摘要
Any major research library contains dozens of historical works about the Dutch Revolt of 1568 and the ensuing eighty years war that permanently divided the Habsburg Netherlands. However, to the best of my knowledge, none of them pays serious attention to the remarkable fact that this region had been governed by three women on behalf of various distant male relatives for all but seven of the sixty years preceding the revolt. This account stresses two things： First, these women generally governed a densely populated and relatively rich collection of provinces with great success; second, that an implacably bitter civil war broke out shortly after a distant king compelled its third female Governor-General to resign. It also stresses the connections between the three women and suggests that Philip II had overlooked a better-prepared female candidate when he appointed his half-sister in 1559.
