Charles V was old and weak when he abdicated his throne
Philip II was impopular but his only son
He was no statesman but a
crusader of the Roman Church
A grave and somber man resolved to a heretic purge
The hunt on the heretics brought the Dutch in state
of war
200 nobles petitioned Philip to not institute the feared Inquisition Court
Philip refused the petition and burned more
heretics at the stake
A mass revolt broke out feeded with unanimous hate
"Yea we pull down the images of the false church
We
pillage the temples of the popery
Defacing the paintings and tapestries of ancient Rome
With a fierce contempt we destroy the
symbols of the dishonest"
The Dutch stubborn as always started to provoke Philip II
Mass revolts in the Netherlands start with
anti-Catholic looting
The Iconoclasm Fury broke out and idolatry burnt
Philip was outraged and condemned the Netherlands to the
Bloodcampaign
The ravagings of the churches filled Philip with great disgust
"Strangle, burn, behead them!" He ordered
punishment with iron fist
He sent duke Alva to the Netherlands with 20.000 Spanish troops
Arrived in Brussels he immediately
instituted the feared Council of Blood
Cruel religious terror swept over the land with a relentless full force
His Counter
Reformation sentenced countless people to be burned upon the stake
Heretic corpses everywhere, columns and stakes await in every single
street
The Duke punished with an art of torture beyond Saddams wildest fantasies
Silhouettes of butcheries and martyrdoms - A
new skyline was born
To terrify the Dutch he killed Count Egmond and Lord Hoorne
A shockwave went through Holland because they had
always been faithful to the King of Spain
The Dutch stubborn as always started to provoke Philip II
Mass revolts in the
Netherlands start with anti-Catholic looting
The Iconoclasm Fury broke out and idolatry burnt
Philip was outraged and condemned the
Netherlands to the Bloodcampaign
"Yea we pull down the images of the false church
We pillage the temples of the
popery
Defacing the paintings and tapestries of ancient Rome
With a fierce contempt we destroy the symbols of the
dishonest"
Philip II felt betrayed and ordered:"The Silent must be slain"
The Stadholder of Orange died in Delft lying in a pool
of blood
The Dutchman may have lost their Chief but their National Spirit reinforced