Blood, Council of, the name popularly applied to the Council of Troubles, established by the Duke of Alva, in the Netherlands, in 1567. Although it had no charter or authority from any source, it was omnipotent and superseded all other authorities. In the first three months alone its victims numbered 1,800, and soon there was hardly a Protestant house in the Netherlands that had not furnished a victim.
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Council of Blood, The,
a court created in the Netherlands by the Duke of Alva, its object being to put down all agitation caused by the religious and political tyranny of Philip II. Its first session was held Sept. 20, 1567, and in less than three months it had put to death 1,800 persons.
Entries from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912. (It is unknown why they defined this twice.)
Noung asked us to add that '"caused by the religious and political tyranny of Philip II" would be a slightly controversial statement nowadays? This seems to have been written from a biased viewpoint.' The node on Philip II gives more detail and seems to imply that Philip's father Charles and also the Duke of Alva himself are as much or more to blame for the Dutch revolt.