mutineers raised an altar of chests and bales upon the public square,
and celebrated mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true to
each other to the last. The scenes of carousing and merry-making were
renewed at the expense of the citizens, who were again exposed to nightly
alarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless mischief-making of the
soldiers. Before the end of the month; the Broad Council, exhausted by
the incubus which had afflicted them so many weeks, acceded to the demand
of Requesens. The four hundred thousand crowns were furnished, the Grand
Commander accepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds duly
signed and countersigned, together with a mortgage upon all the royal
domains. The citizens received the documents, as a matter of form, but
they had handled such securities before, and valued them but slightly.
The mutineers now agreed to settle with the Governor-General, on
condition of receiving all their wages, either in cash or cloth, together
with a solemn promise of pardon for all their acts of insubordination.
This pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious ceremonies,
by Requesens, in the cathedral. The payments were made directly
afterwards, and a great banquet was held on the same day, by the whole
mass of the soldiery, to celebrate the event. The feast took place on
the place of the Meer, and was a scene of furious revelry. The soldiers,
more thoughtless than children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneous
costumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last received in payment
of their sufferings and their blood. Broadcloths, silks, satins, and
gold-embroidered brocades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung in
fantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed faces of the
soldiery, who, the day before, had been clothed in rags. The mirth was
fast and furious; and scarce was the banquet finished before every drum-
head became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups eager to
sacrifice in a moment their dearly-bought gold.
The fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded in entirely plundering
their companions, when the distant booming of cannon was heard from the
river. Instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and fantastic
costumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, were summoned from banquet
and gaming-table, and were ordered forth upon the dykes. The patriot
Admiral Boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of Bergen, under
the eyes of the Grand Commander, had unexpectedly sailed up the Scheld,
determined to destroy the, fleet of Antwerp, which upon that occasion had
escaped. Between, the forts of Lillo and Callao, he met with twenty-two
vessels under the command of Vice-Admiral Haemstede. After a short and
sharp action, he was completely victorious. Fourteen of the enemy's
ships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and Admiral Haemstede
was taken prisoner. The soldiers opened a warm fire of musketry upon
Boisot from the dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. The
distance of the combatants, however, made the action unimportant; and the
patriots retired down the river, after achieving a complete victory. The
Grand Commander was farther than ever from obtaining that foothold on the
sea, which as he had informed his sovereign, was the only means by which
the Netherlands could be reduced.
1574 [CHAPTER II.]
First siege of Leyden--Commencement of the second--Description of
the city--Preparations for defence--Letters of Orange--Act of
amnesty issued by Requesens--Its conditions--Its reception by the
Hollanders--Correspondence of the Glippers--Sorties and fierce
combats beneath the walls of Leyden--Position of the Prince--His
project of relief Magnanimity of the people--Breaking of the dykes--
Emotions in the city and the besieging camp--Letter of the Estates
of Holland--Dangerous illness of the Prince--The "wild Zealanders"--
Admiral Boisot commences his voyage--Sanguinary combat on the Land--
Scheiding--Occupation of that dyke and of the Green Way--Pauses and
Progress of the flotilla--The Prince visits the fleet--Horrible
sufferings in the city--Speech of Van der Werf--Heroism of the
inhabitants--The Admiral's letters--The storm--Advance of Boisot--
Lammen fortress----An anxious night--Midnight retreat of the
Spaniards--The Admiral enters the city--Thanksgiving in the great
church The Prince in Leyden--Parting words of Valdez--Mutiny--Leyden
University founded--The charter--Inauguration ceremonies.
The invasion of Louis of Nassau had, as already stated, effected the
raising of the first siege of Leyden. That leaguer had lasted from the
31st of October, 1573, to the 21st of March, 1574, when the soldiers were
summoned away to defend the frontier. By an extraordinary and culpable
carelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the Prince, had not
taken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the
city and strengthen the garrison. They seemed to reckon more confidently
upon the success of Count Louis than he had even done himself; for it was
very probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantly
resumed. This natural result was not long in following the battle of
Mookerheyde.
On the 26th of May, Valdez reappeared before the place, at the head of
eight thousand Walloons and Germans, and Leyden was now destined to pass
through a fiery ordeal. This city was one of the most beautiful in the
Netherlands. Placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, which
had been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; it
was fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful Orchards.
The ancient and, at last, decrepit Rhine, flowing languidly towards its
sandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificial
currents, by which the city was completely interlaced. These watery
streets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed by
one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. The houses
were elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, the
churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of the
place suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. Upon an artificial
elevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknown
antiquity. By some it was considered to be of Roman origin, while others
preferred to regard it as a work of the Anglo-Saxon Hengist, raised to
commemorate his conquest of England.
[Guicciardini, Descript. Holl, et Zelandire. Bor, vii. 502.
Bentivoglio, viii. 151
"Putatur Engistus Britanno
Orbe redus posuisse victor," etc., etc.
according to the celebrated poem of John Yon der Does, the
accomplished and valiant Commandant of the city. The tower, which
is doubtless a Roman one, presents, at the present day, almost
precisely the same appearance as that described by the
contemporaneous historians of the siege. The verses of the
Commandant show the opinion, that the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of
Britain went from Holland, to have been a common one in the
sixteenth century.]
Surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, it
afforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over a
wide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring cities
rising in every direction. It was from this commanding height, during
the long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many an
eye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had
begun to roll over the land.
Valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession of
Maeslandsluis, Vlaardingen, and the Hague. Five hundred English, under
command of Colonel Edward Chester, abandoned the fortress of Valkenburg,
and fled towards Leyden. Refused admittance by the citizens, who now,
with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to Valdez, and were
afterwards sent back to England. In the course of a few days, Leyden was
thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them having
remained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city,
while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to be
daily increased. On the other hand, there were no troops in the town,
save a small corps of "freebooters," and five companies of the burgher
guard. John Van der Does, Seigneur of Nordwyck, a gentleman of
distinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, his
poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of military
commandant.
The main reliance of the city, under God, was on the stout hearts of its
inhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of William the
Silent without. The Prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the
citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence in
having omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency while
there had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about to
contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and of
unborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issue
about to be tried. Eternal glory would be their portion if they
manifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause of
religion and liberty. He implored them to hold out at least three
months, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the means
of their deliverance. The citizens responded, courageously and
confidently, to these missives, and assured the Prince of their firm
confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions.
And truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, as
on a rock of adamant. All alone, without a being near him to consult,
his right arm struck from him by the death of Louis, with no brother left
to him but the untiring and faithful John, he prepared without delay for
the new task imposed upon him. France, since the defeat and death of
Louis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of Henry
III., had but small sympathy for the Netherlands. The English
government, relieved from the fear of France; was more cold and haughty
than ever. An Englishman employed by Requesens to assassinate the
Prince of Orange, had been arrested in Zealand, who impudently pretended
that he had undertaken to perform the same office for Count John, with
the full consent and privity of Queen Elizabeth. The provinces of
Holland and Zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of the
contest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory,
and the powerful Spanish Empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless.
Moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which had
been so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberally
baited. The pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the 8th of March,
was formally issue: by the Grand Commander on the 6th of June. By the
terms of this document the King invited all his erring and repentant
subjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness for
their past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once more
throw themselves upon the bosom of the Mother Church. There were but few
exceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned
by name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample,
the act was liable to a few stern objections. It was easier now for the
Hollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its
progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war.
Instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, although
constitutional was Catholic, there was now hardly a Papist to be found
among the natives. To accept the pardon then was to concede the victory,
and the Hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. They
were resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the
Roman Church should be re-established on their soil, to the entire
exclusion of the Reformed worship. They responded with steadfast
enthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the Prince of Orange, after the
second siege of Leyden had been commenced; "As long as there is a living
man left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our
religion." The single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase;
what Spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles,
and the Hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for seven
years to succumb to a phrase at last.
Moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. The malefactor
gravely extended forgiveness to his victims. Although the Hollanders
had not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory of
government, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity,
they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now played
before them. The man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all
their constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities,
confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive
their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offer
forgiveness. Not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, but
with a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariously
upon the scene of his crimes. It may be supposed that, even in the
sixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at such
blasphemy. Furthermore, even had the people of Holland been weak enough
to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise would
be fulfilled. It was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to be
kept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papal
Bull, dated on the 30th of April, by which Gregory XIII. promised
forgiveness to those Netherland sinners who duly repented and sought
absolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more than
seven times seven.
For a moment the Prince had feared lest the pardon might produce some
effect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event proved
him wrong. It was received with universal and absolute contempt. No man
came forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer in
Utrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from Leyden. With these
exceptions, the only ones recorded, Holland remained deaf to the royal
voice. The city of Leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy,
which were especially addressed to its population by Valdez and his
agents. Certain Netherlanders, belonging to the King's party, and
familiarly called "Glippers," despatched from the camp many letters to
their rebellious acquaintances in the city. In these epistles the
citizens of Leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted to
submission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upon
their poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives." But the
burghers of Leyden thought that the best pity which they could show to
those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from the
clutches of the Spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the Glippers,
save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and
forwarded, like a letter, to Valdez:
"Fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps."
According to the advice early given by the Prince of Orange, the citizens
had taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the live
stock. By the end of June, the city was placed on a strict allowance of
food, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at an
equitable price. Half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread was
allotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. The
city being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons,
and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible.
Sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and a
handsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gates
the head of a Spaniard. The reward was paid many times, but the
population was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities felt
it dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. Lest the
city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it was
now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man should
leave the gates.
The Prince had his head-quarters at Delft and at Rotterdam. Between
those two cities, an important fortress, called Polderwaert, secured him
in the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the
Yssel and the Meuse. On the 29th June, the Spaniards, feeling its value,
had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. They had
been beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the Prince
remaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hope
to relieve Leyden. He still held in his hand the keys with which he
could unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and he
had long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break the
dykes. Leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to.
Leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force under
Valdez could not be levied. The battle of Mookerheyde had, for the,
present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possible
to besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. The Spaniards
occupied the coast from the Hague to Vlaardingen, but the dykes along the
Meuse and Yssel were in possession of the Prince. He determined, that
these should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices at
Rotterdam, Schiedam, and Delftshaven should be opened. The damage to the
fields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt that
no other course could rescue Leyden, and with it the whole of Holland
from destruction. His clear expositions and impassioned eloquence at
last overcame all resistance. By the middle of July the estates
consented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken.
"Better a drowned land than a lost land," cried the patriots, with
enthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. The
enterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves,
from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as much
regularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. A capital was
formally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued,
payable at a long date. In addition to this preliminary fund, a monthly
allowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the work
should be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of the
land, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furniture
to the furtherance of the scheme.
Meantime, Valdez, on the 30th July; issued most urgent and ample offers
of pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates and
accept the King's authority, but his Overtures were received with silent
contempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching the
starvation point. Although not yet fully informed of the active measures
taken by the Prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy and
their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerly
been heard at the gates of Harlem and of Naarden. On the 3rd of August,
the Prince; accompanied by Paul Buys, chief of the commission appointed
to execute the enterprise, went in person along the Yssel; as far as
Kappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places.
The gates at Schiedam and Rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began to
pour over the land. While waiting for the waters to rise, provisions
were rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the Prince, in all the
principal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, of
various sizes, had also been got ready at Rotterdam, Delftshaven, and
other ports.
The citizens of Leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, for
their bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had but
slender provision. On the 12th of August they received a letter from the
Prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedy
relief, and on the 21st they addressed a despatch to him in reply,
stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they had
held out two months with food, and another month without food. If not
soon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake would
last but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left but
starvation. Upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated
by the Prince, who now lay in bed at Rotterdam with a violent fever,
assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water was
rising upon the "Land-Scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated
the city from the sea. He said nothing however of his own illness, which
would have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth among
the burghers.
The letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase the
cheerfulness, burgomaster Van der Werf, knowing the sensibility of his
countrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate the
streets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. Salvos of cannon were
likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspect
of a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who were
not yet aware of the Prince's efforts. They perceived very soon,
however, as the water everywhere about Leyden had risen to the depth of
ten inches, that they stood in a perilous position. It was no trifling
danger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about
to obey with docility the command of William the Silent. Valdez became
anxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for the
besieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power
than man's. He consulted with the most experienced of his officers, with
the country people, with the most distinguished among the Glippers, and
derived encouragement from their views concerning the Prince's plan.
They pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: The Glippers knew the
country well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms.
Even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vivid
gleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldly
taunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision of
relief which they had so fondly welcomed. "Go up to the tower, ye
Beggars," was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, and
tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief"
--and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of Hengist, with
heavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and at
last almost despairing of relief by God or man. On the 27th they
addressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the city
had been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt and
warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured that
every human effort was to be made for their relief. "Rather," said the
estates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in
the waves, than forsake thee, Leyden. We know full well, moreover, that
with Leyden, all Holland must perish also." They excused themselves for
not having more frequently written, upon the, ground that the whole
management of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to the
Prince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all the
correspondence conducted.