THE PRELUDE TO THE REVOLT
Philip at the time of his accession to the sovereignty of the
Netherlands was already King of Naples and Sicily, and Duke of Milan,
and, by his marriage in 1554 to Mary Tudor, King-consort of England, in
which country he was residing when summoned by his father to assist at
the abdication ceremony at Brussels. A few months later (January 16,
1556) by a further act of abdication on the part of Charles V he became
King of Castile and Aragon. It was a tremendous inheritance, and there
is no reason to doubt that Philip entered upon his task with a deep
sense that he had a mission to fulfil and with a self-sacrificing
determination to spare himself no personal labour in the discharge of
his duties. But though he bore to his father a certain physical
likeness, Philip in character and disposition was almost his antithesis.
Silent, reserved, inaccessible, Philip had none of the restless energy
or the geniality of Charles, and was as slow and undecided in action as
he was bigoted in his opinions and unscrupulous in his determination to
compass his ends. He found himself on his accession to power faced with
many difficulties, for the treasury was not merely empty, it was
burdened with debt. Through lack of means he was compelled to patch up
a temporary peace (February 5, 1556) with the French king at Vaucelles,
and to take steps to reorganise his finances.
One of Philip's first acts was the appointment of Emmanuel Philibert,
Duke of Savoy, to the post vacated by his aunt Mary; but it was a
position, as long as the king remained in the Netherlands, of small
responsibility. Early in 1556 he summoned the States-General to Brussels
and asked for a grant of 1,300,000 florins. The taxes proposed were
disapproved by the principal provinces and eventually refused. Philip
was very much annoyed, but was compelled to modify his proposals and
accept what was offered by the delegates. There was indeed from the very
outset no love lost between the new ruler and his Netherland subjects.
Philip had spent nearly all his life in Spain, where he had received
his education and early training, and he had grown up to manhood, in the
narrowest sense of the word, a Spaniard. He was as unfamiliar with the
laws, customs and privileges of the several provinces of his Netherland
dominions as he was with the language of their peoples. He spoke and
wrote only Castilian correctly, and during his four years' residence at
Brussels he remained coldly and haughtily aloof, a foreigner and alien
in a land where he never felt at home. Philip at the beginning of his
reign honestly endeavoured to follow in his father's steps and to carry
out his policy; but acts, which the great emperor with his conciliatory
address and Flemish sympathies could venture upon with impunity, became
suspect and questionable when attempted by the son. Philip made the
great mistake of taking into his private confidence only foreign
advisers, chief among whom was Anthony Perrenot de Granvelle, Bishop of
Arras, a Burgundian by birth, the son of Nicholas Perrenot, who for
thirty years had been the trusted counsellor of Charles V.
The opening of Philip's reign was marked by signal military successes.
War broke out afresh with France, after a brief truce, in 1557. The
French arms however sustained two crushing reverses at St Quentin,
August 10, 1557, and at Gravelines, July 13, 1558. Lamoral, Count of
Egmont, who commanded the cavalry, was the chief agent in winning these
victories. By the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis peace was concluded, in
which the French made many concessions, but were allowed to retain, at
the cost of Philip's ally, the town of Calais which had been captured
from the English by a surprise attack in 1558. By the death of Queen
Mary, which was said to have been hastened by the news of the loss of
Calais, Philip's relations with England were entirely changed, and one
of the reasons for a continuance of his residence in the Netherlands was
removed. Peace with France therefore was no sooner assured than Philip
determined to return to Spain, where his presence was required. He chose
his half-sister Margaret, Duchess of Parma, to be regent in place of the
Duke of Savoy. In July he summoned the Chapter of the Order of the
Golden Fleece--destined to be the last that was ever held--to Ghent in
order to announce his intended departure. A little later the
States-General were called together, also at Ghent, for a solemn
leave-taking. On August 26, Philip embarked at Flushing, and quitted the
Netherlands, never again to return.
Philip's choice of Margaret as governess-general was a happy one. She
was a natural daughter of Charles V. Her mother was a Fleming, and she
had been brought up under the care of her aunts, Margaret of Austria and
Mary of Hungary. She resembled those able rulers in being a woman of
strong character and statesmanlike qualities, and no doubt she would
have been as successful in her administration had she had the same
opportunities and the same freedom of action as her predecessors.
Philip, however, though henceforth he passed the whole of his life in
Spain, had no intention of loosening in any way his grasp of the reins
of power or of delegating any share of his sovereign authority. On his
return to Madrid he showed plainly that he meant to treat the Netherland
provinces as if they were dependencies of the Spanish crown, and he
required from Margaret and her advisers that all the details of policy,
legislation and administration should be submitted to him for
supervision and sanction. This necessitated the writing of voluminous
despatches and entailed with a man of his habits of indecision
interminable delays. Margaret moreover was instructed that in all
matters she must be guided by the advice of her three councils. By far
the most important of the three was the Council Of State, which at this
time consisted of five members--Anthony Granvelle, Bishop of Arras;
Baron de Barlaymont; Viglius van Zwychem van Aytta; Lamoral, Count of
Egmont; and William, Prince of Orange. Barlaymont was likewise
president of the Council of Finance and Viglius president of the Privy
Council. By far the most important member of the Council of State, as he
was much the ablest, was the Bishop of Arras; and he, with Barlaymont
and Viglius, formed an inner confidential council from whom alone the
regent asked advice. The members of this inner council, nicknamed the
_Consulta_, were all devoted to the interests of Philip. Egmont and
Orange, because of their great influence and popularity with the people,
were allowed to be nominally Councillors of State, but they were rarely
consulted and were practically shut out from confidential access to the
regent. It is no wonder that both were discontented with their position
and soon showed openly their dissatisfaction.
Egmont, a man of showy rather than of solid qualities, held in 1559 the
important posts of Stadholder of Flanders and Artois. The Prince of
Orange was the eldest of the five sons of William, Count of
Nassau-Dillenburg, head of the younger or German branch of the famous
house of Nassau. Members of the elder or Netherland branch had for
several generations rendered distinguished services to their Burgundian
and Habsburg sovereigns. This elder branch became extinct in the person
of Réné, the son of Henry of Nassau, one of Charles V's most trusted
friends and advisers, by Claude, sister of Philibert, Prince of
Orange-Châlons. Philibert being childless bequeathed his small
principality to Réné; and Réné in his turn, being killed at the siege of
St Dizier in 1544, left by will all his possessions to his cousin
William, who thus became Prince of Orange. His parents were Lutherans,
but Charles insisted that William, at that time eleven years of age,
should be brought up as a Catholic at the Court of Mary of Hungary. Here
he became a great favourite of the emperor, who in 1550 conferred on him
the hand of a great heiress, Anne of Egmont, only child of the Count of
Buren. Anne died in 1558, leaving two children, a son, Philip William,
and a daughter. At the ceremony of the abdication in 1555, Charles
entered the hall leaning on the shoulder of William, on whom, despite
his youth, he had already bestowed an important command. Philip likewise
specially recognised William's ability and gave evidence of his
confidence in him by appointing him one of the plenipotentiaries to
conclude with France the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559. He had also
made him a Knight of the Golden Fleece, a Councillor of State and
Stadholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Burgundy (Franche-Comté).
Nevertheless there arose between Philip and Orange a growing feeling of
distrust and dislike, with the result that William speedily found
himself at the head of a patriotic opposition to any attempts of the
Spanish king to govern the Netherlands by Spanish methods. The presence
of a large body of Spanish troops in the country aroused the suspicion
that Philip intended to use them, if necessary, to support him in
overriding by force the liberties and privileges of the provinces. It
was largely owing to the influence of Orange that the States-General in
1559 refused to vote the grant of supplies for which Philip had asked,
unless he promised that all foreign troops should be withdrawn from the
Netherlands. The king was much incensed at such a humiliating rebuff and
is reported, when on the point of embarking at Flushing, to have charged
William with being the man who had instigated the States thus to thwart
him.
Thus, when Margaret of Parma entered upon her duties as regent, she
found that there was a feeling of deep dissatisfaction and general
irritation in the provinces; and this was accentuated as soon as it was
found that, though Philip had departed, his policy remained. The spirit
of the absent king from his distant cabinet in Madrid brooded, as it
were, over the land. It was soon seen that Margaret, whatever her
statesmanlike qualities or natural inclination might be, had no real
authority, nor was she permitted to take any steps or to initiate any
policy without the advice and approval of the three confidential
councillors placed at her side by Philip--Granvelle, Viglius and
Barlaymont. Of these Granvelle, both by reason of his conspicuous
abilities and of his being admitted more freely than anyone else into
the inner counsels of a sovereign, as secretive in his methods as he was
suspicious and distrustful of his agents, held the foremost position and
drew upon himself the odium of a policy with which, though it was
dictated from Spain, his name was identified.
Orange and Egmont, with whom were joined a number of other leading
nobles (among these Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, his brother
the lord of Montigny, the Counts of Meghem and Hoogstraeten and the
Marquis of Berghen), little by little adopted an attitude of increasing
hostility to this policy, which they regarded as anti-national and
tending to the establishment of a foreign despotism in the Netherlands.
The continued presence of the Spanish troops, the severe measures that
were being taken for the suppression of heresy, and a proposal for the
erection of a number of new bishoprics, aroused popular discontent and
suspicion. Orange and Egmont, finding that they were never consulted
except on matters of routine, wrote to Philip (July, 1561) stating that
they found that their attendance at the meetings of the Council of State
was useless and asked to be allowed to resign their posts. Meanwhile,
feeling that the presence of the Spanish troops was a source of weakness
rather than of strength, Margaret and Granvelle were urging upon the
king the necessity of their withdrawal. Neither the nobles nor the
regent succeeded in obtaining any satisfactory response. Orange and
Egmont accordingly absented themselves from the Council, and Margaret
ventured on her own authority to send away the Spanish regiments.
The question of the bishoprics was more serious. It was not a new
question. The episcopal organisation in the Netherlands was admittedly
inadequate. It had long been the intention of Charles V to create a
number of new sees, but in his crowded life he had never found the
opportunity of carrying out the proposed scheme, and it was one of the
legacies that at his abdication he handed on to his son. One of the
first steps taken by Philip was to obtain a Bull from Pope Paul IV for
the creation of the new bishoprics, and this Bull was renewed and
confirmed by Pius IV, January, 1560. Up to this time the entire area of
the seventeen provinces had been divided into three unwieldy
dioceses--Utrecht, Arras and Tournay. The See of Utrecht comprised
nearly the whole of the modern kingdom of the Netherlands. Nor was there
any archiepiscopal see. The metropolitical jurisdiction was exercised by
the three foreign Archbishops of Cologne, Rheims and Treves. Philip now
divided the land into fourteen dioceses (Charles had proposed six) with
three Metropolitans at Mechlin, Utrecht and 'sHertogenbosch[3].
Granvelle, who had obtained the Cardinal's hat, February, 1561, was
appointed Archbishop of Mechlin, and by virtue of this office Primate of
the Netherlands, December, 1561. This new organisation was not carried
out without arousing widespread opposition.
The existing bishops resented the diminution of their jurisdiction and
dignity, and still louder were the protests of the abbots, whose
endowments were appropriated to furnish the incomes of the new sees.
Still more formidable was the hostility of the people generally, a
hostility founded on fear, for the introduction of so many new bishops
nominated by the king was looked upon as being the first step to prepare
the way for the bringing in of the dreaded Spanish Inquisition. Already
the edicts against heretics, which Charles V had enacted and severely
enforced, were being carried out throughout the length and breadth of
the land with increasing and merciless barbarity. Both papal and
episcopal inquisitors were active in the work of persecution, and so
many were the sentences that in many places the civil authorities, and
even some of the stadholders, declined to carry out the executions.
Public opinion looked upon Granvelle as the author of the new bishoprics
scheme and the instigator of the increased activity of the persecutors.
He was accused of being eager to take any measures to repress the
ancient liberties of the Netherland provinces and to establish a
centralised system of absolute rule, in order to ingratiate himself with
the king and so to secure his own advancement. That the cardinal was
ambitious of power there can be no question. But to men of Granvelle's
great abilities, as administrator and statesman, ambition is not
necessarily a fault; and access to the secret records and correspondence
of the time has revealed that the part played by him was far from being
so sinister as was believed. The Bishop of Arras was not consulted about
the bishoprics proposal until after the Papal Bull had been secured, and
at first he was unfavourable to it and was not anxious to become
archbishop and primate. It was his advice which led Margaret to send
away the hated Spanish regiments from Netherland soil; and, far from
being naturally a relentless persecutor, there is proof that neither he
nor the president of the Privy Council, the jurist Viglius, believed in
the policy of harsh and brutal methods for stamping out heretical
opinions. They had in this as in other matters to obey their master, and
allow the odium to fall upon themselves.
To Orange and Egmont, the two leaders of the opposition to Granvelle, a
third name, that of Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn and Admiral of
Flanders, has now to be added. These three worked together for the
overthrow of the Cardinal, but their opposition at this time was based
rather on political than on religious grounds. They all professed the
Catholic faith, but the marriage of Orange in August, 1561, with a
Lutheran, Anne daughter of Maurice of Saxony and granddaughter of
Philip of Hesse, was ominous of coming change in William's religious
opinions. In 1562 the discontent of the nobles led to the formation of a
league against the cardinal, of which, in addition to the three leaders,
the Counts of Brederode, Mansfeld and Hoogstraeten were the principal
members. This league, of which Orange was the brain and moving spirit,
had as its chief aim the removal of Granvelle from office, and then
redress of grievances. It found widespread support. The cardinal was
assailed by a torrent of lampoons and pasquinades of the bitterest
description. But, though Margaret began to see that the unpopularity of
the minister was undermining her position, and was rendering for her the
task of government more and more difficult, Philip was obdurate and
closed his ears. The long distance between Madrid and Brussels and the
procrastinating habits of the Spanish king added immensely to the
regent's perplexities. She could not act on her own initiative, and her
appeals to Philip were either disregarded or after long delay met by
evasive replies.
The discontented nobles in vain tried to obtain redress for their
grievances. In the autumn of 1562 Montigny was sent on a special mission
to Madrid, but returned without effecting anything. Orange, Egmont and
Hoorn thereupon drew up a joint letter containing a bold demand for the
dismissal of Granvelle, as the chief cause of all the troubles in the
land. The king replied by asking that one of them should go in person to
Spain to discuss the grievances with him, and suggesting that Egmont
should be sent. Egmont however was averse to the proposal, and another
and stronger letter signed by the three leaders was despatched to
Madrid. Finding that both Margaret and Granvelle himself were in
agreement with Orange, Egmont and Hoorn in their view of the situation,
Margaret advising, with the cardinal's acquiescence, the necessity of
the minister's removal from his post, Philip determined at last that
Granvelle should leave the Netherlands. But in accordance with the
counsel of Alva, who was opposed on principle to any concession, he
characteristically employed circuitous and clandestine means to conceal
from the world any appearance of yielding to the request of his
subjects. In January, 1564 he sent a letter to the Duchess of Parma
expressing his displeasure at the lords' letter, and saying that they
must substantiate their complaints. The same messenger (Armenteros, the
duchess' secretary) carried another letter for Granvelle headed
"secret," in which the cardinal was told that "owing to the strong
feeling that had been aroused against him, he was to ask permission from
the regent to go away for a short time to visit his mother." About a
week after these letters had reached their destination another courier
brought a reply to the three nobles, which, though written on the same
day as the others, bore a date three weeks later, in which they were
bidden to take their places again in the Council of State, and a promise
was given that the charges against Granvelle after substantiation should
be maturely considered. This letter was delivered on March 1, after
Granvelle had already, in obedience to the king's orders, asked for
leave of absence to visit his mother in Franche-Comté. The cardinal
actually left Brussels on March 13, to the great joy of every class of
the people, never to return.
With the departure of Granvelle, the nobles once more took their seats
on the Council of State. The _Consulta_ disappeared, and the regent
herself appeared to be relieved and to welcome the disappearance of the
man whose authority had overshadowed her own. But the change, though it
placed large powers of administration and of patronage in the hands of
Netherlanders instead of foreigners, did not by any means introduce
purer methods of government. Many of the nobles were heavily in debt;
most of them were self-seeking; offices and emoluments were eagerly
sought for, and were even put up for sale. Armenteros, Margaret's
private secretary (to whom the nickname of _Argenteros_ was given), was
the leading spirit in this disgraceful traffic, and enriched himself by
the acceptance of bribes for the nomination to preferments. It was an
unedifying state of things; and public opinion was not long in
expressing its discontent with such an exhibition of widespread venality
and greed. All this was duly reported to Philip by Granvelle, who
continued, in his retirement, to keep himself well informed of all that
was going on.
Meanwhile by the efforts of Orange, Egmont and Hoorn, chiefly of the
former, proposals of reform were being urged for the strengthening of
the powers of the Council of State, for the reorganisation of finance,
and for the more moderate execution of the placards against heresy.
While discussion concerning these matters was in progress, came an order
from Philip (August, 1564) for the enforcing of the decrees of the
recently concluded Council of Trent. This at once aroused protest and
opposition. It was denounced as an infringement of the fundamental
privileges of the provinces. Philip's instructions however were
peremptory. In these circumstances it was resolved by the Council of
State to despatch Egmont on a special mission to Madrid to explain to
the king in person the condition of affairs in the Netherlands. Egmont
having expressed his willingness to go, instructions were drawn up for
him by Viglius. When these were read at a meeting of the council
convened for the purpose, Orange in a long and eloquent speech boldly
expressed his dissent from much that Viglius had written, and wished
that Philip should be plainly told that it was impossible to enforce the
decrees and that the severity of religious persecution must be
moderated. The council determined to revise the instructions on the
lines suggested by Orange, whose words had such an effect upon the
aged Viglius, that he had that very night a stroke of apoplexy, which
proved fatal.
Egmont set out for Spain, January 15, 1565, and on his arrival was
received by Philip with extreme courtesy and graciousness. He was
entertained splendidly; presents were made to him, which, being
considerably in debt, he gladly accepted; but as regards his mission he
was put off with evasions and blandishments, and he returned home with a
reply from the king containing some vague promises of reform in
financial and other matters, but an absolute refusal to modify the
decrees against heresy. Rather would he sacrifice a hundred thousand
lives, if he had them, than concede liberty of worship in any form. For
some months however no attempt was made to carry out active
persecutions; and the regent meanwhile did her utmost to place before
the king urgent reasons for the modification of his policy, owing to the
angry spirit of unrest and suspicion which was arising in the provinces.
She begged Philip to visit the Netherlands and acquaint himself
personally with the difficulties of a situation which, unless her advice
were taken, would rapidly grow worse and pass beyond her control. Philip
however was deaf alike to remonstrance or entreaty. On November 5, 1565,
a royal despatch reached Brussels in which the strictest orders were
renewed for the promulgation throughout the provinces of the decrees of
the Council of Trent and for the execution of the placards against
heretics, while the proposals that had been made for an extension of the
powers of the Council of State and for the summoning of the
States-General were refused. As soon as these fateful decisions were
known, and the Inquisition began to set about its fell work in real
earnest, the popular indignation knew no bounds. A large number of the
magistrates refused to take any part in the cruel persecution that
arose, following the example of Orange, Egmont, Berghen and others of
the stadholders and leading nobles. A strong spirit of opposition to
arbitrary and foreign rule arose and found expression in the action
taken by a large number of the members of the so-called "lesser
nobility." Many of these had come to Brussels, and at a meeting at the
house of the Count of Culemburg the formation of a league to resist
arbitrary rule was proposed. The leaders were Lewis of Nassau, brother
of the Prince of Orange, Nicolas de Harnes, Philip de Marnix, lord of
Sainte Aldegonde, and Henry, Viscount of Brederode. Other meetings
were held, and a document embodying the principles and demands of the
Confederates was drawn up, known as _the Compromise_, which was widely
distributed among the nobles and quickly obtained large and constantly
increasing support. The signatories of the Compromise, while professing
themselves to be faithful and loyal subjects of the king, denounced the
Inquisition in its every form "as being unjust and contrary to all laws
human and divine"; and they pledged themselves to stand by one another
in resisting its introduction into the Netherlands and in preventing the
carrying-out of the placards against heresy, while at the same time
undertaking to maintain the royal authority and public peace in the
land.
At first the great nobles stood aloof, doubtful what course to pursue.
At the instigation of Orange conferences were held, at which, by his
advice, a petition or _Request_, setting forth the grievances and asking
for redress, should be made in writing for presentation to the regent.
The original draft of this document was the work of Lewis of Nassau.
These conferences, however, revealed that there was a considerable
divergence of views among the leading nobles. Egmont and Meghem were
indeed so alarmed at the character of the movement, which seemed to them
to savour of treason, that they separated themselves henceforth from
Orange and Hoorn and openly took the side of the government. The duchess
after some demur agreed to receive the petition. A body of confederates
under the leadership of Brederode and Lewis of Nassau marched to the
palace, where they were received by Margaret in person. The petitioners
asked the regent to send an envoy to Madrid to lay before the king the
state of feeling among his loyal subjects in the Netherlands, praying
him to withdraw the Inquisition and moderate the placards against
heresy, and meanwhile by her own authority to suspend them until the
king's answer had been received. The regent replied that she had no
power to suspend the Inquisition or the placards, but would undertake,
while awaiting the royal reply, to mitigate their operation.
On the last day of their stay at Brussels, April 8, the confederates
under the presidency of Brederode, to the number of about three hundred,
dined together at the Hotel Culemburg. In the course of the meal
Brederode drew the attention of the company now somewhat excited with
wine to a contemptuous phrase attributed by common report to Barlaymont.
Margaret was somewhat perturbed at the formidable numbers of the
deputation, as it entered the palace court, and it was said that
Barlaymont remarked that "these beggars" (_ces gueux_) need cause her no
fear. Brederode declared that he had no objection to the name and was
quite willing to be "a beggar" in the cause of his country and his king.
It was destined to be a name famous in history. Immediately loud cries
arose from the assembled guests, until the great hall echoed with the
shouts of _Vivent les Gueux_. From this date onwards the confederates
were known as "les gueux," and they adopted a coarse grey dress with the
symbols of beggarhood--the wallet and the bowl--worn as the _insignia_
of their league. It was the beginning of a popular movement, which made
rapid headway among all classes. A medal was likewise struck, which bore
on one side the head of the king, on the other two clasped hands with
the inscription--_Fidèles au roy jusques à la besace_.
Thus was the opposition to the tyrannical measures of the government
organising itself in the spring of 1566. It is a great mistake to
suppose that the majority of those who signed "the Compromise" or
presented "the Request" were disloyal to their sovereign or converts to
the reformed faith. Among those who denounced the methods of the
Inquisition and of the Blood Placards were a large number, who without
ceasing to be Catholics, had been disillusioned by the abuses which had
crept into the Roman Church, desired their removal only to a less degree
than the Protestants themselves, and had no sympathy with the terrible
and remorseless persecution on Spanish lines, which sought to crush out
all liberty of thought and all efforts of religious reform by the stake
and the sword of the executioner. Nevertheless this league of the nobles
gave encouragement to the sectaries and was the signal for a great
increase in the number and activity of the Calvinist and Zwinglian
preachers, who flocked into the land from the neighbouring countries.
Such was the boldness of these preachers that, instead of being
contented with secret meetings, they began to hold their conventicles in
the fields or in the outskirts of the towns. Crowds of people thronged
to hear them, and the authority of the magistrates was defied and
flouted. The regent was in despair. Shortly after the presentation of
the Request it was determined by the advice of the council to send
special envoys to lay before the king once more the serious state of
things. The Marquis of Berghen and Baron Montigny consented with some
demur to undertake the mission, but for various reasons they did not
reach Madrid till some two months later. They were received with
apparent courtesy, and after several conferences the king, on July 31,
despatched a letter to Margaret in which he undertook to do away with
the Papal Inquisition and offered to allow such moderation of the
Placards as did not imply any recognition of heretical opinions or any
injury to the Catholic faith. He refused to consent to the meeting of
the States, but he sent letters couched in most friendly terms to Orange
and Egmont appealing to their loyalty and asking them to support the
regent by their advice and influence. These demonstrations of a
conciliatory temper were however mere temporising. He was playing false.
A document is in existence, dated August 9, in which Philip states that
these concessions had been extorted from him against his will and that
he did not regard himself as bound by them, and he informed the Pope
that the abolition of the Papal Inquisition was a mere form of words.
Meanwhile events were moving fast in the Netherlands. The open-air
preachings were attended by thousands; and at Antwerp, which was one of
the chief centres of Calvinism, disorders broke out, and armed conflicts
were feared. Orange himself, as burgrave of Antwerp, at the request of
the duchess visited the town and with the aid of Brederode and Meghem
succeeded in effecting a compromise between the Catholic and Protestant
parties. The latter were allowed to hold their preachings undisturbed,
so long as they met outside and not within the city walls. The regent
in her alarm was even driven to make overtures to the confederates to
assist her in the maintenance of order. There was much parleying, in
which Orange and Egmont took part; and in July an assembly of the
signatories of the Compromise was called together at St Trond in the
district of Liège. Some two thousand were present, presided over by
Lewis of Nassau. It was resolved to send twelve delegates to Margaret to
lay before her the necessity of finding a remedy for the evils which
were afflicting and disturbing the land. They offered to consult with
Orange and Egmont as to the best means by which they could work together
for the country's good, but hinting that, if no redress was given, they
might be forced to look for foreign aid. Indeed this was no empty
threat, for Lewis had already been in communication with the Protestant
leaders both in France and in the Rhinelands, as to the terms on which
they would furnish armed assistance; and Orange was probably not
altogether in ignorance of the fact. The regent was angry at the tone of
the delegates, whom she received on July 26, but in her present
impotence thought it best to dissemble. She promised to give
consideration to the petition, and summoned a meeting of the Knights of
the Golden Fleece to meet at Brussels on August 18, when she would
decide upon her answer. But, when that date arrived, other and more
pressing reasons than the advice of counsellors compelled her to yield
to the confederates a large part of their demands. On August 23 she
agreed, in return for help in the restoration of order, to concede
liberty of preaching, so long as those who assembled did not bear arms
and did not interfere with the Catholic places of worship and religious
services. Further an indemnity was promised to all who had signed the
Compromise.
The reasons which influenced her were, first the receipt, on August 12,
of the conciliatory letter from the king, to which reference has already
been made, in which he consented to a certain measure of toleration; and
secondly a sudden outburst of iconoclastic fury on the part of the
Calvinistic sectaries, which had spread with great rapidity through many
parts of the land. On August 14, at St Omer, Ypres, Courtray,
Valenciennes and Tournay, fanatical mobs entered the churches destroying
and wrecking, desecrating the altars, images, vestments and works of
art, and carrying away the sacred vessels and all that was valuable. On
August 16 and 17 the cathedral of Antwerp was entered by infuriated and
sacrilegious bands armed with axes and hammers, who made havoc and ruin
of the interior of the beautiful church. In Holland and Zeeland similar
excesses were committed. Such conduct aroused a feeling of the deepest
indignation and reprobation in the minds of all right-thinking men, and
alienated utterly those more moderate Catholics who up till now had been
in favour of moderation. Of the great nobles, who had hitherto upheld
the cause of the national liberties and privileges against the
encroachments of a foreign despotism, many now fell away. Among these
were Aremberg, Meghem and Mansfeld. Egmont hesitated. As might have been
expected, the news of the outrages, when it reached Philip's ears,
filled him with rage and grief; and he is reported to have exclaimed,
"It shall cost them dear. I swear it by the soul of my father." From
this time forward he was determined to visit with exemplary punishment
not only the rioters and the Protestant sectaries, but more especially
the great nobles on whose shoulders he laid the whole blame for the
troubles that had arisen.
He was in no hurry to act, and announced that it was his intention to go
to the Netherlands in person and enquire into the alleged grievances. So
he told his councillors and wrote to Margaret. No one seems to have
suspected his deep-laid scheme for allaying the suspicions of his
intended victims until the right moment came for laying his hands upon
them and crushing all opposition by overwhelming force. Orange alone,
who had his paid spies at Madrid, had a presage of what was coming and
took measures of precaution betimes. An intercepted letter from the
Spanish ambassador at Paris to the Regent Margaret, specifically
mentioned Orange, Egmont and Hoorn as deserving of exemplary punishment;
and on October 3 the prince arranged a meeting at Dendermonde to
consider what should be their course of action. In addition to Egmont
and Hoorn, Hoogstraeten and Lewis of Nassau were present. William and
Lewis urged that steps should be taken for preparing armed resistance
should the necessity arise. But neither Egmont nor Hoorn would consent;
they would not be guilty of any act of disloyalty to their sovereign.
The result of the meeting was a great disappointment to Orange, and this
date marked a turning-point in his life. In concert with his brothers,
John and Lewis, he began to enter into negotiations with several of the
German Protestant princes for the formation of a league for the
protection of the adherents of the reformed faith in the Netherlands.
Now for the first time he severed his nominal allegiance to the Roman
Church, and in a letter to Philip of Hesse avowed himself a Lutheran.
During these same autumn months Philip furnished his sister with
considerable sums of money for the levying of a strong mercenary force,
German and Walloon. Possessed now of a body of troops that she could
trust, Margaret in the spring of 1567 took energetic steps to suppress
all insurrectionary movements and disorders, and did not scruple to
disregard the concessions which had been wrung from her on August 23.
The confederate nobles, satisfied with her promises, had somewhat
prematurely dissolved their league; but one of the most fiery and
zealous among them, John de Marnix, lord of Thoulouse, collected at
Antwerp a body of some 2000 Calvinists and attempted to make himself
master of that city. At Austruweel he was encountered (March 13) by a
Walloon force despatched by Margaret with orders to "exterminate the
heretics." Thoulouse and almost the whole of his following perished in
the fight. In the south at the same time the conventicles were
mercilessly suppressed and the preachers driven into exile.
Margaret now felt herself strong enough to demand that the stadholders
and leading nobles should, on pain of dismissal from their posts, take
an oath "to serve the king and to act for and against whomsoever His
Majesty might order." Egmont took the oath; Hoorn, Hoogstraeten and
Brederode declined to do so and resigned their offices. Orange offered
his resignation, but Margaret was unwilling to accept it and urged him
to discuss the matter first with Egmont and Meghem. The three nobles met
accordingly at Willebroek, April 2. William used his utmost powers of
persuasion in an attempt to convince Egmont that he was courting
destruction. But in vain. He himself was not to be moved from his
decision, and the two friends, who had worked together so long in the
patriot cause, parted, never to meet again. Orange saw that he was no
longer safe in the Netherlands and, on April 22, he set out from Breda
for the residence of his brother John at Dillenburg. Here in exile he
could watch in security the progress of events, and be near at hand
should circumstances again require his intervention in the affairs of
the Netherlands.
Orange did not take this extreme step without adequate cause. At the
very time that he left the Netherlands Philip was taking leave of the
Duke of Alva, whom he was despatching at the head of a veteran force to
carry out without pity or remorse the stern duty of expelling heresy
from the provinces and punishing all those, and especially the leaders,
who had ventured to oppose the arbitrary exercise of the royal
authority. He had for some time been preparing this expedition. He still
kept up the pretence that he was coming in person to enquire into the
alleged grievances, but he never had the slightest intention of quitting
Madrid. Alva sailed from Cartagena (April 27) for Genoa, and proceeded
at once to draw together from the various Spanish garrisons in Italy a
picked body of some 12,000 men. With these he set out in June for his
long march across the Alps and through Burgundy, Lorraine and Luxemburg.
His progress, jealously watched by the French and Swiss, met with no
opposition save for the difficulties of the route. He entered the
Netherlands on August 8, with his army intact. A number of notables,
amongst whom was Egmont, came to meet him on his way to Brussels. He
received them, more particularly Egmont, with every appearance of
graciousness. Alva as yet bore only the title of Captain-General, but
the king had bestowed on him full powers civil and military; and the
Duchess of Parma, though still nominally regent, found herself reduced
to a nonentity. Alva's first step was to place strong Spanish garrisons
in the principal cities, his next to get the leaders who had been marked
for destruction into his power. To effect this he succeeded by fair and
flattering words in securing the presence of both Egmont and Hoorn at
Brussels. Under the pretence of taking part in a consultation they were
(September 9) invited to the duke's residence and on their arrival
suddenly found themselves arrested. At the same time their secretaries
and papers were seized, and Antony van Stralen, the burgomaster of
Antwerp, was placed under arrest. These high-handed actions were the
prelude to a reign of terror; and Margaret, already humiliated by
finding herself superseded, requested her brother to accept her
resignation. On October 6 the office of Governor-General was conferred
upon Alva; and shortly afterwards the duchess left the Netherlands and
returned to Parma.
Alva had now the reins of power in his hand, and with a relentless zeal
and cold-blooded ferocity, which have made his name a by-word, he set
about the accomplishment of the fell task with which his master had
entrusted him. He had to enforce with drastic rigour all the penalties
decreed by the placards against heretics and preachers, and to deal
summarily with all who had taken any part in opposition to the
government. But to attempt to do this by means of the ordinary courts
and magistrates would consume time and lead to many acquittals. Alva
therefore had no sooner thrown off the mask by the sudden and skilfully
planned arrest of Egmont and Hoorn, than he proceeded to erect an
extraordinary tribunal, which had no legal standing except such as the
arbitrary will of the duke conferred upon it. This so-called Council of
Troubles, which speedily acquired in popular usage the name of the
Council of Blood, virtually consisted of Alva himself, who was president
and to whose final decision all cases were referred, and two Spanish
lawyers, his chosen tools and agents, Juan de Vargas and Louis del
Rio. The two royalist nobles, Noircarmes and Barlaymont, and five
Netherland jurists also had seats; but, as only the Spaniards voted, the
others before long ceased to attend the meetings. The proceedings indeed
were, from the legal point of view, a mere travesty of justice. A whole
army of commissioners was let loose upon the land, and informers were
encouraged and rewarded. Multitudes of accused were hauled before the
tribunal and were condemned by batches almost without the form of a
trial. For long hours day by day Vargas and del Rio revelled in their
work of butchery; and in all parts of the Netherlands the executioners
were busy. It was of no use for the accused to appeal to the charters
and privileges of their provinces. All alike were summoned to Brussels;
_non curamus privilegios vestros_ declared Vargas in his ungrammatical
Latin. Hand in hand with the wholesale sentences of death went the
confiscation of property. Vast sums went into the treasury. The whole
land for awhile was terror-stricken. All organised opposition was
crushed, and no one dared to raise his voice in protest.
The Prince of Orange was summoned to appear in person before the council
within six weeks, under pain of perpetual banishment and confiscation of
his estates. He refused to come, and energetically denied that the
council had any jurisdiction over him. The same sentence was passed upon
all the other leaders who had placed themselves out of reach of Alva's
arm--Sainte Aldegonde, Hoogstraeten, Culemburg, Montigny, Lewis of
Nassau and others. Unable to lay hands upon the prince himself, the
governor-general took dastardly advantage of William's indiscretion in
leaving his eldest son at Louvain to pursue his studies at the
university. At the beginning of 1568 Philip William, Count of Buren in
right of his mother, was seized and sent to Madrid to be brought up at
the court of Philip to hate the cause to which his father henceforth
devoted his life. Already indeed, before the abduction of his son,
Orange from his safe retreat at Dillenburg had been exerting himself to
raise troops for the invasion of the Netherlands. He still professed
loyalty to the king and declared that in the king's name he wished to
restore to the provinces those liberties and privileges which Philip
himself had sworn that he would maintain. The difficulty was to find the
large sum of money required for such an enterprise, and it was only by
extraordinary efforts that a sufficient amount was obtained. Part of
the money was collected in Antwerp and various towns of Holland and
Zeeland, the rest subscribed by individuals. John of Nassau pledged his
estates, Orange sold his plate and jewels, and finally a war-chest of
200,000 florins was gathered together. It was proposed to attack the
Netherlands from three directions. From the north Lewis of Nassau was to
lead an army from the Ems into Friesland; Hoogstraeten on the east to
effect an entrance by way of Maestricht; while another force of
Huguenots and refugees in the south was to march into Artois. It was an
almost desperate scheme in the face of veteran troops in a central
position under such a tried commander as Alva. The last-named French
force and that under Hoogstraeten were easily defeated and scattered by
Spanish detachments sent to meet them. Lewis of Nassau was at first more
successful. Entering Groningen at the head of eight or nine thousand
undisciplined troops he was attacked, May 23, in a strong position
behind a morass by a Spanish force under the Count of Aremberg,
Stadholder of Friesland, at Heiligerlee. He gained a complete victory.
Aremberg himself was slain, as was also the younger brother of Lewis,
Adolphus of Nassau. The triumph of the invaders was of short duration.
Alva himself took in hand the task of dealing with the rebels. At the
head of 15,000 troops he drove before him the levies of Nassau to
Jemmingen on the estuary of the Ems, and here with the loss of only
seven men he completely annihilated them. Lewis himself and a few others
alone escaped by throwing themselves into the water and swimming for
their lives.
The action at Heiligerlee, by compelling the governor-general to take
the field, had hastened the fate of Egmont and Hoorn. After their arrest
the two noblemen were kept in solitary confinement in the citadel of
Ghent for several months, while the long list of charges against them
was being examined by the Council of Troubles--in other words by Vargas
and del Rio. These charges they angrily denied; and great efforts were
made on their behalf by the wife of Egmont and the dowager Countess of
Hoorn. Appeals were made to the governor-general and to Philip himself,
either for pardon on the ground of services rendered to the State, or at
least for a trial, as Knights of the Golden Fleece, before the Court of
the Order. The Emperor Maximilian himself pleaded with Philip for
clemency, but without avail. Their doom had been settled in advance, and
the king was inflexible. Alva accordingly determined that they should
be executed before he left Brussels for his campaign in the north. On
June 2, the council, after refusing to hear any further evidence in the
prisoners' favour, pronounced them guilty of high treason; and Alva at
once signed the sentences of death. Egmont and Hoorn the next day were
brought by a strong detachment of troops from Ghent to Brussels and were
confined in a building opposite the town hall, known as the Broodhuis.
On June 5, their heads were struck off upon a scaffold erected in the
great square before their place of confinement. Both of them met their
death with the utmost calmness and courage. The effect of this momentous
stroke of vengeance upon these two patriot leaders, both of them good
Catholics, who had always professed loyalty to their sovereign, and one
of whom, Egmont, had performed distinguished services for his country
and king, was profound. A wave of mingled rage and sorrow swept over the
land. It was not only an act of cruel injustice, but even as an act of
policy a blunder of the first magnitude, which was sure to bring, as it
did bring, retribution in its train.
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