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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 14.
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
By John Lothrop Motley
1855
1567 [Part III., ALVA, CHAPTER 1.]
Continued dissensions in the Spanish cabinet--Ruy Gomez and Alva--
Conquest of the Netherlands entrusted to the Duke--Birth, previous
career and character of Alva--Organization of the invading army--
Its march to the provinces--Complaints of Duchess Margaret--Alva
receives deputations on the frontier--Interview between the Duke and
Egmont--Reception of Alva by the Duchess of Parma--Circular letters
to the cities requiring their acceptance of garrisons--Margaret's
secret correspondence--Universal apprehension--Keys of the great
cities demanded by Alva--Secret plans of the government, arranged
before the Duke's departure--Arrest of Orange, Egmont, Horn, and
others, determined upon--Stealthy course of the government towards
them--Infatuation of Egmont--Warnings addressed to him by De Billy
and others--Measures to entrap Count Horn--Banquet of the Grand
Prior--The Grand Prior's warning to Egmont--Evil counsels of
Noircarmes--Arrests of Egmont, Horn, Bakkerzeel and Straalen--
Popular consternation--Petulant conduct of Duchess Margaret--
Characteristic comments of Granvelle--His secret machinations and
disclaimers--Berghen and Montigny--Last moments of Marquis Berghen--
Perfidy of Ruy Gomez--Establishment of the "Blood-Council"--Its
leading features--Insidious behavior of Viglius--Secret
correspondence, concerning the President, between Philip and Alva--
Members of the "Blood-Council"--Portraits of Vargas and Hessels--
Mode of proceeding adopted by the council--Wholesale executions--
Despair in the provinces--The resignation of Duchess Margaret
accepted--Her departure from the Netherlands--Renewed civil war in
France--Death of Montmorency--Auxiliary troops sent by Alva to
France--Erection of Antwerp citadel--Description of the citadel.
The armed invasion of the Netherlands was the necessary consequence of
all which had gone before. That the inevitable result had been so long
deferred lay rather in the incomprehensible tardiness of Philip's
character than in the circumstances of the case. Never did a monarch
hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with
so much circumvolution to his goal. The mask of benignity, of possible
clemency, was now thrown off, but the delusion of his intended visit to
the provinces was still maintained. He assured the Regent that he should
be governed by her advice, and as she had made all needful preparations
to receive him in Zeland, that it would be in Zeland he should arrive.
The same two men among Philip's advisers were prominent as at an earlier
day--the Prince of Eboli and the Duke of Alva. They still represented
entirely opposite ideas, and in character, temper, and history, each was
the reverse of the other. The policy of the Prince was pacific and
temporizing; that of the Duke uncompromising and ferocious. Ruy Gomez
was disposed to prevent, if possible, the armed mission of Alva, and he
now openly counselled the King to fulfil his long-deferred promise, and
to make his appearance in person before his rebellious subjects. The
jealousy and hatred which existed between the Prince and the Duke--
between the man of peace and the man of wrath--were constantly exploding,
even in the presence of the King. The wrangling in the council was
incessant. Determined, if possible; to prevent the elevation of his
rival, the favorite was even for a moment disposed to ask for the command
of the army himself. There was something ludicrous in the notion, that
a man whose life had been pacific, and who trembled at the noise of arms,
should seek to supersede the terrible Alva, of whom his eulogists
asserted, with, Castilian exaggeration, that the very name of fear
inspired him with horror. But there was a limit beyond which the
influence of Anna de Mendoza and her husband did not extend. Philip was
not to be driven to the Netherlands against his will, nor to be prevented
from assigning the command of the army to the most appropriate man in
Europe for his purpose.
It was determined at last that the Netherland heresy should be conquered
by force of arms. The invasion resembled both a crusade against the
infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into the auriferous Indies,
achievements by which Spanish chivalry had so often illustrated itself.
The banner of the cross was to be replanted upon the conquered
battlements of three hundred infidel cities, and a torrent of wealth,
richer than ever flowed from Mexican or Peruvian mines, was to flow into
the royal treasury from the perennial fountains of confiscation. Who so
fit to be the Tancred and the Pizarro of this bicolored expedition as the
Duke of Alva, the man who had been devoted from his earliest childhood,
and from his father's grave, to hostility against unbelievers, and who
had prophesied that treasure would flow in a stream, a yard deep, from
the Netherlands as soon as the heretics began to meet with their deserts.
An army of chosen troops was forthwith collected, by taking the four
legions, or terzios, of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Lombardy, and
filling their places in Italy by fresh levies. About ten thousand picked
and veteran soldiers were thus obtained, of which the Duke of Alva was
appointed general-in-chief.
Ferdinando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, was now in his sixtieth
year. He was the most successful and experienced general of Spain, or
of Europe. No man had studied more deeply, or practised more constantly,
the military science. In the most important of all arts at that epoch he
was the most consummate artist. In the only honorable profession of the
age, he was the most thorough and the most pedantic professor. Since the
days of Demetrius Poliorcetes, no man had besieged so many cities. Since
the days of Fabius Cunctator; no general had avoided so many battles, and
no soldier, courageous as he was, ever attained to a more sublime
indifference to calumny or depreciation. Having proved in his boyhood,
at Fontarabia, and in his maturity: at Muhlberg, that he could exhibit
heroism and headlong courage; when necessary, he could afford to look
with contempt upon the witless gibes which his enemies had occasionally
perpetrated at his expense. Conscious of holding his armies in his hand,
by the power of an unrivalled discipline, and the magic of a name
illustrated by a hundred triumphs, he, could bear with patience and
benevolence the murmurs of his soldiers when their battles were denied
them.
He was born in 1508, of a family which boasted, imperial descent. A
Palaeologus, brother of a Byzantine emperor, had conquered the city of
Toledo, and transmitted its appellation as a family name. The father of
Ferdinando, Don Garcia, had been slain on the isle of Gerbes, in battle
with the Moors, when his son was but four years of age. The child was
brought up by his grandfather, Don Frederic, and trained from his
tenderest infancy to arms. Hatred to the infidel, and a determination to
avenge his father's blood; crying to him from a foreign grave, were the
earliest of his instincts. As a youth he was distinguished for his
prowess. His maiden sword was fleshed at Fontarabia, where, although but
sixteen years of age, he was considered, by his constancy in hardship,
by his brilliant and desperate courage, and by the example of military
discipline which he afforded to the troops, to have contributed in no
small degree to the success of the Spanish arms.
In 1530, he accompanied the Emperor in his campaign against the Turk.
Charles, instinctively recognizing the merit of the youth who was
destined to be the life-long companion of his toils and glories,
distinguished him with his favor at the opening of his career. Young,
brave, and enthusiastic, Ferdinand de Toledo at this period was as
interesting a hero as ever illustrated the pages of Castilian romance.
His mad ride from Hungary to Spain and back again, accomplished in
seventeen days, for the sake of a brief visit to his newly-married wife,
is not the least attractive episode in the history of an existence which
was destined to be so dark and sanguinary. In 1535, he accompanied the
Emperor on his memorable expedition to Tunis. In 1546 and 1547 he was
generalissimo in the war against the Smalcaldian league. His most
brilliant feat of arms-perhaps the most brilliant exploit of the
Emperor's reign--was the passage of the Elbe and the battle of Muhlberg,
accomplished in spite of Maximilian's bitter and violent reproaches, and
the tremendous possibilities of a defeat. That battle had finished the
war. The gigantic and magnanimous John Frederic, surprised at his
devotions in the church, fled in dismay, leaving his boots behind him,
which for their superhuman size, were ridiculously said afterwards to be
treasured among the trophies of the Toledo house.
[Hist. du Due d'Albe, i. 274. Brantome, Hom. Illust., etc.
(ch. v.), says that one of the boots was "large enough to hold a
camp bedstead," p. 11. I insert the anecdote only as a specimen of
the manner in which similar absurdities, both of great and, of
little consequence, are perpetuated by writers in every land and
age. The armor of the noble-hearted and unfortunate John Frederic
may still be seen in Dresden. Its size indicates a man very much
above the average height, while the external length of the iron
shoe, on-the contrary, is less than eleven inches.]
The rout was total. "I came, I saw, and God conquered," said the
Emperor, in pious parody of his immortal predecessor's epigram.
Maximilian, with a thousand apologies for his previous insults, embraced
the heroic Don Ferdinand over and over again, as, arrayed in a plain suit
of blue armor, unadorned save with streaks of his enemies' blood, he
returned from pursuit of the fugitives. So complete and so sudden was
the victory, that it was found impossible to account for it, save on the
ground of miraculous interposition. Like Joshua, in the vale of Ajalon,
Don Ferdinand was supposed to have commanded the sun to stand still for a
season, and to have been obeyed. Otherwise, how could the passage of the
river, which was only concluded at six in the evening, and the complete
overthrow of the Protestant forces, have all been accomplished within the
narrow space of an April twilight? The reply of the Duke to Henry the
Second of France, who questioned him subsequently upon the subject, is
well known. "Your Majesty, I was too much occupied that evening with
what was taking place on the earth beneath, to pay much heed to the
evolutions of the heavenly bodies." Spared as he had been by his good
fortune from taking any part in the Algerine expedition, or in witnessing
the ignominious retreat from Innspruck, he was obliged to submit to the
intercalation of the disastrous siege of Metz in the long history of his
successes. Doing the duty of a field-marshal and a sentinel, supporting
his army by his firmness and his discipline when nothing else could have
supported them, he was at last enabled, after half the hundred thousand
men with whom Charles had begun the siege had been sacrificed, to induce
his imperial master to raise the siege before the remaining fifty
thousand had been frozen or starved to death.
The culminating career of Alva seemed to have closed in the mist which
gathered around the setting star of the empire. Having accompanied
Philip to England in 1554, on his matrimonial-expedition, he was destined
in the following years, as viceroy and generalissimo of Italy, to be
placed in a series of false positions. A great captain engaged in a
little war, the champion of the cross in arms against the successor of
St. Peter, he had extricated himself, at last, with his usual adroitness,
but with very little glory. To him had been allotted the mortification,
to another the triumph. The lustre of his own name seemed to sink in the
ocean while that of a hated rival, with new spangled ore, suddenly
"flamed in the forehead of the morning sky." While he had been paltering
with a dotard, whom he was forbidden to crush, Egmont had struck down the
chosen troops of France, and conquered her most illustrious commanders.
Here was the unpardonable crime which could only be expiated by the blood
of the victor. Unfortunately for his rival, the time was now approaching
when the long-deferred revenge was to be satisfied.
On the whole, the Duke of Alva was inferior to no general of his age.
As a disciplinarian he was foremost in Spain, perhaps in Europe. A
spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood, and this was, perhaps,
in the eye of humanity, his principal virtue. Time and myself are two,
was a frequent observation of Philip, and his favorite general considered
the maxim as applicable to war as to politics. Such were his qualities
as a military commander. As a statesman, he had neither experience nor
talent. As a man his character was simple. He did not combine a great
variety of vices, but those which he had were colossal, and he possessed
no virtues. He was neither lustful nor intemperate, but his professed
eulogists admitted his enormous avarice, while the world has agreed that
such an amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient vindictiveness and
universal bloodthirstiness, were never found in a savage beast of the
forest, and but rarely in a human bosom. His history was now to show
that his previous thrift of human life was not derived from any love of
his kind. Personally he was stern and overbearing. As difficult of
access as Philip himself, he was even more haughty to those who were
admitted to his presence. He addressed every one with the depreciating
second person plural. Possessing the right of being covered in the
presence of the Spanish monarch, he had been with difficulty brought to
renounce it before the German Emperor. He was of an illustrious family;
but his territorial possessions were not extensive. His duchy was a
small one, furnishing him with not more than fourteen thousand crowns of
annual income, and with four hundred soldiers. He had, however, been a
thrifty financier all his life, never having been without a handsome sum
of ready money at interest. Ten years before his arrival in the
Netherlands, he was supposed to have already increased his income to
forty thousand a year by the proceeds of his investments at Antwerp.
As already intimated, his military character was sometimes profoundly
misunderstood. He was often considered rather a pedantic than a
practical commander, more capable to discourse of battles than to gain
them. Notwithstanding that his long life had been an, almost unbroken
campaign, the ridiculous accusation of timidity was frequently made
against him. A gentleman at the court of the Emperor Charles once
addressed a letter to the Duke with the title of "General of his
Majesty's armies in the Duchy of Milan in time of peace, and major-domo
of the household in the time of war." It was said that the lesson did
the Duke good, but that he rewarded very badly the nobleman who gave it,
having subsequently caused his head to be taken off. In general,
however, Alva manifested a philosophical contempt for the opinions
expressed concerning his military fame, and was especially disdainful
of criticism expressed by his own soldiers. "Recollect," said he, at a
little later period, to Don John of Austria, "that the first foes with
whom one has to contend are one's own troops; with their clamors for an
engagement at this moment, and--their murmurs, about results at another;
with their 'I thought that the battle should be fought;' or, 'it was my,
opinion that the occasion ought not to be lost.' Your highness will have
opportunity enough to display valor, and will never be weak enough to be
conquered by the babble of soldiers."
In person he was tall, thin, erect, with a small head, a long visage,
lean yellow cheek, dark twinkling eyes, a dust complexion, black
bristling hair, and a long sable-silvered beard, descending in two waving
streams upon his breast.
Such being the design, the machinery was well selected. The best man in
Europe to lead the invading force was placed at the head of ten thousand
picked veterans. The privates in this exquisite little army, said the
enthusiastic connoisseur Brantome, who travelled post into Lorraine
expressly to see them on their march, all wore engraved or gilded armor,
and were in every respect equipped like captains. They were the first
who carried muskets, a weapon which very much astonished the Flemings
when it first rattled in their ears. The musketeers, he observed, might
have been mistaken, for princes, with such agreeable and graceful
arrogance did they present themselves. Each was attended by his servant
or esquire, who carried his piece for him, except in battle, and all were
treated with extreme deference by the rest of the army, as if they had
been officers. The four regiments of Lombardy, Sardinia, Sicily, and
Naples, composed a total of not quite nine thousand of the best foot
soldiers in Europe. They were commanded respectively by Don Sancho de
Lodiono, Don Gonzalo de Bracamonte, Julien Romero, and Alfonso de Ulloa,
all distinguished and experienced generals. The cavalry, amounting to
about twelve hundred; was under the command of the natural son of the
Duke, Don Ferdinando de Toledo, Prior of the Knights of St. John.
Chiapin Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, who had served the King in many a
campaign, was appointed Marechal de camp, and Gabriel Cerbelloni was
placed in command of the artillery. On the way the Duke received,
as a present from the Duke of Savoy, the services of the distinguished
engineer, Pacheco, or Paciotti, whose name was to be associated with the
most celebrated citadel of the Netherlands; and whose dreadful fate was
to be contemporaneous with the earliest successes of the liberal party.
With an army thus perfect, on a small scale, in all its departments, and
furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes, as
regularly enrolled, disciplined, and distributed as the cavalry or the
artillery, the Duke embarked upon his momentous enterprise, on the 10th
of May, at Carthagena. Thirty-seven galleys, under command of Prince
Andrea Doria, brought the principal part of the force to Genoa, the Duke
being delayed a few days at Nice by an attack of fever. On the 2d of
June, the army was mustered at Alexandria de Palla, and ordered to
rendezvous again at San Ambrosio at the foot of the Alps. It was then
directed to make its way over Mount Cenis and through Savoy; Burgundy,
and Lorraine, by a regularly arranged triple movement. The second
division was each night to encamp on the spot which had been occupied
upon the previous night by the vanguard, and the rear was to place itself
on the following night in the camp of the corps de bataille. Thus
coiling itself along almost in a single line by slow and serpentine
windings, with a deliberate, deadly, venomous purpose, this army, which
was to be the instrument of Philip's long deferred vengeance, stole
through narrow mountain pass and tangled forest. So close and intricate
were many of the defiles through which the journey led them that, had one
tithe of the treason which they came to punish, ever existed, save in the
diseased imagination of their monarch, not one man would have been left
to tell the tale. Egmont, had he really been the traitor and the
conspirator he was assumed to be, might have easily organized the means
of cutting off the troops before they could have effected their entrance
into the country which they had doomed to destruction. His military
experience, his qualifications for a daring stroke, his great popularity,
and the intense hatred entertained for Alva, would have furnished him
with a sufficient machinery for the purpose.
Twelve days' march carried the army through Burgundy, twelve more through
Lorraine. During the whole of the journey they were closely accompanied
by a force of cavalry and infantry, ordered upon this service by the King
of France, who, for fear of exciting a fresh Huguenot demonstration, had
refused the Spaniards a passage through his dominions. This
reconnoitring army kept pace with them like their shadow, and watched all
their movements. A force of six thousand Swiss, equally alarmed and
uneasy at the progress of the troops, hovered likewise about their
flanks, without, however, offering any impediment to their advance.
Before the middle of August they had reached Thionville, on the Luxemburg
frontier, having on the last day marched a distance of two leagues
through a forest, which seemed expressly arranged to allow a small
defensive force to embarrass and destroy an invading army. No
opposition, however, was attempted, and the Spanish soldiers encamped at
last within the territory of the Netherlands, having accomplished their
adventurous journey in entire safety, and under perfect discipline.
The Duchess had in her secret letters to Philip continued to express her
disapprobation of the enterprise thus committed to Alva, She had bitterly
complained that now when the country had been pacified by her efforts,
another should be sent to reap all the glory, or perhaps to undo all that
she had so painfully and so successfully done. She stated to her
brother, in most unequivocal language, that the name of Alva was odious
enough to make the whole Spanish nation detested in the Netherlands. She
could find no language sufficiently strong to express her surprise that
the King should have decided upon a measure likely to be attended with
such fatal consequences without consulting her on the subject, and in
opposition to what had been her uniform advice. She also wrote
personally to Alva, imploring, commanding, and threatening, but with
equally ill success. The Duke knew too well who was sovereign of the
Netherlands now; his master's sister or himself. As to the effects of
his armed invasion upon the temper of the provinces, he was supremely
indifferent. He came as a conqueror not as a mediator. "I have tamed
people of iron in my day," said he, contemptuously, "shall I not easily
crush these men of butter?"
At Thionville he was, however, officially waited upon by Berlaymont and
Noircarmes, on the part of the Regent. He at this point, moreover, began
to receive deputations from various cities, bidding him a hollow and
trembling welcome, and deprecating his displeasure for any thing in the
past which might seem offensive. To all such embassies he replied in
vague and conventional language; saying, however, to his confidential
attendants: I am here, so much is certain, whether I am welcome or not is
to me a matter of little consequence. At Tirlemont, on the 22d August,
he was met by Count Egmont, who had ridden forth from Brussels to show
him a becoming respect, as the representative of his sovereign, The Count
was accompanied by several other noblemen, and brought to the Duke a
present of several beautiful horses. Alva received him, however, but
coldly, for he was unable at first to adjust the mask to his countenance
as adroitly as was necessary. Behold the greatest of all the heretics,
he observed to his attendants, as soon as the nobleman's presence was
announced, and in a voice loud enough for him to hear.
Even after they had exchanged salutations, he addressed several remarks
to him in a half jesting, half biting tone, saying among other things,
that his countship might have spared him the trouble of making this long
journey in his old age. There were other observations in a similar
strain which might have well aroused the suspicion of any man not
determined, like Egmont, to continue blind and deaf. After a brief
interval, however, Alva seems to have commanded himself. He passed his
arm lovingly over that stately neck, which he had already devoted to the
block, and the Count having resolved beforehand to place himself, if
possible, upon amicable terms with the new Viceroy--the two rode along
side by side in friendly conversation, followed by the regiment of
infantry and three companies of light horse, which belonged to the Duke's
immediate command. Alva, still attended by Egmont, rode soon afterwards
through the Louvain gate into Brussels, where they separated for a
season. Lodgings had been taken for the Duke at the house of a certain
Madame de Jasse, in the neighborhood of Egmont's palace. Leaving here
the principal portion of his attendants, the Captain-General, without
alighting, forthwith proceeded to the palace to pay his respects to the
Duchess of Parma.
For three days the Regent had been deliberating with her council as to
the propriety of declining any visit from the man whose presence she
justly considered a disgrace and an insult to herself. This being the
reward of her eight years' devotion to her brother's commands; to be
superseded by a subject, and one too who came to carry out a policy which
she had urgently deprecated, it could hardly be expected of the Emperor's
daughter that she should graciously submit to the indignity, and receive
her successor with a smiling countenance. In consequence, however, of
the submissive language with which the Duke had addressed her in his
recent communications, offering with true Castilian but empty courtesy,
to place his guards, his army, and himself at her feet, she had consented
to receive his visit with or without his attendants.
On his appearance in the court-yard, a scene of violent altercation and
almost of bloodshed took place between his body-guard and the archers of
the Regent's household, who were at last, with difficulty, persuaded to
allow the mercenaries of the hated Captain-General to pass. Presenting
himself at three o'clock in the afternoon, after these not very
satisfactory preliminaries, in the bedchamber of the Duchess, where it
was her habit to grant confidential audiences, he met, as might easily be
supposed, with a chilling reception: The Duchess, standing motionless in
the centre of the apartment, attended by Berlaymont, the Duke of
Aerachot, and Count Egmont, acknowledged his salutations with calm
severity. Neither she nor any one of her attendants advanced a step to
meet him. The Duke took off his hat, but she, calmly recognizing his
right as a Spanish grandee, insisted upon his remaining covered.
A stiff and formal conversation of half an hour's duration then ensued,
all parties remaining upon their feet. The Duke, although respectful;
found it difficult to conceal his indignation and his haughty sense of
approaching triumph. Margaret was cold, stately, and forbidding,
disguising her rage and her mortification under a veil of imperial pride.
Alva, in a letter to Philip, describing the interview, assured his
Majesty that he had treated the Duchess with as much deference as
he could have shown to the Queen, but it is probable, from other
contemporaneous accounts, that an ill-disguised and even angry arrogance
was at times very visible in his demeanor. The state council had advised
the Duchess against receiving him until he had duly exhibited his powers.
This ceremony had been waived, but upon being questioned by the Duchess
at this interview as to their nature and extent, he is reported to have
coolly answered that he really did not exactly remember, but that he
would look them over, and send her information at his earliest
convenience.
The next day, however, his commission was duly exhibited.
In this document, which bore date 31st January, 1567, Philip appointed
him to be Captain-General "in correspondence with his Majesty's dear
sister of Parma, who was occupied with other matters belonging to the
government," begged the Duchess to co-operate with him and to command
obedience for him, and ordered all the cities of the Netherlands to
receive such garrisons as he should direct.
At the official interview between Alva and Madame de Parma, at which
these powers were produced, the necessary preliminary arrangements were
made regarding the Spanish troops, which were now to be immediately
quartered in the principal cities. The Duke, however, informed the
Regent that as these matters were not within her province, he should take
the liberty of arranging them with the authorities, without troubling her
in the matter, and would inform her of the result of his measures at
their next interview, which was to take place on the 26th August.
Circular letters signed by Philip, which Alva had brought with him, were
now despatched to the different municipal bodies of the country. In
these the cities were severally commanded to accept the garrisons, and to
provide for the armies whose active services the King hoped would not be
required, but which he had sent beforehand to prepare a peaceful entrance
for himself. He enjoined the most absolute obedience to the Duke of Alva
until his own arrival, which was to be almost immediate. These letters
were dated at Madrid on the 28th February, and were now accompanied by a
brief official circular, signed by Margaret of Parma, in which she
announced the arrival of her dear cousin of Alva, and demanded
unconditional submission to his authority.
Having thus complied with these demands of external and conventional
propriety, the indignant Duchess unbosomed herself, in her private
Italian letters to her brother, of the rage which had been hitherto
partially suppressed. She reiterated her profound regret that Philip
had not yet accepted the resignation which she had so recently and so
earnestly offered. She disclaimed all jealousy of the supreme powers now
conferred upon Alva, but thought that his Majesty might have allowed her
to leave the country before the Duke arrived with an authority which was
so extraordinary, as well as so humiliating to herself. Her honor might
thus have been saved. She was pained to perceive that she was like to
furnish a perpetual example to all others, who considering the manner in
which she had been treated by the King, would henceforth have but little
inducement to do their duty. At no time, on no occasion, could any
person ever render him such services as hers had been. For nine years
she had enjoyed not a moment of repose. If the King had shown her but
little gratitude, she was consoled by the thought that she had satisfied
her God, herself, and the world. She had compromised her health, perhaps
her life, and now that she had pacified the country, now that the King
was more absolute, more powerful than ever before, another was sent to
enjoy the fruit of her labors and her sufferings.
The Duchess made no secret of her indignation at being thus superseded
and as she considered the matter, outraged. She openly avowed her
displeasure. She was at times almost beside herself with rage. There
was universal sympathy with her emotions, for all hated the Duke, and
shuddered at the arrival of the Spaniards. The day of doom for all the
crimes which had ever been committed in the course of ages, seemed now to
have dawned upon the Netherlands. The sword which had so long been
hanging over them, seemed now about to descend. Throughout the
provinces, there was but one feeling of cold and hopeless dismay.
Those who still saw a possibility of effecting their escape from the
fated land, swarmed across the frontier. All foreign merchants deserted
the great marts. The cities became as still as if the plague-banner had
been unfurled on every house-top.
Meantime the Captain-General proceeded methodically with his work.
He distributed his troops through Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and other
principal cities. As a measure of necessity and mark of the last
humiliation, he required the municipalities to transfer their keys to
his keeping. The magistrates of Ghent humbly remonstrated against the
indignity, and Egmont was imprudent enough to make himself the mouth-
piece of their remonstrance, which, it is needless to add, was
unsuccessful. Meantime his own day of reckoning had arrived.
As already observed, the advent of Alva at the head of a foreign army was
the natural consequence of all which had gone before. The delusion of
the royal visit was still maintained, and the affectation of a possible
clemency still displayed, while the monarch sat quietly in his cabinet
without a remote intention of leaving Spain, and while the messengers of
his accumulated and long-concealed wrath were already descending upon
their prey. It was the deliberate intention of Philip, when the Duke
was despatched to the Netherlands, that all the leaders of the anti-
inquisition party, and all who had, at any time or in any way, implicated
themselves in opposition to the government, or in censure of its
proceedings, should be put to death. It was determined that the
provinces should be subjugated to the absolute domination of the council
of Spain, a small body of foreigners sitting at the other end of Europe,
a junta in which Netherlanders were to have no voice and exercise no
influence. The despotic government of the Spanish and Italian
possessions was to be extended to these Flemish territories, which were
thus to be converted into the helpless dependencies of a foreign and an
absolute crown. There was to be a re-organization of the inquisition,
upon the same footing claimed for it before the outbreak of the troubles,
together with a re-enactment and vigorous enforcement of the famous
edicts against heresy.
Such was the scheme recommended by Granvelle and Espinosa, and to be
executed by Alva. As part and parcel of this plan, it was also arranged
at secret meetings at the house of Espinosa, before the departure of the
Duke, that all the seigniors against whom the Duchess Margaret had made
so many complaints, especially the Prince of Orange, with the Counts
Egmont, Horn, and Hoogstraaten, should be immediately arrested and
brought to chastisement. The Marquis Berghen and the Baron Montigny,
being already in Spain, could be dealt with at pleasure. It was also
decided that the gentlemen implicated in the confederacy or compromise,
should at once be proceeded against for high treason, without any regard
to the promise of pardon granted by the Duchess.
The general features of the great project having been thus mapped out,
a few indispensable preliminaries were at once executed. In order that
Egmont, Horn, and other distinguished victims might not take alarm, and
thus escape the doom deliberately arranged for them, royal assurances
were despatched to the Netherlands, cheering their despondency and
dispelling their doubts. With his own hand Philip wrote the letter, full
of affection and confidence, to Egmont, to which allusion has already
been made. He wrote it after Alva had left Madrid upon his mission of
vengeance. The same stealthy measures were pursued with regard to
others. The Prince of Orange was not capable of falling into the royal
trap, however cautiously baited. Unfortunately he could not communicate
his wisdom to his friends.
It is difficult to comprehend so very sanguine a temperament as that to
which Egmont owed his destruction. It was not the Prince of Orange alone
who had prophesied his doom. Warnings had come to the Count from every
quarter, and they were now frequently repeated. Certainly he was not
without anxiety, but he had made his decision; determined to believe
in the royal word, and in the royal gratitude for his services rendered,
not only against Montmorency and De Thermes, but against the heretics of
Flanders. He was, however, much changed. He had grown prematurely old.
At forty-six years his hair was white, and he never slept without pistols
under his pillow. Nevertheless he affected, and sometimes felt, a light-
heartedness which surprised all around him. The Portuguese gentleman
Robles, Seigneur de Billy, who had returned early in the summer from
Spain; whither he had been sent upon a confidential mission by Madame de
Parma, is said to have made repeated communications to Egmont as to the
dangerous position in which he stood. Immediately after his arrival in
Brussels he had visited the Count, then confined to his house by an
injury caused by the fall of his horse. "Take care to get well very
fast," said De Billy, "for there are very bad stories told about you in
Spain." Egmont laughed heartily at the observation, as if, nothing could
well be more absurd than such a warning. His friend--for De Billy is
said to have felt a real attachment to the Count--persisted in his
prophecies, telling him that "birds in the field sang much more sweetly
than those in cages," and that he would do well to abandon the country
before the arrival of Alva.
These warnings were repeated almost daily by the same gentleman, and
by others, who were more and more astonished at Egmont's infatuation.
Nevertheless, he had disregarded their admonitions, and had gone forth
to meet the Duke at Tirlemont. Even then he might have seen, in the
coldness of his first reception, and in the disrespectful manner of the
Spanish soldiers, who not only did not at first salute him, but who
murmured audibly that he was a Lutheran and traitor, that he was not so
great a favorite with the government at Madrid as he desired to be.
After the first few moments, however, Alva's manner had changed, while
Chiappin Vitelli, Gabriel de Serbelloni, and other principal officers,
received the Count with great courtesy, even upon his first appearance.
The grand prior, Ferdinando de Toledo, natural son of the Duke, and
already a distinguished soldier, seems to have felt a warm and unaffected
friendship for Egmont, whose brilliant exploits in the field had excited
his youthful admiration, and of whose destruction he was, nevertheless,
compelled to be the unwilling instrument. For a few days, accordingly,
after the arrival of the new Governor-General all seemed to be going
smoothly. The grand prior and Egmont became exceedingly intimate,
passing their time together in banquets, masquerades, and play, as
joyously as if the merry days which had succeeded the treaty of Cateau
Cambreais were returned. The Duke, too, manifested the most friendly
dispositions, taking care to send him large presents of Spanish and
Italian fruits, received frequently by the government couriers.
Lapped in this fatal security, Egmont not only forgot his fears, but
unfortunately succeeded in inspiring Count Horn with a portion of his
confidence. That gentleman had still remained in his solitary mansion
at Weert, notwithstanding the artful means which had been used to lure
him from that "desert." It is singular that the very same person who,
according to a well-informed Catholic contemporary, had been most eager
to warn Egmont of his danger, had also been the foremost instrument for
effecting the capture of the Admiral. The Seigneur de Billy, on the day
after his arrival from Madrid, had written to Horn, telling him that the
King was highly pleased with his services and character. De Billy also
stated that he had been commissioned by Philip to express distinctly the
royal gratitude for the Count's conduct, adding that his Majesty was
about to visit the Netherlands in August, and would probably be preceded
or accompanied by Baron Montigny.
Alva and his son Don Ferdinando had soon afterwards addressed letters
from Gerverbiller (dated 26th and 27th July) to Count Horn, filled with
expressions of friendship and confidence. The Admiral, who had sent one
of his gentlemen to greet the Duke, now responded from Weert that he was
very sensible of the kindness manifested towards him, but that for
reasons which his secretary Alonzo de la Loo would more fully
communicate, he must for the present beg to be excused from a personal
visit to Brussels. The secretary was received by Alva with extreme
courtesy. The Duke expressed infinite pain that the King had not yet
rewarded Count Horn's services according to their merit, said that a year
before he had told his brother Montigny how very much he was the
Admiral's friend, and begged La Loo to tell his master that he should not
doubt the royal generosity and gratitude. The governor added, that if he
could see the Count in person he could tell him things which would please
him, and which would prove that he had not been forgotten by his friends.
La Loo had afterward a long conversation with the Duke's secretary
Albornoz, who assured him that his master had the greatest affection for
Count Horn, and that since his affairs were so much embarrassed, he might
easily be provided with the post of governor at Milan, or viceroy of
Naples, about to become vacant. The secretary added, that the Duke was
much hurt at receiving no visits from many distinguished nobles whose
faithful friend and servant he was, and that Count Horn ought to visit
Brussels, if not to treat of great affairs, at least to visit the
Captain-General as a friend. "After all this," said honest Alonzo,
"I am going immediately to Weert, to urge his lordship to yield to the
Duke's desires."
This scientific manoeuvring, joined to the urgent representations of
Egmont, at last produced its effect. The Admiral left his retirement at
Weert to fall into the pit which his enemies had been so skilfully
preparing at Brussels. On the night of the 8th September, Egmont
received another most significative and mysterious warning. A Spaniard,
apparently an officer of rank, came secretly into his house, and urged
him solemnly to effect his escape before the morrow. The Countess, who
related the story afterwards, always believed, without being certain,
that the mysterious visitor was Julian Romero, marechal de camp. Egmont,
however, continued as blindly confident as before.
On the following day, September 9th, the grand prior, Don Ferdinando,
gave a magnificent dinner, to which Egmont and Horn, together with
Noircarmes, the Viscount of Ghent, and many other noblemen were invited.
The banquet was enlivened by the music of Alva's own military band,
which the Duke sent to entertain the company. At three o'clock he sent
a message begging the gentlemen, after their dinner should be concluded,
to favor him with their company at his house (the maison de Jassey), as
he wished to consult them concerning the plan of the citadel, which he
proposed erecting at Antwerp.
At this moment, the grand prior who was seated next to Egmont, whispered
in his ear; "Leave this place, Signor Count, instantly; take the fleetest
horse in your stable and make your escape without a moment's delay."
Egmont, much troubled, and remembering the manifold prophecies and
admonitions which he had passed by unheeded, rose from the table and went
into the next room. He was followed by Noircarmes and two other
gentlemen, who had observed his agitation, and were curious as to its
cause. The Count repeated to them the mysterious words just whispered to
him by the grand prior, adding that he was determined to take the advice
without a moment's delay. "Ha! Count," exclaimed Noircarmes, "do not
put lightly such implicit confidence in this stranger who is counselling
you to your destruction. What will the Duke of Alva and all the
Spaniards say of such a precipitate flight? Will they not say that your
Excellency has fled from the consciousness of guilt? Will not your
escape be construed into a confession of high treason."
If these words were really spoken by Noircarmes; and that they were so,
we have the testimony of a Walloon gentleman in constant communication
with Egmont's friends and with the whole Catholic party, they furnish
another proof of the malignant and cruel character of the man. The
advice fixed forever the fate of the vacillating Egmont. He had risen
from table determined to take the advice of a noble-minded Spaniard, who
had adventured his life to save his friend. He now returned in obedience
to the counsel of a fellow-countryman, a Flemish noble, to treat the
well-meant warning with indifference, and to seat himself again at the
last banquet which he was ever to grace with his presence.
At four o'clock, the dinner being finished, Horn and Egmont, accompanied
by the other gentlemen, proceeded to the "Jassy" house, then occupied by
Alva, to take part in the deliberations proposed. They were received by
the Duke with great courtesy. The engineer, Pietro Urbino, soon appeared
and laid upon the table a large parchment containing the plan and
elevation of the citadel to be erected at Antwerp. A warm discussion
upon the subject soon arose, Egmont, Horn, Noircarmes and others,
together with the engineers Urbino and Pacheco, all taking part in the
debate. After a short time, the Duke of Alva left the apartment, on
pretext of a sudden indisposition, leaving the company still warmly
engaged in their argument. The council lasted till near seven in the
evening. As it broke up, Don Sancho d'Avila, captain of the Duke's
guard, requested Egmont to remain for a moment after the rest, as he had
a communication to make to him. After an insignificant remark or two,
the Spanish officer, as soon as the two were alone, requested Egmont to
surrender his sword. The Count, agitated, and notwithstanding every
thing which had gone before, still taken by surprise, scarcely knew what
reply to make. Don Sancho repeated that he had been commissioned to
arrest him, and again demanded his sword. At the same moment the doors
of the adjacent apartment were opened, and Egmont saw himself surrounded
by a company of Spanish musqueteers and halberdmen. Finding himself thus
entrapped, he gave up his sword, saying bitterly, as he did so, that it
had at least rendered some service to the King in times which were past.
He was then conducted to a chamber, in the upper story of the house,
where his temporary prison had been arranged. The windows were
barricaded, the daylight excluded, the whole apartment hung with black.
Here he remained fourteen days (from the 9th to 23d September). During
this period, he was allowed no communication with his friends. His room
was lighted day and night with candles, and he was served in strict
silence by Spanish attendants, and guarded by Spanish soldiers. The
captain of the watch drew his curtain every midnight, and aroused him
from sleep that he might be identified by the relieving officer.
Count Horn was arrested upon the same occasion by Captain Salinas, as he
was proceeding through the court-yard of the house, after the breaking up
of the council. He was confined in another chamber of the mansion, and
met with a precisely similar treatment to that experienced by Egmont.
Upon the 23d September, both were removed under a strong guard to the
castle of Ghent.
On this same day, two other important arrests, included and arranged in
the same program, had been successfully accomplished. Bakkerzeel,
private and confidential secretary of Egmont, and Antony Van Straalen,
the rich and influential burgomaster of Antwerp, were taken almost
simultaneously. At the request of Alva, the burgomaster had been invited
by the Duchess of Parma to repair on business to Brussels. He seemed to
have feared an ambuscade, for as he got into his coach to set forth upon
the journey, he was so muffed in a multiplicity of clothing, that he was
scarcely to be recognized. He was no sooner, however, in the open
country and upon a spot remote from human habitations, than he was
suddenly beset by a band of forty soldiers under command of Don Alberic
Lodron and Don Sancho de Lodrono. These officers had been watching his
movements for many days. The capture of Bakkerzeel was accomplished with
equal adroitness at about the same hour.