who had so long been investing that town broke out in open mutiny. They
demanded their arrear pay, and when this was not forthcoming they
deposed their officers, elected others, and levied contributions upon
the country just as a band of avowed robbers would do. From Zeeland they
marched into Brabant, where they took possession of the little town of
Herenthals, and after consuming everything there, directed their
devastating course southward to the environs of Brussels. The
inhabitants of the capital were in great alarm, but they prepared for
defence with such spirit that the mutineers did not attack them. They
seized instead the little town of Assche close by, and next the larger
town of Alost. Here they committed frightful atrocities, murdering every
one who resisted them.
On the 26th of July the mutineers were declared outlaws by the Council
of State, but this had no effect upon them, and now the garrisons of
other towns began to join hands with them. Like robber bands, which
indeed they were, they marched about, levying contributions wherever
they chose, and murdering all who opposed them. Their discipline was so
perfect that in every encounter with parties of citizens, however large,
they came off victorious.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
The city of Antwerp, with a population of two hundred thousand souls,
was the commercial metropolis of Europe. It was adorned with beautiful
buildings, among which the cathedral and the townhouse were considered
as rivalling the most stately structures in Christendom. The citadel
built by Alva was an impregnable fortress, and at this time the renowned
Sancho d’Avila was in command of it. He sided with the mutineers, and
became their head, but his troops, who were partly German mercenaries,
were divided in opinion, and one strong regiment remained faithful. Upon
this wealthy and beautiful city the mutineers now cast their eyes. The
Council of State collected as many soldiers as could be obtained, and
five thousand infantry and twelve hundred cavalry, mostly Walloons, were
sent to aid in the defence.
In the morning of Sunday the 4th of November 1576 the Spanish troops
from various quarters arrived at Antwerp, and stormed a barricade which
the citizens had hastily thrown up. The Walloons, who had been sent to
aid in the defence, fled almost without attempting to resist, and upon
the citizens and the faithful German regiment devolved the almost
impossible task of protecting the city. They fought splendidly, but
could not hold their ground. Driven from the streets they took refuge in
houses, which were at once set on fire by the Spaniards, and presently a
vast conflagration raged in the fairest part of the city. The
magnificent town house was reduced to bare and blackened walls. When
night fell resistance had ceased, and the Spanish fiends were in
possession of Antwerp. Throughout Monday and Tuesday the work of pillage
was carried on, when those who were suspected of having concealed money
or valuables were tortured till they died or produced the treasure, all
kinds of horrors were perpetrated, Catholic priest and Protestant maid
were treated alike with brutal ferocity, and every restraint was set
aside. In those three days of horrors eight thousand people perished,
property to the value of half a million pounds sterling was destroyed by
fire, and at least as much more was taken possession of by the Spanish
demons. The event was ever afterwards known as the Spanish Fury of
Antwerp. The soldiers of Philippe had obtained their arrears, and
thereafter returned to obedience.
[Sidenote: The Pacification of Ghent.]
The conduct of the mutinous Spanish troops had the effect of drawing the
different provinces together more closely than ever before. By advice of
the prince of Orange, deputies were appointed by a number of the estates
and cities, who met with the representatives of Holland and Zeeland, and
debated upon what had best be done. They soon arrived at a decision, and
on the 8th of November 1576 the important arrangement thereafter known
as the Pacification of Ghent was signed by Holland and Zeeland on one
side, and by the representatives of the provinces of Brabant, Flanders,
Artois, Hainaut, and eight cities, of which Utrecht was one, on the
other. It provided for a close and faithful friendship between them all,
for the expulsion of the Spanish forces from the Netherlands, for an
assemblage of the estates-general of all the provinces as soon as the
foreigners were out of the country, for the suppression of persecution
for religion and the suspension of all edicts relating to this subject,
and for the abstention by Holland and Zeeland of interference with the
Roman Catholic religion in the other fifteen provinces. Throughout the
whole country this arrangement was received with acclamation, and the
seventeen provinces, without in any degree becoming amalgamated into
one, were yet united for the purpose of expelling the foreign troops,
and to that extent were all in rebellion against the king of Spain. The
prince of Orange was the soul of this movement, though he remained only
stadholder of Holland and Zeeland.
Another actor appeared at this time on the scene. This was Don John of
Austria, a natural son of the emperor Charles V, who had been appointed
by Philippe governor-general of the Netherlands. Don John, though still
a young man, had acquired great renown as a commander in war, having
crushed the revolt of the Moors in Granada and destroyed the Turkish
fleet in the famous battle of Lepanto. He arrived at Luxemburg
unattended by troops on the 3rd of November 1576, and learning there
what was taking place in the provinces, he sent to Brussels to demand
hostages for his personal safety before he proceeded farther. He had
been instructed by the king to conciliate the Netherlands, and was at
liberty to make any concessions, provided the absolute authority of the
crown and the exclusive practice of the Roman Catholic worship should be
strictly conformed to.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
By advice of the prince of Orange, the representatives then at Brussels
resolved to demand conditions from Don John before they should
acknowledge him as governor. These were the immediate departure of all
foreign troops from the country, an oath to maintain all the rights and
privileges of the provinces and towns, the appointment of a new council
of state by the estates-general, the right of the estates-general to
meet whenever they chose, and to regulate all affairs, the demolition of
the citadels that had been built to overawe the towns, and the
maintenance of the Pacification of Ghent. A deputation was sent to
Luxemburg with these demands, which were presented to Don John on the
6th of December. No decision was arrived at then, and negotiations were
continued for months thereafter, though the conditions laid down by the
king and those of the estates seemed to be irreconcilable.
Early in January 1577 another document, termed the Union of Brussels,
came into existence. It was a compact to expel the Spaniards immediately
and to uphold the Pacification of Ghent, to maintain the Catholic as the
state religion in the fifteen provinces not under the government of
Orange, to acknowledge the king’s authority as a constitutional
sovereign, and to defend the various charters. This document was
generally signed by people of every class throughout all the provinces
except Luxemburg. It marks another stage in the struggle between
despotism and liberty.
[Sidenote: The Perpetual Edict.]
Towards the close of this month Don John removed from Luxemburg to the
little town of Huy, on the right bank of the Maas, in the province of
Liege, hoping that by placing himself thus chivalrously in the power of
the people he would command their respect. At the same time it must not
be forgotten that there was a party of considerable strength in the
southern provinces, consisting of the nobles and their adherents, who
were as much opposed to popular liberty as Philippe himself was, and
that Don John could rely upon them to support him.
The negotiations were now so far successful that on the 12th of February
1577 an agreement was signed by Don John, and on the 17th of the same
month received the signatures also of the authorities in Brussels. It
ratified the Pacification of Ghent, it required all foreign troops to be
sent out of the country without delay, but the estates-general were to
pay the German soldiers before leaving. All the privileges, charters,
and constitutions of the Netherlands were to be maintained, as was also
the Catholic religion. The estates were to disband the troops in their
service, and Don John was to be received as governor-general immediately
after the departure of the Spanish and Italian soldiers. This agreement
was confirmed by Philippe, and took the name of the Perpetual Edict. It
was not, however, approved by the estates of Holland and Zeeland, nor by
the prince of Orange, who put no confidence in the promises, written or
verbal, of either the king or his representatives.
Don John now moved from Huy to Louvain, near Brussels, and towards the
close of April 1577 the Spanish and Italian troops set out on their
march from the Netherlands to Lombardy. That condition having been
carried out, the governor-general entered Brussels, and on the 3rd of
May took the oaths of office, just six months after his arrival on the
frontier. There were still from ten to fifteen thousand German mercenary
soldiers in the king’s service in the country, and the southern nobles
were at his beck and call, so that the patriotic party soon had cause
for alarm.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
Don John, after a residence of less than two months in Brussels, became
apprehensive for his personal safety, and fled first to Mechlin, and
then to Namur, a town at the confluence of the Sambre and the Maas, not
far from the frontier of France. There was a strong fortress in Namur,
which the governor-general got possession of by stratagem, and in which
he placed a garrison when he went to reside there. He next made an
attempt to get possession of the citadel of Antwerp, but failed, and the
German troops who occupied it fled on the approach of a fleet of the Sea
Beggars and surrendered to the estates.
On the 26th of August the estates addressed a demand to Don John, in
which they called upon him to disband all the troops in his service and
to send the German mercenaries instantly out of the country, to dismiss
every foreigner from office, whether civil or military, and to renounce
his secret alliance with the duke of Guise, the head of the Catholic
League in France. They required him to govern thenceforth only with the
advice and consent of the Council of State, to carry out whatever should
be determined on by a majority of that body, and to regard neither
measures as binding nor despatches as authentic unless decided upon or
drawn up in that Council. This was a demand for parliamentary or what is
now termed responsible government in its widest sense, and the
representative of King Philippe could not agree to it.
The inhabitants of Antwerp now rose in a body and razed to the ground
the side of the citadel which commanded the city, so that it was no
longer a menace to them. The people of Ghent also broke down their
castle, and remodelled the government of that city in a democratic
manner. The estates invited the prince of Orange to visit Brussels and
give them advice, and on the 23rd of September he made his appearance
there.
[Sidenote: Action of Queen Elizabeth.]
Don John now retired from Namur to Luxemburg, and waited in that city
until the king should provide him with an army strong enough to conquer
the country. The estates on their part commenced to levy troops, for
negotiations had quite ceased. On the 7th of December they declared Don
John no longer governor-general, but an enemy of the Netherlands.
The prince of Orange was elected ruward of Brabant, a post which gave
him great power in that province, and his influence was enormous
throughout the whole country. By his advice a new act of union was
signed at Brussels on the 10th of December, by which the adherents of
the Roman Catholic church and the Protestants bound themselves to
respect each other and to protect one another from all enemies whatever.
But this was a step too far in advance of the times to be permanent, for
it was an age of bitter intolerance.
Queen Elizabeth of England, fearing that French influence would prevail
in the Netherlands if she did not aid the struggling country at this
critical time, resolved to give the estates some assistance. On the 7th
of January 1578 she entered into an engagement in London to endorse
their obligations to the extent of one hundred thousand pounds sterling,
and to supply five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry, who
should, however, be paid by them. This was not regarded as making war
against Spain, because at the same time the Catholic League in France
was sending a much greater number of well trained men to assist Don John
of Austria.
While the armies on both sides were gathering, another factor, that
might have caused much confusion, was introduced. A party of nobles, in
order to thwart the prince of Orange, invited the archduke Matthias of
Hapsburg, brother of the emperor, to fill the post of governor-general.
The young man accepted the invitation, and came to the Netherlands, but
the prince of Orange and his adherents managed things so adroitly that
Matthias, though inaugurated as governor-general on the 18th of January
1578, had really no power conferred upon him, and Orange himself as
lieutenant-general retained all authority.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
Both parties had by this time collected considerable forces, Don John at
Luxemburg, the estates at Namur, but the armies were very differently
composed. Philippe had sent several veteran regiments of Spaniards and
Italians, the most highly disciplined troops in the world, commanded by
Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, and to these had been added some
well-trained French battalions, making altogether a compact army of
about twenty thousand men. The army of the estates was equal in number,
but was a motley assemblage of Germans, French, Netherlanders, English,
and Scotch.
On the 31st of January 1578 these forces met at Gemblours, fourteen
kilometres from Namur, and the result was the total annihilation of the
States army, with hardly any loss at all on Don John’s side. Seven or
eight thousand men were killed on the field, six hundred were made
prisoners and were immediately hanged or drowned, and the remainder were
dispersed. All their baggage, ammunition, weapons, and stores of every
kind fell into the hands of the victors, and the patriot cause seemed
doomed to ruin.
A great many small towns in the southern provinces were immediately
occupied by the king’s troops, terrible atrocities being perpetrated
wherever resistance was offered. Brussels, however, the seat of
government, was put in a thorough condition for defence, and the States
set about organising another army as rapidly as possible.
On the other hand, in the north, a great augmentation of the power of
the prince of Orange was taking place. Haarlem had been recovered for
the patriot cause, the province of Utrecht had accepted the prince as
stadholder, and on the 8th of February 1578 the important city of
Amsterdam was gained, so that the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and
Utrecht were wholly animated by the same spirit. Then, on the 11th of
March the estates of Gelderland elected as governor of that province
Count John of Nassau, the only surviving brother of William of Orange,
which was almost equivalent to electing the prince himself. The Reformed
religion was making very rapid progress in Utrecht and Gelderland, but
was not yet as exclusively the faith of the people as in Holland and
Zeeland. In June of this year 1578 the second provincial synod of the
Reformed churches was held at Dordrecht, the first having met at Hoorn
in 1572, a proof how entirely the inquisition had failed to extirpate
freedom of conscience in that part of the country.
[Sidenote: Rivalry between England and France.]
The cord that bound the seventeen provinces together was so weak that it
was liable to snap at any time, and it was therefore rather to foreign
assistance than to their own unaided exertions that the leading men
looked to rescue the land from Spanish tyranny. They had appointed the
emperor’s brother Matthias their governor-general in name, but that had
not brought them the material aid which they needed. A considerable
number of the nobles were now intriguing with the worthless duke of
Anjou, brother of the king of France, leading him to believe that if he
would bring a strong army into the field they would elect him their
sovereign in place of Philippe. Even the prince of Orange favoured this
scheme, and Anjou actually invaded the country and occupied Mons with a
considerable force. The effect was that Queen Elizabeth of England, in
her jealousy of France, gave greater assistance in men and money than
before, and Anjou disbanded his troops and returned to Paris.
Don John was again helpless for want of money. Philippe had sent him
nearly £400,000 from Spain with the troops under Alexander Farnese, and
had promised him more, but the money was expended, and the promise was
unfulfilled. Without the means of procuring the material of war he could
do nothing. Then a pestilence broke out in his main army, and in a few
weeks over a thousand men died. Worn out with care and anxiety, after a
severe attack of illness, on the 1st of October 1578 Don John of Austria
expired in his camp near Namur, after appointing on his deathbed
Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, his successor until the king’s
pleasure should be known. The temporary appointment was confirmed, and
the ablest of all of Philippe’s representatives was free to try what he
could do towards settling the great controversy between despotism and
liberty in the Netherlands.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
Alexander Farnese was the only son of the duke of Parma and Piacenza and
of the regent Margaret, who preceded Alva in the administration. He was
thirty-three years of age, and had been left a widower by the decease of
his wife, a princess of Portugal. He found the country distracted with
religious feuds, in which the Protestants were as violent as the
Catholics. In Ghent the turbulence of a fanatical party was
uncontrollable even by the prince of Orange, and the destruction of
statues and ornaments in the churches was accompanied with such
atrocious treatment of the leading adherents of the ancient faith that
the Walloon provinces of the south, which were ardently Catholic, were
exasperated to the last degree. On the 6th of January 1579 an alliance
between Hainaut, Artois, and Lille with Douai and Orchies was entered
into for the defence and exclusive maintenance of the Catholic church.
The nobles in these provinces were timeservers, and Parma soon found
that they could easily be bribed by offices and money to abandon the
patriot interests. For this purpose Philippe could open his purse
widely, though he neglected to pay his soldiers.
On the 17th of May 1579 the estates of the three provinces above named
signed at Arras a formal treaty of reconciliation with the king of
Spain, and were for ever lost to the Netherlands cause. Several towns
in Brabant and Flanders shortly afterwards followed this example. The
question of religion being settled to Philippe’s satisfaction, they were
allowed to retain their charters subject to the prerogative of the
sovereign.
[Sidenote: The Union of Utrecht.]
On the other hand, on the 23rd of January 1579 the foundation of the
Netherlands Republic was laid by an agreement termed the Union of
Utrecht, which was proclaimed on the 29th of the same month. The union
was a loose one, for it left to each province and each city its own
constitution unaltered, and only provided for a general assembly of
deputies from the estates of the different provinces, in which each
should have the same voting power, no matter how many deputies it should
send. The object was defence against a common foe. It guaranteed to
every man liberty of conscience, but it could not secure liberty of
public worship where passion was running high, it could merely prevent
inquisition whether Catholic or Protestant. It founded a new State, but
the men who concluded it did not realise that this would be the result,
they professed that they still adhered to the agreement with the other
provinces, only making that agreement a little more binding in their own
case. No supreme head was appointed, though Orange was practically in
that position, and Matthias was not deprived of his title of
governor-general, nor was Philippe formally deposed as sovereign of the
provinces outside of Holland and Zeeland. The bishopric of Utrecht now
ceased to exist.
The Union of Utrecht was signed by Count John of Nassau for himself and
as stadholder of Gelderland, by the deputies of Holland, Zeeland, and
Utrecht, by the deputies of the province of Groningen excluding the
capital, by the deputies of Brill and the land of Voorne as a particular
district though united with Holland, and further by a minority of the
deputies of Friesland, the majority objecting to it. It was open to any
other provinces or towns to join the Union, and on the 1st of March
1580 Overyssel gave in its adhesion, but the town of Groningen did not
do so until 1595, and the complete province of Friesland not before
1598. Various nobles subsequently joined the Union, as did also the city
of Ghent on the 4th of February 1579, the city of Antwerp on the 28th of
July 1579, the city of Bruges on the 1st of February 1580, and several
others later. Each city came to be practically an independent unit in
the province in which it was situated, and could therefore make what
alliances it chose. But owing to this circumstance the government of the
Union was exceedingly weak, for no resolutions of the states-general
were binding upon any town whose deputies did not agree to them.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
The provinces Holland, Zeeland, since enlarged by the addition of a
small part of Flanders, the northern part of Gelderland including the
county of Zutphen, Overyssel, Friesland, and Groningen, together with
Drenthe, cover the whole territory of the present kingdom of the
Netherlands except North Brabant and Limburg. Drenthe was a dependency
of the bishopric of Utrecht from 1024 to 1537, when it became a direct
fief to the emperor Charles V. It remained subject to the Spanish
government until 1594, when it was overrun by the States forces, and
thereafter it was a dependency of either Friesland or Groningen until
1813, when it became a separate province of the kingdom of the
Netherlands.
III.
CONTINUATION OF THE WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS UNTIL 1606.
[Sidenote: Continuation of the War.]