Orange and Egmont, with whom were joined a number of other leading nobles (among these Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, his brother the lord of Montigny, the Counts of Meghem and Hoogstraeten and the Marquis of Berghen), little by little adopted an attitude of increasing hostility to this policy, which they regarded as anti-national and tending to the establishment of a foreign despotism in the Netherlands.

The continued presence of the Spanish troops, the severe measures that were being taken for the suppression of heresy, and a proposal for the erection of a number of new bishoprics, aroused popular discontent and suspicion.  Orange and Egmont, finding that they were never consulted except on matters of routine, wrote to Philip (July, 1561) stating that they found that their attendance at the meetings of the Council of State was useless and asked to be allowed to resign their posts.  Meanwhile, feeling that the presence of the Spanish troops was a source of weakness rather than of strength, Margaret and Granvelle were urging upon the king the necessity of their withdrawal.  Neither the nobles nor the regent succeeded in obtaining any satisfactory response.  Orange and Egmont accordingly absented themselves from the Council, and Margaret ventured on her own authority to send away the Spanish regiments.

The question of the bishoprics was more serious.  It was not a new question.  The episcopal organisation in the Netherlands was admittedly inadequate.  It had long been the intention of Charles V to create a number of new sees, but in his crowded life he had never found the opportunity of carrying out the proposed scheme, and it was one of the legacies that at his abdication he handed on to his son.  One of the first steps taken by Philip was to obtain a Bull from Pope Paul IV for the creation of the new bishoprics, and this Bull was renewed and confirmed by Pius IV, January, 1560.  Up to this time the entire area of the seventeen provinces had been divided into three unwieldy dioceses—­Utrecht, Arras and Tournay.  The See of Utrecht comprised nearly the whole of the modern kingdom of the Netherlands.  Nor was there any archiepiscopal see.  The metropolitical jurisdiction was exercised by the three foreign Archbishops of Cologne, Rheims and Treves.  Philip now divided the land into fourteen dioceses (Charles had proposed six) with three Metropolitans at Mechlin, Utrecht and ’sHertogenbosch[3].  Granvelle, who had obtained the Cardinal’s hat, February, 1561, was appointed Archbishop of Mechlin, and by virtue of this office Primate of the Netherlands, December, 1561.  This new organisation was not carried out without arousing widespread opposition.