History of Holland | Page 9

released
until he had sworn to surrender his powers, as regent, to a council of
Flemings and to withdraw all his foreign troops from the Netherlands.
He was forced to give hostages as a pledge of his good faith, among
them his general, Philip of Cleef, who presently joined his captors.
Maximilian, on arriving at the camp of the Emperor Frederick III, who
had gathered together an army to release his imprisoned son, was
persuaded to break an oath given under duress. He advanced therefore
at the head of his German mercenaries into Flanders, but was able to
achieve little success against the Flemings, who found in Philip of
Cleef an able commander. Despairing of success, he now determined to
retire into Germany, leaving Duke Albert of Saxe-Meissen, a capable
and tried soldier of fortune, as general-in-chief of his forces and
Stadholder of the Netherlands. With the coming of Duke Albert order
was at length to be restored, though not without a severe struggle.
Slowly but surely Duke Albert took town after town and reduced

province after province into submission. The Hook party in Holland
and Zeeland, and their anti-Burgundian allies in Utrecht, and Robert de
la Marck in Liège, in turn felt the force of his arm. An insurrection of
the peasants in West Friesland and Kennemerland--the "Bread and
Cheese Folk," as they were called--was easily put down. Philip of Cleef
with his Flemings was unable to make head against him; and, with the
fall of Ghent and Sluis in the summer of 1492, the duke was able to
announce to Maximilian that the Netherlands, except Gelderland, were
pacified. The treaty of Senlis in 1493 ended the war with France. In the
following year, after his accession to the imperial throne, Maximilian
retired to his ancestral dominions in Germany, and his son, Philip the
Fair, took in his hands the reins of government. The young sovereign,
who was a Netherlander by birth and had spent all his life in the
country, was more popular than his father; and his succession to the
larger part of the Burgundian inheritance was not disputed. He received
the homage of Zeeland at Roemerswaal, of Holland at Geertruidenburg,
and seized the occasion to announce the abrogation of the Great
Privilege, and at the same time restored the Grand Council at Mechlin.
In Utrecht the authority of Bishop David of Burgundy was now firmly
re-established; and on his death, Philip of Baden, an obsequious
adherent of the house of Austria, was elected. These results of the
pacification carried out so successfully by Duke Albert had, however,
left Maximilian and Philip deeply in debt to the Saxon; and there was
no money wherewith to meet the claim, which amounted to 300,000
guilders. After many negotiations extending over several years,
compensation was found for Albert in Friesland. That unhappy
province and the adjoining territory of Groningen had for a long time
been torn by internal dissensions between the two parties, the
Schieringers and the Vetkoopers, who were the counterparts of the
Hooks and Cods of Holland. The Schieringers called in the aid of the
Saxon duke, who brought the land into subjection. Maximilian now
recognised Albert as hereditary Podesta or governor of Friesland on
condition that the House of Austria reserved the right of redeeming the
territory for 100,000 guilders; and Philip acquiesced in the bargain by
which Frisian freedom was sold in exchange for the cancelling of a
debt. The struggle with Charles of Egmont in Gelderland was not so

easily terminated. Not till 1505 was Philip able to overcome this crafty
and skilful adversary. Charles was compelled to do homage and to
accompany Philip to Brussels (October, 1505). It was, however, but a
brief submission. Charles made his escape once more into Gelderland
and renewed the war of independence.
Before these events had taken place, the marriage of Philip with Juana,
the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, had brought
about a complete change in his fortunes. Maximilian, always full of
ambitious projects for the aggrandisement of his House, had planned
with Ferdinand of Aragon a double marriage between their families,
prompted by a common hatred and fear of the growing power of France.
The Archduke Philip was to wed the Infanta Juana, the second daughter
of Ferdinand and Isabel; the Infante Juan, the heir to the thrones of
Aragon and Castile, Philip's sister, Margaret. Margaret had in 1483,
aged then three years, been betrothed to the Dauphin Charles, aged
twelve, and she was brought up at the French Court, and after the death
of Louis XI (August 30, 1483) had borne the title of Queen and had
lived at Amboise with other children of the French royal house, under
the care of the Regent, Anne de Beaujeu. The marriage, however, of
Charles VIII