Under the circumstances attending this trial, it may seem to have been a waste of time to inquire into the legality of the court which tried the cause, or the regularity of the forms of procedure. The real trial took place, not in Flanders, but in Castile. Who can doubt that, long before the duke of Alva began his march, the doom of the two nobles had been pronounced in the cabinet of Madrid?[1145]
CHAPTER V.
EXECUTION OF EGMONT AND HOORNE.
The Counts removed to Brussels.—Informed of the Sentence.—Procession to the Scaffold.—The Execution.—Character of Egmont.—Fate of his Family.—Sentiment of the People.
1568.
On the second of June, 1568, a body of three thousand men was ordered to Ghent to escort the Counts Egmont and Hoorne to Brussels. No resistance was offered, although the presence of the Spaniards caused a great sensation among the inhabitants of the place, who too well foreboded the fate of their beloved lord.
INFORMED OF THE SENTENCE.
The nobles, each accompanied by two officers, were put into separate chariots. They were guarded by twenty companies of pikemen and arquebusiers; and a detachment of lancers, among whom was a body of the duke's own horse, rode in the van, while another of equal strength protected the rear. Under this strong escort they moved slowly towards Brussels. One night they halted at Dendermonde, and towards evening, on the fourth of the month, entered the capital.[1146] As the martial array defiled through its streets, there was no one, however stout-hearted he might be, says an eye-witness, who[{365}] could behold the funeral pomp of the procession, and listen to the strains of melancholy music, without a feeling of sickness at his heart.[1147]
The prisoners were at once conducted to the Brodhuys, or "Bread-House," usually known as the Maison du Roi,—that venerable pile in the market-place of Brussels, still visited by every traveller for its curious architecture, and yet more as the last resting-place of the Flemish lords. Here they were lodged in separate rooms, small, dark, and uncomfortable, and scantily provided with furniture. Nearly the whole of the force which had escorted them to Brussels was established in the great square, to defeat any attempt at a rescue. But none was made; and the night passed away without disturbance, except what was occasioned by the sound of busy workmen employed in constructing a scaffold for the scene of execution on the following day.[1148]