282Chapter 15
introduce a perpetual tax in 1572, most of the major
cities declared their allegiance to William “the Silent,”
Prince of Orange (1533–84), the man who had
emerged as leader of the revolt.
Though William was not yet a convert to Protes-
tantism, he attempted to form an alliance with the
French Huguenots, who, under the leadership of Gas-
pard de Coligny, had gained new influence with
Charles IX. The situation was doubly perilous for Spain
because Philip II, while maintaining Alba in the
Netherlands, had renewed his father’s struggles with the
Turk. The Mediterranean war culminated in the great
naval victory of Lepanto (October 7, 1571), but Philip’s
treasury was once again exhausted. French intervention
in the Netherlands was averted only by the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew (August 23–24, 1572) in which more
than five thousand Protestants, Coligny included, were
killed by Catholic mobs. The massacre revived the
French civil wars and permitted Alba to retake many
of the rebellious towns, but the duke was recalled in
1573 and his successors were unable to bring the
revolt under control. Margaret’s son, Alessandro
Farnese, duke of Parma (1545–92), finally was able to
reimpose Spanish rule on the ten southern provinces
in 1585.
By this time, the seven northern provinces had or-
ganized into an independent state with William of Or-
ange as stadtholder or chief executive. The United
Netherlands was Dutch in language and culture. En-
riched by trade, secure in its control of the sea, and de-
fended by the heavily fortified “water line” of three
broad rivers—the Rhine, the Maas, and the Waal—the
new republic was almost invulnerable to Spanish attack.
It was also Protestant. The government was dominated
by Calvinists, and William converted to Protestantism
before he was assassinated by a Spanish agent in 1584.
Refugees from Spanish rule, most of them French-
speaking Calvinists, poured into the north, while a
number of Dutch Catholics headed south into what is
now Belgium.
These developments critically altered the balance
of power in northern Europe. Philip II was still deter-
mined to recover his lost provinces and to assist the
Catholics of France in their battle against the
Huguenots. The English, restored to Protestantism by
Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603; see illustration 15.4),
were equally determined to prevent a concentration of
Spanish power on the coasts of the North Sea. When
Parma took Antwerp, the largest and richest city in the
Netherlands in 1584, they sent an expeditionary force
to support the Dutch.
Though a prosperous land of about three-and-a-
half million people, Elizabethan England was no match
for the Spanish Empire. It had the core of a fine navy
but no army worthy of the name. Perpetual taxes were
unknown, and the improvidence of Henry VIII had left
his daughter with meager revenues from the royal do-
main. In the event of war, funds had to be sought from
Parliament, and Parliament continually tried to interfere
with the queen’s policies. It was especially incensed at
her refusal to marry, in part because it thought a woman
incapable of governing on her own, and in part because
it feared disorder if she died without an heir.
Parliament need not have worried about Eliza-
beth’s ability, but this last concern, at least, was real.
Catholics everywhere had rejected Henry VIII’s di-
vorce. To them, Elizabeth was illegitimate, and Mary
Stuart, queen of Scots (1542–87), was the true queen
of England. A devout Catholic, descended from
Henry VII and connected on her mother’s side to the
house of Guise, Mary had been driven from Scotland
in 1568 by a coalition of Protestants inspired by theIllustration 15.4
Elizabeth I of England.This portrait from the workshop of
Nicholas Hilliard dates from c. 1599, a time of great political dif-
ficulty for the queen. It is a propaganda piece intended to convey
the wealth, majesty, and vigor of a ruler who was already in her
sixty-sixth year.