The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1564-65 | Page 6

sister, commanding instant vengeance to be
taken upon all concerned in so foul a riot. As one of the persons
engaged had, however, been arrested and immediately hanged, and as
the rest had effected their escape, the affair was suffered to drop.
The scenes of outrage, the frantic persecutions, were fast becoming too
horrible to be looked upon by Catholic or Calvinist. The prisons
swarmed with victims, the streets were thronged with processions to
the stake. The population of thriving cities, particularly in Flanders,
were maddened by the spectacle of so much barbarity inflicted, not
upon criminals, but usually upon men remarkable for propriety of
conduct and blameless lives. It was precisely at this epoch that the
burgomasters, senators, and council of the city of Bruges (all Catholics)

humbly represented to the Duchess Regent, that Peter Titelmann,
inquisitor of the Faith, against all forms of law, was daily exercising
inquisition among the inhabitants, not only against those suspected or
accused of heresy, but against all, however untainted their characters;
that he was daily citing before him whatever persons he liked, men or
women, compelling them by force to say whatever it pleased him; that
he was dragging people from their houses, and even from the sacred
precincts of the church; often in revenge for verbal injuries to himself,
always under pretext of heresy, and without form or legal warrant of
any kind. They therefore begged that he might be compelled to make
use of preparatory examinations with the co-operation of the senators
of the city, to suffer that witnesses should make their depositions
without being intimidated by menace, and to conduct all his subsequent
proceedings according to legal forms, which he had uniformly violated;
publicly declaring that he would conduct himself according to his own
pleasure.
The four estates of Flanders having, in a solemn address to the King,
represented the same facts, concluded their brief but vigorous
description of Titelmann's enormities by calling upon Philip to suppress
these horrible practices, so manifestly in violation of the ancient
charters which he had sworn to support. It may be supposed that the
appeal to Philip would be more likely to call down a royal benediction
than the reproof solicited upon the inquisitor's head. In the privy
council, the petitions and remonstrances were read, and, in the words of
the President, "found to be in extremely bad taste." In the debate which
followed, Viglius and his friends recalled to the Duchess, in earnest
language, the decided will of the King, which had been so often
expressed. A faint representation was made, on the other hand, of the
dangerous consequences, in case the people were driven to a still
deeper despair. The result of the movement was but meagre. The
Duchess announced that she could do nothing in the matter of the
request until further information, but that meantime she had charged
Titelmann to conduct himself in his office "with discretion and
modesty." The discretion and modesty, however, never appeared in any
modification of the inquisitor's proceedings, and he continued
unchecked in his infamous career until death, which did not occur till
several years afterwards. In truth, Margaret was herself in mortal fear

of this horrible personage. He besieged her chamber door almost daily,
before she had risen, insisting upon audiences which, notwithstanding
her repugnance to the man, she did not dare to refuse. "May I perish,"
said Morillon, "if she does not stand in exceeding awe of Titelmann."
Under such circumstances, sustained by the King in Spain, the Duchess
in Brussels, the privy council, and by a leading member of what had
been thought the liberal party, it was not difficult for the inquisition to
maintain its ground, notwithstanding the solemn protestations of the
estates and the suppressed curses of the people.
Philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of
the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course
than ever. He had already, as easy as August of this year, despatched
orders to the Duchess that the decrees of the Council of Trent should be
published and enforced throughout the Netherlands. The memorable
quarrel as to precedency between the French and Spanish delegates had
given some hopes of a different determination. Nevertheless, those
persons who imagined that, in consequence of this quarrel of etiquette,
Philip would slacken in his allegiance to the Church, were destined to
be bitterly mistaken. He informed his sister that, in the common cause
of Christianity, he should not be swayed by personal resentments.
How, indeed, could a different decision be expected? His envoy at
Rome, as well as his representatives at the council, had universally
repudiated all doubts as to the sanctity of its decrees. "To doubt the
infallibility of the council, as some have dared to do," said Francis