Talk:Compromise of Nobles

"Compromise": wrong title
In English "Compromise" is a false cognate of French Compromis. In English it does not mean a "joint promise" or compact (cf Mayflower Compact). What's the standard name in English for this Verbond der Edelen? the Confederation of Nobles or the Union of Nobles or the Compact of Nobles or Contract of Nobles or what? --Wetman (talk) 05:45, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry, but the standard designation in Anglophone historiography seems to be "Compromise of Nobles," however "wrong" that may be. Try a quick search in google books. I found a number of entries in American encyclopaedias, like Merriam-Webster, using the term. Even Dutch authors like my source Van Gelderen, and E.H Kossman/A.F Melik (in Texts concerning the revolt of the Netherlands) use it. Jonathan Israel uses the term in his Dutch Republic. One may disagree with this usage and use a "better" translation, but then one no longer follows this tradition. Isn't the objective of wikipedia to provide explanations for technical terms people encounter? I am afraid it has become somewhat of a standard English expression, like "High and Mighty" for "Hoogmogenden."--Ereunetes (talk) 19:31, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
 * On reflection I think you have a point that the phrase is awkward. A translation like "covenant" would cover the intent much better. However, I think we are stuck with "compromise of nobles" for the reasons I have given above. I have edited the article to point out the problem and introduced the word "covenant" (with wikilink) as a clarification.--Ereunetes (talk) 18:13, 30 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Excellently handled with your footnote, Ereunetes!--Wetman (talk) 22:55, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks. In any case, it reminds us that we have to be careful with phrases in different languages that supposedly refer to the same thing but still are subtly different. I am about to write an article about another example: the Amsterdam Entrepôt. Again, this appears to be a term that is widely used in English-language economic historiography, though the Dutch would prefer stapelmarkt, or at least a literal translation thereof, like Staple port. But that would not provide a link with the usage in the literature.--Ereunetes (talk) 20:43, 3 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I understand this is the historical term. I'll just comment that "compromise of nobles" sounds like a collective noun.  I.e., exaltation of larks, gaggle of geese, etc.  Wanderer57 (talk) 20:55, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Doing Beeldenstorm recently, I came across "the Compromise" very often in English books, and got used to it. But it is not "a common English expression" but a proper name, always capitalized. Johnbod (talk) 22:53, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Beeldenstorm
...again. The article says " Though the central authorities eventually suppressed this insurrection,..." but I found little evidence of this researching the article, as I recall. Margaret's very few troops remained in Brussels, keeping that city from being affected, and the disturbances burnt themselves out, or were resisted more forcefully by local city militias. The low level of resistance was perhaps the most remarkable feature of the whole affair, as many witnesses said. Johnbod (talk) 23:08, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Placards - what did they outlaw?
"To suppress Protestantism he had promulgated extraordinary ordinances, called placards, that outlawed them and made them capital offenses. Because of their severity these placards caused growing opposition among the population, both Catholic and Protestant. " What does 'them' refer to here? Not 'Protestantism' since that is singular. Could someone better informed than I fix this? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomfy (talk • contribs) 15:28, 23 April 2014 (UTC)


 * "Them" refers to "...the Protestant teachings of Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Anabaptists..." from the preceding sentence. DuncanHill (talk) 22:15, 23 April 2014 (UTC)