The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555

The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
1555

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Title: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4803] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 12,
2002]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1555 ***

This etext was produced by David Widger

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an entire meal of them. D.W.]

MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION,
VOLUME 3.
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, D.C.L., LL.D.
1855

PHILIP THE SECOND IN THE NETHERLANDS
1555 [
CHAPTER I
.]
Abdication of Charles resolved upon--Brussels in the sixteenth
century--Hall of the palace described--Portraits of prominent
individuals present at the ceremony--Formalities of the abdication--
Universal emotion--Remarks upon the character and career of Charles
--His retirement at Juste.
On the twenty-fifth day of October, 1555, the estates of the Netherlands
were assembled in the great hall of the palace at Brussels. They had
been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the
abdication which Charles V. had long before resolved upon, and which
he was that day to execute. The emperor, like many potentates before

and since, was fond of great political spectacles. He knew their
influence upon the masses of mankind. Although plain, even to
shabbiness, in his own costume, and usually attired in black, no one
ever understood better than he how to arrange such exhibitions in a
striking and artistic style. We have seen the theatrical and imposing
manner in which he quelled the insurrection at Ghent, and nearly
crushed the life forever out of that vigorous and turbulent little
commonwealth. The closing scene of his long and energetic reign he
had now arranged with profound study, and with an accurate
knowledge of the manner in which the requisite effects were to be
produced. The termination of his own career, the opening of his
beloved Philip's, were to be dramatized in a manner worthy the august
character of the actors, and the importance of the great stage where they
played their parts. The eyes of the whole world were directed upon that
day towards Brussels; for an imperial abdication was an event which
had not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom.
The gay capital of Brabant--of that province which rejoiced in the
liberal constitution known by the cheerful title of the "joyful entrance,"
was worthy to be the scene of the imposing show. Brussels had been a
city for more than five centuries, and, at that day, numbered about one
hundred thousand inhabitants. Its walls, six miles in circumference,
were already two hundred years old. Unlike most Netherland cities,
lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built along the sides of an
abrupt promontory. A wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated
gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea. The
foot of the town was washed by the little river Senne, while the
irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep sides of the hill like
the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. Nearly in the heart of
the place rose the audacious and exquisitely embroidered tower of the
townhouse, three hundred and sixty-six feet in height, a miracle of
needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate carving the cobweb tracery
of that lace which has for centuries been synonymous with the city, and
rearing itself above a facade of profusely decorated and brocaded
architecture. The crest of the elevation was crowned by the towers of
the old ducal palace of Brabant, with its extensive and