Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

===Habsburg rule from Spain===
[[File:Map of Seventeen Provinces of Low Germanie (Zeventien Provincien der Nederlanden) 1626.jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Seventeen Provinces]] (Low Germania)]]
[[File:Portrait of Pope Adrian VI (by Jan van Scorel).jpg|thumb|Influential [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]] theologian Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens, 1459–1523, was an advisor to Charles; in the last year of his life he became pope as [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]] (1522–1523).]]
[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] (1500–1558) was born and raised in the [[County of Flanders|Flemish]] city of [[Ghent]]; he spoke French. Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the annexation of [[Tournai]], Artois, [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]], [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]] and [[Guelders]] to create the [[Seventeen Provinces]]. The towns of the region had already been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but were nominally fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. When he was a minor, his aunt [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret]] acted as regent until 1515. France relinquished its ancient claim on [[Flanders]] in 1528.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James D. Tracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKMvr09dB4C&pg=PA258 |title=Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics |publisher=Cambridge U.P. |date=2002 |isbn=9780521814317 |page=258}}</ref>
	
[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Erasmus - Louvre.jpg|left|thumb|[[Desiderius Erasmus]], 1466–1536, [[Rotterdam]] Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], 1523]]
From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands had to contend with the rebellion of [[Arumer Zwarte Hoop|Frisian peasants]] (led by [[Pier Gerlofs Donia]] and [[Wijard Jelckama]]). [[Gelre]] attempted to build up its own state in northeast Netherlands and northwest Germany. Lacking funds in the 16th century, Gelre had soldiers provide for themselves by pillaging enemy lands. These soldiers were a great menace to the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], as when they pillaged [[The Hague]].

The dukes of Burgundy over the years through astute marriages, purchases and wars, had taken control of the Seventeen Provinces that made up the Low Countries. They are now the Netherlands in the north, the [[Southern Netherlands]] (now Belgium) in the south, and Luxemburg in the southeast. Known as the "Burgundian Circle", these lands came under the control of the Habsburg family.

Charles became the ruler in 1506, but in 1515 he left the territory to become king of Spain and later Holy Roman Emperor. Charles turned over control to regents (his close relatives), and in practice the rule over the Low Countries were exercised by the Spaniards under his authority. The provinces each had their own governments and courts, controlled by the local nobility, and their own traditions and rights ("liberties") dating back centuries. Likewise the numerous cities had their own legal rights and local governments, usually controlled by the merchants. On top of this the Spanish had imposed a somewhat centralized government, the Estates General of the Netherlands, with its own officials and courts.<ref>H.G. Koenigsberger, "The Beginnings of the States General of the Netherlands", ''Parliaments, Estates and Representation'' (1988) 8#2 pp. 101–114.</ref> The Spanish officials sent by Charles ignored traditions and the Dutch nobility as well as local officials, inciting an anti-Spanish sense of nationalism which led to the [[Dutch Revolt]]. With the emergence of the Protestant Reformation, Charles—now the Emperor—was determined to crush Protestantism. Unrest began in the south, centered in the large rich metropolis of Antwerp. The Netherlands was an especially rich unit of the Spanish realm, especially after the [[Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis]] of 1559; it ended four decades of warfare between France and Spain and allowed Spain to reposition its army.<ref name="Albert Guerard 1959 pp. 134">Albert Guerard, ''France, A Modern History'', (1959), pp. 134–136.</ref>

In 1548, Charles granted the Netherlands status as an entity in which many of the laws of the Holy Roman Empire became obsolete. The "Transaction of Augsburg"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin van Gelderen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXK2fxzn2lAC&pg=PA18 |title=The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt 1555–1590 |publisher=Cambridge U.P. |date=2002 |isbn=9780521891639 |page=18}}</ref> created the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, which comprised the Netherlands and Franche-Comté. A year later the [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1549]] stated that the Seventeen Provinces could only be passed on to his heirs as a composite entity.<ref name="Kamen">{{Cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/spain14691714soc00kame |title=Spain, 1469–1714: a society of conflict |publisher=Pearson Education |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-582-78464-2 |edition=3rd |location=Harlow, United Kingdom}}</ref>