ABSTRACT
Alva, as effective governor of the Netherlands, intensified enforcing Spanish rule with the anti-heresy laws. Egmont, Hoorn, and William of Orange were summoned by Alva to Brussels to confer with him. William, cautious and mistrustful, avoided going; Hoorn travelled and attended, and Egmont, ever trusting and confident in his loyalty to Spain, made himself available. Within days of his arrival in Brussels, Alva quietly made preparations to set up a tribunal to investigate and identify and punish all rebels. The existence and the remit of this tribunal – the Council of the Troubles – was kept secret for a period in order not to alert or alarm the perceived ringleaders of the recent troubles. It was set up in secret, but when it was activated the whole of the Netherlands was to become all too aware or its activities and purpose. Officially named the Council of the Troubles, it became infamously known as the ‘Council of Blood’. Margaret of Parma, realising the exact nature of the new regime, resigned on 8 September 1567. The following day, Egmont and Hoorn were arrested and placed in custody in Ghent. Back in Spain, on 19 September 1567, Montigny, still on his conciliatory mission in Spain, was arrested and conveyed to custody in Simancas.
