[1181] Schiller, in his account of the execution of the two nobles, tells us that it was from a window of the Hôtel de Ville, the fine old building on the opposite side of the market-place, that Alva watched the last struggles of his victims. The cicerone, on the other hand, who shows the credulous traveller the memorabilia of the city, points out the very chamber in the Maison du Roi in which the duke secreted himself.—Valeat quantum.

[1182] "Qu'il avoit procuré de tout son povoir la mitigation, mais que l'on avoit répondu que, si il n'y eut esté aultre offence que celle qui touchoit S. M., le pardon fut esté facille, mais qu'elle ne pouvoit remettre l'offense faicte si grande à Dieu." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 81.

[1183] "J'entendz d'aucuns que son Exc. at jecté des larmes aussi grosses que poix en temps que l'on estoit sur ces exécutions." Ibid., ubi supra.

They must have been as big as crocodiles'tears.

[1184] Ante, Book II.

[1185] "Je suis occupé à réunir mes troupes, Espagnoles, Italiennes, et Allemandes; quand je serai prêt, vous recevrez ma réponse." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. xx.

[1186] "Il lui rend compte de ce qu'il a fait pour l'exécution des ordres que le Roi lui donna à son départ, et qui consistaient à arrêter et à châtier exemplairement les principaux du pays qui s'étaient rendus coupables durant les troubles." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 29.

[1187] "C'a été une chose de grand effet en ce pays, que l'exécution d'Egmont; et plus grand a été l'effet, plus l'exemple qu'on a voulu faire sera fructueux." Ibid., p. 28.

[1188] Ossorio, Albæ Vita, p. 278.

[1189] "V. M. peult considérer le regret que ça m'a esté de voir ces pauvres seigneurs venus à tels termes, et qu'il ayt fallut que moy en fusse l'exécuteur." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 252.

[1190] "Madame d'Egmont me faict grand pitié et compassion, pour la voir chargée de unze enfans et nuls addressez, et elle, dame sy principale, comme elle est, sœur du comte palatin, et de si bonne, vertueuse, catholicque et exemplaire vie, qu'il n'y a homme qui ne la regrette." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1191] The duke wrote no less than three letters to the king, of this same date, June 9. The precis of two is given by Gachard, and the third is published entire by Reiffenberg. The countess and her misfortunes form the burden of two of them.

[1192] "Il ne croit pas qu'il y ait aujourd'hui sur la terre une maison aussi malheureuse; il ne sait même si la contesse aura de quoi souper ce soir." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 28.

[1193] "Je treuve ce debvoir de justice estre faict comme il convient et vostre considération très-bonne." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 255.

[1194] "Mais personne ne peult délaisser de se acquitter en ce en quoy il est obligé." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1195] "Quant à la dame d'Egmont et ses unze enfans, et ce que me y représentez, en me les recommandant, je y auray tout bon regard." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1196] Arend, (Algemeene Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, D. II. St. v. bl. 66,) who gets the story, to which he attaches no credit himself, from a contemporary, Hooft.

[1197] Supplément à Strada, tom. I. p. 252.

[1198] "Laquelle, ainsi qu'elle estoit en sa chambre et sur ces propos, on luy vint annoncer qu'on alloit trancher la teste à son mary." Brantôme, Œuvres, tom. I. p. 368.

Under all the circumstances, one cannot insist strongly on the probability of the anecdote.

[1199] One of her daughters, in a fit of derangement brought on by excessive grief for her father's fate, attempted to make away with herself by throwing herself from a window. Relacion de la Justicia, MS.

[1200] This was the duplicate, no doubt, of the letter given to the bishop of Ypres, to whom Egmont may have intrusted a copy, with the idea that it would be more certain to reach the hands of the king than the one sent to his wife.

[1201] "La misère où elle se trouve, étant devenue veuve avec onze enfans, abandonnée de tous, hors de son pays et loin de ses parents, l'a empêchée d'envoyer plus tôt au Roi la dernière et très-humble requête de son défunt mari." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 31.

[1202] "De la bénignité et pitié du Roi." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1203] "Ce que m'obligerat, le reste de mes tristes jours, et toute ma postérité, à prier Dieu pour la longue et heureuse vie de V. M." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1204] "S'il ne leur avait pas donné quelque argent, ils mourraient de faim." Ibid., p. 38.

[1205] It seems strange that Göthe, in his tragedy of "Egmont," should have endeavored to excite what may be truly called a meretricious interest in the breasts of his audience, by bringing an imaginary mistress, named Clara, on the stage, instead of the noble-hearted wife, so much better qualified to share the fortunes of her husband and give dignity to his sufferings. Independently of other considerations, this departure from historic truth cannot be defended on any true principle of dramatic effect.

[1206] Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 183.

[1207] After an annual grant, which rose from eight to twelve thousand livres, the duke settled on her a pension of two thousand gulden, which continued to the year of his death, in 1578. (Arend, Algemeene Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, D. II. St. v. bl. 66.) The gulden, or guilder, at the present day, is equivalent to about one shilling and ninepence sterling, or thirty-nine cents.

[1208] Philip, Count Egmont, lived to enjoy his ancestral honors till 1590, when he was slain at Ivry, fighting against Henry the Fourth and the Protestants of France. He died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother Lamoral, a careless prodigal, who with the name seems to have inherited few of the virtues of his illustrious father. Arend, Algemeene Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, D. II. St. v. bl. 66.

[1209] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 259.

[1210] "La mort des comtes d'Egmont et de Hornes, et ce qui s'est passé avec l'électeur de Trèves, servent merveilleusement ses desseins." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 37.

[1211] "Les exécutions faites ont imprimé dans les esprits une terreur si grande, qu'on croit qu'il s'agit de gouverner par le sang à perpétuité'." Ibid., p. 29.

[1212] "Il n'y a plus de confiance du frère au frère, et du père au fils." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1213] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1214] "Funestum Egmontii finem doluere Belgæ odio majore, quàm luctu." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 394.

[1215] The Flemish councillor, Hessels, who, it may be remembered, had particular charge of the provincial prosecutions, incurred still greater odium by the report of his being employed to draft the sentences of the two lords. He subsequently withdrew from the bloody tribunal, and returned to his native province, where he became vice-president of the council of Flanders. This new accession of dignity only made him a more conspicuous mark for the public hatred. In 1577, in a popular insurrection which overturned the government of Ghent, Hessels was dragged from his house, and thrown into prison. After lying there a year, a party of ruffians broke into the place, forced him into a carriage, and, taking him a short distance from town, executed the summary justice of Lynch law on their victim by hanging him to a tree. Some of the party, after the murder, were audacious enough to return to Ghent, with locks of the gray hair of the wretched man displayed in triumph on their bonnets.

Some years later, when the former authorities were reëstablished, the bones of Hessels were removed from their unhallowed burial-place, and laid with great solemnity and funeral pomp in the church of St. Michael. Prose and verse were exhausted in his praise. His memory was revered as that of a martyr. Miracles were performed at his tomb; and the popular credulity went so far, that it was currently reported in Ghent that Philip had solicited the pope for his canonization! See the curious particulars in Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. pp. 451-456.

[1216] "Este es un pueblo tan fácil, que espero que con ver la clemencia de V. M., haciendose el pardon general, se ganarán los ánimos á que de buena gana lleven la obediencia que digo, que ahora sufren de malo." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 29.

[1217] "Le bruit public qui subsiste encore, divulgue qu'il est mort empoisonné." Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 285.—The author himself does not indorse the vulgar rumor.

[1218] Meteren tells us that Montigny was killed by poison, which his page, who afterwards confessed the crime, put in his broth. (Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 60.) Vandervynckt, after noticing various rumors, dismisses them with the remark, "On n'a pu savoir au juste ce qu'il était devenu." Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 237.

[1219] His revenues seem to have been larger than those of any other Flemish lord, except Egmont and Orange, amounting to something more than fifty thousand florins annually. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 115.

[1220] Ibid., Rapport, p. xxxvii.

It was reported to Philip's secretary, Erasso, by that mischievous bigot, Fray Lorenzo Villavicencio; not, as may be supposed, to do honor to the author of it, but to ruin him.

[1221] Correspondance de Philippe II. tom. I. p. 439.

[1222] See the letters of the royal contador, Alonzo del Canto, from Brussels. (Ibid., tom. I. pp. 411, 425.) Granvelle, in a letter from Rome, chimes in with the same tune,—though, as usual with the prelate, in a more covert manner. "Le choix de Berghes et Montigny n'est pas mauvais, si le but de leur mission est d'informer le Roi de l'état des choses: car ils sont ceux qui en ont le mieux connaissance, et qui peut-être y ont pris le plus de part." Ibid., p. 417.

[1223] "Autrement, certes, Madame, aurions juste occasion de nous doloir et de V. A. et des seigneurs de par delà, pour nous avoir commandé de venir ici, pour recevoir honte et desplaisir, estantz forcés journellement de véoir et oyr choses qui nous desplaisent jusques à l'âme, et de veoir aussy le peu que S. M. se sert de nous." Ibid. p. 498.

[1224] This letter is dated November 18, 1566. (Ibid., p. 486.) The letter of the two lords was written on the last day of the December following.

[1225] Her letter is dated March 5, 1567. Ibid., p. 516.

[1226] Ibid., p. 535.

[1227] "De lui dire (mais seulement après qu'il se sera assuré qu'une guérison est à peu près impossible) que le Roi lui permet de retourner aux Pays-Bas: si, au contraire, il lui paraissait que le marquis pût se rétablir, il se contenterait de lui faire espérer cette permission." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1228] "Il sera bien, en cette occasion, de montrer le regret que le Roi et ses ministres ont de sa mort, et le cas qu'ils font des seigneurs des Pays-Bas!" Ibid., p. 536.

[1229] Ibid., ubi supra.

[1230] "Elle espère le voir sous peu, puisque le Roi lui a fait dire que son intention était de lui donner bientôt son congé." Ibid., p. 558.—The letter is dated July 13.

[1231] The order for the arrest, addressed to the conde de Chinchon, alcayde of the castle of Segovia, is to be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 526.

[1232] This fact is mentioned in a letter of the alcayde of the fortress, giving an account of the affair to the king. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 3.

[1233] The contents of the paper secreted in the loaf are given in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 527-533.—The latter portion of the fourth volume of this valuable collection is occupied with documents relating to the imprisonment and death of Montigny, drawn from the Archives of Simancas, and never before communicated to the public.

[1234] "Il ne les fera point exécuter, mais il les retiendra en prison, car ils peuvent servir à la vérification de quelque point du procès de Montigny lui-même." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 37.

[1235] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 60.

[1236] "Et consommée en larmes et pleurs afin que, en considération des services passés de sondit mari, de son jeune âge à elle, qui n'a été en la compagnie de son mari qu'environ quatre mois, et de la passion de Jésus Christ, S. M. veuille lui pardonner les fautes qu'il pourrait avoir commises." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 94.

[1237] Ibid., p. 123, note.

[1238] Ibid., p. 90.

[1239] "Visto el proceso por algunos de Consejo de S. M. destos sus Estados por mí nombrados para el dicho efecto." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 535.

[1240] The sentence may be found, Ibid., pp. 535-537.

[1241] "Porque no viniese á noticia de ninguno de los otros hasta saber la voluntad de V. M." Ibid., p. 533.

[1242] "Así que constando tan claro de sus culpas y delictos, en cuanto al hecho da la justicia no habia que parar mas de mandarla ejecutar." Ibid., p. 539

[1243] "Por estar acá el delincuento que dijeran que se habia hecho entre compadres, y como opreso, sin se poder defender jurídicamente." Ibid., p. 561.

[1244] "Parescia á los mas que era bien darle un bocado ó echar algun género de veneno en la comida ó bebida con que se fuese muriendo poco á poco, y pudiese componer las cosas de su ánima como enfermo." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1245] "Mas á S. M. paresció que desta manera no se cumplía con la justicia." Ibid. ubi supra.—These particulars are gathered from a full report of the proceedings sent, by Philip's orders, to the duke of Alva, November 2, 1570.

[1246] The garrote is still used in capital punishments in Spain. It may be well to mention, for the information of some of my readers, that it is performed by drawing a rope tight round the neck of the criminal, so as to produce suffocation. This is done by turning a stick to which the rope is attached behind his head. Instead of this apparatus, an iron collar is more frequently employed in modern executions.

[1247] This is established by a letter of the cardinal himself, in which he requests the king to command all officials to deliver into his hands their registers, instruments, and public documents of every description,—to be placed in these archives, that they may hereafter be preserved from injury. His biographer adds, that few of these documents—such only as could be gleaned by the cardinal's industry—reach as far back as the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Quintinilla, Vida de Ximenes, p. 264.

[1248] M. Gachard, who gives us some interesting particulars of the ancient fortress of Simancas, informs us that this tower was the scene of some of his own labors there. It was an interesting circumstance, that he was thus exploring the records of Montigny's sufferings in the very spot which witnessed them.

[1249] "Así lo cumplió poniéndole grillos para mayor seguridad, aunque esto fué sin órden, porque ni esto era menester ni quisiera S. M. que se hubiera hecho." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 561.

[1250] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 60.

[1251] This lying letter, dated at Simancas, October 10, with the scrap of mongrel Latin which it enclosed, may be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 550-552.

[1252] The instructions delivered to the licentiate Don Alonzo de Arellano are given in full, Ibid., pp. 542-549.

[1253] "Aunque S. M. tenia por cierto que era muy jurídica, habida consideracion á la calidad de su persona y usando con él de su Real clemencia y benignidad habia tenido por bien de moderarla en cuanto á la forma mandando que no se ejecutase en público, sino allí en secreto por su honor, y que se daria á entender haber muerto de aquella enfermedad." Ibid., p. 563.

[1254] The confession of faith may be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 553.

[1255] "Si el dicho Flores de Memorancí quisiese ordenar testamento no habrá para que darse á esto lugar, pues siendo confiscados todos sus bienes y por tales crímines, ni puede testar ni tiene de qué." Ibid., p. 548.

[1256] "Empero si todavía quisiere hacer alguna memoria de deudas ó descargos se le podrá permitir como en esto no se haga mencion alguna de la justicia y ejecucion que se hace, sino que sea hecho como memorial de hombre enfermo y que se temia morir." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1257] "Quant aux mercèdes qu'il a accordées, il n'y a pas lieu d'y donner suite." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 169.

[1258] "En lo uno y en lo otro tuvo las demostraciones de católico y buen cristiano que yo deseo para mí." See the letter of Fray Hernando del Castillo, Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 554-559.

[1259] "Fuéle creciendo por horas el desengaño de la vida, la paciencia, el sufrimiento, y la conformidad con la voluntad de Dios y de su Rey, cuya sentencia siempre alabó por justa, mas siempre protestando de su inocencia." Ibid., ubi supra.

[1260] "Y acabada su plática y de encomendarse á Dios todo el tiempo que quiso, e verdugo hizo su oficio dándole garrote." See the account of Montigny's death despatched to the duke of Alva. It was written in cipher, and dated November 2, 1570. Ibid., p. 560 et seq.

[1261] "Poniendo pena de muerte á los dichos escribano y verdugo si lo descubriesen." Ibid., p. 564.

[1262] "Y no será inconveniente que se dé luto á sus criados pues son pocos." La órden que ha de tener el Licenciado D. Alonzo de Arellano, Ibid., p. 542 et seq.

[1263] Ibid., p. 549. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II p. 159.

[1264] Carta de D. Eugenio de Peralta á S. M., Simancas, 17 de Octubre, 1570, Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 559.

[1265] "No las mostrando de propósito sino descuidadamente á las personas que paresciere, para que por ellas se divulgue haber fallescido de su muerte natural." Ibid., p. 564.

[1266] "El cual si en lo interior acabó tan cristianamente como lo mostró en lo exterior y lo ha referido el fraile que le confesó, es de creer que se habrá apiadado Dios de su ánima." Carta de S. M. al Duque de Alba, del Escurial, á 3 de Noviembre, 1570, Ibid., p. 565.

[1267] "Esto mismo borrad de la cifra, que de los muertos no hay que hacer sino buen juico." Ibid., ubi supra, note.

[1268] The confiscated estates of the marquis of Bergen were restored by Philip to that nobleman's heirs, in 1577. See Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 235.

[1269] "Attendu que est venu à sa notice que ledict de Montigny seroit allé de vie à trespas, par mort naturelle, en la forteresse de Symancques, où il estoit dernièrement détenu prisonier." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 171.

[1270] For the preceding pages I have been indebted, among other sources, to Sagredo, "Memorias Historicas de los Monarcas Othomanos," (trad. Cast., Madrid, 1684,) and to Ranke, "Ottoman and Spanish Empires;" to the latter in particular. The work of this eminent scholar, resting as it mainly does on the contemporary reports of the Venetian ministers, is of the most authentic character; while he has the rare talent of selecting facts so significant for historical illustration, that they serve the double purpose of both facts and reflections.

[1271] Cervantes, in his story of the Captive's adventures in Don Quixote, tells us that it was common with a renegado to obtain a certificate from some of the Christian captives of his desire to return to Spain; so that if he were taken in arms against his countrymen, his conduct would be set down to compulsion, and he would thus escape the fangs of the Inquisition.

[1272] See the History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. III. part ii. chap. 21.

[1273] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. p. 415 et seq.—Herrera, Historia General, lib. V. cap. 18.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 8.—Segrado, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 234 et seq.

[1274] "Halló Don Alvaro un remedio para la falta del agua que en parte ayudó á la necessidad, y fué, que uno de su campo le mostró, que el agua salada se podía destilar por alambique, y aunque salió buena, y se bevia, no se hazia tanta que bastasse, y se gastava mucha leña, de que tenían falta." Herrera, Historia General, tom. I. p. 434.

[1275] For the account of the heroic defence of Gelves, see—and reconcile, if the reader can—Herrera, ubi supra; Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. pp. 416-421; Leti, Filippo II., tom. I. pp. 349-352; Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 11, 12; Campana, Vita di Filippo II., par. II. lib. 12; Segrado, Monarcas Othomanos, p. 237 et seq.—Sepulveda, De Rebus Gestis Philippi II., pp. 63-87.

[1276] "Questa sola utilità ne cava il Re di quei luoghi per conservatione de quali spende ogni anno gran somma di denari delle sue entrate." Relatione de Soriano, 1560, MS.

[1277] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. p. 426.—Sepulveda, De Rebus Gestis Philippi II. p. 90.

[1278] The details of the battle were given in a letter, dated September 5, 1558, by Don Alonzo to the king. His father fell, it seems, in an attempt to rescue his younger son from the hands of the enemy. Though the father died, the son was saved. It was the same Don Martin de Cordova who so stoutly defended Mazarquivir against Hassem afterwards, as mentioned in the text. Carta De Don Alonso de Córdova al Rey, de Toledo, MS.

[1279] The tidings of this sad disaster, according to Cabrera, hastened the death of Charles the Fifth (Filipe Segundo, lib. IV. cap. 13). But a letter from the imperial secretary, Gaztelu, informs us that care was taken that the tidings should not reach the ear of his dying master. "La muerte del conde de Alcaudete y su desbarato se entendió aquí por carta de Don Alonso su hijo que despachó un correo desde Toledo con la nueva y por ser tan ruyn y estar S. Magd. en tal disposicion no se le dixo, y se tendra cuydado de que tampoco la sepa hasta que plazca á Dios esté libre; porque no sé yo si hay ninguno en cuyo tiempo haya sucedido tan gran desgracia como esta." Carta de Martin de Gaztelu al Secretario Molina, de Yuste, Set. 12, 1558, MS.—The original of this letter, like that of the preceding, is in the Archives of Simancas.

[1280] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI cap. 10.

[1281] For this siege, the particulars of which are given in a manner sufficiently confused by most of the writers, see Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. p. 431 et seq.; Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 10; Sepulveda, De Rebus Gestis Philippi II., p. 94; Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquia de España, (Madrid, 1770,) tom. II. p. 127; Miniana, Historia de España, pp. 341, 342; Caro de Torres, Historia de las Ordenes Militares, fol. 154.

[1282] According to Cabrera, (Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 12,) two thousand infidels fell on this occasion, and only ten Christians; a fair proportion for a Christian historian to allow. Ex uno, etc.

[1283] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. p. 455.

[1284] Campana, Vita di Filippo II., tom. II. p. 138.

[1285] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. IX. p. 461.

[1286] Ibid., p. 442 et seq.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 13.—Campana, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. pp. 137-139.—Herrera, Hist. General, lib. X cap. 4.

The last historian closes his account of the siege of Mazarquivir with the following not inelegant and certainly not parsimonious tribute to the heroic conduct of Don Martin and his followers: "Despues de noventa y dos dias que sostuvo este terrible cerco, y se embarcó para España, quedando para siempre glorioso con los soldados que con el se hallaron, ellos por aver sido tan obedientes, y por las hazañas que hizieron, y el por el valor y prudencia con que los governó: por lo qual comparado á qualquiera de los mayores Capitanes del mundo." Historia General, lib. X. cap. 4.

[1287] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 18.—Herrera, Hist. General, tom. I. p. 559 et seq.

[1288] The affair of the Rio de Tetuan is given at length in the despatches of Don Alvaro Bazan, dated at Ceuta, March 10, 1565. The correspondence of this commander is still preserved in the family archives of the marquis of Santa Cruz, from which the copies in my possession were taken.

[1289] Helyot, Hist. des Ordres Réligieux et Militaires, (Paris, 1792, 4to.,) tom. III. pp. 74-78.—Vertot, History of the Knights of Malta, (Eng. trans., London, 1728, fol.,) vol. II. pp. 18-24.