compromise of nobles

8/18/2019 Compromise of Nobles

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Compromise of Nobles

Eedverbond derEdelen , from Hendrik Conscience Geschiedenisvan België , 1859

The Compromise [1] of Nobles (Dutch: Eedverbond der Edelen ; French: Compromis des Nobles ) wasa covenant of members of the lesser nobility in theHabsburg Netherlands who came together to submit apetition to the Regent Margaret of Parma on 5 April

1566, with the objective of obtaining a moderation of the placards against heresy in the Netherlands. This petitionplayed a crucial role in the events leading up to the DutchRevolt and the Eighty Years’ War.

1 Background

The ruler of the Habsburg Netherlands, a conglomerateof duchies and counties and lesser efs, was Philip IIof Spain. He had appointed his half-sister Margaret ofParma as his Regent. She ruled with the assistance of a

Council of State which included a number of the high no-bility of the country, like the Prince of Orange, Egmont,Horne, Aerschot and Noircarmes. From time to time

(whenever she needed money) she convened the States-General of the Netherlandsin which theseveralestatesofthe provinces were represented, such as the lesser nobil-ity and the cities, but most of the time the States-Generalwas not in session and the Regent ruled alone, togetherwith her Council.Like his father Charles V, Philip was very much op-posed to the Protestant teachings of Martin Luther, JohnCalvin and the Anabaptists, which had gained many ad-herents in the Netherlands by the early 1560s. To sup-press Protestantism he hadpromulgatedextraordinary or-dinances, called placards , that outlawed them and madethem capital offenses. Because of their severity these placards caused growing opposition among the popula-tion, both Catholic and Protestant. Opposition, evenamong Catholics, was generated because the placards were seen as breaches of the constitutional privileges ofthe local authorities and the civil liberties of the peo-ple, like the Jus de non evocando , as enshrined in the"Joyous Entry", the constitution of the Duchy of Bra-bant, to mention a prominent example. For that reasonlocal authorities regularly protested against the placards

and the way they were implemented in 1564 and lateryears. That these protests were systematically ignoredand the placards stringently enforced only helped inten-sify the opposition.[2]

2 Compromise

This unrest motivated the Brussels government to sendLamoral, Count of Egmont, to Spain to plead for relax-ation of the ordinances. Philip replied negatively in hisLetters from the Segovia Woods of October 1565. Thatled to a gathering of some members of the lesser nobilityat the house of Floris, Count of Culemborg, in December1565. There, they drew up a petition containing a protestagainst the enforcement of the placards . It was probablydrafted by Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde,and it was initially signed by Henry, Count of Bréderode,Louis of Nassau and Count Charles of Mansfeld.[3]

Thedraftwas widelycirculatedandgathereda large num-ber of signatures. The magnates of the nobility at rstkept aloof (though Orange must have been in the knowthrough his brother Louis). On 24 January 1566, how-ever, Orange addressed a letter to the Regent, as a mem-

ber of the Council, in which he offered his unsolicitedopinion that a moderation of the placards would be desir-able, in view of the toleration now practiced in neighbor-

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_of_Nassauhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry,_Count_of_Br%C3%A9derodehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_of_Marnix,_Lord_of_Saint-Aldegondehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culemborghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_from_the_Segovia_Woodshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamoral,_Count_of_Egmonthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Brabanthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Brabanthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyous_Entry_of_1356https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_de_non_evocandohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptistshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Lutherhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_of_the_realmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States-General_of_the_Netherlandshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States-General_of_the_Netherlandshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_of_Noircarmeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipe_de_Cro%C3%BF,_Duke_of_Aerschothttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_de_Montmorency,_Count_of_Hoornhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamoral,_Count_of_Egmonthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Silenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Spainhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Spainhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiefhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%2527_Warhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Revolthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Revolthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Parmahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petitionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_Netherlandshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobilityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_(historical)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Conscience


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6 External links

• (Dutch) Text of the Petition

http://www.histotheek.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=403&Itemid=93


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compromise of nobles

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