| Sumario: | The Peace of Münster (1648) ended the war between the Dutch Republic and Spain after eight decades of conflict. This article investigates performances that took place throughout the Low Countries to mark the Peace of Münster. Studying these plays and songs reveals more about how communities were processing the past war and how the public at large was (encouraged) to deal with the trauma of the war that had just ended. First, the article discusses the different ways in which the Dutch Revolt is depicted in these performances, ranging from abstract mythological allusions to more general atrocity literature and specific episodes from the war. This will be followed by an analysis of the proposed ways in which the audience are told that they should remember and move on from the trauma that they individually and as a collective have suffered during the war. This includes ideas about forgetting, forming new alliances, and acts of oblivion. And finally, the article addresses the potential for Europe-wide peace but also the concern that war-related violence would not actually end and the trauma will thus continue, even if it is not directly experienced in the Low Countries.
|
|---|