1588
In
1582 the General Estates (parliament) of the Netherlands finally renounced the
King of Spain, for violating the ancient privileges of the Provinces. They
introduced a new suzerain who would theoretically rule all the Netherlands
provinces, but in practice was only recognised in the North. The (Catholic)
French Duke of Anjou, a younger brother of the French King assumed the Lordship
over all Seventeen Provinces. He was known as the Duke of Brabant, since long
the central state of the Provinces. Of course he also took titles for all the
other provinces. He wasn't a complacent suzerain and interfered in the affairs
of State in a way not to the liking of the General Estates and the Prince of
Orange. When he died the suzerainty was offered to the English Queen Elizabeth.
She sent her former favourite the Earl of Leicester, an even more meddlesome
fellow than Anjou had been. In the meantime the Prince of Orange was murdered by
a Spanish agent, and succeeded by his son Maurice, as Stadtholder of Holland and
Zealand and Head of the army. When Leicester was tossed out in 1588, the actions
of the new Spanish Governor Requesens and his General Alexander Duke of Parma
had greatly reduced the territory of the Uprising. The General Estates decided
to give the suzerainty to the States of the separate provinces, making the
country a Confederate Republic known to posterity as the Republic of United
Provinces, with the General Estates as their highest organ and the Stadtholders
as chief executives of the Republic. Maurice, a brilliant warrior now set out to
regain much of the lost territory from the Spanish.
