History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

Chapter 6
Storms in the Council, and
Martyrs at the Stake
THREE councils were organised, as we have
said, to assist the Duchess of Parma in the
government of the Provinces; the nobles selected to
serve in these councils were those who were
highest in rank, and who most fully enjoyed the
confidence of their countrymen. This had very
much the look of popular government. It did not
seem exactly the machinery which a despot would
set up. The administration of the Provinces
appeared to be within the Provinces themselves,
and the popular will, expressed through the
members of the councils, must needs be an
influential element in the decision of all affairs.
And yet the administration which Philip had
constructed was simply a despotism. He had so
arranged it that the three councils were but one
council; and the one council was but one man; and
that one man was Philip's most obedient tool. Thus
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