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.