Bourbon. This act, like the bigamy of Philip of Hesse, was approved by
Protestant divines. Behind them Egmont and Orange had the hearty
support of the patriotic and well educated native nobility. {252} The
rising generation of the aristocracy saw only the bad side of the reign
of Charles; they had not shared in his earlier victories but had
witnessed his failure to conquer either France or Protestantism.
[Sidenote: New bishoprics]
In order to deal more effectively with the religious situation
Granvelle wished to bring the ecclesiastical territorial divisions into
harmony with the political. Hitherto the Netherlands had been partly
under the Archbishop of Cologne, partly under the Archbishop of Rheims.
But as these were both foreigners Granvelle applied for and secured a
bull creating fourteen new bishoprics and three archbishoprics,
[Sidenote: March 12, 1559] Cambrai, Utrecht, and Malines, of which the
last held the primacy. His object was doubtless in large part to
facilitate the extirpation of heresy, but it was also significant as
one more instance of the nationalization of the church, a tendency so
strong that neither Catholic nor Protestant countries escaped from it.
In this case all the appointments were to be made by the king with
consent of the pope. The people resented the autocratic features of a
plan they might otherwise have approved; a cry was raised throughout
the provinces that their freedom was infringed upon, and that the plan
furnished a new instrument to the hated inquisition.
[Sidenote: February, 1561]
Granvelle, more than ever detested when he received the cardinal's hat,
was dubbed "the red devil," "the archrascal," "the red dragon," "the
Spanish swine," "the pope's dung." In July Egmont and Orange sent
their resignations from the Council of State to Philip, saying that
they could no longer share the responsibility for Granvelle's policy,
especially as everything was done behind their backs. Philip, however,
was slow to take alarm. For the moment his attention was taken up with
the growth of the Huguenot party in France and his efforts centered on
helping the French Catholics against them. But the Netherlands were
{253} importunate. In voicing the wishes of the people the province of
Brabant, with the capital, Brussels, the metropolitan see, Malines, and
the university, Louvain, took as decided a lead as the Parlement of
Paris did in France. The estates of Brabant demanded that Orange be
made their governor. The nobles began to remember that they were
legally a part of the Empire. The marriage of Orange, on August 26,
1561, with the Lutheran Anne of Saxony, was but one sign of the
_rapprochment_. Though the prince continued to profess Catholicism, he
entertained many Lutherans and emphasized as far as possible his
position as vassal of the Empire. Philip, indeed, believed that the
whole trouble came from the wounded vanity of a few nobles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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