History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

When the Duke de Medina Coeli arrived in the
Netherlands, he stood aghast at the terrible wreck
his predecessor had left behind him. The treasury
was empty, the commerce of the country was
destroyed, and though the inhabitants were
impoverished, the taxes which were still attempted
to be wrung from them were enormous. The cry of
the land was going up to heaven, from Roman
Catholic as well as Protestant. The cautious
governor, seeing more difficulty than glory in the
administration assigned to him, "slipped his neck
out of the collar," says Brandt, and returned to
Spain. He was succeeded by Don Luis de
Requesens and Cuniga, who had been governor at
Milan. The Netherlanders knew little of their new
ruler, but they hoped to find him less the demon,
and more the man, than the monstrous compound
of all iniquity who for five years had revelled in
their blood and treasure. They breathed more freely
for a little space. The first act of the new governor
was to demolish the statue which Alva had erected
of himself in the citadel of Antwerp; Requesens
wished the Netherlanders to infer from this
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