Chapter VIII: Death of Isabella (6)

[869] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. pp. 455, 456.

[870] Ibid., p. 496.

[871] I quote almost the words of William in his famous Apology, which suggests the same explanation of his conduct that I have given in the text.--"Car puis que dès le berceau j'y avois esté nourry, Monsieur mon Pere y avoit vescu, y estoit mort, ayant chassé de ses Seigneuries les abus de l'Eglise, qui est-ce qui trouvera estrange si cette doctrine estoit tellement engravée en mon coeur, et y avoit jetté telles racines, qu'en son temps elle est venuë à apporter ses fruits." Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. V. part i. p. 392.

[872] "Il y a plus de trois mois, qu'elle se lève avant le jour, et que le plus souvent elle tient conseil le matin et le soir; et tout le reste, de la journée et de la nuit, elle le consacre à donner des audiences, à lire les lettres et les avis qui arrivent de toutes parts, et à déterminer les résponses à y faire." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 496.

Sleep seems to have been as superfluous to Margaret as to a hero of romance.

[873] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 289, 290.

[874] "J'aimerais mieux que my langue fût attachée au palais, et devenir muet, comme un poisson, que d'ouvrir la bouche pour persuader au peuple chose tant cruelle et déraisonnable." Chronique contemporaine, cited by Gachard. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 561, note.

[875] "Suadere itaque illis, ut à publicis certè negotiis abstineant, ac res quique suas in posterum curent: néve Regem brevi affecturum ingenitæ benignitatis oblivisci cogant. Se quidem omni ope curaturam, ne, quam ipsi ruinam comminentur, per hæc vulgi turbamenta Belgium patiatur." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 295.

[876] "Nec ullis conditionibus flecti te patere ad clementiam; sed homines scelestos, atque indeprecabile supplicium commeritos, ferro et igni quamprimùm dele." Ibid., p. 300.

[877] "Periere in eâ pugnâ quæ prima cum rebellibus commissa est in Belgio, Gheusiorum mille ac quingenti: capti circiter trecenti, jugulatique pænè omnes Beavorii jussu, quod erupturi Antverpienses, opemque reliquiis victæ factionis allaturi crederentur." Ibid., p. 301.

[878] For the account of the troubles in Antwerp, see Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 226 et seq.--Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Naussau, tom. III. p. 59.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp 300-303.--Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 247.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 526, 527.--Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, pp. 314-317.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.

[879] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 310.

[880] Strada gives an extract from the letter: "Deinde si deditio non sequeretur, invaderent quidem urbem, quodque militum est, agerent; à cædibus tamen non puerorum modò, senúmque ac mulierum abstinerent; sed civium nullus, nisi dum inter propugnandum se hostem gereret, enecaretur." Ibid., p. 311.

[881] "Quasi verò, inquit, vestra conditio eadem hodie sit, ac nudiustertius. Serò sapitis Valencenates: ego certè conditionibus non transigo cadente cum hoste." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 314.

[882] "Feruntque ter millies explosas murales machinas, moenium quàm hominum majori strage." Ibid., ubi supra.

[883] So states Margaret's historian, who would not be likely to exaggerate the number of those who suffered. The loyal president of Mechlin dismisses the matter more summarily, without specifying any number of victims. "El señor de Noilcarmes se aseguró de muchos prisioneros principales Borgeses y de otros que avian sido los autores de la rebelion, á los quales se hizo luego en diligencia su pleyto." (Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.) Brandt, the historian of the Reformation, (vol. I. p. 251,) tells us that two hundred _were said_ to have perished by the hands of the hangman at Valenciennes, on account of the religious troubles, in the course of this year.

[884] For information, more or less minute, in regard to the siege of Valenciennes, see Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 303-315.--Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, pp. 319-322.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 49.--Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 501.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.

[885] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 315-323 et seq.

[886] "Il ne comprenait pas pourquoi la gouvernante insistait, après qu'il lui avait écrit une lettre de sa main, contenant tout ce que S. A. pouvait désirer d'un gentilhomme d'honneur, chevalier de l'Ordre, naturel vassal du Roi, et qui toute sa vie avait fait le devoir d'homme de bien, comme il le faisait encore journellement." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 321.

[887] "Ferez cesser les calumnies que dictes se semer contre vous, ensamble tous ces bruits que scavez courrir de vous, encoires que en mon endroict je les tiens faulx et que à tort ils se dyent; ne pouvant croire que en ung coeur noble et de telle extraction que vous estes, successeur des Seigneurs," etc. Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 44.

[888] "Servir et m'employer envers et contre tous, et comme me sera ordonné de sa part, sans limitation ou restrinction." Ibid., ubi supra.

[889] "Je seroys aulcunement obligé et constrainct, le cas advenant, que on me viendroict à commander chose qui pourroit venir contre ma conscience ou au déservice de Sa Ma^{té} et du pays." Ibid., p. 46.

[890] "Vous asseurant que, où que seray, n'espargneray jamais mon corps ni mon bien pour le service de Sa Ma^{té} et le bien commun de ces pays." Ibid., p. 47.

[891] Ibid., p. 42.

[892] "In ansehung das wir in dissen länden allein seindt, und in höchsten nöten und gefehrden leibs und lebens stecken, und keinen vertrauwen freundt umb uns haben, deme wir unser gemüthe und hertz recht eröffnen dörffen." Ibid., p. 39.

[893] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 319.

[894] "Orasse ilium, subduceret sese, gravidamque cruore tempestatem ab Hispaniâ impendentem Belgarum Procerum capitibus ne opperiretur." Ibid., p. 321.

[895] "Perdet te, inquit Orangius, hæc quam jactas dementia Regis, Egmonti; ac videor mihi providere animo, utinam falso, te pontem scilicet futurum, quo Hispani calcato, in Belgium transmittant." Ibid., ubi supra.

[896] The secretary Pratz, in a letter of the 14th of April, thus kindly notices William's departure: "The prince has gone, taking along with him half a dozen heretical doctors and a good number of other seditious rogues." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 526.

[897] "Tibi vero hoc persuade amiciorem me te habere neminem cui quidvis libere imperare potes. Amor enim tui eas egit radices in animo meo ut minui nullo temporis aut locorum intervallo possit." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 70.

It is not easy to understand why William should have resorted to Latin in his correspondence with Egmont.

[898] "Ayant tousjours porté en vostre endroit l'affection que je pourrois faire pour ung mien fils, ou parent bien proche. Et vous vous povez de ce confier, toutes les fois que les occasions se présenteront, que feray le mesme." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 371.

[899] William's only daughter was maid of honor to the regent, who made no objection to her accompanying her father, saying that, on the young lady's return she would find no diminution of the love that had been always shown to her. Ibid., ubi supra.

[900] According to Strada, some thought that William knew well what he was about when he left his son behind him at Louvain; and that he would have had no objection that the boy should be removed to Madrid,--considering that, if things went badly with himself, it would be well for the heir of the house to have a hold on the monarch's favor. This is rather a cool way of proceeding for a parent, it must be admitted. Yet it is not very dissimilar from that pursued by William's own father, who, a stanch Lutheran himself, allowed his son to form part of the imperial household, and to be there nurtured in the Roman Catholic faith. See Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 373.

[901] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 100.

[902] "Pour ne le jecter d'advantaige en désespoir et perdition, aussy en contemplation de ses parens et alliez, je n'ai peu excuser luy dire qu'il seroit doncques aînsy qu'il avoit faict, et qu'il revinst au conseil." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 238.

[903] William was generous enough to commend Hoorne for this step, expressing the hope that it might induce such a spirit of harmony in the royal council as would promote the interests of both king and country. See the letter, written in Latin, dated from Breda, April 14, in Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau tom. III. p. 71.

[904] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 322.

[905] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 235.

[906] "Egit ipsa privatim magnæ Virgini grates, quòd ejus ope tantam urbem sine prælio ac sanguine, Religioni Regique reddidisset." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 328.

[907] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 254.

[908] Gachard has transferred to his notes the whole of this sanguinary document. See Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 550, 551.

[909] "La peine et le mécontentement qu'il a éprouvés, de ce que l'on a fait une chose si illicite, si indécente, et si contraire à la religion chrétienne." Ibid., ubi supra.

[910] Viglius was not too enlightened to enter his protest against the right to freedom of conscience, which, in a letter to his friend Hopper, he says may lead every one to set up his own gods--"lares aut lemures"--according to his fancy. Yet the president was wise enough to see that sufficient had been done at present in breaking up the preachings. "Time and Philip's presence must do the rest." (Epistolæ ad Hopperum, p. 433.) "Those," he says in another letter, "who have set the king against the edict have greatly deceived him. They are having their ovation before they have gained the victory. They think they can dispose of Flemish affairs as they like at Toledo, when hardly a Spaniard dares to show his head in Brussels." Ibid., p. 428.

[911] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. pp. 80-93.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 329.

[912] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 332.

[913] Groen's inestimable collection contains several of Brederode's letters, which may remind one in their tone of the dashing cavalier of the time of Charles the First. They come from the heart, mingling the spirit of daring enterprise with the careless gayety of the _bon vivant_, and throw far more light than the stiff, statesmanlike correspondence of the period on the character, not merely of the writer, but of the disjointed times in which he lived.

[914] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 255.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 50.--Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, p. 327.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 533.

[915] Margaret's success draws forth an animated tribute from the president of Mechlin. "De manera que los negocios de los payses bajos por la gracia de Dios y la prudencia de esta virtuosa Dama y Princesa con la asistencia de los buenos consejeros y servidores del Rey en buenos terminos y en efecto remediados, las villas reveldes y alteradas amazadas, los gueuses reducidos ó huidos; los ministros y predicantes echados fuera ó presos; y la autoridad de su Magestad establecida otra vez." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.

[916] This was fulfilling the prophecy of the prince of Orange, who in his letter to Hoorne tells him, "In a short time we shall refuse neither bridle nor saddle. For myself," he adds, "I have not the strength to endure either." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 72.

[917] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 333.

[918] See Meteren, (Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 49,) who must have drawn somewhat on his fancy for these wholesale executions, which, if taken literally, would have gone nigh to depopulate the Netherlands.

[919] "Thus the gallowses were filled with carcasses, and Germany with exiles." Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 257.

[920] "Ex trabibus decidentium templorum, infelicia conformarent patibula, ex quibus ipsi templorum fabri cultoresque pendêrent." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 333.

[921] "Le bruit de l'arrivée prochaine du duc, à la tête d'une armée, fait fuir de toutes parts des gens, qui se retirent en France, en Angleterre, au pays de Clèves, en Allemagne et ailleurs." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 546.

[922] Ibid., ubi supra.

[923] "Par les restrictions extraordinaires que V. M. a mises à mon autorité, elle m'a enlevé tout pouvoir et m'a privée des moyens d'achever l'entier rétablissement des affaires de ce pays: à présent qu'elle voit ces affaires en un bon état, elle en veut donner l'honneur à d'autres, tandis que, moi seule, j'ai eu les fatigues et les dangers." Ibid., p. 523.

[924] "Où l'autorité du Roi est plus assurée qu'elle ne l'était au temps de l'Empereur." Ibid., p. 532.

[925] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 258.

[926] "Ledit évêque, dans la première audience qu'il lui a donnée, a usé d'ailleurs de termes si étranges, qu'il l'a mis en colère, et que, s'il eût eu moins d'amour et de respect pour S. S., cela eût pu le faire revenir sur les résolutions qu'il a prises." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 488.

The tart remonstrance of Philip had its effect. Granvelle soon after wrote to the king, that his holiness was greatly disturbed by the manner in which his majesty had taken his rebuke. The pope, Granvelle added, was a person of the best intentions, but with very little knowledge of the world, and easily kept in check by those who show their teeth to him;--"_reprimese quando se le muestran los dientes._" Ibid., tom. II. p. lviii.

[927] "Que lui et le temps en valaient deux autres." Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 199.

The hesitation of the king drew on him a sharp rebuke from the audacious Fray Lorenzo Villavicencio, who showed as little ceremony in dealing with Philip as with his ministers. "If your majesty," he says, "consulting only your own ease, refuses to make this visit to Flanders, which so nearly concerns the honor of God, his blessed Mother, and all the saints, as well as the weal of Christendom, what is it but to declare that you are ready to accept the regal dignity which God has given you, and yet leave to him all the care and trouble that belong to that dignity? God would take this as ill of your majesty, as you would take it of those of your vassals whom you had raised to offices of trust and honor, and who took the offices, but left you to do the work for them! To offend God is a rash act, that must destroy both soul and body." Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Rapport, p. xlviii.

[928] "Ne extingui quidem posse sine ruinâ victoris." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 338.

Better expressed by the old Castilian proverb, "El vencido vencido, y el vencidor perdido."

[929] "At illos non armis sed beneficiis expugnari." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 339.

[930] Ibid., p. 340.

[931] "Ouy, et que plus est, oserions presques asseurer Vostre Majesté plusieurs des mauvais et des principaulx, voiant ledit prince de Heboli, se viendront réconcilier à luy, et le supplier avoir, par son moien, faveur vers Vostre Majesté." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 519.

[932] The debate is reported with sufficient minuteness both by Cabrera (Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 7,) and Strada (De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 338). They agree, however, neither in the names of the parties present, nor in the speeches they made. Yet their disagreement in these particulars is by no means so surprising as their agreement in the most improbable part of their account,--Philip's presence at the debate.

[933] "Comme si c'eust esté une saincte guerre." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.

[934] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 350.

[935] "Il répète," says Gachard, "dans une dépêche du 1er septembre, qu'au milieu des bruits contradictoires qui circulent à la cour, il est impossible de démêler la vérité." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I., Rapport, p. clvi.

[936] "Ceterùm, ut jam jamque iturus, legit comites, conquisivit impedimenta, adornavit naves: mox hiemem, aut negotia variè causatus, primó prudentes, dein vulgum, diutissimè provincias fefellit." Taciti Annales, I. xlvii.

[937] "Es la primera que se me da en mi vida de cosas desta cualidad en cuantas veces he servido, ni de su Magestad Cesárea que Dios tenga, ni de V. M." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 354.

[938] A magnanimous Castilian historian pronounces a swelling panegyric on this little army in a couple of lines: "Los Soldados podian ser Capitanes, los Capitanes Maestros de Campo, y los Maestros de Campo Generales." Hechos de Sancho Davila, (Valladolid, 1713,) p. 26.

The chivalrous Brantôme dwells with delight on the gallant bearing and brilliant appointments of these troops, whom he saw in their passage through Lorraine. "Tous vieux et aguerrys soldatz, tant bien en poinct d'habillement et d'armes, la pluspart dorées, et l'autre gravees, qu'on les prenoit plustost pour capitanes que soldats." OEuvres, tom. I. p. 60.

[939]

"Corpus in Italia est, tenet intestina Brabantus; Ast animam nemo. Cur? quia non habuit."

Borgnet, Philippe II. et la Belgique, p. 60.

[940] No two writers, of course, agree in the account of Alva's forces. The exact returns of the amount of the whole army, as well as of each company, and the name of the officer who commanded it, are to be found in the Documentos Inéditos (tom. IV. p. 382). From this it appears that the precise number of horse was 1,250, and that of the foot 8,800, making a total of 10,050.

[941] A poem in _ottava rima_, commemorating Alva's expedition, appeared at Antwerp the year following, from the pen of one Balthazar de Vargas. It has more value in a historical point of view than in a poetical one. A single stanza, which the bard devotes to the victualling of the army, will probably satisfy the appetite of the reader:--

"Y por que la Savoya es montañosa, Y an de passar por ella las legiones, Seria la passada trabajosa Si a la gente faltassen provisiones, El real comissario no reposa. Haze llevar de Italia municiones Tantas que proveyo todo el camino Que jamas falto el pan, y carno, y vino."

[942] Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 237.--Trillo, Rebelion y Guerras de Flandes, (Madrid, 1592,) fol. 17.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 490.

[943] So say Schiller, (Abfall der Niederlande, s. 363,). Cabrera, (Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15,) _et auct. al._ But every schoolboy knows that nothing is more unsettled than the route taken by Hannibal across the Alps. The two oldest authorities, Livy and Polybius, differ on the point, and it has remained a vexed question ever since,--the criticism of later years, indeed, leaning to still another route, that across the Little St. Bernard. The passage of Hannibal forms the subject of a curious discussion introduced into Gibbon's journal, when the young historian was in training for the mighty task of riper years. His reluctance, even at the close of his argument, to strike the balance, is singularly characteristic of his sceptical mind.

[944] "A suidar da quel nido di Demoni, le sceleraggini di tanti Appostati." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 487.

[945] The Huguenots even went so far as to attempt to engage the reformed in the Low Countries to join them in assaulting the duke in his march through Savoy. Their views were expressed in a work which circulated widely in the provinces, though it failed to rouse the people to throw off the Spanish yoke. Sec Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 194.

[946] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 350-354.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 232 et seq.--Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 26.--Trillo, Rebelion y Guerras de Flandes, fol. 16, 17.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.--Lanario, Guerras de Flandes, fol. 15.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.

Chronological accuracy was a thing altogether beneath the attention of a chronicler of the sixteenth century. In the confusion of dates in regard to Alva's movements, I have been guided as far as possible by his own despatches. See Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 349 et seq.

[947] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 354.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. I. p. 241.

[948] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.--Old Brantôme warms as he contemplates these Amazons, as beautiful and making as brave a show as princesses! "Plus il y avoit quatre cents courtisanes à cheval, belles et braves comme princesses, et huict cents à pied, bien en point aussi." OEuvres, tom. I. p. 62.

[949] "Ninguna Historia nos enseña haya passado un Exercito por Pais tan dilatado y marchas tan continuas, sin cometer excesso: La del Duque es la unica que nos la hace ver. Encantò à todo el mundo." Rustant, Historia del Duque de Alva, tom. II. p. 124.--So also Herrera, Historia General, tom. I. p. 650.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 354.

[950] "Comme le Duc le vid de long, il dit tout haut; Voicy le grand hereticque, dequoq le Comte s'espouvanta: neantmoins, pource qu'on le pouvoit entendre en deux façons, il l'interpreta de bonne part." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 53.

[951] "Vimos los que allí estábamos que el Duque de Alba usó de grandísimos respetos y buenas crianzas, y que Madama estuvo muy severa y mas que cuando suelen negociar con ella Egmont y estos otros Señores de acá, cosa que fué muy notada de los que lo miraban."

A minute account of this interview, as given in the text, was sent to Philip by Mendivil, an officer of the artillery, and is inserted in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 397 et seq.

[952] This document, dated December 1, 1566, is not to be found in the Archives of Simancas, as we may infer from its having no place in the Documentos Inéditos, which contains the succeeding commission. A copy of it is in the Belgian Archives, and has been incorporated in Gachard's Correspondance de Philippe II. (tom. II., Appendix, No. 88.) It is possible that a copy of this commission was sent to Margaret, as it agrees so well with what the king had written to her on the subject.

[953] To this second commission, dated January 31, 1567, was appended a document, signed also by Philip, the purport of which seems to have been to explain more precisely the nature of the powers intrusted to the duke,--which it does in so liberal a fashion, that it may be said to double those powers. Both papers, the originals of which are preserved in Simancas, have been inserted in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 388-396.

[954] "Par quoy requerrons à ladicte dame duchesse, nostre seur, et commandons à tous nos vassaulx et subjectz, de obéyr audict duc d'Alve en ce qu'il leur commandera, et de par nous, come aïant telle charge, et comme à nostre propre personne."--This instrument, taken from the Belgian archives, is given entire by Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix, No. 102.

[955] "Despues que los han visto han quedado todos muy lastimados, y á todos cuantos Madama habla les dice que se quierre ir á su casa por los agravios que V. M. le ha hecho." Carta de Mendivil, ap. Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV p. 399.

[956] Ibid., p. 403.

[957] Ibid., p. 400.

[958] "En todo el sermon no trató cuasi de otra cosa sino de que los españoles eran traidores y ladrones, y forzadores de mugeres, y que totalmente el pais que los sufria era destruido, con tanto escándolo y maldad que merescia ser quemado." Ibid., p. 401.

[959] Yet there was danger in it, if, as Armenteros warned the duke, to leave his house would be at the risk of his life. "Tambien me ha dicho Tomás de Armenteros que diga al Duque de Alba que en ninguna manera como fuera de su casa porque si lo hace será con notable peligro de la vida." Ibid., ubi supra.

[960] "Despues de haberse sentado le dijo el contentamiento que tenia de su venida y que ningún otro pudiera venir con quien ella mas se holgara." Ibid., p. 404.

[961] "Que lo que principalmente traia era estar aquí con esta gente para que la justicia fuese obedecida y respetada, y los mandamientos de S. E. ejecutadas, y que S. M. á su venida hallase esto en la paz, tranquilidad y sosiego que era razon." Ibid., p. 406.

[962] "Podráse escusar con estos diciéndoles que yo soy cabezudo y que he estado muy opinatre en sacar de aquí esta gente, que yo huelgo de que á mí se me eche la culpa y de llevar el odio sobre mí á trueque de que V. E. quede descargada." Ibid., p. 408.

[963] Supplément à Strada, tom. II. p. 524.

[964] "Tenendo per certo che V. M. non vorrà desautorizarmi, per autorizare altri, poi che questo non e giusto, ne manco saria servitio suo, se non gran danno et inconveniente per tutti li negotii." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 505.

[965] "Il y est si odieux qu'il suffirait à y faire haïr toute la nation espagnole." Ibid., p. 556.

[966] Ibid., ubi supra.

[967] "Elle est affectée, jusqu'au fond de l'âme, de la conduite du Roi à son égard." Ibid., p. 567.

[968] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pay-Bas, tom. II. p. 207.

[969] "Seu vera seu ficta, facilè Gandavensibus credita, ab iisque in reliquum Belgium cum Albani odio propagata." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 368.

[970] See his remarkable letter to the king, of October 21, 1563: "A los que destos merecen, quítenles las caveças, hasta poderlo hacer dissimular con ellos." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 233.

[971] "Les Espaignols font les plus grandes foulles qu'on ne sçauroit escryre; ils confisquent tout, à tort, à droit, disant que touts sont hérétiques, qui ont du bien, et ont à perdre."

The indignant writer does not omit to mention the "two thousand" strumpets who came in the duke's train; "so," he adds, "with what we have already, there will be no lack of this sort of wares in the country." Lettre de Jean de Hornes, Aug. 25, 1567, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 565.

[972] Clough, Sir Thomas Gresham's agent, who was in the Low Countries at this time, mentions the licence of the Spaniards. It is but just to add, that he says the government took prompt measures to repress it, by ordering some of the principal offenders to the gibbet. Burgon, Life of Gresham, vol. II. pp. 229, 230.

[973] The duchess, in a letter to Philip, September 8, 1567, says that a hundred thousand people fled the country on the coming of Alva! (Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 357.) If this be thought a round exaggeration, dictated by policy or by fear, still there are positive proofs that the emigration at this period was excessive. Thus, by a return made of the population of London and its suburbs, this very year of 1567, it appears that the number of Flemings was as large as that of all other foreigners put together. See Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Bruxelles, tom. XIV. p. 127.

[974] Thus Jean de Hornes, Baron de Boxtel, writes to the prince of Orange: "J'ay prins une résolution pour mon faict et est que je fay tout effort de scavoir si l'on poulrast estre seurement en sa maison: si ainsy est, me retireray en une des miennes le plus abstractement que possible sera; sinon, regarderay de chercher quelque résidence en desoubs ung aultre Prince." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 125.

[975] Göthe, in his noble tragedy of "Egmont," seems to have borrowed a hint from Shakespeare's "blanket of the dark," to depict the gloom of Brussels,--where he speaks of the heavens as wrapt in a dark pall from the fatal hour when the duke entered the city. Act IV. Scene I.

[976] Vera y Figueroa, Vida de Alva, p. 89.

[977] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 578.

[978] Ibid., p. 563.

[979] "Qu'il lui avait peiné infiniment que le Roi n'eût tenu compte de monseigneur et de ses services, comme il le méritait." Ibid., ubi supra.

[980] "Que s'il voyait M. de Hornes, il lui dirait des choses qui le satisferaient, et par lesquelles celui-ci connaîtrait qu'il n'avait pas été oublié de ses amis." Ibid., p. 564.

[981] According to Strada, Hoogstraten actually set out to return to Brussels, but, detained by illness or some other cause on the road, he fortunately received tidings of the fate of his friends in season to profit by it and make his escape. De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 358.

[982] Ibid., p. 359.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 248. Also the memoirs of that "Thunderbolt of War," as his biographer styles him, Sancho Davila himself. Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 29.

A report, sufficiently meagre, of the affair, was sent by Alva to the king. In this no mention is made of his having accompanied Egmont when he left the room where they had been conferring together. See Documentos Inéditos, tom. II. p. 418.

[983] "Et tamen hoc ferro sæpè ego Regis causam non infeliciter defendí." Strada, de Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 359.

[984] Clough, Sir Thomas Gresham's correspondent, in a letter from Brussels, of the same date as the arrest of Egmont, gives an account of his bearing on the occasion, which differs somewhat from that in the text; not more, however, than the popular rumors of any strange event of recent occurrence are apt to differ. "And as touching the county of Egmond, he was (as the saying ys) apprehendyd by the Duke, and comyttyd to the offysers: whereuppon, when the capytane that had charge [of him] demandyd hys weapon, he was in a grett rage; and tooke hys sword from hys syde, and cast it to the grounde." Burgon, Life of Gresham, vol. II. p. 234.

[985] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 574.

[986] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 359.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.--Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 29.--Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 248.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 223.--Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 418.

[987] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 226.

[988] "Toutes ces mesures étaient nécessaires, vu la grande autorité du comte d'Egmont en ces pays, qui ne connaissaient d'autre roi que lui." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 582.

[989] Ibid., ubi supra.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.

[990] "L'emprisonnement des deux comtes ne donne lieu à aucune rumeur; au contraire, la tranquillité est si grande, que le Roi ne le pourrait croire." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 575.

[991] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 359.

[992] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 260.

[993] "Que, s'il apprenait que quelques-uns en fissent, encore même que ce fût pour dire le _credo_, il les châtierait; que, quant aux priviléges de l'Ordre, le Roi, après un mûr examen de ceux-ci, avait prononcé, et qu'on devait se soumettre." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 578.

[994] "Adeò contracto ac penè nullo cum imperio moderari, an utile Regi, an decorum ei quam Rex sororem appellare non indignatur, iliius meditationi relinquere." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 360.

[995] "Il vaut mieux que le Roi attende, pour venir, que tous les actes de rigueur aient été faits; il entrera alors dans le pays comme prince benin et clément, pardonnant, et accordant des faveurs à ceux qui l'auront mérité." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 577.

[996] "An captus quoque fuisset Taciturnus, (sic Orangium nominabat,) atque eo negante dixisse fertur, Uno illo retibus non incluso, nihil ab Duce Albano captum." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 360.

[997] "Grace à Dieu, tout est parfaitement tranquille aux Pays-Bas." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 589.

[998] "Le repos aux Pays-Bas ne consiste pas à faire couper la tête à des hommes qui se sont laissé persuader par d'autres." Ibid., p. 576.

[999] "Os habemos hecho entender que nuestra intencion era de no usar de rigor contra nuestros subegetos que durante las revueltas pasadas pudiesen haber ofendido contra Nos, _sino de toda dulzura y clemencia segun nuestra inclinacion natural_." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 440.

[1000] The ordinance, dated September 18, 1567, copied from the Archives of Simancas, is to be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 489 et seq.

[1001] "Statimque mercatores decem primarios Tornacenses è portu Flissingano fugam in Britanniam adornantes capi, ac bonis exutos custodiri jubet." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 361.

[1002] "Mais l'intention de S. M. n'est pas de verser le sang de ses sujets, et moi, de mon naturel, je ne l'aime pas davantage." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 576.

[1003] "Novum igitur consessum judicum instituit, exteris in eum plerisque adscitis; quem Turbarum ille; plebes, Sanguinis appellabat Senatum." Reidani Annales, (Lugdunum Batavorum, 1633,) p. 5.

[1004] "Les plus savants et les plus intègres du pays, et de la meilleure vie." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 576.

[1005] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 300.

[1006] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.

[1007] Viglius, who had not yet seen the man, thus mentions him in a letter to his friend Hopper: "Imperium ac rigorem metuunt cujusdam Vergasi, qui apud eum multum posse, et nescio quid aliud, dicitur." Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 451.

[1008] "Une activité toute juvénile." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 583.

[1009] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1010] Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 58.

[1011] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 242. Hessels was married to a niece of Viglius. According to the old councillor, she was on bad terms with her husband, because he had not kept his promise of resigning the office of attorney-general, in which he made himself so unpopular in Flanders. (Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 495.) In the last chapter of this Book the reader will find some mention of the tragic fate of Hessels.

[1012] "Letrados no sentencian sino en casos probados; y como V. M. sabe, los negocios de Estado son muy diferentes de las leyes que ellos tienen." Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 52, note.

[1013] "En siendo el aviso de condemnar á muerte, se decia que estaba muy bien y no habia mas que ver; empero, si el aviso era de menor pena, no se estaba á lo que ellos decian, sino tornabase á ver el proceso, y decianles sobre ello malas palabras, y hacianles ruin tratamiento." Gachard cites the words of the official document. Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 67.

[1014] Ibid., p. 68 et seq.

[1015] "Qu'ils seraient et demeureraient à jamais bons catholiques, selon que commandait l'Eglise catholique romaine; que, par haine, amour, pitié ou crainte de personne, ils ne laisseraient de dire franchement et sincèrement leur avis, selon qu'en bonne justice ils trouvaient convenir et appartenir; qu'ils tiendraient secret tout ce qui se traiterait au conseil, et qu'ils accuseraient ceux qui feraient le contraire." Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 56.

[1016] Ibid., p. 57.

[1017] Belin, in a letter to his patron, Cardinal Granvelle, gives full vent to his discontent with "three or four Spaniards in the duke's train, who would govern all in his name. They make but one head under the same hat." He mentions Vargas and Del Rio in particular. Granvelle's reply is very characteristic. Far from sympathizing with his querulous follower, he predicts the ruin of his fortunes by this mode of proceeding. "A man who would rise in courts must do as he is bidden, without question. Far from taking umbrage, he must bear in mind that injuries, like pills, should he swallowed without chewing, that one may not taste the bitterness of them;"--a noble maxim, if the motive had been noble. See Levesque, Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. pp. 91-94.

[1018] The historians of the time are all more or less diffuse on the doings of the Council of Troubles, written as they are in characters of blood. But we look in vain for any account of the interior organization of that tribunal, or of its mode of judicial procedure. This may be owing to the natural reluctance which the actors themselves felt, in later times, to being mixed up with the proceedings of a court so universally detested. For the same reason, as Gachard intimates, they may not improbably have even destroyed some of the records of its proceedings. Fortunately that zealous and patriotic scholar has discovered in the Archives of Simancas sundry letters of Alva and his successor, as well as some of the official records of the tribunal, which in a great degree supply the defect. The result he has embodied in a luminous paper prepared for the Royal Academy of Belgium, which has supplied me with the materials for the preceding pages. See Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. pp. 50-78.

[1019] "Hasta que vean en que para este juego que se comiença." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 598.

[1020] "Car l'incertitude où celles-ci se trouvent du sort qu'on leur réserve, les fera plus aisément à consentir aux moyens de finances justes et honnêtes qui seront établis par le Roi." Ibid., p. 590.

[1021] "Porqué creo yo que, con la voluntad de los Estados, no se hallarán estas, que es menester ponerlos de manera que no sea menester su voluntad y consentimiento para ello.... Esto irá en cifra, y aun creo que seria bien que fuese en una cartilla á parte que descifrase el mas confidente." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 590.

[1022] Ibid., p. 610.

[1023] "Para que cada uno piense que á la noche, ó á la mañana, se le puede caer la casa encima." Ibid., tom. II. p. 4.

[1024] "Esto se ha de proponer en la forma que yo propuse á los de Anvers los cuatrocientos mill florines para la ciudadela, y que ellos entiendan que aunque se les propone y se les pide, es en tal manera que lo que se propusiere no se ha de dejar de hacer." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 492.

[1025] Thus, for example, when Alva states that the council had declared all those who signed the Compromise guilty of treason, Philip notes, in his own handwriting, on the margin of the letter, "The same should he done with all who aided and abetted them, as in fact the more guilty party." (Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 590.) These private memoranda of Philip are of real value to the historian, letting him behind the curtain, where the king's own ministers could not always penetrate.

[1026] Cornejo, Disension de Flandes, fol. 63 et seq.--Hist. des Troubles et Guerres Civiles des Pays-Bas, pp. 133-136.--Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 428-439.--Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 119.

[1027] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 13.

[1028] "Non-seulement afin qu'il servît d'ôtage pour ce que son père pourrait fairs en Allemagne, mais pour qu'il fût élevé catholiquement." Ibid., tom. I. p. 596.

[1029] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 372.--Vandervynckt, Troubles de Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 261.

[1030] Strada, ubi supra.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 243.--Aubéri, Histoire de Hollande, p. 25.

[1031] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 159.

[1032] "Or, il vaut beaucoup mieux avoir un royaume ruiné, en le conservant pour Dieu et le roi, au moyen de la guerre, que de l'avoir tout entier sans celle-ci, au profit du démon et des hérétiques, ses sectateurs." Correspondance de Philippe II. tom. I. p. 609.

[1033] This appears not merely from the king's letters to the duke, but from a still more unequivocal testimony, the minutes in his own handwriting on the duke's letters to him. See, in particular, his summary approval of the reply which Alva tells him he has made to Catherine de Medicis. "Yo lo mismo, todo lo demas que dice en este capitulo, que todo ha sido muy á proposito." Ibid., p. 591.

[1034] Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, (Eng. trans.,) vol. I. p. 349.

[1035] The cardinal of Lorraine went so far as to offer, in a certain contingency, to put several strong frontier places into Alva's hands. In case the French king and his brothers should die without heirs the king of Spain might urge his own claim through his wife, as nearest of blood, to the crown of France. "The Salic law," adds the duke, "is but a jest. All difficulties will be easily smoothed away with the help of an army." Philip, in a marginal note to this letter, intimates his relish for the proposal. See Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 593.

[1036] The municipality of Brussels, alarmed at the interpretation which the duke, after Margaret's departure, might put on certain equivocal passages in their recent history, obtained a letter from the regent, in which she warmly commends the good people of the capital as zealous Catholics, loyal to their king, and, on all occasions, prompt to show themselves the friends of public order. See the correspondence, ap. Gachard, Analectes Belgiques, p. 343 et seq.

[1037] Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 481 et seq.

[1038] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 583.

[1039] The king's acknowledgments to his sister are condensed into the sentence with which he concludes his letter, or, more properly, his billet. This is dated October 13, 1568, and is published by Gachard, in the Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix No. 119.

[1040] "Elle reçut," says De Thou with some humor, "enfin d'Espagne une lettre pleine d'amitié et de tendresse, telle qu'on a coûtume d'écrire à une personne qu'on remercie après l'avoir dépouillée de sa dignité." Hist. Universelle, tom. V. p. 439.

[1041] A copy of the original is to be found in the Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix No. 118.

[1042] The letter has been inserted by Gachard in the Analectes Belgiques, pp. 295-300.

[1043] "Suplicar muy humilmente, y con toda afeccion, que V. M. use de clemencia y misericordia con ellos, conforme á la esperanza que tantas vezes les ha dado, y que tenga en memoria que cuanto mas grandes son los reyes, y se acercan mas á Dios, tanto mas deben ser imitadores de esta grande divina bondad, poder, y clemencia." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 603.

[1044] Ibid., loc. cit.

[1045] Ibid., tom. II. p. 6.

[1046] "Superavitque omnes Elizabetha Angliæ Regina, tam bonæ caræque sororis, uci scribebat, vicinitate in posterum caritura;" "sive," adds the historian, with candid scepticism, "is amor fuit in Margaritam, sive sollicitudo ex Albano successore." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 365.

[1047] Historians vary considerably as to the date of Margaret's departure. She crossed the frontier of the Netherlands probably by the middle of January, 1568. At least, we find a letter from her to Philip when she had nearly reached the borders, dated at Luxembourg, on the twelfth of that month.

[1048] See, among others, Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 128; Guerres Civiles du Pays-Bas, p. 128; De Thou, Hist. Gen., tom. V. p. 439; and Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS., who, in these words, concludes his notice of Margaret's departure: "Dejando gran reputacion de su virtud y un sentimiento de su partida en los corazones de los vasallos de por acá el qual crecio mucho despues ansi continuo quando se describio el gusto de los humores y andamientos de su succesor."

[1049] De Thou, Hist. Gen., tom. V. p. 437.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.--The latter historian cites the words of the original instrument.

[1050] "Voulans et ordonnans qu'ainsi en soit faict, afin que ceste serieuse sentence serve d'exemple, et donne crainte pour l'advenir, sans aucune esperance de grace." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 54.

[1051] Among contemporary writers whom I have consulted, I find no authorities for this remarkable statement except Meteren and De Thou. This might seem strange to one who credited the story, but not so strange as that a proceeding so extraordinary should have escaped the vigilance of Llorente, the secretary of the Holy Office, who had all its papers at his command. I have met with no allusion whatever to it in his pages.

[1052] "Au moyen de la patente de gouverneur général que le duc aura reçue, il pourra faire cesser les entraves que mettait le conseil des finances à ce qu'il disposât des deniers des confiscations." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 609.

[1053] Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, tom. XVI. par. ii. p. 62.

[1054] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1055] Ibid., p. 63.

[1056] "Le magistrat s'est plaint de l'infraction de ses privilèges, à cause de l'envoi dudit prévôt; mais il faudra bien qu'il prenne patience." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 13.

[1057] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. pp. 243-247.

The author tells us he collected these particulars from the memoirs and diaries of eye-witnesses,--confirmed, moreover, by the acts and public registers of the time. The authenticity of the statement, he adds, is incontestable.

[1058] See the circular of Alva to the officers charged with these arrests, in the Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix, p. 660.

[1059] "Et, affin que ledict duc d'Alve face apparoir de plus son affection sanguinaire et tyrannicque, il a, passé peu de temps, faict appréhender, tout sur une nuict, [le 3 mars, 1568,] en toutes les villes des pays d'embas, ung grand nombre de ceulx qu'il a tenu suspect en leur foy, et les faict mectre hors leurs maisons et lictz en prison, pour en après, à sa commodité, faire son plaisir et volunté avecque lesdicts prisonniers." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. III. p. 9.

The extract is from a memorial addressed by William to the emperor, vindicating his own course, and exposing, with the indignant eloquence of a patriot, the wrongs and calamities of his country. This document, printed by Gachard, is a version from the German original by the hand of a contemporary. A modern translation--so ambitious in its style that one may distrust its fidelity--is also to be found in the Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 91 et seq.

[1060] "Se prendieron cerca de quinientos.... He mandado justiciar todos," says Alva to the king, in a letter written in cipher, April, 13. 1568. (Documentos inéditos, tom. IV. p. 488.) Not one escaped! It is told with an air of _nonchalance_ truly appalling.

[1061] "Que cada dia me quiebran la cabeza con dudas de que si el que delinquió desta manera meresce la muerte, ó si el que delinquió desta otra meresce destierro, que no me dejan vivir, y no basta con ellos." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 488.

[1062] "En este castigo que agora se hace y en el que vendrá despues, de Pascua tengo que pasará de ochocientas cabezas." Ibid., p. 489.

[1063] "Les Bourgeois qui estoyët riches de quarante, soixante, et cent mille florins, il les faysoit attacher à la queuë d'un cheval, et ainsi les faysoit trainer, ayant les mains liées sur les dos, jusques au lieu où on les debvoit pendre." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 55.

[1064] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1065] "Ille [Vargas] promiscuè laqueo, igne, homines enecare." Reidanus, Annales, p. 6.

[1066] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 274.

[1067] "Hark how they sing!" exclaimed a friar in the crowd; "should they not be made to dance too?" Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 275.

[1068] It will be understood that I am speaking of the period embraced in this portion of the history, terminating at the beginning of June, 1568, when the Council of Blood had been in active operation about four months,--the period when the sword of legal persecution fell heaviest. Alva, in the letter above cited to Philip, admits eight hundred--including three hundred to be examined after Easter--as the number of victims. (Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 489.) Viglius, in a letter of the twenty-ninth of March, says fifteen hundred had been already cited before the tribunal, the greater part of whom--they had probably fled the country--were condemned for contumacy. (Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 415.) Grotius, alluding to this period, speaks even more vaguely of the multitude of the victims, as _innumerable_. "Stipatæ reis custodiæ, innumeri mortales necati: ubique una species ut captæ civitatis." (Annales, p. 29.) So also Hooft, cited by Brandt: "The gallows, the wheels, stakes, and trees in the highways, were loaden with carcasses or limbs of such as had been hanged, beheaded, or roasted; so that the air, which God had made for respiration of the living, was now become the common grave or habitation of the dead." (Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 261.) Language like this, however expressive, does little for statistics.

[1069] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 4.

[1070] Sentences passed by the Council of Blood against a great number of individuals--two thousand or more--have been collected in a little volume, (Sententien en Indagingen van Alba,) published at Amsterdam, in 1735. The parties condemned were for the most part natives of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht. They would seem, with very few exceptions, to have been absentees, and, being pronounced guilty of contumacy, were sentenced to banishment and the confiscation of their property. The volume furnishes a more emphatic commentary on the proceedings of Alva than anything which could come from the pen of the historian.

[1071] "Acabando este castigo comenzaré á prender algunos particulares de los mas culpados y mas ricos para moverlos á que vengan á composición." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 489.

[1072] "Destos tales se saque todo el golpe de dinero que sea possible." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1073] Sententien van Alva, bl. 122-124.

[1074] "Combien d'Hospitaux, Vefues, et Orphelins, estoyent par ce moyen privés de leur rentes, et moyës de vivre!" Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 55

[1075] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 265.

[1076] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 247.

[1077] Ibid., p. 245.

[1078] "Par laquelle auparavant jamais ouye tyrannie et persécution, ledict duc d'Albe a causé partout telle peur, que aulcuns milles personnes, et mesmement ceulx estans principaulx papistes, se sont retirez en dedens peu de temps hors les Pays-Bas, en considération que ceste tyrannie s'exerce contre tous, sans aulcune distinction de la religion." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. III. p. 14.

[1079] "Que temo no venga á ser mayor la espesa de los ministros que el útil que dello se sacará." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 495.

[1080] "El tribunal todo que hice para estas cosas no solamente no me ayuda, pero estórbame tanto que tengo mas que hacer con ellos que con los delincuentes." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1081] Vargas passed as summary a judgment on the people of the Netherlands as that imputed to the Inquisition, condensing it into a memorable sentence, much admired for its Latinity. "_Hæretici fraxerunt templa, boni nihil faxerunt contrà, ergo debent omnes patibulare._" Reidanus, Annales, p. 5.

[1082] "Quand on l'éveilloit pour dire son avis. il disoit tout endormi, en se frottant ces veux, _ad patibulum_, _ad patibulum_, c'est-à-dire, au gibet, au gibet." Aubéri, Mem. pour servir à l'Hist. de Hollande, p. 22.

[1083] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 12.

[1084] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. pp. 263, 264; et alibi.

[1085] Grotius, Annales, p. 29.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 450.

[1086] Campana, Guerra de Fiandra, fol. 38.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. p. 555.

[1087] "Valde optaremus tandem aliquam funesti hujus temporis, criminaliumque processuum finem, qui non populum tantum nostrum, sed vicinos omnes exasperant." Viglii, Epist. ad Hopperum, p. 482.

[1088] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 15.

[1089] "Y quando por esta causa se aventurassen los Estados, y me viniesse á caer el mundo encima." Ibid., p. 27.

Philip seems to have put himself in the attitude of the "justum et tenacem" of Horace. His concluding hyperbole is almost a literal version of the Roman bard:--

"Si fractus illabatur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinæ."

[1090] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 87.

[1091] "Il n'est pas seulement content de s'employer à la nécessité présente par le moyen par eulx proposé touchant sa vasselle, ains de sa propre personne, et de tout ce que reste en son pouvoir." Ibid., p. 88.

[1092] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1093] The funds were chiefly furnished, as it would seem, by Antwerp, and the great towns of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Groningen, the quarter of the country where the spirit of independence was always high. The noble exiles with William contributed half the amount raised. This information was given to Alva by Villers, one of the banished lords, after he had fallen into the duke's hands in a disastrous affair, of which some account will be given in the present chapter. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 27.

[1094] "Ipse Arausionensis monilia, vasa algentea, tapetes, cætera supellectilis divendit, digna regio palatio ornamenta, sed exigui ad bellum momenti." Reidanus, Annales, p. 6.