Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn

De Montmorency was born as the eldest of four children of Josef van Montmorency, Count of Nevele and Anna van Egmont the Elder, who had married shortly after August 26, 1523, and lived at Ooidonk Castle.[1][2] His father died early in 1530 in Bologna, Italy, where he was for the coronation of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor. His mother remarried Johan II, Count of Horn, one of the wealthiest nobles of the Netherlands, who, in 1540, left the County of Horne to his wife's children on condition they assume his name.[2] A page and later chamberlain at the court of Charles V, de Montmorency married Walburgis van Nieuwenaer in 1546. He became stadtholder of Guelders in 1555, an Admiral of Flanders, and a knight of the Golden Fleece in 1556.[3]

In 1559 he commanded the stately fleet which conveyed Philip II from the Netherlands to Spain, and he remained at the Spanish court until 1563. On his return he placed himself with the Prince of Orange and Count of Egmont at the head of the party which opposed the imposition of the inquisition by Cardinal Granvelle and ultimately forced his resignation.[4] When Granvelle retired, the three nobles continued to resist the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition and of Spanish rule in the Netherlands. In April 1566, the Council of State sent Philip's younger brother, Floris of Montmorency, to Spain in a last attempt to avoid war. However, Floris was arrested, kept in house arrest, [5]then secretly executed.[6]

Although Philip II of Spain appeared to give way, he had made up his mind to punish the opponents of his policy. He replaced the regent, Margaret, duchess of Parma, with the duke of Alva, who entered the Netherlands at the head of a veteran army.[4]

Orange fled from the country, but Egmont and Horn, despite his warning, decided to remain and face the storm.[4] They were both seized, tried at the Council of Troubles and condemned as traitors.[4] Ceaseless but vain efforts were made to obtain a fair trial for Horn, and appeals for clemency on his behalf were made by potentates in all parts of the continent.[4] Egmont and Horn were executed by decapitation on 5 June 1568 at the Grand Place before the town hall in Brussels.[4] Two years later, Philip II had his still-detained brother Floris strangled in secret and spread the rumor that he had died of disease.[5]

Nowadays, a statue erected on the Petit Sablon Square in Brussels commemorates the Counts of Egmont and Horn (Hoorn, Hoorne), in historical overview usually mentioned together as Egmond en Hoorne and hailed as the first leaders of the Dutch revolt, as the predecessors of William of Orange, who grew to importance and obtained the leadership after their execution, and who was assassinated in 1584 in Delft, having succeeded in liberating parts of The Netherlands in the early years of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648).

Van Egmont ("Egmond") and De Montmorency ("Horn" or "Hoorn"), both remained faithful Roman Catholics and are commemorated in Belgium, with its traditional Catholic majority. William of Orange, brought up as a Lutheran, was a proponent of freedom of religion.

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Horn, Philip de Montmorency, Count of" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
•  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Hoorn, Count of" . Encyclopedia Americana.