Between the Tides: The Call for Political and Economic Reforms-The Concept of Mercantilism in 1599 Antwerp

Amongst the classicized monuments erected in honor of the Entry of Archduke Albert of Austria and the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia into the city of Antwerp in 1599, was the Fornix Hermathenae, a simple canopy-like structure. Yet, Johannes Bochius, designer of the Entry and author of the book that described the event and its monuments, defined it as “small in size, [but] extensive in its argument.” This article aims to show that Bochius’s design choice is pertinent to the analysis of this monument, as it was intended to differentiate it from the other monuments in the Entry, and to convey Antwerp’s demands regarding Spain’s economic policy for Belgium, and specifically for the city itself. Accordingly, the Fornix Hermathenae reflects Bochius’s search for a way to navigate between two tides: the rising new Mercantilist-centralist practices of the Spanish Crown, and the old scholastic ways, which were more in line with Antwerp’s particular need for autonomy and economic revival.