Bréderode, Hendrick van

(1531-1568)

   Born in Brussels into a prominent aristocratic family, Count Hendrick van Bréderode served as a page to Emperor Charles V. A dissident against the policies of King Philip II, he became a close ally of William of Orange. On 3 April 1566, Bréderode entered Brussels together with 200 of the lesser nobility, and, on 5 April, he joined 400 confederates in delivering the petition of grievances to Margaret of Parma. At a banquet that evening at the townhouse of the count of Culembourg on the rue des Petits Carmes (later burned by orders of the duke of Alba), he delivered the famous comment that he proudly accepted the epithet of gueux (beggars), thereafter adopted as an honorific by rebels. Bréderode made an unsuccessful attempt to raise an army at Antwerp and fled into exile at Emden, Germany, on 27 April 1567. He died on 15 February 1568, and, in May, the Council of Troubles banished him and confiscated his goods.

   See also Wars of Religion.