The Revolt of The Netherlands, book 4 | Page 2

is necessary where all eyes
at once declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is
scarcely uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows
what, the furious band rushes onwards. The smiling prosperity of the
hostile religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the
authorized temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief; every
cross they set up upon the highway, every image of the saints that they
meet, is a trophy erected over their own humiliation, and they all must
be removed by their avenging hands. Fanaticism suggests these
detestable proceedings, but base passions carry them into execution.
1566. The commencement of the attack on images took place in West
Flanders and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea. A frantic
herd of artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes, beggars,
vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number, furnished with
clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only were provided

with swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical fury, into the
villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the gates of
such churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow everywhere
the altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and trample them
under foot. With their excitement increased by its indulgence, and
reinforced by newcomers, they press on by the direct road to Ypres,
where they can count on the support of a strong body of Calvinists.
Unopposed, they break into the cathedral, and mounting on ladders
they hammer to pieces the pictures, hew down with axes the pulpits and
pews, despoil the altars of their ornaments, and steal the holy vessels.
This example was quickly followed in Menin, Comines, Verrich, Lille,
and Oudenard; in a few days the same fury spreads through the whole
of Flanders. At the very time when the first tidings of this occurrence
arrived Antwerp was swarming with a crowd of houseless people,
which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had brought together in
that city. Even the presence of the Prince of Orange was hardly
sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned to imitate the
doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from the court which
summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just assembling her
council of state, in order to lay before them the royal letters, obliged
him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band. His departure
was the signal for tumult. Apprehensive of the lawless violence of
which, on the very first day of the festival, the mob had given
indications in derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying about the
image of the Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety to the choir,
without, as formerly, setting it up in the middle of the church. This
incited some mischievous boys from among the people to pay it a visit
there, and jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented herself from
among them? Others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the preacher, and
challenged the papists to a dispute. A Roman Catholic waterman,
indignant at this jest, attempted to pull them down, and blows were
exchanged in the preacher's seat. Similar scenes occurred on the
following evening. The numbers increased, and many came already
provided with suspicious implements and secret weapons. At last it
came into the head of one of them to cry, "Long live the Gueux!"
immediately the whole band took up the cry, and the image of the
Virgin was called upon to do the same. The few Roman Catholics who

were present, and who had given up the hope of effecting anything
against these desperadoes, left the church after locking all the doors
except one. So soon as they found themselves alone it was proposed to
sing one of the psalms in the new version, which was prohibited by the
government. While they were yet singing they all, as at a given signal,
rushed furiously upon the image of the Virgin, piercing it with swords
and daggers, and striking off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the
great wax-lights from the altar, and lighted them to the work. The
beautiful organ of the church, a masterpiece of the art of that period,
was broken to pieces, all the paintings were effaced, the statues
smashed to atoms. A crucifix, the size of life, which was set up
between the two thieves, opposite the high altar, an ancient and highly
valued piece of workmanship, was pulled to the ground with cords, and
cut to pieces with axes, while the two malefactors at its side were
respectfully spared. The holy wafers were strewed on the ground and
trodden under foot; in the wine used for the Lord's Supper, which was
accidentally found there, the health