NIEUPORT--THE BATTLE OF THE DUNES
On the morning of July 2, in the year 1600, two armies--Spaniards,
under the Archduke Albert, and Dutchmen, under Prince Maurice of
Nassau--stood face to face amongst the dunes near Nieuport, where
the river Yser falls into the sea about ten miles west from Ostend.
In a field to the east of Nieuport there is a high, square tower,
part of a monastery and church erected by the Templars in the middle
of the twelfth century, which, though it escaped complete destruction,
was set on fire and nearly consumed when the town was attacked and
laid in ruins by the English and the burghers of Ghent in 1383,
the year of their famous siege of Ypres. It is now in a half-ruinous
condition, but in July, 1600, it was an important part of the
fortifications, and from the top the watchmen of the Spanish garrison
could see the country all round to a great distance beyond the
broad moat which then surrounded the strong walls of Nieuport.
A few miles inland, to the southwest, in the middle of the plain
of Flanders, were the houses of Furnes, grouped round the church
tower of St. Nicholas. To the north a wide belt of sandhills (the
'dunes'), with the sea beyond them, extended far past Ostend on
the east, and to the harbour of Dunkirk on the west. Nearer, on
the landward side of the dunes to the east, and within less than a
mile of each other, were the villages of Westende and Lombaerdzyde.
Close at hand, all round Nieuport, there were numerous small lakes
and watercourses connected with the channel of the Yser, which,
flowing past the town, widened out until it joined the sea, and
became a harbour, which on that morning was full of shipping.
A new chapter had just begun in the history of West Flanders when
the Dutchmen and the Spaniards thus met to slaughter each other
amongst the sand and rushes of the dunes. Philip II. had offered to
cede the Spanish Netherlands to his daughter, the Infanta Isabella,
on condition that a marriage was arranged between her and the Archduke
Albert of Austria. After the death of Philip II. this offer was
confirmed by his successor, Philip III., and the wedding took place
in April, 1599.
[Illustration: NIEUPORT. A Fair Parishioner.]
Albert and Isabella were both entering on the prime of life, the
Archduke being forty and the Infanta thirty-two at the time of
their marriage, and were both of a character admirably fitted for
the lofty station to which they had been called. In their portraits,
which hang, very often frayed and tarnished, on the walls of the
Hôtel de Ville of many a Flemish town, there is nothing very royal
or very attractive; but, even after making every allowance for the
flattery of contemporary historians, there can be little doubt
that their popularity was well deserved--well deserved if even a
part of what has been said about them is true. The Archduke is
always said to have taken Philip II. as a model of demeanour, but
he had none of the worst faults of the sullen, powerful despot,
with that small mind, that 'incredibly small' mind of his, and
cold heart, cold alike to human suffering and human love, who had
held the Flemings, whom he hated, for so many years in the hollow
of his hand. His grave mien and reserved habits, probably acquired
during his sojourn at the Court of Spain, were distasteful to the
gay and pleasure-loving people of Flanders, who would have preferred
a Prince more like Charles V., whose versatility enabled him to
adapt himself to the customs of each amongst the various races over
whom he ruled. Nevertheless, if they did not love him they respected
him, and were grateful for the moderation and good feeling which
distinguished his reign, and gave their distracted country, after
thirty years of civil war, a period of comparative tranquillity.
The Infanta Isabella, _débonnaire_, affable, tolerant, and
noble-hearted, as she is described, gained the hearts of the Flemings
as her husband never did. 'One could not find any Court more truly
royal or more brilliant in its public fêtes, which sometimes recall
the splendid epoch of the House of Burgundy. Isabella loves a country
life. She is often to be seen on horseback, attending the tournaments,
leading the chase, flying the hawk, taking part in the sports of
the bourgeoise, shooting with the crossbow, and carrying off the
prize.' Above all things, her works of charity endeared her to the
people. In time of war she established hospitals for the wounded,
for friends and enemies alike, where she visited them, nursed them,
and dressed their wounds with her own hands, with heroic courage
and tenderness.[*]
[Footnote *: De Gerlache, i. 260.]
[Illustration: NIEUPORT. Hall and Vicarage.]
Even on their first coming into Flanders, before their characters
were known except by hearsay, they were received with extraordinary
enthusiasm. Travelling by way of Luxembourg, they came to Namur, where
their first visit was made the occasion of a military fête, conducted
under the personal supervision of Comte Florent de Berlaimont. At
Nivelles the Duc d'Arschot paid out of his own purse the cost of
the brilliant festivities to which the people of Brabant flocked
in order to bid their new rulers welcome, and himself led the
procession, accompanied by the Archbishop of Malines and the Bishop
of Antwerp. So they journeyed on amidst scenes of public rejoicing
until they came to Brussels, where they established their Court in
accordance with the customs and ceremonies which had been usual
under the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of Spain.
But when the Archdukes, as they were called, passed from town to
town on this Royal progress, the phantoms of war, pestilence, and
famine hung over the land. The great cities of Flanders had been
deserted by thousands of their inhabitants. The sea trade of the
country had been destroyed by the vigorous blockade which the Dutch
ships of war maintained along the coast. Religious intolerance
had driven the most industrious of the working classes to find a
refuge in Holland or England. Villages lay in ruins, surrounded
by untilled fields and gardens run to seed. Silent looms and empty
warehouses were seen on every side. To such a pass had the disastrous
policy of the Escurial brought this fair province of the Spanish
Empire! From all parts of Flanders the cry for peace went up, but
the time for peace was not yet come.[*]
[Footnote *: _L'Abbé Nameche_, xxi. 6-8.]
The new reign had just begun when Maurice of Nassau suddenly invaded
Flanders with a great force, and laid siege to Nieuport, the garrison
of which, reinforced by an army, at the head of which the Archduke
Albert had hurried across Flanders, was under the command of the
Archduke himself, and many Spanish Generals of great experience
in the wars.
[Illustration: NIEUPORT. The Quay, with Eel-boats and Landing-stages.]
Though the Court at Brussels had been taken by surprise, the Dutch
army was in a position of great danger. Part of it lay on the west
side of the Yser, and part to the east, amongst the dunes near
Lombaerdzyde and Westende, with a bridge of boats thrown across
the river as their only connection. Their ships were at anchor
close to the shore; but Prince Maurice frankly told his men that
it was useless to think of embarking in case of defeat, and that,
therefore, they must either win the day or perish there, for the
Spaniards were before them under the protection of Nieuport, the river
divided them, the sea was behind them, and it would be impossible
for a beaten army to escape by retreating through the dunes in the
direction of Ostend.
Such was the position of affairs beneath the walls of Nieuport
at sunrise on July 2, 1600. The morning was spent by the Dutch
in preparing for battle. Towards noon the Spanish leaders held
a council of war, at which it was decided to attack the enemy as
soon as possible, and about three o'clock the battle began. A stiff
breeze from the west, blowing up the English Channel, drove clouds
of sand into the eyes of the Spaniards, and the bright rays of the
afternoon sun, shining in their faces as they advanced to the attack,
dazzled and confused them. But, in spite of these disadvantages, it
seemed at first as if the fortunes of the day were to go in their
favour.
The bridge of boats across the Yser was broken, and some of the
Dutch regiments, seized by a sudden panic, began to retreat towards
the sea; but, finding it impossible to reach the ships, they rallied,
and began once more to fight with all the dogged courage of their
race. For some hours the battle was continued with equal bravery
on both sides, the Spaniards storming a battery which the Dutch
had entrenched amongst the dunes, and the Dutch defending it so
desperately that the dead and wounded lay piled in heaps around
it. But at last the Spanish infantry were thrown into confusion
by a charge of horsemen; the Archduke Albert was wounded, and had
to retire from the front to have his injuries attended to. Prince
Maurice ordered a general advance of all his army, and in a few
minutes the enemy were fleeing from the battlefield, leaving behind
them 3,000 dead, 800 prisoners, and more than 100 standards. The
loss on the Dutch side was about 2,000.
The Archduke Albert, who had narrowly escaped being himself taken
prisoner, succeeded in entering Nieuport safely with what remained
of his army. The town remained in the hands of the Spaniards, for
Prince Maurice, after spending some days in vain attempts to capture
it, marched with his whole force to Ostend, where soon afterwards
began the celebrated siege, which was to last for three long years,
and about which all Europe never tired of talking.[*]
[Footnote *: 'Le siège d'Ostende fut, pendant ces trois ans, la
fable et la nouvelle de l'Europe; on ne se lassait pas d'en parler.
Des princes, des étrangers de toutes les nations venaient y
assister.'--_L'Abbé Nameche_, xxi. 24.]
[Illustration: NIEUPORT. The Town Hall.]
The history of Nieuport since those days has been the history of
a gradual fall. Its sea trade disappeared slowly but surely; the
fishing industry languished; the population decreased year by year;
and it has not shared to any appreciable extent in the prosperity
which has enriched other parts of Flanders since the Revolution of
1830. It is now a quiet, sleepy spot, with humble streets, which
remind one of some fishing village on the east coast of Scotland.
Men and women sit at the doors mending nets or preparing bait. The
boats, with their black hulls and dark brown sails, move lazily
up to the landing-stages, where a few small craft, trading along
the coast, lie moored. Barges heavily laden with wood are pulled
laboriously through the locks of the canals which connect the Yser
with Ostend and Furnes. The ancient fortifications have long since
disappeared, with the exception of a few grass-grown mounds; and
only the grim tower of the Templars, standing by itself in a field
on the outskirts of the town, remains to show that this insignificant
place was once a mighty stronghold.
In those old Flemish towns, however, it is always possible to find
something picturesque; and here we have the Cloth Hall, with its
low arches opening on the market-place, and the Gothic church,
one of the largest in Flanders, with its porch and tower, where
the bell-ringers play the chimes and the people pass devoutly to
the services of the church. But that is all. Nieuport has few
attractions nowadays, and is chiefly memorable in Flemish history
because under its walls they fought that bloody 'Battle of the
Dunes,' in which the stubborn strength and obstinacy of the Dutch
overcame the fiery valour of the Spaniards.
They are all well-nigh forgotten now, obstinate Dutchman and valiant
Spaniard alike. Amongst the dunes not a vestige remains of the
field-works for which they fought. Bones, broken weapons and shattered
breastplates, and all the débris of the fight, were long ago buried
fathoms deep beneath mounds of drifting sand. Old Nieuport--Nieuport
Ville, as they call it now--for which so much blood was shed, is
desolate and dreary with its small industries and meagre commerce;
but a short walk to the north brings us to Nieuport-Bains, and to
the gay summer life which pulsates all along the Flemish coast,
from La Panne on the west to the frontiers of Holland.
[Illustration: NIEUPORT. Church Port (Evensong).]
THE COAST OF FLANDERS