The imposition of these taxes on the model of the _alcabala_ had been part of a scheme for sweeping away all the provincial jurisdictions and rights and forming the whole of the Netherlands into a unified state, as subservient to despotic rule as was Castile itself.

A greater centralisation of government had been the constant policy of the Burgundian and Habsburg rulers since the time of Philip the Good, a policy to be commended if carried out in a statesmanlike and moderate spirit without any sudden or violent infringement of traditional liberties.

The aim of Philip of Spain as it was interpreted by his chosen instrument, the Duke of Alva, was far more drastic.

With Alva and his master all restrictions upon the absolute authority of the sovereign were obstacles to be swept remorselessly out of the way; civil and religious liberty in their eyes deserved no better fate than to be suppressed by force.

Alva's experience was that of many would-be tyrants before and since his day, that the successful application of force is limited by the power of the purse.