Antwerp: The Glory Years
- Downloads：6649
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-08-18 07:50:56
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Michael Pye
- ISBN：0241243211
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
- Download
Summary
A rich history of Antwerp from the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Edge of the World
Even before Amsterdam there was a dazzling North Sea port at the hub of the known world: the city of Antwerp。
Antwerp was sensational like nineteenth-century Paris or twentieth-century New York， somewhere anything could happen or at least be believed: killer bankers， easy kisses， a market in secrets and every kind of heresy。 For half the sixteenth century， it was the place for breaking rules - religious， sexual， intellectual。
In Antwerp， things changed。 One man cornered all the money in the city and reinvented ideas of what money meant。 Another gave Antwerp a new shape purely out of his own ambition。 Jews fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition needed Antwerp for their escape， thanks to the remarkable woman at the head of the grandest banking family in Europe。
Thomas More opened Utopia there， Erasmus puzzled over money and exchanges， William Tyndale sheltered there and smuggled out his Bible in English until he was killed。 Pieter Bruegel painted the town as The Tower of Babel。
But when Antwerp rebelled with the Dutch against the Spanish and lost， all that glory was buried and its true history rewritten。 The city that unsettled so many now became conformist。 Mutinous troops burned the city records。 Michael Pye sets out to rediscover the city that was lost and bring its wilder days to life using every kind of clue: novels， paintings， songs， schoolbooks， letters and the archives of Venice， London and the Medici。 He builds a picture of a city haunted by fire， plague and violence， but learning how to be a power in its own right in the world after feudalism。
This is the Antwerp which was the proud 'exception' to all of Europe。
Even before Amsterdam there was a dazzling North Sea port at the hub of the known world: the city of Antwerp。
Antwerp was sensational like nineteenth-century Paris or twentieth-century New York， somewhere anything could happen or at least be believed: killer bankers， easy kisses， a market in secrets and every kind of heresy。 For half the sixteenth century， it was the place for breaking rules - religious， sexual， intellectual。
In Antwerp， things changed。 One man cornered all the money in the city and reinvented ideas of what money meant。 Another gave Antwerp a new shape purely out of his own ambition。 Jews fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition needed Antwerp for their escape， thanks to the remarkable woman at the head of the grandest banking family in Europe。
Thomas More opened Utopia there， Erasmus puzzled over money and exchanges， William Tyndale sheltered there and smuggled out his Bible in English until he was killed。 Pieter Bruegel painted the town as The Tower of Babel。
But when Antwerp rebelled with the Dutch against the Spanish and lost， all that glory was buried and its true history rewritten。 The city that unsettled so many now became conformist。 Mutinous troops burned the city records。 Michael Pye sets out to rediscover the city that was lost and bring its wilder days to life using every kind of clue: novels， paintings， songs， schoolbooks， letters and the archives of Venice， London and the Medici。 He builds a picture of a city haunted by fire， plague and violence， but learning how to be a power in its own right in the world after feudalism。
This is the Antwerp which was the proud 'exception' to all of Europe。
Reviews
Zeb Kantrowitz
，
In the sixteenth century， Antwerp was to become the hub of commerce in northern Europe。 It had gained bankers， brokers， jewelers， printers and other professionals who had fled the inquisition in Spain and Portugal。 Though part of the Spanish Netherlands （the part that became Belgium）， the city was an almost independent city state。 Though nominally Catholic， the city was famous for publishing copies of the Lutheran Bible and other Protestant polemics in many languages that infuriated the Vatican。 In the sixteenth century， Antwerp was to become the hub of commerce in northern Europe。 It had gained bankers， brokers， jewelers， printers and other professionals who had fled the inquisition in Spain and Portugal。 Though part of the Spanish Netherlands （the part that became Belgium）， the city was an almost independent city state。 Though nominally Catholic， the city was famous for publishing copies of the Lutheran Bible and other Protestant polemics in many languages that infuriated the Vatican。 Because it helped to fund the wars of Charles V and his son Phillip II， the Holy Roman Emperor was lax when it came to those of the new religions and the Spanish Conversos （converted Jews）。 In trade the city was the Atlantic port for the Hanseatic League and the spice trade from the Far East by way of the Cape of Good Hope。 As the century wore on， the Netherlands consolidated their control of much of this trade and because of the pressure from the Catholic Hapsburgs， went slowly into decline。 The wars of religion were the death of Antwerp as it was surpassed by Amsterdam。 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Antwerp: The Glory Years
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Antwerp: The Glory Years&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft