Hendrick van Brederode

[1] On 5 April that year, Brederode accompanied to the palace a body of 300 knights, for whom he acted as the spokesman, to present to the regent, Margaret of Parma, a petition setting forth their grievances.

It was at a banquet at the Hotel Culemburg on 8 April, presided over by Bréderode, that the sobriquet of les Gueux, or "the Beggars," was first given to the opponents of Spanish rule.

Bréderode, the "Grote Geus" or Big Beggar, was banished from the Netherlands by Alva, and died in exile shortly afterwards at the early age of thirty-six.

[1] In March of the year 1567, backed by his friend Lenaert Jansz de Graeff, his brother Dirck Jansz Graeff and a large part of the bourgeoisie, Brederode became the Generalcaptain of the city of Amsterdam.

Hendrick van Brederode is the main character in the 1949 novel De grote geus (The Great Geuz) written by Johan Fabricius.