Now in those days, day in, day out, King Philip of Spain was used
to spend his time fingering old papers and scribbling and writing
on leaves of parchment. To these alone did he confide the secrets
of his cruel heart, for he loved no man living, and knew that none
loved him. For he desired to direct his great empire by himself alone,
and like a weary Atlas he was bowed under that weight. Melancholy and
phlegmatic by nature, this excess of work was consuming a body that
was already none too strong. Hating as he did every happy face, he
had begun to hate our land of Flanders, for its gaiety if for nothing
else. And he hated our merchants just because they were wealthy and
luxurious, and he hated our nobility just because they were free in
speech and frank in manner, and because of the high ardour of their
bravery and their jovial bearing. Neither had he forgotten the tale
that was told how, as early as the year 1380, the Cardinal de Cousa
had pointed out the abuses of the Church, and had preached the need
of reformation, since which time the revolt against the Pope and
the power of Rome had begun to be manifest in our land, and was now,
under different forms and sects, rife in every head like water boiling
in a kettle with the lid on.
And although, under the Emperor Charles, the Papal Inquisition had
already been the death, by burning, burying alive, or hanging, of
so many as a hundred thousand Christians, and although the property
of these unfortunates had gone into the coffers of the Emperor and
the King like rain falling into a sink, Philip decided that this was
not enough, and now imposed on the country a new College of Bishops,
and aspired to introduce into Flanders all the horrors of the Spanish
Inquisition.
And the Town Heralds sounded their trumpets and their timbrels, and
declaimed a proclamation to the effect that all heretics, whether
men, women, or girls, should be done to death. Those who would recant
their heresies were to be hanged, but those who were obstinate were
to be burnt at the stake. The women and girls were to be buried alive,
and the executioner was to dance upon their dead bodies.
And the flame of resistance began to burn and run through all the
country.