Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/454

* NETHEBLANDS. 402 NETHERLANDS. all the inhabitants of the Netherlands as heretics, with a few iianied exceptions. Among the notable victims of tlic trilmnal were Counts Eguioiit and Hoorne. In the spring the Prince of Orange, wlio hail dcil the country, raised a small army and with his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, took the fieUl for the liberties of the Netherlands, thus opening a desperate struggle lasting for forty years, during which most of the principal towns endured sieges by the Spaniards and suf- fered wholesale massacres when taken. In ilay I.,ouis of Nassau defeated Count Aremberg, the [Spanish Governor of (ironingen, but he was driven from the field by Alva and lied totlermany with only a remnant of his troups. The lirst de- cisive triumph for the national cause was the cap- ture of the fortified seaport of liriel by the "Beg- gars of the Sea' luider the Count de la Jlarck in April, 1572. This was followed by the revolt of the principal cities of Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland. and many cities in Gelderland and Overysscl. The Prince of Orange was proclaimed as lawful Stadtholder of the King of Sjiain. The fortress of ilons. in the south, was taken by Count Louis of Nassau, but the expected reenforeements from France did not arrive and the Massacre of Saint liartholomevv was a severe blow to the Protestant cause in the Netherlands, ilons was retaken by the Span- iards in Se|)tendx^r, and in rapid succession other places (Mechlin, Zutphen, and Naardcn) fell into their hands, their course everywhere being marked by ruthless cruelty. Haarlem was de- fended by a garrison of 4000 men again.st an army of;J0,000 men under Don Frederick, a son of the Duke of Alva, and after enduring a siege of seven months surrendered only when redice<l to the very verge of starvation. The little town of .Mkmaar re])elled all assaults by the Spanish soldiery, and drove oil' an army of 10,000 men by cutting the dikes and llooiling the country. In 1573 Alva was recalled by Philip II. and suc- ceeded by Iier|uescns. On sea the Dutch repeatedly defeated the Spanish fleets, hut on land they suffered a severe reverse in the battle on the moor of Mook. near Nimegnen (April 15, 1574), in which Louis of Nassau and his brother Henry wore slain and their entire army destroyed. Leyden. besieged by an army of HOOd Spaniards undcT Valdcz. held out for five moiitbs. and was saved by the cutting of the dikes, which enabled the vessels of the (lueux to bring relief to the town. The death of Keqiie- sens ill .March, 157<>, was followed by a mutiny of the Spanish troo])S (the so-called .Spanish Fury). Freed from all discipline and clamorous for their pay. which had long been withheld, they brmiglit a reign of terror on the country. CJhent. Itreclit, Valenciennes, Maestrieht.and Antwerp wtye taken and pliindereil. and in the last-named city .SOOO cilize.is are reported to have been put to deafli. The southern provinces turned in terror to Wil- liam of Orange for aid. and. with the exception of Luxemburg, entered into an alliance with the northern provinces. known as the Pacification of fJhent ( Novi'inber S. 1570). Tile authority of Philip was still nominally recognized. The paci- fication was completed by the t'nion of Brussels, .laniniry. 1577. the object of which was primarily the expulsion of the mutinous Spanish soldiers. The new viceroy. Don .John of, stria. the half brother of Philip II.. in order to gain time, was compelled on bis arrival to grant the demands of the estates, and issued the Perpetual Edict, cimtirming the terms of the Pacification of Ohcnt. He won a great victory at Oembloux on January 31, 1578. but died in the same year, aiul was suc- ceeded by Alexander Farncsc, Duke of Parma, one of the ablest men of his day as well as one of the most unscrupulous, who administered affairs with energy until 1592. A shrewd judge of men, he used bribery as well as force to divitlc and weaken the resistance, and he succeeded in fomenting dissensions between the northern and southern provinces, which had little sym]iatliy save that arising from resistance to coiiiiiion o])pres- sion. The southern provinces were in great part won back for Spain, but at Utrecht in .January, 157!), the seven northern ]irovinces, Holland, Zee- land, Gelderland. Utrecht, (ironingen, (Jveryssel, and Friesland, entered into a union that was vir- tually the founding of the Dutch Republic, and on duly 20, 1581, at The Hague, the seven provinces constituting the modern kingdom of the Nether- lands declared their independence. William of Orange became the ruler of Holland and Zccland, while the sovereignty over the other provinces was offered to the Duke of Anjou, brother of Henry III. of France. The latter, however, aroused the enmity of the people by his attempt to seize Antwerp, and left the country in 1583. (hi .luly 10. 1584, William of Orange was assassi- nated at Delft by an emissary of the Duke of Parma : but the United Provinces were saved from the full effects of the blow by aflfairs in France, where the struggle between the mon- archy and the Catholic League diverted the at- tention of the Spanish King and led for a time to the withdrawal of the greater part of the Spanish troops from the Low Countries. In 1585 Antwerp, after a memorable siege of 14 months, was forced to surrender to the Duke of Parma. In 1585 an English army under the Earl of Leices- ter was sent by Elizabeth to the aid of the Dutch, but the incapacity of their commander made their assistance of little use, and in 1587 Leicester returned to England. The United Prov- inces nevertheless continued the struggle, guided by the statesmanship of Barneveldt (q.v. ), and under the leadership of Maurice of Nassau, the elilest son of William of Orange. Maurice con- cluded a series of triumphant campaigns with the decisive victorv of Nieuport, over the Archduke Albert of Auitria, July 2, 1000. On sea the Dutch navies overwlielnied the Spanish forces and made theni-selvcs masters of the Spanish- Portuguese pos.sessions in the East Indies. The.se years of warfare completed the desolation of the Spanish Netherlands. A respite came in 1009 with a twelve years' truce, which was a virtual acknowledgment of the independence of the Dulch l{e])ublic. For additional details of the s( niggle with .Spain up to the truce of 1000. see articles on Al.v.v; Eo.mont: F.vunksk; CiKfx; Joii.x OF Ar.sTRiA; Philip II.; William I.; Maukice (of Nassau). Political and religious dissensions now aro-e in the Republic. The .Arminian controversy in the Chiireh mingled itself unhappily with the political diU'erenees between Prince Maurice, of Nassau, and Harneveldt. Finally Barneveldt was seized, condemned without fair trial, and executed May 13,1010. See DoRT. Synod OF; Basneveldt; (JnoTits. In the course of the struggle with Spain the foreign trade of the provinces had undergone a