in England might not marry Queen Mary of Scotland a Papist as all the World knew yet the Protector made it no scruple of Conscience to pursue that business to the utmost hazzard Calvinism and Lutheranism are themselves as opposite as the Antipodes yet they enter-marry frequently and their issué bear witness thereof Was it then tolerable in the Reformed Churches and is it now intolerable with Spain Or is there any particular cause of scrupulosity and fear in this overture more then in those other doth the State of the Kingdom and fear of alterations trouble them that fear is vain The Husband is head of the Wife and though the Infanta be born in Familiâ Imperatrice yet there is no Soveraignty invested in her she can make no mutation of State least of all without consent of the State and we have little cause to distrust her having had such a president before of King Philip who being king of England yet neither did nor could attempt of himself any alteration And if the English be sure to hold their Religion it were neither Justice nor Humanity if she should be denied hers There is no man of Honor would offend a Lady of her Dignity for a difference that concerns her Soul her Faith her Devotion towards God What then is the reason why this Match seems so distasteful Is the name are the qualities of a Spaniard become so odious amongst us Surely ab initio non fuit sic of old it was not so it is neither an ancient quarrel nor a natural impression in the English In the time of Edward the Third there was a firm and fixed amity between England and Portugal and from that Lancaster of England the Kings of Portugal are descended As for Castile John of Gaunt married Constance the Daughter of King Peter by right of whom the Crown of Castile appertained unto him and his Daughter Katherine was married afterward to Henry the Third King of Castile upon which Match as appears yet in the Records of the Savoy John of Gaunt resigning that Crown the controversie ended and the Kings of Spain as flourishing Branches of the Tree and Stock of Lancaster have ever since quietly possessed that Kingdom So that Prince Charls by this Match is likely to warm his Bed again with some of his own Blood I might adde further that King Henry the Seventh married his Son to King Ferdinands Daughter on purpose to continue the Successon of that amity I might remember the Treaties of 1505. between King Henry the Seventh and Philip of Austria Son in Law to King Ferdinand for the preservation and strengthning of that League And how much the amity of England was esteemed and how readily embraced by Charls the Fifth Emperor and Grand-childe of Ferdinand appeareth very well by the Treaty Arctioris Amicitiae in the year 1514. And by that renowned Treaty of Calice the greatest Honor perhaps that ever was done to the English Crown and by the Treaty 1517. between Maximilian the Emperor Charls King of Spain and King Henry the Eighth not to speak of the Treaties for entercourse in the years 1515. and 1520 nor of the Treaty at Cambray 1529. nor lastly of that famous one 1542. Let it suffice that by them all it is manifest with what mutual constant and warm affections both Crowns and both Kingdoms entertained the strictest correspondence that could be till the Schism of Henry the Eighth and disgrace done to Queen Katherine by that unhappy Divorce and the Kings confederating with France made the first breach So as in those days we see there was no such unkindness no such hatred no such Antipathy betwixt the two Nations The first spark of difference between them brake out in Queen Maries time about the matter of Religion no other pretext could be found to make that breach which Wyat desired Yet neither is this the true nor the sole motive of the grudge which is now taken There is an other impostume which will not be cured without lancing The remembrance the hatred ever since Eighty Eight Manet altâ mente repostum Sticks still in our Stomacks and it is most true Hinc illae lachrymae from hence springs all our pain Well but let us be as indifferent as we can let us consider not onely their attempts upon us but the provocations that is the wrongs which we first did unto them Strad de bell Belgic Let us remember the Money intercepted which the King was sending unto D'Alva the want whereof at that time hazarded well nigh the loss of all the Netherland Provinces so lately reduced Camd. in Elizab. the assistance given to the Prince of Orange by Gilbert Morgan and others the first voyage of Sir Francis Drake the sacking of Saint Domingo the Protection of Holland by Leicester the infinite Depredations Letters of Mart executed to the infinite damage of the Spaniards beside the Philippicks the invectives which were in every Pulpit the Ballads and Libels in every Press were provocations such as Flesh and Blood would not endure in the meanest persons I speak nothing at all of the Portugal voyage nor of the surprize of Cales nor of the Island voyage but can any wise man think That the King of Spain should not be sensible of such indignities Was it not probable nay was it not equal that he should send a fury to Kingsale to revenge these wrongs And yet notwithstanding this Hostility when His Majesty came to the Crown how friendly yea how quickly did the King of Spain alter his course and send the Constable of Castile as the Dove out of the Ark to see if the Flouds of Enmity were any whit faln and to seek Peace with an Olive branch in his hand to establish a general Amnestia or Perpetual Oblivion of all unkindness past to bury all quarrels and reconcile the two Crowns and Kingdoms into an everlasting Friendship And surely cursed will he be that seeks to violate this Peace and under colour of Religion to extirpate Charity and publike concord And I pray what would be thought of the loyalty of that man who should now set himself to trouble and exasperate mens mindes with the old feuds and quarrels which this Nation hath had with Scotland But stay here my Pen must intrude no further without warrant into the Labyrinth of this secret Councel I know not whether it be agreeable to the Kings pleasure or no or fit matter for private Subjects to discourse upon I know very well how unsearchable the secrets of Princes are in what an abyss they lie and how much too deep to be sounded by every shallow discourser I remember also what Praying and Preaching here was against the Match of Queen Elizabeth with Mounsieur a business of very like nature with this in hand and declaimed against upon the same pretended peril of Religion alteration of Government and what not Yet it is very well known That those of the Councel who did most oppose it
Flanders and to take upon him the protection of the Low-Countries That Aldegund a great Incendiary was in Germany solliciting a party there with like eagerness So that they laboring on all sides to offend the King shall it not be lawful for his Majestie to provide for his own necessarie defence but he must be taxed with Tyranny Certainly it is a most unequal censure and argueth much more partiality then reason D' Alva could be no cause of those disorders which made his coming necessary for they all preceded his coming The Regent notwithstanding all her mildeness yet was at last forced to deal with them by Arms and having by that means once reduced them yet they are insolent and factious still and to bring their evil purposes to effect they seek to Forreign Princes for aid Who can wonder then if the Duke finding their distempers such as that gentle proceâ—dings did rather aggravate then allay the malady did make his War with some rigor It was no more then necessity and the general malice with which they had possessed the people against him compelled him to do for his own safety In the Passion week presently after his coming there was a Conspiracy to kill him whiles he was at his Devotions at the Monastery of the Green Vally in the Forest of Sauve not far from Brusels Monsieur Risot Carli Villars with Seven hundred Horse and Five hundred Foote were designed to do it when the Duke the Nobles and all his followers should be at Mass and with fire and instruments devised for the purpose to burn both men and Monastery and Church good and bad friends and enemies all together as the two Guidons confessed Such another business was intended also at Brussels against the Spaniards Mich. ab Isselt de bell Belg. as both Petit Mendoza and others testifie Neither did their malice much cease when he was recalled For as that Noble Lord the Duke of Areschot discovered and advised Don John there was a Plot to have surprized his person of which the Prince of Orange was reported to be the chief manager and another to kill him at Namur by Radcliff and Grey two Englishmen I enquire not who set them on work Latet anguis in herbâ it s a business not to be look't into too far And did not those Calvâ—nists at Antwerp as finely contrive to have blown up that famous Duke of Parma as he should be going along the High Street with all the chief State of the Country attending on him So that 't is cleer how strange soever they make of it Protestants may be charged with Assassinats and Treasons as well as others Thus were the occasions and first beginnings of the Nether-Landish tumults To discourse a little of the chief Author Actor and upholder of them we are to know The Prince of Orange who signally deserves that Character was a very popular and no less politick man and beside a great House-keeper which qualities especially the last very acceptable to that sort of people stood him in no smal stead in order to his designs The house of Nassau in Germany was Ancient and Honorable but advanced in this Country chiefly by marriages This William his Father falling to Lutheranism Charls the Fifth Emperor out of a Princely affection to him took from his Father and commended him to the care and Education of Mary Queen of Hungary his Sister Afterwards he admitted him to be of his Bedchamber Then made him General of his Horse and after that raised him to be Leivetenant General of the Army And yet further to endear his obligation to him when he was to â—â—nd the Imperial Crown to his Brother Ferdinand he made choise of him as a man of most Trust and commended him likewise very much to his Son King Philip notwithstanding diverse often warned him to take heed that he nursed not a Snake in his Bosom to these favors we may adde how much the Emperor favored his match with the Count of Burens Daughter and Heir who was his first Wife and by whom he was highly advanced and that he procured Rhenatus of Challon Prince of Orange to make this William his Heire when the President Schorus was wholly against him These things considered and also the many favors and great trust which King Philip also shewed to have in him committing so many and so great Governments to his charge and fidelity viz. Holland Zealand Vtrecht and Burgundy as hath been said it might seem impossible almost that any thing should corrupt his Loyalty The first visible disgust he took was upon the Kings going into Spain The Prince being then a Widower aspired to marry with the Princess Christerna Dutchess of Lorrain Cousin Germane to the King and labored also that she might be made Governess of the Provinces in the Kings absence to the intent that by such Alliance he might in effect sway the whole Government of the Provinces himself a thing indeed for which he had gaped a long time and stood competitor with Count Egmond But the King preferring the Dutchess of Parma he lost both his hopes and his Wife Upon this grew his first hatred against D' Alva and the Cardinal Granvellan by whose Counsels he supposed the Dutchess of Parma was preferred So as Ambition and Pride being indeed the true internal motives of his discontent Religion and the Common-wealths interest must be made the Mantle to hide it Hereupon he marrieth into the house of Saxony which was already Lutheranized and sets Brederode and his fellows to work as we have seen already Then labors to make a difference between Granvellan and Egmond although the former had been his good friend in many matters of importance practiseth what he can to hinder the coming in of D' Alva nor did he ever after that repulse concerning the Dutchess of Lorrain shew himself wel affected to the Kings affairs nor content with any favors But after all this that hath been already recited he invades Frizeland directs Lumay to possess himself of Brill and what else he could in Holland gives order to his Brother Scheremberg to make himself master of Zutphen and himself maketh Saras Governor of Flushing Wherein to note it by the way the World took notice of a great oversight in the Duke d' Alva to neglect a place of so great importance so long and to suffer it to be invested by the Enemy In a word I may wel conclude he was the great Wheel whereupon the whole State of the Confederates affairs turned It is true he did once seek to be reconciled to the King by intercession of the Emperor and Duke of Bavier but not being able to procure it modo formâ as he desired he grew desperate in his resolutions though he met with ill success in all things for a long time and could finde no harbor but Holland That Country indeed being now become through his means a receptacle for all Religions afforded him a place of retreat not
and liberties which they pretend were violated by the King They would have no Strangers rule or bear Office among them The Spaniards must be dismissed the Country and some new liberties granted viz. Liberty of Conscience and Toleration for Religion Thus were the names of Liberty and Religion made the Standard-bearers as it were to their future Commotions But let us concerning their several grievances As concerning the first that of the Inquisition the name is of greater Terror then the thing It was first devised upon a neceâ—sity against the Moors in Spain and upon experience of the use and benefit thereof continued And though I shall not commend any sign or proceedings that savor of cruelty yet I cannot condemn this because it addeth nothing to the punishment of Heresie which the Law did not inflict before but requires onely a more strict Execution of the Law and a more diligent course of examination to be used by the Inquisitors And certainly under God it hath been the chief Antidote which hath preserved Spain so well and so long free from the infection of heresies and from such dangerous and lasting tumults as do commonly follow them and wherewith the other Kingdoms of Europe have been generally embroyled The Spaniards themselves when they were most discontented never complained of it nor is it in it self a more bloody Law or Execution of Justice then the Consistory it self at Genevah doth maintain and hath executed more then once though unjustly and Tyrannically considering what principles they pretend and what outcries and obtestations they once made for Liberty of Conscience Liberty of Prophesying Liberty of the Spirit which is their onely Judge of Controversies according to the written word alone and not any Consistory or company of men whatsoever Besides as it was at first propounded by the King out of his zeal for the good and quiet of the Country so was it by his wisdom suspended afterwards finding they were not capable of such a remedy For the second viz. the Erecting of the new Bishopricks it was a prudent and necessary resolution to bridle Sectaries and as a Sythe to cut down those Weeds which grew so fast in Gods Church For by appointing in each Province grave and learned men to stand as Watchmen and Sentinels against the Enemies of the Church and State it would be more easie by concurrence of their Authority and by their vigilancy over their Flocks to preserve the people from danger of seducement Neither was it a new design For Philip Duke of Burgundy had long before desired it as a thing very needful because in his time all the Seventeen Provinces except onely the Diocess of Arras were under such Bishops as were strangers to the Country and Subjects of Forreign Princes which could not be convenient for the State And what good their Erection hath wrought experience daily sheweth in those places where they still continue For now every Diocess is carefully visited by a Bishop of the same Country and Language who as he hath more natural compassion so hath he also more knowledge and care to instruct his Countrymen in the way that is right and to weed out disorders And therefore was the Erection allowed and ratified by Bull of Pius Quartus in the year 1559. Concerning the third viz. the Cardinal of Arras Although his wisdom and experience in affairs of government as well Ecclesiastical as Civil was sufficiently known to the King yet because the Prince of Orange with the Counts Egmond and Horn did joyntly write to the King against him His Majestie though to his great disservice was content to remove him for their satisfaction But when this was done neither was the Country any whit the quieter for his calling away nor did they themselves cease from further practising As for their liberties and franchises had not the King confirm'd them all at the joyful entry When did he violat them afterward was it for preferring Spaniards There were very few of them left in the Country and of these fewer cum imperio Was it for the Offices of State See how the governments were distributed among themselves Count Egmond was Governor of Flaunders and Artois The Prince of Orange Governor of Holland Zealand Vtreckt and Burgundy Count Aremberge was Governor of West-Frezeland and Over-Issel Count Barlamont of Namur Count Mansfeld of Luxemberge and Clinay The Marquis of Berghen of Lisle and Doway So as 't is not easie to see how the Nobility could complain justly they were neglected or not honorably imployed And yet for addition and their further assurance of the Kings good affection to them and the Provinces he left his Sister the Dutchess of Parma Governor General with them a Woman of a very peaceable and mild Spirit and one that was like to hold the bridle of Government with a Gentle hand and to be advised by their Counsels In this maner were all things wisely and moderately constituted by the King and might have so continued had the Nobles complied with their duty and not favored so much those spirits of Innovation and Tumult which lurked up and down the Country and had infected no small part of the Common people Howbeit all things remained outwardly quiet for a long while The fire that was lay covered in Ashes The first breaking out was not til Baron Brederode and his Associates presented their Petition to the Dutchess which containing many things neither fit for them to aske nor safe for her to grant was not without reason look't upon as a Prologue to some future Troubles Henceforward the Heads of the Faction plot the advancing of their party and begin to strengthen themselves both at home and abroad These were the Earl of Culembergh who had lately married a Germane Lady of the Lutheran way Horn who was matched with the Sister of Count Harman The Prince of Orange was already by his Mother allied to the Count of Solms and his Wife was Sister to Maurice Duke of Saxony And Grave Scheremberg had married his Sister There was also Count Lodowick the Princes Brother a Soldier and a man of great Spirit Lutheran all over and as fit an instrument as could be desired both to make a party and to back it Besides these Flacius Illiricus a most turbulent Preacher of new Doctrines had been sent for privately out of Germany with some other Ministers and were dispersed in all corners of the Country incensing and corrupting the people with as much industry as was possible These were Lutherans and did mischief enough But when Calvins Quicksilver came to be cast in among them the fire then could be kept in no longer but the flames break out in all places The people in spight of Laws mutiny every where down go the Kings Arms down go Images and all the Ornaments in the Churches The Churches themselves as if they had been the Castles and Forts of some Enemy are Sackd and Pillaged Strad de bell Belgie Monasteries rifled Religious houses robd