Willem Adriaan Van Der Stel, and Other Historical Sketches

by George McCall Theal

Designs of the Prince of Parma.

It was fortunate for the northern provinces that Parma was not receiving reinforcements, or the whole country would soon have been overrun. Philippe was closely engaged in fomenting civil war in France and in planning the conquest of England, subjects which occupied his mind and drew upon his purse to such an extent that he neglected the Netherlands and failed to furnish money to maintain and pay even the limited number of soldiers he had there. He was the real head of the so-called holy league, that under the nominal leadership of the duke of Guise was in arms to establish absolutism and extirpate Protestantism in Europe. Parma was left mainly to his own resources, but he possessed military and diplomatic ability of the highest order, and could do with his slender army what ordinary generals could not have done with forces twice as strong.

If he could obtain possession of Brussels and Antwerp the backbone of the rebellion would be broken, he believed, and in the autumn of 1584 he commenced operations to that end. His plan was to construct a fortified bridge over the Schelde below Antwerp, which would prevent succour being sent up the river from Zeeland, and thus the cities would be starved out, for the open country was in his hands. There was one way by which this plan could be frustrated, and that was by cutting the great dykes and letting the sea roll over the land, but the patriots hesitated to destroy so much property. When at last they tried to do it they were too late, for Parma had fortified the dykes and held them with an iron hand. During the winter of 1584-5 famine was so severe in Brussels that people died of hunger, and on the 13th of March 1585 the city capitulated. Mechlin held out until the 19th of July, when it too fell.

Historical Sketches.

The siege of Antwerp was one of the most celebrated events in the history of the Netherlands. The city was then much less populous than it had formerly been, but it still contained ninety thousand inhabitants, the most turbulent though the most energetic and industrious in Europe. It was the most important commercial city in the country. If there had been union of counsel and obedience to a single authority, Antwerp need not have feared anything that Parma with his eleven or twelve thousand soldiers could do, but all was discord and confusion within the walls. And without was one strong clear-headed man, with a genius for war, in command of soldiers devoted to him, a man who could construct a strong fortified bridge seven hundred and thirty-two metres in length over a deep tidal river in the winter season and in the face of a far superior number of combatants, a feat deemed by most people utterly impossible until it was accomplished. The sufferings of Antwerp were less than those of Leyden, but on the 17th of August 1585 the city capitulated. Life and property were to be respected, a ransom of only £33,000 was to be paid, no other than the Roman Catholic worship was to be publicly observed, but Protestants were allowed two years in which to dispose of their property and leave.

Immediately a stream of emigration set out towards the north. Amsterdam especially benefited by refugee merchants and artisans from Antwerp settling there, and very shortly became the first commercial city of Europe. Middelburg too and many other towns of Holland and Zeeland received a large access of population from the fugitive Protestants of Brabant and Flanders. The old cities immediately lost their former importance, Antwerp sank into a small place, the citadel was rebuilt and a foreign garrison was stationed in it, but beyond the soldiers and the members of the Company of Jesus who were stationed there as instructors of the young, no new residents were attracted to take the place of the Protestants who moved away.

Treaty with Queen Elizabeth.

During the siege of Antwerp the states-general were making every effort in their power to obtain assistance from England. Queen Elizabeth realised the necessity of supporting the Netherlands against Philippe II, who was her enemy as well as theirs, but she was unwilling to give more than was absolutely necessary. She had to be on her guard against other enemies than Spain, and she could not afford to spend money freely. The states offered her the sovereignty of the provinces, which she declined, and the negotiations for an alliance were so protracted that when an agreement was finally arrived at, it was too late to save Antwerp.

On the 10th of August 1585 a treaty between the queen and the states was signed, by the terms of which Elizabeth was to furnish and pay during the war five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry to assist in the defence of the provinces,[25] and was to receive the town of Flushing and the fortress of Rammekens in Zeeland and the town of Brill and two fortresses in Holland as pledges for the payment of all expenses when the war was over. She was to provide these places with suitable garrisons, but was not to interfere in any way with the civil government or the customs and privileges of the inhabitants.

Historical Sketches.