There are therefore thousands of "letters from the Segovia woods" extant, but the two sets concerning the religious-policy question he sent subsequent to Egmont's visit from this place have become associated with their dateline in Dutch and English historiography.
Also, on 24 January 1566, one of the leading members of the Council of State, the Prince of Orange, expressed his discontent with Philip's religious policies and threatened to resign.
Margaret then sent two members of the Council of State, the Marquis of Bergen and the Baron de Montigny, brother of the Count of Hoorn, to Spain with the petition to plead for a positive response.
This had emboldened the Calvinists in the country (many of whom returned from exile because of the milder political climate) and they started to organize open-air religious meetings which attracted large crowds.
In August and September, a wave of riotous attacks on churches, destroying religious art and fittings, the so-called Iconoclastic Fury or Dutch: Beeldenstorm went over much of the country and Calvinists seized power in a few cities, like Valenciennes.