1500 Charles V, grandson of Maximilian and later the German emperor, is born in Ghent. Erasmus lives in Anderlecht, then a village outside Brussels. 1526 Pieter Brueghel the Elder is born. Brussels becomes the capital of the Spanish Netherlands. 1541 Mercator draws the first map of Flanders.
Protestant iconoclasts ransack numerous churches.
In order to put down the movement, the Spanish Duke of Alba is sent to the Low Countries. As the representative of the Inquisition, he subjects the people to a reign of terror which causes thousands of Protestants to emigrate. Counts Egmont and Hoorn, the leaders of a revolt against Spanish rule, are beheaded on the Grand-Place in Brussels. Pieter Brueghel the Elder dies at his home in Brussels. Under William I of Orange, the seven northern provinces, now called the Netherlands, join forces under the Union of Utrecht and declare their independence in 1581.