CHAPTER XI.
THE VICTIMS OF CHARLES THE FIFTH.
(1529-1535.)
‘Tender Mercies’ Of Charles.
Charles the Fifth continued to prosecute his schemes. Each of the numerous countries which he united under his sceptre had its destination in accordance with the private views of its master. The Netherlands were to be the field for the display of his arbitrary authority and his cruel despotism. The emperor had already given proof of his fierce disposition in the treaty of Madrid; but he now gave further evidence of the same. On the 29th of January, 1529, he concluded, at Barcelona, an alliance with the pope which was worthy of both of them. It was therein declared that ‘many persons having completely deviated from Christian doctrine, the emperor and his brother would make use of their power against those who should obstinately persist in their errors.’ All the princes were invited to join this ‘holy alliance.’[[801]] On the 5th of August of the same year the emperor confirmed, by the treaty of Cambray, his determination to extirpate evangelical doctrine; and the same year a new placard, dated from Brussels, October 14, was everywhere posted up, which ordered that all those who dwelt in the country should, before November 25, deliver into the hands of the prefect of the place all books and manuscripts conformed to the opinions of Luther. Whosoever failed to do so, and whosoever should receive heretics into his house, should be punished both with confiscation and with death. ‘Nevertheless,’ it was added, ‘that we may manifest to all with what compassion we are moved, those who before the said date shall confess and abjure their errors shall be reconciled to the Church.’ Relapsed persons and prisoners were, however, excepted. The relapsed were condemned to the flames; and with respect to other heretics, the men were to be beheaded, and the women condemned to the pit, i.e., to be buried alive. Half of the goods of accused persons was promised to the informers.[[802]] Such was the compassion with which, according to the assurance which he gave, the heart of Charles the Fifth was moved. Was the atrocious penalty pronounced against women consequent on the fact that they usually showed more piety and gave greater provocation by their zeal to the satellites of Charles? This is possible; and at all events the fact is greatly to their honor.
The emperor was not the only oppressor of the evangelicals of the Netherlands. Charles of Egmont, duke of Guelderland, who was at this time residing in the ancient palace of his town of Arnheim, on the right bank of the Rhine, indulged without restraint his wrath against the Reformation. Two men were the objects of his especial detestation. One of these was Gerhard Goldenhauer of Nimeguen, a correspondent of Erasmus, who had brought many of the inhabitants of Guelderland to the knowledge of Christ. The other was Adolph Clarenbach, a learned and eloquent man, who had courageously proclaimed evangelical truth. Shortly after the conclusion of the alliance between the emperor and the pope, the duke determined to do every thing in his power for the purpose of crushing the enemies of the pope. ‘I will have,’ said he, ‘all those who are tainted with the Lutheran heresy, young and old, natives and foreigners, men and women,[[803]] all who, either within the privacy of their own houses, or in hostelries, or in conventicles, shall have said or done any thing which savors of heresy, deprived without mercy and without respect of persons, of their property and their lives. One third of their fortune shall be mine, another third shall go to the towns or other places where the offence has been committed, and the remaining third shall go to the informer.’ The ducal fanatic had signed with his own hand an edict embodying these barbarous stipulations. He did not confine himself to threats. At Arnheim, Nimeguen, and elsewhere, he caused men, women, and even monks, to be arrested; and after having examined them, had some of them drowned, others beheaded, and many banished. With respect to evangelical books, he ordered them all to be burnt. In the palace where these orders were signed and discussed there was a young man not very friendly to popery, whose heart these cruel proceedings filled with sorrow. This was Charles, a son of the duke by a noble lady, and a much better man than his father, leading a virtuous life, and dear to all good men. But nothing could stay the violence of the wretched Egmont. Perpetually restless, gloomy, and fierce, he could not lay hands on Clarenbach and Goldenhauer; but the former, immovable in his avowal of the truth, was burnt alive on the 20th of September, of this same year, 1529, at Cologne. Goldenhauer withdrew to Strasburg, and was afterwards called to Marburg as professor of theology.[[804]]
Nothing could check the course of the government of Charles the Fifth. On the contrary, it hastened on. Six days after the publication of the last placard, William, a Christian man of Zwoll, was struck. He had been one of the ministers of Christian of Denmark, and had come into Belgium with this prince. Ere long, certain theologians of Louvain, irritated by his profession of evangelical doctrine, had him arrested. They then went to him and said—‘Here are certain articles on which we require your opinion. We give you twelve days to reply to us; and if you refuse to do so,’ they added in a threatening tone, ‘we shall proceed against you as we think proper.’
Executions.
William read the articles, eight in number, and feeling that there was no need to take twelve days to answer them, he immediately made a confession of his faith.[[805]] ‘Reverend doctors,’ he said to the theologians, ‘I believe, with respect to the pope, that if he be minded to wield the temporal sword, to refuse obedience to the lawful magistrate, rather than confine himself to the spiritual sword which is the word of God,[[806]] he has no power either to bind or to loose consciences. With respect to purgatory, every Christian knows perfectly well that after death he will be blessed. With respect to the invocation of saints, we have in heaven Christ alone as mediator, and it is to Him that I cling. With respect to the mass, it is certainly not a sacrifice; for the blood of Christ shed upon the cross suffices for the salvation of the faithful. With respect to Luther’s books, I admit that I have read them, not however out of contempt for His Imperial Majesty, but in order that by learning and knowing the truth I may reject every untruth.’
The doctors of Louvain, noted for their hatred of the Gospel, listened with abhorrence to this candid confession, in which piety so singular shone forth.[[807]] For such a confession, they said, the man who makes it assuredly deserves to be condemned to death. A stake was therefore prepared at Mechlin, and William was burnt alive amidst the lamentations of pious men, who all mourned the death of this Christian martyr.[[808]]
A young man of Naarden, on the Zuyder Zee, not far from Amsterdam, studied at the university of Louvain. Endowed with a certain good nature, lively but not diligent, he voluntarily forsook his studies, disregarded rules, laughed, drank, and spent his money. He returned to Holland and to his father’s house. The influences of home appear to have been salutary, and he began to reflect on his conduct. One day as he was walking near the sea-shore, he suddenly fell down as if he had been struck by lightning, and lay stretched upon the ground. Was this collapse purely physical, or were moral causes in operation? The remembrance of his misdeeds had doubtless something to do with it. The young Dutchman had so completely lost consciousness that the people who ran to his assistance and lifted him up thought that he was dead, and carried the body home. He was laid on a bed, and gradually he came to himself; but he was changed. He felt that the severe blow which the hand of God had struck him was necessary to subdue him to obedience. He was in distress; but the mercy of Christ consoled him, and henceforth he walked uprightly. When he had been cast down, like Paul on the road to Damascus, he had, like him, heard the voice of the Saviour. He diffused light around him, going from place to place preaching the Gospel. These events occurred in 1530. The imperial governor sent him orders to appear at the Hague. He went voluntarily; but he was so simple and so true that he was dismissed. The same thing happened a second time. But on a third occasion he was sent to prison. He excited, however, so much interest in those about him, that they offered him the means of escape. He refused the offer, and was condemned to death. He went quite joyfully to execution, with a heart full of love for God and for men. He was heard singing a hymn to the praise of the Lord who called him to himself by a death which was made sweet to him. He had nothing about him, not even the smallest coin; but, seeing near the scaffold some poor people entirely destitute, he took off with great simplicity his shoes and stockings, and gave these to them.[[809]] The victims of Charles were men of this sort.
Mary Of Hungary.