Compromise of Nobles

The Compromise[1] of Nobles (Dutch: Eedverbond der Edelen; French: Compromis des Nobles) was a covenant of members of the nobility in the Habsburg Netherlands who came together to submit a petition to the Regent Margaret of Parma on 5 April 1566, with the objective of obtaining a moderation of the placards against heresy in the Netherlands.

She ruled with the assistance of a Council of State which included a number of the high nobility of the country, like the Prince of Orange, Egmont, Horne, Aerschot, and Noircarmes.

Like his father Charles V, Philip was very much opposed to the Protestant teachings of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Anabaptists, which had gained many adherents in the Netherlands by the early 1560s.

[2] This unrest motivated the Brussels government to send Lamoral, Count of Egmont, to Spain to plead for relaxation of the ordinances.

On 24 January 1566, however, Orange addressed a letter to the Regent, as a member of the Council, in which he offered his unsolicited opinion that moderation of the placards would be desirable, given the toleration now practiced in neighboring lands, like France.

[5] In the petition, the nobles, who presented themselves as loyal subjects of the king, asked him to suspend the Inquisition and the enforcement of the placards against heresy.

In August 1566, in the depressed industrial area around Steenvoorde a rash of attacks on Catholic church property started, in which religious statuary was destroyed by irate Calvinists, for whom those statues contravened the Second Commandment against graven images.

Though the central authorities eventually suppressed this insurrection, it led to severe repression by the Duke of Alba that would precipitate the Dutch Revolt and Eighty Years' War.