The Rise of the Dutch Republic: A History, Volume 2 |
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abdication affairs afterwards already Alva ancient Antwerp army assembled Badovaro Batavian Berghen Berlaymont Bishop of Arras Brabant Brederode Brussels Burgundy Cardinal Catholic cause cavalry century character Charles Church Coligny command Constable Correspondance de Philippe council Count crown death Duchess Duke of Savoy edicts Egmont Elector Emperor envoy estates father favor Flanders Flemish France French Frisian Gachard German Ghent Godelaevus Granvelle Granvelle's Groen hand heresy heretics Heut Holland holy Hoofd Hopper Ibid imperial inquisition inquisitors King land letter liberty Majesty Margaret of Parma marriage matter Meteren monarch Montigny Netherlands never nobles occasion opinion Papiers d'Etat peace personages persons Philip Pontus Payen Pope Prince of Orange Prinst provinces received Reformation Regent religion religious royal Saint Quentin secret seigniors soldier soon sovereign Spain Spanish stadholders Strada Suriano sword Thou thousand tion treaty troops ubi sup Viglius whole William of Orange wrote
Popular passages
Page 96 - The foot of the town was washed by the little river Senne, while the irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep sides of the hill like the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. Nearly in the heart of the place rose the audacious and exquisitely embroidered tower of the town-house, three hundred and sixty-six feet in height, a miracle of needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate carving the cobweb tracery of that lace which has for centuries been synonymous with the city, and...
Page 102 - These personal advantages were now departed. Crippled in hands, knees, and legs, he supported himself with difficulty upon a crutch, with the aid of an attendant's shoulder. In face he had always been extremely ugly, and time had certainly not improved his physiognomy. His hair, once of a light color, was now white with age, close-clipped and bristling ; his beard was gray, coarse, and shaggy. His forehead was spacious and commanding ; the eye was dark-blue, with an expression both majestic and benignant...
Page 104 - His demeanor in public was still, silent, almost sepulchral. He looked habitually on the ground when he conversed, was chary of speech, embarrassed, and even suffering in manner.
Page 104 - Such was the personal appearance of the man who was about to receive into his single hand the destinies of half the world; whose single will was, for the future, to shape the fortunes of every individual then present, of many millions more in Europe, America, and at the ends of the earth, and of countless millions yet unborn.
Page 102 - He was of about the middle height, and had been athletic and well-proportioned. Broad in the shoulders, deep in the chest, thin in the flank, very muscular in the arms and legs, he had been able to match himself with all competitors in the tourney and the ring, and to vanquish the bull with his own hand in the favorite national amusement of Spain. He had been able in the field to do the duty of captain and soldier, to endure fatigue and exposure, and every privation except fasting. These personal...
Page 95 - ON THE twenty-fifth day of October, 1555, the estates of the Netherlands were assembled in the great hall of the palace at Brussels. They had been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the abdication which Charles V. had long before resolved upon, and which he was that day to execute. The Emperor, like many potentates before and since, was fond of great political spectacles. He knew their influence upon the masses of mankind. Although plain even to shabbiness in his own costume, and...
Page 70 - May he be cursed in battle, accursed in praying, in speaking, in silence, in eating, in drinking, in sleeping. May he be accursed in his taste, hearing, smell, and all his senses. May the curse blast his eyes, head, and his body, from his crown to the soles of his feet. I conjure you, Devil, and all your imps, that you take no rest till you have brought him to eternal shame; till he is destroyed by drowning or hanging, till he is torn to pieces by wild beasts, or consumed by fire. Let his children...
Page 71 - Throughout the Netherlands, the price current of the wares thus offered for sale, was published in every town and village. God's pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed, was advertised according to a graduated tariff. Thus, poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats, six livres tournois. Absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres, three ducats. Perjury came to seven livres and three carlines. Pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper. Even a parricide...
Page 69 - In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, the blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, and all other Saints in Heaven, do we curse and cut off from our Communion him who has thus rebelled against us. May the curse strike him in his house, barn, bed, field, path, city, castle. May he be cursed in battle, accursed in praying, in speaking...
Page 521 - Then, for the first time, from the lips of those reckless nobles, rose the famous cry which was so often to ring over land and sea, amid blazing cities, on blood-stained decks, through the smoke and carnage of many a stricken field.