to the cosmopolitan culture of the Netherlands and their
commercial position making them open to the importation of ideas as of
merchandise from all Europe. It was due in part to the local jealousies
and privileges of the separate provinces, and in part to the strength of
certain nobles and cities. The persecution, indeed, had a decidedly
class character, for the emperor well knew Protestant nobles whom he did
not molest, while the poor seldom failed to suffer. And yet Charles had
accomplished something. Even the Protestants were loyal, strange to say,
to him personally. The number of martyrs in his reign has been estimated
at barely one thousand, {246} but it must be remembered that for every
one put to death there were a number punished in other ways. And the
body of the people was still Catholic, even in the North. It is
noteworthy that the most popular writer of this period, as well as the
first to use the Dutch tongue with precision and grace, was Anna Bijns, a
lay nun, violently anti-Lutheran in sentiment. [Sidenote: Anna Bijns,
1494-1575]

[1] Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, Guelders, Flanders, Artois, Hainaut,
Holland, Zeeland, Malines, Namur, Lille, Tournay, Friesland, Utrecht,
Overyssel and Groningen.

SECTION 2. THE CALVINIST REVOLT

When Charles V, weary of the heaviest scepter ever wielded by any
European monarch from Charlemagne to Napoleon, sought rest for his soul
in a monk's cell, he left his great possessions divided between his
brother Ferdinand and his son Philip. To the former went Austria and
the Empire, to the latter the Burgundian provinces and Spain with its
vast dependencies in the New World.

[Sidenote: Spain and the Netherlands]

The result of this was to make the Netherlands practically a satellite
of Spain. Hitherto, partly because their interests had largely
coincided with those of the Empire, partly because by balancing Germany
against Spain they could manage to get their own rights, they had found
prosperity and had acquired a good deal of national power. Indeed,
with their wealth, their central position, and growing strength as
province after province was annexed, and their consciousness that their
ruler was a native of Flanders, their pride had been rather gratified
than hurt by the knowledge that he possessed far larger dominions.
[Sidenote: Abdication of Charles] But when Charles, weeping copiously
and demanding his subjects' pardon, descended from the throne suppo