CHARACTER OF PHILIP II.--In 1555 Charles V., enfeebled by his lifelong
enemy, the gout, resigned his crowns, and devolved on his son,
_Philip II._, the government of the _Netherlands_, together
with the rest of his dominions in _Spain_, _Italy_, and
_America_. The closing part of his life, the emperor passed in the
secluded convent of _Yuste_, in Spain, where, notwithstanding the
time spent by him in religious exercises, and in his favorite diversion
of experimenting with clocks and watches, he remained an attentive
observer of public affairs. Political and religious absolutism was the
main article in _Philip's_ creed. He was more thoroughly a
Spaniard in his tone and temper than his father, who was born in the
Netherlands, and always loved the people there, as he was loved by
them. _Philip_ was cold and forbidding in his manners. He was
shy, as well as haughty, in his deportment to those who approached
him. To re-establish everywhere the old religion by the unrelenting
exercise of force, was his fixed purpose. Only one thing did he value
more; and that was his own power, which he would not suffer Church or
clergy to curb or invade. He had few ideas, but was an adept in
concealment and treachery. A man of untiring industry, he was a plodder
without insight. He lived to see the vast strength which fell to him as
a legacy slip out of his hands, and to see Spain sink to a condition of
comparative weakness. _Charles V_. had consolidated his dominion
in that country by putting down democratic insurrections. This he had
done by military force and the arm of the Inquisition. What
_Charles_ had left undone in this line, Philip completed. He
quelled the resistance of the _Aragonese_, and reduced them to
submission. Spain swarmed with civil and ecclesiastical officials. The
new religious doctrine, which assumed the same type as in Italy, was
stifled. The monarch displayed his zeal by personal attendance at the
_autos da fe_, the great public ceremonials for the execution of
heretics, where the victims of his intolerance perished. A system of
brutal military administration was adopted in the colonies.
STATE OF THE LOW COUNTRIES.--_Philip_ undertook to treat the
_Netherlands_ as a Spanish province, and to break down the spirit
of local independence. The people of the Low Countries were
industrious, intelligent, prosperous, spirited. Each of the
_seventeen provinces_ had its own constitution. In the North, it
was more democratic; in _Flanders_ and _Brabant_, there was a
landed aristocracy. In all parts of the country, there were local
privileges and cherished rights. The population numbered three
millions. _Antwerp_, with its hundred thousand inhabitants, had
more trade than any other European city. The Reformation, first in the
Lutheran but later in the Calvinistic form, had numerous adherents in
the _Netherlands_, whom severe edicts of _Charles V_., under
which large numbers were put to death, did not extirpate.
TYRANNY OF PHILIP.--Philip did not select for his regent in the
_Netherlands_ one of the aristocracy of the country. Of this
class was Count _Egmont_, a nobleman of brilliant courage and
attractive manners. _William_, _Prince of Orange_, united
with far more self-control the sagacity of a statesman. He was
destined to be the formidable antagonist of Spanish tyranny, and the
liberator of Holland. _Philip_ passed by the nobles, whom he
distrusted and disliked, and appointed as regent the illegitimate
daughter of _Charles V_., _Margaret_ of Parma (1559-1567);
placing at her side, as her principal adviser, the astute
_Granvelle_, the Bishop of Arras, one of his devoted servants,
who was made cardinal in 1561. Three nobles, _William of Orange_,
and the Counts _Egmont_ and _Horn_, were in the council. The
power was in _Granvelle's_ hands. There was soon a breach between
him and the nobles. Two measures of _Philip_ created
disaffection. He was slow in withdrawing the hated Spanish soldiers;
he increased the number of bishops, a cherished scheme of _Charles
V_. Moreover, he renewed and proceeded to enforce edicts, embracing
minute provisions of a most rigorous character, against the property
and lives of the Protestants, although the Inquisition had lost public
favor. The terror and indignation of the people found expression
through the nobles. They left the council. At length _Granvelle_
had to be withdrawn from the country (1564). _Egmont_ went to
Spain to procure a mitigation of the king's policy, but found on his
return that he had been duped by false promises. The young nobility
formed an agreement called _the Compromise_, to withstand the
king's system, at first by legal means (1566). They were
contemptuously called "beggars" by the regent, and themselves adopted
the name. The king professed a willingness to make some concessions:
he was only gaining time for measures of a different sort. In the same
year a storm of iconoclasm burst out: the Calvinists made reprisals
for what they had suffered; they vented their zeal against what they
called "idolatry," by sacking the churches, and by destroying
paintings and images, and other symbols and implements of
worship. _Orange_ penetrated the designs of _Philip_, and
retired to Nassau. _Egmont_, more credulous and confiding,
remained.
ALVA'S RULE.--_Philip_ now sent into the Netherlands the _Duke
of Alva_, an officer of considerable military capacity, cold,
arrogant, and merciless in his temper. His force consisted of ten
thousand men. A tribunal was erected by him, called the "Council of
Blood." _Egmont_ and _Horn_ were executed at _Brussels_
(1568). Great numbers of executions of men and women, of all ranks,
who were accused of some sort of insubordination, or some manifestation
of heresy, followed. _William of Orange_ was active in devising
means of deliverance. The first marked success was the capture of
_Briel_ by the "sea-beggars," inhabitants of the coasts of
_Holland_ and _Zealand_, under their admiral, _William de
la Mark_. The barbarities and extortion of Alva by degrees aroused
universal and intense hatred. _Holland_ and _Zealand_ threw
off Alva's rule, and made _William_ their stadtholder. The nominal
connection with Spain was still kept up. The massacre of
St. Bartholomew (1572) cut off _William_ from the help which he
expected from the French. It was felt, however, that _Alva_ had
failed in his attempt to subjugate the people, and he was withdrawn
from the country by _Philip_ (1573).
THE UTRECHT UNION.--From the capture of _Briel_ may be dated the
beginning of the long and arduous struggle which resulted in the
building-up of the Dutch Republic of the _United Provinces_, and
the ultimate prostration of the power of _Spain_. The hero of the
struggle was _William of Orange_. The successor of Alva,
_Requesens_, was really more dangerous than _Alva_, because
he was more magnanimous, and therefore excited less antagonism. In 1574
occurred the memorable siege of _Leyden_ by the Spanish
forces. That city, when reduced to the last extremity, was saved by
letting in the sea and by inundating the neighboring plains, which
compelled the Spaniards to flee in dismay. As a memorial of the heroic
defense of the place, the University of Leyden was founded. A new
Protestant state was growing up in the North, under the guidance of
_William_. In the South, where Catholicism prevailed,
_Requesens_ was more successful. But when he died, in 1576, a
frightful revolt of his soldiers, who were loosed from restraint, in
the cities, moved all Netherlands to unite, in the _Pacification of
Ghent_, against the Spanish dominion. _Don John_ of Austria, a
brilliant and manly soldier, who had defeated the Turks at
_Lepanto_, was the next regent (1576-1578). He made large
concessions: these were welcome in the South, and weakened the
Union. _Alexander of Parma_ (1578, 1579), his successor, was the
ablest general of the time. The Catholic South was at variance with the
Protestant North. In 1579, there was formed between the seven provinces
in the North the _Utrecht Union_, the germ of the Dutch
Republic. _Philip_ proclaimed _William_ an outlaw, and set a
price on his head. After six ineffectual attempts at assassination,
this heroic leader, the idol of his countrymen, was fatally shot, in
his own house (1584). His work as a deliverer of his people was mainly
accomplished. When the Utrecht Union was formed, the greater part of
the Catholic provinces in the South entered into an arrangement with
_Parma_. _Brabant_ and _Flanders_ were recovered to
Spain. The attention of _Philip_ had to be mainly given to the
affairs of _France_ and _England_ during the remainder of his
life.