The VOC is back! Three and a half months after Commander Pelsaert abandoned everybody to a life a brutality and thirst, finally those who have managed to survived may just be rescued. But who of the mutineers and the defenders will be able to tell their story first? How will the VOC react to the utter madness that has taken place on these islands? This episode tackles all this and more.

In the history of European military aggression in Australia, this is where it all began. Of the people that remain alive following the doomed voyage of the Batavia, not to mention the shipwreck and then the genocide that followed, they now have to face a civil war.

Upper Merchant Francisco Pelsaert, Captain Arjen Jacobsz and about 40 other people are sailing in a longboat north along the immense coast of Het Zuidland. They're on a rescue mission to the fort at Batavia, 3000kms north of where the ship Batavia has sunk at Houtman's Abrolhos. Unfortunately, they won't be able to rescue as many people as they would like, because Jeronimus Cornelisz is about to go on a rampage of murder, sex slavery, and pretty much every other horrible thing you can think of. Batavia's Graveyard, July 1629, is one of those places in history that you would never, ever want to find yourself.

As all hell breaks loose aboard the sinking ship Batavia, saving the lives of crew and passengers aboard may not be the most important priority. In this episode, we look at how authority handles the most unique and unprecedented circumstances, stuck on a craggy island with little hope for rescue and even less hope for a cup of water.

It should be fairly smooth sailing from here on for the Batavia... Were it not for the small matters of a brewing mutiny amidst the crew, divisions and distractions amongst the leaders of the ship and the impending doom that lays ahead, unbeknownst to them all, they may stand a chance... (they don't stand a chance.)

In the true Dutch mercantile spirit of trade and exchange, after having History of the Netherlands featured on History Daily, today we have handed over the wheel to Lindsay Graham to steer the ship for this episode. History Daily runs a tight ship, each episode being around 20 minutes long meaning they’re easy to digest while you are cycling from a windmill to the local clog factory, gazing at rolling clumps of beautiful sphagnum and nibbling away on some cheese. In fact they’re so easily digestible that we’ve ordered two rounds which we think generally fit the vibe of History of the Netherlands. The first episode you will hear is the story of the Antwerp Diamond Heist which happened on the 16th of February, 2003. This is an incredible yarn, fantastically told, that we think you will love. The second episode will be harkening way, way back to March 24, 1603; a date, which, for those following our podcast’s chronology, is actually still far, far into the future. This story is about the death of the English queen Elizabeth I. She will become an incredibly important figure in the shaping of the History of the Netherlands during its most tumultuous period, the late 16th century, even being formally offered sovereignty over the United Provinces after the assassination of William the Silent. Errr..spoiler alert..?

Life on board a ship in the 1600s was no joyous experience. In this episode, we look at what the crew, soldiers and passengers aboard the Batavia went through, as they made their way from the United Provinces to their first scheduled stop at the Cape of Good Hope: the southern tip of Africa.

In an age when traditional European feudalism was breaking down, the United Provinces of the Netherlands chartered the world's first corporation. The VOC would become a major authority for thousands of people, all around the world. In this episode we explore why and how the company came into existence, and what that meant for those who were (un)lucky enough to have anything to do with it.

In October, 1628, a merchant ship called Batavia set sail from the Dutch republic bound for an island on the other side of the world called Java. She was the flagship of a fleet of vessels being sent by the richest corporation to ever exist and, along with extremely precious cargo, carried 341 men and women, including captain, sailors, soldiers, passengers, merchants, a minister and his family. Her voyage would end, however, on a jagged reef near a tiny set of islands off the Western Australian coast, and in the weeks that followed 110 men, women and children would be brutally murdered by a gang of bloodthirsty mutineers led by a psychopath who believed he could do no wrong since God himself inspired all his actions. In this first episode we take a look at the situation in the Netherlands and Amsterdam in the 1500s and early 1600s. With a focus on the sensory elements that are so often forgotten in the telling of history, we explore the world in which the rebellion on the Batavia took place; and discover what conditions existed that would foster such an unfathomable story as this one.

The final years of Philip of Cleves’ rebellion in Flanders saw the most famously fractious of Flemish cities, Ghent, flare into open revolt against Habsburg rule once again and rejoin the fight alongside him. Although Philip’s war against the ducal regime would ultimately come to an end in October, 1492, this last period of the conflict is made extra-complicated not only because of the interpersonal relationship between Philip and Maximilian, nor because of the ongoing conflict between the powerful cities and the ducal court, not to mention the economic woes brought on by decades of warfare, trade disruptions and the mass exodus of the citizenry from probably the most important trading centre of the Low Countries, Bruges, but also because of a succession struggle which was contemporaneously being waged between Maximilian and Charles VIII of France in the Duchy of Brittany. And since this distant, dynastic dance would have all sorts of repercussions for the more local goings on in the Low Countries, it makes sense to get it out of the way. So first, to Brittany!

The weariness that comes from decades of instability, war, economic turmoil and hardship really began to exact its toll on the Low Countries in the early 1490s. The last of the Hook uprisings had been quashed in Holland, but there was no stability anywhere, especially as the last flames of the wider Flemish revolt still flickered in Ghent, Bruges and Sluis. Albert of Saxony and Engelbert of Nassau, ruling in place of the now absent Maximilian, were faced with the fearsome obstinacy of Philip of Cleves and, with the seas blockaded, people across the region were underfed and unable to work. In the summer and autumn of 1490, this would result in the desperate lower classes of Bruges erupting into violence against the ducal regime once more, whereas in far-north Holland a large group of very angry, very broke and very hungry farmers, workers and servants decided that enough was enough, and refused to pay the taxes that the ducal government was demanding so that they could keep paying for it all. Welcome to History of the Netherlands. Today, everyone is starving and everything is revolting.

When the treaty of Montils-lez-Tours was signed on October 30, 1489, “peace” was formally arranged between the French, the Habsburg ducal government under Albert of Saxony in the Low Countries and the rebelling cities of Flanders. Despite this, Philip of Cleves and Albert of Saxony seem to have read the treaty in very different ways and could not agree with each other about what it actually meant. Also, Bruges and Ghent, still the two most powerful Flemish cities, were not quite ready to accept the peace either, meaning instead of a peace, the situation in Flanders could better be described as a stalemate. Albert of Saxony would try his best to fix the economy of Flanders, whilst Philip of Cleves, ensconced firmly within the town of Sluis, would do his best to wreck it, living every kid’s dream and becoming a pirate. This continuing unrest in Flanders would directly lead to an outburst of violence in Holland, where finally, after 150 years of on-again off-again conflict, the Hook and Cod wars would come to an end.

In this episode of the Low Countries Radio, we are going to take a look at the growth and development of spirituality and religion in the Low Countries. From pagan tribalism to the rise and dominance of Catholicism, the arrival and growth of Judaism and Islam and their long term impacts in the Low Countries, the whirlwind of the reformation, and the institution of a Calvinist doctrine in the north and a continued Catholic tradition in the south. We will finish by looking at the state of religiosity and spiritualism in the Low Countries today. So say your prayers, folks, because if we are going to successfully tackle a topic as huge and potentially filled with controversy as this in without offending, well, everybody, it’s going to take an indomitably non-denominational miracle.

On May 16, 1488, Maximilian of Habsburg secured his release after more than three months of involuntary isolation in Bruges when he agreed to the so-called “Peace of Bruges”. In this treaty, he was essentially forced by the rebellious cities of Flanders to agree to a bunch of terms and conditions which stripped him of sovereignty over that territory. All by his own free will, of course. Hostages were taken by Bruges in exchange for Maximilian to make sure that he stayed true to his word. These included, most importantly, Philip of Cleves, who made a great, solemn and public oath, in which he swore to defend the Flemish cities against anybody who would break the peace, meaning, Maximilian. Well, within two weeks, this peace had been broken, and Philip of Cleves found himself leading an army of aggrieved Flems against an equally aggrieved imperial army. After a string of initial successes, including withstanding a siege by the imperial army at Ghent and Maximilian’s departure from the Low Countries to go and deal with problems in Austria, things were looking up for the Flemish. But, in July 1489, some shrewd international politicking, saw Maximilian definitively cut the Flemish off from the succour of their most important ally, Charles VIII, the King of France. The Flemish and Philip of Cleves, would be left to withstand the wrath of the empire, together alone while Maximilian would finish up his direct rule of the realm in much the same manner as it had begun, in utter turmoil.

In this episode of The Low Countries Radio, we are going to delve into some of the sports that have developed in or been adopted and grown in Belgium and the Netherlands. We will hear about people who listen intently to birds in little boxes while they keep track of their calls on a big long stick, others who jump over canals using a big long stick, as well as a bunch of people skating the famous Elfstedentocht and smashing a very hard ball across a field using their hands. So saddle up, wait for the starting gun...on your mark. Ready... set...go!

By the summer of 1485, Maximilian of Habsburg had quashed the first major revolt against his rule and regained control over Flanders, in the name of his young son Philip. He then set off for Germany to become King of the Romans, leaving the administration of his realms in the hands of an interim government. When he returned to the Low Countries in the middle of 1486, Maximilian decided that the best thing to do would be to drain the purses of his subjects, again, and go on a campaign against France. This failed miserably, once again inciting rebellious intent, particularly in Ghent and Bruges. Trying to keep control over the estates, Maximilian called for the States General to assemble in Bruges in early 1488. However, when he arrived prior to this and tried to get his mercenary soldiers into the city, the workers guilds rose up against him, locked the gates and made the new King of the Romans an involuntary guest in Bruges.

The Low Countries have long held mystery and intrigue for people around the world. Over thousands of years, innumerable myths and legends have sprung out of this small corner of Europe, while many more have been created by bemused foreigners looking in from outside. There is a unique quality to this busy, little, misty swampland that has long allowed imaginations to run wild and fantasy to be embraced in the forms of stories, songs, jokes and activities. In this episode of the Low Countries Radio, we are going to explore some of the folk tales from the Low Countries. As such, we will encounter giants, magical horses, elven knights and, yes, even a boy putting his finger in a dyke to prevent a flood. So let’s go live in fantasy and wind our way through the deep, dark forest where myths and legends lay, lurking in the shadows, waiting for us.

The Low Countries have long been a metaphorical petri dish of social and technological advancements in Europe. As such, the list of Dutch and Flemish inventions, innovations and discoveries is long and broad-reaching indeed. In this episode, we intend on doing an exploration of our own into the history of some of the intellectual leaps which sprang forth from this soggy corner of Europe and spread far and wide across the globe. Since there is such a vast array of things to choose from, we decided that we would need some kind of framing device to help give this story a bit of order. Just rattling off a long list of names, objects, or scientific theorems would not make for a very compelling narrative. And creating a top 5 or top 10 list would be a bit too ‘Buzzfeed’ for our tastes. So instead, we have decided to shuffle completely out of the box and turn to one of the greatest TV shows of the 1990s, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, to help us structure the stories of Low Country inventions and discoveries because, well, why not? So let's delve into the wonderful world of inventions and discoveries in the Low Countries, looking at some world-changing innovations through the categories of...Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart!

After the death of Mary of Burgundy in March 1482, the Low Countries were thrust into a period of turmoil the likes of which they had not seen for around... five whole years. The reigning sovereign was dead and her heir, Philip, was not even four years old. In Flanders, the estates and particularly the city of Ghent, successfully set a course of obstruction against Maximilian, defying his attempts to hold the regency for his young son and stopping him from continuing waging war against France. Because of this, Maximilian was backed into a corner and forced to sign the embarrassing Treaty of Arras with the French king Louis XI in late 1482. One of the consequences of this was that Louis withdrew the support he had been giving to destabilising elements across the Burgundian realm. Although the defiance of Flanders had thwarted Maximilian’s plans against France, stopping the war also allowed him to put more energy into negating the prickly thorns of defiance that had risen in Liege and Utrecht. Within this context, the two most powerful bishops in the Low Countries would face some difficult between 1482 and 1483. One of them would be stabbed in the face and his body dumped in a river, while the other would find himself being taken prisoner and hauled off in a fertiliser cart to Amersfoort, literally sitting in a pile of poo.

Upon marrying Mary of Burgundy in August 1477, the first thing Maximilian of Habsburg had to do was focus on stopping the French invasion of the Burgundian territories. This was, after all, the main reason why their union had been accepted by the various power bases of the Low Countries, most notably the States General. War requires money, of course, and Maximilian didn’t really have any. Due to the constraints of the Great Privilege, he was limited in what options he had to get some, so his first recourse was to do what Flemish counts and Burgundian dukes had done forever and demand cash from the Flemish estates, which he did almost immediately after getting hitched. At first they were happy to cooperate, but when he attempted to roll back the rights gained by the Great Privilege, discontent grew and Maximilian found himself exposed to the ire of, you’ll never guess where, Ghent. The conflict with France dragged on and Maximilian found himself embroiled in factional squabbling and uprisings closer to home in Guelders, Holland and Utrecht, as well as within the court. All of this meant that, when Mary of Burgundy unexpectedly died in March, 1482, conditions inside the pressure cooker which was the Low Countries were once again primed to blow the lid right off.

The eruption of violence across the Low Countries in March and April of 1477 led to Mary of Burgundy effectively being in the custody of the city of Ghent. Although the rebellious citizens of Ghent had taken lethal retribution for what they saw as the crimes of the previous administration, they had done nothing to solve the most pressing issue facing the Low Countries. This was, en fait, the marauding French army. Despite the signing of the Great Privilege, in the chaos of the invasion and uprisings, some territories, such as Guelders and Liège, proclaimed independence, some had alternative suggestions for succession and it seemed a real possibility that all of the Low Countries might just be eaten up by Louis XI. Everybody knew that it was necessary to get the much-harried Duchess Mary married, but the question was - to whom? Louis XI had offered up his son the dauphin, Charles the Bold and the Emperor had already arranged her betrothal to Maximilian of Habsburg and now the emboldened city of Ghent decided to throw another name in the mix - Adolph, the once again Duke of the once again independent Guelders. But in the end, after much correspondence with Margaret of York and an extremely slow journey down the Rhine, it was to Maximilian of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, that Mary was eventually married on the 19th of August, 1477. It was an event which would intimately bind the Low Countries to one of Europe’s most long-lasting dynasties.

The Dutch language and its extended influence can be found on every continent. In this special, we explore where the Dutch language came from and look at how the history of migration into the Low Countries impacted its development. On top of that, we take a look at how the Dutch language has not only shaped other languages, but also, through colonialism, has imprinted itself into the cultural and geographical landscapes of the world. That’s right, in this episode of The Low Countries Radio you are going to listen to an Australian do his best to explain Dutch. Geweldig!

On 5 February, 1943, thirteen of the twenty-three defendants from the First Parool Trial were given paper and pens and told to write farewell letters to their families. Hours later, they were executed by firing squad. But the ringleader of the group, Frans Goedhart, was able to win a temporary reprieve and over the next few months undertook various attempts to escape from Vught concentration camp. But would luck be on his side?

After the botched arrest of Arie Addicks in September 1941, the Addicks group was firmly in the sights of the authorities. Over the course of four months, a series of arrests would take place across the Netherlands, from the streets of Amsterdam to a freezing beach in Scheveningen, which would end with twenty-three people being charged with crimes against the state. But would these freedom fighters survive some of the Netherlands’ most infamous concentration camps?