EGMONT, or EGMOND, Count, Prince of Oarre (1522-68). A Flemish general and born at the Castle of La llamaide, in Hainaut. Ile succeeded his elder brother Charles in the title and estates in 1541, accom panied Charles V. on the Algerian expedition in the same year, and followed that monorch after wards in all his campaigns against Francis I. Ili: bravery and devotion were rewarded in 15tI3 with the order of the Golden Fleece. The year previous he had married Sabina of Bava ria. the sister of the Elector Palatine, with great pimp in the presence of the Emperor at Speyer. In 1554 Egmont WaS sent to England to the mar riage between .lary and l'hilip. After the acces sion of l'hilip 11. he commanded the cavalry in the battles of Saint Quentin and Gravelines (qq.v.) ; and when Philip finally returned to spain he left Egmont as stadtholder of Flanders and Artois. When Margaret of Parma. against the will of the Protestant party. wag uuade Re gent-General of the Netherlands. Egmont and the Prince of Orange entered the Council of State. and opposed the ultra-Catholic policy of Cardinal Granvella and the Regent. On Egmont's tin eaten ing to resign. Granvella was withdrawn from the Low Countries. and in 13115 the Count visited Philip at :Madrid and departed homeward full of confident e in the King. But the reactionary edicts of Granvella were ordered to be enforced with more severity than ever, and the people were roused to rebel. When the insurrection broke out Egmont opposed the Prince of Orange and the 'Beggars' League.' as it was called. Be seems to have remained neutral even when. in April, 15117, his bitter enemy and rival, the Duke of Alva, was sent as lieutenant-general to the Neth erlands. (See ALvA.) The Prince of Orange and other chiefs of the insurrection left the country, while Egmont. wishing to save his private prop erty, remained. thinking his loyalty and services bad secured his safety. He appeared to have
gained Alva's confidence, when suddenly. after a sitting of the council. he and Count Horn were seized and carried to the citadel of Ghent. The Estates of Brabant sought to withdraw them from the Bloody Tribunal, as it was called. instituted by Alva, and as a knight of the Golden Fleece, denied its competency. His countess pleaded earnestly in his behalf, and in tercession from the highest quarters was made to Philip. At his trial he was accused of having favored the enemies of the Catholic religion and of plotting the overthrow of the King. Ninety charges were brought against him. which he did not trouble himself to answer in detail, but pro tested his innocence, and showed clearly that he had been a loyal subject and faithful counselor of the King. Nevertheless. lie was condemned to death by Alva and his tools. and on June 5, 156:q, was executed in the great square of Brussels at the same time as Count Horn. Their death made them martyrs to the cause of liberty in the Neth erlands, and in 1SG5 a monument by Fraikin was erected to their memory at Brussels. Goethe has made Egmont the hero of one Of his finest trage dies. One of the best brief accounts of Egmont is given by Schiller in his .11401 der ,Virderlande. Consult: Motley. Rise of the Dutch Republir London, 1'161) Jnste, Le rointr d'Egmcnt ct lc ramie de Hornes (Brussels. 1c621: De Bavay. Proreg du corn te frEginont et pi,res just if (Brussels. 15531; also the published correspond ence of Philip IL and of Margaret of Parma.
E'GO (Lat.. i 1. A term much used by philoso phers to denote the conscious self or person. espe cially when conceived as the metaphysical subject whose activity is supposed to give rise to the world of experience.