Early in the year 1580, the Prince was doomed to a bitter disappointment, and the provinces to a severe loss, in the treason of Count Renneberg, governor of Friesland.  This young noble was of the great Lalain family.  He was a younger brother of:  Anthony, Count of Hoogstraaten—­the unwavering friend of Orange.  He had been brought up in the family of his cousin, the Count de Lalain, governor of Hainault, and had inherited the title of Renneberg from an uncle, who was a dignitary of the church.  For more than a year there had been suspicions of his fidelity.  He was supposed to have been tampered with by the Duke of Terranova, on the first arrival of that functionary in the Netherlands.  Nevertheless, the Prince of Orange was unwilling to listen to the whispers against him.  Being himself the mark of calumny, and having a tender remembrance of the elder brother, he persisted in reposing confidence in a man who was in reality unworthy of his friendship.  George Lalain, therefore, remained stadholder of Friesland and Drenthe, and in possession of the capital city, Groningen.

The rumors concerning him proved correct.  In November, 1579, he entered into a formal treaty with Terranova, by which he was to receive—­as the price of “the virtuous resolution which he contemplated”—­the sum of ten thousand crowns in hand, a further sum of ten thousand crowns within three months, and a yearly pension of ten thousand florins.  Moreover, his barony of Ville was to be erected into a marquisate, and he was to receive the order of the Golden Fleece at the first vacancy.  He was likewise to be continued in the same offices under the King which he now held from the estates.  The bill of sale, by which he agreed with a certain Quislain le Bailly to transfer himself to Spain, fixed these terms with the technical scrupulousness of any other mercantile transaction.  Renneberg sold himself as one would sell a yoke of oxen, and his motives were no whit nobler than the cynical contract would indicate.  “See you not,” said he in a private letter to a friend, “that this whole work is brewed by the Nassaus for the sake of their own greatness, and that they are everywhere provided with the very best crumbs.  They are to be stadholders of the principal provinces; we are to content ourselves with Overyssel and Drente.  Therefore I have thought it best to make my peace with the King, from whom more benefits are to be got.”

Jealousy and selfishness; then, were the motives of his “virtuous resolution.”  He had another, perhaps a nobler incentive.  He was in love with the Countess Meghen, widow of Lancelot Berlaymont, and it was privately stipulated that the influence of his Majesty’s government should be employed to bring about his marriage with the lady.  The treaty, however, which Renneberg had made with Quislain le Bailly was not immediately carried out.  Early in February, 1580, his sister and evil genius, Cornelia Lalain, wife of Baron Monceau, made him a visit at