Henry, Count of Bréderode
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Henry, Count of Bréderode (1531-1568), was born at Brussels.
He was the descendant of an ancient family, which had for some centuries been settled in Holland, and had taken an active part in the affairs of war and peace. Count Henry became a convert to the Reformed faith and placed himself at the side of the prince of Orange and Count Egmont in resisting the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition and Spanish despotism into the Netherlands. In 1566 he was one of the founders of the confederacy of nobles who bound themselves to maintain the rights and liberties of the country by signing a document known as "the Compromise."
On April 5 of that year Brederode accompanied to the palace a body of more than 200 confederates, of whom he acted as the spokesman, to present to the regent, Margaret of Parma, a petition setting forth their grievances, called the "Petition of Compromise." It was at a banquet at the Hotel Culemburg on April 8, presided over by Bréderode, that the sobriquet of les Gueux, or "the Beggars," was first given to the opponents of Spanish rule. Bréderode was banished from the Netherlands by Alva, and died in exile shortly afterwards at the early age of thirty-six.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
