thousand six hundred men; but, owing to storms and accidents, not more
than one-half arrived. He came upon the coast on August 28, 1565,
shortly after the arrival of the fleet of Ribault. On September 7th
Menendez cast anchor in the River of Dolphins, the harbor of St.
Augustine. He had previously discovered and given chase to some of the
vessels of Ribault off the mouth of the river May. The Indian village of
Selooe then stood upon the site of St. Augustine, and the landing of
Menendez was upon the spot where the city of St. Augustine now stands.
Fra Francisco Lopez de Mendoza, the chaplain of the expedition, thus
chronicles the disembarkation and attendant ceremonies:
"On Saturday, September 8th, the day of the nativity of Our Lady, the
General disembarked, with numerous banners displayed, trumpets and other
martial music resounding, and amid salvos of artillery.
"Carrying a cross, I proceeded at the head, chanting the hymn '_Te Deum
Laudamus_.' The General marched straight up to the cross, together with
all those who accompanied him; and, kneeling, they all kissed the
cross. A great number of Indians looked upon these ceremonies, and
imitated whatever they saw done. Thereupon the General took possession
of the country in the name of his majesty. All the officers then took
an oath of allegiance to him, as their general and as adelantado of the
whole country."
The name of St. Augustine was given, in the usual manner of the early
voyagers, because they had arrived upon the coast on the day dedicated
in their calendar to that eminent saint of the primitive Church, revered
alike by the good of all ages for his learning and piety.
The first troops who landed, says Mendoza, were well received by the
Indians, who gave them a large mansion belonging to the chief, situated
near the banks of the river. The engineer officers immediately erected
an entrenchment of earth, and a ditch around this house, with a slope
made of earth and fascines, these being the only means of defence which
the country presents; for, says the father with surprise, "there is not
a stone to be found in the whole country." They landed eighty cannon
from the ships, of which the lightest weighed five hundred pounds.
Menendez had by no means forgotten the errand upon which he principally
came; and by inquiries of the Indians he soon learned the position of
the French fort and the condition of its defenders. Impelled by
necessity, Laudonnière had been forced to seize from the Indians food to
support his famished garrison, and had thus incurred their enmity, which
was soon to produce its sad results.
The Spaniards numbered about six hundred combatants, and the French
about the same; but arrangements had been made for further accessions to
the Spanish force, to be drawn from Santo Domingo and Havana, and these
were daily expected.
It was the habit of those days to devolve almost every event upon the
ordering of a special providence; and each nation had come to look upon
itself almost in the light of a peculiar people, led like the Israelites
of old by signs and wonders; and as in their own view all their actions
were directed by the design of advancing God's glory as well as their
own purposes, so the blessing of Heaven would surely accompany them in
all their undertakings.
So believed the crusaders on the plains of Palestine; so believed the
conquerors of Mexico and Peru; so believed the Puritan settlers of New
England--alike in their Indian wars and their oppressive social
polity--and so believed, also, the followers of Menendez and of Ribault;
and in this simple and trusting faith, the worthy chaplain gives us the
following account of the miraculous escape and deliverance of a portion
of the Spanish fleet:
"God and his Holy Mother have performed another great miracle in our
favor. The day following the landing of the General in the fort he said
to us that he was very uneasy, because his galley and another vessel
were at anchor, isolated and a league at sea, being unable to enter the
port on account of the shallowness of the water, and that he feared that
the French might come and capture or maltreat them. As soon as this idea
came to him he departed, with fifty men, to go on board of his galleon.
He gave orders to three shallops which were moored in the river to go
out and take on board the provisions and troops which were on board the
galleon. The next day, a shallop having gone out thither, they took on
board as much of the provisions as they could, and more than a hundred
men who were in the vessel, and returned toward shore; but half a league
before arriving at the bar they were overtaken by so complete a calm
that they were unable to proceed farther, and thereupon cast anchor and
passed the night in that place.
"The day following, at break of day, they raised anchor as ordered by
the pilot, as the rising of the tide began to be felt. When it was
fully light they saw astern of them, at the poop of the vessel, two
French ships which during the night had been in search of them. The
enemy arrived with the intention of making an attack upon them. The
French made all haste in their movements, for our men had no arms on
board, and had only embarked the provisions. When day appeared, and our
people discovered the French, they addressed their prayers to Our Lady
of _Bon Secours d'Utrera_, and supplicated her to grant them a little
wind, for the French were already close up to them. They say that Our
Lady descended herself upon the vessel; for the wind freshened and blew
fair for the bar, so that the shallop could enter it. The French
followed it; but as the bar had but little depth and their vessels were
large, they were not able to go over it, so that our men and the
provisions made a safe harbor.
"When it became still clearer they perceived, besides the two vessels of
the enemy, four others at a distance, being the same which we had seen
in the port the evening of our arrival. They were well furnished with
troops and artillery, and had directed themselves for our galleon and
the other ship, which were alone at sea. In this circumstance God
afforded us two favors: the first was, that the same evening after they
had discharged the provisions and the troops I have spoken of, at
midnight the galleon and the other vessel put to sea without being
perceived by the enemy; the one for Spain, and the other for Havana for
the purpose of seeking the fleet which was there; and in this way
neither was taken.
"The second favor, by which God rendered us a still greater service, was
that on the day following the one I have described there arose a great
storm, and so great a tempest that certainly the greater part of the
French vessels must have been lost at sea; for they were overtaken upon
the most dangerous coast I have ever seen, and were very close to the
shore; and if our vessels, that is, the galleon and its consort, are not
shipwrecked, it is because they were already more than twelve leagues
off the coast, which gave them the facility of manoeuvring as well as
they could, relying upon the aid of God to preserve them."
Menendez had ascertained from the Indians that a large number of the
French troops had embarked on board of the vessels which he had seen off
the harbor, and he had good ground for believing that these vessels
would either be cast helpless upon the shore, or be driven off by the
tempest to such a distance as would render their return for some days
impossible. He at once conceived the project of attacking the French
fort upon the river May by land.
The troops, having heard mass, marched out in order, preceded by twenty
Biscayans and Asturians, having as their captain Martin de Ochoa, a
leader of great fidelity and bravery, furnished with axes to open a road
where they could not get along. At this moment there arrived two
Indians, who said that they had been at the French six days before, and
who "seemed like angels" to the soldiers, sent to guide their march.
Halting for refreshment and rest wherever suitable places could be
found, and the Adelantado always with the vanguard, in four days they
reached the vicinity of the fort, and came up within a quarter of a
league of it, concealed by a grove of pine trees. It rained heavily, and
a severe storm prevailed. The place where they had halted was a very bad
one and very marshy; but he decided to stop there, and went back to seek
the rear-guard, lest they might lose their way.
About ten at night the last of the troops arrived, very wet indeed, for
there had been much rain during the four days; they had passed marshes
with the water rising to their waists, and every night there was so
great a flood that they were in great danger of losing their powder,
their match-fire, and their biscuit; and they became desperate, cursing
those who brought them there, and themselves for coming.
Menendez pretended not to hear their complaints, not daring to call a
council as to proceeding or returning, for both officers and soldiers
went forward very unquietly. Remaining firm in his own resolve, two
hours before dawn he called together the Master of the Camp and the
captains, to whom he said that during the whole night he had sought of
God and his Holy Mother that they would favor and instruct him what he
should do most advantageous for their holy service; and he was persuaded
that they had all done the same. "But now, gentlemen," he proceeded, "we
must make some determination, finding ourselves exhausted, lost, without
ammunition or provisions, and without the hope of relief."
Some answered very promptly, "Why should they waste their time in giving
reasons? for, unless they returned quickly to St. Augustine, they would
be reduced to eating palmettos; and the longer they delayed, the greater
trouble they would have."
The Adelantado said to them that what they said seemed very reasonable,
but he would ask them to hear some reasons to the contrary, without
being offended. He then proceeded--after having smoothed down their
somewhat ruffled dispositions, considerably disturbed by their first
experience in encountering the hardships of such a march--to show them
the danger of retreat was then greater than an advance would be, as they
would lose alike the respect of their friends and foes; that if, on the
contrary, they attacked the fort, whether they succeeded in taking it or
not, they would gain honor and reputation.
Stimulated by the speech of their general, they demanded to be led to
the attack, and the arrangements for the assault were at once made.
Their French prisoner was placed in the advance; but the darkness of the
night and the severity of the storm rendered it impossible to proceed,
and they halted in a marsh, with the water up to their knees, to await
daylight.
At dawn, the Frenchman recognized the country, and the place where they
were, and where stood the fort; upon which the Adelantado ordered them
to march, enjoining upon all, at the peril of their lives, to follow
him; and coming to a small hill, the Frenchman said that behind that
stood the fort, about three bow-shots distant, but lower down, near the
river. The General put the Frenchman into the custody of Castaneda. He
went up a little higher, and saw the river and one of the houses, but he
was not able to discover the fort, although it was adjoining them; and
he returned to Castaneda, with whom now stood the Master of the Camp and
Ochoa, and said to them that he wished to go lower down, near to the
houses which stood behind the hill, to see the fortress and the
garrison, for, as the sun was now up, they could not attack the fort
without a reconnaissance. This the Master of the Camp would not permit
him to do, saying this duty appertained to him; and he went alone with
Ochoa near to the houses, from whence they discovered the fort; and,
returning with their information, they came to two paths, and leaving
the one by which they came, they took the other.
The Master of the Camp discovered his error, coming to a fallen tree,
and turned his face to inform Ochoa, who was following him; and as they
turned to seek the right path, he stopped in advance, and the sentinel
discovered them, who imagined them to be French; but examining them he
perceived they were unknown to him. He hailed, "Who goes there?" Ochoa
answered, "Frenchmen." The sentinel was confirmed in his supposition
that they were his own people, and approached them; Ochoa did the same;
but seeing they were not French, the sentinel retreated. Ochoa closed
with him, and with his drawn sword gave him a cut over the head, but did
not hurt him much, as the sentinel fended off the blow with his sword;
and the Master of the Camp, coming up at that moment, gave him a thrust,
from which he fell backward, making a loud outcry. The Master of the
Camp, putting his sword to his breast, threatened him with instant death
unless he kept silence. They tied him thereupon, and took him to the
General, who, hearing the noise, thought the Master of the Camp was
being killed, and meeting with the Sergeant-major, Francisco de Recalde,
Diego de Maya, and Andres Lopez Patino, with their standards and
soldiers, without being able to restrain himself, he cried out,
"Santiago! Upon them! Help of God, victory! The French are destroyed.
The Master of the Camp is in their fort, and has taken it." Upon which,
all rushed forward in the path without order, the General remaining
behind, repeating what he had said many times; himself believing it to
be certain that the Master of the Camp had taken with him a considerable
force, and had captured the fort.
So great was the joy of the soldiers, and such their speed, that they
soon came up with the Master of the Camp and Ochoa, who was hastening to
receive the reward of carrying the good news to the General of the
capture of the sentinel. But the Master of the Camp, seeing the spirit
which animated the soldiery, killed the sentinel, and cried out with a
loud voice to those who were pressing forward, "Comrades! do as I do.
God is with us;" and turned running toward the fort, and, meeting two
Frenchmen on the way, he killed one of them, and Andres Lopez Patino the
other. Those in the environs of the fort, seeing this tragedy enacted,
set up loud outcries; and in order to know the cause of the alarm, one
of the French within opened the postern of the principal gate, which he
had no sooner done than it was observed by the Master of the Camp; and,
throwing himself upon him, he killed him and entered the gate, followed
by the most active of his followers.
The French, awakened by the clamor, some dressed, others in their
night-clothes, rushed to the doors of their houses to see what had
happened; but they were all killed, except sixty of the more wary, who
escaped by leaping the walls.
Immediately the standards of the Sergeant-major and of Diego Mayo were
brought in, and set up by Rodrigo Troche and Pedro Valdes Herrera, with
two cavaliers, at the same moment. These being hoisted, the trumpets
proclaimed the victory, and the band of soldiers who had entered opened
the gates and sought the quarters, leaving no Frenchman alive.
The Adelantado, hearing the cries, left Castaneda in his place to
collect the people who had not come up, who were at least half the
force, and went himself to see if they were in any danger. He arrived at
the fort running; and as he perceived that the soldiers gave no quarter
to any of the French, he shouted "that, at the penalty of their lives,
they should neither wound nor kill any woman, cripple, or child under
fifteen years of age." By which seventy persons were saved, the rest
were all killed.
Renato de Laudonnière, the commander of the fort, escaped, with his
servant and some twenty or thirty others, to a vessel lying in the
river.
Such is the Spanish chronicle, contained in Barcia, of the capture of
Fort Caroline. Its details in the main correspond with the account of
Laudonnière, and of Nicolas Challeux, the author of the letter printed
at Lyons, in France, under date of August, 1566, by Jean Saugrain. In
some important particulars, however, the historians disagree. It has
been already seen that Menendez is represented as having given orders to
spare all the women, maimed persons, and all children under fifteen
years of age. The French relations of the event, on the contrary, allege
that an indiscriminate slaughter took place, and that all were
massacred, without respect to age, sex, or condition; but as this
statement is principally made upon the authority of a terrified and
flying soldier, it is alike due to the probabilities of the case, and
more agreeable to the hopes of humanity, to lessen somewhat the horrors
of a scene which has need of all the palliation which can be drawn from
the slightest evidences of compassion on the part of the stern and
bigoted leader.
Some of the fugitives from the fort fled to the Indians; and ten of
these were given up to the Spaniards, to be butchered in cold blood,
says the French account--to be sent back to France, says the Spanish
chronicle.
September 24th being the day of St. Matthew, the name of the fort was
changed to San Matteo, by which name it was always subsequently called
by the Spaniards; and the name of St. Matthew was also given by them to
the river, now called St. John's, on which it was situated.
The Spaniards proceeded at once to strengthen the fortress, deepening
and enlarging the ditch, and raised and strengthened the ramparts and
wall in such manner, says the boastful Mendoza, "that, if the half of
all France had come to attack it, they could not have disturbed it;" a
boast upon which the easy conquest of it by De Gourgues, three years
subsequently, affords an amusing commentary. They also constructed,
subsequently, two small forts at the mouth of the river, one on each
side, which probably were located, the one on Batten Island, and the
other at Mayport Mills.
Leaving three hundred soldiers as a garrison under his son-in-law, De
Valdez, Master of the Camp, who was now appointed governor of the fort,
Menendez marched from St. Augustine, beginning now to feel considerable
anxiety lest the French fleet, escaping from the tempest, might return
and visit upon his own garrison at St. Augustine the fate of Fort
Caroline. He took with him upon his return but fifty soldiers, and,
owing to the swollen waters, found great difficulty in retracing his
route. When within a league of St. Augustine, he allowed one of the
soldiers to go forward to announce his victory and safe return.
The garrison at St. Augustine had been in great anxiety respecting their
leader, and from the accounts given by those who had deserted, they
feared the total loss of the expedition. The worthy captain thus
describes the return of Menendez: "The same day, being Monday, we saw a
man coming, crying out loudly. I myself was the first to run to him for
the news. He embraced me with transport, crying, 'Victory! Victory! The
French fort is ours.' I promised him the present which the bearer of
good news deserves, and gave him the best in my power.
"At the hour of vespers our good General arrived, with fifty
foot-soldiers very much fatigued. As soon as I learned that he was
coming, I ran home and put on a new soutain, the best which I had, and a
surplice, and, going out with a crucifix in my hand, I went forward to
receive him; and he, a gentleman and a good Christian, before entering,
kneeled and all his followers, and returned thanks to the Lord for the
great favors which he had received. My companions and myself marched in
front in procession chanting, so that we all returned with the
demonstrations of joy."
REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS AGAINST SPAIN
RISE OF THE GUEUX OR BEGGARS
A.D. 1566
FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER
During the later mediæval and early modern periods, European states
and provinces passed through many changes of political relation. In
those times the territories comprised under the name of the
Netherlands--embracing the present Holland and Belgium--belonged
successively, in whole or in part, to different governments. In the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the region was united with
Burgundy; in 1477 it passed to the Hapsburgs; and later it came
under Spanish dominion.
In the reign of Charles V the Protestant Reformation spread through
the Netherlands, whose peoples shared in all the disputes and
turbulences of that religious revolution. Often in great peril,
the liberties of the Netherlands were more than ever endangered by
the absorption of the provinces into the vast empire of Charles.
The Emperor issued persecuting edicts against the Protestant
inhabitants, introduced the Inquisition with its terrible _auto
dafé_, which spared neither character nor sex, and by his severe
oppression caused the people of the Netherlands to feel themselves
"destined to perpetual slavery." The number of martyrs there during
the reign of Charles has been estimated on high authority at one
hundred thousand, although some modern historians place it far
below. The Inquisition, at all events, did some of its most cruel
work in the Netherlands during that period.
Toward the end of Charles' reign the Netherlands secured a certain
degree of exemption from these persecutions. Philip II, when he
succeeded his father, Charles V, on the throne of Spain, renewed
such favorable pledges to the Netherlands as the Emperor had given.
But once in full power (1555), Philip began the "dark and bloody
reign" which a few years later drove the Netherlander to their great
revolt, under the lead of William, Prince of Orange, called "William
the Silent."
In 1563 William and the Counts of Egmont and Horn, members of the
council of state, sent to Philip II a petition for the recall of
Cardinal Granvella, adviser of the regent, Margaret of Parma, who
was violently persecuting the Protestants. Although next year
Granvella was recalled, Philip did not change his determination to
destroy political and religious liberty in the Netherlands, and his
continued oppressions provoked his subjects there to rise in
self-defence.
As Schiller's history of the revolt, here presented, covers only
the preparatory stage, the brilliant summary, from another portion
of his works, is added to give completeness to his account.
A universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. Men began to
investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the prerogative
of kings. "The Netherlanders were not so stupid," many were heard to
say, with very little attempt at secrecy, "as not to know right well
what was due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king to
the subject; and that, perhaps, means would yet be found to repel force
with force, although at present there might be no appearance of it." In
Antwerp a placard was set up in several places calling upon the town
council to accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court, at Spires,
of having broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country, for
Brabant, being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in the
religious peace of Passau and Augsburg.
About this time, too, the Calvinists published their confession of faith,
and in a preamble, addressed to the King, declared that they, although a
hundred thousand strong, kept themselves, nevertheless, quiet, and, like
the rest of his subjects, contributed to all the taxes of the country;
from which it was evident, they added, that of themselves they entertained
no ideas of insurrection. Bold and incendiary writings were publicly
disseminated, which depicted the Spanish tyranny in the most odious
colors, and reminded the nation of its privileges and occasionally also
of its powers.[1]
[1] The Regent mentioned to the King a number (three thousand)
of these writings. It is remarkable how important a part
printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of
the Netherlands. Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to
millions. Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were
composed with all the low scurrility and brutality that were the
distinguishing characteristics of most of the Protestant polemical
writings of the time, works were occasionally published which
defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.