Pacification of Ghent

[1] The main objectives were to remove Spanish mercenaries who had made themselves hated by all sides due to their plundering, and to promote a formal peace with the rebellious provinces of Holland and Zeeland.

In 1566, the Habsburg Netherlands experienced considerable political upheaval and civil unrest, which culminated in the iconoclastic fury of that year.

Its ruler, Philip II of Spain, responded by appointing Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba as Governor-general, and in 1567 he arrived there to restore order, accompanied by an army of mercenaries.

Philip soon replaced the most important advisors to former regent Margaret of Parma, either by summarily executing those such as the counts of Egmont and Hoorn, or by driving them into exile, as he did to William the Silent.

However, maintaining a large military presence put severe strain on the royal finances, especially because Spain was fighting expensive wars against the Ottoman Sultan and in Italy at the same time.

This caused a power vacuum in the Brussels government, as the slow communications of the day prevented a speedy replacement from Madrid.

This action was comparable to what Orange had done in Holland and Zeeland, in which royal authority had been usurped by rebels pretending to act "in the name of the king".

[2]: 267 The first order of business for the States General was to bring about peace with the rebel provinces so as to form a common front against the marauding mutineers.

The rebels were represented by Paulus Buys, Grand Pensionary of Holland, and Philips of Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde; the States General sent Elbertus Leoninus, a professor at Leuven University, among others.

The provinces of the Netherlands agreed to jointly drive out the Spaniards and their supporters "to restore the citizens to their rights, privileges, and liberties and their former prosperity".

In article 5, they declared that all placards[3] by Alba for the suppression of heresy were revoked, and nobody would be punished for religious offenses before the States General decided the matter of religion.

The remaining articles dealt with such issues as the free movement of goods and persons, the freeing of prisoners of war,[4] the return of confiscated properties (especially those of the Prince of Orange), the reimbursement of the Prince for his expenses in the conduct of the war against the government troops before 1572, and the problems caused by the need to equalize the inflated currency in Holland and Zeeland with that in the other provinces.

The States General then accepted him as the legitimate governor-general and even agreed to pay the arrears of the royal troops, the refusal of which had arguably been the cause of the problems with the mutineers.

With the Spanish army under control and their local liberties returned, the Walloon nobles and southern provinces no longer had any reason to rebel.