Books: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1572

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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 19.

THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

By John Lothrop Motley

1855

1572 [CHAPTER VII.]

Municipal revolution throughout Holland and Zealand--Characteristics
of the movement in various places--Sonoy commissioned by Orange as
governor of North Holland--Theory of the provisional government--
Instructions of the Prince to his officers--Oath prescribed--Clause
of toleration--Surprise of Mons by Count Louis--Exertions of Antony
Oliver--Details of the capture--Assembly of the citizens--Speeches
of Genlis and of Count Louis--Effect of the various movements upon
Alva--Don Frederic ordered to invest Mons--The Duke's impatience to
retire--Arrival of Medina Coeli--His narrow escape--Capture of the
Lisbon fleet--Affectation of cordiality between Alva and Medina--
Concessions by King and Viceroy on the subject of the tenth penny--
Estates of Holland assembled, by summons of Orange, at Dort--Appeals
from the Prince to this congress for funds to pay his newly levied
army--Theory of the provisional States' assembly--Source and nature
of its authority--Speech of St. Aldegonde--Liberality of the estates
and the provinces--Pledges exchanged between the Prince's
representative and the Congress--Commission to De la Marck ratified
--Virtual dictatorship of Orange--Limitation of his power by his own
act--Count Louis at Mons--Reinforcements led from France by Genlis--
Rashness of that officer--His total defeat--Orange again in the
field--Rocrmond taken--Excesses of the patriot army--Proclamation of
Orange, commanding respect to all personal and religious rights--His
reply to the Emperor's summons--His progress in the Netherlands--
Hopes entertained from France--Reinforcements under Coligny promised
to Orange by Charles IX.--The Massacre of St. Bartholomew--The
event characterized--Effect in England, in Rome, and in other parts
of Europe--Excessive hilarity of Philip--Extravagant encomium
bestowed by him upon Charles IX.--Order sent by Philip to put all
French prisoners in the Netherlands to Death--Secret correspondence
of Charles IX. with his envoy in the Netherlands--Exultation of the
Spaniards before Mons--Alva urged by the French envoy, according to
his master's commands, to put all the Frenchmen in Mons, and those
already captured, to death--Effect of the massacre upon the Prince
of Orange--Alva and Medina in the camp before Mons--Hopelessness of
the Prince's scheme to obtain battle from Alva--Romero's encamisada
--Narrow escape of the prince--Mutiny and dissolution of his army--
His return to Holland--His steadfastness--Desperate position of
Count Louis in Mons--Sentiments of Alva--Capitulation of Mons--
Courteous reception of Count Louis by the Spanish generals--
Hypocrisy of these demonstrations--Nature of the Mons capitulation--
Horrible violation of its terms--Noircarmes at Mons--Establishment
of a Blood Council in the city--Wholesale executions--Cruelty and
cupidity of Noircarmes--Late discovery of the archives of these
crimes--Return of the revolted cities of Brabant and Flanders to
obedience--Sack of Mechlin by the Spaniards--Details of that event.

The example thus set by Brill and Flushing was rapidly followed. The
first half of the year 1572 was distinguished by a series of triumphs
rendered still more remarkable by the reverses which followed at its
close. Of a sudden, almost as it were by accident, a small but important
sea-port, the object for which the Prince had so long been hoping, was
secured. Instantly afterward, half the island of Walcheren renounced the
yoke of Alva, Next, Enkbuizen, the key to the Zuyder Zee, the principal
arsenal, and one of the first commercial cities in the Netherlands, rose
against the Spanish Admiral, and hung out the banner of Orange on its
ramparts. The revolution effected here was purely the work of the
people--of the mariners and burghers of the city. Moreover, the
magistracy was set aside and the government of Alva repudiated without
shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property.
By the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of
Holland and Zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized
their deliverer. The revolution was accomplished under nearly similar
circumstances everywhere. With one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation
shook off its chain. Oudewater, Dort, Harlem, Leyden, Gorcum,
Loewenstein, Gouda, Medenblik, Horn, Alkmaar, Edam, Monnikendam,
Purmerende, as well as Flushing, Veer, and Enkbuizen, all ranged
themselves under the government of Orange, as lawful stadholder for the
King.

Nor was it in Holland and Zealand alone that the beacon fires of freedom
were lighted. City after city in Gelderland, Overyssel, and the See of
Utrecht; all the important towns of Friesland, some sooner, some later,
some without a struggle, some after a short siege, some with resistance
by the functionaries of government, some by amicable compromise, accepted
the garrisons of the Prince, and formally recognized his authority. Out
of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the
first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear.
It were superfluous to narrate the details which marked the sudden
restoration of liberty in these various groups of cities. Traits of
generosity marked the change of government in some, circumstances of
ferocity, disfigured the revolution in others. The island of Walcheren,
equally divided as it was between the two parties, was the scene of much
truculent and diabolical warfare. It is difficult to say whether the
mutual hatred of race or the animosity of religious difference proved the
deadlier venom. The combats were perpetual and sanguinary, the prisoners
on both sides instantly executed. On more than one occasion; men were
seen assisting to hang with their own hands and in cold blood their own
brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks. When the
captives were too many to be hanged, they were tied back to back, two and
two, and thus hurled into the sea. The islanders found a fierce pleasure
in these acts of cruelty. A Spaniard had ceased to be human in their
eyes. On one occasion, a surgeon at Veer cut the heart from a Spanish
prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow; and invited the townsmen to come
and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction.

In other parts of the country the revolution was, on the whole,
accomplished with comparative calmness. Even traits of generosity were
not uncommon. The burgomaster of Gonda, long the supple slave of Alva
and the Blood Council, fled for his life as the revolt broke forth in
that city. He took refuge in the house of a certain widow, and begged
for a place of concealment. The widow led him to a secret closet which
served as a pantry. "Shall I be secure there?" asked the fugitive
functionary. "O yes, sir Burgomaster," replied the widow, "'t was in
that very place that my husband lay concealed when you, accompanied by
the officers of justice, were searching the house, that you might bring
him to the scaffold for his religion. Enter the pantry, your worship; I
will be responsible for your safety." Thus faithfully did the humble
widow of a hunted and murdered Calvinist protect the life of the
magistrate who had brought desolation to her hearth.

Not all the conquests thus rapidly achieved in the cause of liberty were
destined to endure, nor were any to be, retained without a struggle. The
little northern cluster of republics which had now restored its honor to
the ancient Batavian name was destined, however, for a long and vigorous
life. From that bleak isthmus the light of freedom was to stream through
many years upon struggling humanity in Europe; a guiding pharos across a
stormy sea; and Harlem, Leyden, Alkmaar--names hallowed by deeds of
heroism such as have not often illustrated human annals, still breathe as
trumpet-tongued and perpetual a defiance to despotism as Marathon,
Thermopylae, or Salamis.

A new board of magistrates had been chosen in all the redeemed cities, by
popular election. They were required to take an oath of fidelity to the
King of Spain, and to the Prince of Orange as his stadholder; to promise
resistance to the Duke of Alva, the tenth penny, and the inquisition;
to support every man's freedom and the welfare of the country; to protect
widows, orphans, and miserable persons, and to maintain justice and
truth.

Diedrich Sonoy arrived on the 2nd June at Enkbuizen. He was provided by
the Prince with a commission, appointing him Lieutenant-Governor of North
Holland or Waterland. Thus, to combat the authority of Alva was set up
the authority of the King. The stadholderate over Holland and Zealand,
to which the Prince had been appointed in 1559, he now reassumed. Upon
this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted
Netherlands. The government, as it gradually unfolded itself, from this
epoch forward until the declaration of independence and the absolute
renunciation of the Spanish sovereign power, will be sketched in a future
chapter. The people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than
was secured by Philip's coronation oath. There was no pretence that
Philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to
worship God according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political
"liberties" of the land. So long as Alva reigned, the Blood Council, the
inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every
charter slept. To recover this practical liberty and these historical
rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government,
was the purpose of William and of the people. No revolutionary standard
was displayed.

The written instructions given by the Prince to his Lieutenant Sonoy were
to "see that the Word of God was preached, without, however, suffering
any hindrance to the Roman Church in the exercise of its religion; to
restore fugitives and the banished for conscience sake, and to require of
all magistrates and officers of guilds and brotherhoods an oath of
fidelity." The Prince likewise prescribed the form of that oath,
repeating therein, to his eternal honor, the same strict prohibition
of intolerance. "Likewise," said the formula, "shall those of 'the
religion' offer no let or hindrance to the Roman churches."

The Prince was still in Germany, engaged in raising troops and providing
funds. He directed; however, the affairs of the insurgent provinces in
their minutest details, by virtue of the dictatorship inevitably forced
upon him both by circumstances and by the people. In the meantime; Louis
of Nassau, the Bayard of the Netherlands, performed a most unexpected and
brilliant exploit. He had been long in France, negotiating with the
leaders of the Huguenots, and, more secretly, with the court. He was
supposed by all the world to be still in that kingdom, when the startling
intelligence arrived that he had surprised and captured the important
city of Mons. This town, the capital of Hainault, situate in a fertile,
undulating, and beautiful country, protected by lofty walls, a triple
moat, and a strong citadel, was one of the most flourishing and elegant
places in the Netherlands. It was, moreover, from its vicinity to the
frontiers of France; a most important acquisition to the insurgent party.
The capture was thus accomplished. A native of Mons, one Antony Oliver,
a geographical painter, had insinuated himself into the confidence of
Alva, for whom he had prepared at different times some remarkably well-
executed maps of the country. Having occasion to visit France, he was
employed by the Duke to keep a watch upon the movements of Louis of
Nassau, and to make a report as to the progress of his intrigues with the
court of France. The painter, however, was only a spy in disguise, being
in reality devoted to the cause of freedom, and a correspondent of Orange
and his family. His communications with Louis, in Paris, had therefore a
far different result from the one anticipated by Alva. A large number of
adherents within the city of Mons had already been secured, and a plan
was now arranged between Count Louis, Genlis, De la Noue, and other
distinguished Huguenot chiefs, to be carried out with the assistance of
the brave and energetic artist.

On the 23rd of May, Oliver appeared at the gates of Mons, accompanied by
three wagons, ostensibly containing merchandise, but in reality laden
with arquebusses. These were secretly distributed among his confederates
in the city. In the course of the day Count Louis arrived in the
neighbourhood, accompanied by five hundred horsemen and a thousand foot
soldiers. This force he stationed in close concealment within the thick
forests between Maubeuge and Mons. Towards evening he sent twelve of the
most trusty and daring of his followers, disguised as wine merchants,
into the city. These individuals proceeded boldly to a public house,
ordered their supper, and while conversing with the landlord, carelessly
inquired at what hour next morning the city gates would be opened. They
were informed that the usual hour was four in the morning, but that a
trifling present to the porter would ensure admission, if they desired
it, at an earlier hour. They explained their inquiries by a statement
that they had some casks of wine which they wished to introduce into the
city before sunrise. Having obtained all the information which they
needed, they soon afterwards left the tavern. The next day they
presented themselves very early at the gate, which the porter, on promise
of a handsome "drink-penny," agreed to unlock. No sooner were the bolts
withdrawn, however, than he was struck dead, while about fifty dragoons
rode through the gate. The Count and his followers now galloped over the
city in the morning twilight, shouting "France! liberty! the town is
ours!" "The Prince is coming!" "Down with the tenth penny; down with
the murderous Alva!" So soon as a burgher showed his wondering face at
the window, they shot at him with their carbines. They made as much
noise, and conducted themselves as boldly as if they had been at least a
thousand strong.

Meantime, however, the streets remained empty; not one of their secret
confederates showing himself. Fifty men could surprise, but were too few
to keep possession of the city. The Count began to suspect a trap. As
daylight approached the alarm spread; the position of the little band was
critical. In his impetuosity, Louis had far outstripped his army, but
they had been directed to follow hard upon his footsteps, and he was
astonished that their arrival was so long delayed. The suspense becoming
intolerable, he rode out of the city in quest of his adherents, and found
them wandering in the woods, where they had completely lost their way.
Ordering each horseman to take a foot soldier on the crupper behind him,
he led them rapidly back to Mons. On the way they were encountered by La
Noue, "with the iron arm," and Genlis, who, meantime, had made an
unsuccessful attack to recover Valenciennes, which within a few hours had
been won and lost again. As they reached the gates of Mons, they found
themselves within a hair's breadth of being too late; their adherents
had not come forth; the citizens had been aroused; the gates were all
fast but one--and there the porter was quarrelling with a French soldier
about an arquebuss. The drawbridge across the moat was at the moment
rising; the last entrance was closing, when Guitoy de Chaumont, a French
officer, mounted on a light Spanish barb, sprang upon the bridge as it
rose. His weight caused it to sink again, the gate was forced, and Louis
with all his men rode triumphantly into the town.

The citizens were forthwith assembled by sound of bell in the market-
place. The clergy, the magistracy, and the general council were all
present. Genlis made the first speech, in which he disclaimed all
intention of making conquests in the interest of France. This pledge
having been given, Louis of Nassau next addressed the assembly: "The
magistrates," said he, "have not understoood my intentions. I protest
that I am no rebel to the King; I prove it by asking no new oaths
from any man. Remain bound by your old oaths of allegiance; let the
magistrates continue to exercise their functions--to administer justice.
I imagine that no person will suspect a brother of the Prince of Orange
capable of any design against the liberties of the country. As to the
Catholic religion, I take it under my very particular protection. You
will ask why I am in Mons at the head of an armed force: are any of you
ignorant of Alva's cruelties? The overthrow of this tyrant is as much
the interest of the King as of the people, therefore there is nothing in
my present conduct inconsistent with fidelity to his Majesty. Against
Alva alone I have taken up arms; 'tis to protect you against his fury
that I am here. It is to prevent the continuance of a general rebellion
that I make war upon him. The only proposition which I have to make to
you is this--I demand that you declare Alva de Toledo a traitor to the
King, the executioner of the people, an enemy to the country, unworthy of
the government, and hereby deprived of his authority."

The magistracy did not dare to accept so bold a proposition; the general
council, composing the more popular branch of the municipal government,
were comparatively inclined to favor Nassau, and many of its members
voted for the downfall of the tyrant. Nevertheless the demands of Count
Louis were rejected. His position thus became critical. The civic
authorities refused to, pay for his troops, who were, moreover, too few,
in number to resist the inevitable siege. The patriotism of the citizens
was not to be repressed, however, by the authority, of the magistrates;
many rich proprietors of the great cloth and silk manufactories, for
which Mons was famous, raised, and armed companies at their own expense;
many volunteer troops were also speedily organized and drilled, and the
fortifications were put in order. No attempt was made to force the
reformed religion upon the inhabitants, and even Catholics who were
discovered in secret correspondence with the enemy were treated with such
extreme gentleness by Nassau as to bring upon him severe reproaches from
many of his own party.

A large collection of ecclesiastical plate, jewellery, money, and other
valuables, which had been sent to the city for safe keeping from the
churches and convents of the provinces, was seized, and thus, with little
bloodshed and no violence; was the important city secured for the
insurgents. Three days afterwards, two thousand infantry, chiefly
French, arrived in the place. In the early part of the following month
Louis was still further strengthened by the arrival of thirteen hundred
foot and twelve hundred horsemen, under command of Count Montgomery, the
celebrated officer, whose spear at the tournament had proved fatal to
Henry the Second. Thus the Duke of Alva suddenly found himself exposed
to a tempest of revolution. One thunderbolt after another seemed
descending around him in breathless succession. Brill and Flushing had
been already lost; Middelburg was so closely invested that its fall
seemed imminent, and with it would go the whole island of Walcheren, the
key to all the Netherlands. In one morning he had heard of the revolt of
Enkbuizen and of the whole Waterland; two hours later came the news of
the Valenciennes rebellion, and next day the astonishing capture of Mons.
One disaster followed hard upon another. He could have sworn that the
detested Louis of Nassau, who had dealt this last and most fatal stroke,
was at that moment in Paris, safely watched by government emissaries; and
now he had, as it were, suddenly started out of the earth, to deprive him
of this important city, and to lay bare the whole frontier to the
treacherous attacks of faithless France. He refused to believe the
intelligence when it was first announced to him, and swore that he had
certain information that Count Louis had been seen playing in the tennis-
court at Paris, within so short a period as to make his presence in
Hainault at that moment impossible. Forced, at last, to admit the truth
of the disastrous news, he dashed his hat upon the ground in a fury,
uttering imprecations upon the Queen Dowager of France, to whose
perfidious intrigues he ascribed the success of the enterprise, and
pledging himself to send her Spanish thistles, enough in return for the
Florentine lilies which she had thus bestowed upon him.

In the midst of the perplexities thus thickening around him, the Duke
preserved his courage, if not his temper. Blinded, for a brief season,
by the rapid attacks made upon him, he had been uncertain whither to
direct his vengeance. This last blow in so vital a quarter determined
him at once. He forthwith despatched Don Frederic to undertake the siege
of Mons, and earnestly set about raising large reinforcements to his
army. Don Frederic took possession, without much opposition, of the
Bethlehem cloister in the immediate vicinity of the city, and with four
thousand troops began the investment in due form.

Alva had, for a long time, been most impatient to retire from the
provinces. Even he was capable of human emotions. Through the sevenfold
panoply of his pride he had been pierced by the sharpness of a nation's
curse. He was wearied with the unceasing execrations which assailed his
ears. "The hatred which the people bear me," said he, in a letter to
Philip, "because of the chastisement which it has been necessary for me
to inflict, although with all the moderation in the world, make all my
efforts vain. A successor will meet more sympathy and prove more
useful." On the 10th June, the Duke of Medina Coeli; with a fleet of
more than forty sail, arrived off Blankenburg, intending to enter the
Scheld. Julian Romero, with two thousand Spaniards, was also on board
the fleet. Nothing, of course, was known to the new comers of the
altered condition of affairs in the Netherlands, nor of the unwelcome
reception which they were like to meet in Flushing. A few of the lighter
craft having been taken by the patriot cruisers, the alarm was spread
through all the fleet. Medina Coeli, with a few transports, was enabled
to effect his escape to Sluys, whence he hastened to Brussels in a much
less ceremonious manner than he had originally contemplated. Twelve
Biscayan ships stood out to sea, descried a large Lisbon fleet, by a
singular coincidence, suddenly heaving in sight, changed their course
again, and with a favoring breeze bore boldly up the Hond; passed
Flushing in spite of a severe cannonade from the forts, and eventually
made good their entrance into Rammekens, whence the soldiery, about one-
half of whom had thus been saved, were transferred at a very critical
moment to Middelburg.

The great Lisbon fleet followed in the wake of the Biscayans, with much
inferior success. Totally ignorant of the revolution which had occurred
in the Ise of Walclieren, it obeyed the summons of the rebel fort to come
to anchor, and, with the exception of three or four, the vessels were all
taken. It was the richest booty which the insurgents had yet acquired by
sea or land. The fleet was laden with spices, money, jewellery, and the
richest merchandize. Five hundred thousand crowns of gold were taken,
and it was calculated that the plunder altogether would suffice to
maintain the war for two years at least. One thousand Spanish soldiers,
and a good amount of ammunition, were also captured. The unexpected
condition of affairs made a pause natural and almost necessary, before
the government could be decorously transferred. Medina Coeli with
Spanish grandiloquence, avowed his willingness to serve as a soldier,
under a general whom he so much venerated, while Alva ordered that, in
all respects, the same outward marks of respect should be paid to his
appointed successor as to himself. Beneath all this external ceremony,
however, much mutual malice was concealed.

Meantime, the Duke, who was literally "without a single real," was forced
at last to smother his pride in the matter of the tenth penny. On the
24th June, he summoned the estates of Holland to assemble on the 15th of
the ensuing month. In the missive issued for this purpose, he formally
agreed to abolish the whole tax, on condition that the estates-general of
the Netherlands would furnish him with a yearly supply of two millions of
florins. Almost at the same moment the King had dismissed the deputies
of the estates from Madrid, with the public assurance that the tax was to
be suspended, and a private intimation that it was not abolished in
terms, only in order to save the dignity of the Duke.

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