New bishoprics in the Netherlands - Reformation, revolt and restoration

The institutional framework

1.4 Reformation, revolt and restoration

1.4.1 New bishoprics in the Netherlands

Not only did Charles V and Philip II fight heresy with repression. But they also tried to redivide the Catholic landscape in the Low Countries with the formation of new bishoprics, another initiative to stop the spread of heretical ideas and gain more control over the bishops in the Low Countries. The Council of Trent was also important to these sovereigns, as it would reform the Catholic Church and so remove many of the problems in the Church. The council did not reach a conclusion quickly and between 1545 and 1563 it gathered in various sessions in Trent and Bologna.¹⁰⁷ Moreover, implementing the decrees was not an easy or straightforward process. It led to many discussions, especially when the interests of ecclesiastical and secular institutions – particularly financial ones – were at stake. As a result, the publication of the new decrees was delayed in many regions.¹⁰⁸

The implementation of the Tridentine decrees and the fight against heresy went hand in hand with the reorganization of the dioceses in the Low Countries in 1559. This reorganization did not come out of nowhere. Already in 1525-1530, some attempts had been made to establish six new bishoprics in the Low Countries. In 1551-1552, a

106 Johan Decavele and Dirk Coigneau, eds., Het Eind van Een Rebelse Droom. Opstellen over Het Calvinistisch Bewind Te Gent (1577-1584) En de Terugkeer van de Stad Onder de Gehoorzaamheid van de Koning van Spanje (17 September 1584) (Ghent: Stadsbestuur Gent, 1984), 18–22.

107 For more on the council of Trent see: Norman P. Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. Volume II (Trent- Vatican II) (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1990); John W. O’Malley, Trent. What Happened at the Council (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013); Michela Catto and Adriano Prosperi, eds., Trent and beyond. The Council, Other Powers, Other Cultures, Mediteranean Nexus 1100-1700 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017); Wim François and Violet Soen, eds., The Council of Trent: Reform and Controversy in Europe and Beyond (1545-1700), Vol. 1: Between Trent, Rome and Wittenberg, vol. 1, 3 vols, Refo500 Academic Studies 35 (Göttingen:

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018); Wim François and Violet Soen, eds., The Council of Trent: Reform and Controversy in Europe and Beyond (1545-1700), Vol. 2: Between Bishops and Princes, vol. 2, 3 vols, Refo500 Academic Studies 35 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018).

108 Soen, Vredehandel. Adellijke En Habsburgse Verzoeningspogingen Tijdens de Nederlandse Opstand., 44; F. Willocx, L’introduction Des Décrets Du Concile de Trente Dans Les Pays-Bas et Dans La Principauté de Liège (Louvain: Librairie Universitaire, 1929).

commission appointed by Charles V asserted that Catholicism in Ghent was deteriorating because of the lack of a bishop and knowledgeable ecclesiastical figures.¹⁰⁹

Indeed, the spread of Reformation ideas had altered the religious landscape and presented a strong challenge to Catholicism. The principle of Cuius regio, eius religio, as set out in the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 for the German-speaking states of the Holy Roman Empire, allowed the region's princes to decide if their territory would be Catholic or Protestant. This illustrates the intertwinement of religion and government and explains why the Habsburg overlord resisted any challenge to Catholicism in the Low Countries.

But the call for a Ghent bishop had preceded the Reformation. The rearrangement of the dioceses and bishops' sees would have been a logical follow-up to the demographic and political changes that the Netherlands had undergone in the previous ages. And for the Burgundian dukes who had united the different regions of the Low Countries and centralized political power, the influence of “foreign” bishops in their territories was a thorn in their side.¹¹⁰

Also, the bishops themselves were in favour of a redivision. Francis Sonnius was most likely behind the plan for the reorganization drafted in 1551-1552. However, this plan to divide the Low Countries into 11 to 12 bishoprics, including two archdioceses, was not ready for discussion during the second round of the Council of Trent. A few years later, Sonnius’ plans for the reorganization of the dioceses had matured and Philip II gave him instructions to promote the redivison to the pope. For Sonnius, this seemed to merge with his hope to remodel the inquisitorial office and make it subordinate to the bishop’s authority. He would reside in Rome for more than a year and successfully discuss the plans with the pope.¹¹¹

After a lot of secret preparations and lobbying in Rome, on 12 May 1559 Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) announced the reorganization of the dioceses of the Netherlands, which was registered in the bull Super Universas. The bull outlined the transformation of the old dioceses and the division of the Netherlands into 14 bishoprics and three archdioceses, namely Mechelen, Cambrai and Utrecht. The king received the right to nominate the bishop, except in Cambrai, but the pope had to ratify the nomination before the bishop

109 Guido Marnef, ‘Een Nieuw Bisdom in Troebele Tijden. Vanaf de Oprichting Tot Het Episcopaat van Willem van Bergen’, in In de Stroom van de Tijd. (4)50 Jaar Bisdom Antwerpen, ed. Marcel Gielis et al. (Louvain: Davidsfonds Uitgeverij nv, 2012), 62; Cloet, Het Bisdom Gent (1559-1991). Vier Eeuwen Geschiedenis., 19–20.

110 Blom and Lamberts, Geschiedenis van de Nederlanden, 84; S.J. Dierickx, De oprichting der nieuwe bisdommen in de Nederlanden onder Filips II 1559-1570 (Antwerp, Utrecht: Standaard Boekhandel, 1950), 30–32; Marnef, ‘Een Nieuw Bisdom in Troebele Tijden. Vanaf de Oprichting Tot Het Episcopaat van Willem van Bergen’, 39–40.

111 Gielis and Soen, ‘The Inquisitorial Office in the Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Low Countries: A Dynamic Perspective’, 14–15; Marnef, ‘Een Nieuw Bisdom in Troebele Tijden. Vanaf de Oprichting Tot Het Episcopaat van Willem van Bergen’, 39; Guido Marnef, ‘Een Maat Voor Niets? De Episcopaten van Granvelle En Hauchin (1559-1596)’, in Het Aartsbisdom Mechelen-Brussel. 450 Jaar Geschiedenis, vol. 1 (Antwerp: Halewijn, 2009), 63–64.

could start his episcopacy.¹¹² However, as stated above, the reorganization was not just a political move. Its purpose was also to help the execution of the reforms planned by the Catholic Church. Both the higher ecclesiastical and secular powers were convinced that a more efficient church structure would provide protection against heresy.¹¹³

The archdiocese of Mechelen (Malines) presided over the bishoprics of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Antwerp, 's-Hertogenbosch and Roermond. Mechelen would have primacy over the other dioceses and thus have a leading role in councils and ecclesiastical gatherings in the Netherlands. The bishop of Arras, former chancellor of Charles V and confidant of Philip II, Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, was nominated archbishop of this new archdiocese. He would be one of the first bishops to assume office. He had already been a member of the Council of State since 1555 and he was the most important advisor of the governor-general Margaret of Parma. His nomination illustrates the important political consequences of the redivision of the dioceses, which tightened the grip of the king over the Low Countries. In February 1561, Granvelle was also appointed a cardinal. While he was already more a statesman than a bishop, the archbishop now had precedence over other dignitaries during public meetings.¹¹⁴

The new bishopric of Ghent

Pope Pius IV’s issue of the bull Regimini Universalis resulted in 1561 in the creation of the new bishopric of Ghent, encompassing 182 parishes of the old dioceses of Tournai, Utrecht and Cambrai. The city of Ghent became the new centre of the bishopric and the newly founded St Bavon’s chapter was transformed into the cathedral chapter.¹¹⁵

However, the continuing delays in installing a bishop meant that it was many years before the diocese of Ghent functioned properly. When on 30 July 1564 the king sent a decree to the Netherlands accepting the Council of Trent’s regulations, there was still no bishop in Ghent.¹¹⁶ The difficulties in establishing the new diocese of Ghent and the

112 Cloet, Het Bisdom Gent (1559-1991). Vier Eeuwen Geschiedenis., 19, 24, 26; Willocx, L’introduction Des Décrets Du Concile de Trente Dans Les Pays-Bas et Dans La Principauté de Liège, 151–52; Guido Marnef, ‘Een Maat Voor Niets? De Episcopaten van Granvelle En Hauchin (1559-1596)’, 67.

113 Gert Gielis, ‘“Providere Ovibus Bonum et Diligentem Pastorem”. Hoe Lovanienses de Nieuwe Bisdommen Modelleerden, 1545-1570’, forthcoming, 1; Bauwens, ‘Restoration and Reform of the Parish after Trent. The Case of St James in Ghent (1561-1630)’, 2017.

114 Guido Marnef, ‘Een Maat Voor Niets? De Episcopaten van Granvelle En Hauchin (1559-1596)’, 67–72.

115 Cloet, Het Bisdom Gent (1559-1991). Vier Eeuwen Geschiedenis., 19, 24, 26; Bauwens, ‘Restoration and Reform of the Parish after Trent. The Case of St James in Ghent (1561-1630)’, 2017.

116 Soen, Vredehandel. Adellijke En Habsburgse Verzoeningspogingen Tijdens de Nederlandse Opstand., 43–44; Gielis and Soen, ‘The Inquisitorial Office in the Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Low Countries: A Dynamic Perspective’, 3;

Willocx, L’introduction Des Décrets Du Concile de Trente Dans Les Pays-Bas et Dans La Principauté de Liège, 61–68.; RAG, Bisdom Gent, 020/K 19148 nf; In their article Gielis and Soen discuss the different and changing nature of the Inquisition in the Netherlands.

overall implementation of the Tridentine decrees in the Netherlands were not just the result of the usual complexities involved in restructuring institutions. Politically and religiously motivated protests also contributed to the problems, leading to a long process of conflict and negotiation between the central government in Spain and the members of various political and ecclesiastical institutions in the Low Countries.¹¹⁷

The reorganization of the dioceses was one of the provocations leading to the political-religious troubles that arose in the second half of the 16^th century and started the Revolt.

Protest hindered the implementation of the bull Regimini Universalis, the appointment of bishops dragged on in certain provinces, sometimes taking until 1570 before the bishop could take up his position. There was also a long delay in the arrival of the first bishop of Ghent. In 1562, the king had nominated the abbot of St Peter's abbey of Ghent, Francis van Haveroult, as bishop, but this was never ratified by the pope. In 1564, Haveroult gave up the episcopal chair.¹¹⁸ The conditions for candidate bishops imposed by the Council of Trent complicated matters further. It had decreed, amongst other things, that candidates must have a university degree in theology or church law. The provincial council had to work out the finer points of the Tridentine regulation. In 1570, Malines accepted the detailed prescriptions of the council of Cambrai (1565), but procedures concerning the nomination were not fully settled until the 1620s.¹¹⁹

1.4.2 Revolt

Apart from the discontent of many nobles with the repression, the reorganization of the dioceses in the Netherlands and the expansion of central power under the rule of King Philip II were perceived as an attack on local privileges and the nobles' already decreasing political powers. Also, Protestants who had already complained about the repression helped spread the idea that the “Spanish Inquisition” was going to be introduced in the Netherlands through the redivison of the bishoprics. They clearly believed that the new bishops and the implementation of the Tridentine decrees would strengthen the repression.¹²⁰

117 Bauwens, ‘Restoration and Reform of the Parish after Trent. The Case of St James in Ghent (1561-1630)’, 2017.

118 Cloet, Het Bisdom Gent (1559-1991). Vier Eeuwen Geschiedenis., 27; Gielis and Soen, ‘The Inquisitorial Office in the Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Low Countries: A Dynamic Perspective’, 16.

119 Cloet, Het Bisdom Gent (1559-1991). Vier Eeuwen Geschiedenis., 29, 30.

120 Gielis and Soen, ‘The Inquisitorial Office in the Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Low Countries: A Dynamic Perspective’, 15–16; Soen, Vredehandel. Adellijke En Habsburgse Verzoeningspogingen Tijdens de Nederlandse Opstand., 41–42; Gielis, ‘“Providere Ovibus Bonum et Diligentem Pastorem”. Hoe Lovanienses de Nieuwe Bisdommen Modelleerden, 1545-1570’, 1.

The three nobles Lamoral, the Count of Egmont, William of Orange and Philip de Montmorency, the Count of Horn, became central figures in the protest that was at this stage being handled diplomatically. However, the king’s rigid stance further reinforced the opposition. In November 1565, reform-minded members of the lesser nobility initiated what became known as the Compromise of the Nobles, to set up an organized opposition to the oppression of Protestants in the Low Countries. The high nobility did not join in this Compromise, but protested by threatening to resign. Simultaneously, they took initiatives to reconcile the opposing parties.¹²¹

At the beginning of 1566, rumours that armed nobles would march to Brussels persuaded governor-general Margaret of Parma to prepare the armed forces, the so-called bandes d’ordonnance, for possible mobilization. However, diplomacy was her first choice. From 27 March to 10 April 1566, she held crisis meetings in Brussels with the Council of State, the stadholders and the Knights of the Golden Fleece. When on 5 April the Compromise petition was presented to Margaret of Parma, she could immediately inform the nobles that the meetings had agreed on a religious moderation. The Catholic religion remained sacred, but they had decided to abolish the position of inquisitor and also differentiate the punishments for heresy, depending on the confession, age and gender of the dissident. Of course, at this stage this Moderation had not been approved by the king.¹²² By July and August 1566, he had agreed to some of the requests of Margaret of Parma, but he made it clear that he did not accept the Moderation as a whole. However, in the meantime, the Moderation, as it had been accepted in the Netherlands, had encouraged the reform-minded. The practice of preaching in the open air, known as hedge preaching, increased after the acceptance of the Moderation.¹²³

Afraid that the situation would deteriorate and that the Compromise of the Nobles would become more militant, Margaret of Parma promised the nobles, in exchange for their loyalty to the king and the Catholic faith, lettres d’assurance. This gave them the assurance that they would be treated as loyal subjects. However, when the leaders of the Compromise took the oath on 25 August, the situation in the Netherlands had escalated.

On 10 August 1566 violence erupted in Walloon Flanders, marking the start of a wave of iconoclasm that spread throughout the Netherlands.¹²⁴ When the destruction reached Ghent on 22 August, outbursts of iconoclasm had been raging through Flanders for 12

121 Soen, Vredehandel. Adellijke En Habsburgse Verzoeningspogingen Tijdens de Nederlandse Opstand., 41–42, 45–47, 50–

60; Gielis and Soen, ‘The Inquisitorial Office in the Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Low Countries: A Dynamic Perspective’, 17.

122 Soen, Vredehandel. Adellijke En Habsburgse Verzoeningspogingen Tijdens de Nederlandse Opstand., 60–63.

123 Soen, 64–67.

124 Violet Soen, ‘Between Dissent and Peacemaking. The Dutch Nobility on the Eve of the Revolt (1564-1567)’, Belgisch Tijdschrift Voor Filologie En Geschiedenis 86 (2008): 738.

days.¹²⁵ There had already been Calvinist preaching in many areas in July, but after the iconoclasm hedge preaching increased and spread to new areas. More details on the iconoclasm and hedge preaching in Ghent are given in the following chapters.

As a result of the Troubles, Philips II revised its policy for the Netherlands. At the end of November the army was put under the supervision of Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, the Duke of Alva. In December 1566, the king annulled the lettres d’assurance and adopted a strategy of divide and rule. By 3 January 1567, all office holders, including the stadholders and Knights of the Golden Fleece, had been ordered by Margaret of Parma to renew their oath of loyalty to the king. Their response was divided. The nobles Orange, Horn and Hoogstraten did not renew their oath. Egmont did after a while and Horn relented two months later. Despite these oaths, on 24 March Alva received permission to punish the knights he considered responsible for the Troubles. Even the highest nobles of the Netherlands were no longer safe. The council of troubles demanded the arrest of Horn and Egmont and later Montigny and sentenced them to death.¹²⁶

Many others became the victim of punishment by Alva or his Council of Troubles. It conducted at least eight thousand trials and executed a thousand people, even Catholics.

Alastair Duke and Aline Goosens even counted 11.000 trials.¹²⁷ In the end, the repression of Alva and his army would further polarize the situation in the Netherlands. In fact, his intolerance fuelled the civil war, later known as the Dutch Revolt, which would influence European politics for the next 80 years. In Flanders, the growing discontent would go underground for several years and then erupt in the late 1570s, especially after the Pacification of Ghent (1576).¹²⁸

125 Jozef Scheerder, ‘Het Wonderjaar Te Gent, 1566-1567’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Louvain, Catholic University of Louvain, 1971), 54; Jozef Scheerder, De Beeldenstorm, 2nd ed. (Bussum: Unieboek b.v., 1978).

126 Soen, Vredehandel. Adellijke en Habsburgse verzoeningspogingen tijdens de Nederlandse Opstand., 70–75; For a new perspective on the iconoclasm: David de Boer, “Picking up the Pieces. Catholic Perceptions of Iconoclasm in the Netherlands, 1566-1672” (Master’s Thesis, Utrecht University, 2013); For Ghent: Tom Van Ermen, “Beeldenstorm in het zestiende-eeuwse Gent. Een historisch-antropologische studie naar de katholieke passiviteit in de Nederlanden” (Master’s Thesis, Ghent University, 2008).

127 Craig Harline and Eddy Put, A Bishop’s Tale. Mathias Hovius among His Flock in Seventeenth-Century Flanders (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000), 13; Te Brake, Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe; Alastair Duke, ‘Salvation by Coercion: The Controversy Surrounding the “Inquisition” in the Low Countries on the Eve of the Revolt’, in Reformation Principle and Practice, ed. Peter Newman Brooks (London: Scolar Press, 1980), 135–56; Aline Goosens, Les Inquisitions Modernes Dans Les Pays-Bas Méridionaux (1520-1633). 2: Les Victimes (Brussels: Ed. de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1998).

128 For more information on the iconoclasm and the Dutch Revolt see Arnade, Beggars, Iconoclasts, and Civic Patriots. The Political Culture of the Dutch Revolt; Peter Limm, The Dutch Revolt, 1559-1648 (London: Longman, 1989);

Parker, The Dutch Revolt; Soen, ‘Between Dissent and Peacemaking. The Dutch Nobility on the Eve of the Revolt (1564-1567)’; Jonathan I. Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998); Scheerder, ‘Het Wonderjaar Te Gent, 1566-1567’; Bauwens, ‘Restoration and Reform of the Parish after Trent. The Case of St James in Ghent (1561-1630)’, 2017.

In 1576, the sudden death of Luis de Requesens, who had succeeded Alva as governor, created a power vacuum. The Spanish troops mutinied and the Council of State was unable to keep control of the provinces. In order to stabilize the situation, the provincial States of Brabant took over governmental powers and with the support of the States of Flanders and Hainaut it summoned the States General. This form of action was illegal, as only the king could call for a gathering of the States General, but nevertheless it worked.

In October, there were negotiations in Ghent between the loyal states and the rebellious states. These would lead to the Pacification of Ghent on 8 November 1576. An important feature of this treaty was that it stressed the idea of a unified and peaceful Netherlands (17 provinces), which demanded the withdrawal of the Spanish troops. Religious questions had been avoided, but it was made clear that Zeeland and Holland would remain Protestant while all persecution on the basis of religion was to be ended.¹²⁹

The next governor, Don Juan of Austria, was unable to revoke the Pacification, nor could he keep to the treaty, which caused discord with the States General in December 1577. Ghent took advantage of the lack of central power to reform the politics and the public space of the city, thus trying to undo the humiliation of the Caroline Concession.

The military citadel built at the request of Charles V had already been attacked and captured by the people of Ghent. It was called the Spanish Castle because it had housed the Spanish garrison since 1567 and was thus not only a symbol of persecution and loss of privileges, but also a real financial burden on the city. On 21 August 1577, the States

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