Borgstorm, the great bell of Damme, had summoned the judges to
judgment. It was four o'clock, and now they were collected together
at the Vierschare, around the Tree of Justice.
Claes was brought before them. Seated upon the dais was the high
bailiff of Damme, and by his side, opposite Claes, the mayor, the
alderman, and the clerk of the court.
The populace ran together at the sound of the bell. A great crowd
they were, and many of them were saying that the judges were there
to do--not justice--but merely the will of His Imperial Majesty....
After certain preliminaries, the high bailiff began to make
proclamation of the acts and deeds for which Claes had been summoned
before that tribunal.
"The informer," he said, "had been staying by chance at Damme, not
wishing to spend all his money at Bruges in feasting and festivity as
is too often the case during these sacred occasions. On a time, then,
when he was taking the air soberly on his own doorstep, he saw a man
walking towards him along the rue Heron. This man Claes also saw,
and went up to him and greeted him. The stranger, who was dressed
all in black, entered the house of Claes, leaving the door into the
street half open. Curious to find out who the man was, the informer
went into the vestibule, and heard Claes talking to the stranger in the
kitchen. The talk was all about a certain Josse, the brother of Claes,
who it seems had been made prisoner among the army of the Reformers,
and had suffered the punishment of being broken alive on the wheel
of torture, not far from Aix. The stranger said that he had brought
Claes a sum of money which his brother had desired to leave him, which
money having been gained from the ignorant and poverty-stricken, it
behoved Claes to spend it in bringing up his own son in the Reformed
Faith. He also urged Claes to quit the bosom of our Holy Mother
Church, and spake also many other impious words to which the only
reply vouchsafed by Claes was this: 'The cruel brutes! Alas, my poor
Josse!' So did the prisoner blaspheme against our Holy Father the Pope
and against His Royal Majesty, accusing them of cruelty in that they
rightly had punished heresy as a crime of treason against God and
man. When the stranger had finished the meal that Claes put before
him, our agent heard Claes cry out again: 'Alas, poor Josse! May God
keep thee in his glory! How cruel they were to thee!' And thus did he
accuse God himself of impiety by this suggestion that He could receive
a heretic into His heaven. Nor did Claes ever cease to cry aloud:
'Alas! Alas! My poor Josse!' The stranger then, launching out into
a frenzy, like a preacher beginning his sermon, fell to revile most
shamefully our Holy Mother the Church. 'She will fall,' he shouted,
'she will fall, the mighty Babylon, the whore of Rome, and she will
become the abode of demons, and the haunt of every bird accursed.' And
Claes meanwhile continued the same old cry: 'Cruel brutes! Alas, poor
Josse!' And the stranger went on in the same way as he had begun,
saying: 'Verily an angel shall appear that shall take a stone that
is great as a millstone, and shall cast it into the sea, crying:
"Thus shall it be done to Babylon the mighty, and she shall be no
more seen."' Whereupon, 'Sir,' says Claes, 'your mouth is full of
bitterness; but tell me, when cometh that kingdom in which they
that are gentle of heart shall be able to dwell in peace upon the
earth?' 'Never,' answered the stranger, 'while yet my Lord Antichrist
rules, that is the Pope, who is to-day the enemy to all truth.' 'Ah,'
said Claes, 'you speak with little respect of the Holy Father. But
he, surely, is ignorant of the cruel punishments which are meted out
to poor Reformers.' 'Not at all,' answered the stranger, 'and far
from it, for it is he who initiates the decrees and causes them to
be put into force by the Emperor, now by the King. The latter enjoys
all the benefits of confiscation, inherits the property of the dead,
and finds it easy to bring charges of heresy against those who have
any wealth.' Claes said: 'Indeed I know that such things are freely
spoken of in the land of Flanders, and one may well believe them, for
the flesh of man is weak, even though the flesh be royal flesh. O my
poor Josse!' And by this did Claes give to understand that heretics
are punished because of a vile desire on the part of His Majesty for
filthy lucre. The stranger wished to argue the matter further, but
Claes said: 'Please, sir, do not let us continue this conversation,
for if it were overheard I might easily find myself involved in some
awkward inquiry.' Then Claes got up to go to the cellar, whence he
presently returned with a pot of beer. 'I am going to shut the door,'
said he, and after that the informer heard nothing more, for he had
to make his way out of the house as quickly as he could. Not till
it was night was the door again opened, and then the stranger came
forth. But he soon returned, knocking at the door and calling to Claes:
'It is very cold, and I know not where I am to lodge this night. Give
me shelter, pray. No one has seen me. The town is deserted.' Claes
welcomed him in, lit a lantern, and last of all he was seen to be
leading the heretic up the staircase into a little attic room with
a window that looked out on to the country."
At this Claes cried out: "And who could have reported all this but
you, you wicked fishmonger! I saw you on Sunday, standing at your
door, as straight as a post, gazing up, like the hypocrite you are,
at the swallows in their flight!"
And as he spoke, he pointed with his finger at Josse Grypstuiver,
the Dean of the Fishmongers, who showed his ugly phiz in the crowd
of people. And the fishmonger gave an evil smile when he saw Claes
betraying himself in this way. And the people in the crowd, men,
women, and maids, looked one at the other and said: "Poor good man,
his words will be the death of him without a doubt."
But the clerk continued his depositions.
"Claes and the heretic stayed talking together for a long time that
night, and so for six other nights, during which time the stranger was
seen to make many gestures of menace or of benediction, and to lift up
his hands to heaven as do his fellow-heretics. And Claes appeared to
approve of what he said. And there is no doubt that throughout these
days and nights they were speaking together opprobriously of the Mass,
of the confessional, of indulgences, and of the Royal Majesty...."
"No one heard it," said Claes, "and I cannot be accused in this way
without any evidence."
The clerk answered:
"There is something else that was overheard. The evening that the
stranger left your roof, seven days after he had first come to you,
you went with him as far as the end of Katheline's field. There he
asked you what you had done with the wicked idols"--here the bailiff
crossed himself--"of Madame the Virgin, and of St. Nicholas and
St. Martin. You replied that you had broken them all up and thrown
them into the well. They were, in fact, found in the well last night,
and the pieces are now in the torture-chamber."
At these words Claes appeared to be quite overcome. The bailiff
asked if he had nothing to answer. Claes made a sign with his head
in the negative.
The bailiff asked him if he would not recant the accursed thoughts
which had led him to break the images, and the impious delusion
whereby he had spoken such evil words against Pope and Emperor,
who were both divine personages.
Claes replied that his body was the Emperor's, but that his soul was
Christ's, whose law he desired to obey. The bailiff asked him if this
law were the same as that of Holy Mother Church. Claes answered:
"The law of Christ is written in the Holy Gospel."
When ordered to answer the question as to whether the Pope is the
representative of God on earth, he answered, "No."
When asked if he believed that it was forbidden to adore images of Our
Lady and of the saints, he replied that such was idolatry. Questioned
as to whether the practice of auricular confession was a good and
salutary thing, he answered: "Christ said, confess your sins one
to another."
He spoke out bravely, though at the same time it was evident that he
was ill at ease and in his heart afraid.
At length, eight o'clock having sounded and evening coming on,
the members of the tribunal retired, deferring their judgment until
the morrow.