[6] The acting stadtholder of Hainaut, Philip of Noircarmes, subdued the city after months of failed negotiations, starvation, and finally an artillery bombardment.

[7] Gilles le Clercq, who had served as general secretary of the Calvinist movement during the summer months, had come to Valenciennes in order to collect money for war preparations, but he was sent away by De Brès, who said he wasn't interested in that sort of thing.

[8] Noircarmes demanded that the urban militias, who had sided with the Protestants during the Beeldenstorm, were disbanded and a garrison of governmental troops[note 1] would be placed in the city to maintain order.

[1] In November, Noircarmes tried to prevent a (costly) siege by seeking to persuade governor-general Margaret of Parma to impose a trade blockade on the city.

[1][2] The rural population in the area was forbidden to trade or have any contact with the city, carrying weapons and holding armed gatherings was prohibited, and anyone violating these measures would be treated as an enemy of the king.

[1] A group of Calvinists led by Jan Denys tried to relieve Valenciennes, but it was defeated by Maximilian Vilain [nl] (lord of Rassenghien), commander of Lille, in the Battle of Wattrelos on 27 December 1566.

"[12] The Calvinist theocracy that was established in beleaguered Valenciennes has led historians to draw comparisons with the Anabaptist Münster rebellion (1534–1535), and Calvin's Geneva (1536–1564).

[15] The besiegers tried to starve the defenders by pillaging and destroying all the useful land in the area; in Protestant propaganda that the Calvinist rebels directed to the Geuzen nobility in the hope of outside support, they portrayed the Noircarmes government forces who employed these scorched earth tactics as the most horrific barbarians.