suggestion, in the beginning of 1566, Fray Lorenzo urges the necessity
of the most rigorous measures towards the Protestants in the
Netherlands. "Since your majesty holds the sword which God has given to
you, with the divine power over our lives, let it be drawn from the
scabbard, and plunged in the blood of the heretics, if you do not wish
that the blood of Jesus Christ, shed by these barbarians, and the blood
of the innocent Catholics whom they have oppressed, should cry aloud to
Heaven for vengeance on the sacred head of your majesty!... The holy
king David showed no pity for the enemies of God. He slew them, sparing
neither man nor woman. Moses and his brother, in a single day, destroyed
three thousand of the children of Israel. An angel, in one night, put to
death more than sixty thousand enemies of the Lord. Your majesty is a
king, like David; like Moses, a captain of the people of Jehovah; an
angel of the Lord,--for so the Scriptures style the kings and captains
of his people;--and these heretics are the enemies of the living God!"
And in the same strain of fiery and fanatical eloquence he continues to
invoke the vengeance of Philip on the heads of his unfortunate subjects
in the Netherlands.
That the ravings of this hard-hearted bigot were not distasteful to
Philip may be inferred from the fact that he ordered a copy of his
memorial to be placed in the hands of Alva, on his departure for the Low
Countries. It appears that he had some thoughts of sending Fray Lorenzo
to join the duke there,--a project which received little encouragement
from the latter, who probably did not care to have so meddlesome a
person as this frantic friar to watch his proceedings.
An interesting notice of this remarkable man is to be found in Gachard,
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Rapport, pp. xvi.-1.
[803] "Y por la priesa que dieron en esto, no ubo tiempo de consultarlo
á Su Santidad, como fuera justo, y quiza avra sido así mejor, pues no
vale nada, sino quitandola Su Santidad que es que la pone; pero en esto
conviene que aya el secreto que puede considerar." Correspondance de
Philippe II., tom. I. p. 445.
[804] "Y en esto conviene el mismo secreto que en lo de arriba." Ibid.,
ubi supra.
These injunctions of secrecy are interpolations in the handwriting of
the "prudent" monarch himself.
[805] "Perderé todos mis estados, y cien vidas que tuviesse, porque yo
no pienso ni quiero ser señor de hereges." Ibid., p. 446.
[806] "Et, au regard de la convocation des dicts Estats généraulx, comme
je vous ay escript mon intention, je ne treuve qu'il y a matière pour la
changer ne qu'il conviengne aulcunement qu'elle se face en mon absence,
mesmes comme je suis si prest de mon partement." Correspondance de
Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 165.
[807] Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. III. p. 321.
[808] "Accendunt animos Ministri, fugienda non animo modò, sed et
corpore idola: eradicari, extirpari tantam summi Dei contumeliam
opportere affirmant." Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, p. 236.
[809] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 250-252.--Vander Haer, De
Initiis Tumultuum, p. 232 et seq.--Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p.
96.--Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, pp. 183, 185.
[810] "Si Mariette avait peur, qu'elle se retirât sitôt en son nid."
Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II., Préface, p. lii.
[811] Ibid., ubi supra.
[812] "Nullus ex eo numero aut casu afflictus, aut ruinâ oppressus
decidentium ac transvolantium fragmentorum, aut occursu collisuque
festinantium cum fabrilibus armis levissimè sauciatus sit." Strada, De
Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 257.
"No light argument," adds the historian, "that with God's permission the
work was done under the immediate direction of the demons of Hell!"
[813] Ibid., pp. 255-258.--Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, p. 237 et
seq.--Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p.
193.--Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II., Préface, pp.
liii, liv.
[814] "Pro focis pugnatur interdum acriùs quàm pro aris." Strada, De
Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 260.
[815] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 201.
[816] But the Almighty, to quote the words of a contemporary, jealous of
his own honor, took signal vengeance afterwards on all those towns and
villages whose inhabitants had stood tamely by, and seen the profanation
of his temples.--"Dios que es justo y zelador de su honra por caminos y
formas incomprehensibles, lo ha vengado despues cruelmente, por que
todos esos lugares donde esas cosas han acontecido ban sido tomados,
saqueados, despojados y arruinados por guerra, pillage, peste y
incomodidades, en que, asi los males y culpados, como los buenos por su
sufrimiento y connivencia, han conocido y confesado que Dios ha sido
corrido contra ellos." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.
[817] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 259.
[818] "En tous ces monastères et cloistres, ils abattent touttes
sépultures des comtes et comtesses de Flandres et aultres."
Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 183.
[819] "Hic psittaco sacrosanctum Domini corpus porrigerent: Hic ex
ordine collocatis imaginibus ignem subijeerent, cadentibus insultarent:
Hic statuis arma induerent, in armatos depugnarent, deiectos, Viuant
Geusij clamare imperarent, ut ad scopum sic ad Christi imaginem
iaculaturi collimarent, libros bibliothecarum butiro inunctos in ignem
conijcerent, sacris vestibus summo ludibrio per vicos palàm vterentur."
Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, p. 238.
[820] Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p. 98.
[821] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 182.
[822] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 260.
[823] "Y de lo que venia del saco de la plateria y cosas sagradas de la
yglesia (que algunos ministros y los del consistorio juntavan en una)
distribuyendo á los fieles reformados algunos frutos de su reformacion,
para contentar á los hambrientos." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de
Flandes, MS.
[824] "Haciéndoles pagar el precio de los azotes con que fueron
azotados." Ibid.
[825] "Il répondit que la première chose à faire était de conserver
l'Etat; que, ensuite on s'occuperait des choses de la religion. Elle
répliqua, non sans humeur, qu'il lui paraissait plus nécessaire de
pourvoir d'abord à ce qu'exigeait le service de Dieu, parce que la ruine
de la religion serait un plus grand mal, que la perte du pays."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 449.
[826] "Il repartit que tous ceux qui avaient quelque chose à perdre, ne
l'entendaient pas de cette manière." Ibid., p. 450.
[827] Vide ante, p. 265.
[828] "Et me disoient..... que les sectaires voulloient venir tuer, en
ma présence, tous les prestres, gens d'église et catholicques."
Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 188.
[829] "La duchesse se trouve sans conseil ni assistance, pressée par
l'ennemi au dedans et au dehors." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom.
I. p. 455.
[830] "Nonobstant touttes ces raisons et remonstrances, par plusieurs et
divers jours, je n'y ay voullu entendre, donnant par plusieurs fois
soupirs et signe de douleur et angoisse de coeur, jusques à là que, par
aulcuns jours, la fiebvre m'a détenue, et ay passé plusieurs nuiets sans
repos." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 194.
[831] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 454.
[832] "Egmont a tenu le même langage, en ajoutant qu'on lèverait 40,000
hommes, pour aller assiéger Mons." Ibid., ubi supra.
[833] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 196.--Strada, De Bello
Belgico tom. I. p. 266.--Vita Viglii, p. 48.--Hopper, Recueil et
Mémorial, p. 99.
[834] At Margaret's command, a detailed account of the circumstances
under which these concessions were extorted from her was drawn up by the
secretary Berty. This document is given by Gachard, Correspondance de
Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix, p. 588.
[835] The particulars of the agreement are given by Meteren, Hist. des
Pays-Bas, fol. 45. See also Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries,
vol. I. p. 204.--Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. pp.
455, 459.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. cxliv.
[836] "Elle le supplie d'y venir promptement, à main armée, afin de le
conquérir de nouveau." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 453.
[837] Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. II. p. 177.
[838] Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. pp. 220, 223,
231, 233; Préface, pp. lxii.-lxiv.
[839] The document is given entire by Groen, Archives de la Maison
d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. p. 429 et seq.
[840] Tiepolo, the Venetian minister at the court of Castile at this
time, in his report made on his return, expressly acquits the French
nobles of what had been often imputed to them, having a hand in these
troubles. Their desire for reform only extended to certain crying
abuses; but, in the words of his metaphor, the stream which they would
have turned to the irrigation of the ground soon swelled to a terrible
inundation.--"Contra l'opinion de'principali della lega, che volevano
indur timore et non tanto danno.... Dico che questo fu perchè essi non
hebbero mai intentione di ribellarsi dal suo sigre ma solamente con
questi mezzi di timore impedir che non si introducesse in quei stati il
tribunal dell'Inquisitione." Relatione di M. A. Tiepolo, 1567, MS.
[841] "En supposant que le Roi voulût admettre deux religions (ce
qu'elle ne pouvait croire), elle ne voulait pas, elle, être l'exécutrice
d'une semblable détermination; qu'elle se laisserait plutôt mettre en
pièces." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 453.
[842] The report of this curious dialogue, somewhat more extended than
in these pages, is to be found in the Vita Viglii, p. 47.
[843] "En paroles et en faits, ils se sont déclarés contre Dieu et
contre le Roi." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 453.
[844] Ibid., ubi supra.
[845] "Le président, qu'on menace de tous côtés d'assommer et de mettre
en pièces, est devenu d'une timidité incroyable." Ibid., p. 460.
Viglius, in his "Life," confirms this account of the dangers with which
he was threatened by the people, but takes much more credit to himself
for presence of mind than the duchess seems willing to allow. Vita
Viglii, p. 48.
[846] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 255, 260.
[847] "Disant n'avoir aulcun d'elle, mais bien de Vostre Majesté,
laquelle n'avoit esté content me laisser en ma maison, mais m'avoit
commandé me trouver à Bruxelles vers Son Altesse, ou avoie receu tant de
facheries." Supplément à Strada, tom. II. p. 505.
[848] "Ne me samblant debvoir traicter affaires de honneur avecq Dames."
Ibid., ubi supra.
[849] "They tell me," writes Morillon to Granvelle, "it is quite
incredible how old and gray Egmont has become. He does not venture to
sleep at night without his sword and pistols by his bedside!" (Archives
de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 36.) But there was no
pretence that at this time Egmont's life was in danger. Morillon, in his
eagerness to cater for the cardinal's appetite for gossip, did not
always stick at the improbable.
[850] "Il leur en coûtera cher (s'écria-t-il en se tirant la barbe), il
leur en coûtera cher; j'en jure par l'âme de mon père." Gachard,
Analectes Belgiques, p. 254.
[851] "De tout cela (disje) ne se perdit un seul moment en ce temps, non
obstant la dicte maladie de Sa Majte, la quelle se monstra semblablement
selon son bon naturel, en tous ces negoces et actions tousjours tant
modeste, et temperée et constante en iceulx affaires, quelques extremes
qu'ilz fussent, que jamais l'on n'a veu en icelle signal, ou de passion
contre les personnes d'une part, ou de relasche en ses negoces de
l'aultre." Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p. 104.
[852] At this period stops the "Recueil et Mémorial des Troubles des
Pays-Bas" of Joachim Hopper, which covers a hundred quarto pages of the
second volume (part second) of Hoynck van Papendrecht's "Analecta
Belgica." Hopper was a jurist, a man of learning and integrity. In 1566
he was called to Madrid, raised to the post of keeper of the seals for
the affairs of the Netherlands, and made a member of the council of
state. He never seems to have enjoyed the confidence of Philip in
anything like the degree which Granvelle and some other ministers could
boast; for Hopper was a Fleming. Yet his situation in the cabinet made
him acquainted with the tone of sentiment as well as the general policy
of the court; while, as a native of Flanders, he could comprehend,
better than a Spaniard, the bearing this policy would have on his
countrymen. His work, therefore, is of great importance as far as it
goes. It is difficult to say why it should have stopped _in mediis_, for
Hopper remained still in office, and died at Madrid ten years after the
period to which he brings his narrative. He may have been discouraged by
the remarks of Viglius, who intimates, in a letter to his friend, that
the chronicler should wait to allow time to disclose the secret springs
of action. See the Epistolæ ad Hopperum, p. 419.
[853] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 206.
[854] "Questo è il nuvolo che minaccia ora i nostri paesi; e n'uscirà la
tempesta forse prima che non si pensa. Chi la prevede ne dà l'avviso; e
chi n'è avvisato, o con intrepidezza l'incontri, o con avvedimento la
sfugga." Bentivoglio, Guerra di Fiandra, p. 118.
[855] "Nullum prodire è Regis ore verbum seu privatè seu publicè, quin
ad ejus aures in Belgium fideliter afferatur." Strada, De Bello Belgico,
tom. I. p. 281.
[856] An abstract of the letter is given by Gachard, Correspondance de
Philippe II. tom. I. p. 485.
[857] "Sa Ma^té et ceulx du Conseil seront bien aise que sur le prétext
de la religion ils pourront parvenir à leur pretendu, de mestre le pais,
nous aultres, et nous enfans en la plus misérable servitude qu'on
n'auroit jamais veu, et come on ast tousjours craint cela plus que chose
que soit." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. p. 324.
[858] Egmont's deposition at his trial confirms the account given in the
text--that propositions for resistance, though made at the meeting, were
rejected. Hoorne in his "Justification," refers the failure to Egmont.
Neither one nor the other throws light on the course of discussion.
Bentivoglio, in his account of the interview, shows no such reserve; and
he gives two long and elaborate speeches from Orange and Egmont, in as
good set phrase as if they had been expressly reported by the parties
themselves for publication. The Italian historian affects a degree of
familiarity with the proceedings of this secret conclave by no means
calculated to secure our confidence. Guerra di Fiandra, pp. 123-128.
[859] "Siesse qu'elle jure que s'et la plus grande vilagnerie du
monde..... et que s'et ung vray pasquil fameulx et qui doit ettre forgé
pardechà, et beaucoup de chozes semblables." Archives de la Maison
d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. p. 400.
[860] "En fin s'et une femme nourie en Rome, il n'y at que ajouter foy."
Ibid., p. 401.
Yet Egmont, on his trial, affirmed that he regarded the letter as
spurious! (Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 327.) One who
finds it impossible that the prince of Orange could lend himself to such
a piece of duplicity, may perhaps be staggered when he calls to mind his
curious correspondence with the elector and with King Philip in relation
to Anne of Saxony, before his marriage with that princess. Yet Margaret,
as Egmont hints, was of the Italian school; and Strada, her historian,
dismisses the question with a doubt,--"in medio ego quidem relinquo." A
doubt from Strada is a decision against Margaret.
[861] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom I. p. 474.
[862] Ibid., p. 491.
[863] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 282.
[864] Ibid., ubi supra.
[865] Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p. 109.
[866] Ibid., p. 113.
[867] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. p. 391.
[868] "Prætereà consistoria, id est senatus ac coetus, multis in urbibus,
sicuti jam Antverpiæ cæperant, instituerunt: creatis Magistratibus,
Senatoribusque, quorum consiliis (sed anteà cum Antverpianâ curiâ, quam
esse principem voluere, communicatis) universa hæreticorum Resput.
temperaretur." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I p. 283.
[869] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. pp. 455, 456.
[870] Ibid., p. 496.
[871] I quote almost the words of William in his famous Apology, which
suggests the same explanation of his conduct that I have given in the
text.--"Car puis que dès le berceau j'y avois esté nourry, Monsieur mon
Pere y avoit vescu, y estoit mort, ayant chassé de ses Seigneuries les
abus de l'Eglise, qui est-ce qui trouvera estrange si cette doctrine
estoit tellement engravée en mon coeur, et y avoit jetté telles racines,
qu'en son temps elle est venuë à apporter ses fruits." Dumont, Corps
Diplomatique, tom. V. part i. p. 392.
[872] "Il y a plus de trois mois, qu'elle se lève avant le jour, et que
le plus souvent elle tient conseil le matin et le soir; et tout le
reste, de la journée et de la nuit, elle le consacre à donner des
audiences, à lire les lettres et les avis qui arrivent de toutes parts,
et à déterminer les résponses à y faire." Correspondance de Philippe
II., tom. I. p. 496.
Sleep seems to have been as superfluous to Margaret as to a hero of
romance.
[873] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 289, 290.
[874] "J'aimerais mieux que my langue fût attachée au palais, et devenir
muet, comme un poisson, que d'ouvrir la bouche pour persuader au peuple
chose tant cruelle et déraisonnable." Chronique contemporaine, cited by
Gachard. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 561, note.
[875] "Suadere itaque illis, ut à publicis certè negotiis abstineant, ac
res quique suas in posterum curent: néve Regem brevi affecturum ingenitæ
benignitatis oblivisci cogant. Se quidem omni ope curaturam, ne, quam
ipsi ruinam comminentur, per hæc vulgi turbamenta Belgium patiatur."
Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 295.
[876] "Nec ullis conditionibus flecti te patere ad clementiam; sed
homines scelestos, atque indeprecabile supplicium commeritos, ferro et
igni quamprimùm dele." Ibid., p. 300.
[877] "Periere in eâ pugnâ quæ prima cum rebellibus commissa est in
Belgio, Gheusiorum mille ac quingenti: capti circiter trecenti,
jugulatique pænè omnes Beavorii jussu, quod erupturi Antverpienses,
opemque reliquiis victæ factionis allaturi crederentur." Ibid., p. 301.
[878] For the account of the troubles in Antwerp, see Correspondance de
Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 226 et seq.--Archives de la Maison
d'Orange-Naussau, tom. III. p. 59.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp
300-303.--Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p.
247.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 526, 527.--Vander
Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, pp. 314-317.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de
Flandes, MS.
[879] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 310.
[880] Strada gives an extract from the letter: "Deinde si deditio non
sequeretur, invaderent quidem urbem, quodque militum est, agerent; à
cædibus tamen non puerorum modò, senúmque ac mulierum abstinerent; sed
civium nullus, nisi dum inter propugnandum se hostem gereret,
enecaretur." Ibid., p. 311.
[881] "Quasi verò, inquit, vestra conditio eadem hodie sit, ac
nudiustertius. Serò sapitis Valencenates: ego certè conditionibus non
transigo cadente cum hoste." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 314.
[882] "Feruntque ter millies explosas murales machinas, moenium quàm
hominum majori strage." Ibid., ubi supra.
[883] So states Margaret's historian, who would not be likely to
exaggerate the number of those who suffered. The loyal president of
Mechlin dismisses the matter more summarily, without specifying any
number of victims. "El señor de Noilcarmes se aseguró de muchos
prisioneros principales Borgeses y de otros que avian sido los autores
de la rebelion, á los quales se hizo luego en diligencia su pleyto."
(Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.) Brandt, the historian of
the Reformation, (vol. I. p. 251,) tells us that two hundred _were said_
to have perished by the hands of the hangman at Valenciennes, on account
of the religious troubles, in the course of this year.
[884] For information, more or less minute, in regard to the siege of
Valenciennes, see Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 303-315.--Vander
Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, pp. 319-322.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas,
fol. 49.--Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p.
501.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.
[885] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 315-323 et seq.
[886] "Il ne comprenait pas pourquoi la gouvernante insistait, après
qu'il lui avait écrit une lettre de sa main, contenant tout ce que S. A.
pouvait désirer d'un gentilhomme d'honneur, chevalier de l'Ordre,
naturel vassal du Roi, et qui toute sa vie avait fait le devoir d'homme
de bien, comme il le faisait encore journellement." Correspondance de
Philippe II., tom. I. p. 321.
[887] "Ferez cesser les calumnies que dictes se semer contre vous,
ensamble tous ces bruits que scavez courrir de vous, encoires que en mon
endroict je les tiens faulx et que à tort ils se dyent; ne pouvant
croire que en ung coeur noble et de telle extraction que vous estes,
successeur des Seigneurs," etc. Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau,
tom. III. p. 44.
[888] "Servir et m'employer envers et contre tous, et comme me sera
ordonné de sa part, sans limitation ou restrinction." Ibid., ubi supra.
[889] "Je seroys aulcunement obligé et constrainct, le cas advenant, que
on me viendroict à commander chose qui pourroit venir contre ma
conscience ou au déservice de Sa Ma^{té} et du pays." Ibid., p. 46.
[890] "Vous asseurant que, où que seray, n'espargneray jamais mon corps
ni mon bien pour le service de Sa Ma^{té} et le bien commun de ces
pays." Ibid., p. 47.
[891] Ibid., p. 42.
[892] "In ansehung das wir in dissen länden allein seindt, und in
höchsten nöten und gefehrden leibs und lebens stecken, und keinen
vertrauwen freundt umb uns haben, deme wir unser gemüthe und hertz recht
eröffnen dörffen." Ibid., p. 39.
[893] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 319.
[894] "Orasse ilium, subduceret sese, gravidamque cruore tempestatem ab
Hispaniâ impendentem Belgarum Procerum capitibus ne opperiretur." Ibid.,
p. 321.
[895] "Perdet te, inquit Orangius, hæc quam jactas dementia Regis,
Egmonti; ac videor mihi providere animo, utinam falso, te pontem
scilicet futurum, quo Hispani calcato, in Belgium transmittant." Ibid.,
ubi supra.
[896] The secretary Pratz, in a letter of the 14th of April, thus kindly
notices William's departure: "The prince has gone, taking along with him
half a dozen heretical doctors and a good number of other seditious
rogues." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 526.
[897] "Tibi vero hoc persuade amiciorem me te habere neminem cui quidvis
libere imperare potes. Amor enim tui eas egit radices in animo meo ut
minui nullo temporis aut locorum intervallo possit." Archives de la
Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 70.
It is not easy to understand why William should have resorted to Latin
in his correspondence with Egmont.
[898] "Ayant tousjours porté en vostre endroit l'affection que je
pourrois faire pour ung mien fils, ou parent bien proche. Et vous vous
povez de ce confier, toutes les fois que les occasions se présenteront,
que feray le mesme." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II.
p. 371.
[899] William's only daughter was maid of honor to the regent, who made
no objection to her accompanying her father, saying that, on the young
lady's return she would find no diminution of the love that had been
always shown to her. Ibid., ubi supra.
[900] According to Strada, some thought that William knew well what he
was about when he left his son behind him at Louvain; and that he would
have had no objection that the boy should be removed to
Madrid,--considering that, if things went badly with himself, it would
be well for the heir of the house to have a hold on the monarch's favor.
This is rather a cool way of proceeding for a parent, it must be
admitted. Yet it is not very dissimilar from that pursued by William's
own father, who, a stanch Lutheran himself, allowed his son to form part
of the imperial household, and to be there nurtured in the Roman
Catholic faith. See Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 373.
[901] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 100.
[902] "Pour ne le jecter d'advantaige en désespoir et perdition, aussy
en contemplation de ses parens et alliez, je n'ai peu excuser luy dire
qu'il seroit doncques aînsy qu'il avoit faict, et qu'il revinst au
conseil." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 238.
[903] William was generous enough to commend Hoorne for this step,
expressing the hope that it might induce such a spirit of harmony in the
royal council as would promote the interests of both king and country.
See the letter, written in Latin, dated from Breda, April 14, in
Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau tom. III. p. 71.
[904] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 322.
[905] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 235.
[906] "Egit ipsa privatim magnæ Virgini grates, quòd ejus ope tantam
urbem sine prælio ac sanguine, Religioni Regique reddidisset." Strada,
De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 328.
[907] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 254.
[908] Gachard has transferred to his notes the whole of this sanguinary
document. See Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 550, 551.
[909] "La peine et le mécontentement qu'il a éprouvés, de ce que l'on a
fait une chose si illicite, si indécente, et si contraire à la religion
chrétienne." Ibid., ubi supra.
[910] Viglius was not too enlightened to enter his protest against the
right to freedom of conscience, which, in a letter to his friend Hopper,
he says may lead every one to set up his own gods--"lares aut
lemures"--according to his fancy. Yet the president was wise enough to
see that sufficient had been done at present in breaking up the
preachings. "Time and Philip's presence must do the rest." (Epistolæ ad
Hopperum, p. 433.) "Those," he says in another letter, "who have set the
king against the edict have greatly deceived him. They are having their
ovation before they have gained the victory. They think they can dispose
of Flemish affairs as they like at Toledo, when hardly a Spaniard dares
to show his head in Brussels." Ibid., p. 428.
[911] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. pp.
80-93.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 329.
[912] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 332.
[913] Groen's inestimable collection contains several of Brederode's
letters, which may remind one in their tone of the dashing cavalier of
the time of Charles the First. They come from the heart, mingling the
spirit of daring enterprise with the careless gayety of the _bon
vivant_, and throw far more light than the stiff, statesmanlike
correspondence of the period on the character, not merely of the writer,
but of the disjointed times in which he lived.
[914] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p.
255.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 50.--Vander Haer, De Initiis
Tumultuum, p. 327.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 533.
[915] Margaret's success draws forth an animated tribute from the
president of Mechlin. "De manera que los negocios de los payses bajos
por la gracia de Dios y la prudencia de esta virtuosa Dama y Princesa
con la asistencia de los buenos consejeros y servidores del Rey en
buenos terminos y en efecto remediados, las villas reveldes y alteradas
amazadas, los gueuses reducidos ó huidos; los ministros y predicantes
echados fuera ó presos; y la autoridad de su Magestad establecida otra
vez." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.
[916] This was fulfilling the prophecy of the prince of Orange, who in
his letter to Hoorne tells him, "In a short time we shall refuse neither
bridle nor saddle. For myself," he adds, "I have not the strength to
endure either." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 72.
[917] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 333.
[918] See Meteren, (Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 49,) who must have drawn
somewhat on his fancy for these wholesale executions, which, if taken
literally, would have gone nigh to depopulate the Netherlands.
[919] "Thus the gallowses were filled with carcasses, and Germany with
exiles." Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 257.
[920] "Ex trabibus decidentium templorum, infelicia conformarent
patibula, ex quibus ipsi templorum fabri cultoresque pendêrent." Strada,
De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 333.
[921] "Le bruit de l'arrivée prochaine du duc, à la tête d'une armée,
fait fuir de toutes parts des gens, qui se retirent en France, en
Angleterre, au pays de Clèves, en Allemagne et ailleurs." Correspondance
de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 546.
[922] Ibid., ubi supra.
[923] "Par les restrictions extraordinaires que V. M. a mises à mon
autorité, elle m'a enlevé tout pouvoir et m'a privée des moyens
d'achever l'entier rétablissement des affaires de ce pays: à présent
qu'elle voit ces affaires en un bon état, elle en veut donner l'honneur
à d'autres, tandis que, moi seule, j'ai eu les fatigues et les dangers."
Ibid., p. 523.
[924] "Où l'autorité du Roi est plus assurée qu'elle ne l'était au temps
de l'Empereur." Ibid., p. 532.
[925] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 258.
[926] "Ledit évêque, dans la première audience qu'il lui a donnée, a usé
d'ailleurs de termes si étranges, qu'il l'a mis en colère, et que, s'il
eût eu moins d'amour et de respect pour S. S., cela eût pu le faire
revenir sur les résolutions qu'il a prises." Correspondance de Philippe
II., tom. I. p. 488.
The tart remonstrance of Philip had its effect. Granvelle soon after
wrote to the king, that his holiness was greatly disturbed by the manner
in which his majesty had taken his rebuke. The pope, Granvelle added,
was a person of the best intentions, but with very little knowledge of
the world, and easily kept in check by those who show their teeth to
him;--"_reprimese quando se le muestran los dientes._" Ibid., tom. II.
p. lviii.
[927] "Que lui et le temps en valaient deux autres." Vandervynckt,
Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 199.
The hesitation of the king drew on him a sharp rebuke from the audacious
Fray Lorenzo Villavicencio, who showed as little ceremony in dealing
with Philip as with his ministers. "If your majesty," he says,
"consulting only your own ease, refuses to make this visit to Flanders,
which so nearly concerns the honor of God, his blessed Mother, and all
the saints, as well as the weal of Christendom, what is it but to
declare that you are ready to accept the regal dignity which God has
given you, and yet leave to him all the care and trouble that belong to
that dignity? God would take this as ill of your majesty, as you would
take it of those of your vassals whom you had raised to offices of trust
and honor, and who took the offices, but left you to do the work for
them! To offend God is a rash act, that must destroy both soul and
body." Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Rapport, p.
xlviii.
[928] "Ne extingui quidem posse sine ruinâ victoris." Strada, De Bello
Belgico, tom. I. p. 338.
Better expressed by the old Castilian proverb, "El vencido vencido, y el
vencidor perdido."
[929] "At illos non armis sed beneficiis expugnari." Strada, De Bello
Belgico, tom. I. p. 339.
[930] Ibid., p. 340.
[931] "Ouy, et que plus est, oserions presques asseurer Vostre Majesté
plusieurs des mauvais et des principaulx, voiant ledit prince de Heboli,
se viendront réconcilier à luy, et le supplier avoir, par son moien,
faveur vers Vostre Majesté." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p.
519.
[932] The debate is reported with sufficient minuteness both by Cabrera
(Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 7,) and Strada (De Bello Belgico, tom.
I. p. 338). They agree, however, neither in the names of the parties
present, nor in the speeches they made. Yet their disagreement in these
particulars is by no means so surprising as their agreement in the most
improbable part of their account,--Philip's presence at the debate.
[933] "Comme si c'eust esté une saincte guerre." Meteren, Hist. des
Pays-Bas, fol. 52.
[934] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 350.
[935] "Il répète," says Gachard, "dans une dépêche du 1er septembre,
qu'au milieu des bruits contradictoires qui circulent à la cour, il est
impossible de démêler la vérité." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom.
I., Rapport, p. clvi.
[936] "Ceterùm, ut jam jamque iturus, legit comites, conquisivit
impedimenta, adornavit naves: mox hiemem, aut negotia variè causatus,
primó prudentes, dein vulgum, diutissimè provincias fefellit." Taciti
Annales, I. xlvii.
[937] "Es la primera que se me da en mi vida de cosas desta cualidad en
cuantas veces he servido, ni de su Magestad Cesárea que Dios tenga, ni
de V. M." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 354.
[938] A magnanimous Castilian historian pronounces a swelling panegyric
on this little army in a couple of lines: "Los Soldados podian ser
Capitanes, los Capitanes Maestros de Campo, y los Maestros de Campo
Generales." Hechos de Sancho Davila, (Valladolid, 1713,) p. 26.
The chivalrous Brantôme dwells with delight on the gallant bearing and
brilliant appointments of these troops, whom he saw in their passage
through Lorraine. "Tous vieux et aguerrys soldatz, tant bien en poinct
d'habillement et d'armes, la pluspart dorées, et l'autre gravees, qu'on
les prenoit plustost pour capitanes que soldats." OEuvres, tom. I. p. 60.
[939]
"Corpus in Italia est, tenet intestina Brabantus; Ast animam nemo. Cur?
quia non habuit."
Borgnet, Philippe II. et la Belgique, p. 60.
[940] No two writers, of course, agree in the account of Alva's forces.
The exact returns of the amount of the whole army, as well as of each
company, and the name of the officer who commanded it, are to be found
in the Documentos Inéditos (tom. IV. p. 382). From this it appears that
the precise number of horse was 1,250, and that of the foot 8,800,
making a total of 10,050.
[941] A poem in _ottava rima_, commemorating Alva's expedition, appeared
at Antwerp the year following, from the pen of one Balthazar de Vargas.
It has more value in a historical point of view than in a poetical one.
A single stanza, which the bard devotes to the victualling of the army,
will probably satisfy the appetite of the reader:--
"Y por que la Savoya es montañosa, Y an de passar por ella las legiones,
Seria la passada trabajosa Si a la gente faltassen provisiones, El real
comissario no reposa. Haze llevar de Italia municiones Tantas que
proveyo todo el camino Que jamas falto el pan, y carno, y vino."
[942] Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 237.--Trillo, Rebelion y Guerras
de Flandes, (Madrid, 1592,) fol. 17.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I.
p. 490.
[943] So say Schiller, (Abfall der Niederlande, s. 363,). Cabrera,
(Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15,) _et auct. al._ But every schoolboy
knows that nothing is more unsettled than the route taken by Hannibal
across the Alps. The two oldest authorities, Livy and Polybius, differ
on the point, and it has remained a vexed question ever since,--the
criticism of later years, indeed, leaning to still another route, that
across the Little St. Bernard. The passage of Hannibal forms the subject
of a curious discussion introduced into Gibbon's journal, when the young
historian was in training for the mighty task of riper years. His
reluctance, even at the close of his argument, to strike the balance, is
singularly characteristic of his sceptical mind.
[944] "A suidar da quel nido di Demoni, le sceleraggini di tanti
Appostati." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 487.
[945] The Huguenots even went so far as to attempt to engage the
reformed in the Low Countries to join them in assaulting the duke in his
march through Savoy. Their views were expressed in a work which
circulated widely in the provinces, though it failed to rouse the people
to throw off the Spanish yoke. Sec Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas,
tom. II. p. 194.
[946] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 350-354.--Ossorio, Albæ
Vita, tom. II. p. 232 et seq.--Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 26.--Trillo,
Rebelion y Guerras de Flandes, fol. 16, 17.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo,
lib. VII. cap. 15.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.--Lanario,
Guerras de Flandes, fol. 15.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes,
MS.
Chronological accuracy was a thing altogether beneath the attention of a
chronicler of the sixteenth century. In the confusion of dates in regard
to Alva's movements, I have been guided as far as possible by his own
despatches. See Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 349 et seq.
[947] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 354.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita,
tom. I. p. 241.
[948] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.--Old Brantôme warms as he
contemplates these Amazons, as beautiful and making as brave a show as
princesses! "Plus il y avoit quatre cents courtisanes à cheval, belles
et braves comme princesses, et huict cents à pied, bien en point aussi."
OEuvres, tom. I. p. 62.
[949] "Ninguna Historia nos enseña haya passado un Exercito por Pais tan
dilatado y marchas tan continuas, sin cometer excesso: La del Duque es
la unica que nos la hace ver. Encantò à todo el mundo." Rustant,
Historia del Duque de Alva, tom. II. p. 124.--So also Herrera, Historia
General, tom. I. p. 650.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap.
15.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 354.
[950] "Comme le Duc le vid de long, il dit tout haut; Voicy le grand
hereticque, dequoq le Comte s'espouvanta: neantmoins, pource qu'on le
pouvoit entendre en deux façons, il l'interpreta de bonne part."
Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 53.
[951] "Vimos los que allí estábamos que el Duque de Alba usó de
grandísimos respetos y buenas crianzas, y que Madama estuvo muy severa y
mas que cuando suelen negociar con ella Egmont y estos otros Señores de
acá, cosa que fué muy notada de los que lo miraban."
A minute account of this interview, as given in the text, was sent to
Philip by Mendivil, an officer of the artillery, and is inserted in the
Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 397 et seq.
[952] This document, dated December 1, 1566, is not to be found in the
Archives of Simancas, as we may infer from its having no place in the
Documentos Inéditos, which contains the succeeding commission. A copy of
it is in the Belgian Archives, and has been incorporated in Gachard's
Correspondance de Philippe II. (tom. II., Appendix, No. 88.) It is
possible that a copy of this commission was sent to Margaret, as it
agrees so well with what the king had written to her on the subject.
[953] To this second commission, dated January 31, 1567, was appended a
document, signed also by Philip, the purport of which seems to have been
to explain more precisely the nature of the powers intrusted to the
duke,--which it does in so liberal a fashion, that it may be said to
double those powers. Both papers, the originals of which are preserved
in Simancas, have been inserted in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp.
388-396.
[954] "Par quoy requerrons à ladicte dame duchesse, nostre seur, et
commandons à tous nos vassaulx et subjectz, de obéyr audict duc d'Alve
en ce qu'il leur commandera, et de par nous, come aïant telle charge, et
comme à nostre propre personne."--This instrument, taken from the
Belgian archives, is given entire by Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe
II., tom. II., Appendix, No. 102.
[955] "Despues que los han visto han quedado todos muy lastimados, y á
todos cuantos Madama habla les dice que se quierre ir á su casa por los
agravios que V. M. le ha hecho." Carta de Mendivil, ap. Documentos
Inéditos, tom. IV p. 399.
[956] Ibid., p. 403.
[957] Ibid., p. 400.
[958] "En todo el sermon no trató cuasi de otra cosa sino de que los
españoles eran traidores y ladrones, y forzadores de mugeres, y que
totalmente el pais que los sufria era destruido, con tanto escándolo y
maldad que merescia ser quemado." Ibid., p. 401.
[959] Yet there was danger in it, if, as Armenteros warned the duke, to
leave his house would be at the risk of his life. "Tambien me ha dicho
Tomás de Armenteros que diga al Duque de Alba que en ninguna manera como
fuera de su casa porque si lo hace será con notable peligro de la vida."
Ibid., ubi supra.
[960] "Despues de haberse sentado le dijo el contentamiento que tenia de
su venida y que ningún otro pudiera venir con quien ella mas se
holgara." Ibid., p. 404.
[961] "Que lo que principalmente traia era estar aquí con esta gente
para que la justicia fuese obedecida y respetada, y los mandamientos de
S. E. ejecutadas, y que S. M. á su venida hallase esto en la paz,
tranquilidad y sosiego que era razon." Ibid., p. 406.
[962] "Podráse escusar con estos diciéndoles que yo soy cabezudo y que
he estado muy opinatre en sacar de aquí esta gente, que yo huelgo de que
á mí se me eche la culpa y de llevar el odio sobre mí á trueque de que
V. E. quede descargada." Ibid., p. 408.
[963] Supplément à Strada, tom. II. p. 524.
[964] "Tenendo per certo che V. M. non vorrà desautorizarmi, per
autorizare altri, poi che questo non e giusto, ne manco saria servitio
suo, se non gran danno et inconveniente per tutti li negotii."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 505.
[965] "Il y est si odieux qu'il suffirait à y faire haïr toute la nation
espagnole." Ibid., p. 556.
[966] Ibid., ubi supra.
[967] "Elle est affectée, jusqu'au fond de l'âme, de la conduite du Roi
à son égard." Ibid., p. 567.
[968] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pay-Bas, tom. II. p. 207.
[969] "Seu vera seu ficta, facilè Gandavensibus credita, ab iisque in
reliquum Belgium cum Albani odio propagata." Strada, De Bello Belgico,
tom. I. p. 368.
[970] See his remarkable letter to the king, of October 21, 1563: "A los
que destos merecen, quítenles las caveças, hasta poderlo hacer
dissimular con ellos." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 233.
[971] "Les Espaignols font les plus grandes foulles qu'on ne sçauroit
escryre; ils confisquent tout, à tort, à droit, disant que touts sont
hérétiques, qui ont du bien, et ont à perdre."
The indignant writer does not omit to mention the "two thousand"
strumpets who came in the duke's train; "so," he adds, "with what we
have already, there will be no lack of this sort of wares in the
country." Lettre de Jean de Hornes, Aug. 25, 1567, Correspondance de
Philippe II., tom. I. p. 565.
[972] Clough, Sir Thomas Gresham's agent, who was in the Low Countries
at this time, mentions the licence of the Spaniards. It is but just to
add, that he says the government took prompt measures to repress it, by
ordering some of the principal offenders to the gibbet. Burgon, Life of
Gresham, vol. II. pp. 229, 230.
[973] The duchess, in a letter to Philip, September 8, 1567, says that a
hundred thousand people fled the country on the coming of Alva! (Strada,
De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 357.) If this be thought a round
exaggeration, dictated by policy or by fear, still there are positive
proofs that the emigration at this period was excessive. Thus, by a
return made of the population of London and its suburbs, this very year
of 1567, it appears that the number of Flemings was as large as that of
all other foreigners put together. See Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de
Bruxelles, tom. XIV. p. 127.
[974] Thus Jean de Hornes, Baron de Boxtel, writes to the prince of
Orange: "J'ay prins une résolution pour mon faict et est que je fay tout
effort de scavoir si l'on poulrast estre seurement en sa maison: si
ainsy est, me retireray en une des miennes le plus abstractement que
possible sera; sinon, regarderay de chercher quelque résidence en
desoubs ung aultre Prince." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom.
III. p. 125.
[975] Göthe, in his noble tragedy of "Egmont," seems to have borrowed a
hint from Shakespeare's "blanket of the dark," to depict the gloom of
Brussels,--where he speaks of the heavens as wrapt in a dark pall from
the fatal hour when the duke entered the city. Act IV. Scene I.
[976] Vera y Figueroa, Vida de Alva, p. 89.
[977] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 578.
[978] Ibid., p. 563.
[979] "Qu'il lui avait peiné infiniment que le Roi n'eût tenu compte de
monseigneur et de ses services, comme il le méritait." Ibid., ubi supra.
[980] "Que s'il voyait M. de Hornes, il lui dirait des choses qui le
satisferaient, et par lesquelles celui-ci connaîtrait qu'il n'avait pas
été oublié de ses amis." Ibid., p. 564.
[981] According to Strada, Hoogstraten actually set out to return to
Brussels, but, detained by illness or some other cause on the road, he
fortunately received tidings of the fate of his friends in season to
profit by it and make his escape. De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 358.
[982] Ibid., p. 359.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 248. Also the
memoirs of that "Thunderbolt of War," as his biographer styles him,
Sancho Davila himself. Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 29.
A report, sufficiently meagre, of the affair, was sent by Alva to the
king. In this no mention is made of his having accompanied Egmont when
he left the room where they had been conferring together. See Documentos
Inéditos, tom. II. p. 418.
[983] "Et tamen hoc ferro sæpè ego Regis causam non infeliciter
defendí." Strada, de Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 359.
[984] Clough, Sir Thomas Gresham's correspondent, in a letter from
Brussels, of the same date as the arrest of Egmont, gives an account of
his bearing on the occasion, which differs somewhat from that in the
text; not more, however, than the popular rumors of any strange event of
recent occurrence are apt to differ. "And as touching the county of
Egmond, he was (as the saying ys) apprehendyd by the Duke, and comyttyd
to the offysers: whereuppon, when the capytane that had charge [of him]
demandyd hys weapon, he was in a grett rage; and tooke hys sword from
hys syde, and cast it to the grounde." Burgon, Life of Gresham, vol. II.
p. 234.
[985] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 574.
[986] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 359.--Meteren, Hist. des
Pays-Bas, fol. 54.--Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 29.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita,
tom. II. p. 248.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p.
223.--Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 418.
[987] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 226.
[988] "Toutes ces mesures étaient nécessaires, vu la grande autorité du
comte d'Egmont en ces pays, qui ne connaissaient d'autre roi que lui."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 582.
[989] Ibid., ubi supra.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.
[990] "L'emprisonnement des deux comtes ne donne lieu à aucune rumeur;
au contraire, la tranquillité est si grande, que le Roi ne le pourrait
croire." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 575.
[991] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 359.
[992] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 260.
[993] "Que, s'il apprenait que quelques-uns en fissent, encore même que
ce fût pour dire le _credo_, il les châtierait; que, quant aux
priviléges de l'Ordre, le Roi, après un mûr examen de ceux-ci, avait
prononcé, et qu'on devait se soumettre." Correspondance de Philippe II.,
tom. I. p. 578.
[994] "Adeò contracto ac penè nullo cum imperio moderari, an utile Regi,
an decorum ei quam Rex sororem appellare non indignatur, iliius
meditationi relinquere." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 360.
[995] "Il vaut mieux que le Roi attende, pour venir, que tous les actes
de rigueur aient été faits; il entrera alors dans le pays comme prince
benin et clément, pardonnant, et accordant des faveurs à ceux qui
l'auront mérité." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 577.
[996] "An captus quoque fuisset Taciturnus, (sic Orangium nominabat,)
atque eo negante dixisse fertur, Uno illo retibus non incluso, nihil ab
Duce Albano captum." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 360.
[997] "Grace à Dieu, tout est parfaitement tranquille aux Pays-Bas."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 589.
[998] "Le repos aux Pays-Bas ne consiste pas à faire couper la tête à
des hommes qui se sont laissé persuader par d'autres." Ibid., p. 576.
[999] "Os habemos hecho entender que nuestra intencion era de no usar de
rigor contra nuestros subegetos que durante las revueltas pasadas
pudiesen haber ofendido contra Nos, _sino de toda dulzura y clemencia
segun nuestra inclinacion natural_." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p.
440.
[1000] The ordinance, dated September 18, 1567, copied from the Archives
of Simancas, is to be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 489
et seq.
[1001] "Statimque mercatores decem primarios Tornacenses è portu
Flissingano fugam in Britanniam adornantes capi, ac bonis exutos
custodiri jubet." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 361.
[1002] "Mais l'intention de S. M. n'est pas de verser le sang de ses
sujets, et moi, de mon naturel, je ne l'aime pas davantage."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 576.
[1003] "Novum igitur consessum judicum instituit, exteris in eum
plerisque adscitis; quem Turbarum ille; plebes, Sanguinis appellabat
Senatum." Reidani Annales, (Lugdunum Batavorum, 1633,) p. 5.
[1004] "Les plus savants et les plus intègres du pays, et de la
meilleure vie." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 576.
[1005] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 300.
[1006] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.
[1007] Viglius, who had not yet seen the man, thus mentions him in a
letter to his friend Hopper: "Imperium ac rigorem metuunt cujusdam
Vergasi, qui apud eum multum posse, et nescio quid aliud, dicitur."
Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 451.
[1008] "Une activité toute juvénile." Correspondance de Philippe II.,
tom. I. p. 583.
[1009] Ibid., ubi supra.
[1010] Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p.
58.
[1011] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 242. Hessels was
married to a niece of Viglius. According to the old councillor, she was
on bad terms with her husband, because he had not kept his promise of
resigning the office of attorney-general, in which he made himself so
unpopular in Flanders. (Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 495.) In the last chapter
of this Book the reader will find some mention of the tragic fate of
Hessels.
[1012] "Letrados no sentencian sino en casos probados; y como V. M.
sabe, los negocios de Estado son muy diferentes de las leyes que ellos
tienen." Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii.
p. 52, note.
[1013] "En siendo el aviso de condemnar á muerte, se decia que estaba
muy bien y no habia mas que ver; empero, si el aviso era de menor pena,
no se estaba á lo que ellos decian, sino tornabase á ver el proceso, y
decianles sobre ello malas palabras, y hacianles ruin tratamiento."
Gachard cites the words of the official document. Bulletins de
l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 67.
[1014] Ibid., p. 68 et seq.
[1015] "Qu'ils seraient et demeureraient à jamais bons catholiques,
selon que commandait l'Eglise catholique romaine; que, par haine, amour,
pitié ou crainte de personne, ils ne laisseraient de dire franchement et
sincèrement leur avis, selon qu'en bonne justice ils trouvaient convenir
et appartenir; qu'ils tiendraient secret tout ce qui se traiterait au
conseil, et qu'ils accuseraient ceux qui feraient le contraire."
Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 56.
[1016] Ibid., p. 57.
[1017] Belin, in a letter to his patron, Cardinal Granvelle, gives full
vent to his discontent with "three or four Spaniards in the duke's
train, who would govern all in his name. They make but one head under
the same hat." He mentions Vargas and Del Rio in particular. Granvelle's
reply is very characteristic. Far from sympathizing with his querulous
follower, he predicts the ruin of his fortunes by this mode of
proceeding. "A man who would rise in courts must do as he is bidden,
without question. Far from taking umbrage, he must bear in mind that
injuries, like pills, should he swallowed without chewing, that one may
not taste the bitterness of them;"--a noble maxim, if the motive had
been noble. See Levesque, Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. pp. 91-94.
[1018] The historians of the time are all more or less diffuse on the
doings of the Council of Troubles, written as they are in characters of
blood. But we look in vain for any account of the interior organization
of that tribunal, or of its mode of judicial procedure. This may be
owing to the natural reluctance which the actors themselves felt, in
later times, to being mixed up with the proceedings of a court so
universally detested. For the same reason, as Gachard intimates, they
may not improbably have even destroyed some of the records of its
proceedings. Fortunately that zealous and patriotic scholar has
discovered in the Archives of Simancas sundry letters of Alva and his
successor, as well as some of the official records of the tribunal,
which in a great degree supply the defect. The result he has embodied in
a luminous paper prepared for the Royal Academy of Belgium, which has
supplied me with the materials for the preceding pages. See Bulletins de
l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts de
Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. pp. 50-78.
[1019] "Hasta que vean en que para este juego que se comiença."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 598.
[1020] "Car l'incertitude où celles-ci se trouvent du sort qu'on leur
réserve, les fera plus aisément à consentir aux moyens de finances
justes et honnêtes qui seront établis par le Roi." Ibid., p. 590.
[1021] "Porqué creo yo que, con la voluntad de los Estados, no se
hallarán estas, que es menester ponerlos de manera que no sea menester
su voluntad y consentimiento para ello.... Esto irá en cifra, y aun creo
que seria bien que fuese en una cartilla á parte que descifrase el mas
confidente." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 590.
[1022] Ibid., p. 610.
[1023] "Para que cada uno piense que á la noche, ó á la mañana, se le
puede caer la casa encima." Ibid., tom. II. p. 4.
[1024] "Esto se ha de proponer en la forma que yo propuse á los de
Anvers los cuatrocientos mill florines para la ciudadela, y que ellos
entiendan que aunque se les propone y se les pide, es en tal manera que
lo que se propusiere no se ha de dejar de hacer." Documentos Inéditos,
tom. IV. p. 492.
[1025] Thus, for example, when Alva states that the council had declared
all those who signed the Compromise guilty of treason, Philip notes, in
his own handwriting, on the margin of the letter, "The same should he
done with all who aided and abetted them, as in fact the more guilty
party." (Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 590.) These private
memoranda of Philip are of real value to the historian, letting him
behind the curtain, where the king's own ministers could not always
penetrate.
[1026] Cornejo, Disension de Flandes, fol. 63 et seq.--Hist. des
Troubles et Guerres Civiles des Pays-Bas, pp. 133-136.--Documentos
Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 428-439.--Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau,
tom. III. p. 119.
[1027] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 13.
[1028] "Non-seulement afin qu'il servît d'ôtage pour ce que son père
pourrait fairs en Allemagne, mais pour qu'il fût élevé catholiquement."
Ibid., tom. I. p. 596.
[1029] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 372.--Vandervynckt, Troubles
de Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 261.
[1030] Strada, ubi supra.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II.
p. 243.--Aubéri, Histoire de Hollande, p. 25.
[1031] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 159.
[1032] "Or, il vaut beaucoup mieux avoir un royaume ruiné, en le
conservant pour Dieu et le roi, au moyen de la guerre, que de l'avoir
tout entier sans celle-ci, au profit du démon et des hérétiques, ses
sectateurs." Correspondance de Philippe II. tom. I. p. 609.
[1033] This appears not merely from the king's letters to the duke, but
from a still more unequivocal testimony, the minutes in his own
handwriting on the duke's letters to him. See, in particular, his
summary approval of the reply which Alva tells him he has made to
Catherine de Medicis. "Yo lo mismo, todo lo demas que dice en este
capitulo, que todo ha sido muy á proposito." Ibid., p. 591.
[1034] Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries, (Eng. trans.,) vol. I. p. 349.
[1035] The cardinal of Lorraine went so far as to offer, in a certain
contingency, to put several strong frontier places into Alva's hands. In
case the French king and his brothers should die without heirs the king
of Spain might urge his own claim through his wife, as nearest of blood,
to the crown of France. "The Salic law," adds the duke, "is but a jest.
All difficulties will be easily smoothed away with the help of an army."
Philip, in a marginal note to this letter, intimates his relish for the
proposal. See Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 593.
[1036] The municipality of Brussels, alarmed at the interpretation which
the duke, after Margaret's departure, might put on certain equivocal
passages in their recent history, obtained a letter from the regent, in
which she warmly commends the good people of the capital as zealous
Catholics, loyal to their king, and, on all occasions, prompt to show
themselves the friends of public order. See the correspondence, ap.
Gachard, Analectes Belgiques, p. 343 et seq.
[1037] Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 481 et seq.
[1038] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 583.
[1039] The king's acknowledgments to his sister are condensed into the
sentence with which he concludes his letter, or, more properly, his
billet. This is dated October 13, 1568, and is published by Gachard, in
the Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix No. 119.
[1040] "Elle reçut," says De Thou with some humor, "enfin d'Espagne une
lettre pleine d'amitié et de tendresse, telle qu'on a coûtume d'écrire à
une personne qu'on remercie après l'avoir dépouillée de sa dignité."
Hist. Universelle, tom. V. p. 439.
[1041] A copy of the original is to be found in the Correspondance de
Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix No. 118.
[1042] The letter has been inserted by Gachard in the Analectes
Belgiques, pp. 295-300.
[1043] "Suplicar muy humilmente, y con toda afeccion, que V. M. use de
clemencia y misericordia con ellos, conforme á la esperanza que tantas
vezes les ha dado, y que tenga en memoria que cuanto mas grandes son los
reyes, y se acercan mas á Dios, tanto mas deben ser imitadores de esta
grande divina bondad, poder, y clemencia." Correspondance de Philippe
II., tom. I. p. 603.
[1044] Ibid., loc. cit.
[1045] Ibid., tom. II. p. 6.
[1046] "Superavitque omnes Elizabetha Angliæ Regina, tam bonæ caræque
sororis, uci scribebat, vicinitate in posterum caritura;" "sive," adds
the historian, with candid scepticism, "is amor fuit in Margaritam, sive
sollicitudo ex Albano successore." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p.
365.
[1047] Historians vary considerably as to the date of Margaret's
departure. She crossed the frontier of the Netherlands probably by the
middle of January, 1568. At least, we find a letter from her to Philip
when she had nearly reached the borders, dated at Luxembourg, on the
twelfth of that month.
[1048] See, among others, Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 128;
Guerres Civiles du Pays-Bas, p. 128; De Thou, Hist. Gen., tom. V. p.
439; and Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS., who, in these
words, concludes his notice of Margaret's departure: "Dejando gran
reputacion de su virtud y un sentimiento de su partida en los corazones
de los vasallos de por acá el qual crecio mucho despues ansi continuo
quando se describio el gusto de los humores y andamientos de su
succesor."
[1049] De Thou, Hist. Gen., tom. V. p. 437.--Meteren, Hist. des
Pays-Bas, fol. 54.--The latter historian cites the words of the original
instrument.
[1050] "Voulans et ordonnans qu'ainsi en soit faict, afin que ceste
serieuse sentence serve d'exemple, et donne crainte pour l'advenir, sans
aucune esperance de grace." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.
[1051] Among contemporary writers whom I have consulted, I find no
authorities for this remarkable statement except Meteren and De Thou.
This might seem strange to one who credited the story, but not so
strange as that a proceeding so extraordinary should have escaped the
vigilance of Llorente, the secretary of the Holy Office, who had all its
papers at his command. I have met with no allusion whatever to it in his
pages.
[1052] "Au moyen de la patente de gouverneur général que le duc aura
reçue, il pourra faire cesser les entraves que mettait le conseil des
finances à ce qu'il disposât des deniers des confiscations."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 609.
[1053] Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p.
62.
[1054] Ibid., ubi supra.
[1055] Ibid., p. 63.
[1056] "Le magistrat s'est plaint de l'infraction de ses privilèges, à
cause de l'envoi dudit prévôt; mais il faudra bien qu'il prenne
patience." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 13.
[1057] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. pp. 243-247.
The author tells us he collected these particulars from the memoirs and
diaries of eye-witnesses,--confirmed, moreover, by the acts and public
registers of the time. The authenticity of the statement, he adds, is
incontestable.
[1058] See the circular of Alva to the officers charged with these
arrests, in the Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix, p.
660.
[1059] "Et, affin que ledict duc d'Alve face apparoir de plus son
affection sanguinaire et tyrannicque, il a, passé peu de temps, faict
appréhender, tout sur une nuict, [le 3 mars, 1568,] en toutes les villes
des pays d'embas, ung grand nombre de ceulx qu'il a tenu suspect en leur
foy, et les faict mectre hors leurs maisons et lictz en prison, pour en
après, à sa commodité, faire son plaisir et volunté avecque lesdicts
prisonniers." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. III. p. 9.
The extract is from a memorial addressed by William to the emperor,
vindicating his own course, and exposing, with the indignant eloquence
of a patriot, the wrongs and calamities of his country. This document,
printed by Gachard, is a version from the German original by the hand of
a contemporary. A modern translation--so ambitious in its style that one
may distrust its fidelity--is also to be found in the Archives de la
Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 91 et seq.
[1060] "Se prendieron cerca de quinientos.... He mandado justiciar
todos," says Alva to the king, in a letter written in cipher, April, 13.
1568. (Documentos inéditos, tom. IV. p. 488.) Not one escaped! It is
told with an air of _nonchalance_ truly appalling.
[1061] "Que cada dia me quiebran la cabeza con dudas de que si el que
delinquió desta manera meresce la muerte, ó si el que delinquió desta
otra meresce destierro, que no me dejan vivir, y no basta con ellos."
Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 488.
[1062] "En este castigo que agora se hace y en el que vendrá despues, de
Pascua tengo que pasará de ochocientas cabezas." Ibid., p. 489.
[1063] "Les Bourgeois qui estoyët riches de quarante, soixante, et cent
mille florins, il les faysoit attacher à la queuë d'un cheval, et ainsi
les faysoit trainer, ayant les mains liées sur les dos, jusques au lieu
où on les debvoit pendre." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 55.
[1064] Ibid., ubi supra.
[1065] "Ille [Vargas] promiscuè laqueo, igne, homines enecare."
Reidanus, Annales, p. 6.
[1066] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 274.
[1067] "Hark how they sing!" exclaimed a friar in the crowd; "should
they not be made to dance too?" Brandt, Reformation in the Low
Countries, vol. I. p. 275.
[1068] It will be understood that I am speaking of the period embraced
in this portion of the history, terminating at the beginning of June,
1568, when the Council of Blood had been in active operation about four
months,--the period when the sword of legal persecution fell heaviest.
Alva, in the letter above cited to Philip, admits eight
hundred--including three hundred to be examined after Easter--as the
number of victims. (Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 489.) Viglius, in a
letter of the twenty-ninth of March, says fifteen hundred had been
already cited before the tribunal, the greater part of whom--they had
probably fled the country--were condemned for contumacy. (Epist. ad
Hopperum, p. 415.) Grotius, alluding to this period, speaks even more
vaguely of the multitude of the victims, as _innumerable_. "Stipatæ reis
custodiæ, innumeri mortales necati: ubique una species ut captæ
civitatis." (Annales, p. 29.) So also Hooft, cited by Brandt: "The
gallows, the wheels, stakes, and trees in the highways, were loaden with
carcasses or limbs of such as had been hanged, beheaded, or roasted; so
that the air, which God had made for respiration of the living, was now
become the common grave or habitation of the dead." (Reformation in the
Low Countries, vol. I. p. 261.) Language like this, however expressive,
does little for statistics.
[1069] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 4.
[1070] Sentences passed by the Council of Blood against a great number
of individuals--two thousand or more--have been collected in a little
volume, (Sententien en Indagingen van Alba,) published at Amsterdam, in
1735. The parties condemned were for the most part natives of Holland,
Zealand, and Utrecht. They would seem, with very few exceptions, to have
been absentees, and, being pronounced guilty of contumacy, were
sentenced to banishment and the confiscation of their property. The
volume furnishes a more emphatic commentary on the proceedings of Alva
than anything which could come from the pen of the historian.
[1071] "Acabando este castigo comenzaré á prender algunos particulares
de los mas culpados y mas ricos para moverlos á que vengan á
composición." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 489.
[1072] "Destos tales se saque todo el golpe de dinero que sea possible."
Ibid., ubi supra.
[1073] Sententien van Alva, bl. 122-124.
[1074] "Combien d'Hospitaux, Vefues, et Orphelins, estoyent par ce moyen
privés de leur rentes, et moyës de vivre!" Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas,
fol. 55
[1075] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 265.
[1076] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 247.
[1077] Ibid., p. 245.
[1078] "Par laquelle auparavant jamais ouye tyrannie et persécution,
ledict duc d'Albe a causé partout telle peur, que aulcuns milles
personnes, et mesmement ceulx estans principaulx papistes, se sont
retirez en dedens peu de temps hors les Pays-Bas, en considération que
ceste tyrannie s'exerce contre tous, sans aulcune distinction de la
religion." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. III. p. 14.
[1079] "Que temo no venga á ser mayor la espesa de los ministros que el
útil que dello se sacará." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 495.
[1080] "El tribunal todo que hice para estas cosas no solamente no me
ayuda, pero estórbame tanto que tengo mas que hacer con ellos que con
los delincuentes." Ibid., ubi supra.
[1081] Vargas passed as summary a judgment on the people of the
Netherlands as that imputed to the Inquisition, condensing it into a
memorable sentence, much admired for its Latinity. "_Hæretici fraxerunt
templa, boni nihil faxerunt contrà, ergo debent omnes patibulare._"
Reidanus, Annales, p. 5.
[1082] "Quand on l'éveilloit pour dire son avis. il disoit tout endormi,
en se frottant ces veux, _ad patibulum_, _ad patibulum_, c'est-à-dire,
au gibet, au gibet." Aubéri, Mem. pour servir à l'Hist. de Hollande, p.
22.
[1083] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 12.
[1084] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. pp. 263, 264;
et alibi.
[1085] Grotius, Annales, p. 29.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas,
tom. II. p. 450.
[1086] Campana, Guerra de Fiandra, fol. 38.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne,
tom. IX. p. 555.
[1087] "Valde optaremus tandem aliquam funesti hujus temporis,
criminaliumque processuum finem, qui non populum tantum nostrum, sed
vicinos omnes exasperant." Viglii, Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 482.
[1088] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 15.
[1089] "Y quando por esta causa se aventurassen los Estados, y me
viniesse á caer el mundo encima." Ibid., p. 27.
Philip seems to have put himself in the attitude of the "justum et
tenacem" of Horace. His concluding hyperbole is almost a literal version
of the Roman bard:--
"Si fractus illabatur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinæ."
[1090] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 87.
[1091] "Il n'est pas seulement content de s'employer à la nécessité
présente par le moyen par eulx proposé touchant sa vasselle, ains de sa
propre personne, et de tout ce que reste en son pouvoir." Ibid., p. 88.
[1092] Ibid., ubi supra.
[1093] The funds were chiefly furnished, as it would seem, by Antwerp,
and the great towns of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Groningen, the
quarter of the country where the spirit of independence was always high.
The noble exiles with William contributed half the amount raised. This
information was given to Alva by Villers, one of the banished lords,
after he had fallen into the duke's hands in a disastrous affair, of
which some account will be given in the present chapter. Correspondance
de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 27.
[1094] "Ipse Arausionensis monilia, vasa algentea, tapetes, cætera
supellectilis divendit, digna regio palatio ornamenta, sed exigui ad
bellum momenti." Reidanus, Annales, p. 6.
[1095] The "Justification" has been very commonly attributed to the pen
of the learned Languet, who was much in William's confidence, and is
known to have been with him at this time. But William was too practised
a writer, as Groen well suggests, to make it probable that he would
trust the composition of a paper of such moment to any hand but his own.
It is very likely that he submitted his own draft to the revision of
Languet, whose political sagacity he well understood. And this is the
most that can be fairly inferred from Languet's own account of the
matter: "Fui Dillemburgi per duodecim et tredecim dies, ubi Princeps
Orangiæ mihi et aliquot aliis curavit prolixe explicari causas et initia
tumultuum in inferiore Germania et suam responsionem ad accusationes
Albani." It fared with the prince's "Justification" as it did with the
famous "Farewell Address" of Washington, so often attributed to another
pen than his, but which, however much it may have been benefited by the
counsels and corrections of others, bears on every page unequivocal
marks of its genuineness.
The "Justification" called out several answers from the opposite party.
Among them were two by Vargas and Del Rio. But in the judgment of
Viglius--whose bias certainly did not lie on William's side--these
answers were a failure. See his letter to Hopper (Epist. ad Hopperum, p.
458). The reader will find a full discussion of the matter by Groen, in
the Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 187.
[1096] "En quoy ne gist pas seulement le bien de ce faict, mais aussi
mon honeur et réputation, pour avoir promis aus gens de guerre leur
paier le dict mois, et que j'aymerois mieulx morir que les faillir à ma
promesse." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 89.
[1097] Mendoza, Comentarios, p. 42 et seq.--Cornejo, Disension de
Flandres, p. 63.
[1098] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 56.--De Thou, Hist.
Universelle, tom. V. p. 443.
[1099] "Ains, comme gens predestinez à leur malheur et de leur general,
crierent plus que devant contre luy jusques à l'appeller traistre, et
qu'il s'entendoit avec les ennemis. Luy, qui estoit tout noble et
courageux, leur dit: 'Ouy, je vous monstreray si je le suis.'" Brantôme,
OEuvres, tom. I. p. 382.
[1100] Brantôme has given us the portrait of this Flemish nobleman, with
whom he became acquainted on his visit to Paris, when sent thither by
Alva to relieve the French monarch. The chivalrous old writer dwells on
the personal appearance of Aremberg, his noble mien and high-bred
courtesy, which made him a favorite with the dames of the royal circle.
"Un tres beau et tres agreable seigneur, surtout de fort grande et haute
taille et de tres belle apparence." (OEuvres, tom. I. p. 383.) Nor does
he omit to mention, among other accomplishments, the fluency with which
he could speak French and several other languages. Ibid., p. 384.
[1101] See a letter written, as seems probable, by a councillor of
William to the elector of Saxony, the week after the battle. Archives de
la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 221.
[1102] It is a common report of historians, that Adolphus and Aremberg
met in single combat in the thick of the fight, and fell by each other's
hands. See Cornejo, Disension de Flandes, fol. 63; Strada, De Bello
Belgico, tom. I. p. 282, _et al._ An incident so romantic found easy
credit in a romantic age.
[1103] The accounts of the battle of Heyligerlee, given somewhat
confusedly, may be found in Herrera, Hist. del Mundo, tom. I. p. 688 et
seq.; Campana, Guerra di Fiandra, (Vicenza, 1602,) p. 42 et seq.;
Mendoza, Comentarios, (Madrid, 1592,) p. 43 et seq.; Cornejo, Disension
de Flandes, fol. 66 et seq.; Carnero, Guerras de Flandes, (Brusselas,
1625,) p. 24 et seq.; Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 382 et seq.;
Bentivoglio, Guerra di Fiandra, p. 192 et seq.
The last writer tells us he had heard the story more than once from the
son and heir of the deceased Count Aremberg, who sorely lamented that
his gallant father should have thrown away his life for a mistaken point
of honor.
In addition to the above authorities, I regret it is not in my power to
cite a volume published by M. Gachard since the present chapter was
written. It contains the correspondence of Alva relating to the invasion
by Louis.
[1104] Viglii, Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 481.--The sentence of the prince
of Orange may be found in the Sententien van Alba, p. 70.
[1105] Ibid.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 373.--Vera y
Figueroa, Vida de Alva, p. 101.
The Hotel de Culemborg, so memorable for its connection with the early
meetings of the Gueux, had not been long in possession of Count
Culemborg, who purchased it as late as 1556. It stood on the Place du
Petit Sablon. See Reiffenberg, Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche,
p. 363.
[1106] "His tamen Albanus facilè contemptis, quippe à diuternâ rerum
experientiâ suspicax, et suopte ingenio ab aliorum consiliis, si ultrò
præsertim offerrentur aversus." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p.
386.
[1107] Ibid., ubi supra.--Guerres Civiles du Pays-Bas, p. 171.--Meteren,
Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 57.
The third volume of the Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau contains a
report of this execution from an eye-witness, a courier of Alva, who
left Brussels the day after the event, and was intercepted on his route
by the patriots. One may imagine the interest with which William and his
friends listened to the recital of the tragedy; and how deep must have
been their anxiety for the fate of their other friends,--Hoorne and
Egmont in particular,--over whom the sword of the executioner hung by a
thread. We may well credit the account of the consternation that reigned
throughout Brussels. "Il affirme que c'estoit une chose de l'autre
monde, le crys, lamentation et juste compassion qu'aviont tous ceux de
la ville du dit Bruxelles, nobles et ignobles, pour ceste barbare
tyrannie, mais que nonobstant, ce cestuy Nero d'Alve se vante en ferat
le semblable de tous ceulx quy potra avoir en mains." P. 241.
[1108] If we are to believe Bentivoglio, Backerzele was torn asunder by
horses. "Da quattro cavalli fu smembrato vivo in Brusselles il Casembrot
già segretario dell'Agamonte." (Guerra di Fiandra, p. 200.) But Alva's
character, hard and unscrupulous as he may have been in carrying out his
designs, does not warrant the imputation of an act of such wanton
cruelty as this. Happily it is not justified by historic testimony; no
notice of the fact being found in Strada, or Meteren, or the author of
the Guerres Civiles du Pays-Bas, not to add other writers of the time,
who cannot certainly be charged with undue partiality to the Spaniards.
If so atrocious a deed had been perpetrated, it would be passing strange
that it should not have found a place in the catalogue of crimes imputed
to Alva by the prince of Orange. See, in particular, his letter to
Schwendi, written in an agony of grief and indignation, soon after he
had learned the execution of his friends. Archives de la Maison
d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 244.
[1109] Bor, the old Dutch historian, contemporary with these events,
says that, "if it had not been for the countess-dowager, Hoorne's
step-mother, that noble would actually have starved in prison from want
of money to procure himself food!" Arend, Algemeene Geschiedenis des
Vaderlands, D. II. St. v. bl. 37.
[1110] "Ce dernier fait chaque jour des aveux, et on peut s'attendre
qu'il dira des merveilles, lorsqu'il sera mis à la torture."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 589.
[1111] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 247.
[1112] The _Interrogatoires_, filling nearly fifty octavo pages, were
given to the public by the late Baron Reiffenberg, at the end of his
valuable compilation of the correspondence of Margaret. Both the
questions and answers, strange as it may seem, were originally drawn up
in Castilian. A French version was immediately made by the secretary
Pratz,--probably for the benefit of the Flemish councillors of the
bloody tribunal. Both the Castilian and French MSS. were preserved in
the archives of the house of Egmont until the middle of the last
century, when an unworthy heir of this ancient line suffered them to
pass into other hands. They were afterwards purchased by the crown, and
are now in a fitting place of deposit,--the Archives of the Kingdom of
Holland. The MS. printed by Reiffenberg is in French.
[1113] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 14.
[1114] Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 244.
[1115] Ibid., p. 219.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 588.
[1116] "La suppliant de prendre en cette affaire la détermination que la
raison et l'équité réclament." Ibid., p. 607.
[1117] Ibid., p. 614.
[1118] Ibid., p. 599.
[1119] "Le Comte d'Egmont," said Granvelle, in a letter so recent as
August 17, 1567, "disait au prince que leurs menées étaient découvertes;
que le Roi faisait des armements; qu'ils ne sauraient lui résister;
qu'ainsi il leur fallait dissimuler, et s'accommoder le mieux possible,
en attendant d'autres circonstances, pour réaliser leurs desseins."
Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 56
[1120] "Tout ce qui s'est passé doit être tiré au clair, pour qu'il soit
bien constant que dans une affaire sur laquelle le monde entier a les
yeux fixés, le Roi et lui ont procédé avec justice." Ibid., p. 669.
[1121] This tedious instrument is given _in extenso_ by Foppens,
Supplément à Strada, tom. I. pp. 44-63.
[1122] Indeed, this seems to have been the opinion of the friends of the
government. Councillor Belin writes to Granvelle, December 14, 1567:
"They have arrested Hoorne and Egmont, but in their accusations have not
confined themselves to individual charges, but have accumulated a
confused mass of things." Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,
vol. I. p. 182.
[1123] For example, see the thirty-eighth article, in which the
attorney-general accuses Egmont of admitting, on his examination, that
he had parted with one of his followers, suspected of heretical
opinions, for a short time only, when, on the contrary, he had expressly
stated that the dismissal was final, and that he had never seen the man
since. Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 40.
[1124] Egmont's defence, of which extracts, wretchedly garbled, are
given by Foppens, has been printed _in extenso_ by M. de Bavay, in his
useful compilation, Procès du Comte d'Egmont, (Bruxelles, 1854,) pp.
121-153.
[1125] "Suppliant à tous ceux qui la verront, croire qu'il a respondu à
tous les articles sincerement et en toute vérité, comme un Gentilhomme
bien né est tenu et obligé de faire." Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p.
209.
[1126] Foppens has devoted nearly all the first volume of his
"_Supplément_" to pieces illustrative of the proceedings against Egmont
and Hoorne. The articles of accusation are given at length. His
countrymen are under obligations to this compiler, who thus early
brought before them so many documents of great importance to the
national history. The obligations would have been greater, if the editor
had done his work in a scholar-like way,--instead of heaping together a
confused mass of materials, without method, often without dates, and
with so little care, that the titles of the documents are not seldom at
variance with the contents.
[1127] At least such is the account which Foppens gives of the
"Justification," as it is termed, of Hoorne, of which the Flemish editor
has printed only the preamble and the conclusion, without so much as
favoring us with the date of the instrument. (Supplément à Strada, tom.
I. pp. 241-243.) M. de Bavay, on the other hand, has given the defence
set up by Egmont's counsel _in extenso_. It covers seventy printed
pages, being double the quantity occupied by Egmont's defence of
himself. By comparing the two together, it is easy to see how closely
the former, though with greater amplification, is fashioned on the
latter. Procès du Comte d'Egmont, pp. 153-223.
[1128] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 582.
[1129] "Quoique, avant le départ du duc, il ait été reconnu, dans les
délibérations qui ont eu lieu à Madrid en sa présence, que cette
prétention n'était pas fondée, le Roi, vu la gravité de l'affaire, a
ordonné que quelques personnes d'autorité et de lettres se réunissent de
nouveau, pour examiner la question.--Il communique au duc les
considérations qui ont été approuvées dans cette junte, et qui
confirment l'opinion précédemment émise." Ibid., p. 612.
[1130] The letters patent were antedated, as far back as April 15, 1567,
probably that they might not appear to have been got up for the nonce.
Conf. Ibid., p. 528.
[1131] "J'espère en la bonté, clémence et justice de Votre Majesté
qu'icelle ne voudra souffrir que je sorte vos pays, avec mes onze
enfants, pour aller hors d'iceux chercher moyen de vivre, ayant été
amenée par feu de bonne mémoire l'Empereur, votre père." Ibid., tom. II.
p. 5.
[1132] "Haud facilè sine commiseratione legi à quoquam potest." Strada,
De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 387.
According to Alva's biographer, Ossorio, the appeal of the countess
would _probably_ have softened the heart of Philip, and inclined him to
an "ill-timed clemency," had it not been for the remonstrance of
Cardinal Espinosa, then predominant in the cabinet, who reminded the
king that "clemency was a sin when the outrage was against religion."
(Albæ Vita, p. 282.) To one acquainted with the character of Philip the
"probability" of the historian may seem somewhat less than probable.
[1133] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 18.
[1134] Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 90.
[1135] Ibid., p. 252.--By a decree passed on the eighteenth of May,
Egmont had been already excluded from any further right to bring
evidence in his defence. The documents connected with this matter are
given by Foppens, Ibid., tom. I. pp. 90-103.
[1136] Among the documents analyzed by Gachard is one exhibiting the
revenues of the great lords of the Low Countries, whose estates were
confiscated. No one except the prince of Orange had an income nearly so
great as that of Egmont, amounting to 63,000 florins. He had a palace at
Brussels, and other residences at Mechlin, Ghent, Bruges, Arras, and the
Hague.
The revenues of Count Hoorne amounted to about 8,500 florins. Count
Culemborg, whose hotel was the place of rendezvous for the Gueux, had a
yearly income exceeding 31,000 florins. William's revenues, far greater
than either, rose above 152,000. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom.
II. p. 116.
[1137] Supplément à Strada, tom. I. pp. 252-257.
[1138] In a letter dated January 6, 1568, Alva tells the king that
Viglius, after examining into the affair, finds the evidence so clear on
the point, that nothing more could be desired. Correspondance de
Philippe II., tom. II. p. 4.
[1139] For the facts connected with the constitution of the _Toison
d'Or_, I am indebted to a Dutch work, now in course of publication in
Amsterdam (Algemeene Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, van de vroegste tijden
tot op heden, door Dr. J. P. Arend). This work, which is designed to
cover the whole history of the Netherlands, may claim the merits of a
thoroughness rare in this age of rapid bookmaking, and of a candor rare
in any age. In my own ignorance of the Dutch, I must acknowledge my
obligations to a friend for enabling me to read it. I must further add,
that for the loan of the work I am indebted to the courtesy of B. Homer
Dixon, Esq., Consul for the Netherlands in Boston.
[1140] M. de Bavay has devoted seventy pages or more of his publication
to affidavits of witnesses in behalf of the prosecution. (Procès du
Comte d'Egmont, pp. 267-322.) But their testimony bears almost
exclusively on the subject of Egmont's dealings with the
sectaries,--scarcely warranting the Flemish editor's assertion in his
preface, that he has been able to furnish "all the elements of the
conviction of the accused by the duke of Alva."
M. de Bavay's work is one of the good fruits of that patriotic zeal
which animates the Belgian scholars of our time for the illustration of
their national history. It was given to the public only the last year,
after the present chapter had been written. In addition to what is
contained in former publications, it furnishes us with complete copies
of the defence of Egmont, as prepared both by himself and his counsel,
and with the affidavits above noticed of witnesses on the part of the
government. It has supplied me, therefore, with valuable materials,
whether for the correction or the corroboration of my previous
conclusions.
[1141] The resistance, to which those who signed the Compromise were
pledged, was to the Inquisition, in case of its attempt to arrest any
member of their body. Ante, Book II.
[1142] By the famous statute, in particular, of Edward the Third, the
basis of all subsequent legislation on the subject. Some reflections,
both on this law and the laws which subsequently modified it, made with
the usual acuteness of their author, may be found in the fifteenth
chapter of Hallam's Constitutional History of England.
[1143] The original document is to be found in the archives of Brussels,
or was in the time of Vandervynckt, who, having examined it carefully,
gives a brief notice of it. (Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. pp. 256,
257.) The name of its author should be cherished by the historian, as
that of a magistrate who, in the face of a tyrannical government, had
the courage to enter his protest against the judicial murders
perpetrated under its sanction.
[1144] Among other passages, see one in a letter of Margaret to the
king, dated March 23, 1567. "Ceulx de son conseil icy, qui s'employent
tout fidèlement et diligemment en son service, et entre aultres le comte
d'Egmont dont je ne puis avoir synon bon contentement." Correspondance
de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 235.
[1145] M. de Gerlache, in a long note to the second edition of his
history, enters into a scrutiny of Egmont's conduct as severe as that by
the attorney-general himself,--and with much the same result. (Hist. du
Royaume des Pays-Bas, tom. I. pp. 99-101.) "Can any one believe," he
asks, "that if, instead of having the 'Demon of the South'for his
master, it had been Charles the Fifth or Napoleon, Egmont would have
been allowed to play the part he did with impunity so long?" This kind
of Socratic argument, as far as it goes, proves only that Philip did no
worse than Charles or Napoleon would have done. It by no means proves
Egmont to have deserved his sentence.
[1146] Relacion de la Justicia que se hizo de los Contes Agamont y Orne,
MS.
[1147] "Marcharent dans la ville en bataille, et avecques une batterie
de tambourins et de phiffres si pitieuse qu'il n'y avoit spectateur de
si bon coeur qui ne palist et ne pleurast d'une si triste pompe funebre."
Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I. p. 363.
[1148] De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom V. p. 450.--Guerres Civiles du
Pays-Bas, p. 172.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 57.--Relacion de la
Justicia que se hizo de los Contes Agamont y Orne, MS.
[1149] "Sur quoy le Duc lui repondit fort vivement et avec une espece de
colere, qu'il ne l'avoit pas fait venir à Brusselle pour mettre quelque
empechement à l'execution de leur sentence, mais bien pour les consoler
et les assister à mourir chretiennement." Supplement à Strada, tom. I.
p. 259.
[1150] "Venian en alguna manera contentos de pensar que sus causas
andaban al cabo, y que havian de salir presto y bien despachados este
dia." Relacion de la Justicia, MS.
[1151] "Voicy une sentence bien rigoureuse, je ne pense pas d'avoir tant
offencé Sa Majesté, pour meriter un tel traittement; neanmoins je le
prens en patience et prie le Seigneur, que ma mort soit une expiation de
mes pechés, et que par là, ma chere Femme et mes Enfans n'encourent
aucun blame, ny confiscation. Car mes services passez meritent bien
qu'on me fasse cette grace. Puis qu'il plait à Dieu et au Roy, j'accepte
la mort avec patience." Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 259.--These
remarks of Egmont are also given, with very little discrepancy, by
Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 56; in the Relacion de la Justicia que
se hizo de los Contes Agamont y Orne, MS.; and in the relation of
Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I. p. 364.
[1152] "Et combien que jamais mon intention n'ait esté de riens
traicter, ni faire contre la Personne, ni le service de Vostre Majesté,
ne contre nostre vraye, ancienne, et catholicque Religion, si est-ce que
je prens en patience, ce qu'il plaist à mon bon Dieu de m'envoyer."
Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 261.
[1153] "Parquoy, je prie a Vostre Majesté me le pardonner, et avoir
pitié de ma pauvre femme, enfans et serviteurs, vous souvenant de mes
services passez. Et sur cest espoir m'en vois me recommander à la
miséricorde de Dieu. De Bruxelles prest à mourir, ce 5 de Juing 1568."
Ibid., ubi supra.
[1154] "Et luy donna une bague fort riche que le roy d'Espaigne luy
avoit donné lors qu'il fut en Espaigne, en signe d'amitié, pour la luy
envoyer et faire tenir." Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I. p. 361.
[1155] "En après, le comte d'Aiguemont commença à soliciter fort
l'advancement de sa mort, disant que puis qu'il devoit mourir qu'on ne
le devoit tenir si longuement en ce travail." Mondoucet, Ibid., p. 366.
[1156] "Il estoit vestu d'une juppe de damas cramoisy, et d'un manteau
noir avec du passement d'or, les chausses de taffetas noir et le bas de
chamois bronzé, son chapeau de taffetas noir couvert de force plumes
blanches et noires." Ibid., ubi supra.
[1157] Ossorio, Albæ Vita, p. 287.--Guerres Civiles du Pays-Bas, p.
177.--Relacion de la Justicia, MS.
[1158] This personage, whose name was Spel, met with no better fate than
that of the victims whose execution he now superintended. Not long after
this he was sentenced to the gallows by the duke, to the great
satisfaction of the people, as Strada tells us, for the manifold crimes
he had committed. De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 387.
[1159] The executioner was said to have been formerly one of Egmont's
servants. "El verdugo, que hasta aquel tiempo no se havia dejado ver,
por que en la forma de morir se le tuvo este respeto, hizo su oficio con
gran presteza, al qual havia hecho dar aquel maldito oficio el dicho
Conde, y dicen aver sido lacayo suyo." Relacion de la Justicia,
MS.--This _relacion_ forms part of a curious compilation in MS.,
entitled "Cartas y Papeles varios," in the British Museum. The compiler
is supposed to have been Pedro de Gante, secretary of the duke of
Naxera, who amused himself with transcribing various curious "relations"
of the time of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second.
[1160] "Todas las boticas se cerraron, y doblaron por ellos todo el dia
las campanas de las Yglesias, que no parecia otra cosa si no dia de
juicio." Relacion de la Justicia, MS.
[1161] "Lesquelz pleuroient et regrettoient de voir un si grand
capitaine mourir ainsi." Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I. p.
367.
[1162] "II se pourmena quelque peu, souhaytant de pouvoir finir sa vie
au service de son Prince et du pais." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol.
58.
[1163] "Alzò los ojos al cielo por un poco espacio con un semblante tan
doloroso, como se puede pensar le tenia en aquel transito un hombre tan
discreto." Relacion de la Justicia, MS.
[1164] "En gran silencio, con notable lastima, sin que por un buen
espacio se sintiese rumor ninguno." Ibid.
[1165] "Fuere, qui linteola, contemplo periculo, Egmontii cruore
consparserint, servaverintque, seu monumentum amoris, seu vindictæ
irritamentum." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 394.
[1166] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 58.--Guerres Civiles du
Pays-Bas, p. 177--Relacion de la Justicia, MS.
M. de Bavay has published a letter from one of the bishop of Ypres's
household, giving an account of the last hours of Egmont, and written
immediately after his death. (Procès du Comte d'Egmont, pp. 232-234.)
The statements in the letter entirely corroborate those made in the
text. Indeed, they are so nearly identical with those given by Foppens
in the Supplément à Strada, that we can hardly doubt that the writer of
the one narrative had access to the other.
[1167] "Que avia servido á su magestad veinte y ocho años y no pensaba
tener merecido tal payo, pero que se consolaba que con dar su cuerpo á
la tierra, saldria de los continuos trauajos en que havia vivido."
Relacion de la Justicia, MS.
[1168] "Se despita, maugreant et regrettant fort sa mort, et se trouva
quelque peu opiniastre en la confession, la regrettant fort, disant
qu'il estoit assez confessé." Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme, tom. I. p. 365.
[1169] "Il étoit agé environ cinquante ans, et étoit d'une grande et
belle taille, et d'une phisionomie revenante." Supplément à Strada, tom.
I. p. 264.
[1170] "The death of this man," says Strada, "would have been
immoderately mourned, had not all tears been exhausted by sorrow for
Egmont." De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 396.
For the account of Hoorne's last moments, see Relacion de la Justicia,
MS.; Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 58; Supplément à Strada, tom. I.
pp. 265, 266; Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I. p. 367; De Thou,
Hist. Universelle, tom. I. p. 451; Ossorio, Albæ Vita, p. 287.
[1171] "Plusieurs allarent à l'église Saincte Claire où gisoit son
corps, baisant le cercueil avec grande effusion de larmes, comme si ce
fust esté les saincts ossemens et reliques de quelque sainct."
Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I. p. 367.
[1172] Arend, Algemeene Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, D. II. St. v. bl.
66.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 395.
[1173] "Les gens du comte d'Aiguemont plantèrent ses armes et enseignes
de deuil à sa porte du palais; mais le duc d'Albe en estant adverty, les
en fit bien oster bientost et emporter dehors." Mondoucet, ap. Brantôme,
OEuvres, tom. I. p. 367.
[1174] Mondoucet, the French ambassador at the court of Brussels, was
among the spectators who witnessed the execution of the two nobles. He
sent home to his master a full account of the tragic scene, the most
minute, and perhaps the most trustworthy, that we have of it. It luckily
fell into Brantôme's hands, who has incorporated it into his notice of
Egmont.
[1175] "La comtesse d'Aiguemont, qui emporta en cette assemblée le bruit
d'être la plus belle de toutes les Flamandes." Correspondance de
Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 364.
[1176] Gerlache, Hist. du Royaume des Pays-Bas, tom. I. p. 96.
[1177] "Qu'il avoit vu tomber la tête de celui qui avoit fait trembler
deux fois la France." Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 266.
[1178] Morillon, in a letter to Granvelle, dated August 3, 1567, a few
weeks only before Egmont's arrest, gives a graphic sketch of that
nobleman, which, although by no friendly hand, seems to be not wholly
without truth. "Ce seigneur, y est-il dit, est haut et présumant de soy,
jusques à vouloir embrasser le faict de la république et le redressement
d'icelle et de la religion, que ne sont pas de son gibier, et est plus
propre peur conduire une chasse ou volerie, et, pour dire tout, une
bataille, s'il fut esté si bien advisé que de se cognoistre et se
mesurer de son pied; mais les flatteries perdent ces gens, et on leur
fait accroire qu'ilz sont plus saiges qu'ilz ne sont, et ilz le croient
et se bouttent sy avant, que aprèz ilz ne se peuvent ravoir, et il est
force qu'ilz facent le sault." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau,
tom. I. p. lxix.
[1179] "Je diray de lui que c'estoit le seigneur de la plus belle façon
et de la meilleure grace que j'aye veu jamais, fust ce parmy les grandz,
parmy ses pairs, parmy les gens de guerre, et parmy les dames, l'ayant
veu en France et en Espagne, et parlé à luy." Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. I.
p. 369.
An old lady of the French court, who in her early days had visited
Flanders, assured Brantôme that she had often seen Egmont, then a mere
youth, and that at that time he was excessively shy and awkward, so much
so, indeed, that it was a common jest with both the men and women of the
court. Such was the rude stock from which at a later day was to spring
the flower of chivalry!
[1180] "Posteà in publicâ lætitiâ dum uterque explodendo ad signum
sclopo ex provocatione contenderent, superatus esset Albanus, ingenti
Belgarum plausu ad nationis suæ decus referentium victoriam ex Duce
Hispano." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 391.
[1181] Schiller, in his account of the execution of the two nobles,
tells us that it was from a window of the Hôtel de Ville, the fine old
building on the opposite side of the market-place, that Alva watched the
last struggles of his victims. The _cicerone_, on the other hand, who
shows the credulous traveller the _memorabilia_ of the city, points out
the very chamber in the Maison du Roi in which the duke secreted
himself.--_Valeat quantum._
[1182] "Qu'il avoit procuré de tout son povoir la mitigation, mais que
l'on avoit répondu que, si il n'y eut esté aultre offence que celle qui
touchoit S. M., le pardon fut esté facille, mais qu'elle ne pouvoit
remettre l'offense faicte si grande à Dieu." Archives de la Maison
d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 81.
[1183] "J'entendz d'aucuns que son Exc. at jecté des larmes aussi
grosses que poix en temps que l'on estoit sur ces exécutions." Ibid.,
ubi supra.
They must have been as big as crocodiles'tears.
[1184] Ante, Book II.
[1185] "Je suis occupé à réunir mes troupes, Espagnoles, Italiennes, et
Allemandes; quand je serai prêt, vous recevrez ma réponse." Archives de
la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. xx.
[1186] "Il lui rend compte de ce qu'il a fait pour l'exécution des
ordres que le Roi lui donna à son départ, et qui consistaient à arrêter
et à châtier exemplairement les principaux du pays qui s'étaient rendus
coupables durant les troubles." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II.
p. 29.
[1187] "C'a été une chose de grand effet en ce pays, que l'exécution
d'Egmont; et plus grand a été l'effet, plus l'exemple qu'on a voulu
faire sera fructueux." Ibid., p. 28.
[1188] Ossorio, Albæ Vita, p. 278.
[1189] "V. M. peult considérer le regret que ça m'a esté de voir ces
pauvres seigneurs venus à tels termes, et qu'il ayt fallut que moy en
fusse l'exécuteur." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 252.
[1190] "Madame d'Egmont me faict grand pitié et compassion, pour la voir
chargée de unze enfans et nuls addressez, et elle, dame sy principale,
comme elle est, soeur du comte palatin, et de si bonne, vertueuse,
catholicque et exemplaire vie, qu'il n'y a homme qui ne la regrette."
Ibid., ubi supra.
[1191] The duke wrote no less than three letters to the king, of this
same date, June 9. The _precis_ of two is given by Gachard, and the
third is published entire by Reiffenberg. The countess and her
misfortunes form the burden of two of them.
[1192] "Il ne croit pas qu'il y ait aujourd'hui sur la terre une maison
aussi malheureuse; il ne sait même si la contesse aura de quoi souper ce
soir." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 28.
[1193] "Je treuve ce debvoir de justice estre faict comme il convient et
vostre considération très-bonne." Correspondance de Marguerite
d'Autriche, p. 255.
[1194] "Mais personne ne peult délaisser de se acquitter en ce en quoy
il est obligé." Ibid., ubi supra.
[1195] "Quant à la dame d'Egmont et ses unze enfans, et ce que me y
représentez, en me les recommandant, je y auray tout bon regard." Ibid.,
ubi supra.