PHILIP II AND THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS AGAINST SPANISH RULE
(1555-96)
The revolt of the Netherlands against Spain is not merely an event of
local Belgian history; it belongs to the political history of Europe.
It is an episode of those long and cruel wars of religion which,
beginning in Scotland after the constitution of the first Presbyterian
Covenant, set aflame the whole of Western Europe. Of course, the
occasion for the wars differed in each country, but the cause was the
same in every case and the question which was to be supreme in Europe,
Catholicism or Protestantism, actuated them all. In this tremendous
struggle all questions were finally reduced to one, and as social
influences aligned themselves on one side or the other, the tide turned
in favor of or against the church. Catholics and Protestants supported
their brethren in the faith on the other side of the frontiers. Each
side sought a decisive victory; divided influence or co-ordinate
recognition was acceptable to neither. Timid persons and politicians
seeking to remain neutral were carried away by the current or submerged
by it. Neutrality was impossible; everyone was forced to take part in
the struggle.
The kings of France, lacking principles and decision, found their
own forces divided and were unable to carry out a real international
policy. On the other hand, Elizabeth, Queen of England, resolutely
ranged herself on the side of international Protestantism, assisting
and often directing its attacks. Against her, Philip II of Spain,
considering himself as the absolute defender of Catholicism in Europe,
set his nationality and his faith. Lacking decision in political
matters, he showed no indecision in matters of faith. Against him arose
the league of Protestants throughout Europe. They realized that, if
he was defeated and his country crushed, the church would be defeated
throughout the world. The Protestants therefore concentrated their
attack on him in the Netherlands. The geographical position of the
latter made interference with England, France, and Germany especially
feasible; but they were at the same time the weakest spots in Philip’s
dominions. Revolt blazed within their borders--such revolt as might
result in bringing his power to an end. This Philip realized full well,
and determined to go to any limit in order to keep the Netherlands.
Nothing was left undone which would serve to suppress every attempt at
revolt. This object it was which dictated his unhappy policy in the
Netherlands, a policy that resulted in the loss of the northern part,
and ultimately in the founding of the separate state of the United
Provinces (Holland).
The true meaning of the wars of religion in the Netherlands cannot be
properly understood without taking these considerations into account.
It will also be useful to consider the characters of those prominently
involved in the tragedy, before narrating the details of the tragedy
itself.
Philip II, King of Spain and sovereign of the Netherlands, was
above all a Spaniard. Educated in Spain, he found himself unable to
understand the Belgians as his father had. He did not appreciate
their pride, their deep love of liberty, and their respect for the
privileges granted them. An autocratic king, he was haughty as only a
Spaniard can be. Deeply convinced of the superiority of Catholicism,
and possessing principles absolutely rigid in character, he was
incapable of compromise--in short, a real bigot. In political affairs
he endeavored to arrange every detail himself, and personally to read
piles of dispatches by the light of a candle in his dark room in the
Escurial. He labored day and night, constantly immersed in thought, and
was remarkably slow in reaching a decision. When, however, his mind
was finally made up, it was usually too late. Events had progressed
in the meantime and when his orders reached the theater of war they
could not be carried out, since the situation had entirely changed.
That slowness of decision brought him many disasters. Nevertheless, he
was an excellent father to his children, and there are extant letters
written by him to his daughters, in which it is difficult to recognize
the lonely thinker of the Escurial.
He paid a short visit to his subjects in the Netherlands at the
beginning of his reign (1557), but left no sympathetic impression
behind. His sister, Duchess Margareta of Parma, remained in the country
to govern the people during his absence. He was absent to the end.
His Flemish subjects never saw him again. From Madrid he directed the
affairs of the Belgians, and studied the dispatches which reached him
every week.
Margareta, offspring of the amour of Emperor Charles V with the
daughter of a Flemish upholsterer from Audenaerde, had been educated
for a time in Brussels and had then gone to Italy, where she
successively married Alessandro de’ Medici and Ottavio Farnese,
the latter being Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Although of masculine
character, loving sport and exercises, Margareta possessed the feminine
characteristics of vanity and shrewdness. She had acquired in Italy a
disposition to engage in _combinazione_, and succeeded in playing the
game often under very difficult circumstances. Philip of Spain left
her as an assistant in her political councils a man of real diplomacy,
Cardinal de Granvelle.
Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Burgundian in origin, was a loyal
servant of his master. He was the man of the _raison d’état_. Philip
II never had a more faithful minister. Granvelle desired only the
welfare of the King and of the state he represented, and was heroic
enough to assume the responsibility for the drastic measures taken by
his sovereign. He was a man of real political genius, clear-sighted,
absolutely unselfish. The main object of his political plans was that
Spain should rule the seas, and it was he who urged Philip II to send
the famous Armada against England.
When Philip II began his reign in the Netherlands, the financial
situation of the government was distressing. Charles V had left heavy
debts created by his numerous wars. Public opinion was defiant,
influenced as it was by ill will for the unsympathetic King and by the
baseless fear that the scheme of erecting new dioceses would be the
precursor of the terrible Spanish Inquisition.
The scheme of erecting new dioceses had been conceived by the King
in 1559, in order to counteract more strongly the propaganda of
Protestantism. The existing mediaeval dioceses were too large to
enable the bishops to carry out their mission as guardians of the
faith. It was necessary, therefore, that the old dioceses be broken
up and divided into smaller ones, so that the bishops would have more
opportunity for action in smaller areas. The Pope consented, and
permitted the erection of thirteen new dioceses. From an ecclesiastical
point of view the country was now divided as follows: the archbishopric
of Malines, with the suffragan dioceses, Antwerp, Bois-le-Duc, Ghent,
Ypres, Bruges, Ruremonde; the archbishopric of Cambrai, with the
suffragans, Arras, Tournai, Namur, Saint-Omer; the archbishopric
of Utrecht, with the suffragans, Haerlem, Deventer, Leeuwarden,
Middelburg, Groninge. The scheme stirred up violent opposition among
the Belgian nobles, the abbots, some of the bishops, and even among the
common people. The nobles feared the loss of their political influence
through the admission of so many bishops into the States-General, where
they would occupy leading positions. Many of the abbots were resentful
because their monasteries would be compelled to contribute to the new
bishops a part of their income, in support of the new dioceses. Some
of the bishops were angered over the division of their former dioceses
and the reduction of their spiritual power. The people, influenced by
political agents and Protestant propagandists, were led to believe
that each new bishop would simply be a representative of the Spanish
Inquisition.
The movement of opposition would have been easily repressed by the
Belgian nobles had they really been faithful to the King. But, on
the whole, they were not. They had the same feelings as the French
aristocracy at this time. They were horrified at the idea of the
supremacy of the sovereign power. Although not possessing any definite
aim, they tried to dominate the Prince and the state by means of the
political power they themselves controlled. They were members of
the Council of State, governors of the different Belgian provinces,
captains in the national army, the famous _bandes d’ordonnance_, and
they exercised a tremendous influence on all classes. The political
difficulties encountered by the government were for them but favorable
opportunities of which to take advantage. The King himself afforded
them a chance. With characteristic disregard for the national
privileges, he established at Brussels a council called the _Consulta_,
an institution of true Spanish type. Composed of a few individuals,
it was dominated by the influence of Cardinal de Granvelle, and
undertook to decide the most important questions of national policy.
The _Consulta_ stirred up an opposition of formidable character,
guided by the most influential Belgian nobles, the Prince of Orange
and the counts of Egmont and Horn. Cardinal de Granvelle became the
victim of the most violent attacks. Margareta of Parma first sought
to defend him, but, little by little, influenced by the nobles, she
finally ranged herself on their side and herself requested the King to
recall the unsympathetic minister. Partly through weariness, partly
through political miscalculation, Philip II yielded. Granvelle left the
Netherlands.
This was a triumph for the opposition. Margareta, who had been moved
by jealousy of Granvelle and who had hoped to add materially to her
power after his departure, fell more and more under the control of the
nobles, who flattered her and took advantage of her feminine vanity. A
reign of anarchy and favoritism followed, the friends of the nobles
being furnished with offices and perquisites. The political opponents
of the King now tried to consolidate and to perpetuate their success.
They asked that all affairs be subject to the control of the Council
of State, the real national body of which they themselves were the
masters; that he should convoke the States-General, and that he should
temper the _placarts_ against the heretics and abolish the power of
the Inquisitors. The granting of the first of these demands would have
made the nobles all-powerful in political affairs. From the second
measure--the meeting of the States-General--they expected ratification
of their conduct and popular support of the opposition they had
inaugurated. In dealing with the question of the _placarts_, they
played a sort of religious policy calculated to bring them the support
of the Lutherans and the Calvinists.
Philip II rejected their demands. Astonished by this resistance,
which they did not expect after the capitulation of the King on the
question of Granvelle, some of the Belgian nobles, and especially the
Prince of Orange, succeeded in embroiling the Protestant sectarians
in the struggle. The Calvinists, more warlike than the Lutherans,
were more than ready to join the movement, owing to their hatred of
the Catholic King of Spain. But, once begun, the movement became an
irresistible one. Stirred up by their preachers and assisted by the
worst elements of the populace, the Calvinists invaded the churches,
smashed the statues of the saints, carried away the treasures, attacked
the convents, and killed monks and priests (1566). The Belgian nobles,
surprised by the revolt they had so imprudently initiated, were unable
to stop it; rather they were submerged by the current. From this time
onward the political anti-Spanish movement became a part of the general
movement of the wars of religion. Many Catholics foresaw what would
happen and deserted the cause, separating themselves from a revolt that
was being directed as much against the church as against Spanish rule.
From the revolt of 1566 and the outrages of the sectarians resulted the
later policy of Philip II toward the Netherlands. Hitherto he had but
followed the traditional policy of his father, Emperor Charles. He had
showed respect for political institutions; he had avoided any cause
of rupture. He had tried, of course unwillingly and unskilfully, to
satisfy public opinion. His patience brought him nothing but a serious
check. He had recalled, in 1561, the Spanish garrisons which had been
quartered in Belgium during the war with France; he had sacrificed his
loyal minister Granvelle and had capitulated to the nobles. But the
more he showed himself to be conciliatory the more audacious became the
opposition. This was at first purely political and aimed only at the
reconstruction of the Burgundian state as against the Spanish state;
later, it had dared to claim liberty of conscience, an unheard-of thing
at this period; finally, it had favored the Calvinistic agitation and
had caused the desecration of convents and churches.
When the news of this outrage reached the King, he angrily exclaimed:
“By the soul of my father, for these crimes they shall pay a heavy
price.” In the eyes of Philip II, official protector of Catholicism,
both the royal and the divine majesty had been insulted, and the claim
for autonomy had but aggravated the triumph of heresy. His rebellious
subjects were to be chastised. He would impose political absolutism
upon them as well as the religious control that prevailed in Spain.
The iron rule he intended to introduce would preserve for the church
and for himself those countries which were the cornerstones of his
world-power.
From now on we may speak of the “Spanish rule.” The traditionally lax
policy of Emperor Charles was gone. The tyranny of Spain was destined
to crush the Belgians. That task was intrusted to the Duke of Alva, who
came to Belgium as governor in 1567. Don Luis Alvarez de Toledo, Duke
of Alva and Marquess of Soria, was a cold and implacable warrior. The
greatness of his king was for him the greatness of Spain. He hated the
Belgians, who had dared to ask for liberty of conscience, as much as he
hated the heretics. He accomplished his terrible mission unwaveringly
and remorselessly; his method of government was terror. Accustomed to
fight the Moslem Moors of Spain, he knew only two weapons with which
to crush the heretics--the sword and the stake. He wrote in one of his
letters: “It is infinitely better to keep, by means of war, for God and
for the King, an impoverished and even ruined country, than to keep it,
without war, undamaged, for the devil and his partisans, the heretics.”
Such was the terrible warrior to whom Philip II intrusted a double
task: to chastise the rebels and heretics and to subject the nation
to the rule of Madrid. Alva arrived in Belgium with a large number
of the best Spanish troops. Contrary to all customs in the free
Netherlands, they were billeted in the cities. A fortress was ordered
built at Antwerp. The counts of Egmont and Horn and the burgomaster
of Antwerp were treacherously arrested and imprisoned. But the real
leader of the opposition, the Prince of Orange, could not be taken.
More clear-sighted than his friends, he had fled to Holland before
the coming vengeance. In defiance of all national privileges, Alva
established an extraordinary tribunal, which the people soon called the
“Council of Blood”; that court of justice, established and conducted
in a thoroughly revolutionary manner, condemned scores of people
who were more or less guilty of revolt against the King. About two
thousand victims were sentenced to death and executed. Only political
crimes were taken into account, and the condemnation was followed by
the confiscation of property--a remarkably remunerative operation for
the Spanish treasure chest. Terror fell upon the Belgians. All who
had engaged in the slightest degree in the revolt of 1566 fled to
foreign countries; Lutherans and Calvinists, panic-stricken, left the
Netherlands in large numbers.
Meanwhile the Prince of Orange had sought for help among the German
Protestant princes; he gathered an army and invaded Belgium. He had
expected a general revolt of the people against Alva at the first news
of his campaign. But the soldiers of his army, merely hirelings, and
many of them fanatical Protestants, pillaged churches and convents on
their way; they disgusted the naturally religious populace of Belgium,
and the campaign of William the Silent proved a complete failure. The
prince was compelled to seek refuge in France, where he hoped to get
help from Coligny and the French Huguenots.
[Illustration: ANTWERP The oldest part of the city, the Scheldt, and
the Town Hall]
By way of reply to this misadventure of William the Silent came
the execution of the counts of Egmont and Horn. The “Council of
Blood” charged them with high treason and ordered them to be put to
death, on the Place du Sablon, in the heart of Brussels. Their death
stupefied the people and disheartened the nationalists. Both counts
fell victims to the hatred of the terrible duke, for they were guilty
only of weakness and imprudence--they never really were traitors to
their sovereign. The Belgians always regarded them as martyrs for
their country. Alva now proceeded to introduce into the Netherlands
the features of the Spanish régime, while his condemnations continued.
For the first time since 1561 the new bishops were able to occupy
their bishoprics, the Catholic faith was everywhere re-established,
the University of Louvain was visited in order to determine whether
it was sufficiently orthodox, the Council of State was no more called
together or given over to Spaniards. In order to secure supplies and
money for his administration and to crush the country economically,
Alva introduced unheard-of taxes, called the _centième, vingtième, et
dixième denier_. This meant a permanent impost, which the Belgians
had always stoutly resisted. A revolt broke out all over the country.
What the appeals of William the Silent did not effect, the attack upon
the people’s privileges and wealth did. The Prince of Orange cleverly
took advantage of it, and, needing the help of the heretics to fight
the enemy, gave the direction of the movement into the hands of the
Calvinists. Meanwhile a storm of recrimination and complaints, among
which the protests of the bishops and of the University of Louvain were
not the weakest, reached Philip II. The King understood that he had
gone to work the wrong way, and that the policy of terrorism had not
brought him any real success. He changed his mind and recalled Alva.
The terrible duke left Belgium pursued by the maledictions of the whole
people.
His successor, Don Luis de Requesens, was a better man. The change in
the King’s attitude was immediately revealed by the measures taken
by the new governor. Requesens abolished the “Council of Blood,”
proclaimed a general amnesty, and opened negotiations at Breda with
the rebellious provinces. These negotiations failed, however, and
the struggle continued on both sides with alternating successes and
reverses. Requesens died suddenly in 1575, at a moment when the
government was facing an appalling financial crisis. The Council of
State immediately took over the regency, till the King should send a
new governor.
The Prince of Orange, however, had decided that there should be no
peace and that the revolutionary movement should be agitated as much
as possible. He had completely gained the confidence of Holland and
Zeeland, where he was the real master, and he planned to extend his
control over the rest of the Seventeen Provinces. Deeply compromised
as he was, any agreement with the King would mean disaster and the end
of his plans, which aimed at the separation of the Belgian provinces
from the Spanish monarchy. Owing to personal circumstances he had
first endeavored to resist Philip II by legal means. During his
exile and under the government of Alva he had gone farther and had
planned a general revolt, and now that the milder attitude of the King
threatened to win back some sympathy in Belgium, especially among the
Catholics, he foresaw that only the most daring policy would save the
revolutionary movement. Agents were therefore sent to the southern
provinces to stir up the people against any attempt at conciliation.
As a result of their intrigues, the members of the Council of State
were arrested by a furious mob and imprisoned. By the time they were
liberated they had fallen completely under the influence of the
revolutionary leaders. The States-General were called together by the
friendly members of the Council of State, and for nine years exercised
the chief power in Belgium. It was during their government, which
proved on the whole to be Catholic and loyalist, that the Spanish
soldiers, deprived of their pay, arose and sacked the city of Antwerp,
killing nearly seven thousand people. This event is known as the
“Spanish Fury.”
This, of course, gave the anti-Spanish party an excellent chance.
Under the pressure of William the Silent, the States-General met at
Ghent in 1575, and out of their deliberations was born the famous
“Pacification of Ghent.” This act was the work of the Prince of Orange,
and was intended to reconcile Catholics and Protestants and to settle
their religious differences, in order that they might be united in
the political struggle against Spain. This attempt at establishing
a “peace of religion” was unfortunately premature and provisional.
The hostilities between Catholics and Protestants were suspended and
religious tolerance was proclaimed; but in Holland and Zeeland, the
political sphere of influence of the Prince of Orange, the Catholic
worship was provisionally forbidden. The States-General would, it
was promised, later on reconsider the whole problem and settle the
religious differences definitely. This agreement was, of course,
unfavorable to the Catholics, but union was temporarily restored.
Meanwhile Don Juan, the new Spanish governor, had been appointed by
Philip II and had arrived in Belgium. Don Juan was the son of Charles
V, and the celebrated victor over the Turks in the naval battle of
Lepanto (1571). He had no sympathy for the Belgians and did not like
the task which was intrusted to him. He attempted, of course, though
against his convictions, to negotiate with the rebels, but failed. As
we have seen, the Prince of Orange had determined that there should
be no peace until his plans had been carried out. By surprising and
occupying the fortress of Namur, contrary to the conventions but in
order to obtain a stronghold for his protection, Don Juan played, as a
matter of fact, into the hands of his enemies. Under the influence of
William the Silent the States-General declared the governor a traitor
to the country, and called upon Archduke Mathias, brother of Emperor
Rodolphe, to be their new governor. Mathias became practically an
instrument in the hands of the Prince of Orange, who was appointed as
his lieutenant-general.
Now followed a period of anarchy and misrule. Germany, England, and
France sent into Belgium a host of sectarians and adventurers; these
aided the Calvinists in taking Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. Ghent
became the center of a Calvinistic republic, where the leaders ruled
by terror and began a rigorous persecution of the Catholics. It was
now quite clear that the Protestants had gained the upper hand in the
struggle and that the national revolt had turned into a war against
Catholicism. In the midst of these troubles, Don Juan of Austria died
at Bouges, near Namur (1578).
At this very moment, events of great importance took place. The Prince
of Orange, contrary to the provisions of the Pacification of Ghent,
had again endeavored to introduce a new “peace of religion,” which
had for its object the introduction of Protestantism into the Belgian
provinces other than Holland and Zeeland. The Protestant ministers
rejected his proposal. What they wanted was not co-ordinate recognition
of Catholicism and Protestantism, but the complete supremacy of their
own religion. Seeing that his attempts brought about only discontent
of both parties, Catholics and Protestants, William the Silent finally
declared himself openly as a Calvinist (1578). His rupture with the
Catholics was now complete.
This induced the southern provinces, where Catholicism was still in
control, to withdraw their support and to reconcile themselves with
the Spanish King. The sole motive of this decision was a religious
one. There could be no talk of hostility between the Walloons of the
south and the Flemings of the north. This was not a question of racial
or linguistic difference. The people of Artois, Hainaut, and French
Flanders were disgusted at the excesses committed by the Calvinists
of Ghent and the position taken by William the Silent in religious
matters. The Catholic spirit of Belgium, imposed on the country ever
since the Middle Ages, weighed more strongly in their minds than their
national hostility to the Spanish rule. Moreover, two other provinces
which joined them--Namur and Luxemburg--had never taken part in the
revolt. As we have seen, the province of Brabant, more independent
than any other, and, since the fourteenth century, determined in its
opposition to foreign interference, had taken the real leadership in
the struggle against Spain.
The movement in the south in favor of a reconciliation with Philip II
was an essentially popular movement. The nobles of Artois and Hainaut
still wavered in their sympathies.[14] The clever policy of the new
governor, Alexander Farnese, who succeeded Don Juan of Austria after
the death of the latter (1578), overcame their last hesitation.[15]
Alexander Farnese was the son of Margareta of Parma, who had formerly
governed the Netherlands. He was of a sympathetic nature, loyal,
honest, but firm. He was one of the greatest warriors of his age, but
at the same time, being an Italian prince, he distinguished himself as
a very shrewd diplomat. At last Philip II had found the right man to
govern the Netherlands. Alexander Farnese, highly approved by Cardinal
de Granvelle--who at this time resided in Madrid--inaugurated a policy
of mildness and conciliation that produced the happiest results. He
induced the nobles of the southern provinces, and especially the
Count of Lalaing, to abandon their scruples and to return to the
service of the King. Both clever diplomacy and gifts and promises of
large sums of money played a part in these achievements. From these
negotiations resulted the Treaty of Arras (1579), concluded between
the representatives of Artois, Hainaut, Luxemburg, Namur, and French
Flanders and the new governor, as a consequence of which the southern
provinces returned to the allegiance of Philip II. A concession made
by Farnese was that the foreign troops, which had for so many years
pillaged and ruined the country, should leave Belgium.
The Treaty of Arras resulted in the reconquest, without bloodshed, of
the southern part of Belgium; it provoked a rupture between Catholics
and Protestants, the separation of the Walloons and the Flemings,
and crushed the plans of the Prince of Orange. Henceforth it would
be no longer possible to unite the whole of Belgium against Spanish
rule. William the Silent replied to the Treaty of Arras by the
so-called Union of Utrecht (1579), whereby the northern provinces of
the Netherlands united themselves in the common struggle and decided
to carry on the revolt to ultimate victory. Slowly, but surely, the
secession of Belgium from Holland was in progress.
The Prince of Orange, infuriated by the blow inflicted on his policy,
now proclaimed the forfeiture by Philip II of the sovereignty of the
Netherlands and offered the crown to the Duke of Anjou, brother of the
French King Henry III (1584). He himself received the title of governor
of Holland and Zeeland and remained the real leader of the union.
Philip II replied by declaring the Prince an outlaw and putting a price
on his head. Such an appeal to murder was common in the sixteenth
century and was even supported by the teaching of many theorists;
today it seems cruel and opposed to every principle of civilization.
A man fanatical enough to fulfil the desire of the Spanish King was
soon found. Balthazar Gérard treacherously assassinated the Prince of
Orange at Delft, in 1584. So died the leader of the revolt of the
Netherlands against Spain. He did not succeed in uniting the whole of
Belgium against Philip II, but he initiated the United Provinces of
Holland. The Dutch are right, therefore, in calling him the “Father of
the Fatherland.”
Meanwhile, supported by the Catholic provinces, Alexander Farnese had
successively reconquered all the Belgian cities and won an imperishable
fame by the siege and conquest of Antwerp. Only Ostend resisted and
could not be taken. It seemed now to be the turn of the north, and
already the United Provinces were threatened with invasion, when the
unwise policy of Philip II suddenly stopped the advance. The lonely
autocrat of the Escurial had planned the invasion of England and the
conquest of the throne of France, where Henry IV, a Protestant but the
legitimate heir, was at war with the Catholic League. To these plans
he sacrificed all the resources of Spain from 1587 to 1592 and forced
Farnese to suspend his campaign in Flanders, to assist in the transport
of troops for the invasion of England, and to aid with his army the
League in France. Both enterprises failed utterly, the invasion of
England by the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the conquest of the French
throne by the final rally of the country to the support of Henry IV.
The obstinacy of Philip II caused the loss of the northern part of the
Netherlands, which Farnese would probably have conquered. Alexander
Farnese died in 1592 and at his death the Spanish King lost the best
governor he had ever had in Belgium. The last years of the sixteenth
century were unhappy years for the country. The long and bloody
struggle had utterly ruined the land. The population had been reduced
by at least 50 per cent; churches and civic buildings had been burned
or severely damaged; trade and industry were in large part gone;
Antwerp had lost its commerce, and thousands of people engaged in
trade had fled to England, Germany, or Holland. Artistic and literary
activity had come to a complete standstill; and the scientific center
of Belgium, the University of Louvain, barely escaped complete ruin.
But Belgium remained Catholic and subject to the Spanish branch of the
Hapsburgs, while the United Provinces (of Holland), overwhelmingly
Protestant, had in fact become an independent country. Henceforth
Belgium and Holland went each its own way, and their history no longer
records common interests, at least until the period of the United
Kingdom of the Netherlands (1814).