The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1567 part 1 | Page 2

just go by the window," wrote Schwartz to the Prince. "He

was coming from Aerschot's dinner with a face as red as the Cardinal's
new hat."
On the other hand, the citizens of Valenciennes were depressed in equal
measure with the exultation of their antagonists. There was no more
talk of seven sleepers now, no more lunettes stuck upon lances, to spy
the coming forces of the enemy. It was felt that the government was
wide awake, and that the city would soon see the impending horrors
without telescopes. The siege was pressed more closely. Noircarmes
took up a commanding position at Saint Armand, by which he was
enabled to cut off all communication between the city and the
surrounding country. All the villages in the neighborhood were pillaged;
all the fields laid waste. All the infamies which an insolent soldiery can
inflict upon helpless peasantry were daily enacted. Men and women
who attempted any communication--with the city, were murdered in
cold blood by hundreds. The villagers were plundered of their
miserable possessions, children were stripped naked in the midst of
winter for the sake of the rags which covered them; matrons and virgins
were sold at public auction by the tap of drum; sick and wounded
wretches were burned over slow fires, to afford amusement to the
soldiers. In brief, the whole unmitigated curse which military power
inflamed by religious bigotry can embody, had descended upon the
heads of these unfortunate provincials who had dared to worship God
in Christian churches without a Roman ritual.
Meantime the city maintained, a stout heart still. The whole population
were arranged under different banners. The rich and poor alike took
arms to defend the walls which sheltered them. The town paupers were
enrolled in three companies, which bore the significant title of the
"Tons-nulls" or the "Stark-nakeds," and many was the fierce conflict
delivered outside the gates by men, who, in the words of a Catholic
then in the city, might rather be taken for "experienced veterans than
for burghers and artisans." At the same time, to the honor of
Valenciennes, it must be stated, upon the same incontestable authority,
that not a Catholic in the city was injured or insulted. The priests who
had remained there were not allowed to say mass, but they never met
with an opprobrious word or look from the people.
The inhabitants of the city called upon the confederates for assistance.
They also issued an address to the Knights of the Fleece; a paper which

narrated the story of their wrongs in pathetic and startling language.
They appealed to those puissant and illustrious chevaliers to prevent the
perpetration of the great wrong which was now impending over so
many innocent heads. "Wait not," they said, "till the thunderbolt has
fallen, till the deluge has overwhelmed us, till the fires already blazing
have laid the land in coals and ashes, till no other course be possible,
but to abandon the country in its desolation to foreign barbarity. Let the
cause of the oppressed come to your ears. So shall your conscience
become a shield of iron; so shall the happiness of a whole country
witness before the angels, of your truth to his Majesty, in the cause of
his true grandeur and glory."
These stirring appeals to an order of which Philip was chief, Viglius
chancellor, Egmont, Mansfeld, Aerschot, Berlaymont, and others,
chevaliers, were not likely to produce much effect. The city could rely
upon no assistance in those high quarters.
Meantime, however, the bold Brederode was attempting a very
extensive diversion, which, if successful, would have saved
Valenciennes and the whole country beside. That eccentric personage,
during the autumn and winter had been creating disturbances in various
parts of the country. Wherever he happened to be established, there
came from the windows of his apartments a sound of revelry and
uproar. Suspicious characters in various costumes thronged his door
and dogged his footsteps. At the same time the authorities felt
themselves obliged to treat him with respect. At Horn he had
entertained many of the leading citizens at a great
banquet.--The-health-of-the-beggars had been drunk in mighty
potations, and their shibboleth had resounded through the house. In the
midst of the festivities, Brederode had suspended a beggar's-medal
around the neck of the burgomaster, who had consented to be his guest
upon that occasion, but who had no intention of enrolling himself in the
fraternities of actual or political mendicants. The excellent magistrate,
however, was near becoming a member of both. The emblem by which
he had been conspicuously adorned proved very embarrassing to him
upon his recovery from the effects of his orgies with the "great beggar,"
and he was subsequently punished for his imprudence by the
confiscation of half his property.
Early in January, Brederode had stationed himself