The conflict in the Low Countries, which started around 1566 and lasted until 1648, is known in the English language and among international scholars as the Dutch Revolt. While it certainly has the advantage of brevity, I have chosen to use the more encompassing ‘Revolt in the Low Countries’. The term reflects more accurately the current state of research which interprets the conflict as a chaotic religious and civil war in the Low Countries, which eventually (and not intentionally) united seven provinces in the northern part. To reflect the multinational nature of the forces fighting in the Low Countries, I will mostly use terms such as the Spanish-Habsburg, Habsburg or royal army, instead of the Spanish army. I will refer to Philip II and his successors as the king of Spain as both in the Low Countries and on the Italian peninsula it was widely used by contemporaries.
In early modern Italian sources, the Low Countries are most often referred to as Fiandra and sometimes as Germania Inferiore. Fiandra is used as a pars pro toto for the whole of the Netherlands, and not only to refer to the county of Flanders. I will mostly use the terms ‘the Netherlands’ or ‘the Low Countries’ when they used Fiandra. From the 1590s onwards, the term Olanda appeared more frequently in Italian sources to refer to the Seven United Provinces and not specifically to the province of Holland. I will use the Dutch Republic or United Provinces as a translation for Olanda. Similar problems arise when using Italy, as in the early modern period, it was not a political entity but consisted of many different states. When I use the term Italy, I do so to refer to the Italian peninsula and when I speak of Italian rulers, this is also meant as an encompassing term, referring to all its different territorial states and its dynastic houses.
In referring to the proper names of members of the ruling houses in Italy and the Low Countries, the English form of their names is used. Therefore it is Alexander Farnese, and not Alessandro Farnese. Italian sources will be cited in translation; original quotes are in the footnotes. All translations are my own unless otherwise indicated. In the translation of idioms, I have chosen to use a translation which suits best the meaning of that idiom. I would like to thank Dr. Shanti Graheli for helping me to translate Italian into English, and all remaining mistakes are my own. Quotes from primary sources are given in the original and often varying spelling. I have only standardized i/j and u/v to modern usage for archival sources. For the news publications and books I have tried to keep the original spelling of the book to facilitate finding them in catalogues.