Breda, Compromise of

Petition by Dutch noblemen and burghers presented to the Habsburg regent, Margaret of Parma, in 1566. A complaint against the attempts of Philip II of Spain to force Catholicism on the Netherlands, it was rejected by Philip, who called the petitioners ‘beggars’. His scornful rejection of the Compromise, and his failure to modify his religious policy, made the Dutch War of Independence (Netherlands) inevitable.