings of the Dutch Revolt in 1566, many Netherlanders allowed themselves to be convinced that plans were afoot to establish an Inquisition on Spanish lines and that such a body threatened to subvert the ancient constitution and reduce the inhabitants to slavery. Though this paper will concentrate on the workings of the inquisition properly so-called, it will also attempt to explore the early stages in this process of myth-making.
