Philip’s choice of Margaret as governess-general was a happy one.  She was a natural daughter of Charles V. Her mother was a Fleming, and she had been brought up under the care of her aunts, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary.  She resembled those able rulers in being a woman of strong character and statesmanlike qualities, and no doubt she would have been as successful in her administration had she had the same opportunities and the same freedom of action as her predecessors.  Philip, however, though henceforth he passed the whole of his life in Spain, had no intention of loosening in any way his grasp of the reins of power or of delegating any share of his sovereign authority.  On his return to Madrid he showed plainly that he meant to treat the Netherland provinces as if they were dependencies of the Spanish crown, and he required from Margaret and her advisers that all the details of policy, legislation and administration should be submitted to him for supervision and sanction.  This necessitated the writing of voluminous despatches and entailed with a man of his habits of indecision interminable delays.  Margaret moreover was instructed that in all matters she must be guided by the advice of her three councils.  By far the most important of the three was the Council Of State, which at this time consisted of five members—­Anthony Granvelle, Bishop of Arras; Baron de Barlaymont; Viglius van Zwychem van Aytta; Lamoral, Count of Egmont; and William, Prince of Orange.  Barlaymont was likewise president of the Council of Finance and Viglius president of the Privy Council.  By far the most important member of the Council of State, as he was much the ablest, was the Bishop of Arras; and he, with Barlaymont and Viglius, formed an inner confidential council from whom alone the regent asked advice.  The members of this inner council, nicknamed the Consulta, were all devoted to the interests of Philip.  Egmont and Orange, because of their great influence and popularity with the people, were allowed to be nominally Councillors of State, but they were rarely consulted and were practically shut out from confidential access to the regent.  It is no wonder that both were discontented with their position and soon showed openly their dissatisfaction.

Egmont, a man of showy rather than of solid qualities, held in 1559 the important posts of Stadholder of Flanders and Artois.  The Prince of Orange was the eldest of the five sons of William, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, head of the younger or German branch of the famous house of Nassau.  Members of the elder or Netherland branch had for several generations rendered distinguished services to their Burgundian and Habsburg sovereigns.  This elder branch became extinct in the person of Rene, the son of Henry of Nassau, one of Charles V’s most trusted friends and advisers, by Claude, sister of Philibert, Prince of Orange-Chalons.  Philibert being childless bequeathed his small principality to Rene; and Rene in his turn, being killed at the