BELGIUM UNDER CHARLES V (1506-55) AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE HOUSE OF
HAPSBURG
Philip the Fair was made duke and count of the different Belgian
principalities in 1494. Meanwhile the international situation in Europe
had become dangerous for Spain and the Empire. Charles VIII of France
had conquered the countries of Milan and Naples. The Hapsburgs and the
King of Spain, threatened by the common danger, united against the
policy of France and strengthened the coalition by the marriage of Don
Juan, heir to the Spanish throne, to the daughter of Maximilian of
Hapsburg, and the union of the latter’s son, Philip the Fair, with the
Spanish infanta, Jeanne. As all the heirs to the Spanish throne died in
a short space of time, Jeanne inherited all the rights, and Philip the
Fair, sovereign of the Netherlands, became King of Spain.
This event proved of the utmost importance in the history of Belgium.
Although regarded as a separate territory, the Netherlands--both
Belgium and Holland--became a mere annex of the Spanish branch of the
Hapsburg monarchy. For more than two centuries Belgium was ruled from
Madrid by sovereigns who were first of all kings of Spain.
This was not yet, however, the case in the time of Charles V, the great
emperor of the sixteenth century. Archduke Charles, son of Philip the
Fair, known as Charles V at the time of his accession as Emperor in
1519, assumed control of the Netherlands in 1515. The latter included
Belgium and Holland, in addition to the county of Artois, and was
commonly spoken of as the Seventeen Provinces. The following year
(1516) Charles also became King of Spain. His reign was occupied by
protracted wars with France, constituting a continuous strife with
the powerful sovereign for the hegemony of Europe. In the course of
this struggle the Netherlands were continually attacked by Francis
I, the French King, and his allies, the Duke of Gueldre, and the La
Marcks, Lords of Sedan and Bouillon. The advantage was always with
Charles, however, and he was thus enabled to continue the territorial
concentration of all the provinces of the Netherlands which was begun
by the dukes of Burgundy.
Peacefully or by force, Charles successively annexed East Friesland,
Tournai and Tournaisis, the Overyssel, Groninge and Ommelanden, Gueldre
and Zutphen to his domains. In the ecclesiastical principalities, which
the Burgundian dukes had never been able to annex but only to control,
Charles succeeded in winning the temporal power in the bishopric of
Utrecht; destroyed Térouanne, the seat of the bishopric of the same
name; erected Cambrai and Cambrésis into a duchy in favor of the
bishop; and purchased part of the principality of Liège, where he built
strong fortresses.
After these achievements, Charles V could call himself the mightiest
sovereign in Europe. But a very intricate question yet remained to
be settled, namely, what the political relation of the Netherlands
should be toward the Empire. The feudal tie between the Empire and the
provinces, called into existence while Lotharingia was yet a fief, had
never, theoretically at least, been broken; and at the beginning of
the sixteenth century Germany still affected to recognize the union
(the feudal vassalage) of the provinces with the Empire, in order that
they might be the more easily compelled to share in the heavy financial
burdens of the latter. The Netherlands, on the other hand, maintained
that the union no longer existed. The question was a difficult one
for Charles, he being at the same time German Emperor and sovereign
of the Netherlands. It took him twenty-five years of negotiations.
In 1548, after his victory over the princes of the Protestant League
at Schmalkalden, he settled the question by the celebrated Augsburg
transaction.
By this provisional arrangement the Empire was divided into “circles.”
The episcopal duchy of Cambrai, Liège, and the small principality of
Stavelot-Malmedy became a part of the so-called circle of Westphalia;
the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands and the Franche-Comté
constituted a new circle, called the “circle of Bourgogne.” These
states were placed under the armed protection of the Empire, which
undertook to defend them as members of the whole. They were recognized,
however, as independent and free states, not subject to the laws of the
Empire. At the same time, fearing that, through the application of the
varying rules of succession existing in each Belgian principality, the
union might some day become imperiled, Charles V, by a special act,
ordained that the Netherlands or Seventeen Provinces should forever be
considered an indivisible whole, in which the first-born son should be
regarded as the heir to the throne. In case of deficiency of a male
heir, however, the female heir was to be recognized in the succession.
This was really a constitutional law sanctioned by the States-General,
officially gathered in solemn meeting in Brussels in 1549. The early
work of the dukes of Burgundy was now completed and firmly established.
Another task of tremendous importance now engaged the attention
of Charles. This was the fight against heresy. The new difficulty
presented an entirely novel problem.
When, by the revolt of Luther against the Roman Catholic church,
Protestantism began rapidly to spread all over Europe, it quickly
found a follower in the Netherlands, whose location facilitated its
expansion. In virtue of their historical development, the Netherlands
are an essentially Catholic state. Charles V and Philip II, as
sovereigns of that state, considered themselves the defenders of
orthodoxy, religious unity, and the union of church and state. In
opposing what they considered to be a political as well as a religious
crime, they invoked the penal laws and criminal institutions as their
weapons against what they regarded as a revolutionary movement.
The famous _placarts_, or penal laws, enacted under Charles V to the
number of a dozen between 1520 and 1530, were complementary to each
other. They were all the work of the government and were approved by
the States-General, the prominent members of the military aristocracy,
and the knights of the Golden Fleece. They were preventive and
repressive at the same time. From a repressive point of view, they
distinguished between the crime of heresy and the simple offense
against the prescriptions of the _placarts_.
The crime of heresy could be committed only by a man who had been
baptized, who from the point of view of the Catholic faith was guilty
of error, and who obstinately persisted in that error after having
been warned and enlightened. Obstinacy in error was the main point. If
there was no obstinacy, but retraction of the error, there was no more
crime; there remained only a sin. On the other hand, a simple offense
against the _placarts_ might be committed by anyone, be he a Catholic,
a Jew, or a heretic. Such offenses might be committed, for instance,
by _acts_, such as the circulation of heretic books and pamphlets, by
sheltering meetings of heretics, etc.
The crime of heresy was to be judged by an ecclesiastical judge,
the only one able to discuss those matters. The offense against the
_placarts_ was to be dealt with by a secular judge, a layman. The
jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical judge was limited by strict rules.
He might not impose a penalty prescribed by the _placarts_, or any
penalty involving the shedding of blood. If the heretic remained
obstinate, he was to be expelled from the church and given over to
the lay judge, who alone might impose the penalty prescribed by the
_placarts_.
The latter penalties were simple and drastic: death by fire, by
sword, or by burial alive, and the confiscation of property. The
system inaugurated by Charles was anti-judicial and cruel. It was
anti-judicial, inasmuch as the penalties were applied both to heretics
and to simple offenders against the _placarts_, and thus provided
similar punishment for offenses whose intrinsic criminality was wholly
different. It must not, however, be forgotten that in the sixteenth
century the object of every penal law was to instil terror first of
all, and that those guilty of heresy were considered as seditious
persons, disturbers of the state, and consequently to be punished by
the severe penalties applicable to acts of _lèse-majesté_.
Special officers were appointed for enforcing the _placarts_. These
were the so-called “Apostolic Inquisitors” whom Charles V requested
the Pope to appoint in 1524. They were only ecclesiastical judges,
receiving their instructions directly from the Holy See. Their mission
consisted in discovering the heretics, in reconciling them with the
church, and in imposing only a canon or ecclesiastical penalty. If
the heretic remained obstinate, they were obliged to turn him over to
the lay judge. For the first time, in 1546, they received detailed
instructions from the Emperor and after that were considered as agents
of the state.
Another measure designed to prevent the spread of heresy was the
establishment of the new dioceses, but as this was undertaken by Philip
II we shall deal with it in another chapter. It remains only to add
that throughout the reign of Charles V the system of the _placarts_ met
with no opposition. The Emperor was a Fleming, he was born at Ghent, he
knew his people, and the people accepted from him what they would not
accept from his son Philip some years later.
Owing to these circumstances, Charles V was able to complete the
work of the Burgundian dukes in another direction, namely, the
monarchic centralization of the Belgian provinces. The numerous wars
waged by him involved expenses, and, under the rights theretofore
granted the country, he was obliged to obtain the consent of the
States-General, called together for the purpose, whenever he required
the financial assistance of his subjects. In granting the subsidies,
the States-General invariably seized on the occasion for exacting some
privilege or concession in return. In order to free himself of this
restraint, the Emperor sought to introduce two innovations, which, in
France, had practically destroyed the power of the States-General,
namely, the permanent impost and the permanent army. To his sister,
Mary of Hungary, who in his name governed the Netherlands, he intrusted
the proposal of a clever scheme. All the provinces of the Netherlands
were to form a defensive union or confederation, in order to be ready
to repel the attacks from foreign princes. Should a province be
attacked, all the other provinces were immediately to join in assisting
it from a military and financial point of view. Such common action
would involve the existence of a permanent army and the introduction of
a permanent tax.
When the proposal was laid before them, the States-General immediately
discovered the trap. Some of them even dared to remark that they
did not want to be treated _à la mode de France_. The scheme was
unequivocally rejected. The Emperor was obliged to yield. He was far
too diplomatic openly and brutally to oppose the privileges of his
subjects.
In 1555 he abdicated and went to pass the rest of his life in the
Spanish monastery of Saint Just. His son, Philip II of Spain, succeeded
him as sovereign of the Netherlands.