Spain became infamous for his despotism, and Catholic persecutions sparked the Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish hold on the northern provinces was more and more tenuous. In 1579 the northern provinces established the Protestant Union of Utrecht, in which they declared themselves independent as the Seven United Provinces by the 1581 Act of Abjuration. After the secession of 1581, the southern provinces, called "'t Hof van Brabant" (of Flandria, Artois, the Tournaisis, Cambrai, Luxembourg, Limburg, Hainaut, Namur, Mechelen, Brabant, and Upper Guelders) remained with the House of Habsburg until the French Revolutionary Wars. After the extinction of the Spanish Habsburg line in 1700 with the death of the childless Charles II and the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-14), the southern provinces were also known as the Austrian Netherlands from 1715 onwards. Rulers 1482–1506 Philip I of Castile as Duke of Burgundy, Maximilian I, his father, as regent (1482–1493), Margaret of York, his stepgrandmother, governess (1489–1493) 1506–1556 Charles V as Duke of Burgundy, as Holy Roman Emperor from 1519. 1556–1581 Philip II as King of Spain The provinces were ruled on their behalf by a governor (stadtholder or landvoogd): 1489–1493 Margaret of York, dowager Duchess of Burgundy 1506–1507 William de Croÿ, Marquis d'Aerschot 1507–1530 Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy 1531–1555 Mary of Hungary 1555–1559 Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy 1559–1567 Margaret of Parma 1567–1573 Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba 1573–1576 Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga 1576–1578 John of Austria 1578–1592 Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma In 1578, the Dutch insurgents appointed Archduke Matthias of Austria governor, though he could not prevail and resigned before the 1581 Act of Abjuration. See also Spanish Netherlands References History of the Low Countries Former polities in the Netherlands 15th century in Belgium States and territories established in 1482 1480s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1482 establishments in Europe