THE LAST STAGE OF CENTRALIZATION
From the death of Margaret, the emperor's policy became entirely
independent. Though absorbed by the affairs of the Empire, distant
military expeditions and a recurrent war with France, he managed to
devote a great deal of attention to the Netherlands, and during the
last years of his reign, from 1544 to 1555, scarcely left the country.
The Netherlands were far more important to the ruler of Germany, Spain
and half of the New World than their actual size might suggest. Not
only did they provide one of the main sources of his revenue, but their
central position allowed him to reach comparatively easily the various
parts of his Empire where his presence might become necessary. The
scattered possessions of Charles V cannot very well be compared with
the homogeneous domains of Charlemagne, which stretched all across
Western Europe, but we may nevertheless notice that, in both Empires,
the Netherlands were allowed to play a part disproportionate to their
size and population. Though France remained in the hands of his rival,
the great emperor of the Renaissance, just as the great emperor of the
Middle Ages, was obliged to divide his attention between East and West,
and Brussels was allowed to play a part similar to that of
Aix-la-Chapelle. It is significant that, at the time of Charles V's
abdication, this town was selected, in preference to Madrid or Vienna,
as the stage for the ceremony.
The second part of the reign of Charles V is characterized by the
completion of the work of the Burgundian dukes, the seventeen provinces
being finally brought under one rule. At the same time, the last local
resistance was mercilessly crushed and political centralization
completely established.
[_MARGARET OF HUNGARY_]
Mary of Hungary, Charles V's sister, who was chosen by him to succeed
Margaret of Austria, did not enjoy the independence of her predecessor.
She confined herself to executing faithfully the instructions she
received, even at the cost of her popularity. The emperor installed her
at Brussels in 1531. He had been previously absolved by the pope from
his oath at the time of the Joyous Entry of Brabant, and proceeded to
strengthen the Central Government by the creation of three collateral
Councils and the proclamation of a Perpetual Edict giving a common
constitution to all the provinces of the Netherlands. After his
departure, Mary was at once confronted with military difficulties.
Christian II, no longer restrained by Margaret, had concentrated troops
in Holland in order to attack Frederick of Holstein. His violation of
the neutrality of the Netherlands caused reprisals against the Dutch
merchant fleet, but Antwerp and Brussels refused to wage war in its
defence. Thanks to the death of Holstein, Mary succeeded in negotiating
a satisfactory treaty with Denmark at Ghent (1533). The resistance of
the States General and the towns to the warlike policy of Charles
caused further trouble when, in 1536, hostilities between the two
rivals were resumed. In vain did Mary endeavour to obtain the
neutralization of the Low Countries, in vain did she offer her
resignation. In spite of serious reverses, the emperor maintained his
attitude, while the States General declared "that they were not rich
enough to help him to conquer France and Italy." Their resistance was
only overborne when, in 1537, the French armies invaded the Low
Countries. Under this threat, they voted the taxes and organized
resistance. The French king, disappointed in his hopes, signed the
truce of Nice, 1538.
The revolt of Ghent, which broke out the next year, must be considered
as the last attempt made by the towns to save their old privileges. For
the last time, a Commune raised its head to challenge central power. In
spite of the peace of Cadzand, Ghent had succeeded in preserving a
privileged situation in the State, and many popular leaders had
witnessed with dismay the progress made in 1531 by centralizing
tendencies. Beside the defence of local liberties, the aim of the
revolutionaries was to restore the situation of the old corporations,
which was directly threatened by the economic transformation of the
modern regime. Under the new conditions, the "masters" had succeeded in
enriching themselves, but the "companions" and prentices had lost all
the advantages of the old corporation system. Riots caused by unstable
labour conditions had already taken place in Bois-le-Duc (1525) and
Brussels (1532). In Ghent, however, the movement acquired more
threatening proportions, the magistrates being overwhelmed by the crowd
and the workmen seizing the direction of affairs. Charles, who had
obtained from Francis I permission to cross France with an army,
condemned to torture most of the leaders of the movement, suppressed
all the town's privileges by the "Caroline concession" (1540), and even
ordered that the well-known bell "Roland" should be unhung. This last
punishment remained in the memory of the people as a symbol of the
deepest humiliation which might be inflicted on any town.
[_TREATY OF VENLOO_]
As soon as Charles departed for his expedition to Algiers, the
Netherlands were again exposed to the attacks of his enemies, including
Francis I, the King of Denmark and the Duke of Cleves, who had
inherited the county of Gelder. This time Mary was strongly supported
by the States General, and succeeded in facing the attacks on both
sides pending the return of the emperor (1543). The latter took the
opportunity given him by a prompt victory to settle once for all the
Gelder question by the treaty of Venloo. The Duke of Cleves was obliged
to renounce all rights over Gelder and Zutphen, which became integral
parts of the Netherlands. This was the last act of the work of
territorial unification pursued by the dukes of Burgundy. At the same
time, in order to protect the Low Countries from French attacks,
Charles V fortified the three towns of Marienbourg, Charlemont and
Philippeville, called after Mary of Hungary, Charles himself and his
son Philip.
Thus, at last, the Low Countries reaped some advantage from the
constant expenses which they had to sustain owing to incessant European
wars. They were no longer able to pursue an independent policy, and, if
the States preserved a certain liberty, it was mainly because they
could be induced to vote war-taxes, these being, so to speak, the
ransom which the so-called "free" Netherlands paid to their ruler.
During Charles's youth, almost all the revenues of the State had been
drawn from the prince's domain, but towards the end of his reign the
levies extorted from the people became more and more heavy and
frequent. The annual budget rose from one million pounds in 1541 to two
and a half millions in 1542 and six and a half millions in 1555. To
these annual contributions we must add the numerous loans raised by the
Government on the security of the provinces. The interest on these
loans weighed heavily on the budget. It was L141,300 in 1552, L424,765
in 1555, and rose to L1,357,287 in 1556. As a matter of fact, the
States General could grant taxes but not control expenditure, so that
most of the money raised in the Netherlands was spent on foreign
expeditions from which the country could reap no benefit. Up to 1552,
when gold from Mexico and Peru arrived in Spain, the Low Countries
remained the main source of the income of the emperor.
With the annexation of Tournaisis, Friesland, Utrecht, Gelder and
Zutphen and the protectorate over the prince-bishopric of Liege, which,
under Erard de la Marck (1506-38), had finally accepted Hapsburgian
control, the unification of the Low Countries was completed. It still
remained to give the country its definite status. Thanks to the
treaties of Madrid and Cambrai, all connection with France had been
severed, but the Reichstag endeavoured, on several occasions, to revive
the nominal rights of the Empire on the Low Countries and to compel
the provinces to pay the imperial tax. The emperor, foreseeing that his
son might not succeed him in Germany, was not at all keen to encourage
such claims. On the contrary, he exempted, by his own free will, the
Low Countries from the imperial tax, and he endeavoured to make it a
sovereign country attached to Spain, which should remain, with it, the
heritage of the Hapsburg family. We are far from the time when he
entertained the suggestion of creating a separate kingdom in the Low
Countries, under the inspiration of his Burgundian advisers, and though
this suggestion recurred in 1539 and 1544, connected with the project
of the marriage of the emperor's daughter with the French prince, the
sincerity of the emperor's proposals, at that time, may certainly be
questioned.
[_TRANSACTION OF AUGSBURG_]
The victory of Muhlberg (1547) provided Charles with an excellent
opportunity to settle definitely the situation of the Netherlands
towards the Empire. Cowed into submission, the Reichstag readily
admitted the Transaction of Augsburg (1548), by which the Netherlands
became the "circle of Burgundy," under the protection of the Empire,
and whose sovereign was represented on the Reichstag. The circle
undertook to pay a small subsidy, but was entirely independent of
imperial jurisdiction and imperial laws. In fact, it constituted an
independent sovereign State, which benefited from the Empire's military
protection without any obligation on its side, since the emperor had no
means to enforce the payment of the tax in case it should be refused.
The Augsburg Transaction was completed in 1549 by the Pragmatic
Sanction, which unified the successorial rights of all the provinces.
This new edict marked a new stage in the work of centralization by
securing the inheritance of all the provinces to the same prince. Thus,
of the two essential characteristics of modern States, unity and
independence, the first was practically achieved; the second, however,
was not yet within sight. It is characteristic of the status of
Belgium, as established by Charles V, that this period of consolidation
marks the final break up of the Burgundian tradition. The principle of
nationality, which had asserted itself so clearly under Philip the
Handsome and at the beginning of the reign of Charles V, was finally
defeated, and, for two centuries and a half, the dynastic principle of
the Hapsburgs was destined to dominate the fate of the country.
In the same year that the Pragmatic Sanction was signed, Prince Philip
visited the Netherlands. The appearance of the young prince and his
education were in complete contrast to those of his father and
grandfather. His name only was Burgundian. He did not know a word of
Flemish and only spoke French with great difficulty. All his manners,
all his views, were those of a Spanish aristocrat, and it did not take
long for the Belgian nobles and notables who were brought into contact
with him to realize that their future ruler would always remain a
foreigner in the country.
The failure of Philip to secure the title of King of the Romans
strengthened still more the links which bound Belgium to Spain. His
marriage with Queen Mary of England might have re-established a
healthier balance between South and North, to the greater benefit of
the Low Countries, but this union was only an episode in Philip's life,
and he was perhaps more foreign to England than he was to Belgium,
since he did not benefit in the former country from any sentimental
attachment to his family.
[_ABDICATION OF CHARLES V_]
On October 25, 1555, the emperor, who suffered from ill-health and
desired to spend his last years in retreat, called together the States
General in Brussels and solemnly abdicated his power in favour of his
son. He recalled in his speech the ceremony of his accession, which had
taken place forty years before in the same hall, and, after surveying
rapidly the wars and struggles of his reign and the perils to which he
had been exposed, he recommended his son to the affection of his
subjects, exhorting them to remain united, to uphold justice and to
fight heresy. At the end of his speech, he asked forgiveness for the
wrongs he had committed and was unable to control his feelings. "If I
weep, gentlemen," he concluded, "do not think that it is because I
regret the sovereign power which I abandon; it is because I am
compelled to leave the country of my birth and to part from such
vassals as I had here." His emotion was shared by the Belgian
representatives, who realized that, whatever harm the great emperor had
inflicted upon his favourite provinces, Belgium had nevertheless found
in him, on several occasions, some sympathy and understanding. Parting
from him, they may have foreseen that they were parting from their last
natural and national prince. This feeling was only increased when
Charles, turning towards his son, addressed him in Spanish, and when
the latter, in his answer to the address of the States General,
excused himself for not being able to speak to them in French.
The Burgundian dukes had endeavoured to convert Belgium into a modern
centralized State, with common institutions, a permanent army, a loyal
nobility and docile States General. This part of their work was crowned
with success, and it is significant that the word "patrie" comes to be
used by Belgian writers towards the middle of the sixteenth century.
But the dukes had also pursued an independent policy, free from any
foreign influence and inspired by the country's interests, since the
country's prosperity was a condition of their own welfare and of the
stability of their dynasty. This part of their work had been
progressively destroyed. Belgium was hereafter ruled neither from
Bruges nor from Brussels, but from distant capitals and by ministers
and councillors entirely unacquainted with and indifferent to its
economic interests and social aspirations.