GUEUX, LES, la gi.c. (Fr., beggars). The name assumed by the confederated nobles who opposed the tyrannical policy of Philip II. of Spain in the Low Countries, and brought about the revolt which separated the Northern Prov inces from Spain. Philip having followed up his previous policy of bigotry and persecution by sending inquisitors to the Low Countries to put into execution the decrees of the Council of Trent, provoked by this act the hitter resent ment of the patriotic party, who saw in it an attempt to curtail their ancient liberties. An opposition was thus formed, which, headed by Count Louis of Nassau and Count Hendrik van Brederode, declared in an act called the 'Com promise' (April 5, 1566) their fixed deter mination to ignore the authority of the in quisitors. On one occasion, after listening to a deputation from the liberal party, the Regent, Margaret of Parma, it is said, seemed in clined to yield to their demands, when one of her council approached her and whispered that she "need not be afraid of these gatherings of beg gars." The remark having been overheard by some
of the deputation, the epithet was soon after wards assumed as the title of the patriotic league. The 'beggars' maintained a long and vigorous contest against the despotic proceedings of Philip and his advisers. A branch of them, the 'sea beggars,' under the bold leadership of Count de la Marek, initiated the long struggle for inde pendence by the capture of Briel, April 1, 1572. The record of their struggles is a glorious one. After many reverses and few successes, the tide turned in their favor. From the date of the Union of Ghent (1576) the history of the Gueux is merged in that of the Netherlands. Consult: Kervyn de Lettenhove, Les huguenots et lcs gueux (Brussels, 1883-86) ; Renon de France, Ilistoire des troubles des Pays-Bas (Brussels, 1889) ; De la Graviere, "Les gueux de nier," in Revue des Deux Mondes (Paris, 1892) ; also the general works of Motley, Blok, and others, men tioned in the article on the NETHERLANDS.