The Revolt of the Netherlands

Schiller's great historical account of the Revolt of the Netherlands was first published at the end of October 1788, in Leipzig. Schiller undertook this historical study as background to writing his dramatic poem Don Carlos, Infante of Spain (written between 1785 and 1787), a fictional account of the political intrigues surrounding the history of the Revolt of the Netherlands and its relation to the Spanish Court. This Introduction stands by itself as one of Schiller's finest explications of the principles of republican statecraft.