events
Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): The northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.
Related Wikipedia articles
Act of Abjuration
1581 declaration of independence from Spain by several Dutch provinces
The Act of Abjuration is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from their allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the Dutch Revolt.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Low Countries
Coastal lowland region in northwestern Europe
The Low Countries, historically also known as the Netherlands, is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Benelux" countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Philip II of Spain
King of Spain (1556–1598) and Portugal (1580–1598)
Philip II, sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent, was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He was also jure uxoris King of England and Ireland from his marriage to Queen Mary I in 1554…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)