"royal" stadtholder of the three provinces. Boussu's area of control in Holland was in effect reduced to a few loyal cities, like Amsterdam. This merchant city was subsequently blockaded by a Sea-Beggar fleet. To break the blockade Boussu personally led a royalist fleet in the Battle on the Zuiderzee. He was defeated and made a prisoner of war. He was succeeded by first, Philip of Noircarmes, and after the latters death in March, 1574, by Gilles de Berlaymont, lord of Hierges as royalist stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht. Commander-in-chief At the conclusion of the Pacification of Ghent (which treaty mentions him by name) he was freed again. The Pacification united for a time the entire Habsburg Netherlands in opposition to king Philip II. Boussu now took a commission from the States-General to lead their army. However, he was not very successful. At the Battle of Gembloux of 31 January 1578 he was soundly beaten by the Spanish army under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. However, half a year later his army beat the army of Don Juan at the Battle of Rijmenam (1578) which forced Don Juan to give up much terrain gained since Gembloux. Boussu retired to Antwerp where he died at the end of 1578. Notes Sources (1995), The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806, Clarendon Press, Oxford, . (2008) The Founding of the Dutch Republic. War, Finance, and Politics in Holland 1572-1588. Oxford U.P. Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (Spanish Empire) 1542 births 1578 deaths Max