Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

===Prelude to war===
{{Multiple image|perrow=1/2/1|total_width=300|caption_align=center
| title =
| image1 = Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg - The Removal of the Wool from the Skins and the Combing - WGA21986.jpg|caption1=1595 painting by [[Isaac van Swanenburg]] illustrating [[Leiden]] textile workers.
| image2 = WilliamOfOrange1580.jpg|caption2=William I, Prince of Orange, called [[William the Silent]].
| image3 = The Low Countries.png|caption3=Low countries 1559–1609.
}}
The Netherlands was a valuable part of the Spanish Empire, especially after the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis of 1559. This treaty ended a forty-year period of warfare between France and Spain conducted in Italy from 1521 to 1559.<ref name="Albert Guerard 1959 pp. 134" /> The Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis was somewhat of a watershed—not only for the battleground that Italy had been, but also for northern Europe. Spain had been keeping troops in the Netherlands to be ready to attack France from the north as well as from the south.

With the settlement of so many major issues between France and Spain by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, there was no longer any reason to keep Spanish troops in the Netherlands. Thus, the people of the Netherlands could get on with their peacetime pursuits. As they did so they found that there was a great deal of demand for their products. Fishing had long been an important part of the economy of the Netherlands. However, now the fishing of herring alone came to occupy 2,000 boats operating out of Dutch ports. Spain, still the Dutch trader's best customer, was buying fifty large ships full of furniture and household utensils from Flanders merchants. Additionally, Dutch woolen goods were desired everywhere. The Netherlands bought and processed enough Spanish wool to sell four million florins of wool products through merchants in Bruges. So strong was the Dutch appetite for raw wool at this time that they bought nearly as much English wool as they did Spanish wool. Total commerce with England alone amounted to 24 million florins. Much of the export going to England resulted in pure profit to the Dutch because the exported items were of their own manufacture. The Netherlands was just starting to enter its "Golden Age." Brabant and Flanders were the richest and most flourishing parts of the Dutch Republic at the time.<ref name="Claflin">Claflin, W. Harold, ed. ''History of Nations: Holland and Belgium'', (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1907), pp. 72–74, 103–105</ref> The Netherlands was one of the richest places in the world. The population reached 3 million in 1560, with 25 cities of 10,000 people or more, by far the largest urban presence in Europe; with the trading and financial center of Antwerp being especially important (population 100,000). Spain could not afford to lose this rich land, nor allow it to fall from Catholic control. Thus came 80 years of warfare.

A devout Catholic, Philip was appalled by the success of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in the [[Low Countries]], which had led to an increasing number of [[Calvinism|Calvinists]]. His attempts to enforce religious persecution of the Protestants, and his centralization of government, law enforcement, and taxes, made him unpopular and led to a [[revolt]]. [[Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]], was sent with a Spanish Army to punish the unruly Dutch in 1567.<ref name="Motley">John Lathrop Motley, ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic'' (Harper & Bros.: New York, 1855) pp. 106–115, 121, 122, 207, 213</ref>

The only opposition the Duke of Alba faced in his march across the Netherlands were the nobles, [[Lamoral, Count of Egmont]]; [[Philippe de Montmorency, Count of Horn]] and others. With the approach of Alba and the Spanish army, [[William the Silent]] of Orange fled to Germany with his three brothers and his whole family on 11 April 1567. The Duke of Alba sought to meet and negotiate with the nobles that now faced him with armies. However, when the nobles arrived in Brussels they were all arrested and Egmont and Horn were executed.<ref name="Motley" /> Alba then revoked all the prior treaties that Margaret, the [[Duchess of Parma]] had signed with the Protestants of the Netherlands and instituted the Inquisition to enforce the decrees of the [[Council of Trent]].