Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/239



the death of his nephew, Baron Berlaymont redoubled his persecution of the Protestants. He saw to it that the gibbet and the stake were daily supplied with victims. One morning he entered the strongly-guarded palace where Alva resided, and passing unchallenged through the rooms where soldiers were stationed to guard the person of the Duke, he was ushered into the presence of the governor of the Netherlands. The Duke was in high spirits, having just been made the recipient of a jewelled hat and sword from the Pope, in recognition of his services for the Church. An autograph letter accompanied the gift, in which his Holiness urged Alva to remember that when he put the hat on his head, “he was guarded with it as with a helmet of righteousness and with the shield of God’s help, indicating the heavenly crown which was ready for all princes who support the holy Church and the Roman Catholic faith.” The sword was ornamented with the following Latin 227