Chapter IV: , VII (186)

"On the death of William IV. [Count of Holland] without issue
in 1345, his sister, married to the Emperor Louis, became
Countess of Zealand, Holland, Friezland and Hainault. But her
husband dying soon afterwards, many of the noblesse, whom she
had offended by the attempt to restrain their excesses,
instigated her son to assume the sovereignty. In the
sanguinary struggle which ensued, the people generally adhered
to the cause of Margaret." They "looked forward to the
necessities of a female reign as likely to afford them
opportunities to win further immunities, as the condition of
their support against the turbulent nobles. Did not these
live, like the great fish, by devouring the smaller ones? And
how could they be checked but by the hooks which, though
insignificant in appearance, when aptly used would be too
strong for them. Such was the talk of the people; and from
these household words arose the memorable epithets, which in
after years were heard in every civic brawl, and above the din
and death-cry of many a battle-field. Certain of the nobles
adhered to the cause of the Hooks, while some of the cities,
among which were Delft, Haarlem, Dort, and Rotterdam,
supported the Kabeljauws [or Cods].
{2251}
The community was divided into parties rather than into
classes. … In the exasperation of mutual injury, the primary
cause of quarrel was soon forgotten. The Hooks were proud of
the accession of a lord to their ranks; and the Kabeljauws
were equally glad of the valuable aid which a wealthy and
populous town was able to afford. The majority of the
cities,—perhaps the majority of the inhabitants in all of
them,—favoured the Hook party, as the preponderance of the
landowners lay in the opposite scale. But no adherence to
antagonistic principles, or even a systematic profession of
them, is traceable throughout the varying struggle. … In
Friezland the two factions were designated by the
recriminative epithets of 'Vet-Koopers' and
'Schieringers,'—terms hardly translatable. In the conflict
which first marshalled the two parties in hostile array, the
Hooks were utterly defeated;—their leaders who survived were
banished, their property confiscated, and their dwellings
razed to the ground. Margaret was forced to take refuge in
England, where she remained until a short time previous to her
death in 1354, when the four provinces acknowledged William V.
as their undisputed lord. The succeeding reigns are chiefly
characterised by the incessant struggles of the embittered
factions. … Whatever progress was made during the latter
half of the 14th century was municipal and commercial. In a
national view the government was helpless and inefficient,
entangled by ambitious family alliances with France, England,
and Germany, and distracted by the rival powers and
pretensions of domestic factions. Under the administration of
the ill-fated Jacoba [or Jacqueline] these evils reached their
full maturity."

_W. T. McCullagh,
Industrial History of Free Nations,
chapter 9 (volume 2)._

NETHERLANDS: 14-15th Centuries.
Commercial and industrial superiority.
Advance in learning and art.

"What a scene as compared with the rest of Northern Europe,
and especially with England … must have been presented by
the Low Countries during the 14th century! In 1370, there are
3,200 woollen-factories at Malines and on its territory. One
of its merchants carries on an immense trade with Damascus and
Alexandria. Another, of Valenciennes, being at Paris during a
fair, buys up an the provisions exposed for sale in order to
display his wealth. Ghent, in 1340, contains 40,000 weavers.
In 1389, it has 189,000 men bearing arms; the drapers alone
furnish 18,000 in a revolt. In 1380, the goldsmiths of Bruges
are numerous enough to form in war time an entire division of
the army. At a repast given by one of the Counts of Flanders
to the Flemish magistrates, the seats provided for the guests
being unfurnished with cushions, they quietly folded up their
sumptuous cloaks, richly embroidered and trimmed with fur, and
placed them on the wooden benches. When leaving the table at
the conclusion of the feast, a courtier called their attention
to the fact that they were going without their cloaks. The
burgomaster of Bruges replied: 'We Flemings are not in the
habit of carrying away the cushions after dinner.' …
Commines, the French chronicler, writing in the 15th century,
says that the traveller, leaving France and crossing the
frontiers of Flanders, compared himself to the Israelites when
they had quitted the desert and entered the borders of the
Promised Land. Philip the Good kept up a court which surpassed
every other in Europe for luxury and magnificence. … In all
such matters of luxury and display, England of the 16th or
17th century had nothing to compare with the Netherlands a
hundred or even two hundred years before. After luxury, come
comfort, intelligence, morality, and learning, which develop
under very different conditions. In the course of time even
Italy was outstripped in the commercial race. The conquest of
Egypt by the Turks, and the discovery of a water passage to
the Indies, broke up the overland trade with the East, and
destroyed the Italian and German cities which had flourished
on it. … Passing from the dominion of the House of Burgundy
to that of the House of Austria, which also numbered Spain
among its vast possessions, proved to them in the end an event
fraught with momentous evil. Still for a time, and from a mere
material point of view it was an evil not unmixed with good.
The Netherlanders were better sailors and keener merchants
than the Spaniards, and, being under the same rulers, gained
substantial advantages from the close connection. The new
commerce of Portugal also filled their coffers; so that while
Italy and Germany were impoverished, they became wealthier and
more prosperous than ever. … With wealth pouring in from all
quarters, art naturally followed in the wake of commerce.
Architecture was first developed, and nowhere was its
cultivation more general than in the Netherlands."

_D. Campbell,
The Puritan in Holland, &c.,
volume 1, chapter 1._

NETHERLANDS: (Holland and Hainault): A. D. 1417-1430.
The despoiling of Countess Jaqueline.

In 1417, Count William VI. of Holland, Hainault and Friesland,
died, leaving no male heirs, but a daughter, Jacoba, or
Jaqueline, whom most of the nobles and towns of the several
states had already acknowledged as the heiress of her father's
sovereignty. Though barely seventeen years of age, the
countess Jake, as she was sometimes called, wore a widow's
weeds. She had been married two years before to John, the
second son of the king of France, who became presently
thereafter, by his brother's death, the dauphin of France.
John had died, a few months before Count William's death, and
the young countess, fair in person and well endowed in mind,
was left with no male support, to contend with the rapacity of
an unscrupulous bishop-uncle (John, called The Godless, Bishop
of Liege), who strove to rob her of her heritage. "Henry V.
[of England] had then stood her friend, brought about a
reconciliation, established her rights and proposed a marriage
between her and his brother John, Duke of Bedford, who was
then a fine young man of five or six and twenty. … But she
was a high-spirited, wilful damsel, and preferred her first
cousin, the Duke of Brabant, whose father was a brother of
Jean Sans Peur [Duke of Burgundy]. … The young Duke was only
sixteen, and was a weak-minded, passionate youth. Sharp
quarrels took place between the young pair; the Duchess was
violent and headstrong, and accused her husband of allowing
himself to be governed by favourites of low degree. The Duke
of Burgundy interfered in vain. … After three years of
quarrelling, in the July of 1421 Jaqueline rode out early one
morning, met a knight of Hainault called Escaillon, 'who had
long been an Englishman at heart,' and who brought her sixty
horsemen, and galloped off for Calais, whence she came to
England, where Henry received her with the courtesy due to a
distressed dame-errant, and she became a most intimate
companion of the Queen. …
{2252}
She loudly gave out that she intended to obtain a separation
from her husband on the plea of consanguinity, although a
dispensation had been granted by the Council of Constance, and
'that she would marry some one who would pay her the respect
due to her rank.' This person soon presented himself in the
shape of Humfrey, duke of Gloucester, the King's youngest
brother, handsome, graceful, accomplished, but far less
patient and conscientious than any of his three elders."
Benedict XIII., the anti-pope, was persuaded to pronounce the
marriage of Jaqueline and John of Brabant null and void; "but
Henry V. knew that this was a vain sentence, and intimated to
his brother that he would never consent to his espousing the
Duchess of Brabant; showing him that the wedlock could not be
legal, and that to claim the lady's inheritance would lead to
a certain rupture with the Duke of Burgundy, who could not but
uphold the cause of his cousin of Brabant." Notwithstanding
these remonstrances, the Duke Humfrey did marry the seductive
Jaqueline, early in 1424. "He then sent to demand from the
Duke of Brabant the possession of the lady's inheritance; and
on his refusal the Hainaulters espoused whichever party they
preferred and began a warfare among themselves." Soon
afterwards the godless bishop of Liege died and "bequeathed
the rights he pretended to have to Hainault, not to his niece,
but to the Duke of Burgundy. Gloucester in the meantime
invaded Hainault and carried on a 'bitter war there.' Burgundy
assembled men-at-arms for its protection; and letters passed
between the Dukes, ending in a challenge—not between
Jaqueline's two husbands, who would have seemed the fittest
persons to have fought out the quarrel, but between Gloucester
and Burgundy." It was arranged that the question of the
possession of Hainault should be decided by single combat.
Humfrey returned to England to make preparations, leaving
Jaqueline at Mons, with her mother. The latter proved false
and allowed the citizens of Mons to deliver up the unhappy
lady to Philip of Burgundy. Her English husband found himself
powerless to render her much aid, and was possibly indifferent
to her fate, since another woman had caught his fancy.
Jaqueline, after a time, escaped from her captivity, and
revived the war in Hainault, Gloucester sending her 500 men.
"The Duke of Brabant died, and reports reached her that
Gloucester had married Eleanor Cobham; but she continued to
battle for her county till 1428, when she finally came to
terms with Philippe [of Burgundy], let him garrison her
fortresses, appointed him her heir, and promised not to marry
without his consent. A year or two after, however, she married
a gentleman of Holland called Frank of Burslem, upon which he
was seized by the Burgundians. To purchase his liberty she
yielded all her dominions, and only received an annual pension
until 1436, when she died, having brought about as much strife
and dissension as any woman of her time."

_C. M. Yonge,
Cameos of English History,
series 2, chapter 33._

ALSO IN:
_E. de Monstrelet,
Chronicles
(translated by Johnes),
book 1, chapters 164, 181, 234,
book 2, chapters 22-32, 48-49._

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 1, chapters 5-6._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1428-1430.
The sovereignty of the House of Burgundy established.

"Upon the surrender of Holland, Zealand, Friezland, and
Hainault by Jacoba, Philip [the duke of Burgundy called Philip
the Good] became possessed of the most considerable states of
the Netherlands. John, duke of Burgundy, his father, had
succeeded to Flanders and Artois, in right of his mother
Margaret, sole heiress of Louis van der Male, count of
Flanders. In the year 1429, Philip entered into possession of
the county of Namur, by the death of Theodore, its last native
prince, without issue, of whom he had purchased it during his
lifetime for 132,000 crowns of gold. To Namur was added in the
next year the neighbouring duchy of Brabant, by the death [A.
D. 1430] of Philip (brother of John, who married Jacoba of
Holland), without issue; although Margaret, countess-dowager
of Holland, aunt of the late duke, stood the next in
succession, since the right extended to females, Philip
prevailed with the states of Brabant to confer on him, as the
true heir, that duchy and Limburg, to which the Margraviate of
Antwerp and the lordship of Mechlin were annexed. … The
accession of a powerful and ambitious prince to the government
of the county was anything but a source of advantage to the
Dutch, excepting, perhaps, in a commercial point of view."

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 2, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1451-1453.
Revolt of Ghent.

See GHENT: A. D. 1451-1453.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1456.
The Burgundian hand laid on Utrecht.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1456.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1473.
Guelderland taken into the Burgundian dominion.

See GUELDERLAND: A. D. 1079-1473.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1477.
The severance from Burgundy.
Accession of the Duchess Mary.
The grant of the "Great Privilege."

On the fifth of January, 1477, Charles the Bold of Burgundy
came to his end at Nancy, and Louis XI. of France laid prompt
and sure hands on the Burgundian duchy, which remained
thenceforth united to the French crown. It was the further
intention of Louis to secure more or less of the Netherland
domain of the late duke, and he began seizures to that end.
But the Netherland states much preferred to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the young duchess Mary, daughter and sole
heiress of Charles the Bold, provided she would make proper
terms with them. "Shortly after her accession, the nobles, to
whose guardianship she had been committed by Charles before
his departure, summoned a general assembly of the states of
the Netherlands at Ghent, to devise means for arresting the
enterprises of Louis, and for raising funds to support the war
with France, as well as to consider the state of affairs in
the provinces. … This is the first regular assembly of the
states-general of the Netherlands. … Charles, and his
father, Philip, had exercised in the Netherlands a species of
government far more arbitrary than the inhabitants had until
then been accustomed to. … It now appeared that a favourable
opportunity offered itself for rectifying these abuses; and
the assembly, therefore, made the consideration of them a
preliminary to the grant of any supplies for the war. … They
insisted so firmly on this resolution that Mary, finding they
were determined to refuse any subsidies till their grievances
were redressed, consented to grant charters of privileges to
all the states of the Netherlands. That of Holland and Zealand
[was] commonly called the Great Charter."

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 2, chapter 2 (volume 1), with foot-note._

{2253}

"The result of the deliberations [of the assembly of the
states, in 1477] is the formal grant by Duchess Mary of the
'Groot Privilegie,' or Great Privilege, the Magna Charta of
Holland. Although this instrument was afterwards violated, and
indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic. It
was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights, not an
acquisition of new privileges. It was a restoration, not a
revolution. Its principal points deserve attention from those
interested in the political progress of mankind. 'The duchess
shall not marry without consent of the estates of her
provinces. All offices in her gift shall be conferred on
natives only. No man shall fill two offices. No office shall
be farmed. The Great Council and Supreme Court of Holland is
re-established. Causes shall be brought before it on appeal
from the ordinary courts. It shall have no original
jurisdiction of matters within the cognizance of the
provincial and municipal tribunals. The estates and cities are
guaranteed in their right not to be summoned to justice beyond
the limits of their territory. The cities, in common with all
the provinces of the Netherlands, may hold diets as often and
at such places as they choose. No new taxes shall be imposed
but by consent of the provincial estates. Neither the duchess
nor her descendants shall begin either an offensive or
defensive war without consent of the estates. In case a war be
illegally undertaken, the estates are not bound to contribute
to its maintenance. In all public and legal documents, the
Netherland language shall be employed. The commands of the
duchess shall be invalid, if conflicting with the privileges
of a city. The seat of the Supreme Council is transferred from
Mechlin to the Hague. No money shall be coined, nor its value
raised or lowered, but by consent of the estates. Cities are
not to be compelled to contribute to requests which they have
not voted. The Sovereign shall come in person before the
estates, to make his request for supplies.' … Certainly, for
the fifteenth century, the 'Great Privilege' was a reasonably
liberal constitution. Where else upon earth, at that day, was
there half so much liberty as was thus guaranteed?"

_J. L. Motley,
The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
introduction, section 8._

ALSO IN:
_L. S. Costello,
Memoirs of Mary of Burgundy,
chapters 28-30._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1477.
The Austrian marriage of Mary of Burgundy.

"Several husbands were proposed to the Princess of Burgundy,
and every one was of opinion there was a necessity of her
marrying, to defend those territories that she had left to
her, or (by marrying the dauphin), to recover what she had
lost.

See BURGUNDY: A. D. 1477.

Several were entirely for this match, and she was as earnest
for it as anybody, before the letters she had sent by the Lord
of Humbercourt and the chancellor to the king [Louis XI.] were
betrayed to the ambassadors from Ghent. Some opposed the
match, and urged the disproportion of their age, the dauphin
being but nine years old, and besides engaged to the King of
England's daughter; and these suggested the son of the Duke of
Cleves. Others recommended Maximilian, the emperor's son, who
is at present King of the Romans." Duchess Mary made choice
presently of Maximilian, then Archduke of Austria, afterwards
King of the Romans and finally emperor. The husband-elect
"came to Cologne, where several of the princess's servants
went to meet him, and carry him money, with which, as I have
been told, he was but very slenderly furnished; for his father
was the stingiest and most covetous prince, or person, of his
time. The Duke of Austria was conducted to Ghent, with about
700 or 800 horse in his retinue, and this marriage was
consummated [August 18, 1477], which at first sight brought no
great advantage to the subjects of the young princess; for,
instead of his supporting her, she was forced to supply him
with money. His armies were neither strong enough nor in a
condition to face the king's; besides which, the humour of the
house of Austria was not pleasing to the subjects of the house
of Burgundy, who had been bred up under wealthy princes, that
had lucrative offices and employments to dispose of; whose
palaces were sumptuous, whose tables were nobly served, whose
dress was magnificent, and whose liveries were pompous and
splendid. But the Germans are of quite a contrary temper;
boorish in their manners and rude in their way of living."

_Philip de Commines,
Memoirs,
book 6, chapter 2 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_L. S. Costello,
Memoirs of Mary of Burgundy,
chapter 31._

See, also, AUSTRIA: A. D. 1477-1495.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1482-1493.
Maximilian and the Flemings.
The end of the Hook party in Holland.

"According to the terms of the marriage treaty between
Maximilian and Mary, their eldest son, Philip, succeeded to
the sovereignty of the Netherlands immediately upon the death
of his mother [March 26, 1482]. As he was at this time only
four years of age, Maximilian obtained the acknowledgment of
himself as guardian of the young count's person, and protector
of his states, by all the provinces except Flanders and
Guelderland. The Flemings having secured the person of Philip
at Ghent, appointed a regency." To reduce the Flemings to
obedience, Maximilian carried on two campaigns in their
country, during 1484 and 1485, as the result of which Ghent
and Bruges surrendered. "Maximilian was acknowledged protector
of Flanders during the minority of Philip, who was delivered
by the Ghenters into the hands of his father, and by him
entrusted to the care of Margaret of York, Duchess-dowager of
Burgundy, until he became of age." Three years later
(1488)—Maximilian having been, in the meantime, crowned "King
of the Romans," at Aix la Chapelle, and thus cadetted, so to
speak, for his subsequent coronation as emperor—the Flemings
rose again in revolt, Maximilian was at Bruges, and rumor
accused him of a design to occupy the city with German troops.
The men of Bruges forestalled the attempt by seizing him
personally and making him a prisoner. They kept him in durance
for nearly four months, until he had signed a treaty, agreeing
to surrender the government of the Netherlands to the young
Duke Philip, his son; to place the latter under the care of
the princes of the blood (his relatives on the Burgundian
side); to withdraw all foreign troops, and to use his
endeavors to preserve peace with France.
{2254}
On these terms Maximilian obtained his liberty; but, meantime,
his father, the Emperor Frederic, had marched an army to the
frontiers of Brabant for his deliverance, and the very
honorable King of the Romans, making haste to the shelter of
these forces, repudiated with alacrity all the engagements he
had sworn to. His imperial father led the army he had brought
into Flanders and laid siege to Ghent; but tired of the
undertaking after six weeks and returned to Germany, leaving
his forces to prosecute the siege and the war. The commotions
in Flanders now brought to life the popular party of the
"Hooks" in Holland, and war broke out in that province. In
neither part of the Netherlands were the insurgents
successful. The Flemings had been helped by France, and when
the French king abandoned them they were forced to buy a peace
on humiliating terms and for a heavy price in cash. In
Holland, the revolt languished for a time, but broke out with
fresh spirit in 1490, excited by an edict which summarily
altered the value of the coin. In the next year it took the
name of the "Casembrotspel," or Bread and Cheese War. This
insurrection was suppressed in 1492, with the help of German
troops, and proved only disastrous to the province. "It was
the last effort made for a considerable time by the Hollanders
against the increasing power and extortion of their counts.
… The miserable remnant of the Hook or popular party melted
so entirely away that we hear of them no more in Holland: the
county, formerly a power respected in itself, was now become a
small and despised portion of an overgrown state." In 1494,
Philip having reached the age of seventeen, and Maximilian
having become emperor by the death of his father, the latter
surrendered and the former was installed in the government of
the Netherlands.

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 2, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1494-1519.
Beginning of the Austro-Spanish tyranny.
Absorption in the vast dominion of Charles V.
The seventeen Provinces, their independent constitutions and
their States-General.

"In 1494, Philip, now 17 years of age, became sovereign of the
Netherlands. But he would only swear to maintain the
privileges granted by his grandfather and great-grandfather,
Charles and Philip, and refused to acquiesce in the Great
Privilege of his mother. The Estates acquiesced. For a time,
Friesland, the outlying province of Holland, was severed from
it. It was free, and it chose as its elective sovereign the
Duke of Saxony. After a time he sold his sovereignty to the
House of Hapsburg. The dissensions of the Estates had put them
at the mercy of an autocratic family. Philip of Burgundy, in
1496, married Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. In
1500 his son Charles was born, who was afterwards Charles V.,
Duke of the Netherlands, but also King of Spain, Emperor of
Germany, King of Jerusalem, and, by the grant of Alexander
VI., alias Roderic Borgia and Pope, lord of the whole new
world. Joanna, his mother, through whom he had this vast
inheritance, went mad, and remained mad during her life and
his.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1496-1517.

Charles not only inherited his mother's and father's
sovereignties, but his grandfather's also.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1496-1526].

… The peril which the liberties of the Netherlands were now
running was greater than ever. They had been drawn into the
hands of that dynasty which, beginning with two little Spanish
kingdoms [Castile and Aragon], had in a generation developed
into the mightiest of monarchies. … Charles succeeded his
father Philip as Count of Flanders in 1506. His father, Philip
the Handsome, was at Burgos in Castile, where he was attacked
by fever, and died when only 28 years of age. Ten years
afterwards Charles became King of Spain (1516). When he was 19
years of age (1519) he was elected emperor.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1519.

The three nations over whom he was destined to rule hated each
other cordially. There was antipathy from the beginning
between Flemings and Spaniards. The Netherlands nobles were
detested in Spain, the Spaniards in the Low Countries were
equally abhorred. … Charles was born in Flanders, and during
his whole career was much more a Fleming than a Spaniard. This
did not, however, prevent him from considering his Flemish
subjects as mainly destined to supply his wants, and submit to
his exactions. He was always hard pressed for money. The
Germans were poor and turbulent. The conquest and subjection
of the Moorish population in Spain had seriously injured the
industrial wealth of that country. But the Flemings were
increasing in riches, particularly the inhabitants of Ghent.
They had to supply the funds which Charles required in order
to carry out the operations which his necessities or his
policy rendered urgent. He had been taught, and he readily
believed, that his subjects' money was his own. Now just as
Charles had come to the empire, two circumstances had occurred
which have had a lasting influence over the affairs of Western
Europe. The first of these was the conquest of Egypt by the
Turks under Selim I (1512-20). … Egypt had for nearly two
centuries been the only route by which Eastern produce, so
much valued by European nations, could reach the consumer. …
Now this trade, trifling to be sure to our present experience,
was of the highest importance to the trading towns of Italy,
the Rhine, and the Netherlands. … But the Netherlands had
two industries which saved them from the losses which affected
the Germans and Italians. They were still the weavers of the
world. They still had the most successful fisheries. … The
other cause was the revolt against the papacy" [the
Reformation—see PAPACY: A. D. 1516-1517, and after].

_J. E. T. Rogers,
The Story of Holland,
chapters 5-6._

The seventeen provinces comprehended under the name of the
Netherlands, as ruled by Charles V., were the four duchies of
Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, and Guelderland; the seven
counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen,
Holland, and Zealand; the five seigniories or lordships of
Friesland, Mechlin, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen; and the
margraviate of Antwerp. "Of these provinces, the four which
adjoined the French border, and in which a French dialect was
spoken, were called Walloon [see WALLOONS]; in the other
provinces a dialect, more or less resembling German,
prevailed, that of the midland ones being Flemish, that of the
northern, Dutch. They differed still more in their laws and
customs than in language. Each province was an independent
state, having its own constitution, which secured more liberty
to those who lived under it than was then commonly enjoyed in
most other parts of Europe. …
{2255}
The only institutions which supplied any links of union among
the different provinces were the States-General, or assembly
of deputies sent from each, and the Supreme Tribunal
established at Mechlin, having an appellate jurisdiction over
them all. The States-General, however, had no legislative
authority, nor power to impose taxes, and were but rarely
convened. … The members of the States-General were not
representatives chosen by the people, but deputies, or
ambassadors, from certain provinces. The different provinces
had also their own States."

_T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 2, pages 221-222._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1512.
Burgundian provinces included in the Circle of Burgundy.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1493-1519.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1521-1555.
The Reformation in the Provinces.
The "Placards" and Persecutions of Charles V.
The Edict of 1550.
The Planting of the Inquisition.

"The people of the Netherlands were noted not less for their
ingenuity shown in the invention of machines and implements,
and for their proficiency in science and letters, than for
their opulence and enterprise. It was their boast that common
laborers, even the fishermen who dwelt in the huts of
Friesland, could read and write, and discuss the
interpretation of Scripture. … In such a population, among
the countrymen of Erasmus, where, too, in previous ages,
various forms of innovation and dissent had arisen, the
doctrines of Luther must inevitably find an entrance. They
were brought in by foreign merchants, 'together with whose
commodities,' writes the old Jesuit historian Strada, 'this
plague often sails.' They were introduced with the German and
Swiss soldiers, whom Charles V. had occasion to bring into the
country. Protestantism was also transplanted from England by
numerous exiles who fled from the persecution of Mary. The
contiguity of the country to Germany and France provided
abundant avenues for the incoming of the new opinions. 'Nor
did the Rhine from Germany, or the Meuse from France,' to
quote the regretful language of Strada, 'send more water into
the Low Countries, than by the one the contagion of Luther, by
the other of Calvin, was imported into the same Belgic
provinces.' The spirit and occupations of the people, the
whole atmosphere of the country, were singularly propitious
for the spread of the Protestant movement. The cities of
Flanders and Brabant, especially Antwerp, very early furnished
professors of the new faith. Charles V. issued, in 1521, from
Worms, an edict, the first of a series of barbarous enactments
or 'Placards,' for the extinguishing of heresy in the
Netherlands; and it did not remain a dead letter. In 1523, two
Augustinian monks were burned at the stake in Brussels. …
The edicts against heresy were imperfectly executed. The
Regent, Margaret of Savoy, was lukewarm in the business of
persecution; and her successor, Maria, the Emperor's sister,
the widowed Queen of Hungary, was still more leniently
disposed. The Protestants rapidly increased in number.
Calvinism, from the influence of France, and of Geneva, where
young men were sent to be educated, came to prevail among
them. Anabaptists and other licentious or fanatical sectaries,
such as appeared elsewhere in the wake of the Reformation,
were numerous; and their excesses afforded a plausible pretext
for violent measures of repression against all who departed
from the old faith. In 1550, Charles V. issued a new Placard,
in which the former persecuting edicts were confirmed, and in
which a reference was made to Inquisitors of the faith, as
well as to the ordinary judges of the bishops. This excited
great alarm, since the Inquisition was an object of extreme
aversion and dread. The foreign merchants prepared to leave
Antwerp, prices fell, trade was to a great extent suspended;
and such was the disaffection excited, that the Regent Maria
interceded for some modification of the obnoxious decree.
Verbal changes were made, but the fears of the people were not
quieted; and it was published at Antwerp in connection with a
protest of the magistrates in behalf of the liberties which
were put in peril by a tribunal of the character threatened.
'And,' says the learned Arminian historian, 'as this affair of
the Inquisition and the oppression from Spain prevailed more
and more, all men began to be convinced that they were
destined to perpetual slavery.' Although there was much
persecution in the Netherlands during the long reign of
Charles, yet the number of martyrs could not have been so
great as 50,000, the number mentioned by one writer, much less
100,000, the number given by Grotius."

_G. P. Fisher,
The Reformation,
chapter 9._

"His hand [that of Charles V.] planted the inquisition in the
Netherlands. Before his day it is idle to say that the
diabolical institution ever had a place there. The isolated
cases in which inquisitors had exercised functions proved the
absence and not the presence of the system. … Charles
introduced and organized a papal inquisition, side by side
with those terrible 'placards' of his invention, which
constituted a masked inquisition even more cruel than that of
Spain. … The number of Netherlanders who were burned,
strangled, beheaded, or buried alive, in obedience to his
edicts … has been placed as high as 100,000 by distinguished
authorities, and have never been put at a lower mark than
50,000. The Venetian envoy Navigero placed the number of
victims in the provinces of Holland and Friesland alone at
30,000, and this in 1546, ten years before the abdication, and
five before the promulgation of the hideous edict of 1550. …
'No one,' said the edict [of 1550], 'shall print, write, copy,
keep, conceal, sell, buy, or give in churches, streets, or
other places, any book or writing made by Martin Luther, John
Ecolampadius, Ulrich Zwinglius, Martin Bucer, John Calvin, or
other heretics reprobated by the Holy Church; … nor break,
or otherwise injure the images of the holy virgin or canonized
saints; … nor in his house hold conventicles, or illegal
gatherings, or be present at any such in which the adherents
of the above-mentioned heretics teach, baptize, and form
conspiracies against the Holy Church and the general welfare.
… Moreover, we forbid … all lay persons to converse or
dispute concerning the Holy Scriptures, openly or secretly,
especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or to read,
teach, or expound the Scriptures, unless they have duly
studied theology and been approved by some renowned
university; … or to preach secretly, or openly, or to
entertain any of the opinions of the above-mentioned heretics.
… Such perturbators of the general quiet are to be executed,
to wit: the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive,
if they do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in
them they are to be executed with fire; all their property in
both cases being confiscated to the crown.'"

The horrible edict further bribed informers, by promising to
them half the goods of a convicted heretic, while, at the same
time, it forbade, under sharp penalties, any petitioning for
pardon in favor of such heretics.

_J. L. Motley,
The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
part 1, chapter 1,
and part 2, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_J. H. Merle d'Aubigne,
History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin,
book 13, chapters 9-11 (volume 7)._

{2265}

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1539-1540.
The revolt and enslavement of Ghent.

See GHENT: A. D. 1539-1540.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1547.
Pragmatic Sanction of Charles V. changing the Relations of
his Burgundian inheritance to the Empire.

In the Germanic diet assembled at Augsburg in 1547, after the
Emperor's defeat of the Protestant princes at Muhlberg (see
GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552), he was able to exercise his will
almost without opposition and decree arbitrarily whatever he
chose. He there "proclaimed the Pragmatic Sanction for the
Netherlands, whereby his old Burgundian inheritance was
declared by his own law to be indivisible, the succession
settled on the house of Hapsburg, it was attached to the
German empire as a tenth district, had to pay certain
contributions, but was not to be subject to the Imperial
Chamber or the Imperial Court of Judicature. He thus secured
the personal union of these territories with his house, and
made it the duty of the empire to defend them, while at the
same time he withdrew them from the jurisdiction of the
empire; it was a union by which the private interests of the
house of Hapsburg had everything to gain, but which was of no
advantage to the empire."

_L. Häusser,
The Period of the Reformation,
chapter 16._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555.
The Abdication of Charles V.
Accession of Philip II.
His sworn promises.

"In the autumn of this year [1555] the world was astonished by
the declaration of the emperor's intention to resign all his
vast dominions, and spend the remainder of his days in a
cloister. … On the 25th of October, the day appointed for
the ceremony [of the surrender of the sovereignty of the
Netherlands], the knights of the Golden Fleece, and the
deputies of all the states of the Netherlands assembled at
Brussels. … On the day after the emperor's resignation the
mutual oaths were taken by Philip and the states of Holland;
the former swore to maintain all the privileges which they now
enjoyed, including those granted or confirmed at his
installation as heir in 1549. He afterwards renewed the
promise made by Charles in the month of May preceding, that no
office in Holland, except that of stadtholder, should be given
to foreigners or to Netherlanders of those provinces in which
Hollanders were excluded from offices. In the January of the
next year [1556] the emperor resigned the crown of Spain to
his son, reserving only an annuity of 100,000 crowns, and on
the 7th of September following, having proceeded to Zealand to
join the fleet destined to carry him to Spain, he surrendered
the imperial dignity to his brother Ferdinand." He then
proceeded to the cloister of St. Just, near Piacenza, where he
lived in retirement until his death, which occurred August 21,
1558.

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 2, chapter 6 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_W. Stirling,
Cloister Life of Charles V._

_O. Delepierre,
Historical Difficulties,
chapter 10._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555-1559.
Opening of the dark and bloody reign of Philip II. of Spain.
His malignity.
His perfidy.
His evil and plotting industry.

"Philip, bred in this [Spanish] school of slavish
superstition, taught that he was the despot for whom it was
formed, familiar with the degrading tactics of eastern
tyranny, was at once the most contemptible and unfortunate of
men. … He was perpetually filled with one idea—that of his
greatness; he had but one ambition—that of command; but one
enjoyment—that of exciting fear. … Deceit and blood were
his greatest, if not his only, delights. The religious zeal
which he affected, or felt, showed itself but in acts of
cruelty; and the fanatic bigotry which inspired him formed the
strongest contrast to the divine spirit of Christianity. …
Although ignorant, he had a prodigious instinct of cunning. He
wanted courage, but its place was supplied by the harsh
obstinacy of wounded pride. All the corruptions of intrigue
were familiar to him; yet he often failed in his most
deep-laid designs, at the very moment of their apparent
success, by the recoil of the bad faith and treachery with
which his plans were overcharged. Such was the man who now
began that terrible reign which menaced utter ruin to the
national prosperity of the Netherlands. … Philip had only
once visited the Netherlands before his accession to sovereign
power. … Every thing that he observed on this visit was
calculated to revolt both [his opinions and his prejudices].
The frank cordiality of the people appeared too familiar. The
expression of popular rights sounded like the voice of
rebellion. Even the magnificence displayed in his honour
offended his jealous vanity. From that moment he seems to have
conceived an implacable aversion to the country, in which
alone, of all his vast possessions, he could not display the
power or inspire the terror of despotism. The sovereign's
dislike was fully equalled by the disgust of his subjects. …
Yet Philip did not at first act in a way to make himself more
particularly hated. He rather, by an apparent consideration
for a few points of political interest and individual
privilege, and particularly by the revocation of some of the
edicts against heretics, removed the suspicions his earlier
conduct had excited; and his intended victims did not perceive
that the despot sought to lull them to sleep, in the hopes of
making them an easier prey. Philip knew well that force alone
was insufficient to reduce such a people to slavery. He
succeeded in persuading the states to grant him considerable
subsidies, some of which were to be paid by instalments during
a period of nine years. That was gaining a great step towards
his designs. … At the same time he sent secret agents to
Rome, to obtain the approbation of the pope to his insidious
but most effective plan for placing the whole of the clergy in
dependence upon the crown. He also kept up the army of
Spaniards and Germans which his father had formed on the
frontiers of France; and although he did not remove from their
employments the functionaries already in place, he took care
to make no new appointments to office among the natives of the
Netherlands. … To lead his already, deceived subjects the
more surely into the snare, he announced his intended
departure on a short visit to Spain; and created for the
period of his absence a provisional government, chiefly
composed of the leading men among the Belgian nobility.
{2257}
He flattered himself that the states, dazzled by the
illustrious illusion thus prepared, would cheerfully grant to
this provisional government the right of levying taxes during
the temporary absence of the sovereign. He also reckoned on
the influence of the clergy in the national assembly, to
procure the revival of the edicts against heresy, which he had
gained the merit of suspending. … As soon as the states had
consented to place the whole powers of government in the hands
of the new administration for the period of the king's
absence, the royal hypocrite believed his scheme secure, and
flattered himself he had established an instrument of durable
despotism. … The edicts against heresy, soon adopted
[including a re-enactment of the terrible edict of 1550—see
above], gave to the clergy an almost unlimited power over the
lives and fortunes of the people. But almost all the
dignitaries of the church being men of great respectability
and moderation, chosen by the body of the inferior clergy,
these extraordinary powers excited little alarm. Philip's
project was suddenly to replace these virtuous ecclesiastics
by others of his own choice [through a creation of new
bishoprics], as soon as the states broke up from their annual
meeting; and for this intention he had procured the secret
consent and authority of the court of Rome. In support of
these combinations, the Belgian troops were completely broken
up and scattered in small bodies over the country. … To
complete the execution of this system of perfidy, Philip
convened an assembly of all the states at Ghent, in the month
of July, 1559. … Anthony Perrenotte de Granvelle, bishop of
Arras [afterwards cardinal], who was considered as Philip's
favorite counsellor, but who was in reality no more than his
docile agent, was commissioned to address the assembly in the
name of his master, who spoke only Spanish. His oration was
one of cautious deception." It announced the appointment of
Margaret, duchess of Parma, a natural daughter of Charles V.,
and therefore half-sister of Philip, to preside as regent over
the government of the Netherlands during the absence of the
sovereign. It also urged with skilful plausibility certain
requests for money on the part of the latter. "But
notwithstanding all the talent, the caution, and the mystery
of Philip and his minister, there was among the nobles one man
[William of Nassau, prince of Orange and stadtholder, or
governor, of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht] who saw through
all. Without making himself suspiciously prominent, he
privately warned some members of the states of the coming
danger. Those in whom he confided did not betray the trust.
They spread among the other deputies the alarm, and pointed
out the danger to which they had been so judiciously awakened.
The consequence was, a reply to Philip's demand, in vague and
general terms, without binding the nation by any pledge; and
an unanimous entreaty that he would diminish the taxes,
withdraw the foreign troops, and entrust no official
employments to any but natives of the country. The object of
this last request was the removal of Granvelle, who was born
in Franche-Comte. Philip was utterly astounded at all this. In
the first moment of his vexation he imprudently cried out,
'Would ye, then, also bereave me of my place; I, who am a
Spaniard?' But he soon recovered his self-command, and resumed
his usual mask; expressed his regret at not having sooner
learned the wishes of the state; promised to remove the
foreign troops within three months; and set off for Zealand,
with assumed composure, but filled with the fury of a
discovered traitor and a humiliated despot." In August, 1559,
he sailed for Spain.

_T. C. Grattan,
History of the Netherlands,
chapter 7._

"Crafty, saturnine, atrabilious, always dissembling and
suspecting, sombre, and silent like night when brooding over
the hatching storm, he lived shrunk within himself, with only
the fellowship of his gloomy thoughts and cruel resolves. …
There is something terrific in the secrecy, dissimulation and
dogged perseverance with which Philip would, during a series
of years, meditate and prepare the destruction of one man, or
of a whole population, and something still more awful in the
icy indifference, the superhuman insensibility, the
accumulated cold-blooded energy of hoarded-up vengeance with
which, at the opportune moment, he would issue a dry sentence
of extermination. … He seemed to take pleasure in
distilling, slowly and chemically, the poison which,
Python-like, he darted at every object which he detested or
feared, or which he considered an obstacle in his path."

_C. Gayarre,
Philip II. of Spain,
chapter 1._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1559-1562.
The Spanish troops, the new bishoprics,
and the shadow of the Inquisition.
The appeal of Brabant to its ancient "Joyeuse Entrée."

"The first cause of trouble, after Philip's departure from the
Netherlands, arose from the detention of the Spanish troops
there. The king had pledged his word … that they should
leave the country by the end of four months, at farthest. Yet
that period had long since passed, and no preparations were
made for their departure. The indignation of the people rose
higher and higher at the insult thus offered by the presence
of these detested foreigners. It was a season of peace. No
invasion was threatened from abroad; no insurrection existed
at home. … Granvelle himself, who would willingly have
pleased his master by retaining a force in the country on
which he could rely, admitted that the project was
impracticable. 'The troops must be withdrawn,' he wrote, 'and
that speedily, or the consequence will be an insurrection.'
… The Prince of Orange and Count Egmont threw up the
commands intrusted to them by the king. They dared no longer
hold them, as the minister added, it was so unpopular. … Yet
Philip was slow in returning an answer to the importunate
letters of the regent and the minister; and when he did reply,
it was to evade their request. … The regent, however, saw
that, with or without instructions, it was necessary to act.
… The troops were ordered to Zealand, in order to embark for
Spain. But the winds proved unfavorable. Two months longer
they were detained, on shore or on board the transports. They
soon got into brawls with the workmen employed on the dikes;
and the inhabitants, still apprehensive of orders from the
king countermanding the departure of the Spaniards, resolved,
in such an event, to abandon the dikes, and lay the country
under water! Fortunately, they were not driven to this
extremity.
{2258}
In January, 1561, more than a year after the date assigned by
Philip, the nation was relieved of the presence of the
intruders. … This difficulty was no sooner settled than it
was followed by another scarcely less serious." Arrangements
had been made for "adding 13 new bishoprics to the four
already existing in the Netherlands. … The whole affair had
been kept profoundly secret by the government. It was not till
1561 that Philip disclosed his views, in a letter to some of
the principal nobles in the council of state. But, long before
that time, the project had taken wind, and created a general
sensation through the country. The people looked on it as an
attempt to subject them to the same ecclesiastical system
which existed in Spain. The bishops, by virtue of their
office, were possessed of certain inquisitorial powers, and
these were still further enlarged by the provisions of the
royal edicts. … The present changes were regarded as part of
a great scheme for introducing the Spanish Inquisition into
the Netherlands. … The nobles had other reasons for opposing
the measure. The bishops would occupy in the legislature the
place formerly held by the abbots, who were indebted for their
election to the religious houses over which they presided. The
new prelates, on the contrary, would receive their nomination
from the crown; and the nobles saw with alarm their own
independence menaced by the accession of an order of men who
would naturally be subservient to the interests of the
monarch. … But the greatest opposition arose from the manner
in which the new dignitaries were to be maintained. This was
to be done by suppressing the offices of the abbots, and by
appropriating the revenues of their houses to the maintenance
of the bishops. … Just before Philip's departure from the
Netherlands, a bull arrived from Rome authorizing the erection
of the new bishoprics. This was but the initiatory step. Many
other proceedings were necessary before the consummation of
the affair. Owing to impediments thrown in the way by the
provinces, and the habitual tardiness of the court of Rome,
nearly three years elapsed before the final briefs were
expedited by Pius IV."

_W. H. Prescott,
History of the Reign of Philip II.,
book 2, chapter 6 (volume 1)._

"Against the arbitrary policy embodied in the edicts, the new
bishoprics and the foreign soldiery, the Netherlanders
appealed to their ancient constitutions. These charters were
called 'handvests', in the vernacular Dutch and Flemish,
because the sovereign made them fast with his hand. As already
stated, Philip had made them faster than any of the princes of
his house had ever done, so far as oath and signature could
accomplish that purpose, both as hereditary prince in 1549,
and as monarch in 1555. … Of these constitutions, that of
Brabant, known by the title of the 'joyeuse entrée' 'blyde
inkomst,' or blythe entrance, furnished the most decisive
barrier against the present wholesale tyranny. First and
foremost, the 'joyous entry' provided, 'that the prince of the
land should not elevate the clerical state higher than of old
has been customary and by former princes settled; unless by
consent of the other two estates, the nobility and the
cities.' Again, 'the prince can prosecute no one of his
subjects, nor any foreign resident, civilly or criminally,
except in the ordinary and open courts of justice in the
province, where the accused may answer and defend himself with
the help of advocates.' Further, 'the prince shall appoint no
foreigners to office in Brabant.' Lastly 'should the prince,
by force or otherwise, violate any of these privileges, the
inhabitants of Brabant, after regular protest entered, are
discharged of their oaths of allegiance, and, as free,
independent, and unbound people, may conduct themselves
exactly as seems to them best.' Such were the leading
features, so far as they regarded the points now at issue, of
that famous constitution which was so highly esteemed in the
Netherlands, that mothers came to the province in order to
give birth to their children, who might thus enjoy, as a
birthright, the privileges of Brabant. Yet the charters of the
other provinces ought to have been as effective against the
arbitrary course of the government. 'No foreigner,' said the
constitution of Holland, 'is eligible as councillor,
financier, magistrate, or member of a court. Justice can be
administered only by the ordinary tribunals and magistrates.
The ancient laws and customs shall remain inviolable. Should
the prince infringe any of these provisions, no one is bound
to obey him.' These provisions from the Brabant and Holland
charters are only cited as illustrative of the general spirit
of the provincial constitutions. Nearly all the provinces
possessed privileges equally ample, duly signed and sealed."

_J. L. Motley,
The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
part 2, chapter 2 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_E. E. Crowe,
Cardinal Granvelle
(Eminent Foreign Statesmen, volume 1)._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1562-1566.
Beginning of organized resistance to the tyranny
and persecution of Philip.
The signing of the Compromise.
The League of the Gueux.