The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1576-77

The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
1576-77

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1576-77
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Title: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1576-77
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4826] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 26,
2002]

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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1576-77 ***

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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg
Edition, Vol. 26
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1576-1577
By John Lothrop Motley
1855

PART V.
DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.
1576-1577 [
CHAPTER I
.]
Birth and parentage of Don John--Barbara Blomberg--Early education
and recognition by Philip--Brilliant military career--Campaign against
the Moors--Battle of Lepanto--Extravagant ambition--Secret and rapid
journey of the new Governor to the Netherlands--Contrast between Don
John and William of Orange--Secret instructions of Philip and private
purposes of the Governor--Cautious policy and correspondence of the
Prince--Preliminary, negotiations with Don John at Luxemburg
characterized--Union of Brussels--Resumption of negotiations with the
Governor at Huy--The discussions analyzed and

characterized--Influence of the new Emperor Rudolph II. and of his
envoys--Treaty of Marche en Famine, or the Perpetual Edict, signed--
Remarks upon that transaction--Views and efforts of Orange in
opposition to the treaty--His letter, in name of Holland and Zealand, to
the States-General--Anxiety of the royal government to gain over the
Prince--Secret mission of Leoninus--His instructions from Don
John--Fruitless attempts to corrupt the Prince--Secret correspondence
between Don John and Orange--Don John at Louvain--His efforts to
ingratiate himself with the Netherlanders--His incipient
popularity--Departure of the Spanish troops--Duke of Aerschot
appointed Governor of Antwerp citadel--His insincere character.
Don John of Austria was now in his thirty-second year, having been
born in Ratisbon on the 24th of February, 1545. His father was Charles
the Fifth, Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, Dominator of Asia,
Africa, and America; his mother was Barbara Blomberg, washerwoman
of Ratisbon. Introduced to the Emperor, originally, that she might
alleviate his melancholy by her singing, she soon exhausted all that was
harmonious in her nature, for never was a more uncomfortable,
unmanageable personage than Barbara in her after life. Married to one
Pyramus Kegell, who was made a military commissary in the
Netherlands, she was left a widow in the beginning of Alva's
administration. Placed under the especial superintendence of the Duke,
she became the torment of that warrior's life. The terrible Governor,
who could almost crush the heart out of a nation of three millions, was
unable to curb this single termagant. Philip had expressly forbidden her
to marry again, but Alva informed him that she was surrounded by
suitors. Philip had insisted that she should go into a convent, but Alva,
who, with great difficulty, had established her quietly in Ghent, assured
his master that she would break loose again at the bare suggestion of a
convent. Philip wished her to go to Spain, sending her word that Don
John was mortified by the life his mother was leading, but she informed
the Governor that she would be cut to pieces before she would go to
Spain. She had no objection to see her son, but she knew too well how
women were treated in that country. The Duke complained most
pathetically to his Majesty of the life they all led with the ex-mistress
of the Emperor. Never, he frequently observed, had woman so terrible a
head. She was obstinate, reckless, abominably extravagant. She had

been provided in Ghent with a handsome establishment: "with a duenna,
six other women, a major domo, two pages, one chaplain, an almoner,
and four men-servants," and