HOLLAND
387
HOLLAND
modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. The history
and actual conditions of Holland will be treated
under these heads: I. The Republic; II. The French
Period; III. The Kingdom; IV. Statistics.
I. The Republic. — Almost all of the region com- prising what we now call Holland belonged in the Middle Ages to the Counts of Holland, the Bishops of Utrecht, and the Dukes of Brabant and Gelderland. Between 1433 and 1543 all these territories came suc- cessively under the dominion of Burgundy and the House of Austria, which through hereditary succes- sion also acquired Spain. Consequently, Holland ■ belonged to Spain and was governed by Charles V and, after 15.55, by Philip II. In 1506 occurred the revolt which resulted in the secession not only of the northern, but also of the southern, provinces. Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, succeeded, by the treaties of Utrecht (6 January and 17 May, 1579), in restoring some of the southern districts to the Spanish monarchy. Thus Belgium was preserved in the Faith. William of Orange, to bring about a closer union among the northern districts, concluded the Union of Utrecht (23 January, 1579), signed by Gelderland, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Groningen, and the neighbouring states, also by a number of Bel- gian cities which had been subject to Parma, and he induced the States-General to confer the sovereignty upon the Duke of Anjou.
Before Anjou could be recognized as sovereign, it was first necessary to renounce the legitimate prince. This was done at Bois-le-Duc 24 July, 15S1, though the majority of the inhabitants disapproved of the act. Anjou took possession 12 February, 1582. He was solely occupied with increasing his power (French Fury, 1583) and was forced to fiee the indig- nation of the populace (1584). Orange was killed on 10 July, 1584, by Balthasar Gerards. The States- General requested that Robert Dudley, Earl of Lei- cester, friend and confidant of Queen Ehzabeth, shoukl act as governor. Unequal to the task laid upon him, he was not the man to succeed William of Orange. When it became known that he had been charged with the mission of bringing about peace with Spain, his power was at an end.
The States themselves now took in hand the direction of affairs. The States-General, consisting of delegates from seven provinces — Gelderland, Hol- land, Zeeland, Utrecht, Overijsel, Groningen, and Friesland — undertook the government of the Re- public. Neither Drenthe nor the conquered prov- inces over which the States-General now held suzer- ainty — namely, Brabant, Flanders, Limburg, Upper Gelderland, and Westerwolde — had any vote in that body. The delegates had an imperative commission and for each district one vote. The executive power was vested in the Council of State, consisting of twelve members. By degrees, however, the States- General themselves assumed the conduct of most of the affairs of government, which was disastrous to the prosperity of the republic.
Freedom of worship was out of the question in the republic. An article in the Union of Utrecht recog- nized freedom of worship outside of Holland and Zeeland, but this was not effective. The political supremacy of Orange carried with it the political supremacy of Calvinism. Wherever the revolution- ary party was in the ascendancy, the Catholics were persecuted. Not only the States of Holland and Zeeland, but the cities as well set the example in this respect which was followed by all the districts; and on 2 December, 1581, William of Orange issued an edict in which the Catholic cult was forbidden. In Gelderland this order was put in force with great severity by John of Nassau, William's brother, and by his covisin, Louis of Nassau, in Groningen, in the surrounding country, and in Drenthe. Although only a small portion of the population adhered to the
heresy, all the churches were turned over to the
Calvinists. Continued oppression, violation of re-
ligious peace, renewed iconoclasm and plundering
under Hohenlohe and Sonoy, as well as under the
two leaders mentioned above, drove the Catholic
population to a desperate resistance, which, however,
was violently suppressed. The situation of the
Catholics became more and more precarious as Cal-
vinism came to be the only lawful form of worship.
Lutheranism was also driven into obscurity. Zwing-
lians, Anabaptists, and other sects were forbidden to
hold public worship, while the Calvinists triumphed.
Nor was this progress surprising, for their preachers
had been subsidized since 1573 with the revenues of
the old Church, confiscated Ijy the State that year.
In 1574 the LTniversity of Leyden was founded for the purpose of "forming learned and worthy pastors". With a similar end in view, Louis of Nassau estab- lished a high school at Franeker in Friesland, where, in 1580, Calvini.sm had gained the upper hand. For the Synod of Dort, held in 161S, see Ahminianism. Henceforth, by means of persecution and force, the Reformation made steady, though slow, progress. While rigorous Calvinism acted as if it alone possessed the right of existence in the Netherlands, Catholicism kept its hold upon two-thirds of the population until far into the seventeenth century. The causes of its gradual decline were various. At the beginning of the Reformation, the condition of the clergy, and consequently of the people, was a very .sad one. As a means of improvement, the erection of the following new episcopal sees was consideretl: Middelburg, Haarlem, Deventer, Leeuwaarden, Groningen, Bois- le-Duc, and Roermond (1559). The fir.st five were occupied for only a short time. The choice of the first bishops was, in general, not happy. On this accoimt the unfortimate state of the clergy con- tinued, so much so that their corrupt morals led them even to abandon their faith and go over to the here- tics, carrying with them whole parishes. Lukewarm- ness was also rife among the laity. In Holland, as elsewhere, especially in the cities, the irreligious spirit of the Renaissance had weakened the simple faith of many. The principal reason for all this was the continued oppression under which Cathohcism suf- fered. William of Orange proposed to secure victory for the Calvinists by the persecution of the Catholic Church. His son Maurice thought it intolerable that Papists should enjoy the same rights as the Reformed, and opined that they could be held to the Union only by force. The Catholics were persecuted even when all classes took their stand against the Spaniards, and although, at the time of the Pacification of Ghent, all parties, Catholics and Reformed, agreed to co- operate against the common foe. Later on, when Catholics, driven to despair by cruel treatment, showed any disposition to resist, this was at once met by an edict. Divine service was forbidden by the States. The priest who celebrated Divine worship, as well as any one who lent his house for the purpose, was heavily fined. Higher ecclesiastics and foreign regulars were not tolerated in the country.
No Catholic educational institution nor any Catho- lic liook-printing establishment was allowed to exist in the republic. Sending Catholic children to foreign Catholic schools was severely punished. The Catho- lic was considered inferior, and was excluded from all government service. The manner of procedure in the various provinces and cities was very similar, differing only in the greater or less severity with which the laws were executed. Oftentimes the Catho- lics were permitted to hold Divine service by pajdng for the privilege. From the clergy a recognizance was required. Tliese concessions on the part of the officials became very expensive for the faithful. The devout were strengthened, but the tepid fell away. Labourers in the Lord's vineyard were want-
