“It was about the year 1100 that the commons began to possess the
privilege of regulating their internal affairs: they appointed their
judges and magistrates, and attached to their authority the old custom
of ordering all the citizens to assemble or march when the summons of
the feudal lord sounded the signal for their assemblage or service. By
this means each municipal magistracy had the disposal of a force far
superior to those of the nobles, for the population of the towns
exceeded both in number and discipline the vassals of the seigniorial
lands. And these trained bands of the towns made war in a way very
different from that hitherto practised; for the chivalry of the country,
making the trade of arms a profession for life, the feuds of the
chieftains produced hereditary struggles, almost always slow, and
mutually disastrous. But the townsmen, forced to tear themselves from
every association of home and its manifold endearments, advanced boldly
to the object of the contest; never shrinking from the dangers of war,
from fear of that still greater one to be found in a prolonged struggle.
It is thus that it may be remarked, during the memorable conflicts of
the thirteenth century, that when even the bravest of the knights
advised their counts or dukes to grant or demand a truce, the citizen
militia never knew but one cry—‘To the charge.’”
With such a background of privilege in their history, it is not strange
that the Netherlands should have wished to make terms with Maximilian,
before acknowledging his authority. They stipulated for their rights,
and in a war which broke out in consequence of his attempt, after the
death of Mary, to usurp power, his person was actually seized and
imprisoned at Bruges; nor was he released until all Europe interposed;
and then, only on conditions which, with the perfidy characteristic of
his house, he violated as soon as he was free. “For,” as Mr. Grattan
says, “these kind of compacts were never observed by the princes of
those days, beyond the actual period of their capacity to violate them.
The emperor having entered the Netherlands at the head of 40,000 men,
Maximilian, so supported, soon showed his contempt for the obligations
he had sworn to, and had recourse to force for the extension of his
authority. The valour of the Flemings and the military talents of their
leader, Philip of Cleves, thwarted all his projects, and a new
compromise was entered into. Flanders paid a large subsidy, and held
fast her rights. The German troops were sent into Holland, and employed
for the extinction of the Hoeks; who, as they formed by far the weaker
faction, were now soon destroyed. That province, which had been so long
distracted by its intestine feuds, and which had consequently played but
an insignificant part in the transactions of the Netherlands, now
resumed its place; and acquired thenceforth new honor, till it at length
came to figure in all the importance of historical distinction.”
On obtaining the imperial crown, Maximilian was able to leave the scene
of trouble, and invest Philip I. with the government of the Netherlands.
The latter ensured his quiet possession of the place by renouncing all
pretensions to Friesland, re-establishing commercial relations with
England, whom Maximilian had offended, and taking care to consult the
States-General on his projects of marriage with Joanna of Castile. His
reign was rendered remarkable by the war of Friesland in defence of its
independence against Albert of Saxony, to whom Maximilian had, as
emperor, granted the stadtholdership, as reward for services rendered.
In this war Albert took by assault the town of Leuwaarden, on which
occasion he had all the chief burghers _impaled_. But, fortunately for
the country, he died in 1500, without having succeeded in his projects
of usurpation.
In what spirit Charles V. treated his paternal heritage, may be judged
by his conduct towards Ghent, when it attempted, in 1529, “to vindicate
its rights and privileges against the exactions of his sister Margaret,
whom Maximilian had made Governess of the Netherlands,” after the death
of Philip.