Texts concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands

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29 Second Union of Brussels, 10 December 1577 ¹

The Second Union of Brussels was concluded by the States General when they entrusted Archduke Matthias with the governorship. The unity of all the provinces of the Netherlands in their fight against Don John appeared to be restored.

We the undersigned, prelates, clergymen, seigniors, noblemen, judges, magistrates of the towns and rural districts and others who constitute and represent the States of the Netherlands now assembled in this town of Brussels, and others who owe obedience to the most exalted, powerful and illustrious prince, Philip, king of Spain, our prince and lord, make the following known to every one now and for the future.

We declare that we have never wished anything more ardently than the restoration in these Netherlands of unity, lasting peace and quiet after so much distress and calamities of war. After the conclusion and acceptance of the Pacification of Ghent a concord, alliance and union was conceived and ratified to confirm and corroborate the Pacification yet further and to join the hearts of the inhabitants in so close a union and alliance,² that there should no longer be any room for any suspicion that new discord should arise. To forestall possible calumnies on the part of our adversaries and of malevolent people who try to make all the world accuse and denigrate us as if our Pacification proceeded from a desire to change our state and religion as well as our prince, we stated in that alliance that it was our intention to maintain the Roman Catholic religion as well as the obedience due to the king our lord, all this in accordance with the terms of the Pacification of Ghent, which His Majesty himself has since sanctioned and ratified.³

However, much to our regret it came about that some people, ill-disposed towards their own fatherland and wishing to aggrandise themselves at the expense and to the detriment of the poor people,⁴ instead of

1 De Blécourt-Japikse, Klein Plakkaatboek, pp. 118ff.

2 The First Union of 9 January 1577, Document 24.

3 Philip had ratified the Perpetual Edict concluded by Don John and thus accepted the Pacification.

4 Don John's supporters after his action at Namur of 24 July (Berlaymont and his son were among them).

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taking our intention and declaration in good part and uniting with us, as they had solemnly bound themselves, to drive out the common enemy, have tried to conceal their malevolence under cover of these two points: the Roman Catholic religion and the obedience due to the king. To give some semblance of reason to their iniquitous pretensions and greed they laid their own crime at our door and accused us most unjustly of having been the first to violate our promise. They did not content themselves with taking up arms against their own fatherland; they also tried and are still trying everyday to lead astray the most zealous patriots, together with devoted adherents of the Roman Catholic religion and other ill-informed people. They hide behind these two points, saying that the States allow these points to be infringed in defiance of the terms of the Pacification of Ghent and the ensuing Union. Their purpose is to induce them by these false imputations to side with them and to sow new dissension and discord among these provinces. Thus they hope to get the better of the people and at the price of total ruin to be able to give free rein to their iniquitous greed.

When it was seen that both the ill-informed inhabitants and those who turned out to have little difficulty in finding a show of reason and plausibility to conceal their own schemes, were approached with such arguments, several even among people most devoted to the well-being and peace of the country have become somewhat suspicious and distrustful although they themselves could not be enforced to adhere to the Roman Catholic religion because this was explicitly forbidden by the Pacification of Ghent.⁵ They thought that the said First Union of Brussels might in fact have been intended to deceive them and to hamper them with a network of obligations contrary to the Pacification of Ghent. As a result of this, several persons shrank back from this first Union and alliance, which therefore did not have the effect and the fruits that we had wished and hoped for. This is why we now want to make it clear to every one that our intention has always been and is still to maintain, observe and confirm the Pacification of Ghent in all sincerity in each of its points and, according to the terms contained in it, to defend, to guarantee and to maintain the Roman Catholic religion, together with the obedience and loyalty legitimately due to our prince and lord the king of Spain. For the sake of greater assurance and to dispel all feelings of distrust, we decided to make this declaration and to make known to all that our intention has never been nor is at present to infringe, violate or diminish in any way the Pacification of Ghent or to oppress, hurt or damage contrary to it those

5 The provinces of Holland and Zeeland.

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who, having abandoned the Roman Catholic religion, have joined us and united with us in the Pacification. For their part the adherents of the new religion declare that it has not been nor is their intention to violate, oppress or damage the adherents of the Roman Catholic religion or violently to prevent or to disturb its exercise. All of us want to live in friendship and union with each other according to the terms of the Pacification, and unanimously and with the same zeal we wish to use all our means and powers, even at the risk of our lives, to resist the efforts of the enemies of our common fatherland and to cut across the projects of all those who, under whatever colour and pretext, unreasonably and iniquitously take up arms to oppress and violate our ancient privileges, rights and liberties and to bring us under the yoke of foreign enslavement.

To this end we swear and promise each other, calling the sovereign God to witness, to enforce and to observe what we have declared above and to see to it that it is also observed by others, in total fidelity and sincere loyalty without deceit and malignity, and to maintain, to guarantee and to defend each other to the best of our ability in this righteous and holy strife. We who adhere to the Roman Catholic religion therefore promise and swear that we shall not permit or suffer any plots or attempts to be made against those, who have abandoned the Roman Catholic religion and are united with us in this Pacification, of whatever rank, condition or province they may be. Nor shall we allow them to be injured, molested or disturbed in any way because of their religion. Rather we shall permit them to live in peace under the Pacification of Ghent.⁶ We shall take them under our care and protection according to the most generous possible interpretation of the Pacification, without fraud or malignity or chicanery or similar subterfuges or deceit. Reciprocally we who have abandoned the Roman Catholic religion promise and solemnly swear, that we shall make no attempts against the Roman Catholic religion and its exercise, nor shall we injure or disturb any one in any way because of it in word or deed nor scandalise them. We shall ensure that no one shall hinder, or order others to hinder, or disturb in any way, or molest or annoy Roman Catholics or obstruct the exercise of their religion, their services and ceremonies. All of us will be bound to defend and guarantee to clergy as well as laymen their Roman Catholic religion and its exercise and their estates, dignities, honours, privileges and possessions, without suffering any wrong, injury or disturbance to be laid upon them in any manner whatsoever. In general we shall to the best of our ability maintain the ancient

6 See the treaty of the Pacification, Document 23.

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privileges and customs, rights and usages of our common fatherland, its provinces and private inhabitants. And everyone of us shall re-establish and restore, maintain and make people maintain and restore, to the best of our ability all the privileges, both the general and the special ones, which can with perfect justice and right be proved to be valid irrespective of whether they were taken away by force or violence or lost through misfortune. And in order to confirm and maintain this with greater certainty and efficiency and to avoid in future all discord and division, which might arise in default of a commander-in-chief, we promise and swear to accept provisionally, until otherwise ordained by His Majesty and the States General, the archduke, Matthias, of Austria as lieutenant-governor and captain-general for His Majesty in these Netherlands. We shall obey him in accordance with the conditions and articles which the States will put before him and about which we shall come to an agreement together.⁷ He will ratify these by solemn oath and at the same time swear and promise to maintain, ratify and approve of this association and union and to keep it firm and stable, and he will swear and promise not to infringe or violate it in any way either in general or in any of its points and articles.

Thus concluded and resolved upon in the assembly of the States General at Brussels, 10 December 1577.

7 See Document 28.