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HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS
From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609
By John Lothrop Motley
MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 48
History of the United Netherlands, 1586
CHAPTER IX.
Military Plans in the Netherlands--The Elector and Electorate of
Cologne--Martin Schenk--His Career before serving the States--
Franeker University founded--Parma attempts Grave--Battle on the
Meuse--Success and Vainglory of Leicester--St. George's Day
triumphantly kept at Utrecht--Parma not so much appalled as it was
thought--He besieges and reduces Grave--And is Master of the Meuse--
Leicester's Rage at the Surrender of Grave--His Revenge--Parma on
the Rhine--He besieges aid assaults Neusz--Horrible Fate of the
Garrison and City--Which Leicester was unable to relieve--Asel
surprised by Maurice and Sidney--The Zeeland Regiment given to
Sidney--Condition of the Irish and English Troops--Leicester takes
the Field--He reduces Doesburg--He lays siege to Zutphen--Which
Parma prepares to relieve--The English intercept the Convoy--Battle
of Warnsfeld--Sir Philip Sidney wounded--Results of the Encounter--
Death of Sidney at Arnheim--Gallantry of Edward Stanley.
Five great rivers hold the Netherland territory in their coils. Three
are but slightly separated--the Yssel, Waal, and ancient Rhine, while the
Scheldt and, Meuse are spread more widely asunder. Along each of these
streams were various fortified cities, the possession of which, in those
days, when modern fortification was in its infancy, implied the control
of the surrounding country. The lower part of all the rivers, where they
mingled with the sea and became wide estuaries, belonged to the Republic,
for the coasts and the ocean were in the hands of the Hollanders and
English. Above, the various strong places were alternately in the hands
of the Spaniards and of the patriots. Thus Antwerp, with the other
Scheldt cities, had fallen into Parma's power, but Flushing, which
controlled them all, was held by Philip Sidney for the Queen and States.
On the Meuse, Maastricht and Roermond were Spanish, but Yenloo, Grave,
Meghem, and other towns, held for the commonwealth. On the Waal, the
town of Nymegen had, through the dexterity of Martin Schenk, been
recently transferred to the royalists, while the rest of that river's
course was true to the republic. The Rhine, strictly so called, from its
entrance into Netherland, belonged to the rebels. Upon its elder branch,
the Yssel, Zutphen was in Parma's hands, while, a little below, Deventer
had been recently and adroitly saved by Leicester and Count Meurs from
falling into the same dangerous grasp.
Thus the triple Rhine, after it had crossed the German frontier, belonged
mainly, although not exclusively, to the States. But on the edge of the
Batavian territory, the ancient river, just before dividing itself into
its three branches, flowed through a debatable country which was even
more desolate and forlorn, if possible, than the land of the obedient
Provinces.
This unfortunate district was the archi-episcopal electorate of Cologne.
The city of Cologne itself, Neusz, and Rheinberg, on the river, Werll and
other places in Westphalia and the whole country around, were endangered,
invaded, ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered, murdered, and subjected
to every imaginable outrage, by rival bands of highwaymen, enlisted in
the support of the two rival bishops--beggars, outcasts, but high-born
and learned churchmen both--who disputed the electorate.
At the commencement of the year a portion of the bishopric was still in
the control of the deposed Protestant elector Gebhard Truchsess, assisted
of course by the English and the States. The city of Cologne was held by
the Catholic elector, Ernest of Bavaria, bishop of Liege; but Neusz and
Rheinberg were in the hands of the Dutch republic.
The military operations of the year were, accordingly, along the Meuse,
where the main object of Parma was to wrest Grave From the Netherlands;
along the Waal, where, on the other hand, the patriots wished to recover
Nymegen; on the Yssel, where they desired to obtain the possession of
Zutphen; and in the Cologne electorate, where the Spaniards meant, if
possible, to transfer Neusz and Rheinberg from Truchsess to Elector
Ernest. To clear the course of these streams, and especially to set free
that debatable portion of the river-territory which hemmed him in from
neutral Germany, and cut off the supplies from his starving troops, was
the immediate design of Alexander Farnese.
Nothing could be more desolate than the condition of the electorate.
Ever since Gebhard Truchsess had renounced the communion of the Catholic
Church for the love of Agnes Mansfeld, and so gained a wife and lost his
principality, he had been a dependant upon the impoverished Nassaus, or a
supplicant for alms to the thrifty Elizabeth. The Queen was frequently
implored by Leicester, without much effect, to send the ex-elector a few
hundred pounds to keep him from starving, as "he had not one groat to
live upon," and, a little later, he was employed as a go-between, and
almost a spy, by the Earl, in his quarrels with the patrician party
rapidly forming against him in the States.
At Godesberg--the romantic ruins of which stronghold the traveller still
regards with interest, placed as it is in the midst of that enchanting
region where Drachenfels looks down on the crumbling tower of Roland and
the convent of Nonnenwerth--the unfortunate Gebhard had sustained a
conclusive defeat. A small, melancholy man, accomplished, religious,
learned, "very poor but very wise," comely, but of mean stature,
altogether an unlucky and forlorn individual, he was not, after all,
in very much inferior plight to that in which his rival, the Bavarian
bishop, had found himself. Prince Ernest, archbishop of Liege and
Cologne, a hangeron of his brother, who sought to shake him off, and a
stipendiary of Philip, who was a worse paymaster than Elizabeth, had a
sorry life of it, notwithstanding his nominal possession of the see. He
was forced to go, disguised and in secret, to the Prince of Parma at
Brussels, to ask for assistance, and to mention, with lacrymose
vehemence, that both his brother and himself had determined to renounce
the episcopate, unless the forces of the Spanish King could be employed
to recover the cities on the Rhine. If Neusz and Rheinberg were not
wrested from the rebels; Cologne itself would soon be gone. Ernest
represented most eloquently to Alexander, that if the protestant
archbishop were reinstated in the ancient see, it would be a most
perilous result for the ancient church throughout all northern Europe.
Parma kept the wandering prelate for a few days in his palace in
Brussels, and then dismissed him, disguised and on foot, in the dusk of
the evening, through the park-gate. He encouraged him with hopes of
assistance, he represented to his sovereign the importance of preserving
the Rhenish territory to Bishop Ernest and to Catholicism, but hinted
that the declared intention of the Bavarian to resign the dignity, was
probably a trick, because the archi-episcopate was no such very bad thing
after all.
The archi-episcopate might be no very bad thing, but it was a most
uncomfortable place of residence, at the moment, for prince or peasant.
Overrun by hordes of brigands, and crushed almost out of existence by
that most deadly of all systems of taxations, the 'brandschatzung,' it
was fast becoming a mere den of thieves. The 'brandschatzung' had no
name in English, but it was the well-known impost, levied by roving
commanders, and even by respectable generals of all nations. A hamlet,
cluster of farm-houses, country district, or wealthy city, in order to
escape being burned and ravaged, as the penalty of having fallen into a
conqueror's hands, paid a heavy sum of ready money on the nail at command
of the conqueror. The free companions of the sixteenth century drove a
lucrative business in this particular branch of industry; and when to
this was added the more direct profits derived from actual plunder, sack,
and ransoming, it was natural that a large fortune was often the result
to the thrifty and persevering commander of free lances.
Of all the professors of this comprehensive art, the terrible Martin
Schenk was preeminent; and he was now ravaging the Cologne territory,
having recently passed again to the service of the States. Immediately
connected with the chief military events of the period which now occupies
us, he was also the very archetype of the marauders whose existence was
characteristic of the epoch. Born in 1549 of an ancient and noble family
of Gelderland, Martin Schenk had inherited no property but a sword.
Serving for a brief term as page to the Seigneur of Ysselstein, he
joined, while yet a youth, the banner of William of Orange, at the head
of two men-at-arms. The humble knight-errant, with his brace of squires,
was received with courtesy by the Prince and the Estates, but he soon
quarrelled with his patrons. There was a castle of Blyenbeek, belonging
to his cousin, which he chose to consider his rightful property, because
he was of the same race, and because it was a convenient and productive
estate and residence, The courts had different views of public law, and
supported the ousted cousin. Martin shut himself up in the castle, and
having recently committed a rather discreditable homicide, which still
further increased his unpopularity with the patriots, he made overtures
to Parma. Alexander was glad to enlist so bold a soldier on his side,
and assisted Schenk in his besieged stronghold. For years afterwards,
his services under the King's banner were most brilliant, and he rose to
the highest military command, while his coffers, meantime, were rapidly
filling with the results of his robberies and 'brandschatzungs.' "'Tis a
most courageous fellow," said Parma, "but rather a desperate highwayman
than a valiant soldier." Martin's couple of lances had expanded into a
corps of free companions, the most truculent, the most obedient, the most
rapacious in Christendom. Never were freebooters more formidable to the
world at large, or more docile to their chief, than were the followers
of General Schenk. Never was a more finished captain of highwaymen.
He was a man who was never sober, yet who never smiled. His habitual
intoxication seemed only to increase both his audacity and his
taciturnity, without disturbing his reason. He was incapable of fear,
of fatigue, of remorse. He could remain for days and nights without
dismounting-eating, drinking, and sleeping in the saddle; so that to this
terrible centaur his horse seemed actually a part of himself. His
soldiers followed him about like hounds, and were treated by him like
hounds. He habitually scourged them, often took with his own hand the
lives of such as displeased him, and had been known to cause individuals
of them to jump from the top of church steeples at his command; yet the
pack were ever stanch to his orders, for they knew that he always led
them where the game was plenty. While serving under Parma he had twice
most brilliantly defeated Hohenlo. At the battle of Hardenberg Heath he
had completely outgeneralled that distinguished chieftain, slaying
fifteen hundred of his soldiers at the expense of only fifty or sixty of
his own. By this triumph he had preserved the important city of
Groningen for Philip, during an additional quarter of a century, and had
been received in that city with rapture. Several startling years of
victory and rapine he had thus run through as a royalist partisan. He
became the terror and the scourge of his native Gelderland, and he was
covered with wounds received in the King's service. He had been twice
captured and held for ransom. Twice he had effected his escape. He had
recently gained the city of Nymegen. He was the most formidable, the
most unscrupulous, the most audacious Netherlander that wore Philip's
colours; but he had received small public reward for his services, and
the wealth which he earned on the high-road did not suffice for his
ambition. He had been deeply disgusted, when, at the death of Count
Renneberg, Verdugo, a former stable-boy of Mansfeld, a Spaniard who had
risen from the humblest rank to be a colonel and general, had been made
governor of Friesland. He had smothered his resentment for a time
however, but had sworn within himself to desert at the most favourable
opportunity. At last, after he had brilliantly saved the city of Breda
from falling into the hands of the patriots, he was more enraged than he
had ever been before, when Haultepenne, of the house of Berlapmont, was
made governor of that place in his stead.
On the 25th of May, 1585, at an hour after midnight, he had a secret
interview with Count Meurs, stadholder for the States of Gelderland, and
agreed to transfer his mercenary allegiance to the republic. He made
good terms. He was to be lieutenant-governor of Gelderland, and he was
to have rank as marshal of the camp in the States' army, with a salary
of twelve hundred and fifty guilders a month. He agreed to resign his
famous castle of Blyenbeek, but was to be reimbursed with estates in
Holland and Zeeland, of the annual value of four thousand florins.
After this treaty, Martin and his free lances served the States
faithfully, and became sworn foes to Parma and the King. He gave and
took no quarter, and his men, if captured, "paid their ransom with their
heads." He ceased to be the scourge of Gelderland, but he became the
terror of the electorate. Early in 1586, accompanied by Herman Kloet,
the young and daring Dutch commandant of Neusz, he had swept down into
the Westphalian country, at the head of five hundred foot and five
hundred horse. On the 18th of March he captured the city of Werll by a
neat stratagem. The citizens, hemmed in on all sides by marauders, were
in want of many necessaries of life, among other things, of salt. Martin
had, from time to time, sent some of his soldiers into the place,
disguised as boors from the neighbourhood, and carrying bags of that
article. A pacific trading intercourse had thus been established between
the burghers within and the banditti without the gates. Agreeable
relations were formed within the walls, and a party of townsmen had
agreed to cooperate with the followers of Schenk. One morning a train
of waggons laden with soldiers neatly covered with salt, made their
appearance at the gate. At the same time a fire broke out most
opportunely within the town. The citizens busily employed themselves in
extinguishing the flames. The salted soldiers, after passing through the
gateway, sprang from the waggons, and mastered the watch. The town was.
carried at a blow. Some of the inhabitants were massacred as a warning
to the rest; others were taken prisoners and held for ransom; a few, more
fortunate, made their escape to the citadel. That fortress was stormed
in vain, but the city was thoroughly sacked. Every house was rifled of
its contents. Meantime Haultepenne collected a force of nearly four
thousand men, boors, citizens, and soldiers, and came to besiege Schenk
in the town, while, at the same time, attacks were made upon him from the
castle. It was impossible for him to hold the city, but he had
completely robbed it of every thing valuable. Accordingly he loaded a
train of waggons with his booty, took with him thirty of the magistrates
as hostages, with other wealthy citizens, and marching in good order
against Haultepenne, completely routed him, killing a number variously
estimated at from five hundred to two thousand, and effected his retreat,
desperately wounded in the thigh, but triumphant, and laden with the
spoils to Venlo on the Meuse, of which city he was governor.
"Surely this is a noble fellow, a worthy fellow," exclaimed Leicester,
who was filled with admiration at the bold marauder's progress, and vowed
that he was "the only soldier in truth that they had, for he was never
idle, and had succeeded hitherto very happily."
And thus, at every point of the doomed territory of the little
commonwealth, the natural atmosphere in which the inhabitants existed
was one of blood and rapine. Yet during the very slight lull, which
was interposed in the winter of 1585-6 to the eternal clang of arms in
Friesland, the Estates of that Province, to their lasting honour, founded
the university of Franeker. A dozen years before, the famous institution
at Leyden had been established, as a reward to the burghers for their
heroic defence of the city. And now this new proof was given of the love
of Netherlanders, even in the midst of their misery and their warfare,
for the more humane arts. The new college was well endowed from ancient
churchlands, and not only was the education made nearly gratuitous, while
handsome salaries were provided for the professors, but provision was
made by which the, poorer scholars could be fed and boarded at a very
moderate expense. There was a table provided at an annual cost to the
student of but fifty florins, and a second and third table at the very
low price of forty and thirty florins respectively. Thus the sum to be
paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less
than three pounds sterling a year [1855 exchange rate D.W.]. The voice
with which this infant seminary of the Muses first made itself heard
above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to
thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the
golden fruits of science and genius.
Early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by Farnese. It
has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven
out of Flanders and Brabant. The Estates, however, still held Grave,
Megem, Batenburg, and Venlo upon the Meuse. That river formed, as it
were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole Province of Brabant,
and Farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat.
Afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the Rhine, flowing in a
parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east. In order
to gain and hold the Meuse, the first step was to reduce the city of
Grave. That town, upon the left or Brabant bank, was strongly fortified
on its land-side, where it was surrounded by low and fertile pastures,
while, upon the other, it depended upon its natural Toss, the river. It
was, according to Lord North and the Earl of Leicester, the "strongest
town in all the Low Countries, though but a little one."
Baron Hemart, a young Gueldrian noble, of small experience in military
affairs, commanded in the city, his garrison being eight hundred
soldiers, and about one thousand burgher guard. As early as January,
Farnese had ordered Count Mansfeld to lay siege to the place. Five forts
had accordingly been constructed, above and below the town, upon the left
bank of the river, while a bridge of boats thrown across the stream led
to a fortified camp on the opposite side. Mansfeld, Mondragon, Bobadil,
Aquila, and other distinguished veterans in Philip's service, were
engaged in the enterprise. A few unimportant skirmishes between Schenk
and the Spaniards had taken place, but the city was already hard pressed,
and, by the series of forts which environed it, was cut off from its
supplies. It was highly important, therefore, that Grave should be
relieved, with the least possible delay.
Early in Easter week, a force of three thousand men, under Hohenlo and
Sir John Norris, was accordingly despatched by Leicester, with orders,
at every hazard, to throw reinforcements and provisions into the place.
They took possession, at once, of a stone sconce, called the Mill-Fort,
which was guarded by fifty men, mostly boors of the country. These were
nearly all hanged for "using malicious words," and for "railing against
Queen Elizabeth," and--a sufficient number of men being left to maintain
the fort--the whole relieving force marched with great difficulty--for
the river was rapidly rising, and flooding the country--along the right
bank of the Meuse, taking possession of Batenburg and Ravenstein castles,
as they went. A force of four or five hundred Englishmen was then pushed
forward to a point almost exactly opposite Grave, and within an English
mile of the head of the bridge constructed by the Spaniards. Here, in
the night of Easter Tuesday, they rapidly formed an entrenched camp, upon
the dyke along the river, and, although molested by some armed vessels,
succeeded in establishing themselves in a most important position.
On the morning of Easter Wednesday, April 16, Mansfeld, perceiving that
the enemy had thus stolen a march upon him, ordered one thousand picked
troops, all Spaniards, under Aquila, Casco and other veterans, to
assault this advanced post. A reserve of two thousand was placed in
readiness to support the attack. The Spaniards slowly crossed the
bridge, which was swaying very dangerously with the current, and then
charged the entrenched camp at a run. A quarrel between the different
regiments as to the right of precedence precipitated the attack, before
the reserve, consisting of some picked companies of Mondragon's veterans,
had been able to arrive. Coming in breathless and fatigued, the first
assailants were readily repulsed in their first onset. Aquila then
opportunely made his appearance, and the attack was renewed with great
vigour: The defenders of the camp yielded at the third charge and fled in
dismay, while the Spaniards, leaping the barriers, scattered hither and
thither in the ardour of pursuit. The routed Englishmen fled swiftly
along the oozy dyke, in hopes of joining the main body of the relieving
party, who were expected to advance, with the dawn, from their position
six miles farther down the river. Two miles long the chace lasted, and
it seemed probable that the fugitives would be overtaken and destroyed,
when, at last, from behind a line of mounds which stretched towards
Batenburg and had masked their approach, appeared Count Hohenlo and Sir
John Norris, at the head of twenty-five hundred Englishmen and
Hollanders. This force, advanced as rapidly as the slippery ground and
the fatigue of a two hours' march would permit to the rescue of their
friends, while the retreating English rallied, turned upon their
pursuers, and drove them back over the path along which they had just
been charging in the full career of victory. The fortune of the day was
changed, and in a few minutes Hohenlo and Norris would have crossed the
river and entered Grave, when the Spanish companies of Bobadil and other
commanders were seen marching along the quaking bridge.
Three thousand men on each side now met at push of pike on the bank of
the Meuse. The rain-was pouring in torrents, the wind was blowing a
gale, the stream was rapidly rising, and threatening to overwhelm its
shores. By a tacit and mutual consent, both armies paused for a few
moments in full view of each other. After this brief interval they
closed again, breast to breast, in sharp and steady conflict. The
ground, slippery with rain and with blood, which was soon flowing almost
as fast as the rain, afforded an unsteady footing to the combatants.
They staggered like drunken men, fell upon their knees, or upon their
backs, and still, kneeling or rolling prostrate, maintained the deadly
conflict. For the space of an hour and a half the fierce encounter of
human passion outmastered the fury of the elements. Norris and Hohenlo
fought at the head of their columns, like paladins of old. The
Englishman was wounded in the mouth and breast, the Count was seen to
gallop past one thousand musketeers and caliver-men of the enemy, and to
escape unscathed. But as the strength of the soldiers exhausted itself,
the violence of the tempest increased. The floods of rain and the blasts
of the hurricane at last terminated the affray. The Spaniards, fairly
conquered, were compelled to a retreat, lest the rapidly rising river
should sweep away the frail and trembling bridge, over which they had
passed to their unsuccessful assault. The English and Netherlanders
remained masters of the field. The rising flood, too, which was fast
converting the meadows into a lake, was as useful to the conquerors as
it was damaging to the Spaniards.
In the course of the few following days, a large number of boats was
despatched before the very eyes of Parma, from Batenburg into Grave;
Hohenlo, who had "most desperately adventured his person" throughout the
whole affair, entering the town himself.
A force of five hundred men, together with provisions enough to last
a year, was thrown into the city, and the course of the Meuse was,
apparently, secured to the republic. In this important action about
one hundred and fifty Dutch and English were killed, and probably four
hundred Spaniards, including several distinguished officers.
The Earl of Leicester was incredibly elated so soon as the success of
this enterprise was known. "Oh that her Majesty knew," he cried, "how
easy a match now she hath with the King of Spain, and what millions of
aficted people she hath relieved in these, countries. This summer, this
summer, I say, would make an end to her immortal glory." He was no
friend to his countryman, the gallant Sir John Norris--whom, however, he
could not help applauding on this occasion,--but he was in raptures with
Hohenlo. Next to God, he assured the Queen's government that the victory
was owing to the Count. "He is both a valiant man and a wise man, and
the painfullest that ever I knew," he said; adding--as a secret--that
"five hundred Englishmen of the best Flemish training had flatly and
shamefully run away," when the fight had been renewed by Hohenlo and
Norris. He recommended that her Majesty should, send her picture to the
Count, worth two hundred pounds, which he would value at more than one
thousand pounds in money, and he added that "for her sake the Count had
greatly left his drinking."
As for the Prince of Parma, Leicester looked upon him as conclusively
beaten. He spoke of him as "marvellously appalled" by this overthrow of
his forces; but he assured the government that if the Prince's "choler
should press him to seek revenge," he should soon be driven out of the
country. The Earl would follow him "at an inch," and effectually
frustrate all his undertakings. "If the Spaniard have such a May as he
has had an April," said Lord North, "it will put water in his wine."
Meantime, as St. George's Day was approaching, and as the Earl was fond
of banquets and ceremonies, it was thought desirable to hold a great
triumphal feast at Utrecht. His journey to that city from the Hague was
a triumphal procession. In all the towns through which he passed he was
entertained with military display, pompous harangues, interludes, dumb
shows, and allegories. At Amsterdam--a city which he compared to Venice
for situation and splendour, and where one thousand ships were constantly
lying--he was received with "sundry great whales and other fishes of
hugeness," that gambolled about his vessel, and convoyed him to the
shore. These monsters of the deep presented him to the burgomaster and
magistrates who were awaiting him on the quay. The burgomaster made him
a Latin oration, to which Dr. Bartholomew Clerk responded, and then the
Earl was ushered to the grand square, upon which, in his honour, a
magnificent living picture was exhibited, in which he figured as Moses,
at the head of the Israelites, smiting the Philistines hip and thigh.
After much mighty banqueting in Amsterdam, as in the other cities, the
governor-general came to Utrecht. Through the streets of this antique
and most picturesque city flows the palsied current of the Rhine, and
every barge and bridge were decorated with the flowers of spring. Upon
this spot, where, eight centuries before the Anglo-Saxon, Willebrod had
first astonished the wild Frisians with the pacific doctrines of Jesus,
and had been stoned to death as his reward, stood now a more arrogant
representative of English piety. The balconies were crowded with fair
women, and decorated with scarves and banners. From the Earl's
residence--the ancient palace of the Knights of Rhodes--to the cathedral,
the way was lined with a double row of burgher guards, wearing red roses
on their arms, and apparelled in the splendid uniforms for which the
Netherlanders were celebrated. Trumpeters in scarlet and silver, barons,
knights, and great officers, in cloth of gold and silks of all colours;
the young Earl of Essex, whose career was to be so romantic, and whose
fate so tragic; those two ominous personages, the deposed little
archbishop-elector of Cologne, with his melancholy face, and the unlucky
Don Antonio, Pretender of Portugal, for whom, dead or alive, thirty
thousand crowns and a dukedom were perpetually offered by Philip II.;
young Maurice of Nassau, the future controller of European destinies;
great counsellors of state, gentlemen, guardsmen, and portcullis-herald,
with the coat of arms of Elizabeth, rode in solemn procession along.
Then great Leicester himself, "most princelike in the robes of his
order," guarded by a troop of burghers, and by his own fifty halberd-men
in scarlet cloaks trimmed with white and purple velvet, pranced
gorgeously by.
The ancient cathedral, built on the spot where Saint Willebrod had once
ministered, with its light, tapering, brick tower, three hundred and
sixty feet in height, its exquisitely mullioned windows, and its
elegantly foliaged columns, soon received the glittering throng. Hence,
after due religious ceremonies, and an English sermon from Master
Knewstubs, Leicester's chaplain, was a solemn march back again to the
palace, where a stupendous banquet was already laid in the great hall.
On the dais at the upper end of the table, blazing with plate and
crystal, stood the royal chair, with the Queen's plate and knife and fork
before it, exactly as if she had been present, while Leicester's trencher
and stool were set respectfully quite at the edge of the board. In the
neighbourhood of this post of honour sat Count Maurice, the Elector, the
Pretender, and many illustrious English personages, with the fair Agnes
Mansfeld, Princess Chimay, the daughters of William the Silent, and other
dames of high degree.
Before the covers were removed, came limping up to the dais grim-visaged
Martin Schenk, freshly wounded, but triumphant, from the sack of Werll,
and black John Norris, scarcely cured of the spearwounds in his face and
breast received at the relief of Grave. The sword of knighthood was
laid upon the shoulder of each hero, by the Earl of Leicester, as her
Majesty's vicegerent; and then the ushers marshalled the mighty feast.
Meats in the shape of lions, tigers, dragons, and leopards, flanked by
peacocks, swans, pheasants, and turkeys "in their natural feathers as in
their greatest pride," disappeared, course after course, sonorous metal
blowing meanwhile the most triumphant airs. After the banquet came
dancing, vaulting, tumbling; together with the "forces of Hercules, which
gave great delight to the strangers," after which the company separated
until evensong.
Then again, "great was the feast," says the chronicler,--a mighty supper
following hard upon the gigantic dinner. After this there was tilting
at the barriers, the young Earl of Essex and other knights bearing
themselves more chivalrously than would seem to comport with so much
eating and drinking. Then, horrible to relate, came another "most
sumptuous banquet of sugar-meates for the men-at-arms and the ladies,"
after which, it being now midnight, the Lord of Leicester bade the whole
company good rest, and the men-at-arms and ladies took their leave.
But while all this chivalrous banqueting and holiday-making was in hand,
the Prince of Parma was in reality not quite so much "appalled" by the
relief of Grave as his antagonist had imagined. The Earl, flushed with
the success of Hohenlo, already believed himself master of the country,
and assured his government, that, if he should be reasonably well
supplied, he would have Antwerp back again and Bruges besides before
mid June. Never, said he, was "the Prince of Parma so dejected nor so
melancholy since he came into these countries, nor so far out of
courage." And it is quite true that Alexander had reason to be
discouraged. He had but eight or nine thousand men, and no money to pay
even this little force. The soldiers were perishing daily, and nearly
all the survivors were described by their chief, as sick or maimed. The
famine in the obedient Provinces was universal, the whole population was
desperate with hunger; and the merchants, frightened by Drake's
successes, and appalled by the ruin all around them, drew their purse-
strings inexorably. "I know not to what saint to devote myself," said
Alexander. He had been compelled, by the movement before Grave, to
withdraw Haultepenne from the projected enterprise against Neusz, and he
was quite aware of the cheerful view which Leicester was inclined to take
of their relative positions. "The English think they are going to do
great things," said he; "and consider themselves masters of the field."
Nevertheless, on the 11th May, the dejected melancholy man had left
Brussels, and joined his little army, consisting of three thousand
Spaniards and five thousand of all other nations. His veterans, though
unpaid; ragged, and half-starved were in raptures to, have their idolized
commander among them again, and vowed that under his guidance there was
nothing which they could not accomplish. The King's honour, his own,
that of the army, all were pledged to take the city. On the success of,
that enterprise, he said, depended all his past conquests, and every hope
for the future. Leicester and the, English, whom he called the head and
body of the rebel forces, were equally pledged to relieve the place, and
were bent upon meeting him in the field. The Earl had taken some forts
in the Batavia--Betuwe; or "good meadow," which he pronounced as fertile
and about as large as Herefordshire,--and was now threatening Nymegen,
a city which had been gained for Philip by the last effort of Schenk,
on the royalist side. He was now observing Alexander's demonstrations
against Grave; but, after the recent success in victualling that place,
he felt a just confidence in its security.
On the 31st May the trenches were commenced, and on the 5th June the
batteries were opened. The work went rapidly forward when Farnese was in
the field. "The Prince of Parma doth batter it like a Prince," said Lord
North, admiring the enemy with the enthusiasm of an honest soldier: On
the 6th of June, as Alexander rode through the camp to reconnoitre,
previous to an attack. A well-directed cannon ball carried away the
hinder half, of his horse. The Prince fell to the ground, and, for a
moment, dismay was in the Spanish ranks. At the next instant, though
somewhat bruised, he was on his feet again, and, having found the breach
sufficiently promising, he determined on the assault.
As a preliminary measure, he wished to occupy a tower which had been
battered nearly to ruins, situate near the river. Captain de Solis was
ordered, with sixty veterans, to take possession of this tower, and to
"have a look at the countenance of the enemy, without amusing himself
with anything else." The tower was soon secured, but Solis, in
disobedience to his written instructions led his men against the ravelin,
which was still in a state of perfect defence. A musket-ball soon
stretched him dead beneath the wall, and his followers, still attempting
to enter the impracticable breach, were repelled by a shower of stones
and blazing pitch-hoops. Hot sand; too, poured from sieves and baskets,
insinuated itself within the armour of the Spaniards, and occasioned such
exquisite suffering, that many threw themselves into the river to allay
the pain. Emerging refreshed, but confused, they attempted in vain to
renew the onset. Several of the little band were slain, the assault was
quite unsuccessful, and the trumpet sounded a recal. So completely
discomfited were the Spaniards by this repulse, and so thoroughly at
their ease were the besieged, that a soldier let himself down from the
ramparts of the town for the sake of plundering the body of Captain
Solis, who was richly dressed, and, having accomplished this feat, was
quietly helped back again by his comrades from above.
To the surprise of the besiegers, however, on the very next morning came
a request from the governor of the city, Baron Hemart, to negotiate for
a surrender. Alexander was, naturally, but too glad to grant easy terms,
and upon the 7th of June the garrison left the town with colours
displayed and drums beating, and the Prince of Parma marched into it, at
the head of his troops. He found a year's provision there for six
thousand men, while, at the same time, the walls had suffered so
little, that he must have been obliged to wait long for a practicable
breach.
"There was no good reason even for women to have surrendered the place,"
exclaimed Leicester, when he heard the news. And the Earl had cause to
be enraged at such a result. He had received a letter only the day
before, signed by Hemart himself and by all the officers in Grave,
asserting their determination and ability to hold the place for a good
five months, or for an indefinite period, and until they should be
relieved. And indeed all the officers, with three exceptions, had
protested against the base surrender. But at the bottom of the
catastrophe--of the disastrous loss of the city and the utter ruin of
young Hemart--was a woman. The governor was governed by his mistress,
a lady of good family in the place, but of Spanish inclinations, and she,
for some mysterious reasons, had persuaded him thus voluntarily to
capitulate.
Parma lost no time, however, in exulting over his success. Upon the same
day the towns of Megen and Batenburg surrendered to him, and immediately
afterwards siege was laid to Venlo, a town of importance, lying thirty
miles farther up the Meuse. The wife and family of Martin Schenk were in
the city, together with two hundred horses, and from forty to one hundred
thousand crowns in money, plate; and furniture belonging to him.
That bold partisan, accompanied by the mad Welshman, Roger Williams, at
the head of one hundred and thirty English lances and thirty of Schenk's
men, made a wild nocturnal attempt to cut their way through the besieging
force, and penetrate to the city. They passed through the enemy's lines,
killed all the corps-de-garde, and many Spanish troopers--the terrible
Martin's own hand being most effective in this midnight slaughter--and
reached the very door of Parma's tent, where they killed his secretary
and many of his guards. It was even reported; and generally believed,
that Farnese himself had been in imminent danger, that Schenk had fired
his pistol at him unsuccessfully, and had then struck him on the head
with its butt-end, and that the Prince had only saved his life by leaping
from his horse, and scrambling through a ditch. But these seem to have
been fables. The alarm at last became general, the dawn of a summer's
day was fast approaching; the drums beat to arms, and the bold marauders
were obliged to effect their retreat, as they best might, hotly pursued
by near two thousand men. Having slain many of, the Spanish army, and
lost nearly half their own number, they at last obtained shelter in
Wachtendonk.
Soon afterwards the place capitulated without waiting for a battery, upon
moderate terms. Schenk's wife was sent away (28 June 1586) courteously
with her family, in a coach and four, and with as much "apparel" as might
be carried with her. His property was confiscated, for "no fair wars
could be made with him."
Thus, within a few weeks after taking the field, the "dejected,
melancholy" man, who was so "out of courage," and the soldiers who were
so "marvellously beginning to run away"--according to the Earl of
Leicester--had swept their enemy from every town on the Meuse. That
river was now, throughout its whole course, in the power of the
Spaniards. The Province of Brabant became thoroughly guarded again by
its foes, and the enemy's road was opened into the northern Provinces.
Leicester, meantime, had not distinguished himself. It must be confessed
that he had been sadly out-generalled. The man who had talked of
following the enemy inch by inch, and who had pledged himself not only
to protect Grave, and any other place that might be attacked, but even
to recover Antwerp and Bruges within a few weeks, had wasted the time in
very desultory operations. After the St. George feasting, Knewstub
sermons, and forces of Hercules, were all finished, the Earl had taken
the field with five thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. His
intention was to clear the Yssel; by getting possession of Doesburg and
Zutphen, but, hearing of Parma's demonstrations upon Grave, he abandoned
the contemplated siege of those cities, and came to Arnheim. He then
crossed the Rhine into the Isle of Batavia, and thence, after taking a
few sconces of inferior importance--while Schenk, meanwhile, was building
on the Island of Gravenweert, at the bifurcation of the Rhine and Waal,
the sconce so celebrated a century later as 'Schenk's Fort'
(Schenkenschans)---he was preparing to pass the Waal in order to attack
Farnese, when he heard to his astonishment, of the surrender of Grave.
He could therefore--to his chagrin--no longer save that important city,
but he could, at least, cut off the head of the culprit. Leicester was
in Bommel when he heard of Baron Hemart's faint-heartedness or treachery,
and his wrath was extravagant in proportion to the exultation with which
his previous success had inspired him. He breathed nothing but revenge
against the coward and the traitor, who had delivered up the town in
"such lewd and beastly sort."
"I will never depart hence," he said, "till by the goodness of God I be
satisfied someway of this villain's treachery." There could be little
doubt that Hemart deserved punishment. There could be as little that
Leicester would mete it out to him in ample measure. "The lewd villain
who gave up Grave," said he, "and the captains as deep in fault as
himself, shall all suffer together."
Hemart came boldly to meet him. "The honest man came to me at Bommel,"
said Leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of
persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own
treachery.
But the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor-
general, who immediately placed him under arrest. A court-martial was
summoned, 26th of June, at Utrecht, consisting of Hohenlo, Essex, and
other distinguished officers. They found that the conduct of the
prisoner merited death, but left it to the Earl to decide whether various
extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. Hohenlo and Norris
exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence,
and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. Norris,
according to Leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was
therefore especially desirous of saving his life. Moreover, much use was
made of the discredit which had been thrown by the Queen on the Earl's
authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor-
general, he had no authority to order execution upon a Netherland
officer.
The favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that Hemart was a
young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been
overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck
after the first assault. There were no direct proofs of treachery, or
even of personal cowardice. He begged hard for a pardon, not on account
of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. He earnestly implored
permission to serve under the Queen of England, as a private soldier,
without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and
to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before
he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an
hour of weakness, had come upon an ancient and honourable house. Much
interest was made for him--his family connection being powerful--and a
general impression prevailing that he had erred through folly rather than
deep guilt. But Leicester beating himself upon the breast--as he was
wont when excited--swore that there should be no pardon for such a
traitor. The States of Holland and Zeeland, likewise, were decidedly in
favour of a severe example.
Hemart was accordingly led to the scaffold on the 28th June. He spoke to
the people with great calmness, and, in two languages, French and
Flemish, declared that he was guiltless of treachery, but that the terror
and tears of the women, in an hour of panic, had made a coward of him.
He was beheaded, standing. The two captains, Du Ban and Koeboekum, who
had also been condemned, suffered with him. A third captain, likewise
convicted, was, "for very just cause,", pardoned by Leicester. The Earl
persisted in believing that Hemart had surrendered the city as part of a
deliberate plan, and affirmed that in such a time, when men had come to
think no more of giving up a town than of abandoning a house, it was
highly necessary to afford an example to traitors and satisfaction to the
people. And the people were thoroughly satisfied, according to the
governor, and only expressed their regret that three or four members of
the States-General could not have their heads cut off as well, being as
arrant knaves as Henlart; "and so I think they be," added Leicester.
Parma having thus made himself master of the Meuse, lost no time in
making a demonstration upon the parallel course of the Rhine, thirty
miles farther east. Schenk, Kloet; and other partisans, kept that
portion of the archi-episcopate and of Westphalia in a state of perpetual
commotion. Early in the, preceding year, Count de Meurs had, by a
fortunate stratagem, captured the town of Neusz for the deposed elector,
and Herman Kloet, a young and most determined Geldrian soldier, now
commanded in the place.
The Elector Ernest had made a visit in disguise to the camp of Parma, and
had represented the necessity of recovering the city. It had become the
stronghold of heretics, rebels, and banditti. The Rhine was in their
hands, and with it the perpetual power of disturbing the loyal
Netherlands. It was as much the interest of his Catholic Majesty as
that of the Archbishop that Neusz should be restored to its lawful owner.
Parma had felt the force of this reasoning, and had early in the year
sent Haultepenne to invest the city. He had been obliged to recal that
commander during the siege of Grave. The place being reduced, Alexander,
before the grass could grow beneath his feet advanced to the Rhine in
person. Early in July he appeared before the walls of Neusz with eight
thousand foot and two thousand horse. The garrison under Kloet numbered
scarcely more than sixteen hundred effective soldiers, all Netherlanders
and Germans, none being English.