War in the Netherlands and William I of Orange in light of references to Niccolò Machiavelli (based on the “Declaration of the letter of the Kraków Voivode, delivered among the people in Stężyca” by Szczęsny Kryski)

The “Declaration of the letter of the Kraków Voivode, delivered among the people in Stężyca”, the authorship of which is attributed to Szczęsny Kryski, states the following: “If you so chastise Machiavel’s teachings that one ought to reign judiciously, I do not know if it will please you should the noble-born rise up against the king and the peasants against the noble-born, and, having slaughtered the noble-born, the peasants themselves should rule, as had unfolded in Holland; for such ‘Regestra’ were left by William to Maurice”. The passage refers to William I of Orange and the Dutch Revolt (1568–1648). During this insurrection, an armed conflict broke out between the Protestant population of the Low Countries and Spain. The conflict was widely considered as a religious war. In my article, I will analyse why Szczęsny Kryski, in the “Declaration of the letter of the Kraków Voivode, delivered among the people in Stężyca” (approx. 1606–1607), alluded to the Eighty Years’ War and William I of Orange, referring to Niccolò Machiavelli. I will also show why this Dutch Revolt was generally condemned in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.