One morning Soetkin saw Claes pacing up and down the kitchen with
head bent, like a man lost in thought.
"Whatever is the matter with you, my man?" she asked him. "You are
pale, and you look angry and distracted."
Claes answered her in a low voice, like a dog growling.
"The Emperor is about to reissue those cursed placards. Death once
again is hovering over the land of Flanders. The Informers are to
have one half of the property of their victims, if so be that such
property does not exceed the value of one hundred florins."
"We are poor," Soetkin said.
"Not poor enough," Claes answered. "Evil folk there are--crows
and corpse-devouring vultures--who would as readily denounce us
to the Emperor for half a sackful of coal as for half a sackful of
florins. What had she, poor old Widow Tanneken that was wife to Sis
the tailor, she that was buried alive at Heyst? Nothing but a Latin
Bible, three gold florins, and a few household utensils of English
pewter. But they were coveted by a neighbour. Then there was Joanna
Martens whom they burnt as a witch after she had been thrown into
the water, for her body did not sink and they held it for a sign of
sorcery. She had a few miserable pieces of furniture and seven gold
pieces in a bag, and the Informer wanted his half of them. Alas! I
could go on till to-morrow morning giving you instances of the same
kind. But to cut a long story short, Mother, life's no longer worth
living in Flanders, and all on account of these placards. Soon every
night-time the death-cart will be passing through the town, and we
shall hear the arid click of bones as the skeletons shake in the wind."
Soetkin said: "You ought not to try and frighten me, my man. The
Emperor is the father of Flanders and Brabant, and as such he is
endowed with long-suffering, gentleness, patience, and pity."
"He would be obliged to renounce too much if he were all that,"
Claes answered, "for he has inherited a great amount of confiscated
property."
At that very moment the sound of a trumpet was heard, and the clash
of the Heralds' cymbals. Claes and Soetkin, carrying Ulenspiegel in
their arms by turns, rushed out towards where the sound came from,
and with them went a great concourse of people. They came to the Town
Hall, in front of which stood the Heralds on horseback, blowing their
trumpets and sounding their cymbals, and the Provost with his staff
of justice, and the Town Proctor, also on horseback and holding in
his hands the Imperial Edict which he was preparing to read out to
the assembled multitude.
Claes heard every word, how "that it was once again forbidden to all
and sundry to print, read, to possess or to defend, the writings,
books or doctrines of Martin Luther, of John Wycliffe, John Hus,
Marcilius de Padua, AEcolampadius, Ulricus Zwynglius, Philip Melancthon,
Franciscus Lambertus, Joannes Pomeranus, Otto Brunselsius, Justus
Jonas, Joannes Puperis, and Gorciamus; as well as any copies of the
New Testament printed by Adrien de Berghes, Christophe de Remonda,
and Joannes Xel, which books were full of Lutheran and other kinds
of heresy, and had been condemned and rejected by the Doctors of
Theology at the University of Louvain.
"Likewise and in the same manner it was forbidden to paint, portray
or cause to be painted or portrayed any opprobrious paintings or
figures of God, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or of the saints;
or to break, destroy or deface the images or pictures made to the
honour, remembrance or recollection of God, the Virgin Mary, or of
the saints recognized by the Church.
"Furthermore," said the placard, "no one, whatever his position in
life, should presume to discuss or dispute concerning Holy Writ, even
in regard to matters admittedly doubtful, unless he were a theologian,
well known and approved by some established university.
"His Sacred Majesty decreed, among other penalties, that
suspected persons should not be allowed to carry on any honourable
occupation. And as for men who had fallen again into error, or who
were obstinate in the same, they should be condemned to be burnt by
fire, slow or fast, either in a covering of straw, or else bound
to a stake, according to the discretion of the judge. Others, if
they were men of noble or of gentle birth, were to be executed at
the point of the sword, while working people were to be hung, and
the women buried alive. Afterwards their heads were to be fixed on
the top of poles for an example. The property of all the aforesaid,
in so far as it was situate in places subject to confiscation, was
to be made over to the benefit of the Emperor.
"To the Informers His Sacred Majesty gave one half of all the property
of the dead, provided that such property did not exceed, on any one
occasion, a hundred pounds gross in Flemish money. As for the half
that went to the Emperor, he would reserve it for works of piety and
mercy, as was done in the case of the confiscations at Rome."
And Claes went away sadly, with Soetkin and Ulenspiegel.