Texts concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands

19 The prince of Orange to Count John of Nassau, Dordrecht, 7 May 1574 ¹

This letter from the prince of Orange to his brother John was intercepted; only in 1593 did it fall into the hands of John's son William Louis, who sent it to prince Maurice. John of Nassau (born 1536), the prince's eldest brother, left the army to fetch money from Cologne some days before it was crushed in the battle of Mook on 14 April 1574.

Monsieur my brother, the last day of last month I received your letters of the 25th inst. and was very sad to hear that, despite your great diligence, you have not succeeded in getting reliable information about the lot of His Highness duke Christopher or of my brothers.² In truth great injustice is done to you as well as to me, if their death is being concealed from us - if indeed the Lord God decided to let them die. I wish to assure you that this secrecy has done more harm than good to our cause and I personally have been much blamed for it, because all those who ask me about it, think that I conceal the truth from them because I feel uneasy about the future and, suspecting that this is the reason, every one talks of it as they list, and the greater number of them think that the situation is entirely hopeless because their death is kept a secret. I confess to you that

1 Groen van Prinsterer ed., Archives ou Correspondance inédite de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, le série, iv, pp. 385ff.

2 Christopher, son of the Elector Palatine Frederick III, Louis of Nassau (born 1538) and Henry of Nassau (born 1550) were all three killed in the battle of Mook, where Sancho d'Avila with his Spanish troops was victorious. The Spaniards had been forced temporarily to raise the siege of Leyden to counter the invasion by Louis of Nassau and his men.

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I could regret nothing more, though it is true that we always have to conform to the will of God and respect His divine providence and trust, that He who spilled the blood of His only son to maintain His church, will do only what will redound to the progress of His glory and maintenance of His church, though it seems impossible. And even if all of us should die, and all poor people should be massacred and pursued, we must be assured that God will never forsake His flock. We now see a most memorable example of that in France. After so many seigniors, nobles and other persons of various condition, age and sex were massacred³ that every one thought that was the end and that all those of the religion and the religion itself would be entirely extirpated, we see that nevertheless they now hold their heads higher than ever, and that the king⁴ is involved in more troubles and unpleasant difficulties than before. We must hope that the Lord God whose arm stretches far, may use His power and pity on us.

Now, to change the subject and to let you know the state of affairs here since the recent defeat. You may rest assured that all the people of these provinces have been very much frightened by it. They see that our enemies have taken such heart, that they intend to invade this country with all their forces - which they can easily and, humanly speaking, without endangering themselves, use for this purpose. They are not at all mistaken about this, for no nation in the world rejoices more at good tidings or is more dejected by some mishap. They are so bewildered now that they do not know what to do, or where to begin. They think that all is completely lost and that no help whatever is available. Moreover, it unfortunately so happened that the new governor had, as I understood, issued a very ample pardon pardoning everyone with only fourteen or fifteen exceptions.⁵ You may imagine that because of such perplexing events and set-backs there will be many here who will go so far as to accept this pardon or at least will be more unwilling to do what is necessary to put matters right. To prevent all difficulties, we need to think of some suitable means of comforting them. You may rest assured that I for my part will do my duty to the utmost of my ability, as I have done so far, foreseeing clearly that, if this country should one day be lost and brought back under the yoke and the tyranny of the Spaniards, the true religion will be gravely endangered in all other countries and may even humanly speaking be uprooted for ever leaving not the least vestige. In time the Germans will realise what damage has been done, as will the English who,

3 St Bartholomew's Eve 24 August 1572.

4 Charles IX (died 30 May 1574).

5 The new governor, Requesens (since November 1573) issued this pardon on 6 June 1574. About 300 persons were excluded from it.

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awaiting the outcome of events in our country, have always wanted to proceed with what they consider great caution,⁶ and the poor French, who have so readily taken up arms again for the sake of religion will find themselves in even greater perplexity, for if this country is lost (which God forbid) it is to be feared that the king of France will conclude a new alliance with the king of Spain, in order to extirpate this religion at one blow if they can. For my part I am of the opinion that the kings of France and of Poland pretended to favour and help us,⁷ because they feared that Duke Christopher and my brothers would join those of the religion in France, rather than because they felt well-disposed towards us. But however this may be, we have to find some way of getting assistance, the more so as in the long run we cannot hold out nor bear such great expenses. This makes me beg you with all the affection I have for you, to apply all your wits to finding some suitable remedy. In my opinion the best thing would be for the princes of Germany to advance a considerable sum of money to enlist sufficient foot as well as horse and to negotiate meanwhile with the king of France on this basis: His Majesty should come to a firm accord with his subjects, permitting them free exercise of their religion in all security: He should then turn his forces, with those of the king of Poland and those of the Protestants, against the king of Spain; the troops raised in Germany will also come to his aid and assistance. This can be done safely because the king of Spain would not suspect that such a levy was to be raised against him to further the objectives of the king of France. To encourage the king of France, the princes of Germany may promise him that, when he grants his subjects the right to exercise their religion freely, they will form a league with him to help and defend him against all those who may outrage and attack him for this reason. On the other hand it seems to me this country might well be induced to put itself entirely under the protection, institutions and ordinances of the Holy Empire, contributing as many as three electors⁸ and forming a league with the Hanseatic towns if that is thought useful; or maybe you know some other solution. For I must confess to you frankly that I am so perplexed by such a great multitude of affairs and by grief and melancholy too, because

6 Queen Elizabeth had since 1572 stood aloof from the revolt in the Netherlands.

7 Henry of Anjou was chosen king of Poland in 1573. Shortly afterwards he succeeded his brother Charles, king of France, who died in May 1574.

8 When the Netherlands were united in the Burgundian circle by the emperor, Charles V, in 1548, it was stipulated that they should contribute as much to the ordinary taxes of the empire as two electors but in case of war with the Turks as much as three. Such a contribution amounted to a share of three per cent.

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of the loss of His Highness Duke Christopher and my brothers, whom I firmly believe to be dead, that I hardly know what I do, and yet since this has been the will of God, we have to bear it patiently...

As to money, the States now assembled, have granted me the sum of 150,000 guilders a month, for six months or for as long as necessary. This is truly a good and considerable sum and I am surprised that after so many sackings and losses, the country can still scrape it up. But notwithstanding this, when I weigh the expenses against it, I think we still have far too little. The ordinary expenses which we have to bear if we want to defend the country are so enormous that I see very little chance of providing for extraordinary wants, if we don't find some one to come to our aid. In this connection I recollect that I told you some time ago, that we could defend this country against all the forces of the king of Spain for two years, but that then we would inevitably need help, unless God can defend the country without any help, as He has done so far. But I speak in human terms. As the two years will soon have expired, it is high time that some princes and potentates offered to assist us, and if there is no one willing and if for lack of help we are lost, in the name of God, so be it! It will always be said to our honour that we have done what no other nation has done before us, to wit, we have defended and maintained ourselves in such a small country against the great and horrible assaults of mighty enemies without any help. And if the poor inhabitants here, foresaken by every one, persevere despite everything, as they have done till now, and as I hope they continue to do, and if God does not wish to punish and ruin us entirely, it will cost the Spaniards half of Spain in goods as well as in men, before they have finished with us.