page_title: Military history of the Netherlands
section_title: The Batavian legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the Netherlands / Ancient times / The Batavian legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the painters commissioned to make a ‘Batavian’ painting for the new Amsterdam town hall was Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69). Rembrandt chose the moment of the oath of the Batavians in the sacred grove, as described by Tacitus, Histories IV, 14. Civilis, with crown and sword, is the main protagonist of the composition. Unlike his fellow painters, Rembrandt decided to depict Civilis with one blind eye, as some of the sources had described his appearance. In 1662 it was reportedly on display at the town hall, but shortly afterwards, it was removed from the building. The painting, originally measuring more than 5 by 5 metres, was reduced to about 2 by 3 metres, which incidentally makes Civilis`s blind eye more clearly visible.
context_page_description: The Netherlands, as a nation-state, dates to 1568, when the Dutch Revolt created the Dutch Empire. Previously, the Germanic tribes had no written language during the ancient and early medieval periods, so what we know about their early military history comes from accounts written in Latin and from archaeology. This causes significant gaps in the historic timeline. Germanic wars against the Romans are fairly well documented from the Roman perspective; however, Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events. Wars between the Germanic tribes in Northern Belgium and the present day Netherlands, and various Celtic tribes that bordered their lands, are likely due to their geographical proximity.
  Belgium, a country with a Dutch-speaking majority, became an independent state in 1830 when it seceded from the Netherlands. Despite the contemporary political boundaries, they share much of the same military history.
context_section_description: Numerous altars and tombstones of the Batavi, dating to the 2nd century and 3rd century, have been found along Hadrian's Wall (notably at Castlecary and Carrawburgh), and in Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Austria. After the 3rd century, however, the Batavians are no longer mentioned, and they are assumed to have merged with the neighbouring Frisian and Frankish people.
caption: The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis depicts a scene from Histories where Gaius Julius Civilis persuades Celtic chiefs to join the Batavi revolt.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5228", "Image ImageLength": "3348", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn: Batavernas trohetsed till Claudius Civilis.\nNM 578", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:03:05 16:38:00", "Image Copyright": "Foto Nationalmuseum Stockholm", "Image ExifOffset": "400", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "538", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7510", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5228", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3348"}