BATTLING FOR A KINGDOM
Of more interest than Philip the Bold or John the Fearless is the
beautiful Jacqueline of Bavaria, who was married to John's nephew, John
of Brabant. According to tradition, Jacqueline, heiress to the counties
of Holland and Hainault, was the most charming and gifted woman of her
day. John, Duke of Brabant, was in no respect her equal. He subjected
her to endless indignities and persecutions, and she at last fled from
Brussels to the court of Henry V of England, where she found protection.
The assassination of John the Fearless by followers of the dauphin of
France gave Burgundy and Flanders to his son Philip the Good. It was
Philip's ambition to consolidate all the Belgic provinces under the rule
of Burgundy, and thus to create a strong border state between France and
Germany, and he was not too scrupulous as to the means he used in
attaining his end. He wrested from the unfortunate Jacqueline first her
county of Hainault, then the provinces of Holland and Zealand in the
northern Netherlands. He also succeeded to the duchy of Brabant, and
gained by purchase the duchy of Luxembourg. Having induced the Emperor
to renounce his rights as overlord, Philip was now the head of an
independent state nearly as large as the modern countries of Holland and
Belgium.
It was Philip the Good who summoned the Grand Council to administer the
laws for all his Belgic territory. He often called together the
States-General, composed of the nobles. From this was developed in time
a parliament, in which sat representatives of the nobles, the gentry and
the communes, these last being called the Third Estate. But with this
progress toward consolidation, there was always one powerful
disintegrating force at work--the lack of any bond of union between the
towns. The jealousies of these little rival states kept them involved in
continual petty warfare, and even restrained them from offering
assistance to one another in the face of a common danger. A story drawn
from the old chroniclers will furnish a picture of the times.
In 1436, Philip led a large force of Flemings against the English
stronghold of Calais, which made a stubborn defense, and the besiegers
lost many men in the encounters outside the walls. As the Dutch fleet,
which had been relied upon to assist Philip by blockading the port, had
not appeared, the English were abundantly supplied with provisions,
while their enemies were almost at the end of their resources. The
garrison was in the habit of pasturing its cattle outside the ramparts
under a strong guard, in defiance of the Flemings. One morning a large
troop of Ghenters threw themselves upon a particularly fine herd, and
had already seized a part of it, when they found themselves caught in an
English ambuscade and driven with the animals into the city itself.
Their rivals, the Brugeois, encamped near by, took their time about
offering assistance and were too late to be of any service. The Duke's
following never interfered in these skirmishes, for which his permission
was never asked.
We catch a glimpse of the splendour of these Burgundian days in the
contemporary description of the Assembly of Arras, which met, the year
previous to Philip's attempt on Calais, to conclude a peace between
France and England. Here were ambassadors from England--among them
Henry, Cardinal of Winchester, and Richard, Earl of Warwick--envoys from
Charles VII of France, from the Emperor, from the kings of Spain,
Portugal, Sicily, Navarre, Denmark and Poland, besides the legate from
the Pope and the chief vassals and friends of Philip himself. Among the
brilliant retinues that accompanied and guarded these lords, that of the
Bishop of Liège was singled out for mention. This prelate, one of the
most powerful Belgic nobles, was surrounded by two hundred gentlemen
dressed in dazzling white costumes and mounted on white horses. The Duke
of Burgundy had a bodyguard composed of one hundred gentlemen and two
hundred archers, who never left his side.
This assembly was one of the largest in the fifteenth century. Fifty
thousand visitors were entertained and ten thousand horses were taken
care of for some weeks in the city. On the arrival of the French Embassy
Philip went to meet them, accompanied by the Duchess Isabella, who rode
in a magnificent litter, followed by several _grandes dames_ richly
dressed and mounted on beautiful gray palfreys. Before the sessions of
this august council began, a brilliant tournament was celebrated, in
which a Spaniard, Jean de Marle, was the victor. Then the lords repaired
to the monastery of Saint-Vaast for their sessions.
It may be added that this assembly was unable to make peace between
France and England, the English refusing to withdraw the claim of Henry
VI to the crown of France, and the French declining to accept any other
terms.
While the great cities of Flanders furnished by far the larger part of
the Duke's soldiery--it is said that Ghent, Bruges and Ypres could
together have armed 100,000 men, had it been necessary, without
arresting the course of their industries--they were often a most
uncertain support, as the history of the same siege illustrates. After
weary weeks of waiting, the Dutch fleet at last appeared, but was soon
dispersed by English ships. At this juncture the Ghenters declared they
were going home. In vain the Duke threatened and then entreated. Neither
tears nor menaces could move them. "The trumpets sounded, the troops,
with waving banners, marched away." Scarcely had the Ghenters
disappeared when the other Flemings followed their example, and the
helpless Duke was forced to bring up the rear with his nobles.
The Order of the Golden Fleece was established at Bruges by Philip the
Good at the time of his marriage to Princess Isabella of Portugal. The
Golden Fleece suggested the importance of Bruges as the center of the
trade in wool, while the story of Jason embodied the principles of
chivalry. The first motto of the order was changed later to that of the
house of Burgundy--"Je l'ai emprins," (I have undertaken it). The
organization was to consist of twenty-four knights besides the prince at
its head, who were privileged to be tried only by the members of the
order, thus being protected against despotic sovereigns as well as
against the laws of their country. Philip II of Spain was the first to
violate this privilege, in the execution of Counts Egmont and Hoorn. In
the eighteenth century, the order of the Golden Fleece was divided into
two branches, those of Austria and Spain.
Philip the Good, although a vassal of both France and the Empire, was
from the central position of his provinces and the number of rich
trading cities that they contained, more powerful than either the French
king or the Emperor. His son and successor, Charles the Rash, called
"the proudest, most daring and most unmanageable prince that ever made
the sword the type and the guarantee of greatness," seems to have
coveted a domain that should include the whole of ancient Lotharingia,
or the region watered by the Rhine, the Rhone and the Po, and even to
have dreamed of invading Italy. He spent his reign in a series of
unsuccessful campaigns, in the last of which he lost his life, and left
to his daughter Mary the heritage of a large state, composed of many
principalities--little states surrounded by enemies and with no bond of
union among themselves.
Louis XI of France at once seized the Duchy of Burgundy, which was ever
afterwards a part of the French dominion. The County of Burgundy with
the Netherlands remained under Mary's rule. The towns were not slow in
reasserting their rights and recovering the privileges that had been
wrested from them by the Burgundian princes. Mary married Maximilian of
Austria, son of the Emperor Frederick III, and at her death, a few years
later, left two children, Philip the Fair and Margaret of Austria.
Philip espoused Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile
and Aragon, and became the father of Charles V. Then began that
unfortunate connection with Spain which brought such misery to the Low
Countries. Charles, who not only ruled the Netherlands and Austria, but
was elected Emperor and King of Spain, governed his provinces of the Low
Countries with despotic sway. At one time the Ghenters incurred his
wrath by rising against the payment of a war tax and even carrying on
secret negotiations with Francis I, Charles's great rival. Francis
basely betrayed them to Charles, who took possession of the city with a
large army. Their leaders were beheaded, many citizens were exiled, and
the guild chiefs and members of the council were brought before the
Emperor with halters about their necks and forced to sue for pardon.
Henceforth no magistrate of Ghent was allowed to appear in public
without wearing the halter. This sign of submission became the badge of
the town, but in later years it was made of silk and worn as a
decoration. The city lost its privileges and its great bell, Roland. At
this time, too, the enormous citadel, called the Spaniards' Castle, was
erected at Ghent by Charles's orders. The garrison of this stronghold
was often, during the Spanish occupation of the country, of service in
suppressing insurrections in Flanders.
The Low Countries had never been more prosperous than at the accession
of Philip II. With the vast increase in commerce had come great wealth
and unexampled luxury. Antwerp, which held the place formerly belonging
to Bruges, was the richest city in Northern Europe. It was said as much
business was done on the exchange of Antwerp in one month as on that of
Venice in two years. Under the Burgundians music, architecture,
painting, lace-making and tapestry were all brought to great perfection,
and the University of Louvain was founded. One important advance in
government under Charles V must be noted. A code of laws was formed from
the customs that had grown up under the charters of the towns and the
proclamations of the rulers.
Philip II, who had been brought up in Spain, was a narrow-minded despot
and bigoted Catholic, entirely without natural ties binding him to the
Low Countries. He resided in the Netherlands only four years, at the end
of that time making Margaret of Parma, his half-sister, resident
governant. The Ancienne Cour in Brussels was the seat of her Court.
Philip, resenting the independence of the Belgians and determined to
reduce them to abject submission, cunningly contrived a scheme of
government for the provinces during his absence which left the balance
of power in the hands of courtiers devoted to his service. The
convocation of the States-General was forbidden, and a violent
persecution of heretics was commenced. An element of terror was added to
the situation by the Spanish garrisons, who ravaged the coast
provinces to obtain plunder in lieu of their long delayed pay.
[Illustration: ANCIENT BOURSE, ANTWERP.]
In order to safeguard the rights of the people and make peace between
them and the King, a confederation was formed of the most powerful
nobles, led by the three greatest leaders in the Low Countries, William
the Silent, Prince of Orange, and Counts Egmont and Hoorn. The
confederates entered Brussels, where de Brederode, one of their leaders,
gave a great banquet in their honour, at which three hundred guests were
present. After long carousing, some one told how her advisers had handed
Margaret their petition with the remark, "You have nothing to fear from
such a band of beggars (_tas de Gueux_)." As the leaders were then
trying to decide upon a name for their confederacy, they at once adopted
that of _Gueux_, and the toast, "Long Live the Gueux," was drunk with
riotous hilarity. Henceforth those who upheld the rights of the people
and resisted the Inquisition were known as Gueux.
Madame Vandervelde made a telling use of this rallying cry in one of her
appeals in this country for the Belgian refugees. "Again," she said,
"the Belgian people are beggars, but they are glorious beggars!"
This was the beginning of the forty years' struggle for freedom that
ended in the division of the United Netherlands. Philip, bent upon
subjugating the people, replaced the Regent, Margaret of Parma, by the
infamous Duke of Alva. Backed by an army of Spanish veterans, the new
governor levied ruinous taxes, laid waste cities and provinces, and
carried out all the horrors of the Inquisition. Counts Egmont and Hoorn
were beheaded in front of the Maison du Roi in the Grande Place of
Brussels, and other leaders met the same fate. It was Alva's own boast
that during his rule in the Netherlands he sent eighteen thousand people
to death by execution.
Such barbarities as those committed at the capture of Haarlem roused the
people to desperation. The siege of this place lasted for seven months,
and when it was taken by the Spaniards the Governor and the other
magistrates were beheaded, and twelve hundred of the garrison were
either slaughtered or drowned in the lake. Before Alva's rule was ended,
the northern provinces, chiefly Protestant, had rebelled against the
Spanish crown. When no other resource remained, the intrepid burghers
cut the dikes, as they have done in Belgium today, and so forced the
enemy to retire.
Philip at last recalled the sanguinary Duke, and commissioned Requesens
to complete his task. But the conciliatory measures of the new governor
came too late, and the war went on.
After the death of Requesens and before the arrival of his successor,
Don John of Austria, the mutinous Spanish troops seized the citadels of
Ghent, Antwerp, and Maestricht, and gave the towns over to pillage and
destruction. In November, 1576, they were joined by other mutineers from
Alost, and for three days the "Spanish Fury" raged in Antwerp. Even in
the Low Countries such carnage and vandalism had never been known. When
it ended the city was in ruins, and seven thousand of its citizens had
been slain.
A few days later, the delegates from the different provinces, assembled
at Ghent, under the leadership of Orange, issued the famous declaration
known as "The Pacification of Ghent." This document proclaimed universal
amnesty, the union of the provinces to expel all foreigners, the
suspension of the edicts against heresy, liberty of worship, and the
annulment of all confiscations and judgments of the ten years of
warfare. The people seemed now to have taken a great stride toward
freedom.
The death of Don John in the following year gave the command of the
Spanish forces to Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, one of the
greatest generals of the age.
The Walloons having practically gone over to the side of Spain, on
account of their devotion to the Catholic religion, William of Orange
saw that it was only the northern provinces upon which he could really
depend, and formed the "Union of Utrecht." By this act the states now
constituting the kingdom of Holland were bound together as a united and
independent whole, each state to enjoy complete freedom of worship. They
were soon joined by the towns of Antwerp, Ypres, Ghent and Bruges.
After William the Silent was assassinated, in July, 1584, at the
instigation of Philip, the United Provinces, though bereft of their
leader, still held out against the power of Spain, but the cities that
at first cast in their lot with them, were one by one reduced by siege,
the last to surrender being Antwerp. In all the conquered territory the
Protestant religion was absolutely proscribed, more than half the
population went into voluntary exile in England and Holland rather than
renounce their faith, and the country was left desolate.
A Belgian writer has described the condition of the land thus: "In vain
might vestiges of the ancient prosperity of Belgium be sought. The
Belgian ports were blockaded by the cruisers of Holland and Zealand.
Persecution and exile had emptied the workshops. England gathered in the
industry of our ruined cities. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Middelburg
inherited the commerce of Antwerp and Bruges." At the end of Spanish
rule in Belgium, it is said that, "with a foreign garrison established
on its soil, and the principal part of the revenue assigned for its
maintenance, there would have been nothing surprising had the Belgian
race finally disappeared from the roll of nations."
At last Philip gave the command in the Low Countries to the Archduke
Albert, son of Emperor Maximilian II, who was to marry the Infanta
Isabella, and reign jointly with her over Burgundy and the Netherlands.
Under their rule the country, from this time called Belgium, began to
recover from the long wars. The sovereigns ruled with wise protection of
commerce and manufactures, and strove to build up the country. They were
patrons of art, and by their influence Rubens was induced to make his
home in Flanders.
Until the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, Spain continued to hold Belgium, on
whose devoted soil many a battle was fought. Sometimes Dutch and
Spaniards were the combatants, again Belgians fought off the French.
Through the whole second half of the seventeenth century Belgium was the
battlefield on which Europe strove against the ambition of Louis XIV,
and again it was laid waste.
In the course of these wars the French, in 1695, bombarded Brussels with
red-hot bullets. Sixteen churches and four thousand houses were burnt
down, and the buildings on the Grande Place suffered greatly.
Once more Belgium changed hands, and this time it passed under the sway
of Austria. Prince Eugene, the great soldier, was made Governor-General
of the Austrian Netherlands, but was too busy with his campaigns to
reside in the country. His deputy was an able man, under whom business
conditions improved and commerce increased, but he ruled with the iron
hand of an Alva. The citizens of Brussels demanded of him the Joyous
Entry, and when he refused to observe the charter, riots broke out in
Brussels, which were put down and punished with all the rigours of
Spanish rule.
Under the Archduchess Marie Elizabeth, the Emperor's sister, who was
Regent in Belgium for fifteen years, the commerce of the country
increased to such an extent that the jealousy of England and Holland was
aroused.
The death of the Emperor was followed by the war of the Austrian
Succession, in which Belgium was again invaded and overrun by France,
and one city after another was taken by the victorious Marshal Saxe.
This great general was the next governor, and he proceeded to levy upon
the people of Brussels the most extortionate taxes. The treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle soon put an end to his rule, however, and restored
Belgium to Austria.
It is a relief to read in the pages of European history that for the
next thirty-six years Belgium was peaceful and prosperous under another
Austrian ruler, Prince Charles of Lorraine. He was devoted to the
interests of the country, and became so popular that the twenty-fifth
anniversary of his government was celebrated by a succession of
brilliant fêtes in the different provinces.
The death of Prince Charles was almost immediately followed by that of
Maria Theresa and the accession of Joseph II to her throne. Full of the
new ideas in regard to human rights with which the eighteenth century
was seething, and truly desirous of improving the condition of his
subjects, he set to work to reform ecclesiastical conditions not only,
but also the whole system of civil and judicial administration.
Conscious of the highest aims, Joseph stubbornly persevered in his
efforts at reform, with the result that his reign was marked by
increasing strife in Belgium, culminating in a revolution. In 1790 the
rebels severed their connection with Austria and formed a confederacy
called the United Belgian States.
After a short and troubled existence of eleven months, the new republic
was invaded by an Austrian army, and submitted to Joseph's successor,
Leopold II, who agreed to restore the ancient forms of government. But
in 1749 the French Revolutionists, having declared war against Austria,
proceeded to invade Belgium. Though these new conquerors came in the
name of liberty, they also brought devastation and tyranny in their
wake. The French, however, held the country until 1814. Napoleon's sway
was despotic, but he carried out the reforms that Joseph II in vain
tried to introduce, and made the organization of the government
practically what it is today. Perfect freedom of worship was
established, and the control of education was given to the State.
Foreign commerce was destroyed, but great advances were made in
agriculture and manufacture.
As we all know, Napoleon returned from his banishment to Elba in March,
1815, and the Congress of Vienna, upon receiving the astounding news,
declared that "neither peace nor truce was possible" with "the common
enemy to the peace of the world." The death grapple of the campaign that
he at once planned was to come upon Belgian soil.
"At half-past three on the morning of June 15, 1815, Napoleon's outposts
crossed the frontier. On the evening of the 15th, Wellington attended
the famous ball in Brussels, the best remembered social function,
perhaps, in history, at the Duchess of Richmond's house." This house has
been pulled down, but the guides still point out the spot. While the
dancing was going on, despatches were brought to the Duke, and he asked
to see the map. On looking at it he exclaimed, "Napoleon has humbugged
me. He has gained twenty-four hours' march on me. I must fight him
here." He put his nail on the map. The scratch that was left was "the
first scar of Waterloo."
"Amongst the dead on the field at Quatre Bras, were officers who still
wore the pumps and silk stockings of the ball room."
Ligny and Quatre Bras were fought on the 16th, and Wellington's masterly
retreat to Waterloo occupied the following day. Then came that
memorable June 18th, the story of which thrills us even today. French
daring was matched with British tenacity. Wellington was perfect master
of the situation, and--he knew Blücher would come. But Napoleon had lost
his grip. This was a day of hard fighting and terrible losses.
"A little after seven o'clock Napoleon prepared to fling his last card
on the iron table of the battlefield; he would send forward his
bearskins, the Old Guard, the final bid for victory." This, too, was in
vain. "The Guard gives way," was the cry that rose everywhere. The first
column was retreating on La Belle Alliance, the second was being driven
across the road to Brussels. From the woods near Hougomont, down the
slopes below La Haye Sainte, the French fled in wild confusion. "At the
same moment Napoleon saw his whole line of battle fall to pieces."
"Napoleon in his flight crossed the battlefield of Quatre Bras. It was
still strewn with the unburied slain, nearly four thousand corpses
stripped quite naked by plunderers; and with what feelings Napoleon in
the darkness of the night rode through those acres of the slain may be
guessed. He drew rein for a moment in that field of the dead, and one
who stood near him records how 'his face was pale as wax and the tears
ran down his cheeks'--and thus across the useless battlefields of that
terrible campaign Napoleon fled on his way to Paris--and beyond it to
St. Helena."[2]
[2] From "The Great Duke."