Texts concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands

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11 The prince of Orange's warning to the inhabitants and subjects of the Netherlands, 1 September 1568 ¹

The Warning of the prince of Orange appeared when the prince, a refugee from the Netherlands since April 1567, was preparing to invade Brabant with the help of troops levied in Germany. The invasion actually took place in October.

Firstly, we would remind you of something that is clear to every one, that the Netherlands have always been ruled and reigned over by their princes and overlords with all gentleness, right and reason and wholly in accordance with their freedoms, rights, customs, traditions and privileges, which have always been observed there and were obtained in former times from emperors, kings, dukes, counts and seigniors by the inhabitants of the country, great friends and supporters of their liberty and enemies to all violence and oppression. The princes as well as the subjects of the country have always had to commit themselves by a formal contract and to swear a solemn oath that they would maintain these rights and realise them. The inhabitants therefore owe obedience to the rulers only on condition that the freedoms are maintained - and it should be added that respect for the privileges brought our dear fatherland all that power, richness and prosperity which one found there in the past.

Neither can it be denied, since it is so plain and definite, that for over fifty years since the time when the countries of Spain came by marriage together with the Netherlands under one sovereign² some grandees of Spain have been intent on somehow obtaining power to govern and tyrannise over so prosperous a country as they do elsewhere. And though the freedoms and privileges of the Netherlands always meant that their attempts failed, nevertheless they did not cease to be on the watch for opportunities to mislead the benevolent prince so completely that ultimately they would achieve their aim. It is also only too obvious that

1 Verantwoordinge, verklaringhe ende waerschowinghe des Princen van Oraengien, ed. M.G. Schenk (Amsterdam, 1933), pp. 120ff.

2 The marriage of Philip the Fair with Joanna of Aragon in 1496. She became heiress to the Spanish throne through the deaths of her brother and elder sisters.

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Cardinal Granvelle and his adherents took an unfair advantage of the faith of the trustful and good prince and, seeking only to rule and dominate the Low Countries completely in order to satisfy their ambition, avarice and other passions, proposed all those leagues, practices and strange innovations that were to serve as means utterly to enslave the conscience, persons and possessions of the whole population, nay to rob them of all their freedoms, rights and privileges. Of course all this was given the appearance of holy zeal and said to be done in the name of religion as well as of the majesty and service of the king, but in reality it was greatly to the disservice of God, the king and the country. It was to this end that so many strange innovations, cruel persecutions, bloody edicts, an unbearable inquisition, the supersession of the bishops, the capture of the abbeys,³ the proclamation of the regulations of the council,⁴ cruel executions of the Christians and more unheard of inventions against the freedom of the country and the will of the people were proposed and executed.

We and other seigniors and brethren who sought and are seeking only to serve God, the king and the country well and continually and to further the freedom and prosperity of subjects and inhabitants, protested several times and showed how wrong all this was. We have always said that it is better to act with gentleness than with severity and we think that it is better and more reasonable to keep promises than to break them and to violate oaths. For these reasons the cardinal and his adherents and those who collaborated with him in Spain not only conceived a great hatred and unjustified envy for us, but also contrived to obscure and to distort the truth with false and deceitful practices and denunciations so that the gracious king, ill-informed about all these matters, thought that our loyal advice, actions and services originated from ambition and that his good loyal subjects were rebellious, disobedient and refractory (though this was quite untrue). Thus they succeeded in being allowed to proceed at discretion, which was what they had desired for so long.

It is clear that the inquisitions, executions, mandates, persecutions, innovations and proposals of the cardinal and his men (usurping on the powers not only of the governess but also of the king) damaged and harmed the country very much and alarmed, drove away, robbed and killed a very large number of the inhabitants. At the same time they impaired and hindered the old customary freedom. Nevertheless we see

3 See Document 6, note 9. Abbeys were incorporated into the new bishoprics in order to ensure the latter sufficient revenues.

4 The decrees of the Council of Trent.

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nowadays with great heart-ache, and it is to be feared that if God does not help us - what we trust He will do and what we are preparing ourselves for to the utmost of our ability - we may see on an even larger scale, how greatly and grievously all the afore-mentioned innovations, proposals, oppressions, inquisitions, persecutions, murders, seizures, executions and tyrannies have increased and multiplied, and how totally inhuman they have become since the duke (in name of the king and shielding himself with the king's authority) arrived here with his Spanish soldiers.⁵ And we also see how these countries have fallen from the greatest prosperity into the utmost misery, how the worthy inhabitants who enjoyed freedom in former times have been brought into unbearable slavery and how piteously the privileges and rights of the country together with the religion of God are lying there oppressed and destroyed.

5 The duke of Alva arrived at Brussels on 22 August 1567.