Charles V.—The emperor Maximilian, who was regent during the minority of his grandson, appointed his daughter Margaret, widow of Philibert duke of Savoy, as governor-general, an office which she held with varying success for eight years. In 1515, at the instance of the States-General, the 15-year-old Charles was suddenly declared of age. Born and brought up in the Nether lands he was personally popular there and the country was pros perous. Unfortunately, however, his accession brought the Nether lands into the huge and incongruous collection of states which the wars and marriages of the Habsburgs had heaped together. By the time he was 20 Charles was king of Aragon and Castile, with their Italian and American possessions, head of the house of Austria, and emperor. This meant first that he had to spend most of his life in his other dominions, leaving the Netherlands again to his aunt Margaret, and after her death (Nov. 27, 1530) to his sister Mary, the widow of that king of Hungary who had fallen at Mohacz. It meant also that he had to make large finan cial demands on these rich provinces for the purposes of his many wars. Opposition to the taxes led at last to one serious collision : the great city of Ghent resisted, and on Feb. 14, 154o, Charles entered it as a conqueror and humbled it by annulling its liberties and exacting a heavy fine. Another difficulty • was the rapid growth of Protestantism. A series of severe edicts against heresy was issued and enforced ; but though many heretics were exe cuted, every form of Protestant belief continued to make con verts. None of these dangers however, came as yet to a head. The rule of Charles and the "governesses" was on the whole moderate and successful. He rounded off the dominions by the purchase and subjugation of Friesland (1524), the annexations of the lands of the bishops of Utrecht (1528) and the defeat of an oppo nent who tried to establish himself in the duchy of Gelderland (1538). By 1543 he ruled over the 17 provinces which are usually meant by the name "Netherlands," though oddly enough there are several different ways of enumerating them. It is due not to any geographical or racial factors, but simply to the subsequent course of political history that there was no further expansion of the frontiers to the east or south. In the task of welding these provinces together by constitutional links Charles made some headway, but not much. He made the rules of hereditary succes sion the same for all of them, so that they should never be divided among different heirs. He carried out a nominal, but in the result quite ineffective, incorporation of the provinces in the Holy Roman empire. He governed the provinces by executive councils of the type usual in the monarchies of the period, and, in addi tion to the provincial estates, he liked to summon, when he needed grants of money, States-General such as his predecessors had sometimes used. These stood, however feebly, for the principle of the unity of the Netherlands.
Conflict was precipitated in the Netherlands under Philip II., who succeeded his father on his abdication in 1555. In the first 12 years of his reign all the latent quarrels burst out. In 1559 the Peace of Cateau Cambresis (a town better known now as Le Cateau) removed the pressure of war with France, and so cleared the way for the Dutch revolt and for the French wars of religion. As Philip was not emperor and ceased to be king of England on the death of his wife Queen Mary in 1558, the Netherlands now belonged to a combination of states, in which no other part was infected with Protestantism : the religious struggle there was consequently more uncompromising than in Germany. Philip was determined to crush heresy. His policy was in a sense no more harsh than that of Charles ; but as Protes tantism grew its repression caused greater discontent. Philip began, but never completed, the carrying out of a scheme which had been for some time in contemplation for rectifying the anomalies of the boundaries of the episcopal sees, and for making smaller dioceses with a more efficient episcopate. This not only
intensified the fear of persecution, but alienated the greater nobles.
These religious questions would not by themselves have led to a revolution. The most powerful class in the Netherlands were the great nobles, from whom the "stad holders" or lieutenants of the provinces were chosen, and on whom the privileged order of the Golden Fleece was often con ferred. Among these there was a widespread feeling against Spanish rule, and a desire to subordinate the power of the king's ministers to their own and that of the estates. The period from 1559 (when Philip departed to Spain) to 1567, during which the governor-general was the king's illegitimate half-sister Margaret duchess of Parma, is known as the prelude to the revolt. Its first stage lasted till 1564. By this time the magnates, led by William of Orange (see WILLIAM I., PRINCE OF ORANGE), Egmont and Hoorn had succeeded in two things. They had brought about the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, and they had got rid of the minister Cardinal Granvelle, archbishop of the new see of Mech lin, whom they somewhat mistakenly blamed for most of their grievances. Margaret's decision to rely on co-operation with the magnates did not, however, promote real harmony. The religious troubles increased and led to a conflict between the Government and the chartered privileges of the towns and estates, in the course of which the magnates formulated demands for the summoning of the States-General and for government by councils of aristo cratic composition. In the summer of 1565 a new element came forward. More than 300 of the lesser nobles or gentry signed the Compromise by which they undertook to help and protect one another against persecution and to put an end to the inquisition. They were actuated by religious conviction, not, like the mag nates, by the tolerance of the man of the world, and there were many among the rich burghers who were prepared to back up this determined party. On April 5, 1566, the signatories presented to Margaret a petition called the Request. On this occasion a nobleman contemptuously referred to them as beggars (gueux). They adopted this nickname and wore as badges the curious medals with a beggar's wallet which may still be seen in museums. Margaret made an ambiguous concession to their demands; but the result was only to precipitate the conflict (see GUEUX, LES). Extreme Calvinists and religious fanatics of all sects redoubled their activity. Field-preaching spread like wildfire and became something very little different from rebellion. In August many places, especially Antwerp, were alarmed by formidable riots for the smashing of the images, altars, pictures and painted windows of the churches. The Calvinist burghers and gentry were forming armies and preparing to defend the towns where they were most influential. The general confusion, however, caused many of their adherents to fall away and most of the magnates to rally to the Government. William of Orange, by attempting to mediate, lost the confidence of both sides. Margaret raised a considerable force of German mercenary troops, which took possession of Valen ciennes and Tournay and destroyed the ill-organized rabble of Calvinists in West Flanders and before Antwerp.
The troubles had reached a stage in which there was to be no more mercy or hesitation on the side of the Government ; but the only one of the discontented magnates who grasped this was William of Orange, who departed to his German estates in April 1567. The veteran Spanish general the duke of Alva was already on the march from Italy with a model force of about 10,000 men.