Books: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1573 74
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John Lothrop Motley >> The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1573 74
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The invasion of Louis of Nassau had, as already stated, effected the
raising of the first siege of Leyden. That leaguer had lasted from the
31st of October, 1573, to the 21st of March, 1574, when the soldiers were
summoned away to defend the frontier. By an extraordinary and culpable
carelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the Prince, had not
taken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the
city and strengthen the garrison. They seemed to reckon more confidently
upon the success of Count Louis than he had even done himself; for it was
very probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantly
resumed. This natural result was not long in following the battle of
Mookerheyde.
On the 26th of May, Valdez reappeared before the place, at the head of
eight thousand Walloons and Germans, and Leyden was now destined to pass
through a fiery ordeal. This city was one of the most beautiful in the
Netherlands. Placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, which
had been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; it
was fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful Orchards.
The ancient and, at last, decrepit Rhine, flowing languidly towards its
sandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificial
currents, by which the city was completely interlaced. These watery
streets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed by
one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. The houses
were elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, the
churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of the
place suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. Upon an artificial
elevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknown
antiquity. By some it was considered to be of Roman origin, while others
preferred to regard it as a work of the Anglo-Saxon Hengist, raised to
commemorate his conquest of England.
[Guicciardini, Descript. Holl, et Zelandire. Bor, vii. 502.
Bentivoglio, viii. 151
"Putatur Engistus Britanno
Orbe redus posuisse victor," etc., etc.
according to the celebrated poem of John Yon der Does, the
accomplished and valiant Commandant of the city. The tower, which
is doubtless a Roman one, presents, at the present day, almost
precisely the same appearance as that described by the
contemporaneous historians of the siege. The verses of the
Commandant show the opinion, that the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of
Britain went from Holland, to have been a common one in the
sixteenth century.]
Surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, it
afforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over a
wide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring cities
rising in every direction. It was from this commanding height, during
the long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many an
eye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had
begun to roll over the land.
Valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession of
Maeslandsluis, Vlaardingen, and the Hague. Five hundred English, under
command of Colonel Edward Chester, abandoned the fortress of Valkenburg,
and fled towards Leyden. Refused admittance by the citizens, who now,
with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to Valdez, and were
afterwards sent back to England. In the course of a few days, Leyden was
thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them having
remained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city,
while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to be
daily increased. On the other hand, there were no troops in the town,
save a small corps of "freebooters," and five companies of the burgher
guard. John Van der Does, Seigneur of Nordwyck, a gentleman of
distinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, his
poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of military
commandant.
The main reliance of the city, under God, was on the stout hearts of its
inhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of William the
Silent without. The Prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the
citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence in
having omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency while
there had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about to
contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and of
unborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issue
about to be tried. Eternal glory would be their portion if they
manifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause of
religion and liberty. He implored them to hold out at least three
months, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the means
of their deliverance. The citizens responded, courageously and
confidently, to these missives, and assured the Prince of their firm
confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions.
And truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, as
on a rock of adamant. All alone, without a being near him to consult,
his right arm struck from him by the death of Louis, with no brother left
to him but the untiring and faithful John, he prepared without delay for
the new task imposed upon him. France, since the defeat and death of
Louis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of Henry
III., had but small sympathy for the Netherlands. The English
government, relieved from the fear of France; was more cold and haughty
than ever. An Englishman employed by Requesens to assassinate the
Prince of Orange, had been arrested in Zealand, who impudently pretended
that he had undertaken to perform the same office for Count John, with
the full consent and privity of Queen Elizabeth. The provinces of
Holland and Zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of the
contest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory,
and the powerful Spanish Empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless.
Moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which had
been so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberally
baited. The pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the 8th of March,
was formally issue: by the Grand Commander on the 6th of June. By the
terms of this document the King invited all his erring and repentant
subjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness for
their past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once more
throw themselves upon the bosom of the Mother Church. There were but few
exceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned
by name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample,
the act was liable to a few stern objections. It was easier now for the
Hollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its
progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war.
Instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, although
constitutional was Catholic, there was now hardly a Papist to be found
among the natives. To accept the pardon then was to concede the victory,
and the Hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. They
were resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the
Roman Church should be re-established on their soil, to the entire
exclusion of the Reformed worship. They responded with steadfast
enthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the Prince of Orange, after the
second siege of Leyden had been commenced; "As long as there is a living
man left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our
religion." The single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase;
what Spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles,
and the Hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for seven
years to succumb to a phrase at last.
Moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. The malefactor
gravely extended forgiveness to his victims. Although the Hollanders
had not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory of
government, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity,
they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now played
before them. The man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all
their constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities,
confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive
their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offer
forgiveness. Not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, but
with a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariously
upon the scene of his crimes. It may be supposed that, even in the
sixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at such
blasphemy. Furthermore, even had the people of Holland been weak enough
to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise would
be fulfilled. It was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to be
kept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papal
Bull, dated on the 30th of April, by which Gregory XIII. promised
forgiveness to those Netherland sinners who duly repented and sought
absolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more than
seven times seven.
For a moment the Prince had feared lest the pardon might produce some
effect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event proved
him wrong. It was received with universal and absolute contempt. No man
came forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer in
Utrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from Leyden. With these
exceptions, the only ones recorded, Holland remained deaf to the royal
voice. The city of Leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy,
which were especially addressed to its population by Valdez and his
agents. Certain Netherlanders, belonging to the King's party, and
familiarly called "Glippers," despatched from the camp many letters to
their rebellious acquaintances in the city. In these epistles the
citizens of Leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted to
submission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upon
their poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives." But the
burghers of Leyden thought that the best pity which they could show to
those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from the
clutches of the Spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the Glippers,
save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and
forwarded, like a letter, to Valdez:
"Fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps."
According to the advice early given by the Prince of Orange, the citizens
had taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the live
stock. By the end of June, the city was placed on a strict allowance of
food, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at an
equitable price. Half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread was
allotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. The
city being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons,
and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible.
Sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and a
handsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gates
the head of a Spaniard. The reward was paid many times, but the
population was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities felt
it dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. Lest the
city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it was
now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man should
leave the gates.
The Prince had his head-quarters at Delft and at Rotterdam. Between
those two cities, an important fortress, called Polderwaert, secured him
in the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the
Yssel and the Meuse. On the 29th June, the Spaniards, feeling its value,
had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. They had
been beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the Prince
remaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hope
to relieve Leyden. He still held in his hand the keys with which he
could unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and he
had long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break the
dykes. Leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to.
Leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force under
Valdez could not be levied. The battle of Mookerheyde had, for the,
present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possible
to besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. The Spaniards
occupied the coast from the Hague to Vlaardingen, but the dykes along the
Meuse and Yssel were in possession of the Prince. He determined, that
these should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices at
Rotterdam, Schiedam, and Delftshaven should be opened. The damage to the
fields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt that
no other course could rescue Leyden, and with it the whole of Holland
from destruction. His clear expositions and impassioned eloquence at
last overcame all resistance. By the middle of July the estates
consented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken.
"Better a drowned land than a lost land," cried the patriots, with
enthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. The
enterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves,
from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as much
regularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. A capital was
formally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued,
payable at a long date. In addition to this preliminary fund, a monthly
allowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the work
should be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of the
land, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furniture
to the furtherance of the scheme.
Meantime, Valdez, on the 30th July; issued most urgent and ample offers
of pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates and
accept the King's authority, but his Overtures were received with silent
contempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching the
starvation point. Although not yet fully informed of the active measures
taken by the Prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy and
their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerly
been heard at the gates of Harlem and of Naarden. On the 3rd of August,
the Prince; accompanied by Paul Buys, chief of the commission appointed
to execute the enterprise, went in person along the Yssel; as far as
Kappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places.
The gates at Schiedam and Rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began to
pour over the land. While waiting for the waters to rise, provisions
were rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the Prince, in all the
principal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, of
various sizes, had also been got ready at Rotterdam, Delftshaven, and
other ports.
The citizens of Leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, for
their bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had but
slender provision. On the 12th of August they received a letter from the
Prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedy
relief, and on the 21st they addressed a despatch to him in reply,
stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they had
held out two months with food, and another month without food. If not
soon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake would
last but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left but
starvation. Upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated
by the Prince, who now lay in bed at Rotterdam with a violent fever,
assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water was
rising upon the "Land-Scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated
the city from the sea. He said nothing however of his own illness, which
would have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth among
the burghers.
The letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase the
cheerfulness, burgomaster Van der Werf, knowing the sensibility of his
countrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate the
streets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. Salvos of cannon were
likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspect
of a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who were
not yet aware of the Prince's efforts. They perceived very soon,
however, as the water everywhere about Leyden had risen to the depth of
ten inches, that they stood in a perilous position. It was no trifling
danger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about
to obey with docility the command of William the Silent. Valdez became
anxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for the
besieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power
than man's. He consulted with the most experienced of his officers, with
the country people, with the most distinguished among the Glippers, and
derived encouragement from their views concerning the Prince's plan.
They pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: The Glippers knew the
country well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms.
Even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vivid
gleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldly
taunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision of
relief which they had so fondly welcomed. "Go up to the tower, ye
Beggars," was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, and
tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief"
--and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of Hengist, with
heavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and at
last almost despairing of relief by God or man. On the 27th they
addressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the city
had been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt and
warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured that
every human effort was to be made for their relief. "Rather," said the
estates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in
the waves, than forsake thee, Leyden. We know full well, moreover, that
with Leyden, all Holland must perish also." They excused themselves for
not having more frequently written, upon the, ground that the whole
management of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to the
Prince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all the
correspondence conducted.
The fever of the Prince had, meanwhile, reached its height. He lay at
Rotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, and with mind agitated nearly to
delirium, by the perpetual and almost unassisted schemes which he was
constructing. Relief, not only for Leyden, but for the whole country,
now apparently sinking into the abyss, was the vision which he pursued as
he tossed upon his restless couch. Never was illness more unseasonable.
His attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that his mind should
for a time be spared the agitation of business. The physicians who
attended him agreed, as to his disorder, only in this, that it was the
result of mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only by
removing all distressing and perplexing subjects from his thoughts, but
all the physicians in the world could not have succeeded in turning his
attention for an instant from the great cause of his country. Leyden
lay, as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it was
impossible for him to close his ears to her cry. Therefore, from his
sick bed he continued to dictate; words of counsel and encouragement to
the city; to Admiral Boisot, commanding, the fleet, minute directions and
precautions. Towards the end of August a vague report had found its way
into his sick chamber that Leyden had fallen, and although he refused to
credit the tale, yet it served to harass his mind, and to heighten fever.
Cornelius Van Mierop, Receiver General of Holland, had occasion to visit
him at Rotterdam, and strange to relate, found the house almost deserted.
Penetrating, unattended, to the Prince's bed-chamber, he found him lying
quite alone. Inquiring what had become, of all his attendants, he was
answered by the Prince, in a very feeble voice, that he had sent them all
away. The Receiver-General seems, from this, to have rather hastily
arrived at the conclusion that the Prince's disorder was the pest, and
that his servants and friends had all deserted him from cowardice.
This was very far from being the case. His private secretary and his
maitre d'hotel watched, day and night, by his couch, and the best
physicians of the city were in constant attendance. By a singular
accident; all had been despatched on different errands, at the express
desire of their master, but there had never been a suspicion that his
disorder was the pest, or pestilential. Nerves of steel, and a frame of
adamant could alone have resisted the constant anxiety and the consuming
fatigue to which he had so long been exposed. His illness had been
aggravated by the, rumor of Leyden's fall, a fiction which Cornelius
Mierop was now enabled flatly to contradict. The Prince began to mend
from that hour. By the end of the first week of September, he wrote
along letter to his brother, assuring him of his convalescence, and
expressing, as usual; a calm confidence in the divine decrees--"God will
ordain for me," said he, "all which is necessary for my good and my
salvation. He will load me with no more afflictions than the fragility
of this nature can sustain."
The preparations for the relief of Leyden, which, notwithstanding his
exertions, had grown slack during his sickness, were now vigorously
resumed. On the 1st of September, Admiral Boisot arrived out of Zealand
with a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred veteran sailors.
A wild and ferocious crew were those eight hundred Zealanders. Scarred,
hacked, and even maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their lives
had passed; wearing crescents in their caps, with the inscription,
"Rather Turkish than Popish;" renowned far and wide, as much for their
ferocity as for their nautical skill; the appearance of these wildest of
the "Sea-beggars" was both eccentric and terrific. They were known never
to give nor to take quarter, for they went to mortal combat only, and had
sworn to spare neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser, nor pope,
should they fall into their power.
More than two hundred-vessels had been assembled, carrying generally ten
pieces of cannon, with from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty-
five hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. The work was
now undertaken in earnest. The distance from Leyden to the outer dyke,
over whose ruins the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteen
miles. This reclaimed territory, however, was not maintained against the
sea by these external barriers alone. The flotilla made its way with
ease to the Land-Scheiding, a strong dyke within five miles of Leyden,
but here its progress was arrested. The approach to the city was
surrounded by many strong ramparts, one within the other, by which it was
defended against its ancient enemy, the ocean, precisely like the
circumvallations by means of which it was now assailed by its more recent
enemy, the Spaniard. To enable the fleet, however, to sail over the
land; it was necessary to break through this two fold series of defences.
Between the Land-Scheiding and Leyden were several dykes, which kept out
the water; upon the level, were many villages, together with a chain of
sixty-two forts, which completely occupied the land. All these Villages
and fortresses were held by the veteran, troops of the King; the
besieging force, being about four times as strong as that which was
coming to the rescue.
The Prince had given orders that the Land-Scheiding, which was still one-
and-a-half foot above water, should be taken possession of; at every
hazard. On the night of the 10th and 11th of September this was
accomplished; by surprise; and in a masterly manner. The few Spaniards
who had been stationed upon the dyke were all, despatched or driven off,
and the patriots fortified themselves upon it, without the loss of a man.
As the day dawned the Spaniards saw the fatal error which they had
committed in leaving thus bulwark so feebly defended, and from two
villages which stood close to the dyke, the troops now rushed
inconsiderable force to recover what they had lost. A hot action
succeeded, but the patriots had too securely established themselves.
They completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leaving hundreds of
dead on the field, and the patriots in complete possession of the Land-
scheiding. This first action was sanguinary and desperate. It gave a
earnest of what these people, who came to relieve; their brethren, by
sacrificing their, property and their lives; were determined to effect.
It gave a revolting proof, too, of the intense hatred which nerved their
arms. A Zealander; having struck down a Spaniard on the dyke, knelt on
his bleeding enemy, tore his heart from his bosom; fastened his teeth in
it for an instant, and then threw it to a dog, with the exclamation,
"'Tis too bitter." The Spanish heart was, however, rescued, and kept for
years, with the marks of the soldier's teeth upon it, a sad testimonial
of the ferocity engendered by this war for national existence.
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