The Spaniards are steadily overrunning Flanders and Brabant.

The Dutch, in their plight, had not immediately abandoned William's policy of seeking foreign assistance, but as Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England have both refused sovereignty over the country, the States-General in 1586 name Leicester as governor-general.

Robert Sidney, younger brother of Sir Philip Sidney and second son of Sir Henry Sidney, English lord deputy in Ireland, had been educated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1585 entered Parliament, and from 1585 has fought against Spain in the Netherlands under Leicester, who is his uncle.

He is knighted in 1586.

Buys falls out of favor when, along with other members of the religiously tolerant urban aristocracy, he opposes Leicester in his idea of a strictly Calvinist state.

He is arrested in July by Calvinist democrats, with Leicester's connivance.

Imprisoned for six months, Buys fails to regain a position of power upon his release.