"Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522-1568) and Philippe de Montmorency, Count de Hoorne (1518-68) were among the nobles and commoners rebelling against what they saw as the hardships that the Spanish overlords had brought to the Low Countries. Egmont and Hoorne were imprisoned in Maison du Roi; tried; found guilty; and beheaded in Grand-Place. The men are celebrated as leaders in Belgium’s fight for independence. The 1864 monument that stands at on end of the park, in the Flemish Neo-Renaissance style, designed by Charles-Auguste Fraikin (1817-1893), depicts the Counts of Egmont and Hornes, executed on the scaffold on 5.June.1568, because they stood up to Spanish tyranny. The monument, first stood in Grand-Place in front of Maison du Roi, was moved to Petit-Sablon in 1899."
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"This historic statue in Brussels (French: Bruxelles; Dutch: Brussel), Belgium of Counts Egmont and Horn, executed in 1568 by the Duke of Alba on behalf of King Philip II of Spain, has stood near the Petit Sablon church (Dutch: Kleine Zavel), off rue de la Régence/Regentschapsstraat, since 1879.
The work commemorates Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522-1568) and Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn (1524-1568), prominent noblemen who, with William the Silent (or: William of Orange), protested against the introduction of the Inquisition in Belgium. While William was Lutheran, eventually leading the Dutch Revolt whereby the northern Provinces attained their practical, if not de jure, independence from Spain, Counts Egmont and Horn remained Roman Catholic, their protest being on account of opposition to cruel and violent religious persecution. However, the Duke of Alba, the King of Spain's representative, executed them by decapitation in the Grand' Place in 1568, despite many pleas for clemency.
Counts Egmont and Horn have traditionally been seen as Belgian national heroes; while Belgian independence did not arrive until 1830, yet Belgium's Constitution and historiographical tradition draw heavily on traditions of liberty of conscience and its pursuit, championed by figures such as Counts Egmont and Horn.
Both Goethe and Beethoven wrote works in honour of Count Egmont, such was the historical importance of the events which led to the waning of Spanish power in Europe.
The statue of Counts Egmont and Horn was the work of Belgian sculptor Charles-Auguste Fraikin (1817-1893), who was known for work in neo-Classical style. The work depicts the personages whom they represent in period-specific costume; the statue complex includes memorial fountain. Inscriptions in French and Dutch recall the subjects' opposition to the iniquities of the Duke of Alba. Sculptor Fraikin's work was completed in 1864. Other works for which he is known include the memorial mausoleum to Queen Consort Marie-Louise of the Belgians, at Ostend's Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk."
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