The prosperity of the land was ruined by the wholesale confiscations of goods.

Alva boasted that by such means he had added to the revenues of his territories 500,000 ducats per annum.
William of Orange retired to his estates at Dillenburg not to yield to the tyrant but to find a _point d'appui_ from which to fight.

Wishing to avoid anything that might cause division among the people he kept the religious issue in the background and complained only of foreign tyranny.

He tried to enlist the sympathies of the Emperor Maximilian II and to collect money and men.

William's friend Villiers invaded the Burgundian State near Maastricht and Louis of Nassau marched with troops into Friesland.