Don John now retired from Namur to Luxemburg, and waited in that city until the king should provide him with an army strong enough to conquer the country. The estates on their part commenced to levy troops, for negotiations had quite ceased. On the 7th of December they declared Don John no longer governor-general, but an enemy of the Netherlands.
The prince of Orange was elected ruward of Brabant, a post which gave him great power in that province, and his influence was enormous throughout the whole country. By his advice a new act of union was signed at Brussels on the 10th of December, by which the adherents of the Roman Catholic church and the Protestants bound themselves to respect each other and to protect one another from all enemies whatever. But this was a step too far in advance of the times to be permanent, for it was an age of bitter intolerance.
Queen Elizabeth of England, fearing that French influence would prevail in the Netherlands if she did not aid the struggling country at this critical time, resolved to give the estates some assistance. On the 7th of January 1578 she entered into an engagement in London to endorse their obligations to the extent of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and to supply five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry, who should, however, be paid by them. This was not regarded as making war against Spain, because at the same time the Catholic League in France was sending a much greater number of well trained men to assist Don John of Austria.
While the armies on both sides were gathering, another factor, that might have caused much confusion, was introduced. A party of nobles, in order to thwart the prince of Orange, invited the archduke Matthias of Hapsburg, brother of the emperor, to fill the post of governor-general. The young man accepted the invitation, and came to the Netherlands, but the prince of Orange and his adherents managed things so adroitly that Matthias, though inaugurated as governor-general on the 18th of January 1578, had really no power conferred upon him, and Orange himself as lieutenant-general retained all authority.
Historical Sketches.
Both parties had by this time collected considerable forces, Don John at Luxemburg, the estates at Namur, but the armies were very differently composed. Philippe had sent several veteran regiments of Spaniards and Italians, the most highly disciplined troops in the world, commanded by Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, and to these had been added some well-trained French battalions, making altogether a compact army of about twenty thousand men. The army of the estates was equal in number, but was a motley assemblage of Germans, French, Netherlanders, English, and Scotch.
On the 31st of January 1578 these forces met at Gemblours, fourteen kilometres from Namur, and the result was the total annihilation of the States army, with hardly any loss at all on Don John’s side. Seven or eight thousand men were killed on the field, six hundred were made prisoners and were immediately hanged or drowned, and the remainder were dispersed. All their baggage, ammunition, weapons, and stores of every kind fell into the hands of the victors, and the patriot cause seemed doomed to ruin.
A great many small towns in the southern provinces were immediately occupied by the king’s troops, terrible atrocities being perpetrated wherever resistance was offered. Brussels, however, the seat of government, was put in a thorough condition for defence, and the States set about organising another army as rapidly as possible.
On the other hand, in the north, a great augmentation of the power of the prince of Orange was taking place. Haarlem had been recovered for the patriot cause, the province of Utrecht had accepted the prince as stadholder, and on the 8th of February 1578 the important city of Amsterdam was gained, so that the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht were wholly animated by the same spirit. Then, on the 11th of March the estates of Gelderland elected as governor of that province Count John of Nassau, the only surviving brother of William of Orange, which was almost equivalent to electing the prince himself. The Reformed religion was making very rapid progress in Utrecht and Gelderland, but was not yet as exclusively the faith of the people as in Holland and Zeeland. In June of this year 1578 the second provincial synod of the Reformed churches was held at Dordrecht, the first having met at Hoorn in 1572, a proof how entirely the inquisition had failed to extirpate freedom of conscience in that part of the country.
Rivalry between England and France.