and at Nancy (January 5, 1477). At Nancy Charles was himself among the slain, leaving his only daughter Mary of Burgundy, then in her twentieth year, sole heiress to his possessions.
The catastrophe of Nancy threatened the loosely-knit Burgundian dominion with dissolution. Louis XI. claimed the reversion of the French fiefs and seized Burgundy, Franche Comté and Artois. But the Netherland provinces, though not loving the Burgundian dynasty, had no desire to have a French master. Deputies Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian of Austria. representing Flanders, Brabant, Hainault and Holland met at Ghent, where Mary was detained almost as a prisoner, and compelled her (February 10, 1477) to sign the “Great Privilege.” This charter provided that no war could be declared nor marriage concluded by the sovereign, nor taxes raised without the assent of the states, that natives were alone eligible for high office, and that the national language should be used in public documents. The central court of justice at Malines was abolished, but the Grand Council was reorganized and made thoroughly representative. The Great Privilege was supplemented by provincial charters, the Flemish Privilege granted (February 10), the Great Privilege of Holland and Zeeland (February 17), the Great Privilege of Namur and the Joyeuse Entrée of Brabant, both in May, thus largely curtailing the sovereign’s power of interference with local liberties. On these conditions Mary obtained the hearty support of the states against France, but her humiliations were not yet at an end; two of her privy councillors, accused of traitorous intercourse with the enemy, were, despite her entreaties, seized, tried and beheaded (April 3). Her marriage four months later to Maximilian of Austria was the beginning of the long domination of the house of Habsburg. The next fifteen years were for Maximilian a stormy and difficult period. The duchess Mary died from the effects of a fall from her horse (March 1482), and Maximilian became regent (mambourg) for his son. The peace of Arras with France (March 1483) freed him to deal with the discords in the Netherland provinces, and more especially with the turbulent opposition in the Flemish cities. With the submission of Ghent (June 1485) the contest was decided in favour of the Philip and Joanna. archduke, who in 1494, on his election as emperor, was able to hand over the country to his son Philip in a comparatively tranquil and secure state. Philip, surnamed the Fair, was fifteen years of age, and his accession was welcomed by the Netherlanders with whom Maximilian had never been popular; Gelderland, however, which had revolted after Nancy, had Charles of Egmont for its duke, and the two bishoprics of Liége and Utrecht were no longer subject to Burgundian authority. In 1496 Philip married Joanna of Aragon, who in 1500 became heiress apparent to Castile, and Aragon. That same year she gave birth at Ghent to a son, afterwards the emperor Charles V. Philip’s reign in the Netherlands was chiefly noteworthy for his efforts for the revival of trade with England. On the death of Queen Isabel, Philip and Joanna succeeded to the crown of Castile and took up their residence in their new kingdom (January 1506). A few months later Philip unexpectedly died at Burgos (September 25th). His Burgundian lands passed without opposition to his son Charles, then six years of age.
The claim of the emperor Maximilian to be regent during the minority of his grandson was recognized by the states-general. Maximilian nominated his daughter Margaret, widow of Philibert, duke of Savoy, to act as governor-general, and she filled the difficult post for eight years with great ability, courage and tact; and when Charles at the age Margaret of Austria. of fifteen assumed the government he found the Netherlands thriving and prosperous. In the following, year, by the death of Ferdinand of Aragon, his maternal grandfather, and the incapacity of his mother Joanna, who had become hopelessly insane, he succeeded to the crowns of Castile and Aragon, which carried with them large possessions in Italy and the dominion of the New World of America. In 1519 Maximilian died, and the following year his grandson, now the head of the house of Austria, was elected emperor. Charles V. had been born and brought up in the Netherlands, and retained a strong predilection Charles V. for his native country, but necessarily he had to pass the larger part of his life, at that great crisis of the world’s history, in other lands. During his frequent absences he entrusted the government of the Netherlands to the tried hands of his aunt, Margaret, who retained his confidence until her death (November 1530), and secured the affection of all Netherlanders. Margaret was assisted by a permanent council of regency, and there was a special minister charged with the administration of the finances, sometimes under the name of superintendent of the finances, sometimes under the title of treasurer-general and controller-general. The duties of this minister were of special importance, for it was to the Netherlands that Charles looked for much of the resources wherewith to carry on his many wars. During this time Charles consolidated his dominion over the Netherlands. In 1524 he became lord of Friesland by purchase, and in 1528 he acquired the temporalities of Utrecht. He now ruled over seventeen provinces—i.e. four duchies, Brabant, Gelderland, Limburg and Luxemburg; seven counties, Flanders, Artois, Hainault, Holland, Zeeland, Namur and Zutphen; the margraviate of Antwerp; and five lordships—Friesland, Mechlin, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen with its dependent districts.
After the death of Margaret, Charles appointed his sister Mary, the Widowed queen of Hungary, to the regency, and for twenty years she retained her post, until the abdication in fact of Charles V. in 1555. She too governed ably, though in entire subservience to her nephew, but was not in such intimate touch with the national peculiarities of Mary of Hungary. the Netherlanders as her predecessor. At the time of her accession to office Charles changed the form of administration by the creation of three separate councils, those of State, of Finance, and the Privy Council. The regent was president of the council of state, of which the knights of the Golden Fleece were members. The policy of Charles towards the Netherlands was for many years one of studied moderation. He redressed many grievances, regulated the administration of justice, encouraged commerce, reformed the coinage, but as time went on he was compelled to demand larger subsidies and to take severer measures against heretical opinions. Mary was forced to impose taxation which met with violent resistance, especially in 1539 from the stiff-necked town of Ghent. The emperor himself was obliged to intervene. On the 14th of February 1540 he entered, Ghent at the head of a large army and visited the city with severe punishment. All its charters were annulled, its privileges and those of its gilds swept away, and a heavy fine imposed. It was a lesson intended to teach the Netherlanders the utter futility of opposition to the will of their lord. The struggle, however, with the Protestant princes of Germany not only led to continual demands of Charles for men and money from his Netherland dominions, but to his determination to prevent the spread of Protestant opinions; and a series of edicts was passed, the most severe of which (that of 1550) was carried out with extreme rigour. Its preamble stated that its object was “to exterminate the root and ground of this pest.” By its enactments, men holding heretical opinions were condemned to the stake, women to be buried alive. Yet despite the efforts of the government the Reformation made progress in the land. In 1548 Charles laid before the states a scheme for making the Netherlands an integral part of the empire under the name of the Circle of Burgundy; but the refusal of the German Electors to make his only son Philip king of the Romans led him to abandon the project, which was never renewed. Already the emperor was beginning to feel weary of the heavy burdens which the government of so many realms had imposed upon him, and in 1549 he presented Philip to the states of the Netherlands, that they might take the oath of allegiance to him, and Philip swore to maintain all ancient rights, privileges' and customs.
The abdication of Charles V. took place on the 25th of October 1555 in the great hall of the palace at Brussels, and Philip II. entered upon his long and eventful reign. His external policy
