Chapter IV: , VII (189)

Leicester sailed for the Hague in the middle of December,
1585, having been preceded by 8,000 English troops, eager to
prevent or revenge the fall of Antwerp. "Had there been good
faith and resolution, and had Lord Grey, or Sir Richard
Bingham, or Sir John Norris been in command, 20,000 Dutch and
English troops might have taken the field in perfect
condition. The States would have spent their last dollar to
find them in everything which soldiers could need. They would
have had at their backs the enthusiastic sympathy of the
population, while the enemy was as universally abhorred; and
Parma, exhausted by his efforts in the great siege, with his
chest empty, and his ranks thinned almost to extinction, could
not have encountered them with a third of their numbers. A
lost battle would have been followed by a renewed revolt of
the reconciled Provinces, and Elizabeth, if she found peace so
necessary to her, might have dictated her own conditions." But
months passed and nothing was done, while Queen Elizabeth was
treacherously negotiating with agents of Spain. In the summer
of 1586, "half and more than half of the brave men who had
come over in the past September were dead. Their places were
taken by new levies gathered in haste upon the highways, or by
mutinous regiments of Irish kernes, confessed Catholics, and
led by a man [Sir William Stanley] who was only watching an
opportunity to betray his sovereign. … Gone was now the
enthusiasm which had welcomed the landing of Leicester. In the
place of it was suspicion and misgiving, distracted councils,
and divided purposes. Elizabeth while she was diplomatising
held her army idle. Parma, short-handed as he was, treated
with his hand upon his sword, and was for ever carving slice
on slice from the receding frontiers of the States. At the
time of Leicester's installation he was acting on the Meuse.
He held the river as far as Venloo. Venloo and Grave were in
the hands of the patriots, both of them strong fortresses, the
latter especially. … After the fall of Antwerp these two
towns were Parma's next object. The siege of Grave was formed
in January. In April Colonel Norris and Count Hohenlohe forced
the Spanish lines and threw in supplies; but Elizabeth's
orders prevented further effort. Parma came before the town in
person in June, and after a bombardment which produced little
or no effect, Grave, to the surprise of everyone, surrendered.
Count Hemart, the governor, was said to have been corrupted,
by his mistress. Leicester hanged him; but Hemart's gallows
did not recover Grave or save Venloo, which surrendered also
three weeks later. The Earl, conscious of the disgrace, yet
seeing no way to mend it, … was willing at last to play into
his mistress's hands. He understood her [Queen Elizabeth] at
last, and saw what she was aiming at. 'As the cause is now
followed,' he wrote to her on the 27th of June, 'it is not
worth the cost or the danger. … They [the Netherlanders]
would rather have lived with bread and drink under your
Majesty's protection than with all their possessions under the
King of Spain. It has almost broken their hearts to think your
Majesty should not care any more for them. But if you mean
soon to leave them they will be gone almost before you hear of
it. I will do my best, therefore, to get into my hands three
or four most principal places in North Holland, so as you
shall rule these men, and make war and peace as you list. Part
not with Brill for anything. With these places you can have
what peace you will in an hour, and have your debts and
charges readily answered. But your Majesty must deal
graciously with them at present, and if you mean to leave them
keep it to yourself.' … No palliation can be suggested, of
the intentions to which Leicester saw that she was still
clinging, and which he was willing to further in spite of his
oath to be loyal to the States. … The incapacity of
Leicester … was growing evident. He had been used as a lay
figure to dazzle the eyes of the Provinces, while both he and
they were mocked by the secret treaty. The treaty was hanging
fire. … The Queen had … so far opened her eyes as to see
that she was not improving her position by keeping her army
idle; and Leicester, that he might not part with his
government in entire disgrace, having done absolutely nothing,
took the field for a short campaign in the middle of August
[1586].
{2274}
Parma had established himself in Gelderland, at Zutphen, and
Duesberg. The States held Deventer, further down the Issel;
but Deventer would probably fall as Grave and Venloo had
fallen if the Spaniards kept their hold upon the river;
Leicester therefore proposed to attempt to recover Zutphen.
Everyone was delighted to be moving. … The Earl of Essex,
Sir William Russell, Lord Willoughby, and others who held no
special commands, attached themselves to Leicester's staff;
Sir Philip Sidney obtained leave of absence from Flushing; Sir
John Norris and his brother brought the English contingent of
the States army; Sir William Stanley had arrived with his
Irishmen; and with these cavaliers glittering about him, and
9,000 men, Leicester entered Gelderland. Duesberg surrendered
to him without a blow; Norris surprised a fort outside
Zutphen, which commanded the river and straitened the
communications of the town." Parma made an attempt, on the
morning of September 22, to throw supplies into the town, and
Leicester's knights and gentlemen, forewarned of this project
by a spy, "Volunteered for an ambuscade to cut off the convoy.
… Parma brought with him every man that he could spare, and
the ambuscade party were preparing unconsciously to encounter
4,000 of the best troops in the world. They were in all about
500. … The morning was misty. The waggons were heard coming,
but nothing could be seen till a party of horse appeared at
the head of the train where the ambuscade was lying. Down
charged the 500, much as in these late years 600 English
lancers charged elsewhere, as magnificently and as uselessly.
… Never had been a more brilliant action seen or heard of,
never one more absurd and profitless. For the ranks of the
Spanish infantry were unbroken, the English could not touch
them, could not even approach them, and behind the line of
their muskets the waggons passed steadily to the town. … A
few, not many, had been killed; but among those whose lives
had been flung away so wildly was Philip Sidney. He was struck
by a musket ball on his exposed thigh, as he was returning
from his last charge," and died a few weeks later. "Parma
immediately afterwards entered Zutphen unmolested. …
Leicester's presence was found necessary in England. With the
natural sympathy of one worthless person for another, he had
taken a fancy to Stanley, and chose to give him an independent
command; and leaving the government to the Council of the
States, and the army again without a chief, he sailed in
November for London."

_J. A. Froude,
History of England: The Reign of Elizabeth,
chapter 33 (volume 6)._

ALSO IN:
_Correspondence of Leicester during his
Government of the Low Countries
(Camden Society 27)._

_W. Gray,
Life and Times of Sir Philip Sidney,
chapter 10._

_C. R. Markham,
The Fighting Veres,
chapters 7-8._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1587-1588.
The ruin of the Spanish Provinces.
Great prosperity of the United Provinces.
Siege and capture of Sluys.
The last of Leicester.

"Though the United Provinces were distracted by domestic
dissensions and enfeebled by mutual distrust, their condition,
compared with that portion of the Netherlands reduced under
the yoke of Spain, was such as to afford matter of deep
gratulation and thankfulness. The miseries of war had visited
the latter unhappy country in the fullest measure; multitudes
of its inhabitants had fled in despair; and the sword, famine,
and pestilence, vied with each other in destroying the
remainder. … The rich and smiling pastures, once the
admiration and envy of the less favoured countries of Europe,
were now no more; woods, roads, and fields, were confounded in
one tangled mass of copse and brier. In the formerly busy and
wealthy towns of Flanders and Brabant, Ghent, Antwerp, and
Bruges, members of noble families were seen to creep from
their wretched abodes in the darkness of night to beg their
bread, or to search the streets for bones and offal. A
striking and cheering contrast is the picture presented by the
United Provinces. The crops had, indeed, failed there also,
but the entire command of the sea which they preserved, and
the free importation of corn, secured plentiful supplies. …
They continued to carry on, under Spanish colours, a lucrative
half-smuggling traffic, which the government of that nation
found it its interest to connive at and encourage. The war,
therefore, instead of being, as usual, an hindrance to
commerce, rather gave it a new stimulus; the ports were
crowded with vessels. … Holland and Zealand had now for more
than ten years been delivered from the enemy. … The security
they thus offered, combined with the freedom of religion, and
the activity of trade and commerce, drew vast multitudes to
their shores; the merchants and artisans expelled, on account
of their religion, from the Spanish Netherlands, transferred
thither the advantages of their enterprise and skill. … The
population of the towns became so overflowing that it was
found impossible to build houses fast enough to contain it.
… The miserable condition of the Spanish Netherlands, and
the difficulty of finding supplies for his troops, caused the
Duke of Parma to delay taking the field until late in the
summer [1587]; when, making a feint attack upon Ostend, he
afterwards … commenced a vigorous siege of Sluys. In order
to draw him off from this undertaking, Maurice, with the Count
of Hohenlohe, marched towards Bois-le-Duc. … The danger of
Sluys hastened the return of the Earl of Leicester to the
Netherlands, who arrived in Ostend with 7,000 foot and 500
horse. … Sluys had been besieged seven weeks, and the
garrison was reduced from 1,600 men to scarcely half that
number, when Leicester made an attempt to master the fort of
Blankenburg, in the neighbourhood of the enemy's camp; but on
intelligence that Parma was approaching to give him battle, he
hastily retreated to Ostend," and Sluys was surrendered. "The
loss of Sluys exasperated the dissensions between Leicester
and the States into undisguised and irreconcilable hostility."
He was soon afterwards recalled to England, and early in the
following year the queen required him to resign his command
and governorship in the Netherlands. In the meantime, the
English queen had reopened negotiations with Parma, who
occupied her attention while his master, Philip II. of Spain,
was preparing the formidable Armada which he launched against
England the next year

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1588.

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 3, chapters 2-3 (volume 2)._

{2275}

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1588-1593.
Successes of Prince Maurice.
Departure of Parma to France.
His death.
Appointment of Archduke Albert to the Government.

"The destruction of the great Spanish Armada by the English in
1588 infused new hopes into all the enemies of Spain, and
animated the Dutch with such courage, that Maurice led his
army against that of the Duke of Parma, and forced him to
raise the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, at that time garrisoned by
a portion of Leicester's army under the command of Sir Francis
Vere. … The young Stadtholder was induced by this success to
surprise the Castle of Blyenbeck, which was yielded to his
arms in 1589; and the following year [March 1] he got
possession of Breda by a 'ruse de guerre,'"—having introduced
70 men into the town by concealing them in a boat laden with
turf. "The Duke of Parma was now recalled from the Low
Countries into France [see FRANCE: A. D. 1590], and the old
Peter Ernest, Count de Mansfeld, succeeded to the government
of the Low Countries. … Maurice defeated the Spanish army in
the open field at Caervorden, and took Nimeguen [October 21,
1591] and Zutphen [May 30, 1591; also, Deventer, June 10, of
the same year]. … These successes added greatly to the
reputation of Count Maurice, who now made considerable
progress, so that in the year 1591 the Dutch saw their
frontiers extended, and had well-grounded hopes of driving the
Spaniards out of Friesland in another campaign. … The death
of the Prince of Parma [which occurred December 3, 1592]
delivered the Confederates from a formidable adversary; but
old Count Mansfeld, at the head of an army of 30,000 men, took
the field against them. Maurice, however, in 1593,
notwithstanding this covering force, sat down before
Gertruydenberg, advantageously situated on the frontier of
Brabant." The siege was regarded as a masterpiece of the
military art of the day, and the city was brought to surrender
at the end of three months. "With the useful aid of Sir
Francis Vere and the English, Maurice afterwards took
Gronenburg and Grave, which formed part of his own patrimony.
The Duke of Parma was succeeded in the government of the
Netherlands by the Archduke Albert, a younger son of the
Emperor Maximilian, who was married to Isabella, daughter of
King Philip."

_Sir E. Cust,
Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years' War:
Maurice of Orange-Nassau,
pages 25-28._

ALSO IN:
_C. R. Markham,
The Fighting Veres,
part 1, chapters 10-15._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1597.
Spanish operations in Northern France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1609.
Steady decline of Spanish power.
Sovereignty of the provinces made over to the Infanta
Isabella and the Archduke, her husband.
Death of Philip II.
Negotiations for peace.
A twelve years' truce agreed upon.
Acknowledgment of the independence of the republic.

"Philip's French enterprise had failed. The dashing and
unscrupulous Henry of Navarre had won his crown, by conforming
to the Catholic faith. …

See FRANCE: A. D. 1591-1593.

Great was the shock given by his politic apostacy to the
religious sentiments of Europe: but it was fatal to the
ambition of Philip; and again the Netherlands could count upon
the friendship of a king of France. Their own needs were
great: but the gallant little republic still found means to
assist the Protestant champion against their common enemy, the
king of Spain. In the Netherlands the Spanish power was
declining. The feeble successors of Parma were no match for
Maurice of Nassau and the republican leaders: the Spanish
troops were starving and mutinous: the provinces under Spanish
rule were reduced to wretchedness and beggary. Cities and
fortresses fell, one after another, into the hands of the
stadtholder. The Dutch fleet joined that of England in a raid
upon Spain itself, captured and sacked Cadiz [see SPAIN: A. D.
1596], raised the flag of the republic on the battlements of
that famous city; and left the Spanish fleet burning in the
harbour. Other events followed, deeply affecting the fortunes
of the republic. Philip at length made peace with Henry of
Navarre, and was again free to coerce his revolted provinces.
But his accursed rule was drawing to a close. In 1598 he made
over the sovereignty of the Netherlands to the Infanta
Isabella and her affianced husband, the Archduke Albert, who
had cast aside his cardinal's hat, his archbishopric, and his
priestly vows of celibacy, for a consort so endowed. Philip
had ceased to reign in the Netherlands; and a few months
afterwards [September 13, 1598] he closed his evil life, in
the odour of sanctity. … The tyrant was dead: the little
republic, which he had scourged so cruelly, was living and
prosperous. … Far different was the lot of the ill-fated
provinces still in the grasp of the tyrant. The land lay waste
and desolate: its inhabitants had tied to England or Holland,
or were reduced to want and beggary. … That the republic
should have outlived its chief oppressor was an event of happy
augury: but years of trial and danger were still to be passed
through. The victory of Nieuport [gained July 2, 1600, by an
army of Dutch and English over the superior forces of the
Archduke Albert] raised Prince Maurice's fame, as a soldier,
to its highest point; and the gallant defence of Ostend, for
upwards of three years [against a siege, conducted by the
Spanish general Spinola, to which its garrison finally
succumbed in 1604, when the town was a heap of ruins, and
after 100,000 men are said to have been sacrificed on both
sides] … proved that the courage and endurance of his
soldiers had not declined during the protracted war [while
Sluys was taken by the Prince the same year]. At sea the Dutch
fleets won new victories over the Spaniards and Portuguese;
and privateers made constant ravages upon the enemy's
commerce. But there were also failures and reverses, on the
side of the republic, dissensions among its leaders, and
anxieties concerning the attitude of foreign States. And thus,
with varied fortunes, this momentous war had now continued for
upwards of forty years. … On both sides there was a desire
for peace. The Dutch would accept nothing short of
unconditional independence: the Spaniards almost despaired of
reducing them to subjection, while they dreaded more
republican victories at sea, and the extension of Dutch
maritime enterprise in the East. Overtures for peace were
first made cautiously and secretly by the archdukes ['this was
the title of the archduke and archduchess'], and received by
the States with grave distrust. Jealous and haughty was the
bearing of the republic, in the negotiations which ensued. The
states-general, in full session, represented Holland, and
received the Spanish envoys. The independence of the States
was accepted, on both sides, as the basis of any treaty: but,
as a preliminary to the negotiations, the republic insisted
upon its formal recognition, as a free and equal State, in
words dictated by itself. …
{2276}
At length an armistice was signed, in order to arrange the
terms of a treaty of peace. It was a welcome breathing time:
but peace was still beset with difficulties and obstacles. The
Spaniards were insincere: they could not bring themselves to
treat seriously, and in good faith, with heretics and rebels:
they desired the re-establishment of the Church of Rome; and
they claimed the exclusive right of trading with the East and
West Indies. The councils of the republic were also divided.
Barneveldt, the civilian, was bent upon peace: Prince Maurice,
the soldier, was burning for the renewal of the war. But
Barneveldt and the peace party prevailed, and negotiations
were continued. Again and again, the armistice was renewed:
but a treaty of peace seemed as remote as ever. At length
[April 9, 1609], after infinite disputes, a truce for twelve
years was agreed upon. In form it was a truce, and not a
treaty of peace: but otherwise the republic gained every point
upon which it had insisted. Its freedom and independence were
unconditionally recognised: it accepted no conditions
concerning religion: it made no concessions in regard to its
trade with the Indies. The great battle for freedom was won:
the republic was free: its troubles and perils were at an end.
Its oppressors had been the first to sue for peace: their
commissioners had treated with the states-general at the
Hague; and they had yielded every point for which they had
been waging war for nearly half a century."

_Sir T. E. May,
Democracy in Europe,
chapter 11 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 3, chapters 3-4 (volume 2)._

_J. L. Motley,
History of the United Netherlands,
chapters 30-52 (volumes 3-4)._

_Douglas Campbell,
The Puritan in Holland England, and America,
chapter 18 (volume 2)._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1620.
Rise and growth of Eastern trade.
Formation of the Dutch East India Company.

"Previous to their assertion of national independence, the
commerce of the Dutch did not extend beyond the confines of
Europe. But new regions of traffic were now to open to their
dauntless enterprise. It was in 1594 that Cornelius Houtman,
the son of It brewer at Gouda, returned from Lisbon, where,
having passed the preceding year, he had seen the gorgeous
produce of the East piled on the quays of the Tagus. His
descriptions fired the emulation of his friends at Amsterdam,
nine of whom agreed to join stock and equip a little flotilla
for a voyage round the Cape of Good Hope; Houtman undertook
the command, and thus the marvellous commerce of the Dutch in
India began. The influence which their trade with India and
their settlements there exerted in maturing and extending the
greatness of the Dutch, has often been overrated. It was a
source, indeed, of infinite pride, and for a time of rapid and
glittering profit; but it was attended with serious drawbacks,
both of national expenditure and national danger. … From the
outset they were forced to go armed. The four ships that
sailed on the first voyage of speculation from Amsterdam, in
1595, were fitted out for either war or merchandise. They were
about to sail into hitherto interdicted waters; they knew that
the Portuguese were already established in the Spice Islands,
whither they were bound; and Portugal was then a dependency of
Spain. On their arrival at Java, they had, consequently, to
encounter open hostility both from Europeans and the natives
whom the former influenced against them. At Bali, however,
they were better received; and, in 1597, they reached home
with a rich cargo of spices and Indian wares. It was a proud
and joyous day in Amsterdam when their return was known. …
From various ports of Zealand and Holland 80 vessels sailed
the following year to America, Africa, and India. Vainly the
Portuguese colonists laboured to convince the native princes
of the East that the Dutch were a mere horde of pirates with
whom no dealings were safe. Their businesslike and punctilious
demeanour, and probably, likewise, the judiciously selected
cargoes with which they freighted their ships outwards,
whereby they were enabled to offer better terms for the silk,
indigo, and spice they wished to buy, rapidly disarmed the
suspicion of several of the chiefs. … In 1602 the celebrated
East India Company was formed under charter granted by the
States-General,—the original capital being 6,000,000
guilders, subscribed by the merchants of Delft, Rotterdam,
Hoorn, Enkhuysen, Middleberg, but above all Amsterdam. They
established factories at many places, both on the continent of
India and in the islands; but their chief depot was fixed at
Bantam," until, dissatisfied with certain taxes imposed on
them by the lord of Bantam, they looked elsewhere for a
station. "The sovereign of Java gladly offered them a
settlement not above 100 miles distant, with full permission
to erect such buildings as they chose, and an engagement that
pepper (the chief spice thence exported) should be sent out of
his dominions toll-free. These terms were accepted. Jocatra, a
situation very propitious for traffic, was chosen as the site
of their future factory. Warehouses of stone and mortar
quickly rose; and dwellings, to the number of 1,000, were in a
short time added. All nations had leave to settle and trade
within its walls; and this was the origin of Batavia. In six
years the Company sent out 46 vessels, of which 43 returned in
due course laden with rich cargoes. … By the books of the
Company it appeared that, during the next eleven years, they
maintained 30 ships in the Eastern trade, manned by 5,000
seamen. … Two hundred per cent. was divided by the
proprietors of the Company's stock on their paid-up capital in
sixteen years. … But of all the proud results of their
Indian commerce, that which naturally afforded to the Dutch
the keenest sense of exultation, was the opportunity it
afforded them of thoroughly undermining the once exclusive
trade of Spain, not with foreign nations merely, but with her
own colonies, and even at home. The infatuated policy of her
government had prepared the way for her decline. … In the
space of a few years the Dutch had taken and rifled 11 Spanish
galleons, 'carkets and other huge ships, and made about 40 of
them unserviceable.' So crippled was their colonial trade
that, even for their own use, the Spaniards were obliged to
buy nutmegs, cloves, and mace, from their hated rivals."

_W. T. McCullagh,
Industrial History of Free Nations,
chapter 13 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_D. McPherson,
Annals of Commerce,
volume 2, pages 206-296._

_J. Yeats,
Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce,
part 3, chapters 3-4._

{2277}

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1603-1619.
Calvinistic persecution of Arminianism.
The hunting down of John of Barneveldt by Prince Maurice.
Synod of Dort.

Calvin's doctrine of predestination was strongly expressed in
what was called the Heidelberg Catechism. "A synod of the
pastors of Holland had decreed that this must be signed by all
their preachers, and be to them what the Thirty-nine Articles
are to the English Church and the Confession of Augsburg to
the Lutherans. Many preachers hesitated to pledge themselves
to doctrines that they did not think Scriptural nor according
to primitive faith, and still more, not accordant with the
eternal mercy of God. Of these Jacob Hermann, a minister of
Amsterdam, or as he Latinised his name, Arminius, was the
foremost, and under his influence a number of clergy refused
their signature. The University of Leyden in 1603 chose
Arminius as their Professor of Theology. The opposite party,
in great wrath, insisted on holding a synod, and the
States-General gave permission, but at first only on condition
that there should be a revision of the confession of faith and
catechism. The ministers refused, but the States-General
insisted, led by John Barneveldt, then Advocate and Keeper of
the Seals, who declared in their name that as 'foster fathers
and protectors of the churches to them every right belonged.'
It was an Erastian sentiment, but this opinion was held by all
reformed governments, including the English, and Barneveldt
spoke in the hope of mitigating Calvinistic violence. The
Advocate of the States-General was in fact their mouthpiece.
They might vote, but no one expressed their decisions at home
or abroad save the Advocate; and Barneveldt, both from
position and character, was thus the chief manager of civil
affairs, and an equal if not a superior power to Maurice of
Nassau, the Stadtholder and commander-in-chief, and recently,
by the death of his elder brother, Prince of Orange. The
question had even been mooted of giving him the sovereignty,
but to this Barneveldt was strongly averse. Maurice knew very
little about the argument, and his real feelings were
Arminian, though jealousy of Barneveldt made him favour the
opposite party, whose chief champion was Jacob Gomer, or
Gomerus as he called himself. King James, though really
holding with the Arminians, disliked Barneveldt, and therefore
threw all the weight of England into the scale against them.
Arguments were held before Maurice and before the university,
in which three champions on the one side were pitted against
three on the other, but nothing came of them but a good deal
of audacious profanity, till Arminius, in ministering to the
sick during a visitation of the plague at Amsterdam, caught
the disease and died. He was so much respected that the
University of Leyden pensioned his widow. They chose a young
Genevese, named Conrad Voorst or Vorstius, as his successor.
Voorst had written two books, one on the nature of God,
Tractatus Theologicus de Deo, and the other, Exegesis
Apologetica, in which (by Fuller's account) there was a
considerable amount of materialism, and likewise what amounted
to a denial of the Divine Omniscience, being no doubt a
reaction from extreme Calvinism. King James met with the book,
and was horrified at its statements. He conceived himself
bound to interfere both as protector to the States—which he
said had been cemented with English blood—and because the
University of Leyden was much frequented by the youth of
England and Scotland, who often completed their legal studies
there. He ordered Sir Ralf Winwood, his ambassador at the
Hague, to deliver a sharp remonstrance to the States, and to
read them a catalogue of the dangerous and blasphemous errors
that he had detected, recommending the States to protest
against the appointment, and burn the books. Barneveldt was
much distressed, and uncertain whether James really was
speaking out of zeal for orthodoxy, or to have an excuse for a
quarrel. Letters and arguments passed without number. …
Leyden supported the professor it had invited, and, together
with Barneveldt, felt that to expel a man whom they had
chosen, at the bidding of a foreign sovereign, was almost
accepting a yoke like that of the Inquisition. … Maurice, on
the other hand, was glad to set the English King against
Barneveldt, and to represent that support of the foes of
strict Calvinism meant treachery to the Republic and a
betrayal to Spain. Winwood, on the King's part, insisted on
Vorstius's dismissal and banishment. … Maurice's own
preacher, Uytenbogen, wrote a remonstrance on behalf of the
Arminians, who were therefore sometimes termed Remonstrants,
while the Gomerists, from their answer, were called
Counter-Remonstrants. Unfortunately, political jealousy of
Barneveldt on the part of Maurice caused the influence of
Uytenbogen to decline. Most of the preachers and of the
populace held to the Counter-Remonstrants and their
old-fashioned Calvinism, most of the nobles and magistrates
were Remonstrants. The question began to branch into a second,
namely, whether the state had power to control the faith of
all its subjects, and whether when it convoked a synod it
could control its decisions, or was bound to enforce them
absolutely and without question. … Whichever party was
predominant in a place turned the other out of church. Appeals
were made to the Stadtholder, and he became angry. The
States-General at large, with Barneveldt to speak for them,
were Remonstrant; the states of Holland were
Counter-Remonstrant; and one of the questions thus at issue
was how far the power of the general government outweighed
that of a particular state. … By steps here impossible to
follow, Maurice destroyed the ascendency of Barneveldt, and
the reports that the old statesman was playing into the hands
of Spain grew more and more current. The magistrates of the
Arminian persuasion found themselves depending for protection
on the Waartgelders, a sort of burgher militia, who
endeavoured to keep the peace between the furious mobs who
struggled on either side. Accusations flew about freely that
now Maurice, now Barneveldt wanted the sovereignty. England
favoured the former; and after Henri IV. was dead, French
support little availed the latter, but rather did him harm.
Maurice did not scruple to raise the popular cry that there
were two factions in Holland, for Orange or for Spain, though
he must have known that there never had been a more steady foe
of Spain than the old statesman. The public, however,
preferred the general to the statesman, and bit by bit Maurice
succeeded in exchanging Remonstrant magistrates for
Counter-Remonstrant, or, as Barneveldt explained the matter to
Sir Dudley Carleton, who had become ambassador from England,
Puritan for double Puritan. … Sunday, the 17th of July,
1617, Uytenbogen preached against the assembly of a national
synod, knowing well that it would only confirm and narrow the
cruel doctrine. Maurice, who was bent on the synod came out in
a rage. …
{2278}
Barneveldt on this moved the States-General to refuse their
consent to the synod as inconsistent with their laws. This was
carried by a majority, and was called the Sharp Resolve. …
The High Council by a majority of one set aside the Sharp
Resolve, and decided for the synod. Barneveldt had a severe
illness, during which Maurice's influence made progress,
assisted by detestable accusations that the Advocate was in
league with the Spaniards. At last Maurice mastered Utrecht,
hitherto the chief hold of Arminianism. He disbanded the
Waartgelders, and when the States-General came together in the
summer of 1618, he had all prepared for sweeping his
adversaries from his path. On the 29th of August, as
Barneveldt was going to take his place at the States-General,
he was told by a chamberlain that the Prince wished to speak
with him, and in Maurice's ante-room was arrested by a
lieutenant of the guard and locked up. In exactly the same
manner was arrested his friend and supporter Pensionary
Rambolt Hoogenboets, who had protested against the decree by
which the High Council reversed that of the States-General,
and Hugo Van Groot, or, as he called himself, Hugo Grotius,
one of the greatest scholars who ever lived, especially in
jurisprudence, and a strong adherent of the Advocate. … The
synod met at Dordrecht [or Dort] in January, 1619, and lasted
till April. The Calvinists carried the day completely, and
Arminians were declared heretics, schismatics, incapable of
preaching, or of acting as professors or schoolmasters, unless
they signed the Heidelberg Catechism and Netherland
Confession, which laid down the hard-and-fast doctrine that
predestination excluded all free will on man's part, but
divided the human race into vessels of wrath and vessels of
mercy, without power on their own part to reverse the doom.
… The trial of Barneveldt was going on at the same time with
the Synod of Dordrecht after he had been many months in
prison. Twenty-four commissioners were appointed, twelve from
Holland, and two from each of the other states, and most of
them were personal enemies of the prisoner. Before them he was
examined day by day for three months, without any indictment;
no witnesses, no counsel on either side; nor was he permitted
pen and ink to prepare his defence, nor the use of his books
and papers." Barneveldt and his family protested against the
flagrant injustice and illegality of the so-called trial, but
refused to sue for pardon, which Maurice was determined they
should do. "It was submission that he wanted, not life"; but
as the submission was not yielded he coldly exacted the life.
Barneveldt was condemned and sentenced to be beheaded by the
sword. The sentence was executed on the same day it was
pronounced, May 12, 1619. Grotius was condemned to perpetual
imprisonment, but made his escape, by the contrivance of his
wife, in 1621.

_C. M. Yonge,
Cameos from English History,
series 6, chapter 9._

ALSO IN:
_J. L. Motley,
Life and Death of John of Barneveld,
chapters 14-22 (volume 2)._

_J. Arminius,
Works, etc.; edited by Nichols,
volume 1._

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D.1608-1620.
Residence of the exiled Independents who afterwards founded
Plymouth Colony in New England.

See INDEPENDENTS: A. D. 1604-1617.

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1609.
The founding of the Bank of Amsterdam.

See MONEY AND BANKING: 17TH CENTURY.

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1609.
Henry Hudson's voyage of exploration.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1609.

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1610-1614.
Possession taken of New Netherland (New York).

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1610-1614.

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1621.
Incorporation of the Dutch West India Company.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1621-1646.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1621-1633.
End of the Twelve Years Truce.
Renewal of war.
Death of Prince Maurice.
Reversion of the sovereignty of the Spanish Provinces to
the king of Spain.

"In 1621, the twelve years' truce being expired, the King of
Spain and the Archdukes offered to renew it, on the condition
that the States would acknowledge their ancient sovereigns,
one of whom, the Archduke Albert, died this year. Even if the
States had been inclined to negotiate, the will of Maurice was
in the ascendant, and the war was renewed. The Dutch, it is
true, were now entirely insulated. James of England was making
overtures to Spain and being cajoled. France, who had wished
to save Barneveldt, was unfriendly in consequence of the
manner in which her intercession had been treated. The Dutch
party which was opposed to Maurice was exasperated, and the
great counsellor was no more there to advise his country in
its emergencies. The safety of Holland lay in the fact that
the wars of religion were being waged on a wider and more
distant field, for a larger stake, and with larger armies. Not
content with murdering Barneveldt, Maurice took care to ruin
his family. But at last, and just before his death in 1625,
Maurice, in the bitterness of disappointment, said, 'As long
as the old rascal was alive, we had counsels and money; now we
can find neither one nor the other.' … The memory of
Barneveldt was avenged, even though his reputation has not
been rehabilitated. Frederic Henry, half-brother of Maurice,
was at once made Captain and Admiral-General of the States,
and soon after Stadtholder. … Very speedily the controversy
which had threatened to tear Holland asunder was silenced by
mutual consent, except in synods and presbyteries. In a few
years, Holland became, as far as the government was concerned,
the most tolerant country in the world, the asylum of those
whom bigotry hunted from their native land. Hence it became
the favourite abode of those wealthy and enterprising Jews,
who greatly increased its wealth by aiding its external and
internal commerce."

_J. E. T. Rogers,
Story of Holland,
chapter 26._

"Marquis Spinola commenced the campaign by the siege of.
Bergen-op-Zoom, with a considerable Spanish army, in 1622, but
Maurice was enabled to meet him with the united forces of
Mansfeld, Brunswick [see GERMANY: A. D. 1621-1623], and his
own, and obliged the Marquis to raise the siege. He afterwards
encountered Don Gonsalvo de Cordova, who endeavoured to stay
their passage into Germany with a Spanish force near Fleurus;
but he also was defeated. After this, however, Prince Maurice
could effect nothing considerable, but maintained his ground
solely by acting on the defensive during the entire year 1623.
… He could not prevent the capture [by Spinola] of Breda,
one of the strongest fortifications of the Low Countries. …
The mortification at being unable to relieve this place during
a long blockade of six months preyed upon the mind of Prince
Maurice, whose health had already begun to give way. … An
access of fever obliged him to quit the field and withdraw to
the Hague, where he died in 1625, at the age of 58 years."

_Sir E. Cust,
Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years' War:
Maurice of Orange-Nassau,
page 47._

{2279}

The new Stadtholder, Prince Frederic Henry, made every effort
to raise the siege of Breda, but without success, and the
place was surrendered (June 2, 1625) to the Spaniards. In the
next year little was accomplished on either side; but in 1627
the Prince took Grol, after a siege of less than one month. In
1628 the Dutch Admiral Piet Heyn captured one of the Spanish
silver-fleets, with a cargo, largely pure silver, valued at
12,000,000 florins. In 1629 the king of Spain and the
Archduchess made overtures of peace, with offers of a renewed
truce for 24 years. "But no sooner did the negotiations become
public than they encountered general and violent opposition,"
especially from the West India Company, which found the war
profitable, and from the ministers of the church. At the same
time the operations of the war assumed more activity. The
Prince laid siege to Bois-le-Duc, a Brabant town deemed
impregnable, and the Spaniards, to draw him away, invaded
Guelderland, and captured Amersfoort, near Utrecht. They laid
waste the country, and were compelled to retire, without
interrupting the siege of Bois-le-Duc, which presently was
surrendered. In 1631 the Prince undertook the siege of
Dunkirk, which had long been a rendezvous of pirates,
troublesome to the commerce of all the surrounding nations;
but on the approach of a Spanish relieving force, the deputies
of the States, who had authority over the commander, required
him to relinquish the undertaking. In 1632, the Prince
achieved a great success, in the siege and reduction of
Maestricht, which he accomplished, notwithstanding his lines
were attacked by a Spanish army of 24,000 men, and by an army
from Germany, under the Imperial general Pappenheim, who
brought 16,000 men to assist in raising the siege. In the face
of these two armies, Maestricht was forced to capitulate, and
the fall of Limburg followed. Peace negotiations were reopened
the same year, but came to nothing, and they were followed
shortly by the death of the Archduchess Isabella. "At her
death, the Netherlands, in pursuance of the terms of the
surrender made by Philip II., reverted to the King of Spain,
who placed the government, after it had been administered a
short time by a commission, in the hands of the Marquis of
Aitona, commander-in-chief of the army, until the arrival of
his brother Ferdinand, cardinal and archbishop of Toledo
[known as 'the Cardinal Infant'], whom he had, during the
lifetime of the Archduchess, appointed her successor."

_C. M. Davies,
History of Holland,
part 3, chapter 6 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_C. R. Markham,
The Fighting Veres,
part 2, chapter 4._

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1623.
The massacre of Amboyna.

See INDIA: A. D. 1600-1702.

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1624-1661.
Conquests in Brazil and their loss.

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1510-1661.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1625.
The Protestant alliance in the Thirty Years War.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1624-1626.

NETHERLANDS: (United Provinces): A. D. 1635.
Alliance with France against Spain and Austria.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1635-1638.
The Cardinal Infant in the government
of the Spanish Provinces.
His campaigns against the Dutch and French.
Invasion of France.
Dutch capture of Breda.

In 1635, the Archduchess Isabella having recently died, it was
thought expedient in Spain "that a member of the royal family
should be intrusted with the administration of the Netherlands
[Spanish Provinces]. This appointment was accordingly
conferred on the Cardinal Infant [Ferdinand, son of Philip
III.], who was at that time in Italy, where he had collected a
considerable army. With this force, amounting to about 12,000
men, he had passed in the preceding year through Germany, on
his route to the Netherlands, and, having formed a junction
with the Imperialists, under the King of Hungary, he greatly
contributed to the victory gained over the Swedes and German
Protestants, at Nordlingen. …

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

The Cardinal Infant entered on the civil and military
government of the Spanish Netherlands nearly at the time when
the seizure of the Elector of Treves had called forth from
France an open declaration of war. By uniting the newly raised
troops which he had brought with him from Italy to the veteran
legions of the provinces, he found himself at the head of a
considerable military force. At the same time, an army of
20,000 French was assembled under the inspection of their king
at Amiens, and was intrusted to Chatillon, and Mareschal Brezé
the brother-in-law of Richelieu. … It was intended, however,
that this army should form a junction with the Dutch at
Maestricht, after which the troops of both nations should be
placed under the orders of Frederic Henry, Prince of Orange,
who had inherited all the military talents of his ancestors.
In order to counteract this movement, the Cardinal Infant
separated his army into two divisions. One was ordered to
confront the Dutch, and the other, under Prince Thomas of
Savoy, marched to oppose the progress of the French. This
latter division of the Spaniards encountered the enemy at
Avein, in the territory of Liege; but though it had taken up a
favourable position, it was totally defeated, and forced to
retreat to Namur. The French army then continued its march
with little farther interruption, and effected its intended
union with the Dutch in the neighbourhood of Maestricht. After
this junction, the Prince of Orange assumed the command of the
allied army, which now stormed and sacked Tillemont, where
great cruelties were committed. … The union of the two
armies spread terror throughout the Spanish Netherlands, and
the outrages practised at Tillemont gave the Catholics a
horror at the French name and alliance. … The Flemings,
forgetting their late discontents with the Spanish government,
now made the utmost efforts against their invaders. … The
Spanish prince … contrived to elude a general engagement.
… His opponents … were obliged to employ their arms in
besieging towns. It was believed for some time that they
intended to invest Brussels, but the storm fell on Louvain."
The Emperor now sent from Germany a force of 18,000 men, under
Piccolomini, "to the succour of the Cardinal Infant.
{2280}
The slowness of all the operations of the Prince of Orange
afforded sufficient time for these auxiliaries to cut off the
French supplies of provisions, and advance to the relief of
Louvain. On the intelligence of their approach, the
half-famished French abandoned the siege, and, after suffering
severely in their retreat, retired to recruit at Ruremonde.
The Dutch afforded them no assistance, and showed them but
little sympathy in their disasters. Though the Dutch hated
Spain, they were jealous of France, and dreaded an increase of
its power in the Netherlands. … Mareschals Chatillon and
Brezé, who were thus in a great measure the victims of the
policy of their allies, were under the necessity of leading
back beyond the Meuse, to Nimeguen, the wretched remains of
their army, now reduced to 9,000 men. … After the departure
of the French, the exertions of the Prince of Orange were
limited, during this season, to an attempt for the recovery of
the strong fortress of Skink, which had recently been reduced
by the Spaniards. The Cardinal Infant, availing himself of the
opportunity thus presented to him, quickly regained, by aid of
the Austrian reinforcements, his superiority in the field. He
took several fortresses from the Dutch, and sent to the
frontiers of France detachments which levied contributions
over great part of Picardy and Champagne. … Encouraged by
these successes, Olivarez [the Spanish minister] redoubled his
exertions, and now boldly planned invasions of France from
three different quarters"—to enter Picardy on the north,
Burgundy on the east, and Guienne at the south. "Of all these
expeditions, the most successful, at least for a time, was the
invasion of Picardy, which, indeed, had nearly proved fatal to
the French monarchy. By orders of the Cardinal Infant, his
generals, Prince Thomas of Savoy, Piccolomini, and John de
Vert, or Wert, … began their march at the head of an army
which exceeded 30,000 men, and was particularly strong in
cavalry. … No interruption being … offered by the Dutch,
the Spanish generals entered Picardy [1636], and seized almost
without resistance on La Capelle and Catelet, which the French
ministry expected would have occupied their arms for some
months. The Count de Soissons, who was already thinking more
of his plots against Richelieu than the defence of his
country, did nothing to arrest the progress of the Spaniards,
till they arrived at the Somme," and there but little. They
forced the passage of the river with slight difficulty, and
"occupied Roye, to the south of the Somme, on the river Oise;
and having thus obtained an entrance into France, spread
themselves over the whole country lying between these rivers.
The smoke of the villages to which they set fire was seen from
the heights in the vicinity of Paris; and such in that capital
was the consternation consequent on these events that it seems
probable, had the Spanish generals marched straight on Paris,
the city would have fallen into their hands." But Prince
Thomas was not bold enough for the exploit, and prudently
"receded with his army to form the siege of Corbie. This town
presented no great resistance to his arms, but the time
occupied by its capture allowed the Parisians to recover from
their consternation, and to prepare the means of defence."
They raised an army of 60,000 men, chiefly apprentices and
artisans of the capital, before which Prince Thomas was
obliged to retreat. "The French quickly recovered all those
fortified places in Picardy which had been previously lost by
the incapacity, or, as Richelieu alleged, by the treachery of
their governors. But they could not prevent the Spaniards from
plundering and desolating the country as they retired. … The
Cardinal Infant was obliged to remain on the defensive for
some time after his retreat from Picardy to the Netherlands,
which were anew invaded by a French force, under the Cardinal
La Valette, a younger son of the Duke d'Epernon. But even
while restricting his operations to defence, the Infant could
not prevent the capture by the French of Ivry and Landreci in
Hainault. While opposing the enemy in that quarter, he
received intelligence of an unexpected attempt on Breda by the
Dutch [1637]. He immediately hastened to its relief; but the
Prince of Orange having rapidly collected 6,000 or 7,000
peasants, whom he had employed in forming intrenchments and
drawing lines of circumvallation, was so well fortified on the
arrival of the Cardinal Infant, who had crossed the Scheldt at
Antwerp, and approached with not fewer than 25,000 men, that
that Prince, in despair of forcing the enemy's camp, or in any
way succouring Breda, marched towards Guelderland. In that
province he took Venlo and Ruremonde; but Breda, as he had
anticipated, surrendered to the Dutch after a siege of nine
weeks. … Its capture greatly relieved the Dutch in Brabant,
who now, for many years, had been checked by an enemy in the
heart of their territories. … Early in the year 1638, the
Infant resumed offensive operations, and again rendered
himself formidable to his enemies. He frustrated the attempts
which the Dutch had concerted against Antwerp. … In person
he beat off the army of the Prince of Orange, who had invested
Gueldres; and, about the same time, his active generals;
Prince Thomas of Savoy and Piccolomini, compelled the French
to raise the siege of St. Omer."

_J. Dunlop,
Memoirs of Spain from 1621 to 1700,
volume 1, chapter 4._

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1643.
Invasion of France by the Spaniards and their defeat at Rocroi.
Loss of Thionville and the line of the Moselle.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1642-1643; and 1643.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1645-1646.
French campaign in Flanders, under Orleans and Enghien (Conde).
Siege and capture of Dunkirk.