Produced by David WidgerHISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS 15841609 CompleteFrom the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years TruceVolume IBy John Lothrop MotleyPREFACEThe indulgence with which the History of the Rise of the Dutch Republicwas received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewedindustryA single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increasedproportions which the present work has assumed over the original designThe intimate connection which was formed between the Kingdom of Englandand the Republic of Holland immediately after the death of William theSilent rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for aseason almost identical The years of anxiety and suspense during whichthe great Spanish project for subjugating England and reconquering theNetherlands by the same invasion was slowly matured were of deepestimport for the future destiny of those two countries and for the causeof national liberty The deeplaid conspiracy of Spain and Rome againsthuman rights deserves to be patiently examined for it is one of thegreat lessons of history The crisis was long and doubtful and thehealthperhaps the existenceof England and Holland and with themof a great part of Christendom was on the issueHistory has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come fromsuperstition and despotism and the blessings which flow from themaintenance of religious and political freedom as those afforded by thestruggle between England and Holland on the one side and Spain and Romeon the other during the epoch which I have attempted to describe It isfor this reason that I have thought it necessary to reveal as minutelyas possible the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priestagainst the people and to show how it was baffled at last by the strongselfhelping energy of two free nations combinedThe period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one whencounted by years for it begins in 1584 and ends with the commencement of1590 When estimated by the significance of events and their results forfuture ages it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examinationwhich it has received With the year 1588 the crisis was past Englandwas safe and the new Dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized It ismy design in two additional volumes which with the two now publishedwill complete the present work to carry the history of the Republic downto the Synod of Dort After this epoch the Thirty Years War broke out inGermany and it is my wish at a future day to retrace the history ofthat eventful struggle and to combine with it the civil and militaryevents in Holland down to the epoch when the Thirty Years War and theEighty Years War of the Netherlands were both brought to a close by thePeace of WestphaliaThe materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundantthat it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compasswithout doing injustice to the subject It was desirable to throw fulllight on these prominent points of the history while the law ofhistorical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in thesucceeding portions in which less important objects may be more slightlyindicated That I may not be thought capable of abusing the readersconfidence by inventing conversations speeches or letters I would takethis opportunity of statingalthough I have repeated the remark in thefootnotesthat no personage in these pages is made to write or speakany words save those which on the best historical evidence he is knownto have written or spokenA brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluousI have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles andpamphlets of Holland Flanders Spain France Germany and England butas the authorities are always indicated in the notes it is unnecessaryto give a list of them here But by far my most valuable materials areentirely unpublished onesThe archives of England are especially rich for the history of thesixteenth century and it will be seen in the course of the narrativehow largely I have drawn from those mines of historical wealth the StatePaper Office and the MS department of the British Museum Although boththese great national depositories are in admirable order it is to beregretted that they are not all embraced in one collection as muchtrouble might then be spared to the historical student who is nowobliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other in order tofind different portions of the same correspondenceFrom the royal archives of Holland I have obtained many most importantentirely unpublished documents by the aid of which I have endeavoured toverify to illustrate or sometimes to correct the recitals of the eldernational chroniclers and I have derived the greatest profit from theinvaluable series of Archives and Correspondence of the OrangeNassauFamily given to the world by M Groen van Prinsterer I desire to renewto that distinguished gentleman and to that eminent scholar M Bakhuyzenvan den Brink the expression of my gratitude for their constant kindnessand advice during my residence at the Hague Nothing can exceed thecourtesy which has been extended to me in Holland and I am deeplygrateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate thehistory of the country have been received where that history is bestknownI have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the Archives ofSimancas the originals of which are in the Archives de lEmpire inParis and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindnessof M le Comte de La BordeI have further enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of thewhole correspondence between Philip II his ministers and governorsrelating to the affairs of the Netherlands from the epoch at which thiswork commences down to that monarchs death Copies of thiscorrespondence have been carefully made from the originals at Simancas byorder of the Belgian Government under the superintendence of the eminentarchivist M Gachard who has already published a synopsis or abridgmentof a portion of it in a French translation The translation andabridgment of so large a mass of papers however must necessarily occupymany years and it may be long therefore before the whole of thecorrespondenceand particularly that