massacre, and four days before the publication of the Treaty of
Ghent, Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V., rode
into Luxemburg, having crossed France in the disguise of a Moorish
slave. Philip had at last made up his mind to bow before the storm. He
hoped that by a show of conciliation, and by restoring the government
to the condition in which it had been at the death of Charles
V., he might secure the authority of the crown and the exclusive
exercise of the Catholic religion, and yet recover the obedience of
the Netherlands. Don John appeared well fitted to carry out this
policy. The great, though somewhat undeserved, reputation he had
gained by the suppression of the Moorish rebellion in Granada and by
the victory of Lepanto, his imperial descent, his fascinating manners,
had made him universally popular, and he started on his errand with
all the enthusiasm of a darling of fortune and of a young man of
twenty-nine.[71] His ambition was not bounded by the Netherlands. He
dreamt, after a rapid settlement of the difficulties there, of either
marrying Elizabeth of England, or of overthrowing that heretic Queen
and ascending the throne as the husband of her rival Mary Queen of
Scots. He was soon, however, to be rudely awakened. He did not even
dare to leave Luxemburg, and was forced to content himself with
negotiating from thence with the States-General. This assembly,
warned by the Prince of Orange not to trust to promises, demanded the
following concessions as the price of their obedience (December 6,
1576): the Spanish troops must be removed at once; all prisoners must
be released; and the Treaty of Ghent must be confirmed. One at least
of these demands, the dismissal of the Spanish soldiery, Don John was
willing enough to grant. Yet in pursuance of his scheme of invading
England, he wished that they should go by sea, and that ships should
be provided for the purpose. The Estates, ignorant of this design,
suspected some future attempt on the Netherlands, and insisted on
their departure by land. Philip peremptorily ordered an accommodation,
and Don John, forced to abandon the projected invasion of England,
signed the Perpetual Edict on February 17, 1577. The Spanish soldiers
were to depart by land; all prisoners were to be released on both
sides; all privileges and charters were to be confirmed, and the
Estates-General were to be convened as they had been in the time
of Charles V. On these terms the insurgent provinces promised to
recognise Don John as Governor-General, to surrender the citadels
which they held, to disband their own troops, and to take an oath to
maintain the Catholic religion.
| Don John enters Brussels. May 1, 1577.
| William rejects the Perpetual Edict.
| Philip’s suspicions of Don John.
The Spanish soldiery departed at the end of April, and Don John,
entering Brussels on May 1, met at first with such success in his
policy of conciliation, that he seemed likely to add the pacification
of the Netherlands to his other laurels. But, apart from the intrinsic
difficulty of the attempt, there were two fatal obstacles in his
way--the wariness of his enemy, William the Silent, and the suspicions
of his master. William had been disconcerted at the signature of
the Perpetual Edict, which had been done without his approval,
or that of his deputies. He had not expected that Don John would
be so compliant, or he would have raised his terms. From letters
which he had intercepted, he had good cause for distrusting the
sincerity of the Spaniard, and he knew that peace on such terms
would mean his own ruin. He had accordingly refused to recognise
the Edict, or to publish it in the provinces of Holland or Zealand,
and he now proceeded to take measures against it. He turned to
the lower classes and excited their opposition; he entered into
negotiations with England and France, and even plotted to secure
the person of Don John. On the other hand, Don John listened to
schemes for the assassination of the Prince, while he wrote to Philip
abusing the Netherlanders as ‘drunkards and wine skins,’ and urging
him to prepare for war. Finally, on July 10, the Governor-General
despatched his secretary Escovedo to Madrid to represent his views
to the Spanish King. Unfortunately, Philip had meanwhile conceived
a profound jealousy of his half-brother. He suspected him of some
design on the government or crown of Spain, a suspicion which was
studiously fostered by Antonio Perez, his minister and confidential
adviser. The representations of Escovedo were therefore disregarded,
the urgent solicitations of Don John for counsel or assistance were
left unanswered for more than three months, and in the following
March, Escovedo himself was assassinated by the orders of Perez, and
with the connivance of the King.
| Causes of disunion in the Netherlands.
| Archduke Mathias elected Governor. Jan. 18, 1578.
The brilliant dreams of Don John had indeed been rudely dissipated;
and when, on September 23, William of Orange, after an absence of
eighteen years, entered Brussels, the capital of Brabant, it seemed
as if the whole of the Netherlands would soon be lost to Spain. But
the near prospect of success served only to revive those feelings of
disunion and personal jealousy, which had been temporarily laid aside
under the pressure of Spanish tyranny. The northern provinces, it must
be remembered, had only lately been united to those of the south. Of
the southern provinces, those which lay closest to Holland and Zealand
were inhabited by a people of kindred race indeed, but who spoke a
different dialect, the Flamand; while in the more southern and eastern
provinces, the infusion of Romance blood was strong, and the common
language French. These differences of race and past history were
illustrated in the religious leanings of the people. In the north, the
Protestant, in the south, the Catholic religion predominated, and now
that the fear of Spain was declining, a narrow spirit of intolerance
began to be displayed on either side. To these causes of disunion we
must add the oligarchical jealousy of the southern nobles, mostly of
the Catholic persuasion, at the growing importance and the democratic
leanings of the Prince of Orange--a jealousy which led to the strange
idea of offering the office of Governor-General to the Archduke
Mathias, the brother of the Emperor Rudolf, subject to the fuller
approval of King Philip. The adroitness of William, however, enabled
him to turn this move of his opponents to his own advantage. He
openly supported the candidature of the Archduke, who was elected
Governor-General on the 18th of January. Meanwhile, the revolt of
Ghent against the newly appointed governor, the Duke of Aerschot, one
of those who had called in the Archduke Mathias--a revolt secretly
approved of by William--showed that the latter had the support of
the lower classes. And Mathias, afraid of opposing so popular a man,
not only confirmed his election as ‘Ruwart’ of Brabant, an office
generally held by the heir of the ruling prince, and as Stadtholder of
Flanders, but acknowledged him as his lieutenant-general, and promised
to rule with the consent of the States-General and of a Council of
State. At the same time, by the New or Nearer Union of Brabant, the
Catholics and Protestants engaged to respect and to protect each other
against all enemies whatsoever.
| The defeat of Gemblours. Jan. 31, 1578.
Yet while William had been thus dealing with those factions which
threatened to ruin his cause, the Spaniards had been again preparing
for war. Philip, at last aroused from his strange apathy, had ordered
the Spanish veterans to return from Italy. Reinforced by these troops,
which were led by Alexander of Parma, and by others from France under
Mansfeld, Don John marched against the ill-disciplined army of the
States, and, aided by the skilful generalship of Alexander, inflicted
a disastrous defeat on them at Gemblours, near Namur. The victory
secured the valley of the Sambre, forced William and the Archduke to
abandon Brussels, and went far to ruin the cause of liberty in the
southern provinces. In the north, however, the reverse of Gemblours
served rather to advance the interests of William. In March, his
brother, Count John, was elected governor of the important province
of Guelderland; and in May, the adherents of the Prince succeeded in
overthrowing the Catholic magistrates of Amsterdam, and thus securing
the capital of Holland, as well as Haarlem, for the Protestant cause.
| Duke of Anjou appointed defender of the liberties of
| the Netherlands. July 1578.
| Death of Don John. Oct. 1, 1578. Succeeded by
| Alexander of Parma.
Meanwhile the Catholic nobles, disappointed in their expectations of
Mathias, turned to Francis, Duke of Anjou, the brother of Henry III.
of France. Never since the days of Coligny’s brief supremacy, had
Catherine altogether abandoned the idea of taking advantage of the
disturbed condition of the Netherlands to extend French influence in
the Walloon provinces of Hainault, Artois, and French Flanders. At
this moment, she would probably have preferred to gain her end by
friendly negotiations with Philip, and possibly by a marriage of one
of her sons with a Spanish princess. But Anjou was little pleased
with his position in France; he was attracted by the hope of carving
out a new principality for himself; and, accepting the offer, arrived
at Mons, in Hainault, in July 1578. William, although unwilling to
see French influence predominant in these parts, did not deem it
politic to oppose Anjou, and hoped that the enterprise might excite
the jealousy of Elizabeth, who, while she coqueted with the Duke as a
suitor for her hand, was determined not to see the Low Countries under
French control, and had already promised some help to William. The
Duke of Anjou was accordingly recognised as ‘the defender of the
liberty of the Netherlands against the tyranny of the Spaniards.’ He
was assured of the offer of the sovereignty should the Netherlands
find it necessary to throw off the supremacy of Spain. Meanwhile, he
promised to make no alteration in the government of the country, and
to hold all conquests he might make for the States (August 20). Before
these confused negotiations had led to any definite result, Don
John, worn out by disease, and sick at heart at the failure of his
magnificent schemes, at the neglect shown to him by King Philip,
and at the murder of Escovedo, had passed away. He died in his camp
at Bouges, near Namur, on the 1st of October, 1578, at the age of
thirty-one, having appointed his nephew, Alexander of Parma, as his
successor. Although there is no probability in the rumour that he was
poisoned by the orders of Philip, the suspicion and neglect with which
he had been treated at least contributed to his death.
Alexander of Parma, who succeeded Don John as governor, was the son
of Ottavio Farnese and Margaret of Parma, the first Regent during the
reign of Philip II. He had been brought up in Spain with his cousin
Don Carlos, and his uncle Don John of Austria. His love of adventure
and of military exercises had in earlier days shown itself in an
inordinate passion for duelling; but the war against the Turks gave
him a more honourable field, and at the battle of Lepanto he had
distinguished himself by the most remarkable personal bravery. Now at
the age of thirty-three, he was more than the equal of his uncle, Don
John, as a soldier, and infinitely his superior as a diplomatist and a
statesman. Great, however, as were the abilities of the new governor,
it must be remembered that the position of affairs at this moment
gave him opportunities which had been denied to his predecessors. The
racial and religious differences between the northern and southern
provinces were becoming daily more accentuated. In the southern and
western provinces disunion was rapidly spreading. The decisions of
the States-General, especially with regard to taxation, were little
observed. The soldiery were ill-paid, ill-disciplined, and mutinous;
the intolerance of the Catholics and Calvinists was becoming more
pronounced; the social and political rivalries were daily forcing
themselves more prominently to the front and threatening civil war or
anarchy. William had of late been forced to lean on the lower classes,
and he was not able to keep them in control. In Ghent, especially, the
turbulence reached its climax under the demagogue Imbize, supported
by John Casimir of the Palatinate, an ambitious and weak prince, who
had just arrived with a motley force of German mercenaries and English
soldiers, sent by Queen Elizabeth. The rise of this fanatical party
not only excited the indignation of the Catholics, or ‘Paternoster
Jacks,’ who still represented the majority in the southern provinces,
but also alienated many of the ‘Malcontent’ nobles, who had hitherto
supported the national cause. Of these divisions, Alexander was
quick to take advantage. Partly by conciliation, more successfully
by bribery in money, or in promises of advancement, he succeeded
in reconciling many of the nobles. Among these, we may especially
note Egmont, the degenerate son of his father, and Champagny, the
brother of Granvella, while Parma even approached William himself with
brilliant offers if he would but desert the cause.
| Union of Arras, Jan. 6, answered by the Union of
| Utrecht, Jan. 29, 1579.
The most signal result of Alexander’s diplomacy was seen in the
Union of Arras (January 6, 1579), between the Walloon provinces of
Artois and Hainault, and the towns of Lille, Douay, and Orchies
in French Flanders--a League which, in the following May, came to
terms with Alexander, on condition that the foreign troops should
be dismissed, and the provincial privileges respected. In answer
to this, the northern provinces of Guelderland, Holland, Zealand,
Utrecht, and Friesland formed the Union of Utrecht (January 29). The
object of the union was declared to be the strengthening of the
Pacification of Ghent. The allegiance to Spain was not thrown off,
but the provinces bound themselves to protect each other against all
force brought against them, either in the name of the King or of
foreign Potentates. Each province was, while renouncing its right
of making separate treaties, to retain its especial liberties and
privileges, and to decide on the religion it should adopt, although
individual freedom of conscience was to be allowed; the Roman Catholic
provinces were asked to join on the same terms. The Confederacy
was to be ruled by a General Assembly formed of deputies from each
provincial assembly. It was to have a common currency, a common
system of taxation, and an executive Council, responsible to the
General Assembly. This famous document was originally only signed
by five of the northern provinces, but the other two--Groningen and
Overyssel--subsequently joined, as well as the towns of Ghent, Bruges,
Ypres, and Antwerp. Although the Union was originally intended to be
temporary, it became the basis for the future federal constitution of
the Seven United Provinces, as the Union of Arras formed the germ of
the future reconstituted Spanish Netherlands.
| Success of Parma in south-western provinces and in
| the north.
While the inevitable cleavage between the north-eastern and
south-western districts was thus appearing, Parma made notable
advances in the central provinces. In the summer of 1579, Maestricht,
on the Meuse, fell after a four months’ siege, and Mechlin was
treacherously surrendered by De Bours. In May of the following
year, the famous Huguenot, De la Noue, was taken prisoner near
Ingelmunster. Even in the north, Count Renneburg had betrayed the town
of Groningen, and John of Nassau, the brother of William, disgusted
at the people’s lack of patriotism, and at their want of discipline,
abandoned his Stadtholderate of Guelderland and retired into Germany.
| Philip publishes the Ban against William of Orange.
| June 1580.
| William publishes his _Apologia_, and enters into
| negotiations with the Duke of Anjou.
Encouraged by his success, in June, 1580, Philip took the decisive
step of publishing a ban against the Prince of Orange. He was declared
a traitor and a miscreant. All loyal subjects were forbidden to
communicate with him, or to give him food or shelter, and a purse
of twenty-five thousand crowns of gold and a patent of nobility
were offered to any one who would deliver him into Philip’s hands,
dead or alive. Philip in this had acted by the advice of Granvella,
who declared that William was a coward, and that the fear of
assassination would either cause him to submit, or ‘die of his
own accord.’ Nevertheless, though the ban may well be called the
death-warrant of the Prince, he was not in the least dismayed. In the
_Apologia_ which shortly appeared, William boldly defied his enemy. He
asserted that Philip had murdered his son Don Carlos, his wife
Elizabeth, and the Emperor Maximilian. He declared that as Philip’s
claim to rule the Netherlands was forfeited by his tyranny, he was
no longer their legitimate king, nor he himself a rebel. Finally,
professing that he would gladly endure perpetual banishment or death
if he could thereby deliver his people from their calamities, he
placed himself in the hands of God, ‘who would dispose of him and of
his goods as seemed best for His own glory, and his salvation.’ Nor
did William content himself with words. He had long been convinced
that, unless foreign help could be obtained, the southern provinces,
at least, were lost. Duke Casimir had, by his incapacity, done the
cause more harm than good, and had left the country without even
paying ‘his 30,000 devils’ of German mercenaries. The Archduke Mathias
was evidently not the man to strengthen any cause, and further
help Germany would not give. France alone remained. Accordingly
negotiations were again reopened with the Duke of Anjou, who, in
1579, had left the Netherlands for England, enticed by the hope that
Elizabeth, if she could only see him, might accept his hand. Certainly
the personal appearance of the Duke was not likely to further his
suit, for although he had the gracious manners of all the Valois
princes, and was ‘a good fellow and a lusty prince,’ he was of puny
stature, his face was pitted by smallpox, and he had an enormous
nose. The virgin Queen was, moreover, playing with him. To marry Anjou
and assist him in the Netherlands without a definite promise of French
assistance, would be to incur too rashly the enmity of Philip II., and
Henry III. would not promise; to allow him to conquer the Netherlands
for France was not to be endured. She had raised her lover’s hopes,
only to draw him out of Flanders, and there was no alternative but
to keep him dangling on as her suitor, and nothing more. Anjou was
accordingly dismissed with fair promises, and, in the hope of securing
his bride, eagerly accepted the offers of the States.
| Sovereignty over the Netherlands conferred on the
| Duke of Anjou by Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours. Sept. 1580.
| Triple division of the Netherlands.
| ‘The French Fury.’ Jan. 16, 1583.
| Anjou leaves the Netherlands. June 28, 1583.
By the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours (September, 1580), which was
ratified in the following January, the Duke was granted the hereditary
sovereignty over the Netherlands. He was always to reside in the
country, to appoint no foreigner to office, not to attempt any
alteration in the government, nor interfere with the privileges
of the provinces; he was to procure the assistance of the King
of France, but to permit no incorporation of territory with that
country. Any violation of these conditions was to cause an immediate
forfeiture of his sovereignty. On the 26th of the July following
(1581), the Estates finally renounced their allegiance to Philip,
and the Archduke Mathias left the Netherlands in October, though
Anjou was not finally accepted till February, 1582. The northern
provinces were most unwilling to receive this foreign ruler. In
July, 1581, William had already, after many refusals, accepted the
title of Count of Holland and Zealand, with the sovereignty during
the war. These provinces, therefore, only consented to acknowledge
the Duke of Anjou on the express terms that no alteration should be
made in the practical supremacy of the Prince of Orange. Thus to all
intents the Netherlands were now divided into three divisions: the
western provinces, which had again submitted to Spanish rule; the
north-eastern under William; and the central, which acknowledged
the sovereignty of the French Prince. The policy of William in the
matter has been severely criticised, and certainly the previous
conduct of Anjou in France (cf. pp. 418 and 423) was not of very
hopeful augury. Yet, although a desperate remedy, the French alliance
was not altogether a bad idea. There was some hope that a Catholic
sovereign who would consent to tolerate the Protestants, might
unite once more all the elements of opposition to Spain. Catherine
and King Henry III. were at this time half inclined definitely to
adopt an anti-Spanish policy (cf. p. 426); while, if the English
marriage had also come about, Coligny’s idea of a great coalition
against Spain might have been realised at last. Unfortunately, all
turned out for the worst. Elizabeth, after sending for Anjou once
more, and even exchanging betrothal rings with her lover, declined
to take the decisive step, and Anjou finally left England for the
Netherlands. There the Flemings and the French quarrelled; religious
intolerance added to the discord; the successes of Parma continued;
and Anjou, irritated by the restraints imposed upon him, rashly
and foolishly attempted a _coup d’état_. He succeeded in some of
the smaller towns, but failed at Bruges; while at Antwerp, the
citizens rose and cut down nearly 2000 of his soldiers (January 16,
1583). Anjou, with shameless effrontery, attempted to throw the blame
upon his subjects, while he intrigued with Parma, and offered to
join him in return for the cession of certain towns on the French
frontier. Even then, William did not think it wise to irritate the
French. Negotiations were continued after the departure of the Duke
for France (June 28), and were only ended by his death in the June of
the ensuing year. Before that event, Parma, taking advantage of the
confusion and distrust caused by ‘the French Fury,’ partly by arms,
partly by bribery, recovered nearly all the central provinces except
Flanders, and even there Bruges was surrendered through the treachery
of Chimay, the son of the Duke of Aerschot.
| Assassination of William of Orange. July 10, 1584.
One month after the death of Anjou, William of Orange was
assassinated. The ban had been his death-warrant. No less than five
attempts had been made, of which one had been nearly fatal to the
Prince, and by the anxiety it caused, contributed at least to the
death of his wife, Charlotte of Bourbon. Finally, on the 10th of July,
1584, when fifty-one years of age, he was shot at Delft by Balthazar
Gérard, a fanatic of Franche-Comté, who had long looked upon himself
as predestinated to do the deed.
The great man, who thus passed away, is a good example of the
chastening influence of a life of responsibility and danger. The
troubles of his country, and the anxieties they brought upon him, had
weaned him from the extravagance and dissipation of his youth and had
deepened his character. A Catholic by birth rather than conviction,
his adoption of Lutheranism, and subsequently of Calvinism, were
probably in part due to political interest; and although there is
no reason to doubt the sincerity of his ultimate beliefs, his past
experience led him to realise, as few of his contemporaries did, the
value of toleration--a belief which cost him the support of some of
his more fanatical followers. Few would deny that he was ambitious,
but his repeated refusal to accept the sovereignty offered to him--a
refusal which some think mistaken--proves at least that he knew
how to keep his personal interest in control. That he was no great
general, and that he was deficient in military courage, may be true;
yet, if it be remembered that he commanded mercenaries who were not
to be trusted, or civil levies which could indeed defend a town,
but were scarcely fitted to meet the veterans of Spain in the open
field, we shall probably applaud his wisdom in avoiding pitched
battles. It is, however, as a statesman and a diplomatist that he
excelled. Absolute straightforwardness is difficult in diplomacy, but
William was infinitely more straightforward than the shifty Elizabeth,
the Machiavellian Catherine, or the treacherous Philip; while his
constancy under reverse, in spite of a constitutional tendency to
depression, justly entitles him to his motto, ‘Je maintiendrai.’ The
extravagant denunciations of the Prince by his enemies may be taken as
a measure of his ability; the number of his devoted followers, of his
personal fascination; the future glories of the ‘United Netherlands,’
as an incontestable proof of the greatness of the man who is justly
called their ‘Father.’ Nevertheless it is improbable that William,
had he lived, would have won back the south-western provinces. The
cleavage, as we have seen, had already begun--a cleavage which future
history has proved to be deep and permanent--and the success of Parma
in the south-west seemed already pretty well assured. No doubt William
hoped for an alliance with the Huguenots and with Henry of Navarre,
who, by the death of Anjou, had become the heir to the French crown,
an idea which explains his marriage with Coligny’s daughter.[72]
He seems even to have looked for a coalition of all Protestant
powers. But Henry had enough to do at home, and Elizabeth was a broken
reed; while the quarrels between the Lutherans and Calvinists, and
the advance of the Catholic Reaction, would probably have prevented
effective help from Germany. William had laid the foundation of the
independence of the Seven United Provinces, and had he lived he would
not in all probability have done more than antedate by a few years the
recognition of that independence.
| Maurice elected Captain-General of Holland and
| Zealand.
| Success of Parma.
| The siege of Antwerp. Aug. 17, 1585.
‘Had William been murdered two years earlier,’ said Philip, ‘much
trouble might have been spared me; but it is better late than
never.’ His second son, Maurice, who was elected Captain-General of
Holland and Zealand, and head of the Council of State, which was
appointed provisionally, was only seventeen; Hohenlo, the son-in-law
of William, who was appointed commander-in-chief, was a drunkard;
while Treslong, the admiral, quarrelled with the Estates, and was
superseded by Justin, an illegitimate son of William, a man of no
experience. Of the confusion which naturally ensued, Parma made good
use. The most important towns in the South, which remained unsubdued,
were Dendermonde, Ghent, Brussels, Mechlin, and Antwerp, all of them
lying on the Scheldt or its tributary the Senne. Alexander offered
good terms; he promised to respect their privileges, to make no
inquiry into conscience, and to free them from foreign garrisons. Many
of the old adherents of Orange deserted the cause in despair, and
by the end of July, 1585, all these towns had surrendered or had
been taken, with the exception of Antwerp. Against that important
place, Parma now concentrated all his efforts. The enterprise was a
difficult one; Parma had no fleet; Philip, at this moment occupied
with the affairs of the League in France (cf. p. 428), gave him scant
assistance; and, had the citizens of Antwerp followed the example
of those of Leyden in the year 1574, and completely flooded the
country, he could scarce have approached the city. For this sacrifice,
however, they were not prepared, and the half-measures which they
adopted did more harm than good. Parma accordingly was able to reach
the Scheldt to the seaward of the town, and began a bridge which
should cut off all communication with the sea. The besieged, when too
late, made energetic attempts to defeat his purpose, and once, by
means of the dread fire-ships, nearly succeeded in breaking through
the barrier. But Parma was not to be baulked. In spite of all their
efforts, the bridge was completed, and, after a six months’ siege,
St. Aldegonde the Burgomaster, surrendered (August 17). The victory
was not tarnished by any outrages. An amnesty was proclaimed, though
the city had to pay a fine; all religions except the Catholic were
proscribed, but those who would not conform were allowed two years’
grace. But if the capitulation of Antwerp raised the military fame of
Parma to the highest pitch, and practically secured Brabant to the
Spaniards, the actual gain was not very great. Ostend and Sluys still
held out, and although they were subsequently won (Sluys in August
1587), the Dutch succeeded in permanently holding Flushing and the
entrance to the Scheldt. By so doing, they not only destroyed the
commercial importance of Antwerp, which depended on her communication
with the sea, but contributed to the decline of the industries of the
other great Flemish cities. Amsterdam now took the place of Antwerp;
the Scheldt was closed to Flemish commerce, and never till our day,
when that river was finally declared open, did Antwerp become again
that entrepot for trade, for which her geographical position so well
fits her.
| Sovereignty refused by Henry III., Oct. 1584, is
| offered to Elizabeth.
While this memorable siege had been progressing, the sovereignty over
the Netherlands was going a-begging. Two parties had now arisen there:
those who based their hopes on French assistance, and those who looked
to England. The French party were at first successful. Undismayed by
the treachery of Anjou, and in spite of the opposition of the Province
of Holland, they offered the sovereignty to Henry III., ‘upon
conditions which should hereafter be settled,’ October, 1584. So
brilliant an offer was indeed tempting, and, had the hands of Henry
been free, he probably would have accepted it. But the last of the
Valois was in the toils of the Catholic League. After much hesitation
he had, in July, 1585, submitted to its dictation (cf. p. 429), and
accordingly he declined the proferred dignity.
| Elizabeth declines the sovereignty, but despatches
| the Earl of Leicester. Dec. 9, 1585.
Disappointed in their hopes of French assistance, the Netherlanders
turned to England. Elizabeth had received with satisfaction the news
of the refusal of the sovereignty by the French King. Well aware
of the designs of Philip on England, she was anxious to save the
United Provinces from reconquest by Parma, and was willing to aid
them with men and money. Nevertheless, with her usual parsimony, she
was determined to obtain good security for repayment, which should
take the form of cautionary towns, while she feared to accept the
sovereignty lest such a step might pledge her too deeply to a definite
anti-Spanish policy. This was, however, just what the Netherlanders
most desired. The negotiations therefore, which had begun before the
fall of Antwerp, were long protracted, and it was not until November,
1585, that the Netherlanders finally consented to her terms. The Queen
engaged herself to maintain a permanent force of 5000 foot and 1000
horse in the provinces at her own charges; for the repayment of the
expense thus incurred, Brille and Flushing were to be placed in her
hands, to be garrisoned by an additional contingent; she was also to
have the right of nominating two members of the Council of State of
eighteen, to which the administration of affairs had been intrusted
after the death of William the Silent. The Earl of Leicester, the
favourite of the Queen, was appointed commander of the forces; the
governorship of Flushing was intrusted to his nephew, Sir Philip
Sidney, and that of Brille to Sir Thomas Cecil, son of Lord Burleigh.
| Leicester accepts the office of Governor-General.
| Indignation of Elizabeth.
On the 9th of December, the expedition sailed. The Netherlanders
were not, however, yet satisfied. Anxious apparently to compromise
the Queen still further in their cause, they offered the post
of Governor-General of the United Provinces to Leicester, with
supreme military command by land and sea, and supreme authority
in matters civil and political. He was to swear to maintain the
ancient laws and privileges of the country, and to govern with the
assistance of the Council of State; he might, however, summon the
States-General at his will, and was to enjoy the right of appointing
to all offices, civil and legal, out of a list presented to him by
the states of the province where the vacancy should occur. The Earl
not only accepted the brilliant offer, but, elated by the magnificent
reception he received, was even heard to say that his family had
been wrongly deprived of the crown of England.[73] By this conduct
the susceptibilities of Elizabeth were aroused. As a Queen, she was
angered at ‘the great and strange contempt’ of her subject who had
dared accept the ‘absolute’ government without her leave; as a woman,
she was jealous of her favourite who looked for honours from other
hands than hers; as a diplomatist, she feared that this rash act of
Leicester would destroy her game, and that Philip would strike at
England. She therefore peremptorily commanded him to make ‘public
and open resignation’ of his office. For two months the Queen was
implacable. At last, however, a most secret letter from her ‘sweet
Robin’ salved her woman’s pride. Burleigh and Walsingham warned her
of the fatal results of her capricious conduct; and she consented
that the Earl should, provisionally at least, retain the authority
of ‘absolute governor’ (April 10). We even find her subsequently
declaring ‘that she misliked not so much the title, as the lack of
performance’ of their promises by the Dutch.
| Leicester loses the support of the ‘States’ Party.
| Leicester leans on the democratic party.
| Leicester quarrels with his subordinates.
| Disasters of the year 1586.
The quarrel between the Queen and her favourite was at an end; not
so its consequences. The authority of the Earl had been discredited
by the humiliating position in which he had been placed by his own
vanity and rashness, and by the pique of his mistress. The suspicion
and disgust thus engendered among the Netherlanders were increased
by the reports of negotiations between Elizabeth and Parma--reports
which were but too well founded; for as the projected invasion of
England became more certain, the efforts of the Queen to avert the
blow by peaceful negotiations increased. Nothing could have been
more unfortunate than the policy thus adopted. Philip’s object
was simply to gain time until he should be ready for his great
stroke; and, although Elizabeth hoped to include the Netherlands
in any peace she might make, her previous conduct certainly gave
no security that she would refuse to sacrifice their interests if
necessary. These apprehensions were naturally most acutely felt by
the ‘States Party,’--that is, by the governing classes, who were
represented in the Provincial Estates, and in the States-General--men
like Paul Buys, the ex-advocate, and John Van Olden Barneveld, the
advocate of Holland. This party had hitherto taken the lead in the
struggle against Spain, and, although still in favour of the English
alliance, were unwilling to see their country made the victim of a
woman’s pique, or of a faithless Queen’s diplomacy. Leicester, stung
by their reproaches, with that vanity and love of flattery which
were his chief faults, accordingly turned to the people and adopted
a democratic policy which was still more distasteful to the official
classes, and to the patrician burgher families. In violation of the
law that no person should hold office in any province of which he was
not a native, he raised three creatures of his own to power: Deventer,
a native of Brabant, was appointed burgomaster of Utrecht; Daniel de
Burgrave, a Fleming, was made his private secretary; and Regnault,
another Fleming, a renegade who had once taken service under Granvella
and Alva, was placed at the head of the new Finance Chamber--a chamber
which Leicester erected with the hope of putting a stop to frauds on
the revenue, and of finding ‘mountains of gold.’ The merchants were
further irritated by the refusal of Elizabeth to remove the staple
for English cloth from Embden, in East Friesland, to Amsterdam or
Delft, and by the prohibition of all exports to Spanish territories--a
measure which did far more harm to Dutch trade than it did to that
of Spain, and which was so unpopular that it had shortly to be
rescinded. A Calvinist himself, the Earl gladly adopted the views of
the democratic party in religious matters. Declaring that the Papists
were favourers of Spain, he banished seventy from the town of Utrecht
and maltreated them elsewhere; while with the object of declaring
Calvinism the state religion, he summoned a religious synod at the
Hague. By this conduct he abandoned the principle of toleration which
William the Silent had ever advocated; he threatened the compromise
laid down at the Union of Utrecht (cf. p. 358) whereby each province
had been allowed to settle the religious question for itself, and he
alienated the best statesmen of the day, men who objected to Church
influence in secular affairs, who feared the intemperate zeal of
the Calvinist ministers, and wished to avoid the establishment of
a theocracy after the fashion of Geneva. The adherents of the Earl
did not stop there; they denied the authority of the States-General
and of the Provincial Estates, and declared that sovereignty resided
in the people. In pursuance of these theories the government of
Utrecht, where Leicester generally resided, was revolutionised, and
Paul Buys, one of the most prominent of the burgher party--seized
with the tacit acquiescence, at least, of Leicester--was kept six
months in prison without trial. Thus the Earl, instead of uniting all
parties in common opposition to the Spaniard, had become a partisan,
had made enemies of those who had been the most strenuous advocates
of the English alliance, and deepened those provincial, class, and
religious differences which henceforth were to be the chief bane of
Holland. Nor was Leicester more fortunate in his relations with his
own subordinates; he quarrelled with Sir John Norris, who had been
in command of the English contingent before his arrival, with the
knight’s brother Edward, and his uncle the treasurer, and with Wilkes,
one of the English members of the Council of State. Although Leicester
was not altogether responsible for these dissensions, they did not
improve the Dutch opinion of him, and, added to the niggardliness
of Elizabeth’s supplies, seriously crippled his efforts in the
field. It was fortunate, under these circumstances, that Philip was
too intent on securing the victory of the League in France, and on his
preparations for the Armada, to send efficient help to Parma. As it
was, the year 1586 was one of disaster for the patriots. On June 7,
Grave was treacherously surrendered to Alexander by its governor. On
the 28th, Venloo capitulated, and Parma became master of the Meuse
almost to its mouth. Finally, the attempt of Leicester to take the
town of Zutphen on the Yssel, which was still held by Parma, led to
the death of Sir Philip Sidney, the brilliant nephew of the Earl, who
was mortally wounded as he took part in an heroic, though unsuccessful
effort to intercept a convoy of provisions thrown into the town by
Parma (October 2). The only successes on the English side were the
surprise of Axel on July 17, the reduction of Doesburg, September 12,
and the taking of some of the outlying forts of the town of Zutphen.
| Leicester temporarily leaves the Netherlands. Nov.
| 24, 1586. The discontent increases.
| Leicester returns. July, 1587. The discontent
| increases.
| Leicester finally recalled. Dec. 1587.
The only remedy for the ill that had been done was that Elizabeth
should accept the sovereignty, and send a good army into the
field. This Leicester earnestly pressed on the Queen, and the proposal
met with the support of Burleigh. Elizabeth, however, objected to
the one, ‘because it bred a doubt of perpetual war’; to the other,
‘because it required an increase of charges’; and the departure of
Leicester on a visit to England at the end of November only added to
the confusion and disagreements in the Netherlands. The government
during his absence was nominally left to the Council of State. To
Sir John Norris was given command of the English forces, to Hohenlo
that over the Dutch and German troops. Leicester, however, knowing
that the majority in the Council were against him, and that these two
officers were his deadly enemies, had left a secret paper by which he
forbade the Council to set aside any appointments to the command of
forts and towns without his consent. Unfortunately, two of his last
nominees turned traitors. Sir William Stanley surrendered the town
of Deventer, near Zutphen, and Rowland York betrayed Fort Zutphen to
Tassis, the Spanish commander of the town (January 29). These acts
of treachery on the part of Leicester’s own nominees, added to the
negotiations of Elizabeth with Parma, which were now well known,
roused the indignation of the States Party in Holland to boiling
pitch. Barneveld declared ‘that the country had never been so cheated
by the French as it was now by the English, and that the government
had become insupportable.’ Envoys bearing a bitter remonstrance were
despatched to Elizabeth, and Maurice was again provisionally appointed
Governor-general, with Hohenlo for his lieutenant-general. The visit
of the envoys was most inopportune. At the moment of their arrival the
question of the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been convicted
of complicity in the Babington Plot, was agitating the English
Queen. Four days after their arrival, Elizabeth at last consented to
sign the death-warrant (February 11), and on the 17th, Mary’s head
fell on the scaffold. It was now thought imperatively necessary to
conciliate Philip, or to husband all the resources of England for
defence against the invasion which was otherwise inevitable. Under
these circumstances, Elizabeth was in no mood to listen either to the
remonstrances of the Dutch against the conduct of her favourite, or to
their demands for increased help and money. ‘No reason that breedeth
charges,’ said Walsingham, ‘can in any sort be digested.’ In March,
indeed, Lord Buckhurst was despatched to Holland, and by his wise and
conciliatory policy did much to heal the breach. But with the return
of Leicester in July, the quarrels again broke out. His attempt to
relieve the town of Sluys, which he found invested by the Duke of
Parma[74] on his return, failed, and on August 4, that important basis
for an attack on England was in Parma’s hands. The fall of Sluys led
to recriminations between Leicester, Maurice, and Hohenlo. Meanwhile,
the altercations with the States Party continued, while the continued
negotiations between Elizabeth and Parma deepened the suspicions
against the English. The Dutch even declared that Elizabeth’s aim
was to secure possession of more towns, that she might thereby make
a better bargain for herself, while she sacrificed her allies. That
the Queen herself entertained so base an idea is not proved; yet we
have Leicester’s own words to show that he at least did not shrink
from such a course ‘if the worst came to the worst.’ When, therefore,
in the autumn of 1587, Leicester made a vain attempt to revolutionise
the governments of Amsterdam and Leyden (October, 1587), as he had
previously done in the case of Utrecht, a cry was raised that he was
playing again the game of the false Anjou (cf. p. 361), and there was
no alternative for him but to retire. He was accordingly recalled
by his mistress in December to bask in her royal smile, although
he did not actually resign his authority till the following March
31. Elizabeth would not hear a word against her favourite. In her
letter of recall she threw the blame entirely on her allies; she
upbraided them for their ingratitude, their breach of faith, their
false and malicious slanders against the Earl, and concluded this
marvellous epistle with a gracious promise that ‘out of compassion
for their pitiful condition, she would continue her subsidies for the
present, and that if she concluded a peace with Spain, she would take
the same care for their country as for her own.’
| Review of his administration.
| Philip determines to invade England.
It would be unfair to hold Leicester altogether responsible for the
failure of this ill-starred expedition. Some of the leading men, like
Hohenlo, were violent men, especially when in their cups; the parties
and factions which divided the Netherlanders were not of Leicester’s
making; the complicated and loose character of the government, and the
religious difficulties, were sure to lead to trouble; except in the
provinces of Holland and Zealand, little zeal was at this time shown
in the cause, and Stanley and York were not the only traitors. But if
the task imposed on Leicester had been a delicate one, certainly no
person was less fitted than he to carry it through. His arrogance,
his imperiousness, and his implacable temper made him many personal
enemies, and led him to chafe against any control or contradiction;
his vanity caused him to listen to the flattery of his creatures, and
to break with the leading statesmen of the time, because they dared
criticise his conduct; his strong Calvinistic prejudices ill fitted
him to hold the balance amid the religious parties of the Netherlands;
and if he was courageous and open-handed, he was certainly neither
a capable statesman nor a good general. Yet, after all, the chief
fault lay in the policy of the Queen herself. Her refusal to accept
the sovereignty and throw herself heartily into the cause of the
Netherlands, the niggardliness of her supplies, and the harshness of
her terms--above all, her suspicious negotiations with Parma--these
were the chief causes of complaint. Nor was this conduct the result
of mere caprice. Well aware of the preparations of Philip against
England, she still vainly hoped that, if she refrained from the
irretrievable step of assuming the sovereignty, she might make use of
her position in the Netherlands to secure a lasting and honourable
peace for herself and them. She accordingly allowed herself to be
deluded by the comedy of negotiation, which Alexander was playing, at
his master’s orders, with the sole intention of deceiving her till the
time for action was ripe. With the same idle hope, she had disavowed
the action of Sir Francis Drake, who, in the preceding April, had
‘singed Philip’s beard’ by entering the ports of Cadiz and of Lisbon,
and destroying some two hundred and fifty vessels. Her conduct was
in keeping with her policy to the Protestants in Scotland and in
France--a policy which has been generally praised, if not for its
honesty, at least for its cleverness. It has been asserted that by
this trimming attitude she prevented a coalition of the united forces
of Catholicism, before which England must have succumbed; however
true that may have been in the earlier years of her reign, it was
certainly so no longer, for Philip was now determined on his invasion
of England. Once, indeed, he had feared the designs of the Guises;
but the Duke of Guise was now in his pay. In January, 1584, Mendoza,
Philip’s ambassador, who had been summarily dismissed from England
on account of his known connection with Throgmorton’s plot, informed
Elizabeth ‘that as he had failed to please the Queen as a minister
of peace, she would in future force him to try and satisfy her in
war,’ and he had been true to his word. Removing to France, he became
thenceforth Philip’s most active agent in making preparations. In
May, 1586, the Queen of Scots had ceded to Philip all her claims on
the crown of England, unless James accepted Catholicism before her
death, and her execution finally removed all his scruples. Under these
circumstances, Philip was determined to endure the ill-disguised acts
of enmity on the part of the English Queen no longer. She had aided
the rebels in the Netherlands; she had supported the Pretender to the
crown of Portugal; above all, the piratical attacks of the English
sea-dogs were bleeding Spain to death. England must be conquered. If
that could be effected, the Netherlands would be soon subdued; and,
since the victory of the League seemed assured in France, Philip might
well hope soon to be master in London, Amsterdam, and Paris. Had
Elizabeth at the time of Leicester’s expedition cast all fears to the
winds and thrown her energies once for all on the side of Henry of
Navarre, and on that of the Netherlands, Philip would have had his
hands too full to strike. Even as it was, Alexander was prevented from
co-operating in the attack on England by those very Netherlanders
whose sympathy Elizabeth had done her best to alienate.
| The Armada sails. May 30, 1588.
| The Armada sights the Lizard. July 28.
Five months after the departure of the Earl, the Armada, under the
Duke of Medina Sidonia, sailed. The scheme for invading England
had been elaborately planned between Philip and Parma. The Armada
was to proceed from Lisbon to the throat of the English Channel,
off Calais. There it was to wait for Alexander, who was to come
forth with his army, numbering some 17,000 men, shipped on the
flat-bottomed boats he had prepared, and assume the command of the
whole expedition. The Channel was then to be crossed. The Duke of
Parma was to land and march on London, while Medina Sidonia was to
guard the harbours from the Dutch and English fleets. The first
experiences of the Spanish fleet were not encouraging. Many of the
ships proved unseaworthy, Medina was forced to put into Corunna
to refit, and it was not until the 28th of July, that the Armada
sighted the Lizard. The delay had been of value. Elizabeth, although
she had continued her negotiations with Parma to the very last, had
made some preparations. On land, indeed, little had been done; but
when the Spaniards appeared off Plymouth a motley fleet of some one
hundred and ninety-seven ships had been collected. Of these only
thirty-four belonged to the government; the rest had been provided by
the merchants of London and other towns, or by private individuals.
| Running engagement up the Channel. July 30-Aug. 6.
| Armada in Calais roads. Aug. 6-7. The fire-ships.
| Final engagement. August 8.
It appears, however, that the strength of the Armada has been
exaggerated. Although it is impossible to speak with absolute
accuracy, it would appear that the number of the Spanish vessels
actually engaged was some one hundred and twenty, while that of
the English was about one hundred and seventy. The tonnage of the
individual Spanish ships was greater, but in everything else the
advantage was on the English side. They had more guns--a weapon which
the Spaniards, depending as they did on boarding their adversary,
despised. The number of effective fighting men was probably greater
than that of the Spaniards, if we omit the galley slaves; certainly
the proportion of sailors to the soldiers was greater in the English
fleet; the sailors were far better seamen than those on the Spanish
ships, and they had amongst their captains such men as Drake, Hawkins,
and Frobisher, who had spent their lives at sea. The Spanish ships, if
higher and of greater size, and therefore dangerous at close quarters,
were unwieldy and undermanned. In a word, as Drake well said, if the
English could ‘fight loose and at large,’ their victory was assured;
and this they succeeded in doing. In a running engagement up the
Channel, which lasted eight days, the English hung round the Spanish
fleet, generally to windward of them, poured their shot into the hulls
of the Spanish ships, and were away again before they had suffered
much punishment. The English fired low; the Spaniards, anxious to
disable their enemies preparatory to boarding, fired at the masts and
rigging, and often missed their aim. When, therefore, the Armada at
last reached the Calais roads, the absurdity of the idea that they
could drive the English fleet from the sea was already palpable; and
unless that could be done, it would have been madness for the Duke of
Parma to venture out to sea in his flat-bottomed boats, encumbered
as they would be by troops. This he himself had foreseen; but in any
case, the swarm of Dutch craft which lined the coast prevented him
from the attempt. Nothing clearly could be done unless the Armada
could command the sea, and this it completely failed to do. On the
night of August 7, the English sent six fire-ships against their
enemies as they lay at anchor. The fire-ships might easily have been
towed aside by boats, for they had no explosives on board. But the
Spaniards remembered the fire-ships of Antwerp; a shameful panic
seized the men; the great hulks slipped their anchors; two were set
on fire, others became entangled with each other, and the rest of the
fleet were driven seaward by awkward squalls which sprang up from
west-south-west. On the following morning, the English pursued; and
in the engagement which ensued, while the English lost not a single
vessel and scarce a hundred men, the Spaniards had sixteen of their
ships disabled and lost four to five thousand men. Unfortunately the
English were now short of powder and of shot and of provisions.[75]
The Lord-Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, however, ‘put on a brag
countenance and gave them chase, as though they wanted nothing,’ and
the Spaniards, afraid to face the English ships again, were fain to
drop before the wind which soon began to freshen into half a gale
from the west, and threatened to drive the fleet upon the Zealand
sands. A sudden shifting of the wind to the south-west saved them from
this disaster; but the change was only the prelude to a violent gale,
which, finally bursting upon the half-disabled ships on August 14,
scattered them far and wide. Of the one hundred and thirty-four sail
which left Corunna in July, some fifty-three alone, painfully and one
by one, found their way back to Spain, and even these were so damaged
as to be useless.
| Troubles in Holland after departure of Leicester.
| Dutch and English expedition to Portugal. April-July,
| 1589.
| Breda secured by a stratagem. Feb. 28, 1590.
| Farnese marches into France. Aug. 3, 1590.
The great enterprise of Philip had been ruined by the combined action
of the English and the Dutch. Yet, unfortunately, the disagreements
caused by the expedition of Leicester were long in disappearing. On
the retirement of the Earl, Maurice of Nassau, who was already
Stattholder of Holland and Zealand, had been appointed Captain-general
of those provinces;[76] but his authority was disputed by Leicester’s
party, more especially in the provinces of Utrecht, Friesland, and
in North Holland. They declared that the Earl had only temporarily
retired, and refused obedience to Maurice and the States-General. The
difficulties were further increased by quarrels with Lord Willoughby,
who had been left in command of the English forces, and was himself
an adherent of the Earl. Under these circumstances, Alexander had
easily reduced most of the contumacious cities; and, on April 10, a
quarrel between Maurice and the English officer, Sir Robert Wingfield,
enabled him to secure the important city of Gertruydenberg. In
the same month, however, a joint Dutch and English expedition was
made against Portugal, which, although it failed in its immediate
object--the restoration of the pretender Don Antonio to the crown--did
some damage to Spanish shipping, and gave earnest of a better feeling
between those two countries, whose interests were so closely knit
together. In the following February, a clever stratagem, heroically
carried out, won Breda for the patriots, and during the following
summer, Maurice began to display his military powers by the reduction
of several places of importance. Nevertheless, the dissensions still
continued. The two English councillors, and the commander of the
English auxiliary forces, who, according to the original treaty, still
retained a seat in the Council of State, were ever quarrelling with
the Hollanders. The province of Holland, which contributed at least a
half to the expenses of the war, did not consider its representation
on the State Council an adequate one; the States-General, in which
the influence of the delegates of Holland was predominant, began
to disregard the authority of the Council, while its authority in
turn was often disputed by the other Provincial Councils. It was
fortunate, under these circumstances, that the attention of Philip was
at this time directed elsewhere. In France alone his fortunes seemed
prospering. If the victory of the League in that country could be
secured, England and the Netherlands might yet be conquered. Besides,
Philip was becoming jealous of the Duke of Parma. No one could serve
Philip long without arousing his suspicions; and Alexander had no
lack of enemies who spread rumours of his intention to make himself
independent in the Netherlands.[77] He was therefore neglected, and
with troops mutinous for want of pay, operations on a large scale
were impossible. Finally, in spite of his remonstrances, Farnese was
ordered to ‘talk no more of difficulties’ but to march into France to
the assistance of the Duke of Mayenne, August 3, 1590 (cf. p. 434),
and although on December 3, Parma returned from his French expedition,
it was with enfeebled health, exhausted funds, and an army seriously
reduced in numbers.
| Early life of Maurice.
| His military reforms.
| Exploits of Maurice. May-July, 1591.
| Continued success of Maurice. Sept.-Oct., 1591.
Maurice at last had his opportunity. This second[78] son of William
the Silent, and, through his mother, the grandson of Maurice of
Saxony, whom he resembled in feature and in character, had not as yet
attracted much attention. Some indeed thought him nothing more than
a petulant and unmannerly schoolboy; shrewder observers, however,
admitted that he was a man of ‘deep if sullen’ wit, and that as he
grew up to manhood he did not indulge in the vice of deep drinking so
prevalent among Dutchmen of that day. With politics he had hitherto
concerned himself but little, and had been content to follow the
lead of Barneveld. Meanwhile he had devoted himself to mathematics,
the science of fortification, and to tactics, and subsequently,
assisted by his cousin, Lewis William, Stattholder of Friesland--an
odd little man with bullet head, bright eyes, and shaggy brown
beard--had turned to military reform. A more elaborate system of
drill was introduced, which might give greater elasticity to the army
in the field; appreciating the value of fire-arms, he increased the
proportion of musketeers to pikemen in the infantry, and armed the
cavalry with carbines. To this he added the use of the spade, which
had hitherto been despised as beneath the dignity of the soldier, and
formed a school of engineers. In his anxiety to put an end to the
system of pillage which disgraced the armies of the day, and which
had made the Spaniards a terror, he severely punished such offences;
while, to remove all pretext for such conduct, he was careful to
prevent the peculation which had been rife among the officers, and
insisted on the soldiers being punctually paid. By these means he had
succeeded, in spite of much hostile criticism and ridicule, in making
the small army of the Hollanders a thoroughly effective one; while he
himself at the age of twenty-three had become a master of scientific
fortification and siege operations. The moment had now come to use his
remodelled forces. On May 24, 1591, he laid siege to Zutphen on the
Yssel, and in six days reduced that town, which had hitherto proved
impregnable. The reduction of Deventer, on the same river, followed
on June 10. Sixteen days later, he appeared before the walls of
Groningen, and reduced several places in the neighbourhood. Farnese,
aroused by the news of his exploits, attempted in July, to make a
diversion by attacking the fort of Knodsenburg on the Waal, but was
outmanœuvred by his young antagonist, and was forced to retreat,
and in August was compelled by illness to retire to Spa. Maurice now
took the town of Hulst on September 24, and on October 21, Nymwegen,
at the frontier of the Netherlands, on the Waal.
| Alexander’s second expedition into France. Further
| conquests of Maurice.
In January, 1592, the Duke of Parma was peremptorily ordered by
Philip to advance once more into France, Maurice, thus free from
all apprehension, again took the field. After a siege of forty-four
days, the town of Steenwyck fell (July 3), on the 26th, the fortress
of Coeworden capitulated, and thus the keys to the districts of
Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe were in his hands. Thus in two
summers, Maurice had not only secured once more the control of the
Waal, but had driven the Spaniards from most of the strongholds they
had hitherto held in the northern provinces of Guelderland, Overyssel,
and Drenthe; Groningen alone remained, and this was to be reduced in
the following year.
| Death of Alexander of Parma. Dec. 3, 1592.
In the winter of 1592, Alexander, Duke of Parma, the only man whose
military genius Maurice had need to fear, passed away. He had returned
from his second French expedition at the end of May, a dying man,
but even if he had been himself, the suspicions of Philip would have
effectually paralysed his efforts; for that jealous King, persuaded
by enemies of the Duke that he had designs on the sovereignty of the
Southern Netherlands, had already appointed his successor, and had
intended to remove him by force if necessary. Never were suspicions
more unjust; and Farnese, in obedience to his master’s orders, was
preparing a third expedition into France, when he was suddenly struck
down at Arras (December 3). Thus, at the age of forty-seven, passed
away the first soldier of his age, and one of the most devoted
servants Philip ever had. The only blot on his political career is
to be found in the unscrupulous character of his diplomacy. But even
here, he was at least faithful in his baseness; if he deceived others,
it was in obedience to his master’s orders, and the suspicion with
which Philip treated him in his later moments was as cruel as it was
unjust. The fourteen years of Parma’s governorship may be looked
upon as the critical period in Philip’s reign; they witnessed the
final move in the political game which the King of Spain was playing
for the mastery of Western Europe, and when Parma died the game was
nearly lost. Yet such success as Philip had, was largely due to
Alexander. Although the Duke had failed in the impossible task of
subduing the northern provinces, he had at least secured the southern
and western ones for Spain, and postponed the triumph of Henry of
Navarre. Had Philip had more such servants, he might have succeeded
better.
| Archduke Ernest appointed Governor. Jan. 1594.
| Maurice reduces Gertruydenberg, June 24, 1593; and
| Groningen, July 22, 1594.
On the death of Parma, the government had been provisionally placed
in the hands of Count Peter Ernest Mansfeld, a veteran now in his
dotage. The real successor was to be the Archduke Ernest, brother of
the Emperor Rudolf. The Archduke was Philip’s nephew. He proposed
to marry him to the Infanta and to gain for him the crown of France
(cf. p. 435). Thus, Philip hoped that the Spanish Netherlands might
be united to France, and ruled by a submissive relation. At least,
Philip seemed determined that the new Governor-general should not be
a man to excite his fears. The Archduke was thoroughly incapable,
very indolent, very fat, fond of drinking and of gambling; withal a
melancholy man, a victim to gout, and one who wept when complaints
were made to him. It was not until January, 1594, that the Archduke
arrived in Brussels. By that time his chances of the French throne
seemed remote, and his arrival with no troops and no money, but
‘with 670 gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and 534 horses to draw his
coaches,’ did not augur very well. A jealous scramble for places
ensued; the proud Spanish and Flemish nobles were insulted by his
want of courtesy, and the soldiery mutinied for want of pay. Under
these circumstances Maurice was able to reduce the only two important
places which were held by the Spaniards in the northern provinces. On
June 24, 1593, the successful siege of Gertruydenberg gave him the
command of the Meuse. On the 22nd July of the following year (1594),
the taking of the town of Gröningen, after sixty-five days’ siege,
practically secured that province.
| Death of Archduke Ernest, Feb. 20, 1595. Succeeded by
| the Archduke Cardinal Albert, Jan. 1596.
| Dutch and English expedition to Cadiz. July, 1596.
| Triple league against Spain. Aug.-Oct., 1596.
| Successful campaign of Maurice. Jan.-Oct., 1597.
After the death of the Archduke Ernest, which occurred on February 20,
1595, the attention of Philip was once more concentrated on France. In
January, Henry IV. had at last declared open war against Spain, and
the army of the Netherlands was required for service against him.
Fuentes, therefore, who held the post of Governor provisionally,
and the Cardinal Archduke Albert, brother of Ernest, who was appointed
in January 1596, both took part in the campaigns in the east of France
(cf. p. 440), and had but little time to give to the Netherlands. The
Dutch, free from immediate apprehension, were therefore enabled to
share in the brilliant English expedition to Cadiz, which ended in
the destruction of a Spanish fleet and in the sack of the city (July
2, 1596). In August, indeed, the Archduke Albert succeeded in wresting
the town of Hulst from Maurice; but in October, Holland joined
the League which Henry IV. and Elizabeth had made against Spain
in the previous August, and on the 24th of the following January
(1597), Maurice decisively defeated the Archduke at Turnhout near
Gertruydenberg. This important victory was followed by a three
months’ campaign, from August to October 1597, on the frontiers of
the duchy of Cleves--which was being used by the Spaniards as a basis
of operations against the disobedient provinces--a campaign in which,
by the reduction of nine cities and five castles, Maurice materially
strengthened his eastern frontier on the Rhine.
| Dutch not included in the Peace of Vervins. May 2, 1598.
| Settlement of government of the obedient provinces.
| 1609. Twelve years’ truce.
The Dutch had entered the League with France and England in the hope
that they might by such help finally secure the recognition of their
independence. But Henry was now weary of war, and had already opened
those negotiations which, in spite of the remonstrances of the Dutch,
ended in the Peace of Vervins (May 2, 1598, cf. p. 444). As the
recognition of their independence was denied them, the Dutch declined
to take part in the treaty. Nevertheless, the Peace was accompanied
by some change in the position of the obedient provinces; for as
Henry would no longer brook the presence of the Spanish King on his
eastern frontier, Philip consented to renounce his claim to them, as
well as to Franche-Comté, on condition that the sovereignty should
be conferred on the Archduke Albert, who was to marry the Infanta
Clara Eugenia Isabella (May, 1598). It was, however, stipulated that
these provinces should fall again to Spain in the event of there
being no issue of the marriage; Philip had reason to believe that
the Archduke could have no children, and by a secret treaty, his
nephew acknowledged the suzerainty of Spain, and promised to allow
Spanish garrisons to hold the cities of Antwerp, Ghent, and Cambray.
A desultory war, which did not materially affect the issue, continued
between the Spanish and disobedient provinces till 1609. A truce
of twelve years then virtually recognised the independence of the
United Netherlands--an independence which was not, however, formally
acknowledged till the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
| The limits of the seven United Provinces.
| Contrast in condition of the United Netherlands and
| the Spanish Netherlands.
| The constitutional and other difficulties.
The seven United Provinces which thus broke away from Spain were
Guelderland, Utrecht, Friesland, Overyssel, Gröningen, Zealand, and
Holland. These occupied a stretch of country on the shores of the
German Ocean, running from the duchy of East Friesland to the estuary
of the Scheldt, both sides of which they held. They thus completely
commanded the various mouths of the Rhine, as well as those of the
Meuse and the Scheldt. On the east and the south their boundaries
were East Friesland, the territories of the bishopric of Münster,
the duchy of Cleves, the bishopric of Liège, and South Brabant. Of
the United Provinces, the sea was at once the enemy and the friend;
a large proportion of their territory had been reclaimed from its
embrace, and it was only kept back by expensive dykes. Some of the
water of the Rhine had even to be conveyed to the sea in canals above
the level of the fields (poulders), yet so much below the level of
high tide that this had to be kept back by gates, which opened and
shut as it ebbed and flowed. Yet it was this very sea which they had
so often called to their assistance against their human foes, and
which gave them the trade upon which their prosperity depended. The
condition of these provinces, compared with that of the obedient
provinces, had undergone a marvellous change since the accession
of Philip. At the commencement of his reign, Flanders and Brabant
were by far the most wealthy districts; Antwerp was one of the great
entrepots for the trade of Europe, and their other great towns were
the centres of busy industries; while their contributions to the royal
exchequer equalled those of all the other provinces together. At the
close of the struggle these provinces were a desert; the wolves,
we are told, roamed over the vacant fields; the looms were silent,
and whole streets in the towns were empty; trade had shifted to the
north, and Amsterdam had usurped the place of Antwerp. Already the
Dutch were becoming the carriers of Europe, and taking the lead in
colonisation to the east. Yet the young State was threatened by many
dangers. The jealousy of England for her trade was likely to prove
formidable, and the internal dangers were many. The government was a
loose federation of provinces of very unequal size and wealth, and
each province a federation of municipal councils, which, with the
exception of those in Overyssel and Groningen, were filled up by
co-optation, or by election on a very narrow franchise. The authority
of the States-General, therefore, which was the legislative assembly
of the federation, and that of the States Council which formed the
Executive, was continually being disputed by the Provincial Councils;
while the burgher aristocracy which ruled the towns was disliked
by the nobles in the country, and looked upon with jealousy by the
unenfranchised. The predominant power of the province of Holland,
which contributed more than half of the annual budget, and the
existence of the Stattholder and Captain-general,[79] who held the
supreme military and executive power, no doubt gave a practical unity
to the government. But there was ever a tendency on the part of the
Stadtholder to break away from the burgher aristocracy, and to base
a more extended sovereignty and a more united kingdom on the support
of the unprivileged classes. Religious differences embittered these
dissensions; the burghers generally supported the new Arminian views,
the Stadtholder those of the more extreme Calvinists; and thus there
arose two parties whose quarrels were often in the future to shake the
federation to its base.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] Lord Buckhurst, the English envoy, declared that as late as
1587, the numbers of the Catholics in the disobedient provinces
exceeded those of the Protestants.
[68] Four were Duchies: Brabant, Guelderland, Limburg,
Luxemburg. Five were Lordships: West Friesland, Mechlin,
Utrecht, Overyssel, Groningen. Six were Counties: Flanders,
Artois, Hainault, Holland, Zealand, Zutphen. Antwerp and Namur
were Margravates. Of these Friesland, Groningen, Utrecht,
Guelderland, Zutphen were added by Charles V.
[69] The Duke of Bavaria was the brother-in-law of Egmont.
[70] Adolf fell at Heiligerlu 1568.
[71] Some, however, fix the date of Don John’s birth two years
earlier, 1545.
[72] William married four times:--
1. Anne of Egmont.
2. Anne, daughter of Maurice of Saxony.
3. Charlotte of Bourbon, daughter of Louis, Duke of Montpensier.
4. Louisa, daughter of Admiral Coligny.
Of his eleven children, the following are the most important:--
1. Philip William, son of Anne of Egmont, a captive in Spain
since 1567; _ob. s.p._ 1618.
2. Maurice, son of Anne of Saxony, Stattholder from 1587 to 1625.
3. Frederick Henry, son of Louisa de Coligny, Stattholder from
1625 to 1647.
[73] The Earl of Leicester was the brother of Guildford Dudley,
the husband of Lady Jane Grey, executed 1554.
[74] Alexander had become Duke of Parma on the death of his
father Ottavio, September 1586.
[75] This is generally attributed to the parsimony of the Queen.
But on this and other popular errors cf. _State Papers relating
to Defeat of the Spanish Armada_, Navy Records Society,
Introduction.
[76] In 1590, Maurice was also appointed Stattholder and
Captain-general of Guelderland, Utrecht, Overyssel; but he never
was appointed Captain-general of the whole Union.
[77] That Alexander had been approached on this subject is true;
but that he ever entertained such a proposal there is not the
slightest proof.
[78] The eldest son, Philip, had been kidnapped from school and
sent to Spain in 1567. When he returned in 1596, he had become a
Catholic and a supporter of Spanish rule.
[79] Maurice after 1590 was Stattholder and Captain-general of
Holland, Zealand, Guelderland, Utrecht, and Overyssel, but never
Captain-general or Stattholder of the Union.