1566 - The Compromise of the Nobility
The long labors of the Council of Trent were ending; and, when in 1566 it finally promulgated its decrees, Philip determined, to enforce their acceptance throughout his dominions. Accordingly, he now made a more vehement attack on the Reformers; and then it was that, in 1566, the Netherland nobles, led by Count Brederode, signed the famous "Compromise," with which the open rebellion of the provinces began.
Orange, Egmont, and Horn stood aloof. When, in their first interview with the regent, the nobles appeared on foot, in sedulously plain guise and without arms. Barlaymont standing by her side begged her not to bo alarmed, "for they were but a pack of beggars:" and the phrase being overheard, at Brederode's banquet that night it was gaily adopted by the young nobles as a party name, "lea gueux," and it became the fashion for patriots to wear beggar's garb, and a medal round the neck, bearing Philip's image on one side and a wallet on the other, with two hands crossed, and the legend "Fideles au roy jusque a la besace." Orange, Egmont, and Horn, who dropped in on the revelry at Brederode's house, joined the merry scene and drank the beggars' health.
To deprecate Philip's anger at the "Compromise," the council of state sent the marquis of Beigen and Horn's brother, the lord of Montigny, Knights of the Golden Fleece and men of high repute, to Spain, where Philip received them kindly, but took good care that they should never again see their homes. Mean-while he gathered force: with which to suppress the disturbances, which had become very serious. Open air preachings, guarded by armed men, were taking place throughout the provinces, and raised the excitement to such a height that it at last found vent in iconoclastic tumults, similar to those of France.
That gave the court party only too good an excuse; it could now interpose with authority on behalf of public order. Matters threatened war. Margaret played with the discontented nobles, having orders from Spain to decoy and capture the chief men, and so to break up the confederacy. Here Orange withdrew into Holland: Horn, in moody opposition, conscious of his integrity, retired to his country house; while Egmont still hovered, a bright flutterer, round the fatal taper of the court.
The confederacy was in fact broken up, and Margaret saw with satisfaction a considerable body of German mercenaries enter the provinces to inflict punishment, in all its ghastliest and most brutal forms, on the iconoclasts. In 1567 it came to blows: the undisciplined rabble of Calvinists, who tried to raise the siege of Valenciennes, were cut to pieces by the troops of Egmont and other loyal nobles. William of Orange withdrew to Nassau, after vainly warning Egmont of the imminent peril which he ran.
In spite of Margaret, who assured Philip that the heretics were completely put down, and their worship abolished, and that consequently there was no need of an army, and that on the contrary the time for mercy had come, the plan for the utter subjugation of the provinces was adhered to. The duke of Alva, already famous for his harshness and bigotry, was named commander of the forces, with almost unlimited powers. He set forth in May 1567, and all hopes of peace or mercy fled before him.
There was a great and desperate exodus of the inhabitants; thousands took refuge in England, Germany, and Denmark, carrying with them, it was thought, the lost relics of their faith and party. The nobles' confederacy had already been broken up; now the popular movement was dispersed, despair and helplessness alone remained to greet the cold Spaniard and his train of orthodox executioners. He entered the Netherlands with about 20,000 men, all tried troops, ready for any cruelties. Their weakness lay in the fact that they were after all mere mercenaries — Spaniards, Italians, Germans — and as such ever ready for a mutiny, if pay fell short, or if there were none to plunder.
Egmont and Horn were arrested at once; the Council of Troubles — the "Blood-tribunal" — was established; Margaret, thrust aside by the imperious general, resigned her weary office, and carried away with her the last hopes of the wretched people. Alva was now appointed governor-general, and the executions of his council filled the land with blood.
Orange was outlawed on his non-appearance; it was about this time that he declared his conversion to Calvinism, and so fitted himself in every respect to lead the people when the time came. The hostilities of 1568 led to the execution of Egmont and Horn. Though the Gueux under Louis of Nassau won a considerable victory over the Spaniards at Heiligerlee, the arrival of Alva compelled him to raise the siege of Groningen, and to withdraw towards the Ems.
At Jemmingen Louis was at last utterly defeated, and though the prince of Orange did his utmost to raise the country, and skillfully avoided a fatal battle, the campaign ended in his being obliged to withdraw out of the country. Alva was now at the highest point of his success; his statue, cast from cannon taken at Jemmingen, was set up at Antwerp; the exodus of the Inhabitants continued incessantly, especially to England.
The advice of Admiral Coligny, that the provinces should wage war from the sea, was hardly listened to at the first. In 1570, however, Orange turned his attention that way, and his little navy under William de la Marck annoyed Spanish commerce and took rich prizes. In 1572, being unable to find refuge in any port — for neither England, nor Denmark, nor Sweden, would allow them harborage, and they were treated not merely aa rebels but as pirates — William de la Marck, with his "Water-Beggars," suddenly seized on Briel, at the mouth of the Meuse, and the face of the struggle began from that moment to change.
Alva, partly from the general requirements of his position, partly from lack of funds and desire of his recently-imposed tenth penny, had at this moment driven the Netherlanders to desperation. He was engaged in a struggle with Brussels and Utrecht, in which city, to punish the inhabitants, he had collected his Spanish soldiery from all the neighboring towns. The news of the capture of Uriel woke him from his security, Flushing also fell into the hands of the "Water-Beggars" - who surprised under its walls a rich convoy from Spain.
Louis of Nassau, who had been at La Rochelle with the Huguenots, and had received help and encouragement from Charles IX of France, suddenly seized Mons in Hainault, thus giving the French sympathizers with the revolt the means of entering safely into the Walloon provinces. Alva, now seriously alarmed, withdrew from Zealand the whole of the forces with which he had intended to check the movement of the "Water-Beggars," in order that he might repair the great breach thus made in his southern system of defense; and so left the province free to develop its resistance.
Holland followed quickly, Enkhuizen setting the example; so that, within three months of the capture of Briel, Amsterdam was the only town in Holland in the hands of the Spaniards. In Friesland also the revolt spread far and wide. The states of Holland met, and, acting under advice of Philip of Maruix, lord of fit Aldegonde, the prince's deputy, declared that William I of Orange was, by Philip's nomination, stadtholder of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland; they also declared their intention to raise money for the costs of war and the relief of Mons, and affirmed again the liberties of the provinces; finally they acclaimed the rough and ready William de la Marck captain-general — a man whose prompt and practical daring would supply the qualities which the caution and apparent irresolution and timidity of William of Orange seemed unlikely to provide for the emergency.
Meanwhile Alva pressed the siege of Mons; French help failed utterly to relieve Louis of Nassau, nor could William I of Orange either force his way through the Spanish lines or induce Alva to fight. At this moment came tidings of the massacre of St Bartholomew, and the prince, seeing that all hope of aid from France was utterly at an end, bade his brother make the best terms he could, and withdrew beyond the Rhine and thence into Holland. Mons at once capitulated, and Alva, passing on to Mechlin, pitilessly sacked that wealthy city.
Thence he pressed forward to the north; Zutphen was taken, the towns of Guelderland and Friesland submitted, and for a while nothing seemed to stay his career of conquest and revenge. The prince of Orange was powerless; but the despair caused by the cruel destruction of Naarden roused a spirit which even Alva could not tame, and the famous siege of Haarlem, lasting through the winter of 1572 until July 1573, cost 12,000 Spanish troops, and gave the insurgent provinces time to breathe.
A great mutiny among Alva's troops still more hindered the work of subjugation. The repulse of Don Frederick of Toledo, Alva's son, from Alkmaar, the capture of Geertruidenberg by the Dutch, and Admiral Dirkson's great victory over Alva's fleet, entirely changed the aspect of affairs, and saved the towns of North Holland.
Alva, who had come as far as Amsterdam, returned to Brussels, and thence, obtaining his recall, bade farewell to his government. During the six years it had lasted, his executioners bad put to death 18,000 persons, to say nothing of the victims in cities captured by his troops; the Spaniards plundered where they could, and considered the whole wealth of the Netherlands their lawful prey, forfeited by rebellion. But his pitiless severity only served to raise up a stubbornness of civic resistance, against which the tried discipline of the Spanish soldiery, and the consummate skill of their commander, reckoned to be the first general in Europe, were powerless.
Don Louis of Requesens, grand-commander of Castile, was appointed Alva's successor, and after a brief and deceptive lull the war went on. In January 1574, by the fall of Muldelburg, the Spaniards lost their last hold on Walcheren and on Zealand, while by the splendid defense of Leyden, unparalleled in the history of heroic endurance, their efforts in another direction were effectually frustrated.
It was not until 1581 that the United Provinces took rank as a Protestant nation.
