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

a man whose life had been
pacific, and who trembled at the noise of arms, should seek to
supersede the terrible Alva, of whom his eulogists asserted, with,
Castilian exaggeration, that the very name of fear inspired him with
horror. But there was a limit beyond which the influence of Anna de
Mendoza and her husband did not extend. Philip was not to be driven to
the Netherlands against his will, nor to be prevented from assigning the
command of the army to the most appropriate man in Europe for his
purpose.
It was determined at last that the Netherland heresy should be
conquered by force of arms. The invasion resembled both a crusade
against the infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into the auriferous
Indies, achievements by which Spanish chivalry had so often illustrated
itself. The banner of the cross was to be replanted upon the conquered
battlements of three hundred infidel cities, and a torrent of wealth,
richer than ever flowed from Mexican or Peruvian mines, was to flow
into the royal treasury from the perennial fountains of confiscation.
Who so fit to be the Tancred and the Pizarro of this bicolored
expedition as the Duke of Alva, the man who had been devoted from
his earliest childhood, and from his father's grave, to hostility against
unbelievers, and who had prophesied that treasure would flow in a
stream, a yard deep, from the Netherlands as soon as the heretics began
to meet with their deserts. An army of chosen troops was forthwith
collected, by taking the four legions, or terzios, of Naples, Sicily,
Sardinia, and Lombardy, and filling their places in Italy by fresh levies.
About ten thousand picked and veteran soldiers were thus obtained, of
which the Duke of Alva was appointed general-in-chief.
Ferdinando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, was now in his sixtieth
year. He was the most successful and experienced general of Spain, or
of Europe. No man had studied more deeply, or practised more
constantly, the military science. In the most important of all arts at that
epoch he was the most consummate artist. In the only honorable
profession of the age, he was the most thorough and the most pedantic
professor. Since the days of Demetrius Poliorcetes, no man had

besieged so many cities. Since the days of Fabius Cunctator; no general
had avoided so many battles, and no soldier, courageous as he was,
ever attained to a more sublime indifference to calumny or depreciation.
Having proved in his boyhood, at Fontarabia, and in his maturity: at
Muhlberg, that he could exhibit heroism and headlong courage; when
necessary, he could afford to look with contempt upon the witless gibes
which his enemies had occasionally perpetrated at his expense.
Conscious of holding his armies in his hand, by the power of an
unrivalled discipline, and the magic of a name illustrated by a hundred
triumphs, he, could bear with patience and benevolence the murmurs of
his soldiers when their battles were denied them.
He was born in 1508, of a family which boasted, imperial descent. A
Palaeologus, brother of a Byzantine emperor, had conquered the city of
Toledo, and transmitted its appellation as a family name. The father of
Ferdinando, Don Garcia, had been slain on the isle of Gerbes, in battle
with the Moors, when his son was but four years of age. The child was
brought up by his grandfather, Don Frederic, and trained from his
tenderest infancy to arms. Hatred to the infidel, and a determination to
avenge his father's blood; crying to him from a foreign grave, were the
earliest of his instincts. As a youth he was distinguished for his prowess.
His maiden sword was fleshed at Fontarabia, where, although but
sixteen years of age, he was considered, by his constancy in hardship,
by his brilliant and desperate courage, and by the example of military
discipline which he afforded to the troops, to have contributed in no
small degree to the success of the Spanish arms.
In 1530, he accompanied the Emperor in his campaign against the Turk.
Charles, instinctively recognizing the merit of the youth who was
destined to be the life-long companion of his toils and glories,
distinguished him with his favor at the opening of his career. Young,
brave, and enthusiastic, Ferdinand de Toledo at this period was as
interesting a hero as ever illustrated the pages of Castilian romance. His
mad ride from Hungary to Spain and back again, accomplished in
seventeen days, for the sake of a brief visit to his newly-married wife,
is not the least attractive episode in the history of an existence which
was destined to be so dark and sanguinary. In 1535, he accompanied
the Emperor on his memorable expedition to Tunis. In 1546 and 1547
he was generalissimo in the