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 The. Wars of Religion 333 William found his main support in the northern provinces, of, which Holland was the chief. The Dutch, who had very generally accepted Protestant teachings, were purely German in blood, while the people of the southern provinces, who adhered (as they still do) to the Roman Catholic faith, were more akin to the population of northern France. The Spanish soldiers found little trouble in defeating the troops which William collected. Like Washington, he seemed to lose al- most every battle and yet was never conquered. The first successes of the Dutch were gained by their bold mariners, who captured Spanish ships and sold them in Protestant England. Encouraged by this, many of the towns in the northern provinces of Holland and Zealand ventured to choose William as their governor, al- though they did not throw off their allegiance to Philip. In this way these two provinces became the nucleus of the United Netherlands. 562. Origin of the Dutch Republic. Alva recaptured a number of the revolted towns and treated their inhabitants with his cus- tomary cruelty ; even women and children were slaughtered in cold blood. But instead of quenching the rebellion he aroused the Catholic southern provinces to revolt. This revolt was, however, only temporary. Wiser and more moderate governors were sent by Philip to the Netherlands, and they soon succeeded in again winning the confidence of the south- ern Catholic provinces. So the northern provinces went their own way. Guided by William the Silent, they refused to consider the idea of again recognizing Philip as their king. In 1579 seven provinces, all lying north of the mouths of the Rhine and the Scheldt, formed the new and firmer Union of Utrecht. The arti- cles of this union served as a constitution for the United Prov- inces, or Dutch Republic, which, two years later, at last formally declared itself independent of Spain. 563. Assassination of William the Silent. Philip realized that William was the soul of the revolt and that without him it might be put down. The king therefore offered to confer a title of nobility and a large sum of money on anyone who should