EGMONT (EGMOND), LAMORAL, COUNT OF, prince of Gavre (1522-1568), was born in Hainaut in 1522. He was the younger of the two sons of John IV., count of Egmont, by his wife Francoise of Luxemburg, princess of Gavre. On the death of his elder brother Charles, about 1541, he succeeded to his titles and estates. He served in the expedition (1541) of the emperor Charles V. to Algiers. In 1544 he married Sabina, sister of the elector palatine Frederick III. Created knight of the Golden Fleece in 1546, he accompanied Philip of Spain in his tour through the Netherland towns, and in 1554 he was sent to England to ask the hand of Mary of England for Philip ; he was present at the wedding ceremony at Winchester. In the summer of 1557 Egmont was appointed commander of the Flemish cavalry in the war be tween Spain and France; and the victory of St. Quentin was de termined by the brilliant charge which he led against the French. In 1558 he encountered the French army under de Thermes at Gravelines, on its march homewards after the invasion of Flanders, totally defeated it, and took Marshal de Thermes prisoner. The battle was fought against the advice of the duke of Alva, and the victory made Alva Egmont's enemy. But the count now became the idol of his countrymen, who looked upon him as the saviour of Flanders from the devastations of the French. He was nomi nated by Philip stadtholder of Flanders and Artois. At the con clusion of the war by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, Egmont. was one of the four hostages selected by the king of France as pledges for its execution.
The attempt made by King Philip to convert the Netherlands into a Spanish dependency and to govern it by Spanish ministers excited the resentment of Egmont and other leading members of the Netherlands aristocracy (see NETHERLANDS : History) . As a member of the council of state Egmont joined the prince of Orange in a vigorous protest addressed to Philip (1561) against Granvella's administration ; and two years later he again pro tested in conjunction with the prince of Orange and Count Horn. In the spring of 1564 Granvella left the Netherlands, and the mad ' content nobles once more took their places in the council of state. But Philip's determination to enforce the decrees of the council of Trent throughout the Netherlands once more aroused their resent ment; and, in Jan. 1665, Egmont went on a special mission to Spain to inform Philip of the state of affairs. At Madrid the king steadily evaded any serious discussion of the object of his mission, and Egmont finally returned home without having accomplished anything. At the same time Philip sent further instructions to the regent to abate nothing of the severity of the persecution.
In 1566 a confederacy of the lesser nobility was formed (Les Gueux) whose principles were set out in a document known as the Compromise. From this league Egmont held aloof ; he declined to take any step savouring of actual disloyalty to his sovereign. He withdrew to his government of Flanders, and as stadtholder took active measures for the persecution of heretics. But in the eyes of Philip he had long been a marked man. In the summer of 1567 the duke of Alva was despatched to the Netherlands at the head of an army of veterans to supersede the regent Margaret and restore order in the discontented provinces. Orange fled to Ger many after having vainly warned Egmont and Horn of the dan gers that threatened them. Alva was at pains to lull their sus picions, and then suddenly seized them both and threw them in the castle of Ghent. Their trial was a farce, for their fate had already been determined before Alva left Spain. After some months of imprisonment they were removed to Brussels, where sentence was pronounced upon them (June 4) by the infamous Council of Blood erected by Alva. They were condemned to death for high treason. Egmont was beheaded at Brussels in the square before the town hall, on the day after his sentence had been publicly pronounced (June 5, 1568) . He met his fate with calm resignation; and in the storm of terror and exasperation to which this tragedy gave rise Egmont's failings were forgotten, and he and his fellow-victim to Spanish tyranny were glorified in the popular imagination as martyrs of Flemish freedom. From this memorable event, which Goethe made the theme of his play Egmont (1788), is usually dated the beginning of the famous revolt of the Netherlands. In 1865 a monument to Counts Egmont and Horn, by Fraiken, was erected on the spot where they were beheaded.
Pays-Bas sous Philippe II., 1555-1565 (2 vols., Brussels, 1855) ; J. L. Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, (3 vols., 1856) ; T. Juste, Le Comte d'Egmont et le Comte de Homes (Brussels, 1862) ; R. Fruin, Het voorspel van den tastigjarigen oorlag (Amsterdam, 1866) ; J. P. Blok, History of the People of the Nether lands (tr. from Dutch), vol. iii. (New York, 1900) ; E. Marx, Studien zur Geschichte des niederlandischen Aufstandes (Leipzig, 1902).