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Why did Philip II send the duke of Alba to the Netherlands?
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William I
Portrait of William I, oil on panel by Adriaen Thomaszoon Key, c. 1579; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
King Philip II of Spain dispatched the Duke of Alba to the Netherlands in 1567 with a large army primarily to address the growing instability in the region. His mission was threefold:12
- Suppress Rebellion: Alba was sent to punish those involved in the violent, iconoclastic outbursts led by Calvinists and to reestablish the kingās shaken authority over the provinces.123
- Root Out Heresy: A central objective was to enforce strict adherence to Roman Catholicism and eliminate the influence of Protestantism, which had gained a firm foothold among various social classes.123
- Centralize Power: Beyond religious and security concerns, Philip II aimed to dismantle the traditional privileges, rights, and customs of the Low Countries. These local traditions served as obstacles to the king's desire for an absolutist, centralized government.13
To achieve these goals, Alba established the Council of Troubles, which bypassed local laws to execute or imprison thousands, effectively initiating a reign of terror to intimidate the citizenry and provincial governments into submission.123