that he had four Wives His first Wife was Anne D' Egmont Daughter to Maximilian D' Egmont Count of Burem and Leerdam a great Heiress whom he married by the Favour of Charles V. and had by her a Son and Daughter The Son was Philip William Prince of Orange of whom more hereafter and the Daughter Mary de Nassaw who was married to Philip Count de Hohenlo commonly called de Holac a great General who after the unexpected Death of the Prince of Orange which put the United Provinces into a strange Consternation generously resisted all the Efforts of the Spaniards and taught the first Rudiments of War to Prince Maurice his Brother in Law who was at the College at the time of this unhappy Accident His second Wife was Anne of Saxony Daughter to the Great Maurice Elector of Saxony who made head against the Emperor Charles the V. by whom he had the Famous Maurice of whom we shall give a very large Relation and a Daughter named Emilia de Nassau who married Emanuel King of Portugal Son to King Anthony of Portugal who was dispossessed by King Philip the II. This Prince Emmanuel won so much on the Princess by his Civility Courtship and Addresses that she chose him for her Husband as poor as he was and of a contrary Religion and tho' Prince Maurice opposed the Match as advantageous to neither They had two Sons whom I knew in my youth one of whom left a Son among other Children who went lately into Holland to demand of the Prince of Orange the Remainder of his Grandmother's Fortune and many Daughters some of whom were married to Persons of a very unsuitable Quality She was a very good Princess but about the end of her Life having fallen out with the Prince of Orange her Brother she retired to Geneva An. Dom. 1623. and died shortly after of Melancholy leaving six Daughters whom I saw at Geneva An. Dom. 1624. She was Godmother to one of my Sisters and gave her Her Name Emilia who is still alive and is married to the Seigneur de Montrevil near Menetoon in Champagne Her Godfather was the Count de Culembourg Son to Florent de Pallant Count de Culembourg whose House at Brussels was pulled down by Order of the Duke of Alva and who having done nothing after the Address of the Nobility retired into Holland and lived so privately that he died unknown to those of his own Party The third Wife of William Prince of Orange was Charlotte de Bourbon of the House of Montpensier whom I have declared before to have been a Religieuse or Abbess of Iouarre But the Love of Liberty which is an invaluable Blessing prevailed over all the Vows she had made in her youth which she pleaded she had been forced to and had made several Protestations against She died of a Pleurisy at Antwerp A. D. 1582. leaving six Daughters behind her The eldest Lovise Iulienne de Nassau was married to Frederick the IV. Elector Palatine Father to Frederick the V. Elected King of Bohemia who by the Princess Elizabeth of England Sister to Charles the I. King of Great Britain had many Princes and Princesses The eldest Henry Frederick Design'd King of Bohemia with his Father A. D. 1620. was a very handsom and hopeful Prince He studied at Leyden and Our Tutor Benjamin Prioleau Author of the Latin History of the last Regency carried us duely every Sunday after Dinner to play with this young Prince who loved us extreamly which made us the more regret his Death when we afterwards heard of it He perished unhappily in the Sea of Haerlem going in Company with the King his Father to see the Spanish Galleons laden with an inestimable Booty which had been taken by Peter Hain the Dutch Admiral near the Island of Cuba A Vessel by Night sailing full Speed having fall'n soul on his split it in two thus the Prince and all that were in it were drowned except the King his Father who by great Fortune having caught hold of a Rope that was thrown out to him from the Ship was miraculously drawn aboard The Second is the present Elector Palatine who has several Children by the Princess of Hesse among others Madam the Dutchess of Orleans a Princess of great Wit and Judgment who has already Children who are the first Princes of the Blood in France The third is the Famous Prince Robert who has won so much Reputation by Sea and Land having not deceived the hopes which he had given in his Infancy by the Martial and Manly Look which was then taken notice of The fourth was called Edward who lived a long time in France where turning Catholick he married the Princess Anne de Gonzague Daughter to the late Duke of Mantua Montferrat and Lions and Sister to Maria Louise Q. of Poland and Wife to two Brothers Uladislaus and Casimir Kings of Poland She was celebrated for her Beauty under the Name of the Princess Maria. Concerning whom I add this by the way that having been designed Queen of Poland and understanding that I was very well acquainted with the State of that Kingdom where I had been twice she desired me by the Duke de Noailles to give her some Instructions of it which I did several Afternoons and in Token of her Acknowledgment she would be Godmother to my eldest Daughter with Monsieur the Coadjutor of Paris then Archbishop of Corinth who is the famous Cardinal de Retz the learnedst Prelate in the Kingdom But to return to the Prince Palatine Edward He left three Daughters by the Princess Anne of Mantua the eldest of whom is Madam the Dutchess of Enguien already the Mother of several Princes and Princesses of the Blood The other married the Duke of Brunswick Hanouer who had only Daughters and the third the Prince of Solme who was made prisoner at the Battle of Seneff If I well remember for I write all this by my memory which is very good without the Assistance of any Book there was another Son of the King of Bohemia a very handsom Man Godson to Prince Maurice of Nassau called Maurice I saw another Son of his called Philip who retired to Venice for an Action which 't is better to pass over in Silence than mention Another Son was called Louis who died young whom my Father named so for the late King who was his Godfather by an Order of his Majesty which follows Monsieur de Maurier BEing acquainted with the Desire my Cousin the Count Palatine of the Rhine has to invite me to be Godfather to the last Son which God has given him I shall be extreamly glad to pay him this Testimony of my Friendship and good Affection and that you should perform this Office in my Name when the time is first informing him of the Charge I have given you and renewing the Assurances of my Affection to him Referring this to your Care I desire God Monsieur Maurier to keep and preserve you Written at Paris
their own bounds which was so true that when the States of the 17 Provinces assembled at Brussels having instantly demanded of Prince William of Orange that the Roman Catholic Religion might be exercised in his Governments returned answer That this depended only upon the States of Holland and Zealand That they appealed from these Judges as incompetent and visibly suspected of being their Enemies to such Judges as were natural and proper to their cause At the same time Prince Maurice with the States General called a National Synod in the Town of Dort and several Divines of Foreign Countries were invited thither in this Assembly the Opinion of Arminius was declared to be Heretical scandalous and tending to the Re establishment of Popery in the United Provinces and in pursuance of this decree Utembaugarts and all the other Ministers and Doctors suspected to be of that Opinion were dismissed from their Cures and banished the Country and forbid to return under pain of severe punishment After this Monsieur Barnevelt and the other Prisoners were tried before Judges nominated by the States General these Judges Condemned Monsieur Barnevelt to death upon the 12th of May 1619. My Father had several times interceeded for him in the Name of the French King and Monsieur de Boissise had been twice sent Envoy Extraordinary into Holland to exhort the States to consult their proper welfare and treat their Prisoners with moderation Pursuant to the Sentence he was executed in the Court of the Castle at the Hague being 66 years old where the Scaffold was raised against his Chamber Window opposite to the Prince's Apartment who was said to have beheld this Execution from his window by the help of a prospective upon which some people made their Reflections Prince Maurice and the States had less regard to the Intercession of France because the King of England was in their Interest as being perswaded that Monsieur Barnevelt was none of his Friends and that he had done him a sensible displeasure by causing the English Garrisons to retire from the Town of Flushing the Brill and the Castle of Ramekius which the English held for a security of those Sums which Queen Elizabeth had lent to the States General Monsieur Barnevelt being the chief of a very splendid Embassy made great Instances to the King to recall his Forces from their Towns King Iames promised him publickly and solemnly that he would do it provided they paid the Money due to him thinking he had imposed an impossible condition upon them considering how the Provinces had been exhausted by their Taxes but Monsieur Barnevelt having got the Kings word applyed himself with so much diligence to the collecting of the Money and by his Credit the people bled so freely that in a little time these vast Sums were carried into England which King Iames tho' very much surprized at was obliged to receive and consequently to recall his Garrisons and the remembrance of it stuck so close that he had always a great aversion for Monsieur Barnevelt Prince Maurice had another reason to make him have less regard to the intercession of France which was because he was not in the least afraid of their resentments Lewis the 13th was then come out of his Minority and a new Favorite was absolute Master of Affairs who had more regard to the raising of himself and two Brothers than to meddle with the Affairs of other Countries which appeared in the business of the Elector Palatine King of Bohemia for though by reasons of State he should have been maintained to weaken the House of Austria which at that time was become formidable and because this Elector was one of our principal Allies who might always have so divided Germany as that one of the Parties should have assisted us when we had occasion yet Monsieur de Luynes promised the Marquess de Mirabel the Spanish Ambassador then at Paris to ruin the Affairs of the Palatinate upon condition that Monsieur de Cadenet his Brother should marry Mademoiselle de Pecquigny and Chaulnâ—…s one of the most noble most beautiful and richest Heiresses of her time who was educated at Bruxels in the Family of the Infanta Isabella Upon these hopes which were not ill grounded for the Spaniards had given him their word Monsieur de Luynes sent a splendid Embassy into Germany consisting of Monsieurs d' Angouleme de Bethune and de Chateau-neuf who deceived the Protestant Princes that were armed for the defence of the Palatinate for it was concluded by the Treaty of Ulme where all the Princes of both Parties were assembled to hearken to the propositions of France That both Catholics and Protestants should lay down their Arms and the Quarrel be decided by the King of Bohemia and the Emperor only The Protestant Princes suffered themselves to be abused and did perform the Treaty honestly so that the Marquess of Ansbatch the General of their Forces had orders to disband them but the Duke of Bavaria and the other Catholic Princes of the same Parties sent their Troops by the Danube to the Emperor who overthrew the Prince Palatine at the battel of Prague After this Monsieur de Luynes having thus sufficiently raised his Family began to consider what might be for the Interest of the Kingdom and thereupon councelled the King to weaken the Hugonots who as he told his Majesty had the Insolence to make a distinct State within themselves and had hitherto been held invincible hereupon Monsieur de Luynes seized upon all their important places except Montauban from Saumur to the Pyreneans and after his death in the year 1622 pursuant to his Maxims Montpelier was taken and at last some time after Cardinal Richelieu counselled the King to attack Rochel which he gained and razed immediately and having in that destroyed the principal strength of the Hugonot Party their entire ruin soon followed upon the Duke of Rohans retreat to Venice who had a long time upheld them by his Valor and Industry Prince Maurice was sufficiently informed of this condition of France by the Dukes of Bovillon and dela Trimoille who had married his Sisters besides these he had a great many Friends in Germany where several of the Soveraign Princes were related to him either by his own side or his Mothers who was Daughter to Maurice Duke of Saxony The Elector Palatine was his Nephew likewise and he afterwards was chose King of Bohemia which he accepted as 't is said upon the advice of Prince Maurice and the persuasions of the Princess his Lady though contrary to the Counsels of King Iames his Father in-law who thought a young Prince was not capable to manage an Affair of such Importance and resist the power of the House of Austria protesting that he would neither succor him with men nor money except he quitted this design which would infallibly become his ruin but the Duke of Bovillon perswaded the Elector Palatine to the contrary as having some power over the young
Orange entred into Brabant But the Duke who would not stake the Netherlands upon the Success of a Battle against a fresh Army and stronger than his own having fortifyed all the Towns and covering himself with Rivers and posting himself very advantageously laughed at the Prince of Orange who presented him Battle every day For after the Prince had made Twenty nine Incampments without being able to draw the Duke to an Engagement being received into no City contrary to his hopes and pressed by Famine in a little Country uncapable of supplying longer so numerous an Army and his Souldiers mutinying and demanding their Pay in one of which Mutinies some Officers were killed in his sight and he himself had been shot if the Pistol bullet had not lighted on the Pommel of his Sword he was forced to disband his Army which refused to follow him into France to the Assistance of the Huguenots the greatest part of the Officers telling him That they promised to serve only against Spain not France He paid the Army with the little ready Money he had with his Plate and the Money which the Sale of his Artillery and his Baggage yielded him engaging to the principal Commanders his Principality of Orange and his other Lordships for the Security of what he ow'd them The extraordinary prudence and firmness of the Duke of Alva can never be enough admired who found out an excellent way of beating his Enemies without fighting whereas other Victories are usually won by bloody and hazardous Battles He swore to the Messenger who came from his eldest Son Frederick de Toledo and Chiapin Vitelli Marquess of Celone his Mareschal de Camp to press him to give the Enemies Battle That 't was a strange thing they would not suffer him to manage the War as he pleased and that if any durst talk to him of fighting again he should never return alive This Marquess of Vitelli was a brave Captain and had done such great Services to the Duke of Tuscany in his Wars that King Philip demanded him of the Duke to Command his Army under the Duke of Alva He behaved himself extreamly well in Flanders and died in the time of the Commendador de Requisons who succeeded the Duke of Alva in the Government of the Low Countries He was so prodigiously Fat that he was forced to gird up his Belly to be able to walk As he was a great Eater and reckoned an Atheist after his Death the Gueux made this Epitaph on him O Deus omnipotens crassi miserere Vitelli Quem Mors praeveniens non sinit esse bovem Corpus in Italiâ est tenet intestina Brabantus Ast animam nemo cur quia non habuit The Prince of Orange disbanded his Army in Strasbourg where he arrived from the Netherlands through the Frontiers of Picardy Champagne and Lorrain Between le Quesnoy and Cambray the Prince cut off Eighteen Companies of Foot and three hundred Horse and made almost all the Officers Prisoners Don Rufillé Henriquus Son to the Duke of Alva with many others were killed upon the place which was some satisfaction to him for the Blow he had received in Brabant where Count Hochstrate received a mortal Wound and died not long after very much regretted by the Prince of Orange for his Valour and unmovable Fidelity to his Party Philip de Morbais Lord of Louverval was taken Prisoner in the same Action and afterwards beheaded at Brussels The Prince out of this great Army reserved to himself only a Body of Twelve hundred Horse and with his Brothers Count Lodowick and Henry joyned the Prince Palatine Wolfgang Duke of Deuxponts whom he found ready to enter France to the Succours of the Huguenots He was present at the taking of la Charité which was very happy for that Party for if the Germans had not made themselves Masters of a passage over the River Loire they could never have joyned the Admiral He was afterwards in the Battle of Roche la ville D' Avila observes that the Prince of Orange on this occasion Commanded the main Battle of the Huguenots Army with the Count de Rochefoucaut and that Count Lodowick of Nassau his Brother signalized himself in the Vanguard against Philip Strozzi Colonel of the French Infantry who advancing too forward was made Prisoner by the Huguenots The same Author assures us that 't was at Roche la ville where the King of Navarre afterwards Henry the Great began to give Proofs of the Courage which he has since made appear on so many dangerous occasions He was afterwards at the Siege of Poictiers which was fatal to the Huguenots for when they had ruined their Army before the place they were forced to raise the Siege to relieve Chatelleraut At last he quitted the Camp at Foy la Binese near Richelieu disguised like a Peasant with four Men in his Company and after having crossed Tourrain and Berry with great difficulty he arrived at la Charité and then Montbeliard from whence he retired into his County of Nassau to raise new Forces His Brother Count Lodowick was afterwards at the Battle of Moncountour whence he saved himself in Company of the Admiral de Chatillon and a Body of the Huguenot Horse This year the Admiral advised the Prince of Orange to give out Commissions for Commands at Sea to several Persons of Quality who had been driven out of the Low Countries by the Duke of Alva who after having put to Death a vast number of Men forced all People to pay the Tenth penny for the Sale of their Moveables the Twentieth for immoveables and the Hundreth penny for all they possessed The Admiral assured the Prince that if he could once set Footing in Holland or in Zealand Countries very strongly situated 't would be difficult to force him out because he was so well beloved by the People who would never fail him at his need William Lord of Lumay descended from the Count de la Mare was the chief of these Refugees He and his Associates were called the Sea Gueux by way of distinction from the Land Gueux This advice of the Admiral was very useful to the Prince of Orange and was a sort of Prophecy of his Establishment in those Provinces for by this means he possessed himself of all Holland and Zealand and was as Successful and Victorious at Sea as he had been unfortunate at Land for 't was observed that in Ten years continual War the Spaniards were always beaten by the Hollanders at Sea In the Year 1570. Peace being concluded with the Huguenots the Court of France the better to amuse and over-reach the Huguenots made a shew of employing them against the Netherlands under the conduct of the Duke of Alenzon Admiral Colligny and Count Lodowick of Nassau The Court pretended to be dissatisfied with the King of Spain for poysoning Isabella of France his Wife whose Death the French gave out they would revenge and the Murders of the French that had been
should never see them more The Merchant carried them immediately to Iersey and Guernsey No one knew what became of the Daughters but the Foreign Merchant having more good Nature than the Mother in Law took pity of the Boy and brought him with him to London where he bred him up and taught him the Trade of a Shoomaker This Boy when he was grown up travelling up and down the Country happened to be in Flanders at the time that Monsieur de la Nove commanded the Army of the States and bringing him some Shooes Monsieur de la Hove having narrowly view'd him told those that were about him that this young Lad had much of the Air Stature and Mien of his Brother in Law de Vezins Though he was exposed at the Age of 4 or 5 years he still retained some memory of his Name his Country and what he was and told him that his Name was Vezins and that he was a French Man by Birth But the great Business of Monsieur de la Nove hinder'd him from making further Enquiry into the Matter at that time Some years after being released from his Imprisonment at Limburg and retiring to Geneva this same young Man who travelled over the World as Apprentices do once more meeting him when he had no Affairs after having very well examined him and besides the general Resemblance discovered some particular Marks which those of the Family de Vezins bore he resolved to make him be acknowledged Heir of that House and in order to it contrary to his own Interest made all the necessary Proceedings in Anjou at the Council and Parliament for the recovery of the Estate but being kill'd at Lambette in Bretaigne with a Musquet Ball before the Affair was compleated his Son Odel de la Nove whom I have seen in my youth Embassador extraordinary into Holland a Man that pursued the generous Example of his Father put an end to the Process and by a famous Decree made him be declared Heir of the House of Vezins which the Children of his cruel Mother in Law had so long usurped These Heroick Actions of the Father and Son can never be sufficiently praised which the curious Reader will be glad to learn and the Example of so rare a Vertue may Spâ—…r on a generous Mind to an Emulation of such noble Performances In this time the Prince of Orange who had been made Governour of Flanders was at Ghent where he altered the Magistrates of the City erected contrary to their Privileges by the Violence of Iohn Imbese a turbulent daring Fellow who had at that time the chief Authority of the City Imbese retired into Germany to Prince Casimir Palatine who had formerly brought such a great Body of Horse to the Assistance of the States that they had much more been harass'd and inconvenienc'd by them than relieved or defended But he returned again to Ghent and domineered there for some time with a Guard of 30 Halberdiers who still accompanied him but in the end a contrary Faction setting up against him as nothing is more changeable than the Affections of the People he was arrested tryed and beheaded An. Dom. 1580. the Prince of Orange represented to the States-General that Considering the Desertion of some Provinces and the Falling off of a great many Men who quitted their Party to reconcile themselves to Spain by the means of the Duke of Parma they could no longer defend themselves against so powerful an Enemy and that they were obliged either to make an Accommodation with Spain which he would never advise them to do when they could have no Security for their Lives or Religion or else to chuse some neighbouring Prince for their Lord and that he could think of none more proper than the Duke of Anjou and Alencon only Brother to Henry the III. King of France Which Resolution the States approving of they sent Deputies into France the most considerable of whom was Philip de Mornix Seigneur de S. Aldegonde who made a Treaty with him in September An. Dom. 1580. at the Castle of Plessis les tours The Heads of which were That the States of Holland Brabant Flanders Zealand Utrecht and Friezland would acknowledge him for their Sovereign Prince and his Posterity after him upon Condition that he should leave Matters of Religion in the same Posture they were in at that time and preserve the Privileges of the Provinces That he should hold an Assembly of the States-General every year who nevertheless should have power to meet when they pleased That he should put no Man into any Employment Place or Government of the Provinces without their Consent And that if he invaded their Privileges and broke the Treaty he should forfeit his Right and that they should be absolved from their Oath of Fidelity and have power to elect a new Prince The Archduke seeing that there was no further Occasion for his Presence in the Netherlands and that they were looking out for a more powerful Protection withdrew after having received Thanks and many Presents according to their Abilities and the Times leaving behind him the Reputation of a good and moderate Prince But his Enemies in the End made him suspected of holding Intelligence with the Spaniards The Prince of Orange with all his Power sollicited the coming of the Duke of Alencon to support himself and his Country with so considerable a Prince but more particularly because in Iune 1580. the King had published a terrible Proscription against him in which he upbraids him with the Favours he had received from the Emperor among others for having secured to him the Succession of Renè de Nassaw and de Chalon Prince of Orange That he had made him Governour of Holland Zealand Utrecht and Burgundy Knight of the Golden-Fleece and Councellor of State That though he was a Stranger he had loaded him with Honours and Riches for which he made him very ungrateful Returns That by his Instigation the Nobility had presented the Address against the Inquisition That he had introduced the New Religion into the Low-Countries and disturb'd the Catholick Religion by the breaking of Images and demolishing Altars That he had made War upon his Lord That he had opposed all the Pacifications even that of Ghent and broken the perpetual Edict that in short he declared him an ungrateful Man a Rebel a Disturber of the publick Peace a Heretick a Hypocrite a Cain a Iudas one that had a hardned Conscience a profane Wretch who had taken a Nun out of the Cloister to marry her and had Children by her a wicked and perjur'd man the Head of the Troubles of the Netherlands the Plague of Christendom the common Enemy of Mankind That he out-law'd him and gave his Life his Body and Estate to him that could seize on it and to free the World from his Tyranny he promis'd upon the Word of a King and as a Servant of God Almighty to give 25000 Crowns to any man that should bring
Infanta of Portugal Mother to Don Carlos That he murthered his own Son for speakiing in Favour of the Low-Countries and poisoned his third Wife Isabella of France Daughter to Henry the II. King of France in whose Life-time he publickly kept Donna Eufratia whom he forced the Prince of Ascoti to marry when she was big with Child by him that his Bastard might inherit the great Estate of this Prince who died of Grief if not says the Prince of a Morsel more easy to swallow than digest That afterwards he was not ashamed to commit publick Incest in marrying his own Niece Daughter to Maximilian the Emperor and his Sister But says the King I had a Dispensation Ay says the Prince only from the God on Earth for the God of Heaven would never have granted it These are the very Words of the Prince That it was as strange as insupportable that a Man blacken'd with Adultery Poisoning Incest and Parricide should make a Crime of a Marriage approved of by Monsieur de Montpensier his Father-in-law a more zealous Catholick than the Spaniards are with all their Grimaces and Preterisions That if his Wife had made Vows in her tender Age which is contrary to the Canons and Decrees according to the Opinion of the ablest Men And though she had never made any Protestations against it He was not so little vers'd in the Holy Scriptures but He knew that all Bonds and Engagements entred into meerly upon the Score of Interest had no Force before God To that Article where the King calls him a Stranger he answers That his Ancestors had possessed for many Ages Counties and Baronies in Luxemburg Brabant Holland and Flanders and that those who have Estates in the Provinces have still been reckoned Natives That the King is a Stranger as well as himself being born in Spain a Country which bears a natural Aversion to the Low-Countries and he in Germany a neighbouring Country and Friend of the Provinces But says the Prince they 'll say he is King to which he answers Then let him be King in Castile Arragon Naples the Indies and Ierusalem and in Africk and Asia if he please that for his part he will acknowledge but a Duke and a Count whose Power is limited by the Privileges of the Provinces which the King has sworn to ob serve That he must let the Spaniards know if they are not acquainted with it already that the Barons of Brabant when their Princes go beyond Bounds have often shown them what their Power was He ended this Discourse by saying That 't was strange that they had the Impudence to charge him with being a Stranger in regard his Predecessors were Dukes of Gueldres and Owners of great Possessions in the Provinces when the King's Ancestors were only Counts of Hapsburg living in Switzerland and their Family was not known in the World The Prince maintains that the Design of the Spaniards was always to enslave the Netherlands and erect a tyrannical Government as they have done in the Indies Naples Sicily and Milan That the Emperor Charles the V. being acquainted with it represented to King Philip in his Presence and the old Count of Bossut and many others That if he did not curb the Pride of the Spaniards he would be the Ruin of the Netherlands But that neither the paternal Authority nor the Interest of his Affairs nor Justice nor his Oath which is sacred among the Barbarians could bridle his unbounded Passion of Tyrannizing That the Country granted a considerable Supply of Money with which and the Courage of the Nobility of these Provinces having won two famous Battles and taken a great number of Prisoners of the highest Quality in France he concluded a Peace at Cambray as Profitable to himself as Disadvantageous to his Enemies That if the King had any Gratitude remaining he could not deny but that he was one of the principal Instruments in bringing it about having managed it in particular with the Constable de Montmorency and the Mareschal de St. Andre by the King's Orders who assured him that he could not do a more grateful piece of Service to him than by effecting a Peace at a time when he was resolved to go into Spain upon any Terms But these Supplies of Money and this great Success obtained by the Blood of their Nobility were reckoned Crimes of High-Treason because nothing would be granted but on Condition the States-General should meet and the promis'd Subsidies pass through the Hands of Commissaries of the Provinces to clip the Wings of these Harpies Barlaymont and others like him And these as he assures are the two great Crimes which created that implacable Hatred in the King and Council to the Low-Countries The first of these Crimes was the Demand of an Assembly of the States-General who are as much hated by bad Princes for bridling their Tyranny as they are loved and reverenced by good Kings the true Fathers of their Country who consider them as the most sure Foundation of a State and the true support of Soveraigns The second is the Demand they made of having Commissioners of the Provinces for managing the Subsidies the Prince affirming that these Devourers of the People reckon their Robberies and Cheatings a better Revenue than that of their Lands That seeing themselves out of Condition any longer to enrich themselves at the Expence of the publick with Indempnity they look out for all Pretences by flattering their Princes to incense them and set them at odds with their Subjects He concluded this Article by assuring the States-General to whom he addresses himself all along that he has seen their Actions heard their Discourses and been Witness of those Counsels whereby they designed to make a general Massacre of them as they had practised in the Indies where they had destroyed thirty times more People than are in the Low-Countries To that part of the Charge where the King accuses him of gaining the Hearts of all those who desired Innovation particularly those who were suspected of the Reformed Religion by his private Intrigues and of being the Author of the Request against the Inquisition He owns that he was always of the Reformed Religion in his Heart which had been established by his Father William Count of Nassaw in his Dominions That he heard the King of France Henry the II. say when he was Hostage in France that the Duke of Alva was then treating with him to root out all the Protestants of France the Low-Countries and all Christendom besides That they had resolved to establish the merciless Inquisition the Severity of which was such that the looking a squint upon an Image was Crime enough to deserve burning That he could not suffer that so many good Men and Lords of his Acquaintance should be design'd for the Slaughter which made him firmly resolve utterly to extirpate this cursed Race of Men and that if he had been well seconded in so just and generous a Design there would have been
nothing left to preserve the Memory of the Spaniards but their Bones and their Graves As for the Address which they make a Crime of he thinks it as advantageous to his own Credit and Honour as to the King's Service and the Interest of the Provinces to have advised the presenting it as a certain method to divert the Deluge of these infinite Disorders which afterwards happened And as for the Protestant Sermons he advised Madam de Parma to permit them things being in such a posture that they could not be hindered without a manifest danger of the entire Subversion of the Government When the King says that the Care and Providence of Madam de Parma was so great that he was obliged to quit the Netherlands he owns that the Charge would be true if his Treachery and Disloyalty had been the Cause of it but that a year before he would willingly have retired and surrendred all his Employments When he saw that Monsieur de Bergues and Montigny had lost their Lives in Spain and Gibbets were erected and Fires kindled all over the Country he thought it high time to put himself in a place of Security without trusting to the King's Lerters full of fair Promises and Offers the better to deceive him That they had fallen upon his Person and Estate That neither the Consideration of the Privileges of the University of Louvain nor the Province of Brabant could hinder them from carrying his Son Prisoner into Spain And that by so rigorous and unjust a Treatment he was absolved from all his Oaths and had good Ground to make War upon his Enemy which was objected to him as a Crime That the King laid nothing to his Charge but what his Predecessor Henry of Castile had been guilty of who tho' a Bastard rebell'd against his lawful Prince Don Pedro King of Castile and Leon and kill'd him with his ownhand If the King answers that Don Pedro was a Tyrant and that he possessed Castile only by that Title wherefore says the Prince should not the King of Spain be used in the same manner for there never was a Tyrant who subverted the Laws and Constitutions of the Country with more Arrogance or broke his Oath with more Impudence than King Philip. And that at least Don Pedro was neither guilty of Incest nor a Parricide nor a Murtherer of his Wife And though he was born the King's Subject and should take up Arms against him 't was no more than Albert the first Duke of Austria formerly Count of Hapsburg his Predecessor had done against the Emperor Adolphus of Nassaw his Lord one of the Prince's Ancestors The Prince affirms that there is an origiginal mutual Contract between the Dukes of Brabant and their Vassals that they owe Obedience to their Prince who on his side is bound to preserve their Privileges the chief of which are That the Dukes cannot change the Constitution of the Province by any Decree That they are to be satisfied with their ordinary Revenue That they can lay no new Impositions nor bring any Troops into the Province without the Consent of the States nor alter the Price of Money nor imprison any man without the Information of the Magistrate of the place nor send him out of the Country The Lords of the Provinces are obliged by their Oath to maintain and assert these Privileges because by their Prerogative they have the Charge of the Militia and the Arms of the Province and not doing it they are to be accounted Perjur'd and Enemies of their Country That the King has not violated only one of these Privileges but all and many times over He has seiz'd upon his Estates his Dignities and his Son contrary to his Immunities That for this Reason he was absolved from his Oath of Allegiance and by Consequence had a right to defend himself by Force of Arms and above all because the King would never redress and make Amends for his Faults having rejected the Intercessions of the Emperor Maximilian and the Petitions of his Subjects who deputed to him the principal Lords of the Netherlands which he put to Death by the Hands of the Hangman against the Law of Nations as he had served all others whom he could seize on by his Artifices and who were too credulous in believing his false Promises This abundantly justifies the Prince for taking up Arms for his own and his Country's Preservation and if he could not take footing in the Netherlands at his first Entry as the King reproaches to him 't was no more than what had happened to the greatest Generals and to the King himself who has often invaded Holland and Zealand and been driven shamefully out without being able to make himself Master of one Inch of Ground And in regard by his Oath he dispenses with his Subjects from obeying him if he acts contrary to the Laws why is he so impudent to say that the Prince has taken up Arms against him unjustly To that Article in which the King says he returned into Holland and Zealand by Bribery and Corrupting the Inhabitants he makes answer that he went there at the Instance and Sollicitation of the principal Men of the Province which he is able to make appear by their Letters When the King accuses him of having persecuted the Church-men driven out the Catholicks and banished that Religion he replies That all this had been done by a common Consent to preserve their Lives and Privileges against Men who had taken an Oath to the Pope and were setting all Engines a work to subvert their Liberties and the newly established Religion Which was represented at the Treaty of Peace at Breda where this Article of Religion was confirmed by the Decree and Seal of all the Cities and that 't was not fair to impute that to him which was done by an unanimous consent of the whole Country When he reproaches him for granting Liberty of Conscience he answers that he had always been as averse to the Burning so many Men as the Duke had taken pleasure in it and that he was of Opinion to put a Stop to all Persecutions He ingenuously owns that the King before the holding of the States at Ghent and his Departure into Spain had commanded him to put to Death many good Men suspected to favour the new Religion but he never put these cruel Orders in Execution but gave them notice of it not being able to do it with a safe Conscience and chusing rather to obey God than Man He says that they do him Wrong in laying the Murther of some Ecclesiasticks to his Charge for he punished the Criminals with Death and those who were of an illustrious Family as the Count de la Mark convicted of those Outrages were condemned only to Imprisonment and loss of their Employments in Consideration of their great Alliances To that Head wherein the King declares that he did not command the Duke of Alva to establish the Imposition of the 10th and 20th
the 15th day of Novemb. 1623. Signed LOWIS and below Brulart In pursuance of this Order the Ceremony of the Baptism was performed Prince Maurice represented the King of Sweden who was likewise Godfather and the Countess of Nassau the Queen of Sweden My Father Walked as Embassador of France with the King of Bohemia on his Right Hand and the Prince of Orange on his Left The Ceremony was celebrated with great Pomp in a Church at the Hague called the Cloistre where I was present with my three Brothers For which great Honour the King and Queen of Bohemia thanked the King of France by Monsieur D'Ausson de Villeroul of the House of Iaucourt Brother-in-Law to my Father who was in their Service and afterwards unhappily perished with Prince Henry Frederick by the splitting of the Vessel which I mentioned before The Pope's Nuncio Resident at Paris hearing of this Baptism made great Complaints of it at Court and said 't was a great Shame for the most Christian King and eldest Son of the Church to have his Person represented by a Huguenot in an Ecclesiastical Ceremony The King and Queen of Bohemia left behind them several Princesses eminent for their Beauty and Merit one of whom turned Catholick and is now Abbess de Maubuisson The Princess Louise Iuliane de Nassau eldest Daughter of Charlotte de Bourbon and William Prince of Orange had also a Daughter by Frederick the IV. Elector Palatine who was married to the late Elector of Brandenburg Father to the present Elector I saw A. D. 1635. the old Electoress Palatine a Konigsberg the Capital of the Ducal Prussia where she had retired to her Daughter the Electoress of Brandenbourg after the Disorders of the Palatinate These two Princesses were extreamly civil to me The second Daughter of Charlotte de Bourbon and William Prince of Orange was Elizabeth de Nassau Wife to Henry de la Tour Duke of Bouillon a Famous General in the the Wars of Henry the IV She was living in the year 1641. and I saw her in the Castle of Sedan after the Battle wherein the Count de Soissons was killed She left two Sons and four Daughters who had Children The eldest was Frederick Maurice de la Tour Duke of Bouillon as great a Captain as his Father who by the Countess de Bergue had the present Duke of Bouillon Great Chamberlain of France and the Cardinal de Bouillon a Prince of great Learning and Merit and the Count D'Auvergne who has distinguished himself in our Armies and other Children among the rest the Dutchess D'Elbeuf The second Son of Elizabeth de Nassau and Henry de la Tour Duke of Bouillon was the Famous Henry de la Tour Viscount de Turenne a General of as great Wisdom and Valour who during the whole Course of his Life was held for one of the firmest Pillars of the State and in consideration of his extraordinary Valour and great Services was interr'd at St. Denys with our Kings by a just Order of his Majesty He married the Heireress of the House de la Force whose Vertue equalled her Birth she was Daughter to the deceased Duke de la Force and Grand-daughter to a Mareschal of that Name two Famous Captains and died without Issue but if she had left any Children behind her they could not have failed of being great Men being descended on both sides from an illustrious Number of generous Ancestors Besides these two great Sons Elizabeth de Nassau had several Daughters by Henry de la Tour Duke de Bouillon The eldest Anna Maria de la Tour married Henry Duke de la Trimouille and de Thouars her Cousin German Iuliane de la Tour was married to Francis de Roye de la Rochefoucault Count de Roussy Father to the Count de Roye very Famous in our Armies Elizabeth Wife of Guy Alfonse de Darfort Marquess of Duras Father to Monsieur de Duras Captain of the Guards du Corps to the King Mareschal of France Governour of the Franche Comtè and of the Count de Lorge likewise Mareschal of France I believe that the youngest was called Henrietta de la Tour Wife to the late Marquess de la Moissy of the House of Matignon She is Mother to the Marquese Du Bordage and the Count de Quintine who married a Lady of the Illustrious Name of Montgomery as considerable for her Beauty and Merit as the Greatness of her Extraction The third Daughter of Charlotte de Bourbon and William Prince of Orange was named Catharine Belgique who married Philip Louis Count of Hanau a Sovereign Lord near Francfort on the Main from whom besides the Counts of Hanau is descended Amelia Elizabeth Wife to that generous William Landtgrave of Hesse who died in the year 1637. after whose Death this Princess a Woman of a masculine Courage continued on the War against the Imperialists and pursued the Steps of her Husband who after the Peace of Prague where most of the Protestant Princes forsook their Allies and joined with the House of Austria had the Courage and Resolution to make head almost alone against so formidable a Power Among other Children she left the present Landtgrave of Hesse called William as his Father was the Electoress Palatine Mother to the Dutchess of Orleans and the Princess of Tarente Mother to the present Duke de la Trimouille who is married to the Heiress of the House of Crequi The fourth Daughter of Charlotte de Bourbon and the Prince of Orange was Charlotte Brabantine Wife to Claude Duke de la Trimouille and de Thouars Count de la Val who had Henry Duke de la Trimouille dead lately and Frederick de la Trimouille Count de Laval killed in a Duel in Italy by the late Monsieur Du Coudray Montpensier I saw him and knew him in my youth and because his upper Lip was slit they called him Bec de lievere or Hare-Lip Henry Duke de la Trimouille had by Mary de la Tour his Cousin German formerly mentioned the Prince de Tarent and de Talmont who is dead and who had the Duke of Trimouille already mentioned by the Princess of Hesse The fifth Daughter of Charlotte de Bourbon and the Prince of Orange was Charlotte Flandrine de Nassau who returning to the Religion of her Ancestors died Abbess of S. Croix in Poictiers She was a very good Princess I knew her but was little and so deaf that she could not hear without a little Silver Trumpet The sixth Daughter of Charlotte de Bourbon Princess of Orange was Aemilia of Nassau Wife to Frederick Casimir Count Palatine of the Branch of Duponts called the Duke of Lansberg This is the illustrious and great Posterity of this Fruitful Abbess The fourth and last Wife of William of Nassau Prince of Orange was Louise de Coligny Widow to Monsieur de Teligny and Daughter to the great Admiral de Chatillon by whom he had only one Son the renowned Henry Frederick Prince of Orange of whom we
into this Hall where he show'd him all the Colors and Cornets taken from the Spaniards at Knotsemburg and Turnholt and without using many words let him understand that in reality the King of Spain was not altogether so invincible But as Prince Maurice was victorious at Land so he was not less successful at Sea having always got great Advantages over the Spaniards by the Conduct of his Vice-Admirals They were assisting to the ruine of the Spanish Flota stiled the Invincible and brought several of the Galeons into Zealand In the year 1596 Iohn de Duvenvorde Lord of Varmont contributed his help to the Earl of Essex in taking the Town of Cales and burning the Spanish Fleet for which Queen Elizabeth returned thanks to the said Sieur de Varmont by a very obliging Letter which extreamly commends his Bravery In the year 1599 the Vice-Admiral Peter Vanderdoes seized upon Allagona Capital of the Canary Islands where he forced the Spaniards to fly into the Mountains and followed them even thither and then having sacked and burnt the place returned victorious to his own Country In the year 1603 Don Frederick Spinola not being able to endure that these Vessels of Zealand should always lye before the Haven of Sluise went out with 8 Gallies and some other Vessels of War to chase 'em thence He was slain in the fight and his Fleet so ill handled that it was constrained to retreat into Sluise with a considerable loss not to mention here a great many other considerable advantages obtained in the Indies and diverse other parts of the World over the Vessels of the Castilians and the Portugueses This is what I shall say in general of this great Prince only adding that in the year 1622 the Truce of 12 years being expired and the Marquess Ambrose Spinola having besieged Berghen ap Zoom with all the Forces of Spain the Prince of Orange made him raise the Siege being assisted by Count Ernest of Mansfeldt and Christian Duke of Brunswick that he had expresly sent for out of Germany These Generals had taken Arms in favor of the King of Bohemia and passing through Brabant had defeated at Fleuru if my memory does not fail me Don Gonsalvo of Corduba who was sent to oppose their passage In the fight the Duke of Brunswick had an Arm cut off as he was forcing a Barricade which obliged him to wear one of Silver which I myself have seen There was great rejoycing through all the United Provinces for this happy Victory public Thanksgivings were ordered to be made in every Town where there were such prodigious Bonfires that they seemed to be all on fire So this Count of Mansfeldt and the Duke of Brunswick contributed to the Prince of Orange's Glory which seemed to have been decay'd and worn out of Mens minds by so long a Truce but was renewed and revived throughout the whole World by so illustrious an Action And because that here there has been occasion to speak of these two Men who in their time were the scourges of Mankind it may not be amiss to let the Prince of Orange rest a little and to relate what I know of their manner of Proceedings and their Principal Encounters This Count Ernest was a Bastard of the famous House of Mansfeldt which has produced great Generals he was a Man so subtile and cunning that some have rightly stiled him Ulysses Germanicus or the German Ulysses He was so bold as to maintain the Quarrels of the Elector Palatine elected King of Bohemia with a great deal of Constancy and Resolution against the Family of Austria He had several successes both unfortunate and happy at last being called into Holland to the succor of Berghen ap Zoom I remember that I saw him there he was then about 50 years old fair much wrinkled of a good stature but a little stooping He always wore a gray Hat without a Hatband and said that he would never put it off till he had made his Fortune which I myself have heard him speak France that too late understood its true Interest for it had unadvisedly sacrificed the Elector Palatine to the fury of the House of Austria as I shall more fully relate hereafter assisted him with a Sum of Money which my Father paid him and with the succor of 4000 Foot under the conduct of Monsieur de Mantereau who had his Winter Quarters in East Frizeland beyond the River Ems with the Troops of Count Mansfeldt This New Attila afterwards ravaged the lower Saxony from whence being chaced by the Count de Tilly the Emperors General he marched through the Country of Brandendurg into Silesia where he had some fortunate Successes and from thence at last retired to Bethlem Gabor Prince of Transylvania A little after as this unquiet Spirit fruitful in new Expeditions was going to Venice to propose some League passing through Bosnia in November 1626 he was taken with a violent pain in his Bowels of which he died not without suspition of Poyson and was buried at Spalatro He was a man of great Courage who run through and ravaged the greatest part of Germany having spread the terror of himself both within and without the Empire and so frightned Champaigne and Paris itself when Montpelier was besieged where the late King was then in Person that the most part of the Inhabitants of that great City seeing their King and his principal Forces upon the Confines of his Realm conveyed themselves with what they most esteemed to the City of Orleans to avoid a Fire which consumed all things that were found in its way Some Blockheads of Paris being frightened with his approach commonly called him Bloody Bones and used his Name to frighten Children that were troublesome As to Duke Christian of Brunswick he was of the illustrious and ancient House of Brunswick one of the richest and most powerful in all Germany which at present maintains Armies both within and without the Empire and which having conquered the Dutchy of Bremen assists the Kings of Spain and Denmark the Hollanders and Elector of Brandenburg with its Forces This Duke Christian was commonly called Halberstat because he was Bishop of that place and sometimes Dol Hartzoch which is as much as to say one that acts like a Madman He was a Prince of good Mein and well made he was very brave but his Courage had something more of Brutishness than true Valor for when he saw a Workman on the top of a Steeple he took no greater pleasure than to fetch him down with a Stone which in my time he did in Holland He had a great Passion for the Queen of Bohemia from whom he had taken an English Glove which I saw him wear tied to a String in his Hat and hanging below the brims of it Having raised an Army in Lower Saxony and not having wherewithal to pay it he turned a Statue of St. Liberius into Money which was much bigger than the Life and at that time in
Prince who was his Nephew and had been bred up with him at Sedan and the Duke discovered some Ambition to have his Nephew a King when he wrote to some Friends at Paris that whilst Lewis was making Knights at Fountainbleau he was making Kings in Germany But this Royalty did not continue above 6 months so that his Enemies called him a King of Snow because the single battle of Prague in the beginning of the year 1621 lost him all Bohemia Silesia Lusatia Moravia with the adjoyning Provinces and the year following the Spanish Forces marching from the Low Countries deprived him of the Palatinate itself in which he was not re-established but by Adolphus's Descent into Germany Charles Duke of Lorrain who died many years after one of the oldest Captains of the age signalized himself very much at the Battle of Pragne where Count Harcourt was likewise tho very young But to return to Prince Maurice France being so apparently inclined to the Interests of Barnevelt's Party its Ministers which were then in Holland used to say that Prince Maurice would have pretended to the Soveraignty of the United Provinces but that such People who in the beginning had been hottest against Mr. Barnevelt and most devoted to the Prince yet when they fathom'd his designs became averse to them notwithstanding their former obligations besides the Exile Death and Imprisonment of persons who had been so considerable in the State and had likewise a great many Friends and Dependants wrought a mighty change in the Peoples affections to the Prince which appeared very visibly for whereas before when he went through the Towns of Holland every body came out of their houses praying for him with extraordinary Acclamations now as he was one day going through the Market-place at Gorcum which was full of people there was scarce a single man that pull'd his Hat off to him For the common people were so variable that the very Writings which heretofore had made Mr. Barnevelt become suspected by them were now produced as so many motives for their pity and compassion towards him To this they added that the assistance which probably he might have hop'd for from the Elector Palatine was since the loss of the battle of Prague no longer to be expected and the Emperor Ferdinand the 2d having by the happy success of his Generals Count Tilly and Wallestein made himself absolute Master of all Germany even to the Baltick Sea where he established an Admiralty at Wismar reduced all the Princes and Imperial Towns under his Obedience Prince Maurice could no longer expect Succors from Germany whatever Friends he might heretofore have had there But those who adhered to the Interests of Prince Maurice and the House of Orange acquitted him of a Design so prejudicial to the good of the United Provinces by maintaining that it was a perfect Artifice of his Enemies to make him become odious to the People of the Low Countries for said they what probability was there that Prince Maurice ever had it in his thoughts to become Soveraign of his Country since after the extirpation of Barnevelt and his party he never made one step towards it which he might have done having then no farther obstacles Prince Maurice did not long survive a great Conspiracy which the Sieur de Stautemburg youngest Son of Mr. Barnevelt had laid against his Life which being happily discovered some hours before its execution obliged him to punish a great number of the Conspirators throughout the pincipal Towns of Holland The Prince was never married but had several Natural Children the most considerable of them all was Mousieur de Beververt a man very well made and very brave he was Governor of Bolduc after whose death the Prince of Tarentum had that Government and was succeeded by Collonel Fitz Patrick a Scotchman Prince Maurice died in the Spring of the Year 1625 when the Marquess Spinola besieged the Town of Breda And as some pretended it was for grief that he did not succeed in the Soveraignty so others said that it was because he could not relieve that place which was his own propriety and had been surprized by him 34 years before FREDERICK HENRY Prince of Orange Henry Frederick of Nassau Prince of Orange and his Posterity THis Prince was born the 28th of February 1584. He was of a good mein and of a strong make and his parts were as eminent as his person was agreeable He was a very great Captain and equall'd the Glory of his Brother Maurice who taught him the Art of War and lead him into the most dangerous Adventures and amongst others at the battle of Newport where though he was very young he contributed much by his Valor to the gaining that great Victory in a conjuncture where the Army of the States General had before them a powerful body of men commanded by Albert the Arch-duke in person and the Sea behind them so that it was absolutely necessary either to make themselves Conquerors or to perish When Prince Maurice died in the year 1625 he advised his Brother Henry Frederick his chief Heir to marry Madam de Solmes who was come into Holland with the Queen of Bohemia whose Beauty and good Carriage were accompanied with a great deal of Modesty and Prudence she died a little while ago being very antient and her Name was Amelia Daughter to Iohn Albert Count de Solmes This Prince had one Son and four Daughters the eldest of these Ladies married Frederick William the Elector of Brandenburg by whom she had several Children This Prince has the greatest Territories in all Germany they reaching from the Low Countries to Poland and Curland The 2d Daughter Henrietta Emilia married the Count de Nassau The 3d Henrietta Catherina married Iohn George Prince of Anhalt and the 4th married the Duke of Simeren the youngest Son of the House Palatine who died a little while ago The Son was called William was born in 1626 and died the 6th of November 1650 after the business of Amsterdam He was a Prince naturally ambitious and of great Courage so that his Enemies reported of him that though he was so young yet he aimed at the execution of that design which had been laid to Prince Maurice's charge by Barnevelt and his Adherents His sudden death changed the whole face of affairs in the Low Countries He had great prospects from his alliance of England having married Princess Mary Daughter of Charles the first King of Great Britain by whom he left Prince William Henry of Nassau now King of England c. who was born the 14th of November 1650 some days after the death of his Father This young Prince William was very remarkable in his Infancy for his reservedness and moderation his Prudence increased as he grew up and such people as were nice observers of merit and took great notice of him have affirmed that never Prince gave greater hopes than he even in the most tender years He suffered with an admirable temper
might have maintain'd the Siege much longer Besides as the retaking of this strong place by the Hollanders gave infinite incouragement to the people so the loss of it extremely mortified the Enemy and put them into such a terrible consternation that upon the news of this loss they abandon'd several other places All this served to increase the reputation of his Royal Highness for the people observing how much all affairs went for the better ever since the management of them was lodged in his hands they were easily perswaded and that not without good reason that all this unexpected series of successes was the sole effect of his bravery and conduct At this time the disputes between the new and old Magistrates of Friezland were carried on with that warmth and vigour that they held their Assemblies apart and formed resolutions intirely opposite to each other This disorder which might in time have proved pernicious to the public tranquillity cou'd neither be determin'd by the Governor of that Province nor by the Princess Dowager of Orange whatever instances and precautions both one and the other used to extinguish the differences but no sooner had the Commissioners sent by the Prince arrived there but all these breaches were repaired and the Country once more settled in order and union After this his Highness went in person to Zealand where the same divisions reigned as in Friezland and at the moment he appear'd in the Assembly of the States at Middleburg all the differences vanished and the Province was in a condition to defend it self to the great satisfaction of the people in general the Magistrates in particular and the eternal praise of this illustrious Prince He took occasion from hence to go and visit the frontiers and fortifications of Flushing Sluyis and Ardenburgh where they deliver'd him the Keys in a Silver Bason by the hands of the young Maids of the City all drest up with Flowers He did the same thing at Assendyck Bergen ap zoom Breda Boisleduc and other places and afâ—…er making an exact review returned to the Hague The Spring was by this time well advanced and the Hollanders had business enough on their hands for on one side they were attaqued by the King of France in person with a powerful Army and the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Luxemburg were at Utrecht with great forces watching an opportunity to throw themselves into the heart of the Country and on the other side the King of Great Britain with his Fleet and that of France conjoyn'd vigorously attacqued them For these reasons the Prince of Orange cou'd not stir abroad being constrained to keep his post as well to have an eye upon the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Luxemburg as to prevent the descent of the English In the beginning of May 1673 the King of France parted from Paris at the head of a great Army which several other Bodies in the French Acquisitions were to join and after a slow march sate down before Maestricht on the 10th of Iune with all his forces consisting in all of forty two thousand Horse and Foot having given Orders before to the Count d' Orge to invest the place with three thousand Horse The Garrison of Maestricht consisted of about four thousand Foot and eight or nine hundred Horse under the command of Monsieur de Farjaux Governour of the Town a brave experienced Captain as he abundantly convinced all the World by the generous resistance he made and by that vast inundation of blood it cost the French King to take it who lost on this occasion more than 9000 of his best Souldiers all his Musqueteers except seven and an infinite number of gallant Officers and perhaps it had not been purchased so easily if the Besieged had been in time relieved with a recruit only of a thousand men or if they had been better provided with ammunition which now began to fail them It would be too tedious to give an exact relation here of all the rencounters and bloody combats that happen'd night and day and of the firing which was made on both sides this being rather the business of a Journalist than an Historian I shall therefore content my self to say in a few words that after the Garrison by a vigorous defence which lasted near three weeks had lost one half of her men by continual Batteries and Assaults one after another and those that remained were not in a condition to defend themselves any longer by reason of the perpetual fatigues they had endured the Governour was sorced at last at the repeated instances of the Magistrates or rather by the treachery of some Ecclesiasticks of the Romish perswasion to capitulate and surrender himself In effect upon a faithful relation which the Governor gave his Highness of all that had happen'd the Prince was so well satisfy'd with his conduct that he made him Major General of his Army And to say the truth his opposition had been so vigorous and withal so fatal to the French that the King of France thought he had done enough for this Campaign in only taking Mastricht So that after he had demolished the Fortifications of Tongres he divided his Army at the same time part of which he sent to the Mareschal de Turenne another body was appointed to ravage the Country of Triers because the Elector of that name had taken the Emperor's side And three Brigades marched immediately to reinforce the Army which was in Holland The French Army being thus dispersed and the English Fleet after the last Engagement leaving the Coasts of Holland the Prince of Orange found himself more at liberty and not enduring to spend any more time without action he recalled all the Troops that were in Zealand to come and joyn the rest of his Army and marched all on the sudden to besiege Naerden with twenty five thousand Men. He gave the Command of the Cavalry to Major General Farjaux and took his Quarter on one side and Count Waldeck on the other While things were in this posture the Duke of Luxemburg having made up a body of ten thousand Men besides four Regiments of Munsterian Horse advanced within sight of the Dutch as far as the Prince's intrenchments which by that time were finished but not daring to relieve the Town the Prince pursued his design took the Counterscarp by assault and the Ravelin before the Huyserport after three hours resistance forced the besieged to retire into the Town in great disorder and obliged them the day following after the loss of their Forts to demand leave to Capitulate In short the Town was surrendred on condition the Garrison should march out with Colours flying Drums beating and two pieces of Cannon The Governour as he passed by saluted his Highness with a profound Reverence and as 't is reported told the Prince that he had very good reasons for delivering up the Town in so short a time which he would acquaint the King his master with at a
time the French still advanced on that side where the Imperialists lay posted but Count Souches instead of ranging his men in Battel quitted his post and passed the River in so much haste that he left some pieces of Cannon behind him which his Highness had sent him and cou'd not be recover'd without extream danger By this means the Prince of Conde having an open passage entred the Town with part of his Army and he had certainly gained that Advantage as to cut off all mannâ—… of Communication between the Confederates had it not been for a great Fog that arose on the sudden and prevented his design The Prince of Orange considering the present state of his affairs was of opinion that it was the best way to draw off and so followed after the Imperialists and the Spaniards whom he joyn'd within a league of Oudenard but finding that by reason of the great opiniatrete of the former he should be able to effect nothing here he was resolved to return the same way to Grave where his presence was so necessary to carry on the Siege leaving Count Waldeck to command the Army in his absence The Prince arrived befor this place on the ninth of October with sixty Troops of Horse and tho the Besieged who were now reduced to great extremities defended themselves with great vigour and resolution till the 25th of the same month yet the Marquess de Chamilly seeing it was impossible to hold out against a general assault because of the great breaches in the works demanded a cessation of Arms for three or four hours and after Hostages on both sides the City surrendred on very honourable conditions and thus ended this Campaign The year 1675 began with the Addresses of the Burghers wherein they thanked his Highness for the mighty services he had done them in delivering them from the calamities and miseries they had suffered under the tyranny of a foreign Enemy In consideration of which they offer'd him the Soveraignty of the Dutchy of Gueldres and Earldom of Zutphen with the Titles of Duke of Gueldres and Count of Zutphen But the Prince reflecting with himself that the accepting of this offer would give matter of jealousy to some persons and give others occasion to infer that he only aimed at his own Grandeur in this war to convince the world of the sincerity of his intentions he judged it the best way to refuse these Honours but at the same time did not refuse the offer they made him of being hereditary Governour of that Province This he readily accepted and after he had taken the Oaths reformed several abuses that had got footing during the Enemy's usurpation there And now by reason of the continual alarms the People were in upon the occasion of the French King's resolutions who was to open the Campaign himself in Person in the beginningâ—… of the Spring he continually applied his thoughts upon the war and for that end always assisted at those Conferences where they debated upon their military affairs He was at Cleve to confer with the Elector of Brandenburgh who entertained him with great magnificence and soon after his arrival at the Hague fell ill of the Small-pox which news caused so much the greater consternain the United Provinces because that disease had been fatal to his Family in the Person of his Father his Mother and the Duke of Glocester but by the care and prudence of an able Physician and by the assistance of some remedies which the Elector of Brandenburgh sent him he recovered his health to the universal joy not only of Holland but all the Confederates No sooner was he perfectly recovered but he repaired to the general rendezvous at Rosendael for the King of France being now upon his march in Brabant it was necessary for the Prince to observe his motions and so much the more because Limburg which was besieged by the Marquis de Rochefort demanded a speedy relief For this reason his Highness parting with his Army from Duffel joyn'd the Dukes of Lunenburg and Lorrain at Gangelt with a resolution to raise the Siege And in all probability it had come to a Battel between the French King and the Prince since the King who was then at Maestricht having received advice of the Prince's march had repassed the Meuse at Viset to oppose his design but the City not being any longer able to sustain the great numbers of their Enemies surrendred sooner than was expected After the taking of Limbug the King of France encamped near Tillemont ravaging all the Country round about Louvain Brussels and Malines He had a mighty desire to make himself master of Louvain but his Highness and the Duke de Villa Hermosa watched him all along so narrowly that he durst not undertake it so that finding he was able to do no more content with having gained Limburg he returned to Paris leaving the Prince of Conde to observe the Prince of Orange And to say the truth both these wary Generals watched one another so carefully that they cou'd not gain the least advantage one over the other But the Prince of Conde was soon commanded to go into Alsatia after the death of the Mareschal de Turenne Our Prince therefore had now to do with a new General the Duke of Luxemburgh but who in prudence and conduct was by no means inferiour to his great Predecessor His Highness had nevertheless this advantage over him that he hindred him from ravaging the territory of Triers so that after the fatal and entire routing of Monsieur de Crequi that City fell into the hands of the Imperialists France having thus sustained two mighty losses in the death of Turenne and the Defeat of Crequi the D. of Luxemburg rather than run the hazard of receiving a third which perhaps might have proved mortal suffer'd the Prince of Orange to take Bins before his face when there were 350 men in Garrison and great store of Provisions His Highness ordered all its Fortifications to be demolished to render it unserviceable to the Enemy and finding the season now well advanced dispersed his Army and came back to the Hague The calamities of war which had for some years afflicted and depopulated the greatest part of Europe were so extremely great and deplorable that several Princes moved with compassion did deliberate of the most proper means to stop the progress of those miseries under which the people languished Tho this design was so highly advantageous to Christendom in general yet it did but slowly advance till at last the K. of Great Britain having concluded a peace with Holland resolved to offer his Mediatorship to procure an universal peace amongst all the Christian Princes which having at last been submitted to the City of Nimeguen was chosen for the place of Treaty where all the Plenipotentiaries met towards the beginning of the year 1676. This hindred neither party from making as mighty preparations to renew the War in the Spring as if there were not
the least thoughts of a Peace So that during the winter his Highness was sufficiently employed to get his Army ready against the opening of the Campaign for it was an easy matter to foresee that there would be occasion for very considerable forces to oppose the common Enemy as soon as the season was approached The French on their part began before the midst of April to make a review of several of their Troops under Mareschal de Crequi near Charleville and Mareschal d' Humieres was in the Field with a body of fifteen Thousand men near Courtray putting all the Country to contribution because the Spaniards were not strong enough to resist them Before the Prince of Orange could come and join the Duke de Villa Hermosa which he did at Cambron on the 26th of April the Mareschal de Crequi had blocked up Conde with an Army of sixteen Thousand men Upon the receit of this news the King of France parted immediately from Paris and was soon after followed by the Duke of Orleance who brought with him a reinforcement of ten Thousand men The place was so furiously attack'd and batter'd on all sides that unable to hold out any longer they were constrained to surrender at discretion altho the Prince of Orange was advanced as far as Granville to relieve it The King of France having given orders to repair the Fortifications of Conde and to place a Garrison of 3000 men in the Town commanded the Duke of Orleance to besiege Buchain This was a small Town but exceeding strong scituate between Cambray and Valenciennes and defended the communication between those two places for this reason it had a good Garrison under the command of a Governor who had the reputation of a brave and prudent Captain But the Duke with such an Army did not find the Siege to be a work of great difficulty and so much the less because the King of France who commanded the Army in person was not far from him and all this while kept the Dutch and Spanish Army in breath The Prince who was now encamped in view of the Enemy near Valenciennes and was resolved to attack him the day following in case Bouchain had not been taken would not quit his Post till the French King had decamped first and having sent a considerable number of Horse and Foot to seize all the passes and bridges upon the River Dender hinder'd him from ravaging the Country of Alost About the beginning of Iune the King returned to Paris and gave the command of his Army in the Spanish Netherlands to Mareschal de Schomberg and the Prince of Orange encamped before Maestricht On the other side the Mareschal to make a powerful diversion sent Humieres with 15000 men to besiege Air a place of prodigious strength for it is encompassed with a deep Morass and excellent Fortifications on three sides so that it can be entred only at one way which was defended by a Fort called St. Francis having five Bastions two Half-Moons and a very deep Ditch Nevertheless all this did not hiâ—…der him from making himself soon Master of the Fort the Governour not having men enough to oppose the great numbers of the French who threw such a prodigious quantity of Bombs and Granadoes into the place that most of the houses were afire So that the Burghers having without the Governours privity demanded to capitulate he was obliged to surrender the Town which nevertheless he did on very honourable conditions that were easily agreed to by the French because they were informed that the Duke de Villa Hermosa was on his way to attempt to raise the Siege All this while the Prince of Orange never stirr'd from before Maestricht which he had invested with his own Army and the Troops of the Confederates to each of whom he assigned their proper quarter Amongst the rest of these Troops the English under Col. Fâ—…wick Col. Widdrington and Col. Ashley to the number of two thousand six hundred then without reckoning the Volunteers and Reformades presented a Request to his Highness wherein they petition'd him to assign them a particular quarter and that they might be commanded separately that so if they behaved themselves like valiant men they might have all the honour and if otherwise all the shame to themselves it not being reasonable that they should suffer for the faults of other men This the Prince readily granted and gave them a separate post over against his own Regiment of Guards under the Command of Col. Fenwick the eldest Collonel of the three and they were as good as their word as they really made it appear by their desperate attacques where they signalized themselves by their extraordinary valour as long as the Siege lasted And in truth never was Siege carried on with greater vigour and resolution than this was the Prince continually encouraging the Souldiers with his presence till he received a slight hurt in his arm by a Musquet-shot but two things hindered them from taking the Town which might otherwise have fallen into their hands First the River was so low that the Prince was forced to stay some days till his Cannon came from Ruremond for want of water In the second place the forces he expected from the Bishop of Munster and the Dukes of Lunenburg came not to his relief On the other side Schomberg having received express orders to succour the Town and for that purpose having marched as far as Tongres his Highness summoned a Council of War to consider what was to be done in this conjuncture where after they had reflected upon the present condition of the Army which was extremely lessen'd and fatigued and found it was impossible to shut up the passes and avenues to the City on the side of Wick and that the French would infallibly throw some relief into it notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary In short after they saw their Horse cou'd not subsist any longer in the Trenches for want of forrage it was unanimously resolved to raise the Siege So the Prince commanded the Horse to join Count Waldeck and sent the Artillery Ammunition and Provisions with the sick and wounded to Ruremond by water keeping his Foot in a posture of fighting till the Vessels were out of all danger Soon after this judging the Campaign was ended for this year he left his Army under the Command of Count Waldeck and returned to Holland to assist at the General Assembly of the States He gave them an account of the last expedition which so highly satisfied them that the President congratulated him upon the score of his happy return and in the name of the whole Assembly thanked him for the extraordinary pains and fatigues he had undergone for the safety of the Republic The Campaign being thus finished all the world was in great hopes that a Peace wou'd be soon concluded but as it is a much easier matter to kindle a fire than to extinguish it a Peace like this where so many
different interests and parties demanded to be satisfied was not to be so speedily concluded as those persons who impatiently wished for it did imagine The very preliminaries of this numerous Assembly at Nimeguen cou'd not be regulated in the compass of one winter and notwithstanding all the instances and application of the King of Great Britain those that reasoned solidly saw well enough that the Peace was in no great readiness Nor were their conjectures vain for no sooner was the year 1677 begun but tho it was the depth of winter the French marched directly into the Spanish Netherlands so that in a short time all the places about Valenciennes Cambray and St. Omers were covered with the Enemies Troops and these three Cities were in a manner blocked up at a distance The French openly boasting that they wou'd make themselves Masters of two important places before the Spaniards were in a condition to take the Field Valenciennes was the first place that was invested with a Army of 50 or 60 thousand men under the command of the Duke of Luxemburg and the Count de Montal and four days after the King himself arrived in person in the Camp There was in the City a Garrison of 2000 Spanish Walloon and Italian Foot with about 1000 Horse and Dragoons commanded by the Marquis de Risburg Brother to Prince d'Epinoy TheKing after his arrival view'd the posts gave orders for the Trenches to be opened and set up Batteries In fine the siege was so vigorously pushed on in a few days that the French were advanced as far as the Glacis of the Counterscrap and a Horn work that was one of the best defences the City had But the King not being willing to lose time in taking all the Out-works regularly order'd an Assault to be made on the Horn-work in four different places all at once by eight in the morning and to facilitate this enterprize alarmed the Besieged all the night with throwing of Bombs Granadoes and Carcasses which had the desired effect For after a short dispute the French enter'd the Town losing no more in this expedition than only Count de Barlemont a Collonel of the Regiment of Picardy three Musqueteers six Granadiers and some Souldiers The King having thus carried Valenciennes sate down before Cambray with part of his Army commanded by the Duke of Luxemburg and order'd the Mareschal d'Humieres to invest St. Omers with another part Cambray is one of the oldest Cities in the Low Countries built ever since the time of Servius Hostilius but the Castle was built by Charles the Fifth upon which account the Spaniards took great care to preserve it There were in Garrison fourteen hundred Horse four Regiments of Foot besides two Companies of old Spanish Souldiers under the command of Don Pedro de Laval the Governour The Cathedral was in so great veneration for the beauty of the structure that the Canons came out of the Town and presented a Petition to the King wherein they requested him not to fire at the Church which he freely granted The lines of Circumvallation were no sooner finished but the King commanded an Assault to be made on the two Half-moons on the Castle side which the French having soon made themselves Masters of they immediately began to undermine the Ramparts this put the Besieged into such a consternation that they desired to Capitulate and surrendred the Town on very honourable Conditions But tho the Town was lost the Castle held â—…ut still for the Governour taking advantage of the Cessation of Arms gave orders in the mean time to have some Cannon and other necessary provisions got ready commanded all the Horses to be slain only reserving ten for each Company and thus retired into the Castle with all his Souldiers before the French had the least suspicion of it being resolved to sell the Castle dearer than he had done the City The King was obliged to cease for some time not only because the French Pioneers were repulsed by the Besieged in a Sally they had made to prevent their approach but also because he was informed that the Prince of Orange was marching to the relief of St. Omers he sent the Duke of Luxemburg with a great part of his Army to reinforce his Brother the Duke of Orleance who had set Siege to that City and had already finished his Batteries For the news of the great success which the French King had at Valenciennes and Cambray and the Siege of St. Omers had so mightily alarmed the United Provinces that the Prince of Orange was forced to take the Field before the rest of the Confederates were ready to joyn him He assigned Ipres for the general Rendezvous of his Army which was composed of Dutch and some other Troops drawn out of the Spanish Garrisons and began his March on the 7th of April and on the 9th arrived at St. Mary Capel where he was informed that the D. of Orleans lay encamped on the great road to St. Omers and had only left a few Regiments in the Trenches to keep the City blocked up The straitness of the ways which he was to pass made his March very tedious so that after he had marched all the next day he advanced no farther than a small River called Pene on the other side of which he perceived the Enemy drawn up in battle The Prince having consulted his Guides and those that knew the Country they all assured him that there was no other passage than this to go to Bacque which they looked upon to be the only place by which St. Omers might be reliev'd Upon this consideration he resolved to pass the River and set upon the Enemy and having ordered some new Bridges to be made and repaired those that the French had broke down he accordingly passed it on the 11th of April by break of day so that all were got over before the Enemy was aware of them But when he had passed it with his Troops he was very much surprized to find that there was another River still between the French and him encumbred with Trees and Hedges altho those that were acquainted with the Country had assured him of the contrary so that he found himself strangely embarass'd as not having in the least expcteed this second Obstacle But this did not hinder him from making himself Master of the Abby de Pienes but in the mean time the Enemy having received a reinforcement of fifteen Thousand men came to attack the Abby where the Prince's Dragoons were posted who being supported by some Regiments of Foot received them so warmly that they were forced to retire After this the Prince set fire to the Abby least the Enemy should post themselves there At the same time the French advanced slowly with the right Wing of their Army to charge the Prince's left Wing in the Flank which was covered with abundance of Hedges where were likewise posted two Battalions The Prince perceiving that the Enemy had received some new
recruits on that side sent three fresh Battalions to support his own as likewise to guard the plain that was behind the Hedges But the two first Regiments basely quitted their Post upon the first approach of the Enemy so that the other three Regiments that were sent to their assistance having not sufficient time to adjust themselves and seeing the two first Battalions run away betook themselves to their Heels and breaking into their own Squadrons that stood there to cover them occasioned an extraordinary confusion Upon this the French Cavalry coming to advance and being supported by the Infantry that made perpetual firing the Prince's Squadrons were beaten back but they did not go far and soon rallied again and poured so vigorously upon the French that they made them fly in their their turn In the mean time the Enemy's Foot being advanced above and having possessed the Hedges where the Prince's men were posted before they cou'd not possibly make a long resistance nor hinder the rest of the Foot from being attacked in the Flank as well as the Front So that the Foot after they had done their duty extremely well saw themselves obliged to quit their post and the Prince repassing the Rivet retir'd in very good order to Steenword and from thence to Poperdingue the Enemy having been so rudely handled by Count Waldeck who commanded the Prince's Right Wing that they had no desire to pursue him And this was the issue of the battel at Mont cassel The Prince having retired in this manner as we have related it the French King pursued the Siege of the Cittadel of Cambray with all imaginable vigor and it fell out very unfortunately for the besieged that a Bomb set fire on one of their Magazines where the Granadoes and other warlike Provisions lay and utterly consumed it However the besieged continued to defend themselves bravely and recompenced their loss in some manner by the death of the Marquess de Renel one of the French King's Lieutenant Generals who was slain by a Cannon-shot from the Castle But at last the French having made several breaches and the Governour of the Cittadel being wounded they were constrained to yield to the great number and continual attacks of the Enemy and to surrender the Castle which was done on very honorable conditions To return to the Duke of Orleans altho victorious he was so afraid lest the Prince should once more attempt to throw relief into St Omers that he durst not quit the field where the battle was fought but kept himself upon his guard for eight days successively But when he received the News that his Highness had passed the Canal of Ghent with all his Forces he returned before the Town which he besieged with his whole Army and after a gallant resistance which cost him several of his best Officers they were forced against their will to surrender upon good terms After the taking of these places the French heat began to be somewhat abated and those that were so forward to attack others were now content to act on the defensive all the rest of the Summer and durst never put it to the hazard of a battle altho it was often presented to them So that after several tedious marches and counter-marches on both sides and the Confederates ineffectual laying Siege to Charleroy which for several weighty considerations they thought expedient to raise the Prince returned to the Hague being accompanied by the Earl of Ossory Don Carlos the Duke of Albemarle and several other Persons of Quality After he had given the States General an account of the last Campaign with the reasons that obliged him to raise the Siege of Charleroy and not to attack the Enemy who were not only superior to him in number but posted to the greatest advantage Their High and Mightinesses thanked him for his conduct and indefatigable pains humbly beseeching him still to continue his zeal for the public Interest A little after his return to the Hague several of the English Nobility arrived at the Prince's Court who in an Assembly of the States General gave them to understand that his Unkle the King of Great Britain earnestly desired him to make a Voyage into England in hopes that his presence there would not a little contribute to the Peace then in agitation which would be of such mighty advantage to the Republic Thus his Highness took his leave of the States and of all theColledges on the 17th of October and being accompany'd by the Earl of Ossory Monsieur d' Odyk the Count de Nassau and several other persons of condition he embarqued at Hellevoetsluys in one of his Majesties Yatchs and arrived at Harwich on the 19th about ten in the morning where the Duke of Albemarle and the Master of the Ceremonies attended him in the King's Coaches and conducted him the same evening to the King and his Royal Highness at Ipswich who received him with all the testimonies of a particular kindness and affection On the 23d he arrived with the two Royal Brothers at Whitehall and was lodged in the Duke of York's apartment who retired to St. Iames's What was at first nothing but a bare surmize was soon after confirmed by the King himself For on the first of November his Majesty acquainted the Council with his design to marry the Prince of Orange to his Royal Highness's eldest Daughter declaring that he hoped this Alliance would facilitate the accomplishment of a General Peace which his Majesty was resolved to advance as far as the Interest of his Kingdoms did engage him After this the whole Council went in a body to compliment the Princess and afterwards the Prince the rest of the Nobility did the same after their example The Prince of Orange acquainted the States with it by an Express giving them to understand that after he had maturely weigh'd the reasons which might incline him to marry he thought he could not make a better choice than the Princess Mary that he had already demanded her in Marriage of the King and his Royal Highness her Father who immediately gave their consent that he judged it advisable to inform them of it expecting their approbation of the Match with all speed that he might the sooner repair to them for the service of his Country Hereupon the States General were assembled and seriously considering the reasons of State upon which this Marriage was founded with the great advantages it might produce as for instance a confirmation of that strict Union that was between the King of Great Britain and the States of the United Provinces the establishment of the ancient House of Orange and the conclusion of the Peace so earnestly desired I say after they had seriously considered all this but especially the happy choice his Highness had made of a Princess who besides her natural sweetness possessed all the virtues that a Husband could desire testified their approbation by a public Edict in terms full of joy and satisfaction declaring
with his Niece formed of himself a project of Peace which he sent to his Ambassador at Nimeguen there to be distributed amongst the other Ambassadors and Mediators by those of England The chief of these propositions were That the King of Sweden and the Duke of Gottorp should be intirely satisfied That the Prince and Bishop of Stasburg should be restored to all his Demains Goods Honours and Prerogatives and that his Brother Prince William of Furstemberg should be set at liberty That as for the Emperour he should alter nothing in the public Declarations that were made at the Treaty of Westphalia only he offer'd either to keep Philipsburg and give up Friburg or else to keep Friburg and give up Philipsburg That as for Spain he would restore Charleroy Aeth Oudenard Courtray Ghent and St. Guillain with their dependances but in recompence demanded all the Franche Comté Valenciennes Bouchain Condè Cambray Aire and St. Omers with all their dependances In a word all the Places he was in possession off except those above mentioned Besides he consented to surrender Charlemont or Dinant to the Catholic King provided the Bishop of Leige and the Emperor agreed to it That as for what concerned the States General besides the satisfaction he gave them by what he yielded up to Spain he wou'd restore Maestricht to them and continue the same treaty of Commerce they enjoy'd before And as for the Interests of the Duke of Lorrain he was willing to re-establish him according to the Pirenean Treaty or to surrender all his Territories to him except the City of Nancy but that by way of recompence he would give him Toul reserving nevertheless to himself a passage from his Frontiers into Alsatia and the Roads that would be necessary to him from France to Nancy and from Nancy to Mets Brisac and the Franche-Comte That the Confines between Spain and the Low-Countries to begin from the Sea should be the Meuse Nieuport Dixmuyde Courtrdy Oudenard Aeth Mons Charleroy and Namur and that these Confines should be secured by these Places since they had cost him some Millions to fortify and by quitting them he deprived himself of the advantage of marching up to the Gates of Brussels whenever he pleased These Conditions were liked by some but disapproved by others The States General for instance had no reason to reject them but the Ministers of the Allies in a conference at the Hague absolutely rejected them as unjust and unreasonable After several warm disputes upon this occasion the Spaniards began at last to comply and that the more because they saw both England and Holland consented to the proposals of France Besides this their Affairs grew every day worse and worse by the considerable loss of Fort Leeuw which was much about this time unfortunately surprized by the French But what served wholly to determine them was the return of the French King who besides an Army he had near Brussels had two more not far off one upon the Rhine and the other between the Meuse and the Sambre which threatned nothing less than the entire loss of the Spanish Netherlands in case the Hollanders made a Peace without them and continued Neuters after it during the course of this war to which the King of France earnestly perswaded them The Spaniards therefore being constrained to yield to the necessity of their Affairs declared they were ready to accept these Conditions of Peace Upon which the States General were very urgent with the other Allies to give their consent and upon the delay of the Ministers who amused themselves with making Memorials and Replies dispatched express Orders to their Ambassadors at Nimeguen to conclude the Treaty out of hand But they were extreamly surprized when the Plenipotentiares of France refused to sign it for they demanded that intire satisfaction should be given to the King of Sweden protesting that in case of refusal the King their master would conclude nothing This started new difficulties and gave occasion to the States General to make fresh complaints of the procedure of the King of France after they had so frankly submitted to the Conditions which he himself had proposed That King's answer was that he should come to St. Quintin where he wou'd carry six days for the Commissioners whom they should send to adjust this difference But the States thinking they had done enough on their part resolved in the presence of the Prince of Orange to send no body till the Treaty was signed The News of this difference and of the resolution of the Hollanders to continue the war unless the King of France would somewhat abate the interests of Sweden being arrived into England the Parliament who before had voted to disband the Army which the King had raised both by Sea and Land were now resolved to keep it on foot His Majesty sent part of the Army over to Flanders and made a League offensive and defensive with the United Provinces wherein a very short time was limited for the French King to sign the Treaty or declare his further pretensions This resolute conduct of the King of Great Britain put an end to this troublesome affair so the Treaty of Peace between France and Holland was signed on the 11th of August at midnight 'T is certain the French King had done better not to have refined so much in his Politics for it had like to have cost him the entire loss of the D. of Luxemburg's Army Mons had been a long time blocked up by the French and was now in a manner reduced to the last extremities when the Prince of Orange receiving advice that the Confederates had joined the Army of Spain and Holland which was near the Canal of Brussels he parted by night from the Hague on the 26 of Iuly Immediately after his arrival he call'd a Council of War with the Generals of the Allies where it was resolved that they should decamp and pursue the Duke of Luxemburg who marched by Mons with a design to hinder any relief from being put into the Town Thus resolved the Prince parted with the whole Army at the beginning of August and no sooner had he left Brussels but General Spaen joyned him with a reinforcement of six thousand men of the Elector of Brandenburg and the Bishop of Munster The French who had rested some days at Soignes hearing of the Prince of Orange's March suddenly decamped and the Confederate Army encamped in the very same place where the Enemy had been the day before His Highness marching from thence on the side of Rocles advanced with his left Wing as far as the Abby of St. Denys where the Duke of Luxemburg had his quarter And as this post was in a manner inaccessible by reason of the Woods the Briars and Precipices it was encompass'd with the Duke so little dreamt of being attack'd that he was at dinner when they brought him word that the Prince of Orange was coming to surprize him and so he was forced
absolutely Commanded half the Roman Legions who governed all the World With these great forces and advantages they entred upon the Stage made their first Victories the fore-runners to the next pursued their blow and one overthrew the Empire of the Persians and the other the Roman Commonwealth But Prince William has equall'd the Glory of these great Conquerors by attaquing the formidable Power of King Philip of Spain without any Army or Forces and by maintaining himself many years against him His Courage was always greater than his Misfortunes and when all the World thought him ruin'd and he was driven out of the Netherlands he entred 'em again immediately at the Head of a new Army and by his great Conduct laid the foundations of a Commonwealth that covers the Ocean with its Fleets and over-matches all Europe in the number and strength of its Naval Forces His Enemies had no other way to ruin him but by a base Treachery which he might have avoided if he had reposed less confidence in the love of the People who served him instead of Guards and considered him as the Father and Tutelar God of their Country After having reflected on all the Illustrious Persons that have lived before him I can meet with no one that equall'd his profound Wisdom heroick Courage and Constancy under all his Adversities but Gaspar de Coligny Lord of Chastillon Admiral of France so great a Man that D'Avila his Enemy was forc'd to own that he was more talk'd of in Europe than the King of France himself This Admiral after the loss of four Battles was so far from being broken or ruin'd and continued still so powerfull that his Enemies were oblig'd to grant him a Peace and had it not been for a Treachery whose Memory will be eternally abhorr'd by all good Men he might have ended his days in Peace and done great service to his Country by the Conquest of the Low-Countries which he propos'd at so favourable a conjuncture that we might easily have made our selves masters of ' em But the ill maxims of those Divines who would conform all Religion to the humours and passions of Princes and the Doctrine That no Faith ought to be kept with Rebels and Hereticks and that 't is lawfull to do a small evil to bring about a greater good added to the powerfull Motive of Revenge prevail'd over all the Ties of Honour and Faith which ought always to be sacred and inviolable William of Nassaw Prince of Orange was Born in the Year 1533 at the Castle of Dillembourgh in the County of Nassaw He was Nine years Page of Honour to the Emperour Charles the Fifth who continually admired his extraordinary good sense and modesty This great Prince took delight to communicate his most important affairs to him and instruct him and has often declar'd to those he was most familiar with That this young Prince furnish'd him with Expedients and Counsels that surpriz'd him and which otherwise he had never thought of When he gave private Audience to Foreign Princes and Ministers and Prince William was about to retire with the rest of the Company he usually bid him stay All the World was surpriz'd to see this great and wife Monarch esteem him above all those that were about him and trust him at so tender an Age with all the secrets of his Empire the management of Affairs and the weightiest Negotiations He was scarce Twenty years old when Charles the Fifth chose him out among all the great Lords of his Court to carry the Imperial Crown which he resign'd to his Brother Ferdinand An Office which he discharged with much unwillingness assuring his good Master That 't was an unwelcome Task he had imposed on him of carrying that Crown to another which his Uncle Henry Count of Nassaw had put upon his Head And for a proof that Charles the Fifth set on less a value on his Courage than his Prudence when Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy was obliged by his own private affairs to be absent some time from the Netherlands tho' the Prince was but 22 years old and was in Breda at that time Charles the Fifth of his own accord against the advice of all his Counsel made him Generalissimo to the prejudice of so many experienc'd Captains and among the rest of Count Egmont who was Twelve years older at a time when he had to deal with two great Generals Mounsieur de Nevers and the Admiral of France But the Prince was so far from receiving any blow that Campagn that he built Charlemont and Philipville in sight of the French Armies I do not pretend to relate all the Actions of the Prince of Orange which would require a Volume and which so many Historians have done in several Languages 'T would be a strange itch of writing and a manifest robbery to publish what may be met with in particular Books My design is only to make some Reflections and Observations on this great Prince and acquaint the World with some particulars of his Life which I learn'd from my Father and other eminent Men of that Age. But in order to make my History more intelligible and agreeable to those who have not read his Life I was engaged contrary to my former intentions by an Illustrious Person to whom I have too many Obligations to refuse him any thing to make a short Abridgment of his Life enough to give a general Idea of him as Geographers present us at one view all the Old and New World in a little Map not doubting but a Narrow Portraicture of so extraordinary a Man will cause these Particulars I know of his Life to be read with greater pleasure and besides will show to all the World upon what foundations this Prince has erected the powerfull Commonwealth of the United Provinces Besides the esteem the Emperour had for his Vertue there was no Man at his Court whom he lov'd so tenderly as the Prince of Orange Which he made appear to the last moment of his Administration For at the famous Assembly at Brussels A. D. 1555 when the Emperour resign'd all his Kingdoms to his Son Philip 't was remarkable that in so considerable an Action he was supported by the Prince of Orange All these marks of Confidence and professions of Friendship which the Emperour made him were the cause of his Misfortunes For tho' at his departure into Spain the Emperour recommended him particularly to the King his Son the Spaniards who govern'd him for he had been bred always in Spain being jealous of the growing Greatness and good Fortune of this young Prince made the King entertain such suspicions of him that his most innocent words and actions had an ill interpretation put upon 'em and the refusel which the States made of complying with the demands of the King was laid to his charge He easily perceived by the cold receptions of the King that his Enemies had ruin'd him in his good opinion But he was confirm'd in his
the Oath of Fidelity 't was needless to take a new one unless they question'd his Fidelity The same Course was followed by Anthony de Lalain Count of Hochstrat Governour of Malines Count Horn Philip de Montmorency Admiral of the Low-Countries and Henry Brederode Baron de Viane and Vicount of Utrecht descended from the Soveraign Counts of Holland and by many other Lords A. D. 1566 in April the Governess pressing with great heat the Establishment of the Inquisition and the New Bishops Four hundred Gentlemen headed by Count Lodowick of Nassaw and Count Brederode the next day arrived the Count de Bergues and Culembourg met at Brussels in the Hotel de Culembourg and had the boldness to present a Petition which they had drawn up to the Governess in the Palace The Heads of this Petition were to reject the Inquisition the New Bishops and the Publication of the Council of Trent which they maintained to be contrary to the Interest of the Provinces This boldness let loose the reins to all the Seditions and Factions in the Netherlands and occasion'd all the Sacrileges all the Villainies and Impieties the breaking down Images demolishing Churches and Altars c. which are preserved in History and are abhorr'd by the Protestants themselves This famous Petition presented by the Nobility marching two by two modestly clad and arm'd only with their Swords was at first slighted and Count Barlaymont a great confident of Madam de Parma because he saw a great many in the Company not so rich as himself told the Governess by way of Contempt that they were a Troop of Beggars and that she ought to take no notice or have any regard to ' em Hence the name Gueux or Beggars continued to that party as that of Hugeunots to the Protestants of France The confederate Nobility far from taking offence at this Nick-name applyed it to themselves and cloathed themselves all in Gray cloths and wore little wooden Porringers and Beggars Bottles in their Hats and drank Healths publickly to the Gueux or Beggars at their Entertainments The Gentlemen who entred into this Association wore at their Collar a Medal of Gold on one side of which was stamped the Kings Image on the reverse two hands joyn'd holding a Bag with this Inscription Fideles au Roy jusque a la besace Faithful to the King even to the Bag. The greatest Lords on their Footmens Liveries embroider'd Dishes Bottles and Beggars Bags glorying in the Nick-name and publishing that they would Sacrifice their Fortunes to support so just a Confederacy About the end of the Year 1566. the Prince of Orange had a Conference at Dendermonde with Count Egmont Horn Hochstrat and his Brother Lodowick to consult of means for their own Security and the good of the Provinces most of them were of opinion to take up Arms and oppose the entrance of the Spaniards into the Low Countries who had a design to ruin them as the Prince of Orange made appear by Letters of the Spanish Resident at Paris which he had intercepted But Count Egmont Governour of Flanders and Artois who had a great Interest with the Souldiers would not hearken to it but remonstrated to the Assembly that they ought to trust to the King's Clemency and Goodness Which he repeated again at Villebrook in another Meeting and the Prince of Orange replyed That this Clemency of the King would be his ruin and that the Spaniards would make him a Bridge over which they would pass into Flanders and which they would break down as soon as they had entred After this the Prince told him that since he took so little Care of his safety he would provide for his own by retiring into Germany To which the Count answered Farewell Prince without Land and the Prince replyed Farewell Count without a Head which Prophecy prov'd too true A. D. 1568. the 10th of February the Spanish Inquisition declared Guilty of High Treason all those who had not oppos'd the Hereticks of the Netherlands Which was in effect condemning all the Nobility which the Council of Spain had a design to destroy particularly the Great Men and Governours of Provinces and those who had presented the Address against the Inquisition Which the King confirm'd by an Edict which bore the same Date This done he sent the Duke of Alva with an Army of Veterane Souldiers composed of Spaniards and Italians to succeed Margaret Dutchess of Parma in the Government of the Low Countries The Duke passed from Spain into Italy where having made a rendezyous of his Troops he entred into Luxemburg through Savoy the County of Burgundy and Lorrain and crossed all those Countries without the least complaint of the Inhabitants in so long a March so severe was the Duke and so strict an observer of Military Discipline The Prince of Orange before the Arrival of the Duke of Alva retired into Germany to his County of Nassaw giving out that under pretence of settling the Inquisition and other Illegal things contrary to the Liberties and Privileges of the Provinces the Spaniards design was to force them to rebel that they might have a plausible pretence of enslaving them and Erecting a Despotick Government in the Netherlands as a revolted and conquered Nation in the same manner as they had done with the Indies Naples Sicily Milan and Sardinia And indeed the severity and cruelty of the Duke of Alva confirm'd what the Prince gave out not only to the Provinces but all the neighbouring Princes who condemned his unjust and violent Proceedings and particularly the Emperour Maximilian a good natured and a merciful Prince At his first coming the Duke established a Sovereign Council of twelve Judges of which he made himself the President They were all men of the Long Robe of no Birth nor Merit except le Sieurs Barlaymont and Norcairme who were Gentlemen of Quality The most eminent was Iohn Vargas a Spaniard so famous for his Cruelty that the Spaniards used to say They had need of as keen a Knife as that of Vargas to cut off the Gangreen of the Low Countries There was also one Hessels a Flemming of this new Council who slept always at the Tryal of Criminals and when they awaked him to deliver his opinion he rubbed his Eyes and cryed between sleeping and waking ad Patibulum ad Patibulum to the Gallows to the Gallows as William Guerin Advocate General of the Parliament of Provence who said when they brought before him one of Herindol suspected of Heresie Tolle Tolle Crucifige in Imitation of the Iews This Hessels was afterwards hanged upon a Tree without any form of Justice or Process by the Governours of Gand Imbise and Rihove whom he had often threatned by his gray Beard to hang. Sentences were often passed by only two or three Judges of this Council as the Judgment against Strales a Burgomaster of Antwerp which was Sign'd only by Vargas and two other Spaniards This Council was called by the Duke of Alva The
Council of Troubles and by his Enemies The Council of Blood By the Establishment of this Council which was a supream Court of Judicature the Duke of Alva deprived all the other Councils of the Netherlands of their Power and Jurisdiction For all men without Exception were denied the Liberty of appealing even the Knights of the Golden Fleece who by the Statutes of their Order were to be tryed by their Peers alone in the Presence of the King Which was contrary to all Privileges The Judges of the Country were forbid to take cognizance of the last Troubles and all the Councils of the Provinces were to Answer before this Tribunal A rich Burgher was condemned to Death his hands being tyed behind his Back being bound to the Tail of a Horse and mercilesly dragged to the place of Execution The First and second Days of Iune Eighteen Lords and Gentlemen were barbarously executed at Brussels among the rest the two Barons of Battembourg Brothers Iohn de Montigny Lord of Villiers and the Lord de Huy a Bastard of the Counts of Namur Drums beating all the time of their Execution that their dying Speeches might not be heard nor the People stirred up to Compassion by hearing them complain of the Injustice which had been done to them The Fifth of Iune following were publickly executed at Brussels Count Egmont and Count Horn several Regiments of Native Spaniards being drawn up in the great Square to guard the Execution I may say that the Death of these two Lords cost the Spanish King the Low Countries so universally were they loved and esteemed The First won the Battle of St. Quintins and Gravelins The French Resident at Brussels writ to Court that he had seen that Head cut off which had twice made France tremble Cardinal Granville never feared any of the great Lords of the Netherlands but the Prince of Orange for the rest were not capable of forming or maintaining a Party and when the News was brought to Rome in general that the Duke of Alva had seized on all the great Lords of the Low Countries he asked whether Silence was taken meaning the Prince of Orange and when they told him No he replyed The Duke had done nothing The Prince of Orange who had put himself into a place of Security was Summoned to appear before the supream Council who condemned him for not obeying For he appeal'd to the States of Brabant his natural Judges and the King himself because he was Knight of the Golden Fleece and consequently could not be tryed by subdeligate and suspected Judges and his professed Enemies but by the King himself assisted by his Peers the Knights Which he represented at large in publick Manifesto's to the Emperour Maximilian and the German Princes who approved his Reasons and condemned the violence of the Council of Spain which went so far as to seize on his eldest Son William Count de Buren who was arrested in the College of Louvain at the Age of thirteen contrary to the privileges of the University and the Country of Brabant and afterwards carried Prisoner into Spain This hard usage made the Prince resolve to pass the Rubicon and hazard all as Caesar did and endeavour to do himself Justice and have satisfaction for his Injuries by way of Arms. He raised an Army in Germany and sent it into Friezland under the Command of Count Lodowick his Brother who made a happy beginning of the Compaign by the entire defeat of Iohn de Ligny Count of Aremberg Governour of the Province a famous Captain who the year before was sent General of a considerable Army into France to the Assistance of Charles the Ninth against the Huguenots who had the boldness to besiege him in Paris after having missed of surprizing him at Meaux This Count of Aremberg died upon the place But 't is said he revenged his Death by that of Count Adolphus of Nassau Brother to William Prince of Orange and Count Lodowick who remained Master of the Field of Battle of the Baggage and Artillery of the Spanish Army But Count Lodowick did not long enjoy the pleasure of this Victory for the Duke of Alva fell upon him in the same Country with old Disciplin'd Troops at a time when the Germans instead of preparing for a vigorous defence against so powerful an Enemy mutinied and demanded their Pay and routed his Army the most part of which were drown'd in the River Ems which lay behind them Count Lodowick with great difficulty saved his Life which he had certainly lost if he had not met with a little Boat and crossed the River which is very wide as it falling into the Seas leaving all his Baggage and Artillery in the hands of the Spaniards The Prince of Orange a man of a steady and unshaken Courage in all his misfortunes without being startled at this Blow raises another Army of Twenty four thousand German Horse and Foot which he joyned with a Body of Four thousand French Commanded by Francis de Hangest Lord of Genlis Before he entred into the Netherlands he published a Manifesto in which he lays open the Reasons he had to take up Arms clears himself of the Crimes he was charged with excepts against the Bloody Council and the Duke of Alva who pretended to be his Judge He owns that he had quitted the Church of Rome for a Religion which he thought more agreeable to the Holy Scripture declares that he was forced to make War for the preservation of his Country and to free it from the Slavery the Spaniards were preparing for it as in Duty bound being one of the great Lords of the Netherlands He hopes that King Philip whose good Inclinations were obstructed by the ill Counsels of the Spaniards will one day better consider the Fidelity of the Provinces and the Oath he publickly took of preserving their Privileges He says that the Laws of the Dutchy of Brabant dispense with the Subjects from paying that obedience to the Errors and Mistakes of their Princes which they only owe to their lawful Commands which ought to be conformable to the Customs of the Province He added that the Brabantines never suffered any Prince to take Possession of the Government before they had agreed with him That if the Prince breaks the Laws and the Constitutions of the Dutchy the Subjects shall be absolved from their Oath of Allegiance till their Injuries are redressed After this the Prince having passed the Rhine crossed the Meuse happily between Ruremonde and Mastreicht though the Duke of Alva was on the other side of the River to dispute the passage with him He passed his Foot over at a Ford whilst the Horse who stood above broke the force of the River in the same manner as Caesar passed the River Segre near Lerida in Catalonia The Duke of Alva would not believe the Count of Barlaymont who brought him the first News of it but asked him whether the Prince of Orange's Army were Birds Thus the Prince of
Massacre'd in Florida by the Spaniards They promised to the Prince of Orange by Count Lodowick his Brother whom they had loaded with Honours and Caresses a considerable supply of Men and Money and the Sovereignty of Zealand Utrecht and Friezland and that they would joyn the other Provinces to France The Prince of Orange upon these great hopes and appearances which proved false refused a very advantageous and secure Treaty which the Emperour offered him from the part of the King of Spain and sent Forces under the Command of his Brother-in-Law the Count de Bergues to make an Attempt upon Gueldres and Over-Yssel The Count took Zutphen and several other places His Brother Count Lodowick was to make a considerable effort on the side of Hainault where he surprized Mons the Capital of that Province which diversion hindred the Duke of Alva from retaking the Cities of Holland and Zealand that had newly declared against him and which he might easily have done at a time when they were unprovided of forces and necessaries for their defence But nothing incensed the Duke of Alva so much as the surprizing of Mons which he resolved to recover at any rate leaving every thing else to apply himself wholly to this seige which gave time to the revolted Cities to draw breath and furnish themselves at Leisure with Men and Ammunition The brave Defence of Count Lodowick assisted by Mounsieur de la Nove bras de fer and many of the French Nobility made the Siege of Mons very long and difficult The Spaniards fired above 20000 Canon-shot against it In the mean time the Prince of Orange who had retired into Germany had raised a greater Army than his first to enter into Brabant where the Cruelty and Exactions of the Duke of Alva made him hope for better Success than he had in his first Invasion This Army was to be paid with the money the French Court had promised to supply him with Thus the Prince believed with reason that the Spanish Forces would not be able to defend the Low-Countries attack'd on so many sides by Land whilest by Sea they were gauled by the Counts de la Mark Sonoy Treton the Brothers Boisols and Bertel Entens his Lieutenants in Holland and Zealand where they had great Success as I shall afterwards declare The Spaniards were never in so great danger of losing the Netherlands as at that Conjuncture The hopes of the Prince were not groundless and in all probability the Spaniards had been quite driven out of the Low-Countries if France had made good its promises Thus this great Man who had so many Strings to his Bow parted from Germany with a great Army to enter into the Low-Countries when he found all People driven to despair by the Tyranny of the Duke of Alva and ready to receive him with open arms First he was received into Ruremonde where he passed his Army over the Bridge into Brabant Louvain gave him a sum of money and Malines opened its Gates to him which cost that poor City very dear The Duke of Alva was absent at the Siege of Mons which he resolved to take and the Prince designed to relieve as well to save so important a Place as to deliver his brother Lodowick from the danger he was in But Mr. de Genlis who marched from France to the relief of the place with 7000 Horse and Foot having been defeated and taken Prisoner by Frederick de Toledo who had gone out to meet him upon the secret intelligence which he received from the Court of France of his marching towards Mons and the condition of his Forces The Prince having attempted in vain to raise the Siege for the Duke of Alva had intrenched himself so strongly that 't was impossible to force his lines and at the same time understanding by the discharging of the great Guns and other signs of rejoycing in the Camp of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew where Admiral de Chatillon and all his principal friends had been kill'd and having no hopes from the French who had deceived him but on the contrary having all the reason in the world to be apprehensive of so great a Kingdom which had declared against his party and religion he advised his brother Lodowick to make an honourable Composition which was granted him and he himself retired by small Marches towards the Rhine In this retreat he was in great danger of being kill'd by the Enemies and his own Soldiers For the German officers talked of arresting him to secure the payment of their arrears which they were promised should be paid at their arrival in Brabant where he expected to receive the money the French had promised him But this eloquent and engaging Prince appeas'd the mutiny by assuring them 't was not his fault and satisfied them with promises and the little ready money he had On the other side he was in great danger of his Life at Malines 800 Spanish Horse who had chosen men mounted behind them entered into his Camp by night and pierced as far as his tent and would have killed him as he slept if a little dog who lay in his Bed had not waked him by scratching his face with his claws the greatest part of the Spaniards being cut off he marched strait on to the Rhine where he disbanded his Army at Orsay and went through Over-Yssell to Utrecht and thence to Holland and Zealand which had declared for him all except Middleburg and Amsterdam in the following manner Whilest the Prince of Orange was a Refugee in France and Germany and wandring from Province to Province William de la Mark Boissols Siegneurs de Lumay Sonoy Treton the Boissols Entens and others who acted under the Orders of the Prince turned Pirates and practised the trade a long time with great Success till having no longer a retreat in the Ports of England which Queen Elizabeth denied them at the instance of the Duke of Alva and for Fear of making the Spaniards her Enemies the Count de la Mark and the rest designing to seize a Port in North-Holland or Friezland were obliged by the contrary Winds to put in for shelter with 30 great and Small Ships into the Isle of Vorn in Holland where the Brill is which they took by surprize having found it without a Garrison which was sent to punish Utrecht for refusing to pay the tenth penny This Count de la Mark was a rash and a cruel man He swore never to shave his Beard nor Head till he had revenged the death of Count Egmont and Horn. When he had surprized the Brill which signifies Spectacles in the Flemish Tongue he had himself painted in a large piece with the Duke of Alva behind whom he stood and put Spectacles on his Nose by way of Derision it being a term of Contempt in Holland to say a man wants light He put ten pieces of Money in his colours in hatred of the Imposition which the Duke of Alva had
established and to make him more odious The Count de Bossut Governor of Holland for the Spaniards made a fruitless attempt to drive them out of the Brill Many other Cities of Holland viz Horn Alkmar Edam Goude Oudewater Leyden Gorcum Harlem and all Zealand except Middleburg following the Example of the Brill abandoned the Duke of Alva and declared for the Prince of Orange Flushing a considerable City and Port of Zealand was one of the first that revolted by the perswasion of the Priest who on Easter-day as he was saying Mass exhorted the People to recover their Liberty This Air of sedition having blown the People into a flame they immediately went to their Arms and forced the Spanish Garrison to leave the place But they arrested Alvarez Pacheco a Spaniard and Relation of the Duke of Alva who was superintendant of the Fortifications of the Cittadel which was building at Flushing He was immediately hanged by order of Treton who revenged on him the death of his brother who had been beheaded by the Duke of Alva at Brussels 4 years before Pacheco in vain represented that he was a Gentleman and desired the favour to be beheaded but he was hanged publickly on a Gibbet I wonder at the variety of opinions I have met with in the most famous Historians of the Netherlands concerning this Pacheco Grotius says he was a Savoyard though Benlivoglio Strada Meursius and Emanuel de Metteren do all agree he was a Spaniard Cardinal Bentivoglio says he was beheaded and others write that he was hanged on the other side Meursius calls this Gentleman who was executed a Relation of the Duke of Alva Pacioli although the others call him Pacheco confounding this Pacheco with Francis Paciotti of Urbin Count de Montefabre so famous for his skill in fortifications and other engines of War that when he had built the Cittadel at Antwerp his name was given to one of the Bastions by order of the Duke of Alva the four others were called the Duke Ferdinand Toledo and Alva not one by the name of the King his Master But to return to this Pacheco Emanuel de Metteren though a very exact Historian names him Pierre Pacheco though Famianus Strada who was better informed names him Alvarez Which shows that the greatest men are liable to mistakes The Sea Gueux in requital of the Duke of Alva's cruelty hanged all the Prisoners they made without distinction but the Spaniards they tyed by couples back to back and threw them into the Sea As soon as the Prince of Orange arrived in Holland and Zealand he made the Sieur Diederic or Theoderick de Sonoy a Friezland Gentleman his Lieutenant in North-Holland otherwise called Westfrise and Charles Bâ—…issol Governor of Flushing and his Brother Lewis Boissol Admiral These two Gentlemen were of Brussles and being condemned by the Duke of Alva follow'd the â—…ortunes of the Prince of Orange About that time the States of Holland and Zealand met at Dordrecht where they acknowledg'd the Prince of Orange for their Governour though he was absent and obliged themselves by oath never to abandon him and the Prince in like manner swore by his proxy Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde to continue inviolably devoted to their interests 'T was observed in this Assembly that St. Aldegonde gave his hand to all the Deputies of the States and they to him in token of their mutual confidence and fidelity William Count de la Mark then present was declared Lieutenant of the Prince of Orange but rebelling some time after against the Prince with his confidentt Bertel Entens as rash as himself they were both seized on and they would have proceeded to the Trial of the Count if the consideration of his alliances and great services had not pleaded for him for he had been guilty of great cruelties to some good Ecclesiasticks which deserved a severe punishment After he was out of Prison he retired to Leige where he died of the bite of one of his mad dogs The Prince did all things in the Name of the States though he had all the Power of the Government in his own hands such an intire confidence had the People in him There were anciently but six Cities in Holland that had right to vote in the States viz Dordrecht Harlem Leyden Delft Amsterdam and Goude the Prince added twelve others to these six viz Rotterdam Gorcum Schedam Sconen la Brille Alkmar Horn Enkhusen Edam Munikedam Medimblet and Purmerend that he might engage these Cities in his interest by the honour he had done them and that they might be the better affected to him in the assembly of the States and ease the publick miseries and grievances the more effectually by being acquainted with them He had the absolute disposal of all Employments and charges but refused the name of King and contented himself with the Power At that time he banished all the Romish Ceremonies out of the Churches that this difference of Religion might out off all means of an accommodation with the Spaniards who were sworn Enemies to the new opinions A. D. 1572 the Duke of Alva after the recovery of Mons being very much indisposed sent his Son Don Frederick de Toledo to take the Cities of Holland and Guelderland that had revolted from him Don Frederick resolved to make Malines an Example for opening its Gates to the Prince of Orange He did not think it enough to pillage the Town for several days together but permitted his Souldiers to commit all sorts of Cruelties and Barbarities even to ravish the Women without excepting the Nuns After this he marched against the Marquess of Bergues routed him and possessed himself of all the Towns he had won among the rest of Zutphen which he mercilesly gave up to the Plunder of his Army He retook Narden and intirely destroyed it cutting off the Innocent and Guilty without distinction of Age or Sex and contrary to the Promise which Iulian Romero a Spanish Colonel had made to the Burghers of saving their Lives He burnt the Houses razed the Walls let the dead Bodies lie Three whole Weeks in the Streets without Burial An excess of Barbarity which was considered by the most Cruel rather as a detestable Villainy than a just Punishment for their revolts This made Harlem take a Resolution to hold out to the last Extremity having to do with so Merciless a Conqueror The Dutch Historians write that the Art of Printing was begun at Harlem A. D. 1440. by Laurence le Contre and Thomas Pieterson his Son-in-Law but that their Factor Iohn Faustus betraying them carried away the Letters to Amsterdam then to Cologne and from thence to Mayence where he stopt and where Iohn Guttemburg a German Gentleman who is commonly reckoned the Inventor of Printing improved it very much Wibald Riperda a Friezland Gentleman Commanded in the City of Harlem and Don Frederick declared that he would make use of no other Keys to enter the City than his
Canon But this proved a long and a bloody Siege having lasted from December 1572. to Iuly 1573. The Spaniards lost above Four thousand Men before it among others the Sieur Crossonier Great Master of the Artillery and Bartholomew Campi de Besoro an excellent Engineer There was so great a Famine in the City that a little Child Three years old was dug up by its Parents some days after it was buried to prolong their miserable Life During this Siege Don Frederick tired with its length and despairing of good Success talked of returning into Brabant but the Duke of Alva blaming his impatience sent him word that if he resolved to raise the Siege he himself would come in Person sick as he was to carry it on But if his Indisposition hindred him he would send into Spain for his Mother to supply the place of her Son This reproach made Don Frederick resolve to continue the Siege In the heat of the Siege the Spaniards having thrown into the City the Head of a Man with this Inscription The Head of Philip Konigs id est King who came to relieve Harlem with an Army of Two thousand Men and aftewards another with this Inscription The Head of Anthony le Peintre who betrayed Mons to the French The Inhabitants of Harlem put to Death eleven Spanish Prisoners and put their Heads into a Barrel which by Night they rolled into the Enemies Camp With this Inscription The Citizens of Harlem pay the Duke of Alva ten Heads that he may no longer make Waer upon them for the Payment of the Tenth penny which they have not yet paid and for Interest they give him the Eleventh Head As they had hopes that the Siege would be raised they suffered themselves to be transported to prophane Mockeries making the Images of Priests Monks Cardinals and Popes and then tumbled them down from the top of the Walls after they had stabbed them in a hundred places At last the City being reduced to the greatest extremity by an unheard of Famine which swept away above Thirteen thousand Persons and all hopes of relief being vanished by the defeat of the Succours which the Count de la Mark and the Baron de Balemberg were bringing to the City they were obliged to surrender at Discretion by the Crys of the Women and Children for the Men had resolved to Sally out in a Body and cut out an honourable passage with their Swords through the Enemies Army The Spaniards forced the Citizens to pay a great Summ of Money to hinder the entire Destruction of the place and hang'd and drown'd above Two thousand Persons in some few days among others all the Ministers the principal Men of the City and the Officers of the Troops Wibald Riperda Governour and Lancelot a Bastard Son to Brederode were both beheaded The Cruelty of the Spaniards at Harlem instead of doing their Cause Service ruin'd it and made the People resolve rather to suffer the last Miseries than submit to so Cruel and Tyrannical a Government Thus the little City of Alkmar bravely repulsed all their Attacks and the Prince of Orange surprized Gertrudemberg which belonged to him in his own Right and which covered Dordrecht About the same time Maximilian de Henin Count de Bossut a famous Captain and very much valued by the Duke of Alva who was made Governour of Holland was taken in the Zuider-Zee which is the Sea of Amsterdam and his Fleet defeated by that of the Prince of Orange His great Ship was also taken which he called the Inquisition to reproach the Dutch with the principal Cause of their revolt This Count was carried to Horn where he remained Prisoner Four years till the Pacification of Ghent The Spaniards having taken Prisoner at the Hague Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde Minister of State to the Prince of Orange he assured the Duke of Alva that he would treat the Count de Bossut in the same manner as he did St. Aldegonde The Prince of Orange can never be enough commended for his good Nature in treating the Count with so much Kindness and Civility though not long before he had corrupted a Burgomaster of Delft and prevailed upon him to betray the Prince and deliver him into his hands whilst he was walking out of the City But the Conspiracy was discovered by a Letter intercepted from the Count to the Burgomaster About that time the Duke of Alva and his Son were recalled into Spain King Philip having found out too late that their Cruelty confirmed the Low-Countries in their Rebellion Lewis de Requesens great Commander of the Order of St. Iames in Castile and Governour of Milan who had a great share in the famous Victory of Lepanto succeeded the Duke of Alva in the Government of the Netherlands The Duke at his Departure boasted that he had put to Death by the hands of the Hangman above Eighteen thousand Men yet cruel Vargas who returned into Spain with him cryed at parting that his Clemency and Gentleness had lost the King the Netherlands A. D. 1574. Middleburg the Capital City of Zealand having been a long time defended by that renowned Captain Christopher de Mondragon and endured a great Famine and after the defeat of the Spanish Fleets who attempted in vain to relieâ—…e it was reunited to the rest of the Province This Siege lasted two years and the Spaniards spent above Seven Millions in the several Fleets they set out to Succour it The Prince of Orange so successful at Sea had always ill Luck at Land For the fourth Army which Count Lodowick of Nassau brought him out of Germany to assist him in driving out the Spaniards from the rest of Holland was defeated near Nimeguen by Sancho D'Avila a General of great Experience who from a private Souldier had advanced himself through all the Degrees and Employments of War to that great Command The Germans of Count Lodowicks Army instead of providing for their own and their General 's Defences fell to Mutiny according to their usual Custom and demand their Pay In this Action Count Lodowick and his Brother Count Henry of Nassau and Christopher Count Palatine were all three killed D'Avila remained Master of the Field of Battel of Sixteen pieces of Canon and all the Baggage This Battel was fought in the beginning of the Government of Requesens The Prince of Orange who loved his Brothers tenderly was sensibly afflicted with this loss But he abated nothing of his Constancy and Courage A. D. 1575. the Spaniards encouraged by the defeat and death of the two Brothers of the Prince of Orange laid Siege to the City of Leyden which after a long and unparallell'd Famine was miraculously saved by breaking down the Banks which drowned a great many Spaniards and by the Succours which was conveyed into the City by an infinite number of Boats that swam on the Lands that were overflown When the Prince represented to the States the Damage which the breaking down the Dikes
would occasion they replyed that a Country spoiled was worth more than a Country lost But in regard this was a very memorable Siege I think fit to say in general that they had built two hundred flat bottomed Boats with Twelve thirteen fourteen sixteen and eighteen Oars The greatest carried two pieces of Canon before and two on the sides they sent for Eight hundred Seamen from Zealand who had all little pieces of Paper in their Hats with this Inscription Rather serve the Turk than the Pope and Spaniard upbraiding them with the violence they used to their Bodies and Consciences This Fleet was Commanded by the Admiral Louis Bossut One of the Seamen having plucked out the Heart of a Spaniard eat it publickly all raw and bloody so violent is the Aversion and Passion of these Country-men They had no Bread in the City for Seven weeks and their daily allowance to a Man was half a Pound of Horse-flesh or Beef but by good Fortune to the City that very day the Spaniards drew off Twenty six Fathoms of the Wall fell down and a North wind dryed up the greatest part of the Water and they must unavoidably have fallen into the power of the Spaniards if they had stayed only one day longer Such an Accident happened at Rochelle for a little after the surrender a tempest broke down a great part of the Bank In this Siege they made Paper Money with this Inscription Haec libertatis imago They Coyned Tin Money at Alkmar and had Five hundred Rix dollars for Five thousand pieces of that Coin Before the Relief of Leyden Ferdinand de la Hoy the new Governour of Holland and the Sieur de Liques Governour of Harlem sollicited the Citizens of Leyden to surrender flatterring them with a good and favourable Treatment They answered him only with this Latin Verse Fistula dulce canit voluerem dum decipit anceps Continuing to perswade them by Letter to a Surrender they replyed That they would defend themselves to the last Extremity and that if they hadspent all their Provisions and had eaten their left hands they should have still their right hands remaining to guard themselves from the Tyranny of the Spaniards and that they remembred the Cruelties which had been committed at Malines Zutphen Harden and Harlem The Prince of Orange after the relief of Leyden was received into the City as a God He preserved and embalmed seven Pigeons in the Town-house in token of his perpetual Acknowledgement of the Service they did him in carrying the Letters of the besieged to him and his Answers back again At that time he founded the University of Leyden setled annual Revenues upon it and endow'd it with great Privileges The Year before the Prince having lost his second Wife Anne of Saxe married Charlotte de Bourbon Daughter to the Duke of Montpensier who had retired to the Court of Frederick the Third Elector Palatine The Marriage was celebrated at the Brill where she was conducted from Heydelberg by the Siegneur de St. Aldegonde She had been a Nun formerly and Abbess of Iouarre The Father a zealous Catholick demanded his Daughter of the Elector by Monsieur the President de Thou and after that by Monsieur D'Aumont The Elector offered to restore her to the King provided she might be allowed the free exercise of her Religion but Mr. de Montpensier choosing rather to have his Daughter live at a distance from him than see her before his Eyes make profession of a Religion which was so much his Aversion gave at last his Consent to the Marriage and gave her a Fortune After the Siege of Leyden a Treaty of Peace was set a foot at Breda but it did not take effect The States of Holland and Zealand demanded the departure of the Spaniards out of the Netherlands the meeting of the States General and the liberty and exercise of their Religion Requesens on the contrary offered to withdraw the Spaniards and a general Act of Oblivion of all things passed and the Re establishment of their Privileges but added that the King of Spain would never tolerate any other Religion in his Dominions than the Roman Catholick The Treaty of Peace being broken of the States Coyned Money on one Side of which was stamped the Lyon of Holland holding a naked Sword with this Motto Securius bellum pace dubiâ War is safer than a doubtful Peace About the same time the Commander Requesens made himself Master of Zirczee in Zealand by the incomparable Gallantry of Christopher de Mondragon who waded over several Leagues of the Sea to the Amazement of all the World and the great hazard of his Troops But Requesens dying not long after the Spanish and German Soldiers mutinyed for want of Pay and fell to ravage all the Country They sack'd Maestritcht and Antwerp it self where the loss was computed at Twenty four Millions in Money and other moveables and in the Destruction of houses The plundering of this great City lasted several days and was called the fury of the Spaniards many of whom made their Guards of their Swords and Corselets of pure Gold but the Goldsmiths of Antwerp mixed Copper with it The Spaniards made Prisoners in Antwerp Count Egmont the Seigneur de Goignie and the Baron de Capres This last making a low Bow to Hieronimo Rhode chief of the Muniteers who sate in an Elbow Chair at the entrance of the Citadel received a kick in the Belly from this insolent Spaniard who told him by way of Scorn that he had nothing to do with his reverence The Spanish and German Troops after the taking of Antwerp living with insupportable Licentiousness and committing great Barbarities the Provinces who continued firm to the obedience of the King of Spain called in the Prince of Orange to their assistance for they lay exposed to all the Robberies and Insolence of those Mutineers and declared the Spaniards Enemies to the King and Country At that time all the Provinces of the Low Countries except Luxemburg which is divided from the rest united for their common defence and made the famous Treaty of Peace at Ghent A. D. 1576. containing Twenty five Articles the principal of which were That there should be a general Amnesty of all that was past That all things should continue in the same posture they were in at that time They took a solemn Oath to mutually assist each other to free the Country from the Yoke of the Spaniards and other Foreigners That all Placarts and Condemnations which were made upon the Account of the late Troubles should be suspended till the meeting of the States General That all Prisoners particularly the Count de Boissut should be set at Liberty That the Pillars Trophies and Statues with Inscriptions which had been Erected by the Duke of Alva should be pluck'd down particularly that which was set up in the Court of Antwerp and the Pyramid he had raised in the place where the Hotel de Culembourg stood which he
help you if not the Devil take you Body and Soul and all the standers by cryed Amen By Virtue of this Edict all Prisoners were released on both sides the Count Egmont the Sieur de S. Goignie the Sieur de Capres and others in the Custody of the Spaniards and Gaspar de Robb and others by the States This done Don Iohn was received into Brussels in great State as Governour-general of the Low-Countries But beginning to oppress the Provinces pursuant to the private Orders he received from the Court of Spain which were discovered by several Letters intercepted which Don Iohn and his Secretary Escovedo writ in Cyphers to the King and his Ministers which Philip de Mornix Seignieur de St. Aldegonde decyphered This made them resolve to oppose his pernicious Designs by Force of Arms. Don Iohn under a pretence that they had a Design upon his Person retired from Brussels and having received the Queen of Navarre into Namur surprized the Castle of Namur and then Charlemont and made preparations for War and recalled the Spanish and German Troops He called that day he seized the Gastle of Namur the first of his Government as Henry the III. afterwards called the Day of the Murther of the Duke of Guise the first of his Reign The States took up Arms on their side demolished the Castle of Antwerp and joined themselves to the Prince of Orange But the States-General assembled at Brussels demanding the free Exercise of the Catholick Religion in Holland and Zealand he made answer that he could make no Alterations in that Affair without consulting the States of these two Provinces who had the sole and absolute Power of doing it This was a fundamental Maxim of that State which was afterwards changed by the Factions and Force of Arms under the Government of Prince Maurice his Son as I shall manifest in his Life Prince William of Orange being arrived at Breda with his third Wife Charlotte de Bourbon he was invited by the States to come and encourage them by his Presence For this Effect the Burghers of Antwerp went out to meet him and conducted him into their City where the States-General deputed to him the Abbots of Villiers and Marotes the Barons de Fresin and Capres to beseech him to come in all haste to Brussels The Prince went to Brussels through the New-Canal attended by the Burghers of Antwerp who marched in good Order on one side of the Canal and on the other side by the Burghers of Brussels all in gilt Armour who came out of their City to meet him He was receiv'd into Brussels with great magnificence and Triumph with incredible Acclamations of Joy by all the World Immediately he was declared Governour of Brabant and Superintendant of the Finances of the Provinces Upon this we may observe that tho' the Life of this Prince has been cross'd by strange Disappointments and Misfortunes capable of sinking a Man of less Resolution than himself Yet these Accidents were sweeted from time to time with those secret pleasures and Delights which the most Stoical and insensible Men are overjoyed at as the Acclamations and Applauses of the People whose Hearts and Affections he entirely possess'd Other Princes command only the Bodies of their Subjects without having any Empire over their Minds which ought to make up the noblest part of their Dominions But as Envy is the inseparable Companion of Vertue and a great Reputation is often more dangerous than a bad one this pompous Reception of the Prince of Orange added to the Authority his great Birth Experience and Merit gained him in the States and in the Hearts of the People procured him the Jealousy of many Lords and Gentlemen of Quality the chief of whom were the Duke Arschot newly made Governour of Flanders the Marquess of Havret his Brother the Count de Lalain and his Brother the Siegneur de Montigny the Viscount of Ghent Count Egmont the Sieurs de Compigny de Rassinguem and de Sueveguem and many others This jealous Party dispatched privately the Sieur de Malstede to offer the Government of the Low-Countries to the Archduke Matthias Brother to the Emperor Rodolphus He made so much hast and pressed the Archduke so strongly to depart that he was arrived at Cologne from Vienna before 't was known that they had sent for him These Gentlemen imagined that they should have all the Management of the Government under the Archduke who would consider them as the Authors of his Establishment and at the same time should ruine the Authority of the Prince of Orange by giving him a Superiour of that Quality But the Prince of Orange who had the Art of Complying with all Times and turning Poison into Antidotes made a Modest Complement to the States General for not acquainting him with so important a Resolution as they had taken of sending for the Archduke whereas nothing ought to be transacted without the common Consent of all especially Matters of such Consequence But he made no Opposition to the Reception or Establishment of the Archduke Then having brought over to his party the Count de Lalain who had the chief Command of the Army he managed Matters so well by his Address and Submissions that he gained the Archduke who was made Governour of the Netherlands upon certain Conditions and he himself was declared Lieutenant-General by majority of Voices in the States and the Archduke in consideration of his great Abilities trusted him with the intire Management of Affairs In this manner the Prince of Orange by his good Conduct and Prudence turn'd that Storm upon his Enemies which they raised with Design to ruin him For the Duke of Arschot the head of the Faction had the Mortification to be seized in the Capital City of his Government Ghent by a Creature of the Prince of Orange Rehove who bore the greatest Sway in that large City And to make his Grief the more sensible his best Friends the Bishops of Bruges and Ypres and the Sieurs de Ressinguem and de Sueveguein and many others of his Dependants were seiz'd on at the same time Don Iohn of Austria having been declar'd Enemy of the Low-Countries by the States-General the 7th of September 1577. recall'd all the Spanish and Italian Troops who had retired out of the Netherlands in pursuance to the perpetual Edict with a great Body of Germans under the Command of Alexander Farneze Duke of Parma Son to Margaret of Austria formerly Governess of the Netherlands With this Reinforcement the last day of Ianuary An. Dom. 1578. he defeated the Army of the States at Gemblours commanded by the Sieur de Goiguin in the Absence of the Count de Lalain and the principal Officers who were at a Wedding in Brussels for which they were extreamly censured All the Cannon was taken with 30 Colours and 4 Cornets But the Reduction of the Famous City of Amsterdam which surrender'd to the States and was united to the Body of Holland the 8th of
February following eight days after the Defeat made sufficient amends for this Loss Don Iohn encouraged by this great Success and hoping that this Victory would be the Instrument of another advanced with great Forces to attack the Army of the States at Rimenant near Malines commanded by the Count de Bossut But the Count had intrenched himself so strongly that Don Iohn was obliged to retire in great Confusion and considerable Loss And 't was agreed on by all Hands that if the Count de Bossut had marched out of his Camp he would have intirely defeated Don Iohn who had a Crucifix in his Colours with this Motto With this Sign I have beaten the Turks and with This I will beat the Hereticks In Iuly the States-General consented to a Toleration of both Religions in the Provinces which was called the Peace of Religion which all Men were not satisfied with by this means a Third Party sprung up called the Malecontents the principal of which were Emanuel de Lalain Baron de Montigny the Viscount of Ghent Governour of Artois Valentine de Pardieu Sieur de la Motte Governour of Gavelines the Baron de Capres and others Thus the Provinces of Artois and Hainault returned to the Obedience of the King notwithstanding all the Remonstrances which the States made to them by Letters and Deputies About this time the States coined Money with the Bodies of Count Horn and Count Egmont and their Heads upon Stakes on one side and on the reverse two Horsemen and two Footmen fighting with this Inscription praestat pugnare pro patriâ quam simulatâ pace decipi It is better to fight for our Country than be deceived by a feigned peace The Malecontents to secure themselves against the States desired that the Foreign Troops might be recalled into the Netherlands contrary to the Pacification of Ghent and the perpetual Edict On the other side the States in order to their Defence treated with the Duke of Alencon whom they call'd the Defender of the Belgick Liberty upon condition that he should supply them with 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse paid at his own Charge This Treaty was concluded by the Means of the Queen of Navarre his Sister who in her Journey to the Spaw-Waters had drawn over a great number of Men to the party of her Brother whom she loved so tenderly among others the Count de Lalain and the Sieur D' Enchy Governour of Cambray A. D. 1578. in September died Don Iohn of Austria in the Camp at Namur of Grief for being suspected in Spain where his Secretary had been Assassinated or of Poyson as many are of Opinion Immediately after died the Count de Bossut General of the States who after his Death desired Mr. de la Nove Bras de fer in Consideration of his Reputation Valour Conduct and Experience in War to take upon him the Charge of Mareschal de Camp of their Army Alexander Farneze Prince of Parma succeeded Don Iohn in the Government of the Low Countries and by his Civility and obliging Carriage to all Men added to the great Promises he made strengthened the Party of the Male-Contents and weakened the power of the States About this time the 22d of Ianuary A. D. 1579. the Prince of Orange laid the first Foundation of the Commonwealth of the united Provinces by the strict Union which he made at Utrecht between the Provinces of Gueldres Zutphen Holland Zealand Friezland and the Ommelands consisting of Twenty six Articles the chief of which were these The Provinces made an Alliance against the common Enemy and promised mutually to assist each other and never to treat of Peace or War but by common Consent And all this without prejudice to the Statutes Privileges and Customs of every particular Province Which Article was broken under the Government of Prince Maurice when the States General assumed a Jurisdiction over all the Subjects of the Provinces who till that time had no other Lords than the particular States of the Province This Treaty was called the Union of Utrecht because 't was made in that City It was râ—…tified by all the Governours of the Provinces and the States to show how necessary a perfect Union was to their Preservation took those words of Micipsa in Salust for their device Concordiâ res parvae crescunt little Things become great by Concord That Year Maestricht was taken by Storm by the Duke of Parma after a Siege of four Months and a Treaty of Peace was set afoot at Cologne by the Mediation of the Emperor Rodolphus but the King of Spain refusing to grant a Toleration of Religion in the Netherlands though it had been allowed in France and Germany the design did not take effect Under the Government of the Duke of Parma many Actions passed between the Male-Contents and the Troops of the States commanded by Mr. de la Nove who surprized Ninove in Flanders and took in their Beds Count Egmont his Wife and Mother with Count Charles his Brother and carried them Prisoners to Ghent where the People as they passed through the Streets threw Dirt upon them and treated them with a thousand Indignities and abuses upbraiding them with abandoning their Country to joyn with the Executioners of their Fathers But Monsieur de la Nove after great Success was surprized himself with the few Men he had with him by the Viscount of Ghent and Marquess of Risbourg The Cause of this Accident was the Sieur Marquette's not obeying Monsieur Nove's Orders in breaking down the Bridge which led to him By order of the Duke of Parma he was carried Prisoner to the Castle of Limburg where he was barbarously treated by the Spaniards who offered to set him at Liberty provided they might put out his Eyes From whence 't is visible how apprehensive they were of this great Captain At last after a long Imprisonment he was exchang'd upon Count Egmont's Swearing never more to bear Arms against Spain of which the Duke of Lorrain and many other Lords and Princes were Guarrantees Besides his great Skill in the Art of War which is celebrated by all Historians never was a Man of so clear and dis-interested a Vertue which he gave continual proofs of during the whole Course of his Life but among the rest one very remarkable Instance Monsieur de la Nove Bras de fer was a Gentleman of Bretaigne and had a Sister married to Monsieur de Vezins a Man of Quality and Fortune in Anjou who had by her a Son and two Daughters this Sister had 20000 Crowns for her Fortune but dying young Monsieur de Vezins married a Woman who was one of her Attendants by whom he had several Children This Megere after the Death of her Husband desiring to secure to her Children the great Estate of the House of Vezins could think of no more effectual way than by delivering the Children of the first Wife her Mistress to an English Merchant for a Sum of Money upon Condition that she
penny he answers That his not being punished for it is sufficient Proof that he had Orders to do it And that he cannot escape the Imputation of a Tyrant for Imposing this Tribute or suffering so great a Boldness committed against his Will to go unpunished He adds that the Duke of Alva had too much Sense to dare settle so severe an Imposition without the express and reiterated Orders of the King and that otherwise he would never have fined the Burgo-master of Amsterdam 25000 Florins for opposing the raising of this new Tax That the King would have done much better to preserve the Kingdom of Tunis and Guletta which the Emperor had conquered from the Turks and which he preferred to all his other Victories than to make an unjust War upon his own Subjects But that his Passion and Fury had transported him so far that his Eyes and Understanding were blinded and hindred him from seeing the ill Measures he had taken And that he chose rather to expose his Weakness to his Subjects than employ his Forces against the common Enemy of Christendom He adds that as Hannibal had sworn the Ruin of the Romans upon the Altars of his Gods so the Duke of Alva had vowed the Destruction of the Netherlands which is visible from the Cruelties he committed there That if a Master is known by his Servant they might easily guess at the good Affection the King bare to the Low-Countries by the Tyranny of this unrelenting Minister When the King says That the Pope dispenses with him from keeping his Oath the Prince answers That he does not consider that by breaking his Oath at the same time his Subjects were absolved from their Oath of Fidelity He adds That the Duke of Alva was preparing to hang the principal Men of Brussels for refusing to submit to the raising of the tenth Penny and that the Hangman was ordered to get ready seventeen Ropes that the Dictum of the Sentence was already writ and the Spanish Soldiers going to their Arms to guard the Execution when the happy News of the Taking of the Brille arrived and saved them from the Gallows Speaking of the perpetual Edict he says it was concluded by the Artifice of the Spaniards contrary to his Advice and that of the States of Holland and Zealand That there was no other Difference between the Duke of Alva and the Commander de Requesens and Don Iohn but that the last could not dissemble as well as they nor conceal his Venom so long For 't is undisputable from the Letters which were intercepted that he had the same Orders as the other Governours had to oppress the Low-Countries When they charge him with Breaking the Pacification of Ghent and the perpetual Edict he answers That 't was the Spaniards that broke it by restoring no man to the possession of his Estate or Charges and by detaining the Prisoners That the King had given Orders to Don Iohn not to observe the Peace as appears from the intercepted Letters and that when he swore to it 't was on Condition that he would keep it till he repented of it as he explained himself to some Deputies of the States Thus the Peace of Ghent and the perpetual Edict being once violated 't was in the Power of the States to provide for their own Defence by explaining enlarging and altering the Treaty That he is extreamly concerned at the Insolencies which the Soldiers committed in his Governments though they were not to be compared with the intolerable Outrages of the Spaniards He Complains of the Treachery of many Lords and Gentlemen of the Netherlands who preferred their own private Interests and the Spanish Tyranny to the Good of their Country which they have torn by their Division and might have rendred flourishing by their Union Inveighing against the Infidelity of his false Brothers called Male-contents he says He cannot enough admire the Inconstancy and the unsettledness of their Resolutions They serve the Duke of Alva says he and the Commander Requesens like Servants and make a vigorous War upon me Immediately after They treat with me are reconciled and declare themselves Enemies to the Spaniards Don Iohn arrives they follow him and contrive my Ruin when Don Iohn miscarries in his Attempt upon Antwerp they quit him and recall me I am no sooner come but contrary to their Oath without acquainting me with it they call in the Archduke Matthias And him too they immediately forsake and without giving me notice send for the Duke of Anjou and promise him Wonders and then abandon him and join with the Duke of Parma upon which the Prince cries out Are the Waves of the Sea or the Euripus more inconstant than these Men who consented to this Proscription when 't was my Courage and Firmness that restored them to the Enjoyment of their Estates and Places When they say that he got the Government of Brabant and Flanders by Intriguing and making Parties he answers in a Word That these Governments were conferred on him at the Desire of the States and by a general Approbation When they endeavour to make him odious by saying that he loads the People with Impositions he replies That they are laid on by the Consent of the People and if the King raises such excessive Taxes upon his Subjects to oppress Holland and Zealand and the other United Provinces why should not they have the same Liberty allowed them in order to defend themselves from the Spanish Tyranny When they blame him for turning out those Officers in the Cities who were well affected to the King he says That they were Enemies to the Country and he did well to drive them out When the King taxes him with the Credit and Authority he had over the People as a great Crime he answers that 't is a great Honour to him that they have chosen him for their Defender against so cruel a Tyranny which has kindled so just an Hatred and Aversion in all their Hearts When they reproach him with hating the Nobility Yes says the Prince those who degenerating from their Ancestors and not treading in their generous Steps betray their Country and join with those who endeavour its Ruin When the King says that the Peace treated at Cologne by the Mediation of the Emperor Rodolphus was judged reasonable by all men of Sence the Prince says That it follows thence necessarily that all those who think it unreasonable and deceitful have neither Reason nor Judgment For what Appearance is there continues he that a People harrassed and impoverished by so long a War would refuse an equitable Peace with their Prince unless it appeared to be a Bait or a Blind only to surprize them That this Peace projected at Cologne was worse than War and that the Honey of a treacherous Tongue is more dangerous than the Point of a Sword That if the Emperor thought this a reasonable Peace he was perswaded so by the Betrayers of their Country When they object to him the
Murtherer being killed by the Halberdiers of the Prince and Papers found in his pocket which proved him to be a Spamard they were undeceived and the People who had run to their Arms to revenge his Murther on the French at the Cloister of S. Michael where the Duke of Anjou lodged retired to their Houses The Prince of Orange to appease the Tumult with much Difficulty writ a Letter with his own Hand to the Magistrate to assure him that the Spaniards were the Authors of this Attempt The Grief and Concern of this great City for the Wounding of the Prince cannot be expressed Immediately publick Prayers were appointed and as long as he continued in Danger the People stayed in the Churches praying to God for his Recovery When he was well they kept a general Fast and the whole Day was imployed in thanking God for restoring to them the Father of their Country When he was in a Condition to travel the Duke of Anjou carried him to Ghent and Bruges where another great Conspiracy against those Princes was discovered The chief Man concerned in it was Nicholas Salvedo a Spaniard who confessed that he had received 4000 Crowns from the Duke of Parma to make away the Duke of Anjou and the Prince of Orange by Poyson or any other way and that he followed them in order to put his villainous Design in Execution Francis Baza an Italian and Native of Bresse one of his Complices was arrested likewise and confessed the same thing but before Execution stabbed himself with his Knife to prevent the Severity of the Punishment which was preparing for them Salvedo was carried to Paris where by a Decree of the Parliament he was drawn in pieces by four Horses in the Greve The wretched Salvedo seeing himself a Prisoner in the Conciergerie accused Monsieur de Villeroy in hopes to save himself by making so great a Man a Partner in his Guilt or at least suspend the Punishment he deserved But no Credit was given to so Hellish an Accusation of a Minister of the greatest Abilities and the most devoted to the Good and Interest of the State of all those who ever had the Administration of France And it must be acknowledged to his Honor that in all the Fury of the League he was the Man that prevented its falling into the Hands of Foreigners and after a Ministry of fifty years died poorer at the End than the Beginning of his Greatness His Father had been likewise Secretary of State and his Grandfather of the same Name De Neville was so under Francis the First and Superintendant of the Finances The Duke of Anjou imitating the Conduct of Rehoboam who ruined himself by following the Counsel of the young Men by the Advice of the Sieurs de Fervaques S. Agnan de la Rochepot and other hot-headed young Fellows that governed him without acquainting the Prince of Orange the Duke of Montpensier Count de Lavall nor any other Lords who were capable of giving him good Counsel resolved contrary to his Oath and against all Justice to seize the same day on all the most considerable Cities of the Netherlands as Dunkirk Dendermonde Bruges and Antwerp it self not being able to bear any longer the great Authority of the Prince of Orange and so limited a Power complaining to be only a Sovereign in Name And for a Proof of his just Resentment and in his own Justification he alledged that the People of Antwerp had taken up Arms to destroy him in his Lodgings and having rebelled against him by so rash an Act he was consequently absolved from his Oath Thus he surprized Dunkirk Dendermonde and some other places but missed of Bruges and Antwerp when he thought himself Master of it for though he had poured into the City 17 Companies of Foot supported by all his Army which he had advanced near the Walls under pretence of making a review of it nevertheless the Burghers ran in all hast to their Arms and made so brave a Resistance that the French were obliged to retire in Disorder to the Gate by which they entred where there was made such a terrible Slaughter of them that 't was impossible for those without to succour their Friends within for there were Mountains of dead Bodies pil'd in Heaps one upon the other which block'd up the Entry and cut off the Retreat of the French of whom there were more stifled than kill'd In this bloody Dispute called the Enterprize upon Antwerp there were killed only 83 Burghers and 1500 French among whom were 300 Gentlemen who were all buried without Distinction in a great Ditch And as the people of these Counties who are much of the same Humour with the Germans in all extraordinary Events make Computations upon the Numbers they observed that this Deliverance fell out in the Year 1583 which Number made up that of the 83 Burghers and 1500 French who were killed that day The Duke of Anjou having miscarried in his Attempt surrendred by a Treaty made with the States all the Places he had possessed himself of and returning into France died of Grief in his Appenage of Chateau-Thierry in the beginning of the next year with the Reputation of a violent and unsettled Temper The Flemmings believed that the Prince of Orange was concerned in the Attempt the French made to surprize Antwerp and his Enemies and Enviers which great Men never fail to have made use of this false pretence to lessen his great Credit and of his fourth Marriage with Louise de Coligny Daughter to the Admiral de Chastillon whom he married after he had lost his third Wise Charlotte de Bourbon who died at Antwerp not long after he was cured of his Wound which was a visible proof as they said of his Inclination to the French who at that time were had in Execration by all the Netherlands Seeing himself thus suspected and that the Party of the States declined in the Walloon Provinces he retired into Holland where he thought his Life in greater Security and less exposed to those Attempts which Superstition on one side and the Reward promised in the Proscription on the other made every one ready to undertake against his Person He chose the City of Delft for his ordinary Residence where at the Beginning of the year 1584. he had a Son born called Henry Frederick Grandfather to the present Prince of Orange who did not degenerate from the Vertue of his Ancestors Prince William employed Philip de Mornix Seigneur de S. Aldegonde in the Management of his greatest Affairs and made him Burgomaster of Antwerp when he left it He was a Man of Quality Integrity and Learning About the End of his Life he made use of Iohn Barneveld whom he valued very much upon the account of his Honesty and great Capacity Having been almost overset with the Tempests which had been raised up against him and having a Heart above the Storms he took for his Devise a Sea-Gull or Didapper in Latin
shall speak hereafter Besides his celebrated Posterity of legitimate Children the Prince of Orange left a Natural Son called Iustin de Nassau who led a considerable Body of Men to the Assistance of King Henry the IV. before the Peace of Vervins He was a Brave Vertuous Man and died Governour of Breda I have heard my Father say that in the year 1616. having dispatched to Court upon some important Affair a Garson Captain named Lanchere famous in the Netherlands where he served This Courier in his Return passing through Breda Monsieur Iustin de Nassau asked him what News He answered nothing considerable but the Imprisonment of the Count D' Auvergne since Duke of Angoulesme Iustin de Nassau asking him the Reason he replied bluntly striking him on the Back for he was acquainted with his true Extraction Don't you know Sir that a Son of a Whore was never good for any thing A Fault which the poor Lanchere confessed to my Father when he knew that he was a Bastard Which is a proof that 't is good to be informed of Pedigrees and Alliances otherwise we are liable to Mistakes and to offend innocently Persons of Quality The End of the Life of William of Nassau Prince of Orange THE LIFE OF LOVISE de COLIGNY THE Fourth and Last Wife of WILLIAM of NASSAU Prince of ORANGE THIS Lady had very excellent Vertues without having the least Mixture of any Weakness incident to her Sex through the Course of her whole Life though it was very long She had been married to Monsieur de Teligny before the Famous Day of St. Bartholomew which was in 1572. and she died in 1620. The Admiral her Father esteem'd her very much both for her Modesty and Prudence She gain'd every Body's Heart and Affection by her Way of Conversation which was easy and graceful and had an universal Respect as well for her true Sence as her extraordinary good Nature She was very well shap'd though her Stature was but low her Eyes were very beautiful and her Complexion lively The Admiral who loved her tenderly and passionately desired to have her well disposed of after having cast his Eyes upon all the Persons of Quality that were of his own Religion and Party he found none so deserving to marry this excellent Lady as Monsieur de Teligny Son of Monsieur de Teligny a Famous Captain in the Wars of Italy in whom he had observed more Valour and Conduct than in any other Gentleman of his time besides his Vertues were so considerable that those who writ in Favour of Queen Catharine Queen of Medices who mortally hated the Admiral have confessed that she and the King her Son had very great Difficulty to consent to the Death of Monsieur de Teligny who had rendred himself agreeable to both of them by his handsom Deportment and by his sincere and noble Way of Acting which shews that Vertue is always attractive from whencesoever it proceeds and that it has uncommon Charms to make it self admired and favoured though in the Person of an Enemy The Admiral then advised this beautiful Lady to accept of Monsieur de Teligny and to preferr a Man indued with so many good Qualities though of moderate Fortune to others who though they had greater Riches and Titles were still less worthy to possess her But she soon lost so good a Husband together with the Admiral her Father in the cruel Day of St. Bartholomew Having heard of this Misfortune in Burgundy her Mother-in-Law and she with the young Lord of Chatillon her Brother had much ado to get into Switzerland to secure their Lives the Massacre of the Protestants being universal throughout all France This great Admiral was Son of another Gaspar de Coligny Lord of Chatillon upon Loyr Mareschal of France under Louis the XII a Famous General who died at Aix as he was commanding the French Army against the Spaniards and of Louise de Montmorency Sister to Anne de Montmorency Constable of France He left behind him three Sons that were very considerable Odet Cardinal of Chatillon the eldest who was Patron to all the Wits and Learned Persons of his Age Iasper Admiral of France who before that had been Governour of Paris and Picardy and lastly Francis de Coligny Lord of Andelot Colonel General of the French Infantry A Son of the Admiral named Francis was likewise Colonel of the French Infantry he signalized himself as well upon the Bridge of Tours by saving the Persons of Henry the III. and the King of Navarre from the Forces of the League and afterwards in the Battle of Arques by which he gained the Reputation of surpassing the Admiral He left two Sons by a Daughter of the House of Chaune de Pequigny the eldest who promised much was taken off by a Cannon Bullet at the Siege of Ostend the other was the Mareschal de Chatillon Father to the Count de Coligny that died young and the Duke de Chatillon who was killed at Charenton The Mareschal Chatillon had likewise two Daughters one married to the Prince of Montbeliard and the other named Henrietta Countess of Adinton and Suze had so great a Genius for Poetry that she has out done Sappho her self by her exquisite Works which are the Delight of all such as are Lovers of Gallantry Madam de Teligny having lived during her Widowhood with a Conduct that made her admired by the whole World she was sought to by Prince William of Orange after the Death of Charlotte de Bourbon and he married her in the year 1583. upon the Reputation of her Vertue But soon after by a Fatality that usually snatches from us That which is most dear she saw him assassinated before her own Eyes having had but one Son by him born a little before his Father's Death who was the Famous Henry Frederick Prince of Orange She had this Advantage to be Sprung from the greatest Man in Europe and to have had two Husbands of very eminent Vertues the last of which left behind him an immortal Reputation but she had likewise the Misfortune to lose them all three by hasty and violent Deaths her Life having been nothing but a continued Series of Afflictions able to make any one sink under them but a Soul that like hers had resigned her self up so totally to the will of Heaven She has told my Father freely that at her coming into Holland she was very much surprized at their Rude Way of Living so different from that in France and whereas she had been used to a Coach she was there put into a Dutch Waggon open at Top guided by a Vourman where she sate upon a Board and that in going from Roterdam to Delft which is but two Leagues she was crippled and almost Frozen to death There never was one of a more noble Soul or a truer Lover of Justice than this Princess But it was observable during the great Differences between Maurice Prince of Orange her Son-in-Law and Monsieur
Barneveldt she took part with the latter and used all her Endeavours to save his Life having founded her good Opinion of him upon his having been one of the chiefest Confidents of the Prince her Husband This Princess was my Father's greatest Support in his Long Embassy and rendred him always agreeable to the House of Orange This was a Favour which at that time he stood mightily in need of for the Court would suffer no person there but one that stood fair in the Opinion of that Family This Protection was so much the more advantageous and necessary to him because there were several Persons of Quality in France that were Brothers-in-Law or Cousins to Prince Maurice who used all their Endeavours to render him suspected and to have him recalled from that Employment which was the most considerable that could be hoped for from France in that Conjuncture All Europe was then in a profound Peace so all Embassies at other Courts lay dead and had no Action stirring that was considerable That of Holland only was of Importance by reason of the War which on their part was managed under the Conduct of that Famous Captain Count Maurice and in Flanders by the great General Ambrose Spinola a Genoese The English Scotch Danes Swedes the Germans those that were Protestants and the French went thither to learn the Rudiments of War under the Count and the Germans the Italians the Sicilians the Polanders and the Spaniards that were Catholicks did the same under the Marquess so it seemed as if all the whole Christian World was met in this little Corner of the Earth to learn how to fight against one another France then maintaining divers Companies of Foot and some Troops of Horse in that Countrey being very much interested in what concerned the Good of the United Provinces who then Employed the Arms of the Spaniards their ancient Enemies and having likewise very often an Occasion for the Assistance of the Dutch Men of War the Embassador had continually some matter of Importance to write to Court and to dispatch his Couriers thither Besides the King every year gave large Sums to the Hollanders for the Payment of the French Troops and the Embassador besides the Allowance for his Employment and his Pensions from Court had moreover fourscore thousand Livres a year as Treasurer in Holland and all the Money went through his Hand Besides the great Profit of this Employment there was likewise much Honour and Pleasure in the Service for all the French Nobility when they came from the University went to learn the Art of War under Prince Maurice as heretofore they had done in Piedmont under the great Mareschal Brisac In Winter the Hague was full of French Lords and Gentlemen who to honour their King and the Person of his Minister used to accompany him to his Audience of the States-General and it not being possible to provide Coaches for two or three hundred Gentlemen and Officers that sometimes came together the Embassador himself used to march on Foot at the Head of so splendid a Company and his Coach to follow after empty I shall spend no more time upon the Concerns of my Fathers Embassy or his Obligations to the Princess Louise of Orange but return to my principal Matter and relate what I know concerning Philip Prince of Orange eldest Son to William of Nassau by his first Wife Anne of Egmont PHILLIP WILLIAM Prince of Orange Philip William of Nassau Prince of Orange and Eleanor of Bourbon his Wife THis Prince was Godson to King Philip the Second and when Prince William his Father was forced to take Arms in his own Defence he studied in the Colledge of Lovaine where amongst other priviledges it is not permitted to arrest any person upon what account soever Notwithstanding this Iohn Vargas a Spaniard accompanied with several Souldiers of the same Nation took him thence by force pursuant to an Order from the Duke of Alva in spite of all the clamours of the Rector of the University who complaining vehemently and in good Latin that their Priviledges were violated was answered by Vargas very incongâ—…uously in this Barbarous expression Non curamus Privilegios vestros The Prince of Orange his Father complained of it by Publick Manifesto's which set forth the Cruelty of the Spaniards and proved that there were neither Laws nor Priviledges nor Innocence of Age that could exempt any person from their Tyranny This poor Child was carried Prisoner into Spain at 13 years old and shut up in a Castle in the Country where he could have no Education and where he pass'd the greatest part of his time in playing at Chess which the Governour of the Castle had taught him Towards the end of his Imprisonment which was about 30 years they allow'd him a little more Liberty This Prince was naturally Complaisant his Body sat and wore a very large Beard Being carried young into Spain he continued a Catholick so the Spaniards to justifie this unjust detention said they had brought him thither only to preserve him from the poyson of Heresie and to keep him in security from it During his stay in Spain the Captain who guarded him having spoke much to the disadvantage of Prince William his Father this generous Son push'd on by affection for his Father which animated him to resentment took him about the middle threw him out of the Window and broke his Neck He thought that so bold an action would bring him into trouble and indeed upon this occasion there were different advices given in King Philips Council but at last it was resolved to use mildness and indulgence in this encounter Gabriel Osorio a young Gentleman who was present at the action having reported it in favour of the Prince said the Governour had been wanting in his respect towards him so this death was allowed to his just resentment The Prince thought himself so obliged to Osorio for this favorable representation which he had made of him that he ever after kept him near his Person and bestow'd on him a great many favours At last King Philip II. either moved by so long a Captivity or weary of punishing the pretended Iniquity of the Father upon the Son that was Innocent or rather hoping that his deliverance would raise jealousies and divisions amongst the Brothers of the House of Orange as the escape of Monsieur de Guise from the Castle of Tours had caused amongst the heads of the League resolved to release him after so long an Imprisonment Then Count Maurice shewed upon this occasion that he had a Soul that was wholly disinterested and let him enjoy all the Estates which were then in his Possession as Breda and other places and Madam the Countess of Holoc his Sister by Father and Mother used him very generously making him a Thousand fair Offers and rich Presents upon his arrival in the Low Countries where they two met at Cleves but Count Maurice for fear of being suspected satisfied himself with
of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Captain General for the Queen of England in the United Provinces whose insupportable Pride and unmeasurable Ambition did them more prejudice than the Sums of Money which he brought and the Troops which he commanded ever contributed to their Service for four entire years the States were reduced to strange Extremities so that it was thought impossible for this young Prince to rid himself of so great Difficulties and to cure those Evils which were occasioned by the Intrigues of Spain and the Treachery of some of the Earl of Leicester's Dependants who after their return into England sold the most important places to the Spaniards To be short as the Affairs of this World do not always continue in the same posture and are subject to a perpetual change so that good Fortune which till then had favoured the Duke of Parma in all his Enterprizes of a sudden came over to the Party of Prince Maurice for the Spanish Navy which they had entitled The Invincible and was designed to swallow up England and the United Provinces was destroyed in the year 1588. by the Fleet and good fortune of Queen Elizabeth the third part of so great a Navy scarce returning into the Spanish Havens after having undergone incredible dangers upon the Coasts of England Scotland and Ireland and this inestimable loss was accompanied with the mortification which the Duke of Parma received before Berghen ap-zoom which he had besieged Prince Maurice having forced him to quit his Enterprize with the entire ruine of his Reputation After this Success the Prince for the course of 20 years to the time of the Truce had fortune still so favourable to him that he conquered 38 or 40 Towns and more Fortresses and defied the Spaniards in open Field at three signal Battels besides he obtained several great Victories at Sea as well upon the Coast of Flanders as upon that of Spain and the Indies by the Valor of his Lieutenants and Vice-admirals But nothing gained him so much Reputation as the happy Surprizal of the Town and Castle of Breda which belonged to his own Propriety He made himself Master of it in 1590 by the stratagem of a Boat of Turfs without any effusion of Blood or losing so much as one Soldier upon so important an occasion and since this remarkable Action has made so great a noise in the World it may not be unnecessary to give some account of it in as brief terms as possible A Boatman called Adrian Bergues who furnished the Garison of Breda with Turfs being discontented with the Spaniards proposed a way to Prince Maurice how to surprize the place by placing some Soldiers in the bottom of his Boat The Prince seeing the probability of the matter gave the management of this great design to Charles de Heraugiere a Walloon Gentleman Native of Cambray Captain of Foot in his Guards reputed a Man of Bravery and Conduct As soon as he received this Order he made choice of 70 Soldiers out of several Companies and some Commanders whose Courage had been tryed These he put at the bottom of the Boat where they were placed very uneasily as being forced either to lie down or stoop the rest of the Boat being filled up with Turfs to a very great height It was extreme cold weather besides they were up to the knees in water which came in by a leak which at last they fortunately stopped The excessive cold made them cough very much but above all Matthew Helt a Lieutenant whose name ought to be remembred here in testimony of the Courage he shew'd upon this occasion not being able to hinder himself from coughing as they came near to the Castle drew his Sword and desired his Comrades to kill him that the Enterprize might not fail and he become the cause of their ruine but the Boatman hindred him from being heard by often pumping as if his Boat had took water The Garrison consisting of Italians wanted Firing the Soldiers because of the Ice helped to draw the Boat by a Sluce within the walls of the Castle as the Trojans brought the wooden Horse into their City which gave occasion to the Poets of the time to compare the taking of Breda to that of Troy but withal remarking this difference that the Horse made the Enemies Masters of Troy from whence proceeded its ruine whereas this Boat put the right Lord into possession of Breda who thereupon caused it immediately to flourish Prince Maurice having spread the report that he had a design upon Gertrudemberg made the Surprizal of Breda become more easie for Edward Lanza vechia who was Governor of both places ran to that which he thought was most in danger So the Castle being without a Commander was easily carried As soon as Heraugiere had made himself Master of it by the death of 40 of the Enemy Prince Maurice attended by the Counts de Hohenlo and Solmes Francis Vere the General of the English Iustin of Nassau the Admiral and the Sieur de Famars General of the Artillery being entred into the Castle with several of his Troops was afterwards received into the Town whence the Italian Garrison which for the most part consisted of Horse ran with full speed by the way of Antwerp Heraugiere with a great deal of Justice was made Governor of Breda and Lambert Charles a French Man a brave Soldier of Fortune was made Serjeant Major I saw him afterwards when he was Governor of Nimeguen There were Medals stamped upon so considerable an occasion which had these words upon one side Breda à Servitute Hispanica vindicata ductu Principis Mauricii à NASSAU 4 Martii 1590. Breda delivered from the Spanish Yoke by the conduct of Prince Maurice of NASSAU March 4. 1590. And upon the Reverse was represented a Boat with these words Parati vincere aut mori prepared to overcome or dye One of these Medals was given to each of the Soldiers in the Boat as likewise a Sum of Money with the promise of future advancement Adrian de Bergues the Boatman had likewise a Medal and was rewarded with a very large Pension This Surprizal may occasion this necessary Reflection That ye ought never to trust the guard of two Frontier places at the same time to one only Governor who has but too much trouble to preserve his own Government from the neighbouring Enemy whose mind is always intent and his eyes open for some opportunity to be able to surprize him The taking of Hulst in Flanders was a very considerable Action and that of Gertrudemberg much more so by reason of a long and difficult siege in sight of the Spanish Army consisting of 30000 Men commanded by the old Count Peter Ernest of Mansfeldt in the absence of the Duke of Parma who was then in France with Succors for the League This old General could never force the young Prince in his own Lines nor oblige him to come out of them though he presented him battle
each day continually so that when Count Mansfeldt said one day to a Trumpeter whom P. Maurice had sent him That he admired his Master who was a young Prince full of heat and courage would always contain himself within the covert of his own retrenchments the Trumpeter answered him That his Excellency of Nassau was a young Prince who desired to become one day such an old and experienced General as his Excellency of Mansfeldt was at present The year following he took the great and famous Town of Groninghen Capital of the Province he likewise took and retook Rimbergues and seized upon Maeurs and the Grave Towns belonging to his own Patrimony having by the death of several Spaniards revenged the public injuries and those of his Private Family The Reputation of Prince Maurice was very much increased by the long and memorable defence of Ostend where the Spaniards having lost more than Threescore Thousand Men in a Siege that continued above 3 Years and exhausted their Treasures by the expence of above two Millions at last became Masters of a bit of ground which might seem to be a burying place rather than a City At the time of this loss Prince Maurice was so happy and diligent that to return it with Usury in a few days he seized upon the Town of Sluise in Flanders which was of more consequence than Ostend that had cost so many Men so much Time and so vast a Treasure upon which Theophilus says very well in the Ode he made for the Prince of Orange Much time and many years the Spaniards spend Before their Forces gain Ostend But Sir when you resolve to seize a Town Few Days suffice to beat its Bulwarks down Each Day of yours much more importance bears Than all that space of time which mortal Men call Years This Ode did not displease Prince Maurice and tho he was naturally an Enemy to Flattery and Vain glory yet he recompenced this Poet with a Chain of Gold and his Medal to a very great value But this Prince showed at the battle of Newport where he overcame the Arch-Duke Albert that he knew as well how to defeat a numerous and well appointed Army in open field as to defend places or else to force and surprize them The Arch-Duke and the Duke d'Aumale were wounded in the fight Francis Mendoza Admiral of Arragon Maister de Campe was taken Prisoner with a great many other Commanders and even the Arch-Dukes Pages whom Prince Maurice sent him back very civâ—…illy without any Ransom All the Cannon the Baggage and above 100 Cornets and Colors remained in the hands of the Conqueror who saw above 6000 Enemies dead upon the place and had all other marks of a full and entire Victory which made several People say because this great Success happened upon the 2d day of Iuly that the Fortune of the House of Nassau was changed seeing that 300 years before upon the same day of Iuly the Emperor Adolphus of Nassau had lost his Life and Empire near Spire in a Battle against Albert of Austria and that the same day Maurice had revenged the disgrace of his Ancestors by the defeat of the Arch-Duke Albert who was a Descendant from the former Albert of Austria A little before the fight there was a dispute of Honor between Prince Maurice and Prince Henry Frederick his younger Brother who was then but 17 Years old for when the Elder desired him to retire into some place of Safety that in case of any misfortune he might defend his Family and his Country Prince Henry being offended said he would run the same fortune with himself and live or dye by him Prince Maurice showed that no ill success could daunt his courage for the Resolution he had taken to give Battle was not altered notwithstanding that the night before the Arch-Duke had defeated the Count Ernest whom the Prince had sent to seize a pass with 2 Regiments of Foot and 4 Troops of Horse that were all cut off and several Colors with 2 pieces of Cannon taken It is remarkable that the Prince to take away from his Army all hopes of a retreat and to show his Men that they had nothing to trust to but their Arms made all those Vessels that brought them into Flanders to be sent away for which he was much commended by the Admiral of Arragon as the thing which had gained him the Victory by the necessity that was laid upon his Soldiers to fight boldly as having no prospect of Life but in the defeat of the Spaniards so he told his Men before the fight that they must either overcome the Enemy or drink up all the water in the Sea There came out at that time a magnificent Inscription upon this Battle in honor of Prince Maurice which is this Anno 1600 secunda die Iulij Mauricius Aransionensium Princeps in Flandriam terram hospitem traducto exercitu cum Alberto Archiduce Austriae conflixit copias ejus cecidit Duces multos primumque Mendosam coepit reversus ad suos victor signa hostium centum quinque in Hagiensi Capitolio suspendit Deo Bellatori In the year 1600 the 2d day of July Maurice Prince of Orange having brought his Army into Flanders then possessed by his Enemy fought with Albert Arch-Duke of Austria slew his Forces took several Commanders and especially Mendoza then returning Conqueror to his Country he hung up 105 of the Enemies Colors in the Councel House at the Hague to the Honor of God the Disposer of Victory This was not his first Essay of a Field Battle for otherwise he might have passed for one that was good only at the taking of Towns but he had long before forced the Duke of Parma to raise the Seige of Knotsemburg over against Nimiguen having defeated 7 Troops of his best Cavalry a disgrace which the Duke lessen'd by the necessity laid upon him by Orders from Spain to go and succor Roan In the year 1594 he had likewise at the Battle of Tournhout defeated and slain the Lord de Balancon Count de Varax General of the Artillery of Spain who commanded a body of 6000 Foot and 600 Horse of which besides the General above 2000 were left upon the place with several Prisoners of Note amongst whom a Count of Mansfeldt was one there were 38 Ensigns taken with the Cornet of Alonzo de Mondragon which were all hung up in the great Hall of the Castle at the Hague for a perpetual Memorial And upon this occasion I shall here relate how an Ambassador of Poland being come from King Sigismond to exhort the States General to reconcile themselves to the King of Spain whose Power he magnified so far as that sooner or later it would entirely subdue them and speaking as if he would frighten them with lofty words full of Vanity and according to the Eloquence of his Nation Count Maurice who was then present at this Harrangue upon his going out of the Assembly led the Ambassador
to see if he would not be willing to hazard a battle in open field Being therefore advanced within five or six mile of the French Camp they did all that in them lay to make him leave his strong scituation but 't was to no purpose for the Prince whether he had received orders from the King or this was his own proper sense of the affair would by no means quit it And now the Confederate Army finding that all their efforts were in vain resolved to attack some important place not doubting but the Prince would leave his post to come and relieve it and so they should bring their designs about This resolution being taken the Prince of Orange decamped from Senef and marched strait on the side of Bins The Imperialists had the Vanguard the Hollanders the Main Body and the Spaniards the Rear and because the passage was narrow the Cavalry marched on the left the Infantry in the midst and the Artillery with all the baggage on the left also and to secure their march the Prince de Vaudemont still kept behind with four Thousand Horse and some Dragoons The Prince of Conde being informed of their March and knowing perfectly well the difficulty of the ways through which the Confederates were to pass took care to range his Army in order However not thinking it safe for him to engage the whole Army of the Confederates he suffer'd the Vanguard with a considerable part of their Main Body to pass some leagues before and when he saw they were too far advanced to return soon enough he believed he might now fall upon the Rear Thus the Prince came out of his Trenches and attack'd Vaudemont's Horse who seeing himself in a Country where the Horse could do no great service by reason of the Hedges and Ditches sent presently to the Prince of Orange for two Battalions of his best Foot while he with his Horse kept the Enemy in play His Highness sent him three under the command of young Prince Maurice of Nassau who as soon as they came up were placed on the other side of Senef all before the Horse in a four square body And now the whole Army of the Prince of Conde being come out of their Trenches 't was judged convenient to send for the Troops that were on the other side of the River that runs by Senef and then they placed the three Battalions that before were posted in the Wood directly against the Bridge of Senef over which the French were to pass They were no sooner got thither but the French attack'd 'em all at once Horse Foot and Dragoons Tho they began this attack with wonderful vigor yet they were not able to force the Enemy from his Post so that they were forced to draw off and make a Bridge over the River somewhat higher Having by this means joyn'd all their forces together the Confederate Horse ranged themselves behind the Infantry but so that they might come upon occasion to their relief In the mean time the Foot fired so warmly upon the French that passed the River that abundance of them were killed but the Confederates being unhappily straitned for want of ground and the French setting upon them as they came out of the Wood on all sides their Foot was obliged to retreat being overwhelmed by the excessive number of their Enemies which was the reason that they lost several of their principal Officers Young Prince Maurice who commanded the Brigade was made a Prisoner with several Officers more and Coll. Macovits was killed As soon as the Infantry of the Confederates was retired the French fell with great vigour upon the Horse commanded by the Prince de Vaudemont and the Prince of Conde began to range his Army in form of battel commanding his Foot to march secretly under the covert of the Hedges and Bushes The Confederate Horse had orders to charge them and as they were going to do it found the way was so hollow between the Enemy and them that they were obliged to turn about to the right and joyn the rest of the Army lest the Enemy perceiving their retreat should charge them in the Flank The French observing this turn'd to the left and made so much hast to charge this body of Horse that Prince Vaudemont had only time enough to range his three Battalions to endeavour to make head against the Enemy This first onset proved unlucky to the Confederates for the three Commanders in chief of this Brigade were taken Prisoners with several other Persons of Quality as the Duke of Holstein the Prince de Solmes and Monsieur de Langerac and many more were there slain Whatever care was taken to make these four Battalions rally again it could never be effected for away they ran without making the least discharge upon the Enemy Prince Vaudemont gave convincing proofs of an extraordinary valour but all his efforts were to no purpose The Prince of Orange likewise discovered an undaunted bravery behaving himself in all respects like an Old experienced General for he got before these affrighted Troops with his Sword in his hand and endeavoured by all sorts of perswasions and by his own example to encourage them to renew the fight exposing himself frequently to the danger of being killed or made a Prisoner but he was not able to stop them till they met a body of Spanish Horse posted at the bottom of a little Hill between them and the Village of Fay. Another Party of these Runaways joyn'd themselves to sixteen Battalions commanded by the Duke de Villa Hermosa who marched at the head of his Troops to oppose the French who pursued them and did every thing that could be expected from a person of his valour and conduct in the miserable condition that things were then in The rest of the Confederates rallied togather with a body of Foot posted likewise at the Foot of the same Hill On the other side the Prince of Conde who had advanced so far in pursuing the fugitives fell with that fury upon the Spanish Horse and the Foot whom he chased that the Marquis d' Assentar was forced to send for four other Regiments from the Foot of the Hill to reinforce his Cavalry Which the Prince of Conde observing he ordered five or six Battalions to advance immediately with a Brigade of Horse and dividing his Troops on the right and the left he charged the Cavalry of the Confederates in the Front and put them in disorder The Marquess did all he could by his own example to rally his men and begin the Battel afresh till at last being wounded in seven places he was killed at the head of his own Troops The Cavalry being thus in disorder he attempted to break his way through four Battalions of Foot that were come to their relief and put them in great confusion notwithstanding the conduct of the Duke de Villa Hermosa and Prince Vaudemont who used all the means imaginable to make them rally They likewise disordered