Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish  Netherlands, Austrian and
Spanish, that part of the Low Countries that, from 1482 until
1794, remained under the control of the imperial house of
Hapsburg. The area corresponds roughly to modern Belgium and
Luxembourg.  The Low Countries passed from the house of Burgundy
to that of Hapsburg through the marriage (1477) of Mary of
Burgundy to Archduke Maximilian (later Emperor Maximilian I);
their son Philip (later Philip I of Castile) inherited Flanders,
Brabant, Artois, Hainaut, the duchy of Luxembourg, Limburg,
Holland, and Zeeland. His son, Emperor Charles V, added Utrecht,
Gelderland, Overijssel, Friesland, and Drenthe and in 1547
declared the entire Netherlands hereditary Hapsburg possessions.
In 1555 he abdicated the Netherlands in favor of his son, Philip
II of Spain. The provinces of the Netherlands retained their
individual institutions and provincial estates, thereby limiting
the powers of the Spanish governors at Brussels.  The harsh
regime of the duke of Alba, who