Don John of Austria, or Passages from the history of the sixteenth century, MDXLVIIMDLXXVII . DUKE OF ALBA, GOVERNOR OF THE NETHERLANDS. CHAPTER IV. SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, ESPECIALLYOF THE TROUBLES SINCE THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP IL(1555-1576). ERHAPS none of all the possessions of the House of Austria was more important as an arsenal of the materials of power than her Belgian territory. In all that belonged to civilisation, in agriculture and commerce, in art and learning, in realized wealth, and in the monuments of intellectual energy, the Netherlands were in advance of all
Don John of Austria, or Passages from the history of the sixteenth century, MDXLVIIMDLXXVII . DUKE OF ALBA, GOVERNOR OF THE NETHERLANDS. CHAPTER IV. SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, ESPECIALLYOF THE TROUBLES SINCE THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP IL(1555-1576). ERHAPS none of all the possessions of the House of Austria was more important as an arsenal of the materials of power than her Belgian territory. In all that belonged to civilisation, in agriculture and commerce, in art and learning, in realized wealth, and in the monuments of intellectual energy, the Netherlands were in advance of all the other countries which owned the J sway of the Spanish sceptre. Their place in the worlds history is far more important than that occupied by many fairer and broader regions canopied by serener skies. For if in them political freedom cannot be said to have been VOL. II. K. I30 ? DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA. CHAP. iv. born, on their soil at least were fought many of its most famousand decisive battles. Between the dethronement of Charles the Simple ( 925),who had held feeble rule in the Netherlands as heir of Charlemagne,and the accession of Philip Duke of Burgundy to the undividedsovereignty of the heritage of Jacqueline of Holland (1437), fivecenturies elapsed. During these centuries the land had beensubdivided into many petty domains, amongst which the countiesof Holland, Flanders, and Hainault, the Duchy of Brabant, andthe Bishopric of Utrecht, were usually pre-eminent by their sizeand resources, or by the character of their Princes. Out of feudalwars and crusading adventures grew those feudal necessities whichhere, as in other parts of Europe, gave rise to municipal institutionsand civic association. In plains, thickly studded with castles andabbeys, in due time appeared, on the navigable stream or besidethe landlocked haven, towns and cities, incorpo
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