To what extent was Philip II personally responsible for the problems he faced in the Netherlands in the 1560s?

support from. It angered many of the merchant elites as it threatened the commercial success of the Netherlands as the apparent introduction of the Inquisition could scare off foreign traders who were seen as heretics, these foreign traders were crucial to the commercial success of Netherlands. Furthermore it compounded how strict Catholicism was, which led to many merchant elites becoming attracted to the concept of double predestination which was portrayed in Calvinism, in the long term this led to the success of the Iconoclast fury of 1566. It was also a bad move by Philip because it had been passed secretly without consulted the States General. This undermined the Dutch grandees who in the long term could have helped him by granting him traditional rights to persecute Protestantism as he pleased. Moreover the bishoprics scheme led to problems in the 1560’s as it oppressed the liberties of the provinces by grouping them all together as merely a Catholic, Spanish colony, rather than respecting their provincialism, leading to anger towards Philip for not understanding the individual needs of each province.The second most important mistake made by Philip that led to him being mainly responsible for problems he faced in the Netherlands in the 1560’s was his appointments of Margaret of Parma and the Duke of Alva. Margaret of Parma wasn’t politically astute and was feeble in her dealings with the grandees.  This inability to deal with the grandees who were already angered after the secrecy of the bishoprics scheme was crucial as it enabled the grandees to force through laws to relax heresy. These in turn led to Calvinist hedge preaching and then the Iconoclastic fury of 1566 which involved the ransacking of images and paintings from churches and smashing them in the streets. This was known as the First Revolt and was the trigger of Philip’s second poor appointment – the Duke of Alva as the leader 76,000 Spanish troops to put down the uprising. However, because of Philip’s indecisive character it took him a long time to make this appointment and by the time the troops had arrived the uprising had already been put down by alarmed nobles. The appointment of the Duke of Alva was a bad decision by Philip because Alva’s brutal massacre of those involved in the uprising through the  Council of Troubles and also his introduction of the ‘Hundredth Penny’ tax as well as the ‘Tenth’ and ‘Twentieth’ penny taxes caused much anger during the 1560’s and in the long term led to the second revolt of the Netherlands. Another less important fault of Philip’s which made him being personally responsible for problems he faced in Netherlands in the 1560’s was his refusal to visit the Netherlands at this crucial point. During Charles V’s reign he spent sufficient time in the Netherlands and despite some unrest, the fact he was there showed the Dutch how he felt the Netherlands were important. However, Philips absence led to problems in the 1560’s because it made the Dutch feel as if they were merely a Spanish colony which Philip only used for taxation. Furthermore had Philip visited he may have been able to understand the complicated provinciality of the Netherlands and in doing so made better decision relating to each province. On the other hand there are some factors that Philip wasn’t personally responsible for which caused problems for him in the 1560’s in the Netherlands. The most impacting of these factors was the trade depression during 1564 and 1565 which linked with a fierce winter saw riots for food which triggered Margaret of Parma to reduce tension by introducing heresy laws which inspired hedge preaching and then the Iconoclastic fury, and so this economic slump and the bad winter can be seen ads key triggers to the First Revolt in 1567.Secondly there was already pent up dissatisfaction in the Netherlands after heavy taxation and many heresy related executions during Charles V’s reign. This had pushed many into exile and in the long term had actually brought about many problems for Philip in the 1560’s because whilst in exile around Europe these exiles had learned more about Calvinism an d during the 1560’s they returned to the Netherlands and played an instrumental part in the hedge preachings and Iconoclastic fury of 1567.Overall Philip was highly responsible for the problems he faced in the Netherlands in the 1560’s. Although the trade depression, the bad winter and the pent up dissatisfaction from Charles V’s reign were not his fault, Philip contributed much more to the problems he faced in Netherlands in the 1560’s mainly because of his insistence on the implementation of Catholicism, and also because of his appointments and his reluctance to visit the Netherlands. In the long term Philip’s personal responsibility for the problems in the 1560’s and his inability to solve these problems led to the majority of the Netherlands being lost in the Truce of Antwerp in 1609.