Beginning in 1559, heretics were burned at the stake almost every month. The reaction to these atrocities in the Netherlands was the so-called Iconoclast Revolt (an uprising in which Reformation supporters destroyed altars, paintings, liturgical vessels, etc., in Catholic churches), during which Ghent was particularly affected. Threatened was the Ghent Alterpiece: Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, which miraculously managed to be saved. The conclusion of the so-called Ghent Pacification brought religious peace between Protestants and Catholics.
