government of the provinces and in making the necessary preparations for
his departure. The Duke of Savoy, being restored to his duchy, had, of
course, no more leisure to act as Regent of the Netherlands, and it was
necessary, therefore, to fix upon his successor in this important post,
at once. There were several candidates. The Duchess Christina of
Lorraine had received many half promises of the appointment, which she
was most anxious to secure; the Emperor was even said to desire the
nomination of the Archduke Maximilian, a step which would have certainly
argued more magnanimity upon Philip's part than the world could give him
credit for; and besides these regal personages, the high nobles of the
land, especially Orange and Egmont, had hopes of obtaining the dignity.
The Prince of Orange, however, was too sagacious to deceive himself long,
and became satisfied very soon that no Netherlander was likely to be
selected for Regent. He therefore threw his influence in favor of the
Duchess Christina, whose daughter, at the suggestion of the Bishop of
Arras, he was desirous of obtaining in marriage. The King favored for a
time, or pretended to favor, both the appointment of Madame de Lorraine
and the marriage project of the Prince. Afterwards, however, and in a
manner which was accounted both sudden and mysterious, it appeared that
the Duchess and Orange had both been deceived, and that the King and
Bishop had decided in favor of another candidate, whose claims had not
been considered, before, very prominent. This was the Duchess Margaret
of Parma, natural daughter of Charles the Fifth. A brief sketch of this
important personage, so far as regards her previous career, is reserved
for the following chapter. For the present it is sufficient to state the
fact of the nomination. In order to afford a full view of Philip's
political arrangements before his final departure from the Netherlands,
we defer until the same chapter, an account of the persons who composed
the boards of council organized to assist the new Regent in the
government. These bodies themselves were three in number: a state and
privy council and one of finance. They were not new institutions, having
been originally established by the Emperor, and were now arranged by his
successor upon the same nominal basis upon which they had before existed.
The finance council, which had superintendence of all matters relating to
the royal domains and to the annual budgets of the government, was
presided over by Baron Berlaymont. The privy council, of which Viglius
was president, was composed of ten or twelve learned doctors, and was
especially entrusted with the control of matters relating to law,
pardons, and the general administration of justice. The state council,
which was far the most important of the three boards, was to superintend
all high affairs of government, war, treaties, foreign intercourse,
internal and interprovincial affairs. The members of this council were
the Bishop of Arras, Viglius, Berlaymont, the Prince of Orange, Count
Egmont, to which number were afterwards added the Seigneur de Glayon, the
Duke of Aerschot, and Count Horn. The last-named nobleman, who was
admiral of the provinces, had, for the, present, been appointed to
accompany the King to Spain, there to be specially entrusted with the
administration of affairs relating to the Netherlands. He was destined,
however, to return at the expiration of two years.
With the object, as it was thought, of curbing the power of the great
nobles, it had been arranged that the three councils should be entirely
distinct from each other, that the members of the state council should
have no participation in the affairs of the two other bodies; but, on the
other hand, that the finance and privy councillors, as well as the
Knights of the Fleece, should have access to the deliberations of the
state council. In the course of events, however, it soon became evident
that the real power of the government was exclusively in the hands of the
consulta, a committee of three members of the state council, by whose
deliberations the Regent was secretly instructed to be guided on all
important occasions. The three, Viglius, Berlaymont, and Arras, who
composed the secret conclave or cabinet, were in reality but one. The
Bishop of Arras was in all three, and the three together constituted only
the Bishop of Arras.
There was no especial governor or stadholder appointed for the province
of Brabant, where the Regent was to reside and to exercise executive
functions in person. The stadholders for the other provinces were, for
Flanders and Artois, the Count of Egmont; for Holland, Zeeland, and
Utrecht, the Prince of Orange; for Gueldres and Zutfen, the Count of
Meghen; for Friesland, Groningen and Overyssel, Count Aremberg; for
Hainault, Valenciennes and Cambray, the Marquis of Berghen; for Tournay
and Tournaisis, Baron Montigny; for Namur, Baron Berlaymont; for
Luxemburg, Count Mansfeld; for Ryssel, Douay and Orchies, the Baron
Coureires. All these stadholders were commanders-in-chief of the
military forces in their respective provinces. With the single exception
of Count Egmont, in whose province of Flanders the stadholders were
excluded from the administration of justice,--all were likewise supreme
judges in the civil and criminal tribunal. The military force of the
Netherlands in time of peace was small, for the provinces were jealous of
the presence of soldiery. The only standing army which then legally
existed in the Netherlands were the Bandes d'Ordonnance, a body of
mounted gendarmerie--amounting in all to three thousand men--which ranked
among the most accomplished and best disciplined cavalry of Europe.
They were divided into fourteen squadrons, each under the command of a
stadholder, or of a distinguished noble. Besides these troops, however,
there still remained in the provinces a foreign force amounting in the
aggregate to four thousand men. These soldiers were the remainder of
those large bodies which year after year had been quartered upon the
Netherlands during the constant warfare to which they had been exposed.
Living upon the substance of the country, paid out of its treasury, and
as offensive by their licentious and ribald habits of life as were the
enemies against whom they were enrolled, these troops had become an
intolerable burthen to the people. They were now disposed in different
garrisons, nominally to protect the frontier. As a firm peace, however,
had now been concluded between Spain and France, and as there was no
pretext for compelling the provinces to accept this protection, the
presence of a foreign soldiery strengthened a suspicion that they were
to be used in the onslaught which was preparing against the religious
freedom and the political privileges of the country. They were to be the
nucleus of a larger army, it was believed, by which the land was to be
reduced to a state of servile subjection to Spain. A low, constant, but
generally unheeded murmur of dissatisfaction and distrust upon this
subject was already perceptible throughout the Netherlands; a warning
presage of the coming storm.
All the provinces were now convoked for the 7th of August (1559), at
Ghent, there to receive the parting communication and farewell of the
King. Previously to this day, however, Philip appeared in person upon
several solemn occasions, to impress upon the country the necessity of
attending to the great subject with which his mind was exclusively
occupied. He came before the great council of Mechlin, in order to
address that body with his own lips upon the necessity of supporting the
edicts to the letter, and of trampling out every vestige of heresy,
wherever it should appear, by the immediate immolation of all heretics,
whoever they might be. He likewise caused the estates of Flanders to be
privately assembled, that he might harangue them upon the same great
topic. In the latter part of July he proceeded to Ghent, where a great
concourse of nobles, citizens, and strangers had already assembled.
Here, in the last week of the month, the twenty-third chapter of the
Golden Fleece was held with much pomp, and with festivities which lasted
three days. The fourteen vacancies which existed were filled with the
names of various distinguished personages. With this last celebration
the public history of Philip the Good's ostentatious and ambitious order
of knighthood was closed. The subsequent nominations were made
'ex indultu apostolico', and without the assembling of a chapter.
The estates having duly assembled upon the day prescribed, Philip,
attended by Margaret of Parma, the Duke of Savoy, and a stately retinue
of ambassadors and grandees, made his appearance before them. After the
customary ceremonies had been performed, the Bishop of Arras arose and
delivered, in the name of his sovereign, an elaborate address of
instructions and farewells. In this important harangue, the states were
informed that the King had convened them in order that they might be
informed of his intention of leaving the Netherlands immediately. He
would gladly have remained longer in his beloved provinces, had not
circumstances compelled his departure. His father had come hither for
the good of the country in the year 1543, and had never returned to
Spain, except to die.
Upon the King's accession to the sovereignty he had arranged a truce of
five years, which had been broken through by the faithlessness of France.
He had, therefore, been obliged, notwithstanding his anxiety to return to
a country where his presence was so much needed, to remain in the
provinces till he had conducted the new war to a triumphant close.
In doing this he had been solely governed by his intense love for the
Netherlands, and by his regard for their interests. All the money which
he had raised from their coffers had been spent for their protection.
Upon this account his Majesty expressed his confidence that the estates
would pay an earnest attention to the "Request" which had been laid
before them, the more so, as its amount, three millions of gold florins,
would all be expended for the good of the provinces. After his return to
Spain he hoped to be able to make a remittance. The Duke of Savoy, he
continued, being obliged, in consequence of the fortunate change in his
affairs, to resign the government of the Netherlands, and his own son,
Don Carlos, not yet being sufficiently advanced in years to succeed to
that important post, his Majesty had selected his sister, the Duchess
Margaret of Parma, daughter of the Emperor, as the most proper person for
Regent. As she had been born in the Netherlands, and had always
entertained a profound affection for the provinces, he felt a firm
confidence that she would prove faithful both to their interests and his
own. As at this moment many countries, and particularly the lands in the
immediate neighborhood, were greatly infested by various "new, reprobate,
and damnable sects;" as these sects, proceeding from the foul fiend,
father of discord, had not failed to keep those kingdoms in perpetual
dissension and misery, to the manifest displeasure of God Almighty; as
his Majesty was desirous to avert such terrible evils from his own
realms, according to his duty to the Lord God, who would demand reckoning
from him hereafter for the well-being of the provinces; as all experience
proved that change of religion ever brought desolation and confusion to
the commonweal; as low persons, beggars and vagabonds, under color of
religion, were accustomed to traverse the land for the purpose of plunder
and disturbance; as his Majesty was most desirous of following in the
footsteps of his lord and father; as it would be well remembered what the
Emperor had said to him upon the memorable occasion of his abdication;
therefore his Majesty had commanded the Regent Margaret of Parma, for the
sake of religion and the glory of God, accurately and exactly to cause to
be enforced the edicts and decrees made by his imperial Majesty, and
renewed by his present Majesty, for the extirpation of all sects and
heresies. All governors, councillors, and others having authority, were
also instructed to do their utmost to accomplish this great end.
The great object of the discourse was thus announced in the most
impressive manner, and with all that conventional rhetoric of which the
Bishop of Arras was considered a consummate master. Not a word was said
on the subject which was nearest the hearts of the Netherlanders--the
withdrawal of the Spanish troops.
[Bentivoglio. Guerra di Fiandra, i. 9 (Opere, Parigi, 1648), gives
a different report, which ends with a distinct promise on the part
of the King to dismiss the troops as soon as possible: "--in segno
di the spetialmente havrebbe quanto prima, a fatti uscire i presidij
stranieri dalle fortezze a levata ogn' insolita contributione al
paese." It is almost superfluous to state that the Cardinal is no
authority for speeches, except, indeed, for those which were never
made. Long orations by generals upon the battle-field, by royal
personages in their cabinets, by conspirators in secret conclave,
are reported by him with muck minuteness, and none can gainsay the
accuracy with which these harangues, which never had any existence,
except in the author's imagination, are placed before the reader.
Bentivoglio's stately and graceful style, elegant descriptions, and
general acquaintance with his subject will always make his works
attractive, but the classic and conventional system of inventing
long speeches for historical characters has fortunately gone out of
fashion. It is very interesting to know what an important personage
really did say or write upon remarkable occasions; but it is less
instructive to be told what the historian thinks might have been a
good speech or epistle for him to utter or indito.]
Not a hint was held out that a reduction of the taxation, under which the
provinces had so long been groaning, was likely to take place; but, on
the contrary, the King had demanded a new levy of considerable amount. A
few well-turned paragraphs were added on the subject of the
administration of justice--"without which the republic was a dead body
without a soul"--in the Bishop's most approved style, and the discourse
concluded with a fervent exhortation to the provinces to trample heresy
and heretics out of existence, and with the hope that the Lord God, in
such case, would bestow upon the Netherlands health and happiness.
After the address had been concluded, the deputies, according to ancient
form, requested permission to adjourn, that the representatives of each
province might deliberate among themselves on the point of granting or
withholding the Request for the three millions. On the following day
they again assembled in the presence of the King, for the purpose of
returning their separate answers to the propositions.
The address first read was that of the Estates of Artois. The chairman
of the deputies from that province read a series of resolutions, drawn
up, says a contemporary, "with that elegance which characterized all the
public acts of the Artesians; bearing witness to the vivacity of their
wits." The deputies spoke of the extreme affection which their province
had always borne to his Majesty and to the Emperor. They had proved it
by the constancy with which they had endured the calamities of war so
long, and they now cheerfully consented to the Request, so far as their
contingent went. They were willing to place at his Majesty's disposal,
not only the remains of their property, but even the last drop of their
blood. As the eloquent chairman reached this point in his discourse,
Philip, who was standing with his arm resting upon Egmont's shoulder,
listening eagerly to the Artesian address, looked upon the deputies of
the province with a smiling face, expressing by the unwonted benignity of
his countenance the satisfaction which he received from these loyal
expressions of affection, and this dutiful compliance with his Request.
The deputy, however, proceeded to an unexpected conclusion, by earnestly
entreating his Majesty, as a compensation for the readiness thus evinced
in the royal service, forthwith to order the departure of all foreign
troops then in the Netherlands. Their presence, it was added, was now
rendered completely superfluous by the ratification of the treaty of
peace so fortunately arranged with all the world.
At this sudden change in the deputy's language, the King, no longer
smiling, threw himself violently upon his chair of state, where he
remained, brooding with a gloomy countenance upon the language which had
been addressed to him. It was evident, said an eye-witness, that he was
deeply offended. He changed color frequently, so that all present "could
remark, from the working of his face, how much his mind was agitated."
The rest of the provinces were even more explicit than the deputies of
Artois. All had voted their contingents to the Request, but all had made
the withdrawal of the troops an express antecedent condition to the
payment of their respective quotas.
The King did not affect to conceal his rage at these conditions,
exclaiming bitterly to Count Egmont and other seignors near the throne
that it was very easy to estimate, by these proceedings, the value of
the protestations made by the provinces of their loyalty and affection.
Besides, however, the answers thus addressed by the separate states to
the royal address, a formal remonstrance had also been drawn up in the
name of the States General, and signed by the Prince of Orange, Count
Egmont, and many of the leading patricians of the Netherlands. This
document, which was formally presented to the King before the adjournment
of the assembly, represented the infamous "pillaging, insults, and
disorders" daily exercised by the foreign soldiery; stating that the
burthen had become intolerable, and that the inhabitants of Marienburg,
and of many other large towns and villages had absolutely abandoned their
homes rather than remain any longer exposed to such insolence and
oppression.
The king, already enraged, was furious at the presentation of this
petition. He arose from his seat, and rushed impetuously from the
assembly, demanding of the members as he went, whether he too, as a
Spaniard, was expected immediately to leave the land, and to resign all
authority over it. The Duke of Savoy made use of this last occasion in
which he appeared in public as Regent, violently to rebuke the estates
for the indignity thus offered to their sovereign.
It could not be forgotten, however, by nobles and burghers, who had not
yet been crushed by the long course of oppression which was in store for
them, that there had been a day when Philip's ancestors had been more
humble in their deportment in the face of the provincial authorities.
His great-grandfather, Maximilian, kept in durance by the citizens of
Bruges; his great-grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, with streaming eyes and
dishevelled hair, supplicating in the market-place for the lives of her
treacherous ambassadors, were wont to hold a less imperious language to
the delegates of the states.
This burst of ill temper on the part of the monarch was, however,
succeeded by a different humor. It was still thought advisable to
dissemble, and to return rather an expostulatory than a peremptory answer
to the remonstrance of the States General. Accordingly a paper of a
singular tone was, after the delay of a few days, sent into the assembly.
In this message it was stated that the King was not desirous of placing
strangers in the government--a fact which was proved by the appointment
of the Duchess Margaret; that the Spanish infantry was necessary to
protect the land from invasion; that the remnant of foreign troops only
amounted to three or four thousand men, who claimed considerable arrears
of pay, but that the amount due would be forwarded to them immediately
after his Majesty's return to Spain. It was suggested that the troops
would serve as an escort for Don Carlos when he should arrive in the
Netherlands, although the King would have been glad to carry them to
Spain in his fleet, had he known the wishes of the estates in time.
He would, however, pay for their support himself, although they were
to act solely for the good of the provinces. He observed, moreover,
that he had selected two seignors of the provinces, the Prince of Orange
and Count Egmont, to take command of these foreign troops, and he
promised faithfully that, in the course of three or four months at
furthest, they should all be withdrawn.
On the same day in which the estates had assembled at Ghent, Philip had
addressed an elaborate letter to the grand council of Mechlin, the
supreme court of the provinces, and to the various provincial councils
and tribunals of the whole country. The object of the communication was
to give his final orders on the subject of the edicts, and for the
execution of all heretics in the most universal and summary manner.
He gave stringent and unequivocal instructions that these decrees for
burning, strangling, and burying alive, should be fulfilled to the
letter. He ordered all judicial officers and magistrates "to be curious
to enquire on all sides as to the execution of the placards," stating his
intention that "the utmost rigor should be employed without any respect
of persons," and that not only the transgressors should be proceeded
against, but also the judges who should prove remiss in their prosecution
of heretics. He alluded to a false opinion which had gained currency
that the edicts were only intended against anabaptists. Correcting this
error, he stated that they were to be "enforced against all sectaries,
without any distinction or mercy, who might be spotted merely with the
errors introduced by Luther."
The King, notwithstanding the violent scenes in the assembly, took leave
of the estates at another meeting with apparent cordiality. His
dissatisfaction was sufficiently manifest, but it expressed itself
principally against individuals. His displeasure at the course pursued
by the leading nobles, particularly by the Prince of Orange, was already
no secret.
Philip, soon after the adjournment of the assembly, had completed the
preparations for his departure. At Middelburg he was met by the
agreeable intelligence that the Pope had consented to issue a bull for
the creation of the new bishoprics which he desired for the Netherlands.
--This important subject will be resumed in another chapter; for the
present we accompany the King to Flushing, whence the fleet was to set
sail for Spain. He was escorted thither by the Duchess Regent, the Duke
of Savoy, and by many of the most eminent personages of the provinces.
Among others William of Orange was in attendance to witness the final
departure of the King, and to pay him his farewell respects. As Philip
was proceeding on board the ship which was to bear him forever from the
Netherlands, his eyes lighted upon the Prince. His displeasure could no
longer be restrained. With angry face he turned upon him, and bitterly
reproached him for having thwarted all his plans by means of his secret
intrigues. William replied with humility that every thing which had
taken place had been done through the regular and natural movements of
the states. Upon this the King, boiling with rage, seized the Prince by
the wrist, and shaking it violently, exclaimed in Spanish, "No los
estados, ma vos, vos, vos!--Not the estates, but you, you, you!"
repeating thrice the word vos, which is as disrespectful and uncourteous
in Spanish as "toi" in French.
After this severe and public insult, the Prince of Orange did not go on
board his Majesty's vessel, but contented himself with wishing Philip,
from the shore, a fortunate journey. It may be doubted, moreover,
whether he would not have made a sudden and compulsory voyage to Spain
had he ventured his person in the ship, and whether, under the
circumstances, he would have been likely to effect as speedy a return.
His caution served him then as it was destined to do on many future
occasions, and Philip left the Netherlands with this parting explosion
of hatred against the man who, as he perhaps instinctively felt, was
destined to circumvent his measures and resist his tyranny to the last.
The fleet, which consisted of ninety vessels, so well provisioned that,
among other matters, fifteen thousand capons were put on board, according
to the Antwerp chronicler, set sail upon the 26th August (1559), from
Flushing. The voyage proved tempestuous, so that much of the rich
tapestry and other merchandise which had been accumulated by Charles and
Philip was lost. Some of the vessels foundered; to save others it was
necessary to lighten the cargo, and "to enrobe the roaring waters with
the silks," for which the Netherlands were so famous; so that it was said
that Philip and his father had impoverished the earth only to enrich the
ocean. The fleet had been laden with much valuable property, because the
King had determined to fix for the future the wandering capital of his
dominions in Spain. Philip landed in safety, however, at Laredo, on the
8th September. His escape from imminent peril confirmed him in the great
purpose to which he had consecrated his existence. He believed himself
to have been reserved from shipwreck only because a mighty mission had
been confided to him, and lest his enthusiasm against heresy should
languish, his eyes were soon feasted, upon his arrival in his native
country, with the spectacle of an auto-da fe.