The Story of Nations - Holland/Chapter 9

Philips had resolved to establish the Inquisition by the sword. He augmented his army in Italy, and had sent Alva and his troops thither. This man had been all his life engaged in war, was now sixty years old, and had the reputation, justly earned, of being the most accomplished and capable warrior in Europe. He had gained victories in Spain, in Africa, in Germany, in Italy, in France. He was, perhaps, the most bloodthirsty man who ever existed in what is called the civilized world, and he was sent to the Netherlands to satiate himself. The army was worthy of the general. He commanded the finest and the most merciless troops in Europe.

Some of these troops, about 10,000 in number, embarked at Carthagena on May 16, 1567. The principal part of the force was collected at Genoa, and marched across Mont Cenis, and through Savoy, Burgundy, and Lorraine. Had the confederates in the Netherlands determined at this time to resist Philip, and had Egmont taken the command, it is probable that Alva’s troops might have been destroyed in detail, so difficult was the march. By the middle of August they were all in the Netherlands. Alva fixed his headquarters at Brussels, on August 23rd, but distributed his troops through the other cities. It was the intention of Philip and Alva to destroy every Netherlander who had resisted or even criticized the Spanish policy. Of course, Orange, Egmont, Horn, and Hoogstraten, were to be forthwith arrested and dealt with. There was to be a political in addition to a religious inquisition. In the interval these eminent men were to be entrapped into a false security. The plot succeeded with Egmont and Horn; it failed with Orange and Hoogstraten.

On September 9th Horn and Egmont were arrested, and on September 23rd transferred to the castle of Ghent, with other leading persons. Alva had done part of his commission with secrecy and dispatch. But the escape of Orange was thought by those who knew the Netherlands to make the capture of the others politically valueless. However, on the very day on which Horn and Egmont was arrested, Alva established a council which he called that of Troubles, but the Netherlanders the Blood Council. It was an invention of Alva’s own. It soon set to work and slew its thousands before Margaret of Parma retired, which she did on December 9th. She was probably softened by this time, for her best friends and advisers had been imprisoned by her successor, and were already doomed. Alva set to work to build the citadel of Antwerp. In October, 1568, he took up his quarters in the new fortress.

Orange was prosecuted, and his eldest son was kidnapped and sent to Spain. But William was himself out of reach. Meanwhile, a sentence of the Inquisition condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands, with a few exceptions, to death as heretics, and Philip confirmed the sentence. How powerful must the theory of the divine right of kings and the divine right of priests have been, that this decree was not met by an instant revolt. But all that came of it, as yet, was that bands of marauders, under the name of Wild Beggars, took to robbing all and sundry, but especially to mutilating monks and priests.

Meanwhile Orange had collected troops and taken to the field. He made his attack on three points and failed in two. But at the battle of Heiligerlee, in Friesland, the patriots were victorious, and the army, of the Spaniards all but annihilated. But the victory was the death warrant of Egmont and Horn. They are executed on June 5, 1568.

One of the brothers of Orange had perished in the battle of Heiligerlee, Louis of Nassau, another, was still in the field. But Alva was on his path, routed his army, laid waste the country, slaughtered the inhabitants, and brought back his soldiers with little loss. While Alva was defeating Louis, Philip was murdering his eldest son, Don Carlos. Had this young man gone, as he wished, to the Netherlands, in place of Alva, the tyranny of Caligula would have been exhibited in place of that of Nero.

As Alva had beaten Louis of Nassau, so he now baffled William, who had now openly embraced the reformed faith, but carried into his new creed an utter hatred of religious bigotry. He would persecute neither Papist or Anabaptist. With perhaps equal sincerity, he declared that he did not make war on Philip, but on Alva. He got but little aid from the nobles, who promised him much; he got as little help from the peasants from whom he could expect nothing. He collected a formidable army, but he could not force Alva to fight, and the army wasted away. Alva returned to Antwerp, and set up a colossal statue of himself on the citadel.

Alva was now triumphant, and, to all appearance, the fortunes of Orange and the Netherlands were desperate. The Flemish nobles were without spirit or character, as was to be often proved, and the people were not yet organized. Just at this crisis, Elizabeth of England put Alva into a serious difficulty. She impounded certain treasure ships which were on the road for the payment of the Spanish troops. This was the beginning of those military bankruptcies which ultimately aided the patriots so much. The murders of Alva and the depopulation of the Netherlands were drying up all sources of revenue, and Alva began seriously to think of an amnesty. In his efforts to obtain money, Alva had even ventured on plundering his own Church, and he did with a high hand.

For two or three years Orange was an exile and a wanderer, while Alva was striving to reconcile the Flemings and Hollanders to taxes which would have absolutely ruined them. From time to time he was engaged in plots for the murder of Elizabeth, assassination by hired bravos being now considered legitimate warfare by Philip. The plots were found out, the assassins punished, and the English people—Catholic, Anglican, and Puritan alike—were becoming united against Spain, and in defence of Elizabeth. Even Philip’s victories were barren, for though the battle of Lepanto had checked the progress of the Turks, it had not furthered the ascendency of Spain.

Alva’s unpopularity was daily increasing, the provinces were nearly ruined, or saw they could arrest ruin only by energetic resistance, the governor’s successor was appointed, and Orange was again steadily but secretly making way, when the first turn of the tide came in favour of the patriots. The Beggars of the Sea had captured the city of Brill.

The Hollanders had long been familiar with the sea. They had been driven from their homes; their native land was being given up to military execution; they could not for years stand against Spanish discipline in the field, but they rapidly became invincible on the water. The narrow seas were now swarming with rovers, furnished with letters of marque by Orange, and, it is to be feared, that they levied their contributions impartially from Spaniard and neutral. Their admiral was William de la Marck, a descendant of wild freebooters, and himself as ferocious as any of his ancestors. He was a kinsman of Egmont, and was sworn to avenge himself on Alva.

Twenty-four vessels, manned by the Beggars of the Sea, were cruising in the spring of 1572, on the southern coast of England. Elizabeth, who had made up her quarrel with Alva, forbade her subjects from provisioning the Beggars. Half-starved already, the rovers determined to essay some place in Holland and appeared before Brill. They determined to obtain its surrender, and sent a friendly fisherman of the town as their envoy. The Beggars were some four hundred in all, but the fishermen, when asked about their numbers, answered in a careless manner, about five thousand. There was no though of resistance, and the patriots soon got possession, and held it in the name of Orange. Alva sent troops to recapture the town, but they were repulsed; for the Sea Beggars were in their element. A short time afterwards, Flushing was rescued from Alva by the patriots, and the number of their partisans rapidly increasing, this town was garrisoned. Here they caught Pacheco, Alva’s engineer, who had built the citadel of Antwerp, and had been sent to finish the defences of Flushing. They hanged him on the spot.

Almost at an instant, nearly all the cities of Holland and Zeland threw off the Spanish yoke, and accepted the government of Orange, though in the name of the king. But for a long time the insurgents claimed nothing more than the charters and liberties to which Philip had voluntarily sworn. Toleration was from the first the law of William’s government. Meanwhile Louis of Nassau had captured the city of Mons, in South-west Flanders. At Walcheren nearly the whole Lisbon fleet was captured by the Beggars, the pay of the Spanish soldiery, and much of their ammunition.

On July 18, 1572, the Estates of Holland were convened at Dort, under the authority of Orange as Stadtholder. The convention was primarily for the purpose of raising funds for the prosecution of the war. Stirred to enthusiasm by the eloquence of Saint Aldegonde, the Hollanders unanimously resolved to dedicate themselves and their fortunes to the cause which was identified with Orange. The prince himself seeking to effect a junction with the Huguenot troops, who were marching to the relief of Mons, but who were defeated before he could achieve his object. He continued his march, levying troops, collecting funds, and relying on the French, when on August 24th occurred the frightful massacre of St. Bartholomew. His plans were frustrated, his army was disbanded, and he was forced to retire into Holland. On September 19th, Mons was surrendered, and the Flemish towns returned to their allegiance. Henceforth, the principal interest of the struggle centres in Holland.

Even here, however, the affairs of the patriots were unprosperous. Tergoes was relieved, and Zutphen sacked by the Spaniards. William was deserted by his brother-in-law, De Berg, who betrayed what was entrusted to him. Harlem, after a desperate defence, was captured in the summer of 1573. But the siege of Alkmaar, after an heroic defence of seven weeks, was raised. Then there was a breathing time for the Hollanders. The French king intrigued for the marriage of his brother with Elizabeth, and the Spanish king intrigued with the electors of the German Empire for the succession to Maximilian. Besides the Dutch had defeated the Spanish commander by sea, at Enkhuizen, on October 11th, On December 18th, Alva left the Netherlands. His Blood Council had put to death 18,600 persons.