The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Hoorn, Count of

HOORN, hōrn, or HOORNE, hōr'nė, or HORN, or HORNES, ŏrn. Count of (Philip II, De Montmorency-Nivelle), Flemish soldier and statesman: b. about 1520; d, Brussels, 5 June 1568. His father was a descendant of the French family of Montmorency, and on the mother's side he was related to Lamoral Egmont, with whose fate his own was linked. His mother became a widow when he was about eight, and was married again to John, Count van Horn, one of the wealthiest nobles of the Netherlands, who left his estates to his wife's children on condition that they should assume his name. Philip was thus at the outset of his career one of the most influential of his order, and received from Charles V and Philip II important trusts and distinctions. He accompanied Philip II to Spain, where he is supposed to have received information of the designs of the Spanish court against the Netherlands and to have communicated them to the Prince of Orange. Returning to the Netherlands he joined Orange and Egmont in resisting the aggressive policy of Philip; yet continued loyal to the Crown. He was, however, suspected by the Spanish court, and upon the arrival of Alva in Brussels was enticed with Egmont to that city, and arrested in September 1567, on a charge of high treason. Ceaseless but vain efforts were made to obtain for him a fair trial, and appeals for clemency on his behalf were made by potentates in all parts of the Continent. He was executed with Egmont in June 1568. Consult ‘Cambridge Modern History’ (Vol. III, 1905).