GUEUX. – Name by which the rebels against the Spanish government in the Netherlands were called; these rebels later formed a political-religious party that first contributed to the secession of Flanders and subsequently to the formation of Holland as an independent state.
The uprising was chiefly provoked by Philip II’s religious intolerance, which continued the policy already pursued by his father Charles V against the Protestant element in the country, and by the Flemish suspicion that the king, through his absolutist stance, aimed to destroy their political and religious freedom.
When all direct requests to obtain a mitigation of government policy proved fruitless, the Flemings rose in revolt and, meeting on 5 April 1566 in the so-called “Compromise of Breda,” resolved to send a delegation of three hundred nobles to the court in Brussels. This delegation, led by Counts Louis of Nassau and Henry of Brederode, was to request Regent Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Parma, to abolish the Inquisition and relax the edicts against Protestants.
The party took its name, Gueux (Beggars), from the cry of “Vive les G.!” that echoed during a banquet where the three hundred delegates gathered in beggars’ garb. Others, however, claim the name originated from the words “No fear of these beggars,” spoken by Count Berlaymont during the reception of the delegates to reassure the duchess.
The unity of the party, which included both Catholics and Protestants, proved short-lived, for the Catholics broke away from the Protestants when, on 11 August, the latter resorted to sacking Catholic churches. To suppress the revolt, Philip II dispatched Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, second Duke of Alba, to the Netherlands in 1567. Alba established a special tribunal, later dubbed by the Flemings the “Council of Blood,” and launched a merciless repression in which prominent leaders of the movement, such as Lamoral, Count of Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency-Nivelle, Count of Horn, lost their lives.
To escape, the Protestants had to hide or flee. Those who took refuge in the forests, continuing their harassment of the Spanish and Catholics, were called Gueux des bois, the term having by then come to denote the Reformers exclusively; those who fled to the armed ships of the Protestant provinces of Holland and Zeeland were called Gueux de mer.
Nevertheless, Alba’s repression failed to achieve its aims; on the contrary, it sparked a general insurrection between 31 March and 19 April 1572 in the northern provinces of the Netherlands. The Gueux seized control of the four provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, and Utrecht, which united under William I of Orange-Nassau, the Silent, who had openly declared for both political rebellion and religious reform. He was granted the titles of “stadtholder” (governor) and captain-general of the army.
With this final act, the Gueux had fulfilled their mission, for the Dutch War of Independence was now underway.