Philippe René Nivelon Louis de Sainte-Aldegonde, Lord of Noircarmes (c. 1530 –

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, 5 March 1574) was a statesman and soldier from the

Habsburg Netherlands Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austr ...

in the service of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Philip II of Spain. He gained notoriety during the suppression of Calvinist insurrections, especially at

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

in 1566-7, and as a member of the

Council of Troubles The Council of Troubles (usual English translation of nl, Raad van Beroerten, or es, Tribunal de los Tumultos, or french: Conseil des Troubles) was the special tribunal instituted on 9 September 1567 by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of ...

at the start of the Eighty Years' War. He was stadtholder of Hainaut from 1566, and of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

and

from 1573 until his death.

Early life

Noircarmes (as he is usually called in historiography) was the son of Jean de Sainte-Aldegonde, a scion of an old aristocratic family from

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

and Marie de Rubempré.They married in 1529 and Philip was the eldest son
His father (d. 1538) had been a

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

of Charles V and he himself is mentioned as a page of Charles in 1547. Noircarmes married Bonne de Lannoy on 7 September 1554. They had a son, Maximilien-Lamoral, and a daughter.

Role in the early phase of the Dutch Revolt

Noircarmes was a member of the Council of State of

Margaret of Parma Margaret of Parma (; 5 July 1522 – 18 January 1586) was Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582. She was the illegitimate daughter of the then 22-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gh ...

in the early 1560s. As such he opposed

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Egmont, and Horne who counseled caution to the Regent after the upheaval of the

Compromise of Nobles The Compromise of Nobles ( nl, Eedverbond der Edelen; french: Compromis des Nobles) was a covenant of members of the nobility in the Habsburg Netherlands who came together to submit a petition to the Regent Margaret of Parma on 5 April 1566, ...

in 1566. When in August, 1566 social unrest broke out in connection with open-air sermons of Calvinists and subsequently the

Iconoclastic Fury ''Beeldenstorm'' () in Dutch and ''Bildersturm'' in German (roughly translatable from both languages as 'attack on the images or statues') are terms used for outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th centu ...

, he argued for repression. He was made acting-stadtholder and '' grand baillie'' of Hainaut in July, 1566, and at the same time put in charge of the royal forces in that area. Margaret charged him with the suppression of a Calvinist revolt in Valenciennes, led by

Guido de Bres Guido de Bres (also known as Guido de Bray,L.A. van Langeraad, ''Guido de Bray Zijn Leven en Werken'', Zierikzee: S.Ochtman en Zoon 1884 p.9, 13 Guy de Bray and Guido de Brès, 1522 – 31 May 1567) was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and ...

, among others, in December, 1566. He laid

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

to the city and captured it on March 23, 1567. De Bres was executed along with many other citizens of Valenciennes. Noircarmes by that time had already captured rebellious Tournai and executed many Calvinists there. He next went to

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

and

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

and forced them to take in royal garrisons. Finally, he went to Holland and punished in short order Gouda,

Schoonhoven Schoonhoven () is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Since 2015 it has been a part of the municipality of Krimpenerwaard, before it had been an independent municipality. The former municipa ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in May. Meanwhile, king Philip had sent

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 150711 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (, pt, Grão Duque de Alba) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke ( or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a S ...

to the Netherlands with an army to restore order. Noircarmes went to meet him and made an immediate good impression. When Alba formed his

in September, 1567, he made Noircarmes its vice-president. Noircarmes next convinced the Count of Egmont not to evade arrest by Alba. (Egmont later was executed). As a member of the Council of State, Noircarmes advised against Alba's plans to institute new taxes (the Tenth Penny), but Alba ignored this advice. After the siege of the fortress of Mons (that had been captured by

Louis of Nassau Louis of Nassau (Dutch: Lodewijk van Nassau, January 10, 1538 – April 14, 1574) was the third son of William I, Count of Nassau-Siegen and Juliana of Stolberg, and the younger brother of Prince William of Orange Nassau. Louis was a key ...

in May, 1572), Noircarmes was entrusted with the punishment of the citizens for their rebellion. Next he accompanied Alba to Mechelen and encouraged the Spanish soldiers to sack that city in October, 1572. Then he accompanied Alba's son

Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán, 4th Duke of Alba, Grandee of Spain, (in full, ), (21 November 1537 – 11 December 1583), was a commander in the Spanish army during the Eighty Years' War. Biography He was the first leg ...

on his punitive expedition to Holland. He took part in the

Siege of Haarlem The siege of Haarlem was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. From 11 December 1572 to 13 July 1573 an army of Philip II of Spain laid bloody siege to the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, whose loyalties had begun wavering during the pre ...

in 1573. When Maximilien de Hénin-Liétard, the royal stadtholder of Holland, was taken prisoner of war by the rebels in October, 1573, Noircarmes was appointed his successor. However, at the

Siege of Alkmaar The siege of Alkmaar (1573) was a turning point in the Eighty Years' War. The burghers of the Dutch city of Alkmaar held off the Spanish (who had set up their camp in Oudorp) between 21 August and 8 October 1573, with boiling tar and burning b ...

he was wounded. He died of these wounds in Utrecht on 5 March 1574.

Notes

Sources

* "Philippe de Sainte-Aldegonde de Noircarmes" in: (1888) ''Mémoires et publications de la Société des sciences, des arts et des lettres du Hainaut'', Maison Léon Lasseau, pp. 136–13

External links

*
Noircarmes, Philippe
*

People of the Eighty Years' War 1530 births 1574 deaths {{Authority control