The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Egmont, Lamoral, Count

EGMONT, Lamoral, Count, Dutch statesman: b. La Hamaide, Hainault, 18 Nov. 1522; d. Brussels, 5 June 1588. He entered the military service, and gained a high reputation under Charles V; distinguished himself as general of cavalry under Philip II; and was made stadtholder of the provinces of Flanders and Artois. His connection with the Prince of Orange and his most distinguished adherents made him an object of suspicion to the Spanish court, and Egmont, with Philip of Montmorency, Count Hoorn, became the victims of hate and fanaticism. The Duke of Alva sent by Philip II to the Netherlands in 1567 to reduce the insurgents, had Egmont and Hoorn treacherously seized, and caused them both to be executed at Brussels. Egmont died with heroic firmness. He had before written to Philip II, that “he had never joined in any undertaking against the Catholic religion, nor violated his duties as a loyal subject.’” But the Prince of Orange having taken the field as the champion of his country's wrongs, an example was thought necessary to strike terror into the insurgents. There can be little doubt that the Spanish king unnecessarily dreaded the influence of the gallant soldier but incapable politician. When the troubles in the Netherlands broke out, Egmont, moved by generous sympathy for his injured countrymen, rather than by any fixed principle of action, was found side by side with the Prince of Orange, in the van of the malcontents. But in opposition to the popular movement came his strong feeling of loyalty to Spain, and his still stronger devotion to the Roman Catholic faith. Thus, the opposite forces by which he was impelled neutralized each other, and, ever acting from impulse, he did not calculate the consequences of his conduct. Consult Motley. J. L., ‘Rise of the Dutch Republic’ (London 1861); Juste, T., ‘Le Comte d'Egmont et le Comte Hoorn’ (1862); Goethe, ‘Egmont,’ a drama; Brunelle, ‘Éloge du Comte Egmont’ (1820).