Fighting Veres Sir Francis Vere Lord Horace Vere Roger Vere Edward Vere [Son of Edward de Vere] The Magnificent Seven of Ten Fighting Veres houseofvere.com

"The Fighting Veres.": Lives of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere, Generals of the Queen's Forces in the Low Countries... (1888)
Vere family a Military Order or Warrior Family often called the Fighting Veres
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LIVES OF SIR FRANCIS VERE, GENERAL OF THE QUEEN'S FORCES IN THE LOW COUNTRIES, GOVERNOR OF THE BRILL AND OF PORTSMOUTH AND OF SIR HORACE VERE, GENERAL OF THE ENGLISH FORCES IN THE LOW COUNTRIES, GOVERNOR OF THE BRILL, MASTER-GENERAL OF ORDNANCE, AND BARON VERE OF TILBURY CLEMENTS R.^ MARKHAM AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE OF THE GREAT LORD FAIRFAX" LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON, LIMITED &t. hmstan'g C'ous'e FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E. C. M DCCC LXXXVIII PREFACE. THE war of independence in the Netherlands had a lasting influence on the formation of opinion in England. It thus led to the civil war in defence of the liberties of the old country, and to the founding of colonies in America. Queen Elizabeth declared that the people of the Netherlands were justified in resisting the tyranny of rulers who infringed and attempted to subvert their rights and liberties. She made war on the tyrant, and espoused the cause of the oppressed people. Englishmen received the declaration of their Queen with enthusiasm. During upwards of sixty years they continued to cross the sea and to fight for the cause of freedom. There was scarcely a man in England who had not either served himself, or known a relation or neighbor who had been in the wars. During that period of sixty years the colonies were founded in America. There was cause and effect. The whole generation imbibed and imparted to their posterity a zeal for popular rights which tended to awaken that traditional love of freedom which is the inheritance of English-speak- ing people. We see the results in the resistance IV PREFACE. to monopolies during the last year of the Queen's reign, in the rise of a parliamentary opposition to James I., in the foundation of the New England colonies, in the resistance to the tyranny of Charles I., in the overthrow of his attempt to establish a despotism on the plan conceived by Strafford, and in the final triumph of constitutional freedom. It is these results, flowing from the struggle against Spain, which gives importance to the record of Eng- lish military service in the Low Countries. Among those who became famous in the course of that mem- orable enterprise, the names of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere stand foremost. The story of their lives covers the whole period of the war of indepen- dence. While others came and went, the Veres remained steadfastly at their posts, devoted their lives to the cause, and saw their work completed. Placing the sense of duty above all other motives, they were examples of that type of conscientious public servants which is met with most frequently among English-speaking people. Sir Francis Vere is the first great English general in modern history. He founded a school which was further developed by his brother Horace. In that school were formed those distinguished leaders who fought out the war between Charles I. and the Par- liament of England. In the same school were formed those military advisers who accompanied the lovers of freedom to colonize America. The posterity of PREFACE. V both the great branches of the English folk, of that in America as of that in the old country, ought there- fore to know the story of the " fighting Veres." I have attempted, in the following pages, to write a connected narrative of the life-work of the two brothers. But the work is mainly devoted to the biography of Sir Francis Vere, for his brother served with him for many years, so that the two lives are included in one story. The later chapters relate the events in the life of Sir Horace subsequent to his brother's death. It was during this period that the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from Delftshaven ; and I have referred to that great event in the chapter which includes the twelve years' truce. While condensing the portions referring to general history, my endeavor has been, with the materials I have succeeded in collecting, to convey a clear idea of the military events in which the Veres were con- cerned. Special attention has been given to descrip- tions of the localities. The story of the lives of the two generals includes diplomatic as well as military service and private or family history. The allusions to the general course of events are only intended to make the narrative clear and intelligible ; my object being to present the lives of the men themselves, rather than to write a history of their times. The materials for these biographies are to be found in the numerous reports and letters preserved in the British State Paper Office, in the British Vi PREFACE. Museum, and at Hatfield. These materials include 227 letters from Sir Francis Vere, besides many from Sir Horace. Some of the military actions are de- scribed by Sir Francis himself in his published Com- mentaries, and these descriptions have been collated with the accounts of the same events in letters writ- ten long before, by himself and by other officers. The works of Strada, Meteren, and Grimeston, of Bentivoglio, Carnero, and Herrera, generally give full accounts of the events described in letters of the Veres and other English officers, frequently supplying additional information, and almost always yielding corroborative testimony. These histories, together with Prinsterer's letters of the House of Orange, have been consulted in the preparation of an account of each action in the Netherlands ; while Camden, Stow, Wilson, Hexham, Monson's Tracts, and docu- ments in Hakluyt, have been my authorities for other parts of the narrative. There are voluminous mate- rials for a history of the Vere family. A more com- plete note on the sources of information will be found in an appendix. I received much valuable assistance, in my re- searches respecting the home and ancestry of the Veres, from the late Mr. Ashurst Majendie of Castle Hedingham, Major Barnardiston of the Ryes, and Mr. Ambrose of Mistley Manor, as well as from the late Mr. Stephen Tucker, Somerset Herald, and the late Colonel Chester. To the latter accomplished Amer- PREFACE. vii ican genealogist I owe the particulars respecting the wife of Sir Francis Vere, her family and marriage, as well as numerous notes of Vere entries in parish registers. I have personally visited and carefully examined the localities of all the sieges and battles in which the Veres were engaged, and in these re- searches I owe much to the kindness of Commodore Jansen of the Hague, and of M. Arnold van Tets, 1 who supplied me with letters of introduction, and assisted me in procuring old maps and plans, and in other ways. I have also to thank the Marquis of Salisbury for allowing me to examine the letters having reference to my subject, which are preserved at Hatfield, and for giving me a copy of Captain Docwra's account of the battle of Turnhout. The only two previous biographies of the Veres were written without reference to the letters in the State Paper Office and at Hatfield, or to other manu- scripts. The best will be found in the Biographia Britannica. The other, by Mr. Gleig, is mainly copTed from it. I now venture to submit to Ameri- can readers this new attempt to supply what I believe to be a desideratum in their national history. The proclamation of Queen Elizabeth in 1585 was the forerunner of the Declaration of American Indepen- dence. The lives of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere include events which aroused the spirit of American colonization. 1 Now the Netherlands minister at Constantinople. CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE . . . iii PART I. SIR FRANCIS VERE. CHAPTER I. THE VERES i II. THE HOME OF THE VERES 11 III. BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERB 18 IV. THE THEATRE OF WAR 28 V. THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS 4? VI. THE ART MILITARY 53 VII. OPENING OF THE WAR 67 VIII. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN 83 IX. SLUYS 100 X. BERGEN-OP-ZOOM Ii; XI. RESIGNATION OF LORD WILLOUGHBY .... 135 XII. SIR FRANCIS VERB IN CHIEF COMMAND. Relief of Rhein- berg 144 XIII. BREDA, AND THE EXPEDITION INTO WESTPHALIA . . 158 XIV. ZUTPHEN AND DEVENTER. THE BATTLE IN THE BETUWE. NYMF.GFN. STEENWYCK. COERVORDEN .... 170 XV. SIEGES OF GERTRUYDENBURG AND GRONINGEN . . 187 XVI. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES AND PRIVATE AFFAIRS. DEATH OF ROBERT VERE 198 II. CADIZ 217 XVIII. THE ISLAND VOYAGE 236 XIX. BATTLE OF TURNHOUT 254 XX. THE BOMMEL-WAART 263 XXI. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT .... 278 XXII. THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT 296 XXIII. THE SIEGE OF OSTEND 306 Xxvi X CONTENTS. XXIV. DEATH OF THE QUEEN, AND RESIGNATION OF SIR FRANCIS VERB 333 XXV. MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF SIR FRANCIS VERB . . 351 PART II. SIR HORACE VERE. I. THE RECOVERY OF SLUYS, AND THE BATTLE OF MULHEIM . 364 II. MARRIAGE OF SIR HORACE VERE. His YOUNG RELATIONS. THE PILGRIM FATHERS. DEATH OF BARNEVELDT . . 379 III. THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE 394 IV. DEATH OF JOHN VERE. SIEGE OF BPEDA BY SPINOLA. CRE- ATION OF LORD VERE OF TILBURY 421 V. MARRIAGES OF DAUGHTERS. SIEGES OF BOIS-LE-DUC AND MAASTRICHT. NOTICE OF HENRY HEXHAM . ' . . . 433 VI. DEATH OF LORD VERE. CONCLUSION 451 APPENDIX. A. NOTE RESPECTING THE STORY TOLD TO THE DISPARAGEMENT OF AN EARL OF OXFORD, IN FROISSART 461 B. NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES 464 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAITS. PAGE SIR FRANCIS VERB. From a print by Faithorne . . Frontispiece HORACE LORD VERE. By Cornelius Jansen . . . . 364 MAPS. THE THEATRE OF WAR 32 SOUTH BEVELAND 46 THE SIEGE OF SLUYS 100 SLUYS 104 BERGEN-OP-ZOOM 122 THE SIEGE OF BERGEN-OP-ZOOM 128 RHEINBERG AND ADJACENT COUNTRY 152 BREDA 162 GRONIXGEN 192 THE COUNTRY ABOUT WESEL 212 CADIZ 224 THE FIELD OF TURNHOUT . . 256 THE BOMMEL-WAART 272 NlEUPORT AND ADJACENT COUNTRY 282 OSTEND 310 THE FIELD OF THE PALATINATE 402 BOIS-LE-DUC AND MAASTRICHT 436 THE FIGHTING VERES. PART I. SIR FRANCIS VERE. CHAPTER I. THE VERES. THE English people took an active part in the great war for freedom during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their rulers sometimes held aloof and sometimes assisted with money and troops ; but the cause was one which moved the people, and their support was always given, warmly and heartily, to their neighbors in the glorious fight for liberty. Whether the government gave its countenance or whether it forbore, there were Englishmen fighting side by side with Dutch patriots from first to last. In that fight no two names are so conspicuous as those of Francis and Horace Vere. The brother warriors stand out prominently as the representatives of their race in the great fight for freedom. They never faltered, never grew weary, but faithfully and loyally devoted their lives to a cause which is dear to all English-speaking people. The noblest and most ancient house in the baron- age of England was falling from its greatness, and would soon be extinct. But, in the last two genera- 2 THE FIGHTING VERES. tions, it produced a company of able and gallant soldiers whose deeds alone entitle the family to ven- eration. No less than ten Veres crossed the seas to fi<rht in the cause of freedom. Five were slain in O battle. Two became great generals, whose lives should ever be had in remembrance, because their record is the record of deeds that form a part, and no unimportant part, of the history of their race. It is quite true that the two brothers, Francis and Horace, " brought more glory to the name of Vere than they took blood from the family." 1 Yet the characters of men are influenced by the race from which they spring, and by the traditions of the land where they are born. Hence it is necessary that the story of their lives should be preceded by an account of their family and of the country in which they were born and bred. The family of Veres, Earls of Oxford, was one of the most ancient and noble in England. Dating from A. D. 1137, the earldom continued in an un- broken succession of twenty earls until 1703, a period of nearly six hundred years. They inter- married with Bigods and Canteloupes, Clares and De Quinceys, Uffords and Mortimers, Scropes and Howards, Nevilles and Courtenays, all the most his- torical families of the country. They succeeded to five baronies of Bolebec, 2 Sanford, 3 Badlesmere, Scales, and Plaiz ; and they were hereditary Grand Chamberlains of England. 1 Sir Robert Naunton. ony of the realm. The family held 2 The eldest son used the title their dignity and estates not per of Lord Bolebec. baroniam, but by sergeanty of the 8 But Dugdale and Nicolas do Queen's bed - chamber. Banks' not admit that Sanford was a bar- Stemmata Anglicans, p. 247. THE VERES. 3 They were originally Danes from the Cotentin of Normandy, if we adopt the most probable opinion and set aside the fictions of earlier antiquaries. 1 The Cotentin, comprising the modern department of La Manche, was ceded to the Duke of Normandy by Alan of Brittany, in 936 A. D., when there was a considerable migration of the original Celtic inhab- itants, so that it was one of the districts which became most thoroughly Norman. William Longsword is said to have admitted a fresh Danish colony into his newly acquired province of Coutances ; and when Harald Blaatand, the Danish king, after settling the affairs of the duchy, and acting as a faithful friend to the young duke, returned to his northern realm, many of his followers remained behind in the Coten- tin. 2 It was not long before these Danish settlers had to defend their homes against a devastating in- vasion. In 996 A. D., King ^thelred of England sent an army to burn and destroy, which landed 1 Leland gives a fictitious de- manor held under the superior scent of Vere from Milo, Duke of manor of Gavray. There are Aungiers, a brother-in-law of many deeds, noticed in the Trans- Charlemagne. Collins repeats the actions of the Society of Antiqua- Leland fable. Percival Golding ries of Normandy, to which de (Harl.MSS., 4189) supplies a de- Veres are parties. There is a tailed pedigree which shows the letter, dated 1271, from William descent of the Veres from Serug, de Ver to Odon, Bishop of Bayeux, the great-grandfather of Abraham, confirming a grant ; also the sale Later genealogists have suggested of the manor of St. Sauveur in that the Veres came from Veere 1301, by Benoulf de Ver. See a in the Island of Walcheren, mere- paper by Mr. Ashurst Majendie ly from the similarity in the spell- in the Proceedings of the Essex ing of the two names. M. de A rchceological Society, Part I. vol. Gerville, of the Society of Anti- i. p. 75. quaries of Normandy, was of opin- 2 Freeman's Norman Conquest, ion that the Veres came from the i. pp. 185, 190, 215. village of Ver, near Coutances, a 4 THE FIGHTING VERES. near Coutances ; but the men of the country smote the invaders with a great slaughter, and their fleet returned discomfited. 1 These formidable Danish settlers were ruled over by Neal de St. Sauveur, whose castle was a few miles south of Valognes, and who was Viscount of Cou- tances. His knights were the ancestors of many of our English nobles. The two rivers Soulles and Syenne flow through the most beautiful valleys of the Cotentin, and fall into the Havre de Regneville, opposite the Island of Jersey. Courcy and the old city of Coutances are on the Soulles. The Syenne rises near the village of Percy, and flows northward by the Abbey of Hamlye, through the forest of Gavray, and by the village and castle of Ver, to the Regneville estuary. All this is now a country of rich meads and hills and valleys, of orchards and small fields of pasture and buckwheat, with well- timbered hedgerows and glorious views of distant wooded hills. At the ruined Abbey of Hamlye, a picturesque old stone bridge crosses the Syenne, with orchards on either bank, and cliffs rising ab- ruptly from the valley, and crowned with oak woods. From this lovely district came the Percys and Paganells, the De Courcys and De Veres. The castle of the Paganells was on the wooded crest over- hanging the rich vale of the Syenne, and the stately Abbey of Hamlye was built by them near the river bank. Lower down the valley was the castle and manor of Ver, held of the superior manor of Gavray, the early Norman home of the Veres. These knights followed their chief, the Viscount 1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, \. p. 300. THE VERES. 5 of Coutances, when he led the revolt against William, and was defeated in the cavalry action of Val-es- Dunes, in 1047. Neal made his peace with the Norman duke, and twenty years afterwards the brave old warrior commanded the Cotentin levies at the battle of Senlac. Serving with them was Aubrey or Alberic de Vere, who may have been a younger brother of the Lord of Ver in the valley of the Syenne, or perhaps the lord himself. He changed his home for many broad acres in Essex and Suffolk, receiving from William the Conqueror the whole inheritance of a great Saxon thane named Wulfwine ; and he founded the English branch of the Veres. 1 His son Alberic was created Lord Great Chamber- lain of England by Henry I., and married Adeliza, daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Clare. This second Alberic was a Crusader, and Leland relates by what event he received the addition of a silver mullet to his paternal shield, which was quar- terly red and gold. It was in the year 1098 that Corborant, Admiral of the Soudan of Perce, was defeated near Antioch by the Christian host. The night coming on during the chase, God displayed a silver star of five points, which, to every man's sight, did light upon the standard of Aubrey de Vere, there shining excessively. It has ever since been borne in the first quarter of the Vere shield. But more scep- tical modern heralds 2 think the mullet was a mark of cadency borne by the younger brother of the 1 The first Alberic de Vere He founded Colne Priory, where held Kensington, nine lordships he was buried, with his younger in Suffolk, fourteen in Essex, in- son, in 1088. eluding Hedingham and Bentley, 2 Planche*. and Campes in Cambridgeshire. 6 THE FIGHTING VERES. second earl, who retained his mullet when he event- ually succeeded as third earl. The third Alberic de Vere was in the Holy Land with Robert of Normandy, at Jerusalem and the siege of Antioch, and retook a banner of St. George which had been captured by a Saracen. He it was who married Beatrice, daughter of Henry, Castellan of Bourbourg, by Rosa, the heiress of Manasses, Comte de Guisnes. He received investiture as Comte de Guisnes in 1137, and held the county until he was driven out by the next heir, Arnold de Gand, in 1 144. He was created Earl of Oxford 1 by the Empress Maud, and confirmed by Henry II. in 1155. His second wife, Lucia de Abrincis, founded a nunnery at Hedingham, and was its first Prioress. This Earl also founded the Augustine Priory at Hatfield Broad Oak, where his son was buried. Robert, the third Earl, was one of the Barons who stood up for the liberties of England against King John and the Pope, and was excommunicated by Innocent III. His brother William was Bishop of Hereford, and a great builder. The fifth Earl was a supporter of Simon de Montfort, and was captured at Kenilworth, afterwards serving with distinction in the wars of Edward I. The sixth Earl also served with the greatest of the Plantagenets in his Welsh and Scottish wars; and his brother Hugh, Lord Vere, was employed by Edward I. on missions of importance to France and Rome. John, the seventh 1 Leland and Collins say that d'Ardres called him Albertus this Aubrey was called "Aubrey Aper, using Aper as a synonym the Grimme," for his greatness of for Verres (Vere). This word stature and stern look. The truth " Aper " was re-translated into was that the chronicler Lambert English as "the Grimme "! THE VERES. 7 Earl of Oxford, was a very distinguished military commander under King Edward III. He was in the great sea-fight with Don Luis de la Cerda and the Genoese off Guernsey, and served with the King in Brittany at the sieges of Vannes and Nantes, and in Gascony with the Earl of Derby, when he gal- lantly led a charge against the French camp at Auberoche. At the battle of Cressy the place of the Earl of Oxford was with the Prince of Wales in the first battalion. He was then sent to England for reinforcements, and returning, defeated the French fleet off Calais, taking twenty sail. He went to Gas- cony with the Prince of Wales, and was at the battle of Poitiers as Chief of the Archers. He died in the camp of the English army before Rheims, on January 24, 1360, aged forty-seven. 1 His son first bore arms in his father's last campaign when only eighteen, but he died early, leaving an only child the ill-fated and much-abused favorite of Richard II. It should be remembered that this Duke of Ireland was a mere youth, and that he had not seen twenty-eight sum- mers when he was killed out hunting at Louvain, after several years of exile. He was childless. The Duke of Ireland was succeeded by his uncle Aubrey, the tenth Earl, who was employed on im- portant diplomatic missions ; and his son was a mili- tary commander under Henry V. and a Knight of the Garter. The two succeeding Earls were loyal and unswerving adherents of the House of Lancaster. The twelfth Earl, well known to readers of the 1 A disparaging story is told of Appendix, and proved that it is a this Earl, or of his son, in Frois- baseless calumny, sart. I have reprinted it in the 8 THE FIGHTING VERES. Paston Letters, served under the Duke of York in France; but was beheaded by Edward IV., with his eldest son Aubrey, for corresponding with Margaret of Anjou. The next son, John, succeeding as thirteenth Earl, never swerved in his loyalty to the fallen House of Lancaster. But the silver star which lighted the first Earl in his pursuit of Corboran did an ill service for his descendant. At the battle of Barnet the Earl of Oxford carried all before him on the right wing of the Lancastrian army. On return- ing from the pursuit of the King's left, the device of Oxford's men, the silver star of five points, was mistaken for Edward's badge a sun in splendor. Those who wore it were received with a discharge of arrows from their own side, which caused irremedi- able confusion, and the battle was lost. Oxford afterwards escaped to fight again at Bosworth, and to become one of the most powerful nobles of Eng- land under the first Tudor King. He was godfather to Henry VIII., and died at the age of seventy-four, in 1513. His cousin John, the fifteenth Earl of Oxford, a Knight of the Garter, was the first Protestant Earl, from 1526 to 1539. He was constantly employed in the service of the state, a wise and upright councillor. He was a man endued with many noble qualities, virtuous and religious, a great housekeeper, and ex- ceedingly beloved. He was called " the good Earl of Oxenford." By his wife Elizabeth, heiress of Sir Edward Trussell, he inherited a great property in Northamptonshire, to add to his vast Essex and Suffolk estates. This Trussell heiress was one of the ladies of Queen Anne Boleyn. She is described THE VERES. 9 as "a woman of unsullied fame, whose presence seemed to guarantee the honor and discretion of her mistress." By her the Earl had four sons and four daughters. He died at his manor of Earl's Colne, and was buried in the church of Castle Hedingham. Nearly all the previous Earls, until the Reformation, had been buried in the church of Earl's Colne Priory. The altar tomb of the fifteenth Earl of Oxford is of black marble, and was placed in the centre of the chancel. 1 On one side are his four daughters kneel- ing, in the act of prayer, with books on draped desks before them, and the names above, Elizabeth, Anne, Frances, and Ursula. At the angles there are mul- lets above and below, with the motto " Verite vient " between. On the other side are the four sons, John, Aubrey, Robert, and Geoffrey, in the same positions. The horizontal slab is very richly carved. There are the crest and helmet, supporters and shield, sur- rounded by the motto of the Garter ; and below, the Earl in the robes of the Garter, and the Countess, both in the attitude of prayer. Geoffrey, the fourth son of the fifteenth Earl of Oxford, was the father of our heroes, Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere. The record of the public services of a long line of noble ancestors was the inheritance of the Veres of Queen Elizabeth's time : that and their own stout hearts. They had little else. With the sixteenth Earl the greatness and wealth of the head of the 1 It has since been very improp- the four sons are represented is erly removed and placed against completely concealed from view, the wall, so that the side on which IO THE FIGHTING VERES. family ended, and the cadets had to carve out their own fortunes in their own way. Let us now glance at the country of the Veres, the valleys watered by the rivers Colne and Stour, forming the border-land of Essex and Suffolk. CHAPTER II. THE HOME OF THE VERES. THE Veres came from the lovely wooded valleys of the Soulles and the Syenne, in the Cotentin, to make their homes in the basins of the Stour and the Colne. The Stour rises near the borders of Cam- bridgeshire, and flows eastward into its estuary at Harwich, while the Colne, with a shorter course, and flowing nearly parallel for some distance, turns south into its long estuary. Between the two rivers and the German Ocean is the peninsula comprised in the Tendring Hundred; and, higher up, the Lexden and Hinchford Hundreds. In every part of this region the powerful Earls of Oxford owned manors and whole villages ; and their badges and other memorials constantly occur in the walls, or windows, or woodwork of the churches. The. Stour has a course of about fifty miles, with a catchment basin some fifteen miles across; and the Colne flows over thirty-two miles, with a width of basin of three to six miles ; the whole width of the two basins being about twenty-two miles. In the valleys and on the slopes of the hills the scenery is picturesque, and there are many very pleasing views. The valley of the Stour was the native place of two famous English painters, Gainsborough and Consta- ble, the former born at Sudbury, the latter at East 12 THE FIGHTING VERES. Bergholt, and it has been suggested that the beau- ties of the woods and lanes and meadows of the valley may have awakened, the genius as well as exercised the pencils of these great artists. "The scene of my childhood," said Constable, " made me a painter. The beauty of the scenery, its gentle de- clivities, its luxuriant meadow flats, sprinkled with flocks and herds, its well - cultivated uplands, its woods and rivers, with numerous scattered villages and churches, farms and picturesque cottages, all impart to this delightful country an amenity and an elegance hardly anywhere else to be found." 1 The chief seat of the Veres was at Hedingham, near the head-waters of the Colne, where the'ir mag- nificent Norman keep still defies the ravages of time. 2 It was built by the second Alberic de Vere in the time of King Stephen, and here Stephen's Queen, Maud, died in 1152. The castle was ap- proached from the village by a drawbridge across a moat. The great keep of Hedingham is the finest relic of Norman civil architecture in England. Its massive strength is relieved by abundant ornament. The chevron ornament adorns the windows and other arches, and the great fireplace on the first floor. A beautiful spiral pattern enriches the pillars of the staircase, and the doorway leading to galleries cut in the thickness of the wall, whence arched openings overlook the hall below. This first-floor room of the keep is beautifully proportioned, and the 1 Quoted by Mr. Torlesse, in and Majendies. For a hundred his account of Stoke by Nayland. years the keep was without roof a Thanks mainly to the care of or floors. It was repaired by Mr. its later owners, the Ashworths Ashurst in 1 720. THE HOME OF THE VERES. 13 ornamented arches of the gallery give it a certain lightness. The steps leading up to the great door of the keep were formerly protected by a lower tower containing the garrison chapel, as at Dover Castle. The keep alone remains standing. In the pros- perous days of the Veres it occupied the centre of a courtyard, round which there were extensive build- ings, forming the palatial home of the Earls of Oxford and their great retinue. A ground-plan, which was made in the year I592, 1 shows that on one side stood the gate-house and a lofty tower ; on another, the great hall and chapel, and the kitchens; on a third, a stone building containing several suites of apartments ; and in rear the stables and granaries, the butts and tennis-court, beyond which was the court for tournaments. The castle stands on a hill which is partly arti- ficial, overlooking the village, but dominated by higher ground on all sides. It is in fact a mound rising from the lowest part of the Colne valley. To the right, after leaving the castle gates, there was a nunnery, founded by Lucia, Countess of Oxford, in 1190. In front the village street led to the parish church, and on to Sybil Hedingham, the birth- place of the famous condottiere, Sir John Hawks- worth. Morant says that " the surface of the two contiguous parishes of Sybil and Castle Hedingham is varied with little eminences and dales, well watered with refreshing rills and purling streams, which make the pastures here excellent." 1 This plan was made for Lord stance was being wasted by his Burleigh, in the interests of his spendthrift son-in-law, the seven- three granddaughters, whose sub- teenth Earl of Oxford. 14 THE FIGHTING VERES. To the north of Hedingham Castle was the manor house of Kirby and the parish of Tilbury, localities closely connected with the life-stories of our heroes ; and a little further north is the river Stour, winding through its lovely valley, by the old Priory of Clare and the stately hall of Long Melford. Farther back on the Suffolk side, but still within the basin of the Stour, lies the thriving little town of Lavenham, largely owned by the Veres in those days, with its beautiful perpendicular church and lofty flint tower. Away to the west of Hedingham, beyond the Essex border, was the Earl's castle of Camps ; to the east was the Templars' circular church of Maplestead ; and all round, over hill and dale, were the farms and manors of the great Earls of Oxford. The meadow lands along the banks of the rivers were famed places for hawking, while the woods and wide stretches of open country were the chosen haunts of game, the scenes of hunting and all rural sports. There were three parks round the Castle of Hedingham : the home park in which the castle stood, the great park of six hundred acres, and the little park which was stocked with red deer. Seven miles down the valley of the Colne from Hedingham is the village of Earl's Colne, where once stood the ancient priory the burial-place of the Earls of Oxford. It was founded by the first Alberic de Vere in noo, who placed a society of monks there, sent from Abingdon. The founder himself became one of the monks, and was buried in the chapel. In 1311 Earl's Colne became a free priory, independent of Abingdon. The conventual building is said to have been of timber, with a brick THE HOME OF THE VERES. 15 wall round it, enclosing twelve acres, but the church was a stately edifice of flint. The bright little river Colne flowed along the walls, with gnarled yew-trees on its banks, and tall old elms threw their shade around the Priory. Here, ten of the Earls of Oxford were buried with their wives, and here King Richard II. and his court mourned over the grave of his young friend Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland. A little away from the river are the parish church and village of Earl's Colne, where there was once a mansion of the Earls of Oxford, called Hall Place. The remains of a turret stair and some ruined walls, almost levelled, alone indicate the spot where once stood the burial church of the Veres. 1 Out of the numerous tombs, only four have been preserved, and are now in a corridor attached to Mr. Carwar- dine's house, one hundred yards to the eastward. 2 1 It was first turned into a sta- on a larger helmet with the boar ble, and then pulled down in 1736. crest of the Veres. Round the 3 Weever says that in his time neck is a collar of S. S. ; a richly (1631) there were two monuments jewelled belt for a dagger, and a in the parish church, which had surcoat with the Vere arms. On been moved from the priory, both the altar below are the arms of shamefully defaced. He also enu- Serjeaux, showing that this must merates seven still existing at the be the eleventh Earl, who married priory. Now there are only four the Serjeaux heiress. The fourth, in Mr. Carwardine's house. The also in alabaster, is of the eighth first, a cross-legged effigy, is of Earl, who died in 1370. Robert, fifth Earl of Oxford, who The seventeenth Earl of Oxford died in 1296. The second, an effi- sold Earl's Colne, with the tombs gy in alabaster, of a lady with a of his ancestors, to his steward, two-horned headdress, is Philippa Roger Harlackenden, for ^2,000, in de Coucy, wife of the ninth Earl. September, 1583. Harlackenden's The third, also in alabaster (said grandchild and heiress, Mary, mar- to be the Duke of Ireland), has ried Daniel Andrewes in 1672. the head in a helmet, which rests Their only daughter, Anne, was 1 6 THE FIGHTING VERES. From this house the path, shaded by a fine row of elm-trees, leads up a hill to the village. The church tower has the arms and device of Vere worked in flint on the upper parapet, with the date 1539; and in the village street there is an old house, with a beam taken from Hall Place, the mansion of the Earls of Oxford, which once stood on the northwest side of the church. The beam is richly carved, with the Vere mullet in the centre and at each end. There were lands and houses of the Earls of Oxford in the neighboring parishes of Wakes Colne and Colne Engaine. The Colne flows on, past the walls of the Priory, for eight miles, where it winds round the hill on which the town and old castle of Colchester stand. It then turns southward, and, after four miles, comes to Wivenhoe, the port of Colchester. This place was inherited by the twelfth Earl of Oxford, with the barony of Plaiz ; and here his descendants often resided in a noble mansion, with a gate-house flanked by towers of great height, which served as marks at sea for vessels approaching the mouth of the Colne. The house of the Veres at Wivenhoe was in the upper end of the town. The peninsula formed by the estuaries of the Colne and Stour, including Tendring Hundred, was granted to the Earls of Oxford in 1496; and they owned manors in the parishes of Great Bentley, Frating, Oakley, and Weeley. Mrs. Wale, whose heiress was Mrs. age of the living, now belongs to Holgate. The heiress of Holgate H. H. Carwardine, Esq. Copies married the Rev. C. Carwardine ; of the charters of Colne Priory are and Earl's Colne, with the patron- in the British Museum. THE HOME OF THE VERES. 17 In this region of the Stour and Colne basins, where vestiges of the greatness and beneficence of the Veres are met with at every turn, the heroes of our story were born and bred. It was the home of their ancestors, and every wood and valley, every reach of the rivers, every church and village and manor house, was familiar to them. Even now, the arms and crest and the badges and devices of the Veres are often to be seen in churches and old houses throughout the district. CHAPTER III. BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERE. THE father of our heroes was one of the sons of the good Earl of Oxford, who was buried in Hedingham Church in 1539. That Earl left four sons and four daughters. His heir was John de Vere, sixteenth Earl of Oxford, who was at the siege of Boulogne with Henry VIII. By his first wife, Lady Dorothy Neville, the sixteenth Earl had an only daughter, named Katherine, who was betrothed to the eldest son of the Protector Somerset, but who eventually married Edward, Lord Windsor. This Earl had for his second wife Margaret Golding, the daughter of a neighbor in Essex. Her father was John Gold- ing, of Belchamp St. Paul, near Hedingham,. one of the auditors of the Exchequer. Her brother, Arthur Golding, was in the service of the Protector Somer- set, and afterwards lived at Sir William Cecil's house with his nephew, Earl Edward. He was the most voluminous translator of his age, and some of his metrical renderings have merit. 1 By the Golding mar- riage, the sixteenth Earl had a son and heir named Edward, born in 1550, and a daughter, Mary, married to Lord Willoughby. 1 In Miles Standish's library, Commentaries of Caesar: out of according to Mr. Longfellow, were the Latin translated by Arthur " Bariffe's Artillery Guide, and the Goldinge, of London." BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERE. 19 There were three younger brothers Aubrey, Robert, and Geoffrey. Aubrey married Margaret, daughter of John Spring, of Lavenham, where the church is full of Vere badges and shields of arms, in one place alternating with the Spring trademark. In the village street there is a quaintly carved Guild Hall. Side by side, in this busy little Suffolk town, dwelt the baronial Veres in their manor house and the commercial Springs in their shop. Now they intermarried, and Aubrey Vere had a son by Marga- ret Spring, whose son and grandson were the two last Earls of Oxford. He also had a daughter, Jane, who married a neighbor of rather doubtful repute named Henry Hunt, of Gosfield, and had a son, John Hunt. The third son, Robert, married, but his chil- dren did not live to grow up. He died on April 2, 1598, and was buried at Charlton in Kent. Geof- frey, the fourth son, was the father of our heroes. Of the four daughters of the good Earl of Oxford, Elizabeth was the wife of Lord Darcy of Chiche, who lived at St. Osyth in Tendring Hundred; Anne married Lord Sheffield ; Frances married Henry, Earl of Surrey, and was mother of the beheaded Duke of Norfolk; while Ursula never married. The intervention of Parliament was necessary to secure suitable provision for the younger sons, Au- brey, Robert, and Geoffrey Vere. It appears that, in the plenitude of his power, the Protector Somer- set had betrothed his eldest son to Lady Katherine Vere, and had induced her father, the sixteenth Earl, to levy a fine, the effect of which would have been to settle the whole inheritance on the marriage. The Earl's brothers were left penniless. After the Pro- 2O THE FIGHTING VERES. tector's fall the betrothal with young Seymour was broken off, and an act of Parliament was passed in 1551 " frustrating the assurance to the Duke of Som- erset made by the Earl of Oxford." The act de- clared the indentures concerning the proposed mar- riage to be void and of none effect. The fine previ- ously levied was also declared to be utterly void. It was then enacted that the Earl's brother Aubrey should hold certain manors, which are named, for his life and for the life of his wife if he so ordains by will ; remainder to the Earl and his heirs. On the same conditions the youngest brother, Geoffrey Vere, was to have the manors of Crepping Hall l and Crustwick in the county of Essex. Then follow powers for the Earl to assign other specified manors for his wife's jointure, and others for the portions of his daughter Katherine, and of any other children that might be born after the date of the act. Geoffrey Vere thus became possessed of his two manors in 1551, and settled down as a country gentle- man. Crepping Hall, in the parish of Wakes Colne, is on the top of a hill overlooking the Colne valley, surrounded by a moat. The original manor house was burnt down in 1810, and an ordinary farmhouse has taken its place. It is near the village of Ford- ham, and about a mile from the little Norman church of Wakes Colne. Crustwick (now Gutteridge) Hall is beyond Colchester, in the Tendring Hundred. It is in the parish of Weeley, adjoining St. Osyth, which was the home of Geoffrey's sister Elizabeth, Lady 1 In the Parish Register at Cas- " Galfridus de Vere, of Crepping tie Hedingham, John Vere (burial Hall." 1624) is mentioned as the son of BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERE. 21 Darcy. Crustwick is now a farmhouse, with noth- ing of interest about it, except some possible indica- tions of an old moat. At these two manors, in a country which was full of his relations, Geoffrey Vere lived, and he sought a wife from among the families of his neighbors. In the village of Castle Hedingham there dwelt a family named Hardekyn, prosperous people, who had amassed some moderate share of wealth by trade at Colchester. We find that in 1486 Thomas Harde- kyn, of Castle Hedingham, was enfeoffed of a capi- tal messuage called Wottons, alias Hardekyns, in the parish of Gestingthorpe. He died in 1509, and was succeeded by his son Richard, who added to his in- heritance by the purchase of Odwell and Ram-acre coppice. These places are all in the close neighbor- hood of the Castle of Hedingham ; and Richard Hardekyn possessed 570 acres of arable, pasture, and wood land. His residence, called Wotton House, with a moat round it, was on the side of the road leading from Hedingham to Sudbury. Young Geoffrey Vere, living at Hedingham Castle, in the days of his father and brother, must have known the inmates of Wotton House from a boy. Richard Hardekyn had a son John and a daughter Elizabeth. 1 The great Earl's fourth son became attached to his young neighbor. The friendship of early acquaintance ripened into love, and Geoffrey Vere was married to Elizabeth Hardekyn in the year 1556. Their married life was passed between Crep- 1 In some peerages Elizabeth is brother was John, her father Rich- said to be daughter of Sir John ard. Collins gives the names cor- Kardekyn, of Colchester. Her rectly. 22 THE FIGHTING VERES. ping Hall and Crustwick. Elizabeth's father died in 1558, and her brother, John Hardekyn of Colches- ter, who was born in 1537, sold Wotton and all his landed property to George Sayer, another Colchester merchant, in 1566. John, the eldest son of Geoffrey and Elizabeth Vere, was born in 1558. Francis, the second son, was probably born in I56O, 1 either at Crepping or Crustwick. Then followed the death of the head of the family, the uncle of these two boys, John, six- teenth Earl of Oxford, leaving three children: Ed- ward, the seventeenth Earl, born in 1550; Katherine, Lady Windsor ; and Mary, afterwards married to Lord Willoughby. The sixteenth Earl of Oxford was a good landlord, generous, affectionate, very popular, and a keen sportsman. When Prince Eric of Swe- den landed at Harwich in December, 1559, the Earl showed him some sport in the valley of the Stour. " After dinner my Lord of Oxforde had the Prince forth a hawking, and showed him great sporte, killing in his sight both faisant and partridge." By his will, dated July 28, 1562, among numerous other legacies, 1 This is as near as we can get ble date. There is a gap in the to the date of the birth of Sir Fran- entries of baptisms in the Wake's cis Vere. His elder brother, John, Colne Register, from 1559 to 1604. is known to have been sixty-six The earliest entry at Weeley is when he died in 1624. He was, 1560, when the book was begun by therefore, born in 1558. We know, the rector, Thomas Wynyngton. from the Earl of Oxford's will, that The jury, at the inquisition after the next brother, Francis, was born the death of Sir Francis Vere, in before his uncle's death, in July, 1609, declared him to be over 1562. He must, therefore, have forty. The age on the monument been born in 1559, 1560, or 1561. in Westminster Abbey is certain- He is not likely to have been born ly a mistake, as it would make in the year after his brother. Con- Sir Francis older than his elder sequently 1560 is the most proba- brother. BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERE. 23 the Earl left 20 to each of his two little nephews, John and Francis Vere. After the Earl's death, his brother Geoffrey had three more children : Robert, born in 1562, Horace in 1565, and Frances, afterwards Lady Harcourt, in 1567. Geoffrey Vere died while his children were still young, and they were left to the care of a mother who brought them up with a loving solicitude which had its reward. She lived to a good old age. Her eldest son stayed with her, and made her a home at Kirby Hall, near Hedingham. The three others became valiant soldiers. Two rose to be great gen- erals. The third found a glorious death on the bat- tlefield. Her only daughter, Frances, was prosper- ously married to Sir Robert Harcourt, of Nuneham, the great navigator. There are full-length portraits of Sir Robert and his wife Frances, by Marc Gerard, in the dining-room at Nuneham. We hear something of the boyhood and education of the cousin of these boys, Edward Vere, seven- teenth Earl of Oxford, who was born in 1550, and was twelve years old when his father died. Although he was several years older than Geoffrey's sons, yet it is probable that they were often companions and associates, both as regards studies and sports of the field. The young Earl was left to the guardianship of Sir William Cecil, the Lord Treasurer, and of his mother, the widowed Countess of Oxford. He passed his time between Cecil's house and his mo- ther's home at Hedingham, and was much in the society of his learned uncle, Arthur Golding. The routine of studies for Earl Edward was as follows : He was to get up in time for his dancing lesson, 24 THE FIGHTING VERES. from 7 o'clock to 7.30, and was to take breakfast from 7.30 to 8 o'clock. The next two hours were devoted half to French and half to Latin, and then there was half an hour for drawing. From half past ten to one there was play and dinner. Lessons be- gan again at one, with an hour for cosmography, and two more hours for French and Latin, finishing with half an hour for writing. This made six hours of lessons altogether, and at five there were prayers and supper. All the rest of the day was given up to rid- ing, shooting, and walking. 1 The young Earl's youth was distinguished by his wit and adroitness in his exercises, and he was sent to Cambridge, where Sir Thomas Smith was his tutor. But the Treasurer was determined not to let so great a match slip from his family, and in 1571, when they were both very young, Edward, Earl of Oxford, was married to Anne, daughter of Sir William Cecil. Next we hear that " my Lord of Oxforth is lately growne in great credite, for the Q s Ma tie delitethe more in his personage and his daunsinge and valientness than any other. He presented her Ma tie with a ryche Jewell, which was well lyked." 2 He travelled in Italy, and was the first to bring embroidered gloves and per- fumes into England. 3 He also distinguished himself at jousts and wrote poems, some of which are pre- served. 4 But he quarrelled with his wife and father- in-law, got into dissolute and extravagant habits, sold his estates one after the other, and ended by destroy- 1 Calendar of State Papers. Do- 2 Gilbert Talbot to the Earl of mestic. 1562, December. Vol. xxvi. Shrewsbury, 1573. " An order for my Lord's exer- 8 Stowe. rises." * The Paradise of Dainty De- vices. (London, 1758. 4to.) BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERE. 25 ing the power and wealth of the great family of which he was the head. The sons of Geoffrey Vere were no doubt asso- ciated with their cousin the Earl when they were quite young; but he married while they were still boys, and they continued to study and enjoy field sports at the Essex manors, under the care of their mother. John Vere, the eldest, remained at home as a country gentleman, and soon after he came of age he entered upon possession of Kirby Hall by an arrangement with the Earl of Oxford, having re- signed the manors of Crepping and Crustwick. Kirby Hall, or Picard's as it was sometimes called, is only a mile from the Castle of Hedingham. It belonged to the Kirby family during the fourteenth century, and afterwards to the Picards, whence it passed to the Earls of Oxford. In about 1580 it became the property of John Vere, and here he made a home for his mother. Kirby Hall is pleasantly situated amidst pastures, in a well-timbered coun- try. Two gables of the old hall still remain, with a wainscoted parlor, a huge kitchen fireplace, and clustered chimneys. There is also a kitchen gar- den, with old brick walls, and an ancient dove-cot 1 Here the widow of Geoffrey Vere was close to the home of her childhood at Wotton, in the next parish of Gestingthorpe. While the eldest son remained quietly at home, the other three embraced the profession of arms. Francis and Robert were nearly the same age. They were initiated in the military art by old Sir William Browne, who served for many years in the Low Countries. 1 There is an engraving of it in the Vetusta Monumenta. 26 THE FIGHTING VERES. In their letters to Sir William they subscribed them- selves " your loving sons," and addressed him as their " good father." Francis, when he was a mere lad, in about 1580 went with Captain Francis Allen to Po- land, probably to serve in the Polish army. But we know nothing beyond the fact. 1 When the Earl of Leicester prepared to embark for the Low Countries, as general of the auxiliary forces, Francis Vere had reached his twenty-fifth year, and was resolved to embrace the military profession. The portrait, which is engraved at the beginning of his Commentaries, gives us some idea of the personal appearance of Francis Vere at this time. It presents the profile of a young man with a high forehead and slightly aqui- line nose, large eyes and well-marked eyebrows, full but firm lips, and the face clean-shaved, except a slight moustache and imperial. The face is oval, and a fall- ing collar shows rather a long neck. Francis Vere was the contemporary of great men. The Queen and Leicester were his seniors by twenty- six years. Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser were older by six or seven years. Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Thomas Howard, 1 Francis Allen, in a letter to certificate of search for the discov- Anthony Bacon, dated August 17, eryof papists by Alderman Barnes, 1589, writes : " I must send you to the effect that Francis Vere and news of the which I pray rejoice Thomas Baskerville were found with me. My brother Francis in Bedlam. (Calendar of State Vere is knighted. It is he that Papers. Domestic. 1584. p. 199.) made the voyage with me into Po- The Bedlam of those days was in Ionia." (Birch, i. 57.) The word Bishopsgate Street without. It is "brother" must here be taken in true that several papists were ar- the sense of " comrade." rested in 1584, but there must have There is a curious statement, been some mistake in the arrests under date August 27, 1584, in the of Vere and Baskerville. BOYHOOD OF FRANCIS VERE. 27 and Sir John Harington were the same age. Lord Mountjoy and William Shakespeare were four years, James I. and the Earl of Essex six years, younger. In such an age, and amidst such a generation, Fran- cis Vere made his way to the front rank. CHAPTER IV. THE THEATRE OF WAR. WHILE Francis Vere was still a boy at school, he must have heard stories of the cruelties of the Span- ish governors to the people of the Netherlands. These stories were only too true, and they increased the indignation and sympathy of England year by year Margaret of Parma l advised that all heretics should be killed, whether they were repentant or not, care only being taken that the provinces should not be entirely depopulated ; and her successor, the Duke of Alva, actually slaughtered 18,600 persons in cold blood, by his own account. William the Taciturn, the noble-hearted Prince of Orange, who had been Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, was in exile ; and desperate men, known as the " sea gueux," had taken to piracy against the ships of their oppressors, as the only means of existence and of vengeance. Several vessels, manned by two or three hundred of these outlaws, and commanded by William de la Marck, were ordered to leave the anchorage at Dover, where they had taken refuge. They set sail 1 Margaret was the eldest child nephew of Pope Paul III., who was of the Emperor Charles V., but created Duke of Parma. Her son illegitimate. She was Governess was Alexander, Duke of Parma, of the Netherlands for her brother the great general who became Spa- Philip II., from 1559 to 1567. She nish Governor of the Netherlands was married to Ottavio Farnese, in 1578. THE THEATRE OF WAR. 29 in the end of March, 1572, and on the ist of April they anchored at the mouth of the Maas, seized the town of Brill, and repulsed an attempt of the Span- ish Governor of Holland to retake it. A few days afterwards the town of Flushing rose, and expelled the foreigners ; while English volunteers crossed the North Sea to range themselves by the side of the pioneers of liberty. The tidings of these events had an electric effect throughout the Netherlands. Nearly all the important cities of Holland and Zeeland, except Amsterdam, raised the standard of the Prince of Orange ; and the government was for- mally offered to William by the States. The Duke of Alva assembled his army of Spanish veterans, vowing vengeance. His son, Don Fadrique de To- ledo, committed shocking massacres at Zutphen and Naarden, occupied Amsterdam, and began the siege of Haarlem in December, 1572. It took an army of 30,000 men to reduce that gallant city, and when at length the Spaniards entered it, after a siege of six months, they slaughtered 2,300 unarmed people. Alkmaar was successfully defended from August to October, 1573; and when the Duke of Alva was superseded, and relieved the Low Countries of his detested presence, on December 18, 1573, the people, led by the Prince of Orange, were still stubbornly resisting and unconquered. Alva was succeeded by Don Luis de Requesens, and in the following February, 1574, Don Cristoval Mondragon, the ablest of the Spanish officers, was starved out, and forced to surrender Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland, to the patriots. A more striking reverse to the tyrant's arms was involved in the 30 THE FIGHTING VERES. Spaniards being obliged to raise the siege of Leyden, on October 3, 1574, after its long and heroic defence. Requesens, aided by Mondragon, captured the island of Schouwen and its capital Zierikzee, by the remark- able military feat involved in wading across a long arm of the sea, in the following September ; but Schouwen was retaken by Count Hohenlohe in No- vember, 1576, and in the following year Requesens died. The year 1576 closed with the appalling massacre perpetrated by the Spaniards at Antwerp. These great events inevitably aroused the sym- pathy of the people of England, who had long been knit together with the Netherlanders by numerous ties of commerce and friendship. Volunteers flocked across the North Sea, although the Queen's govern- ment still hesitated to cast in its lot with the insur- rection. Spain was in the height of her power. The Spanish infantry was unequalled by any other troops in the world, as was shown in the course of the year 1578. Don Juan of Austria, the victor of Lepanto and brother of King Philip II., had suc- ceeded Requesens as Governor of the Netherlands, and in January, 1578, the mere presence of his army put the forces of the States to flight. Such was the battle of Gemblours. Not a blow was struck, the Spaniards did not lose a man, yet it is said that 10,000 insurgents were slaughtered. On the ist of August, Don Juan was repulsed by the raw levies of the States, behind intrenchments, at Rymenant. But as yet neither Netherlanders nor Englishmen could face the terrible tercios of Spain in the open field. Don Juan died on October i, 1578, and was succeeded by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, a THE THEATRE OF WAR. 31 nephew of Philip II., and one of the ablest generals of the age. He had to face a more organized re- sistance, for the Dutch patriots were no longer in- surgents. They had founded a republic. On the 29th of January, 1579, the representatives of the States of Holland, Zeeland, Gelderland, Zutphen, Utrecht, and Friesland, under the presidency of Count John of Nassau, elder brother of William the Taciturn, signed the memorable Union of Utrecht ; and on July 26, 1581, the States-General declared their independence at the Hague. The Prince of Orange became the successor of his former sovereign, Count of Holland and Zeeland, and Lord of Flush- ing and Veere. Then Philip invoked the aid of the assassin. In 1582 an attempt was made on the life of the great patriot; and another more successful crime was perpetrated eighteen months afterwards. William the Taciturn fell by the hanid of an assassin on the loth of July, I584. 1 In August, 1585, after a 1 WILLIAM, Prince of Orange, uel, Prince of Portugal; and Louisa by his first wife, Anne of Egmont, Juliana, wife of Frederick IV., had a son, Philip William (who was Elector Palatine, taken prisoner by the Spaniards Charlotte de Bourbon, daughter when a child, and remained a Ca- of Louis, Ducde Montpensier, was tholic), and a daughter, Mary, mar- his third wife, to whom he was ried in 1595 to Philip, Count of married in 1577. She died in 1582. Hohenlohe. By her he had five daughters: Isa- His second wife was Anne, bel, wife of Henri de la Tour, Due daughter of Maurice, Elector of de Bouillon; Catherine Belgica, of Saxony, whom he married in 1561. Philip Louis, Count of Hanau ; She was sent home for miscon- Flandrina became a Catholic, and duct, and died in 1577. By her he died a nun at Poitiers; Charlotte, had a son and successor, MAURICE, wife of Claude, Due de la Tre- born on November 14, 1567, and mouille ; Amelia, wife of Frederick three daughters : Ann, married to Casimir, Palatine of Landsberg. William Louis, Count of Nassau His fourth wife was Louisa Co- Dillemburg ; Amelia,wife of Eman- ligny, whom he married in 1583. 32 THE FIGHTING VERES. long and memorable siege, the city of Antwerp was taken by the Duke of Parma. These irreparable calamities fell upon the cause of liberty in quick succession. They forced Queen Elizabeth into im- mediate action ; and by the end of 1585 England had cast in her lot with the Netherlands, to fight shoulder to shoulder until the battle of freedom was fought out and the victory won. Francis Vere, who was destined to be a leading warrior in that mighty struggle, had just entered upon his twenty-fifth year. The country which was the theatre of this memo- rable war is peculiar in many respects. At the first glance the network of land and water appears puz- zling and without a clue. But a little study will dispel this first impression, and it is before all things needful that we should examine and understand the board, before we begin to arrange the pieces upon it. Holland and Zeeland are the deltas of three rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse (Maas), and the Scheldt. But there is a peculiarity as regards these deltas. In very remote times a chain of sand-hills, called dunes, was raised along the sea face, which prevented the encroachment of the ocean, and caused the rivers to form a lake within the line of dunes. The width of the dunes averages from two hundred yards to a mile, and their height varies from fifty to sixty feet, but near Haarlem they attain a height of 196 feet, and, with the sun setting behind them, they present an outline like a range of mountains. Soon the lake began to be filled up by river deposits, and the rivers She died in 1620. By her he had who was born on February 24, 1584. an only son, FREDERICK HENRY, He died on May 14, 1647, aged successor to his brother MAURICE, sixty-three. THE THEATRE OF WAR THE THEATRE OF WAR. 33 forced their way to the sea, forming several islands, the outer ones still with dunes along their sea face. When the industrious inhabitants of this water- logged region began to reclaim the land for cultiva- tion, their most long-continued contests were with the rivers, rather than with the ocean, from which they were protected by the dunes. But a combina- tion of flooded rivers, with a succession of westerly gales and a spring tide, often destroyed the labor of years and inundated vast tracts of country. Seven hundred years ago, in 1 1 70, a noble district was swallowed up in Friesland, and the Zuyder Zee was formed, the havoc being completed two centuries later, in 1395. In the year 1421 the river Maas was in flood, and the waters were helped by a furious gale. They broke over the dikes, bored through during one night, and flooded the lowlands far and near. Altogether, seventy-two villages were swallowed up, with 100,000 souls. Next morning the tops of the church - towers were just visible above the water. Where once there was a populous and fertile district, there is now a network of channels and reedy islands, called the Bies-Bosch} The rivers are kept in their courses by dikes along either bank, and where there are no dunes, immense sea dikes are necessary, protected by stone slopes and piles. There are 1,550 miles of these dikes, and the dike of West-kappel, in the island of Walcheren, is over 4,000 yards long, twenty-three feet high, with a seaward slope, consisting of alternate rows of piles and blocks of basalt, 300 feet broad. Tracts of land at or below the sea-level, and surrounded by a dike, 1 The words mean " a wood of reeds." 34 THE FIGHTING VERES. are called polders. These incessant encounters with and conquests over the elements could only have been fought out and won by a race endowed with very high qualities ; not a race which would long sub- mit to foreign tyranny, but one which would oppose such tyranny with the same stubborn and indomitable energy which kept back the ocean and the floods, and turned the saturated swamps into fertile fields. The eastern part of the Netherlands consisted of more elevated, heathy country, with some forests, and in the Drenthe region there were extensive de- posits of inferior peat called hoog-veen. Further west a line of hills of moderate elevation extends from south to north across the country. Near Maas- tricht the river Meuse flows past a ridge rising to a height of 650 feet, called the Pietersberg. The rock is a soft calcareous sandstone, perforated by subter- raneous galleries. Further north the picturesque town of Cleves stands on a steep eminence overlook- ing the valley of the Rhine, with the woods of the Reichswald behind it ; again at Nymegen, a range of high hills, covered with woods, rises abruptly from the flat pastures on the banks of the Waal. Crossing the Rhine, the high land behind Arnhem, with its charming forest scenery, extends northward over the Veluwe, and attains a height of 300 feet. This range of elevated land influences the courses of the rivers, forcing the Maas to flow northward to the Waal, and the Rhine and Yssel to flow northward to the Zuyder Zee. From a military point of view, and looking upon the Netherlands as a fortress to be defended, the rivers become so many lines of de- fence, and the fortified towns along one line had to THE THEATRE OF WAR. 35 be reduced before an advance to the next line could prudently be made. The outer and most eastern line was the Rhine and Yssel, skirting along the hills of Cleves and Arnhem, a broad stream from 600 to 400 yards across. The strategic points on this outer line were Neuss, Duisburg, Rheinberg (a town and fortress of the first importance), Wesel, Emmerich, Doesburg, Zut- phen, Deventer, and Kampen by the Zuyder Zee. Between the parallels of Cleves and Arnhem, while the Yssel branch flows onward in a northerly course, two other branches of the Rhine turn west- ward and flow to the German Ocean, which are called the Lek and the Waal. The Maas also turns west- ward until it mingles its waters with the Waal. The two Rhine branches thus form a long island called the Betuwe, with Arnhem on the right bank of the Lek branch, near the junction of the Yssel, and Nymegen on the left bank of the Waal. The sec- ond line is formed by the river Maas flowing north- wards, and having on its banks the important for- tified towns of Maastricht, Roermond, Venlo, and Grave. In the country where the three streams turn west- ward there are three important towns, one on each river, nearly north and south of each other, Grave on the Maas, Nymegen on the Waal, and Arnhem on the Rhine. Further to the westward, where the Maas and Waal unite, an island is formed called the Bommel-waart, with the town of Bommel on the Waal, and the larger city of Bois le Due about a mile from the Maas. As a strategic position, the Bommel- waart was often spoken of as the key to the Nether- lands. 36 THE FIGHTING VERES. Below Bommel-waart the united Maas and Waal, called the Merwode, flows westward to Dordrecht on the south, while the Lek unites with them again by a channel above Rotterdam ; and beyond this the northern stream resumes the name of the Maas to its mouth. Five islands form the delta of the united Rhine and Maas : Dordrecht Island, Hoeksche- waard, and Ysselmonde to the east, and Overflakkee and Goedereede, Putten and Voorn, with their west- ern sides facing the North Sea. Flowing between the mainland of Holland on the right and the islands of Ysselmonde and Voorn on the left, the river Maas now becomes a great navigable channel. On its right bank are Rotterdam, Schiedam, and some busy fishing-ports nearer the sea, and on its left bank, at the mouth of the river, is the town of Brill on the island of Voorn. South of Dordrecht is the network of channels and reedy islets called the Bies-Bosch, and on the southern side is the town of Gertruydenburg, with the great fortified city of Breda a few miles inland. Be- yond Gertruydenburg the channel opens into a basin called the Hollandsche Diep, with Willemstad on its southern shore, and thence two channels lead to the North Sea : the Haring Vliet on the north side of Overflakkee Island, between it and Voorn ; and the Brouwerschaven Gat between Overflakkee and the Zeeland island of Schouwen. It was this treble line of rivers, ending in a net- work of islands, which separated the Catholic prov- inces under Spanish rule from the patriots fighting for freedom. North of the line of the Rhine and the Lek were THE THEATRE OF WAR. 37 the flourishing Dutch towns, surrounded by their shady parks and rich meadows. Utrecht, the ancient see of an almost independent Prince Bishop, is nearly in the centre of the block which is bounded on the north by the Zuyder Zee and the Y, on the west by the sea, on the east by the Yssel, and on the south by the Rhine and Lek. This block includes part of Holland, all Utrecht, and part of Gelderland. To the east is the high land of the Veluwe, in the cen- tre the great sandy plain extending south of the Zuyder Zee, and to the west the tracts of low land, below the level of the sea, bounded by the dunes. Here were the richest towns of Holland, Rotter- dam, Delft and Gouda, Leyden, Haarlem, and Am- sterdam ; and here the Counts of Holland had formed their park (Hague) and built their fortified residence, round which the charming village of the Hague had risen up. To the northward much of the land was still under water. The wide expanse of the Haar- lem Sea spread out between Leyden, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. Another wide expanse, inland from Amsterdam, with Zandam on its banks, was formed by the Y ; and there were large lakes, now reclaimed, in North Holland as far as Alkmaar. The principal fishing villages were near the mouth of the Maas and in North Holland ; while the ports on the Zuyder Zee, especially Amsterdam, Hoorn, Enkhuysen, and Medemblik, were beginning to de- velop an increasing shipping business. On the other side of the Zuyder Zee the Frisians were comparatively clear of the strife, though further east the war was still to rage round Groningen, Steenwyck, and Coevorden. The Frisians, who are 38 THE FIGHTING VERES. nearer to the English, both as regards language and appearance, than any other continental people, did good service to the cause of freedom, whether by the wisdom of the counsels of some, the learning and talent of others, or still more by their valor in the field. Zeeland, the most southern of the provinces, and the nearest to England, is the delta of the river Scheldt. That river, after passing Antwerp, sepa- rates into two branches, the Honte or Wester Scheldt to the south, and the Ooster Scheldt to the north, which enclose the three islands of North and South Beveland and Walcheren. On the south side of the Honte is the region now known as Dutch Flanders, which has been much altered. In those days it con- sisted of wide expanses of drowned land, with forti- fied places, such as Axel and Hulst, rising like islands above the flood. Further west were the islands of Breskens and Cadzand ; and the town of Sluys on the Zwyn, still a seaport and important fortified place. On the north side of the Honte were the coasts of South Beveland and Walcheren, with the seaport of Flushing. Middelburg, in Walcheren, was a flour- ishing city, the capital of all Zeeland ; Veere, on the north side of that island, was a thriving port ; and the city of Goes, in South Beveland, with a port opening by a canal on the north side of the island, was another important place. The Ooster Scheldt turns northwards from the Honte, separating South Beveland from Brabant ; and here, on the Brabant side, was the strongly fortified town of Bergen-op- Zoom. A great calamity had befallen this eastern end of South Beveland in 1532, the sea having THE THEATRE OF WAR. 39 broken through the dikes and turned hundreds of fer- tile acres into swampy " verdronken land." Flowing seawards the Ooster Scheldt has the island of Tholen on the right, with the two smaller isles called St. Ana and St. Philip Land. As the channel opens out to- wards the sea it is called the Room Pot, 1 having North Beveland and Walcheren on one side, Schou- wen and Duiveland on the other. Schouwen con- tains the old towns of Zierikzee and Brouwershaven. The industrious Hollanders and Zeelanders had thriven under their counts and margraves, in spite of family feuds and wars with the Frisians. The drowned lands had been reclaimed, industry and in- telligent enterprise had brought wealth, and many cities had risen up at various centres, and had been fortified. Commerce and wealth had increased the wants of the people. Everywhere there were hand- some brick houses, with ornamented gables, facing the canals, and with rows of shady trees in front of them. Large parks and woods were preserved, not only in the higher tracts of Gelderland, but also in Utrecht, Brabant, and parts of Holland. The face of the country, though flat, was pleasing and often picturesque. During the rule of the Dukes of Bur- gundy the fine buildings became more numerous, and many churches, of cathedral dimensions, were built in the cities. At Middelburg there was a large abbey ; lofty towers, overlooking the whole country, were erected, the highest being at Utrecht (320 feet) and Amersfoort; and beautiful stained glass filled the windows of many churches, and is still preserved at Gouda. The Netherlanders embraced the Cal- 1 Cream jug. 4O THE FIGHTING VERES. vinistic form of Protestantism, which was blindly iconoclastic, and hence there was much lamentable destruction of ecclesiastical decoration. But the vast churches, with their solid pillars and double-leafed capitals, were carefully preserved for the simpler worship. In this rapid sketch of the topography of the the- atre of war, all the names of important towns, rivers, and islands have been mentioned ; for it is necessary that their positions should be clearly imprinted on the memory, if the reader desires to derive intelligent pleasure from a consideration of the heroic opera- tions which finally secured the triumph of freedom. CHAPTER V. THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS. THE English bands which flocked to the Nether- lands to fight in the quarrel of their Dutch brethren had a continuous history and an inherited series of traditions for seventy years. They revived the mili- tary spirit in the British nation, and their deeds of arms and organization form the first chapter of the modern military history of England. At first they were merely volunteers; then some were employed by the Queen, and others by the States; after the Queen's death all that continued to exist were under the States. But through all the changes there was a continuous tradition among officers and men from first to last. The history of the English regiments, fighting for the cause of freedom in the Netherlands, extends from 1572 to the Peace of Westphalia. The first English volunteers formed raw levies, without discipline or experience. They could not stand against the soldiers of Philip, but fled before them, and in some instances behaved shamefully. But they and their successors persevered. In a severe school they acquired the military virtues. Gradually they gained confidence in themselves and in each other, and at length they saw the dreaded tercios of Spain retreating before them in the open field. The military art, the drills, the use of weapons, 42 THE FIGHTING VERES. even the nomenclature, had to be learnt from the Spaniards, by the raw inexperienced English, before they could be a match for their foes in the field. But they had physical strength, indomitable pluck, and that proud endurance and patience which enabled them to bear up against reverses, and learn lessons from their defeats. It was a rough ordeal, and the islanders were the men to undergo it, and to profit by it. Only at first, and not for long, would the haughty Spaniards be allowed to see the backs of their enemies. In April, 1572, there was a muster of 300 men before the Queen at Greenwich. They were men ambitious of martial fame, they were led by bold Thomas Morgan, and their destination was Flushing. When the capture of Brill sent an electric shock through the Netherlands, the Duke of Alva hur- riedly dispatched a garrison to Flushing. It was refused admittance. The troops retired to Bergen- op-Zoom, while most of the villages and fishing ports of Walcheren and South Beveland rose in revolt. The towns of Veere and Arnemuiden, in Walcheren, followed the example ; and the insurgents besieged the city of Middelburg. When Pacheco, the chief engineer of the Spanish army, landed at Flushing, he was seized and hanged by the enraged populace. Alva then began to make serious preparations to crush the insurrection, while the Prince of Orange sent an officer named 't Zereets, or Sara, as the English called him, to organize defensive measures. During the summer Captain Morgan, with his 300 volunteers, was received into Flushing. This was the first English band that served in the Nether- THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS. 43 lands. Its most distinguished member was the fire- eating Roger Williams, a man of furious quixotic valor, yet an accomplished soldier and student. A son of Thomas Williams of Penrose, in Monmouth- shire, by Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Vaughan, Roger had received an education at Oxford, prob- ably at Brazen Nose, before he commenced his adven- turous career as a soldier of fortune. He was the guiding spirit in this undisciplined little Flushing garrison, which soon came to blows with the enemy. The Spaniards from Middelburg mounted some guns on an artificial hill, and opened fire on the walls of Flushing. Out came the garrison, with the fiery Welshmen in the van, and there was a hot encounter in the meadows, at push of pike. This was the very first action in which the English were engaged, and they came off with credit. At one moment the enemy had hold of Captain Morgan's ensign. It was gallantly rescued by George Browne and several other young gentlemen. About fifty English were slain, but the Spaniards were dislodged from their position. These English sympathizers were very popular in Flushing. They asked no more than bare victuals and lodging, and they were eager to do their best in the way of fighting. Morgan was anxious for rein- forcements ; and it was arranged that Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh's half-brother, should come over as colonel of the English, and 1,500 men with him. Gilbert arrived with these English bands, and, in concert with 't Zereets, a plan was matured for an invasion of Flanders, on the opposite side of the Scheldt. After making an incursion almost to the 44 THE FIGHTING VERES. walls of Bruges, and routing a Spanish convoy, they embarked again and sailed across to the coast of South Beveland. Gilbert's plan was to besiege the city of Goes, which was occupied by a Spanish gar- rison, under a veteran officer named Don Isidro Pacheco. A vanguard was landed under Morgan's command, and began to march. But Pacheco was in ambush, and he suddenly opened a hot fire of shot upon them, then charging with a hundred pikes. The English wavered, turned round, and ran for their lives, most of them through muddy ditches. Roger Williams was with them, and he said, "I persuade myself most of them were afraid. I am to blame to judge their minds, but let me speak truth." 1 The abortive expedition returned to Flushing; but the people there refused to allow the fugitive troops to enter the town, until they had shown themselves worthy of being received. So they were obliged to encamp outside, in the unprotected little village of Souburg. This disgrace aroused the courage of the young recruits. They were resolved to die rather than run away again, and their endurance was soon put to the proof. The Spanish Governor of Middelburg pre- pared a camisado, or night attack, upon them, but his disciplined troops were met most valiantly by the volunteers. Pikes were crossed, so that the ensign- bearers, Philip Watkins and Thomas Lovett, broke their ensign-staves at push of pike. The Spaniards were routed, prisoners were taken, and as it was found that they were provided with halters in the 1 The Actions of the Lowe Countries, written by Sir Roger Wil- Mams,Kt, (London, 1618.) THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS. 45 certainty of success, the English victors derived a grim amusement from the operation of hanging the intending executioners with their own halters. Cap- tain Morgan was wounded with a musket-shot ; and his men, with their reputations retrieved, were re- ceived once more by the Flushingers with open arms. The great object of Sir Humphrey Gilbert was the taking of Middelburg, the capital of Walcheren, but it was clear that this must be preceded by the reduc- tion of Goes, the chief town in the island of South Beveland, through which the Spaniards in Wal- cheren received supplies. Gilbert and his colleague 't Zereets, therefore, determined to make another attempt on Goes. The island of South Beveland, in the previous century, had been the most flourishing district in Zeeland. Goes is on the north side, with a port opening on the eastern Scheldt. The lofty spire of its great church is conspicuous for many miles, and the church itself, with its flamboyant win- dows and splendid organ, is one of the finest in the Netherlands. Goes is a charming old town, with many quaintly gabled houses, and there are vestiges of the palace where Jacoba, the ill-fated heiress of Holland, passed the last few years of her life in hap- piness, with her noble husband Francis van Borsselen. Here she died in 1436. The farms round Goes have orchards and willow garths near the homesteads, and elms and Lombardy poplars planted in rows along the roads and dikes. The patriots of Flushing were well supplied with shipping, both from that port and from Veere. They had six pieces of artillery and other materials for a 46 THE FIGHTING VERES. siege; and towards the end of August, 1572, they sailed up the western Scheldt to dislodge the veteran Pacheco from his stronghold at Goes. The adven- turers landed near Biezelinge, a village on the south side of the island, and about four miles from Goes. At first there were some slight successes. Captain Morgan and Rowland Yorke captured the fort com- manding the harbor, and the six pieces of artillery made a breach. Gilbert and 't Zereets then led their men to the assault. An attempt was made to take the place by escalade, but, after some desperate fight- ing, it was repulsed ; and the inexperienced besiegers began to despond. The Duke of Alva saw the importance of reliev- ing Goes, and entrusted the duty to Sancho de Avila, the Governor of Antwerp, with that consummate old soldier, Cristoval de Mondragon, a Basque from the lovely valley of the Deva, as his lieutenant They concentrated a force of Spaniards and Walloons at the fortified city of Bergen-op-Zoom, on the eastern Scheldt; but here a difficulty arose. In former days a narrow channel, easily passable, separated Bergen- op-Zoom from the fertile polders of South Beveland. Now all was changed. A frightful storm, combined with a very high tide, blew during one winter's night of the year 1532, and at dawn the furious waves broke through the dikes and flooded the country. Villages were submerged, and hundreds of people perished miserably. A wide space of shallow water thus inter- vened between Bergen-op-Zoom and South Beveland, at least eight miles across, the area receiving the mel- ancholy name of " Verdronken land." The problem for Avila and Mondragon to solve was how to trans- THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS. 47 port their force across this submerged land, and they decided upon a course which could only have been attempted with brave and highly disciplined soldiers. A native of Beveland, named Plumart, reported that there was a very narrow ridge, along which it was possible to wade from one shore to the other at low water, and he volunteered his services as guide. Mondragon resolved to make the attempt. He caused a canvas bag to be prepared for each soldier, containing biscuit and powder, and selected a force of 3,000 picked men. It was a fine day towards the end of October, and the time chosen was when the tide was at half ebb. The aged veteran then led his men to the point where they were to enter the water, served out the bags, and delivered a stirring harangue. " I will plunge in first," he exclaimed, " and you will boldly follow me. Let the world judge if you have not proved yourselves to be worthy soldiers." The Spaniards came first in double file, led by Mondra- gon, with Plumart the guide at his side. Each man was ready to support his comrade. The point to be reached on the Beveland shore was the village of Yerseken-dam. The whole thing was arranged so well that only nine men were lost, although they were frequently over their shoulders in water, and a false step would, in many places, have plunged them out of their depth. Mondragon landed his men safely at Yerseken-dam, which is five miles from Goes, and made beacon signals to Pacheco announcing his arrival. A short rest was necessary before ad- vancing. 1 When the besiegers heard of the arrival of Mon- 1 This account of Mondragorrs exploit is from Bentivoglio. 48 THE FIGHTING VERES. dragon they did not wait to be attacked, but fled to their ships in complete rout. The Spaniards promptly followed them, and did much execution among the fugitives. Many were slain, and others were drowned in attempting to reach the ships. " Thus," says Roger Williams, " ended our ignorant poor siege." Gilbert, in despair, returned to England with his regi- ment, while Mondragon supplied the Spanish garri- sons of Goes and Middelburg with provisions. English volunteers continued to serve, both by sea and on land, but they still showed the consequences of inexperience and want of discipline. At Flush- ing they helped in the capture of Fort Rammekens in August, 1573, and in the great sea-fight, when the Zeeland ships attacked the Spanish fleet from Ant- werp, with supplies for Middelburg. But in the fol- lowing year the English serving under Chester and Gainsford were disgraced. They surrendered Val- kenburg when they might have held out, and they were surprised and routed at Gouda, with a loss of 300 men and three colors taken. Still they were learning in the school of adversity. There was no check in the enthusiasm which pro- duced fresh volunteers. Still they came. In 1578, John North, the eldest son of Lord North, Henry Cavendish, and, above all, John Norris, arrived. John Norris was one of several warrior brothers in whom the Queen took special interest. One of his grand- fathers was that Henry Norris who suffered owing to the false accusations against Anne Boleyn. The other was that Lord Williams of Thame who had the custody of Elizabeth during her sister's persecu- tion. His father had been created Lord Norris of THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS. 49 Rycote, and his mother, Margery Williams, was one of the Queen's earliest and dearest friends, a friend in the time of need and adversity. Queen Elizabeth called Lady Norris " her own crow," " being black in complexion," we are told, " a color which no whit un- became the faces of her martial issue." John had already served in France under Admiral Coligny, and in Ireland under Essex, when he placed his sword and his tried valor at the disposal of William of Orange. Don Juan of Austria had just put the army of the States to flight at the battle of Gemblours. He seemed to be carrying all before him. The Archduke Matthias, who had been invited into the Netherlands, had got together an army to oppose his cousin, consisting of Flemings and English and Scotch volunteers, under the command of Count Bossu and Fran9ois de la Noue. The latter was a Breton, who had embraced the Protestant religion, and had borne arms from his infancy. He was in the Italian wars ; he fought at St. Quentin, Jarnac, and Moncoutour, and lost his left arm at the siege of Fontenai-le-comte. He used one of iron, and was called " Bras de Fer." He now was forty-eight, a sea- soned and weather-beaten veteran. 1 The raw recruits were in need of such a man to command them. They numbered 14,000 men. Don Juan had a splen- didly equipped force of 30,000 men, with his nephew, the Duke of Parma, as general of horse, Count Mansfelt as lord marshal, and Don Antonio Marti- nez de Leyva, among many other nobles, with a picked company, 200 strong, bearing colors with a crucifix on a sable ground. Leyva led the van. 1 Disc ours poliliques et militaire s. (Bale, 1587.) 50 THE FIGHTING VERES. La Noue selected a position very carefully, near the village of Rymenant, and not far from the city of Malines, in Brabant. His troops were drawn up between the village and the river Dyle, a tributary of the Scheldt. One flank was protected by a wood, and the other by trenches. The army of Don Juan advanced from Arschot, which is on the banks of the same river, and approached the enemy in good order. The object was to draw the inexperienced recruits out of their trenches, and overwhelm them in the open. There were skirmishes, but La Noue still held back his main body. Colonel Norris and the English volunteers occu- pied a position apart from the Flemings, and Don Juan now resolved to dislodge them if possible, and to bring on a general engagement. He attacked the English with the flower of the Spanish infantry, the select company of Leyva being in the van. Scarcely a man in this company had not served as an officer, and was not of knightly rank. Leyva himself had equipped the company at his own expense. The as- sault was made with desperate valor, but it was not less bravely received by the English volunteers. The fight long remained doubtful. The Spaniards were assaulting an intrenched position, and they were re- pulsed again and again. At length they fell back, and Don Juan ordered a retreat. 1 This was on the ist of August, 1578. The heat was intense, and the Englishmen fought in their shirt-sleeves. Nor- ris, stoutly cheering on his men, had three horses killed under him. Young Bingham, serving as lieu- tenant to Cavendish, and William Markham, from 1 Bentivoglio. THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS. 51 Sedgebrook, in Lincolnshire, received special com- mendation ; l but all had done well. It was an important engagement for the English- men, who were learning to be soldiers. They had now repulsed the formidable infantry of Spain on two occasions : first at Souburg, outside the town of Flushing, and again at Rymenant. They were learning their lesson. Volunteers continued to come over during the fol- lowing years, and to acquire a knowledge of the mil- itary art, the most distinguished being John and Ed- ward Norris, Thomas Morgan, and Roger Williams, and later on came John Burrough, Edmund Uvedale, Thomas Wingfield, Robert Sidney, and Baskerville, all men with whom we shall soon become better acquainted. In 1580 we hear of John Norris with a company of 150 well-armed Englishmen, at Cam- pen; and in 1582 he is still aiding the Netherlander to stem the torrent of invasion in Gelderland. In 1583 Norris was commanding the English in the Pay de Waas, opposite to Antwerp. Meanwhile Roger Williams had been actually im- proving his military education in the enemy's camp. He had gone to Germany, owing to a report that the Prince of Conde was raising forces there to march into France, and he thought this would be a good opportunity of gratifying his desire to see strange wars. But he found that the report was untrue, and that he had spent his money for nothing ; so he began his journey back to England. Entering Lier, in Brabant, he was brought before Julian Romero, the best infantry officer in the Spanish service. Among 1 Camden (Kennet), p. 460. 52 THE FIGHTING VERES. many other questions Romero asked the stranger what noblemen in England he knew best. He an- swered, the Earl of Pembroke, whom he served as a page. " What," exclaimed Romero, " the general of the English before St. Quentin ? I never honored any man more." So he earnestly requested Williams to remain in the Spanish army, assuring him that he might depart when it pleased him. Loath to re- turn to England without seeing something, he prom- ised to stay, and saw some service. 1 But the time was now approaching for England to enter upon the quarrel as a nation. The Queen's government had long been negotiating with the States, and, besides allowing the volunteers to enter the service of the Prince of Orange, Queen Eliza- beth had advanced at least ,284,000 in money be- tween 1577 and 1581, which she had raised on her own credit, receiving the principal and paying inter- est to the Genoese bankers Pallavicino and Spinola. 2 The tentative efforts of the inexperienced volun- teers were the forerunners of the more serious and extensive assistance which the freemen of England were to give to the patriots righting for freedom at their doors. 1 Discourse of the Discipline of 2 State Papers (Holland), vol. the Spaniards. Roger Williams. xiiL CHAPTER VI. THE ART MILITARY. THE army which Queen Elizabeth was about to send to the Netherlands was the first that had been organized on the Spanish model. The various grades, the drill and evolutions, and even much of the mili- tary nomenclature, were borrowed from the system which had been founded by the Great Captain, and had produced the finest infantry the world had seen since the fall of the Roman Empire. The best regiments of Spain were in the Netherlands, under such colonels, or maestros de campo, as Romero and Mondragon. The " Tercio Viejo" under Mondragon, was so called because it included bands ('vanderas") of the time of the Great Captain Gonzalvo de Cor- dova and of Charles V. The military training and experience of the soldiers were unrivalled, their ap- pearance superb, their bravery proved in scores of victories. This Tercio was broken up by the Duke of Parma, and the men were distributed in other tercios, because their pride was considered excessive. Still that fault arose from a consciousness of having cause for pride, and it shows the sort of perfection to which the Spanish infantry had reached. They had no equal in Europe, and, in preparing to create such an equal, some English commanders strove to learn from the enemy, like Roger Williams, and all en- deavored to model their armies on this most approved pattern. 54 THE FIGHTING VERES. The general's staff of the English army was or- ganized almost exactly on the Spanish system. Un- der the general, and exercising supervision over the army, was the lord marshal, who selected sites for camps and arranged the stationing of pickets, sen- tries, and scouts. In the Spanish service he was called " campmaster general." The lord marshal gave orders to the provost marshal, the sergeant- major general, the quartermaster-general, and the scout-master, and arranged the marches and strategic movements of the army. He instructed the quarter- masters as to the staking out the camp, appointed the limits of the market-place, divided the ground, and allotted spaces for each company. The duty of the treasurer of war was to receive from the muster-master general, the victual-master, and provost marshal lists of all officers with their allowances. He was allowed a small staff of sub- treasurers and clerks, and he had supervision over the work of the muster-masters. These officials were expected to have a knowledge and description of every man of every company, to be good accountants, and to take care that pay was not drawn for dead or absent men. The lieutenant-general of horse commanded all the cavalry, and the colonel-general, sometimes also called lieutenant-general of foot, commanded the infantry. The sergeant-major general ranked next under the colonel-general. Each regiment was commanded by an officer who, since the time of Henry VIII., had been called a colonel, equivalent to the maestro de campo of the Spanish service; and there was also a lieutenant- THE ART MILITARY. 55 colonel. The sergeant-major of a regiment was se- lected from among the captains. It was his duty, with the aid of the captains, to keep the regiment in due form, and the sergeant-major general trusted to the skill and experience of the sergeant-majors of regiments to form an army in what line or figure was considered best by the general. The sergeant-major was allowed a horse, and when his regiment was on detached service he performed the duties of marshal. His chief duties were to insure good order in march- ing and in encamping, and perfect forms of embat- tling. He was expected to report himself daily to the sergeant-major general, to receive orders from him, to apply for necessary stores and provisions, and to visit the guards every night. The captain of a company was usually a gentle- man o some position, for the companies were much sought after, and before long a sort of purchase sys- tem was introduced. The number of men in a com- pany varied very much, but 200 was considered a full complement. Besides his sword, the captain had a fair gilt partisan richly trimmed, and his colors car- ried by the ensign. His pay was eight guineas (eighty- four gulden) a month. The lieutenant of a company had his place in the rear advancing, and in the front retiring. His duties were to train and drill the men, and to see them properly dressed in their files, and he received ^"5. 16. a month. The ensign, or alferez of the Spaniards, had to guard the captain's colors ; which consisted of a red cross on a white field, from which flew a streamer with the principal colors and charges of the captain's coat-armor. The ensign wore a burgonet and corselet, and was armed with 56 THE FIGHTING VERES. sword and dagger. His pay was 4. 16. a month. In each company there were also a certain number of gentlemen volunteers and pages. A company was divided into four squadrons, and there was a sergeant for every two. His duties were to fetch the watchword from the sergeant-major and deliver it to the corporals, to instruct in postures and the use of arms, and to draw up the files and see them in position according to the captain's orders. He was expected to be able to read and cipher, to keep a list of his men, and to assign duties. Like the ensigns, the sergeants wore a Milan corselet and burgonet, and carried a halberd of partisan. A sergeant's pay was 2. 8. a month. The cabo de escuadra of the Spaniards was called a corporal by the English, and there was one for each squadron. His duties were to draw .out the corps du garde, place sentries, receive the password, and draw victuals and stores from the clerk. He led the principal file of his squadron in attack, and re- ceived 1. 12. a month. The squadrons were divided into camarados, or fellowships, of ten to twelve men each, who were united together in their lodging and messing, and usually in their friendships. Each camarado was led by an assistant corporal, called a cabo de camarado or lanspesado. The Italian name was lanze spezzate. The lanspesados each received 1. 4. a month. Each company also had a clerk to keep the rolls and muster books, and receive stores and provisions ; and a harbinger who received and distributed the billets, ascertained from the quarter- master-general the portion of ground on which his company was to encamp, and allotted the ground for THE ART MILITARY. 57 building their cabins to the camarados. The har- binger was selected by the captain from among the corporals. His pay was i. 8. a month. Each company also had a drummer and fifer, at i. 4. each a month. The soldiers of a company were divided into pike- men and shotmen. The Spaniards looked upon the pike as " la senora y reyna de las armas" the noblest of weapons. A pike had to be strong and straight, made of well-grown ash, and headed with a steel spike guarded with plates of iron. The length was eighteen feet, and about six feet from the head there was a patch of cloth or velvet to mark the place for carrying the pike in shouldering and sloping. It was trimmed with tassels, to turn off the water which, in rainy weather, would otherwise run down along the staff. 1 Pikemen were also armed with a sword having a basket hilt, blade a yard long, and a scab- bard of strong leather. The sword used to be at- tached to a baldric, but afterwards a girdle was sub- stituted, in which there was also a dagger ; for the dagger, observes Robert Barret, " is a weapon of great advantage in pell mell." Much attention was given to the defensive armor of pikemen. The Spanish morion was preferred to the old burgonet as a head- piece. It was well lined with quilted linen, and had ear-plates, also lined, with a string to fasten under the chin. Round the neck a gorget was worn, and over it a pair of cuirasses, breast and back pieces, 1 The use of the pike was aban- 1690 has the pike exercise ; and doned in France, by the advice of the " Gentleman's Dictionary " Vauban, in 1703, and in England (1705) describes the pike as "a at about the same time. A book weapon formerly in use, but now of infantry exercise published in set aside." 58 THE FIGHTING VERES. pike-proof, with clasps for fastening. On the left of the back piece there was a hook for the morion. Fastened to the breastplate in front, there was a pair of taces, with several joints, defending the belly and upper half of the thigh. On the shoulders there was a pair of well-moulded pouldrons coming down to the elbows ; but the vantbraces, from the elbow to the wrist, which were formerly in use, had been dis- continued. Under the armor the men wore doublets of fustian or chamois leather, made high in the collar to protect their necks from cold and sun, and well stuffed at the shoulders. For hose they had large wide "greygescoes," lined with cotton and bound with strong canvas, to which the nether stockings were fastened, and gartered at the knees. A pike- man's pay was t \. 4. to i. 16. a month. 1 The shotmen of the company also wore a Spanish morion, and were armed with a sword, besides their muskets. Round the neck there was a piece of quilted leather, cut like a large gorget. Over the left shoulder and under the right arm they wore a bandoleer of leather, to which was fastened, by double strings at least nine inches long, one large priming charge and twelve other charges, all made of light wood or horn, covered with leather. At his girdle the shotman carried his bullet -bag, containing a mould, worm, screw, and priming-iron. The Duke of Alva brought muskets into use in 1567. Before that time the fire-arm, mounted on a stock, which was adopted in Europe, was the arquebus. It came in at about the end of the reign of Louis XII. The 1 Sir Edmund Uvedale, in 1 590, a year, or 8d. a day. Cotton MSS. gives a soldier's pay at 12. 3. 4. Galba, D. vii. 84. THE ART MILITARY. 59 musket was much heavier than the arquebus, and necessitated the use of a staff, breast-high, as a rest. The stock of the musket was of walnut wood, the barrel four and a half feet long. The wheel-lock had also been introduced by Alva. It was a small solid wheel of steel, fixed against the plate of the lock. An axis pierced its centre and went into the lock, a chain being fastened to the interior end, which twisted round it when the wheel was turned, and bent the spring by which it was held. A key was used to bend this spring, into which the exterior end of the axis was inserted. By turning the key from left to right the wheel was made to revolve, and by this movement a little slider of copper, which covered the pan containing the priming, retired from over it. By the same movement the cock, armed with a flint, was made ready to be discharged on pulling the trigger. The cock, falling on the wheel, produced fire, and communicated it to the priming. The wheel-lock was, however, generally used for pistols and carbines, and the match-lock for muskets. 1 The musket rest, which the soldier had to carry in his left hand, was of ash wood, with a half hoop of iron, to rest the musket on, at one end, and an iron pike at the other, to fix it in the ground. A shot- man received i. 16. a month. The companies were formed in solid squares, the pikemen in the centre, and shotme'n on the flanks ; usually ten in rank and file. First a file of ten men, 1 In the time of Charles I. the leers. The noisy rattling of ban- snaphaunce, which was a flint-lock, doleers betrayed the presence of took the place of the wheel-lock ; an enemy, and even prevented and in 1670 the cartridge-box took men from hearing orders, the place of the dangling bando- 60 THE FIGHTING VERES. headed by the cabo de camarado, was marched up to the place where the square was to be formed, and halted. Then came the next file, marching shoulder to shoulder with the first, and so on to the tenth, the ensign marching in the middle file. A maniple was a detachment of so many ranks and files of a square of pikes, told off to march through any narrow place. The rule was that a file should never be more than ten deep. The corps du garde was part of a squadron told off as a picket, or for sentry duty. It numbered twenty or thirty men, and was stationed where the enemy was most likely to make an attack.. The sergeant in command chose his sentries, and placed them at dis- tances of thirty to forty paces from the corps du garde. These sentries were all shotmen, and had their rests fixed and muskets levelled. The Spa- niards allowed the sentries to have the password, which enabled Roger Williams, at Venlo siege, to advance almost to the Duke of Parma's tent. But in the English service the sentry had orders. to allow no one to pass until he had called his officer, who alone had the word. Rounders (ronda in Spanish) were select soldiers exempted from the duties of sentries, and chosen to be gentlemen of a company. They were called gen- tlemen rounders, or gentlemen of the round. Their duty was to visit the corps du garde and the sentries at certain hours of the night. They were entrusted with the password, and were leaders of the files in which they served. Each company, on reaching camp, received a measured parallelogram from the quartermaster, for THE ART MILITARY. 6 1 hutting. A soldier was expected to make one of a camarado, "to be as loving brethren." Having marched all day, and coming to the place where they were to encamp, one of them chose out the driest and warmest plot of ground he could find in the allotted quarters, and looked after all the clothes, arms, and baggage. Another went, with one of the pages, to get a supply of straw from some adjoining village, or of heath and ferns from the moorland, according to the country they were in. This was used both to roof their huts and to make their beds. The boys attached to the camarado carried a small hatchet, a leathern bottle for water, a small kettle to seethe meat in, and a bag of salt. One soldier cut down forked boughs and long poles to make a frame- work for the hut, while another visited the vivandiers and victuallers to obtain bread and drink ; if not otherwise provided, either by forage or pillaging. Another made the fire, stuck the forked stakes into the ground, and hung the kettle to seethe. Thus all the comrades were busily at work, and the men made themselves as comfortable as it was possible. But the life was a very hard one, and there was often much sickness. Sometimes they were sent on a night attack, or had to repel one. A night attack was called a camisado, because the soldiers often put shirts over their armor, the better to distinguish each other in the dark. The Queen allowed 120 rations for every 100 men, the surplus being divided amongst the officers. A ration consisted of one pottle of beer, one and a half pounds of bread, half a pound of butter, one pound of cheese, six herrings, two pounds of salt 62 THE FIGHTING VERES. beef, and one pound of bacon. So that each man received six and a half pounds of solids a day and one pottle of beer, besides six herrings. The outfit of a soldier, apart from his arms and armor, con- sisted of a fustian doublet, a cassock or cloak for the winter, a pair of Venetian hose, two shirts and two bands, three pairs of woollen stockings, and four pairs of boots. The cost of this outfit was 2. 9. 2., defensive armor i. 2., and the pike ,0.4.6.; so that each recruit cost his country the sum of ^3. 1 5. 8. In 1600 an infantry company was calculated to cost ^270 a month for pay, or ,3,240 a year. A recruit was called a bezonian? from the Spanish word bisono, which means raw, undisciplined, and is used for a recruit inexpert in the use of arms. During the war in the Netherlands the sieges were more frequent than battles in the open country, and no unimportant part of the duty of foot-soldiers was the expert use of the pick and spade. 2 It was not uncommon for the men to have to dig and intrench themselves under a heavy fire. On such occasions 1 Modern writers seem to think These are the two occasions on that bezonian was a term of re- which the word is used by Shake- proach. In Walker's dictionary, speare. It was in common use for "a low fellow or scoundrel, a a recruit, among the English in beggar," is the meaning given, the Netherlands. Gervase Mark- But this is a mistake. When ham, in his English Husbandman, Pistol says to Slender, "Under says, "The ordinary tillers of the which king, Bezonian?" (zd part earth, such as we call husband- of Henry IV., Act 5, Sc. 3), he men, in Spain 6esonyans!" uses the word as we should say 2 " We are used to put the sol- " greenhorn." Even in the mouth diers to the work of pioneers, who of Suffolk "Great men oft die leave their tools and take their by vile Bezonians " (id part of weapons when need requireth." Henry Vf., Act 4, Sc. i) the sense F. Vere from the Hague, 2^th is merely that veterans or officers April, 1597. MSS. at Hatfield. are often slain by recruits. THE ART MILITARY. 63 they were protected by barrels filled with earth, in double rows. The officers had large bucklers or shields when they reconnoitred an enemy's forti- fications. The cavalry consisted of lancers, pistoliers, car- bines, and light-horse. Lancers wore a buff coat with long skirts. They were provided with armor from the head to the knee, and bore a lance in the right hand, a sword on the left side, and a pair of pistols in holsters. The saddle was partly plated with steel. Their horses were strong and swift, generally fifteen hands. They charged the ranks of pikemen, and occasionally broke and routed them. The pistolier, instead of a lance, had a pair of French pistols, two feet long in the barrel, with wheel-locks. The carbines wore a morion, gorget, cuirass, and pouldrons. They were armed with swords, and pe- tronels at their saddles, with flax, touch-box, and bullet- bag. They charged on the flanks of the lancers and pistoliers, delivered their volleys at a greater dis- tance, and when the enemy was routed they did great execution. Light-horse wore a morion, gorget, and light cuirass. They had a slender chasing staff and pair of pistols. Their duty was to gallop out as skir- mishers, to charge loose wings of shotmen, to recon- noitre, and to pursue a broken enemy. Dragoons were mounted musketeers for holding fords or bridges. There were eleven in a range, and when they came to the place to be held, ten dis- mounted, and the eleventh held the horses, threading the bridles one into another. They were formed in companies of no men. But this system of mount- ing infantry did not come into general use until near the close of the war. 64 THE FIGHTING VERES. A cornet or guidon of horse was equivalent to an ensign of foot. The colors were swallow-tailed and three feet long, and carried on a lance ; unless the captain was created a banneret, when his guidon was made square. The artillery was under the master of the ordnance and his lieutenant. Their staff consisted of master gunners, wagon-masters, trench-masters, and can- noniers. The heaviest battering-gun of those days was the double cannon, weighing 8,000 Ibs., throw- ing a shot of sixty-six Ibs., with a point-blank range of 800 paces, bore eight and a half inches. The cannon weighed 5,500 Ibs., with a .sixty pr. shot ; and the demi-cannon weighed 4,000 Ibs., with a twenty-four-pound shot, bore six inches, and point- blank range forty paces. These formed a siege train and were difficult to transport across country, but the network of rivers and canals in the Netherlands re- moved much of the obstacles caused in other coun- tries by the labor of transport. The largest fieldpiece was a quarter-cannon weigh- ing 3,200 Ibs., and throwing a 1 2 pr. ball. Its length was 8 1 feet, bore 4! inches, point-blank range 300 paces. This gun was between the culverin and demi- culverin, classes of ordnance which were not much used in the Netherlands. The small fieldpiece was called a drake or saker, and weighed 580 Ibs. with a 6 pr. shot ; length, 5 feet ; bore, 3! inches ; range point-blank, 100 paces. The falconet was a heavier piece, but throwing the same weight of shot. The master of the ordnance directed the planning out and construction of bulwarks, curtains and cava- liers, casemates and trenches, as well as the mount- THE ART MILITARY. 65 ing and working of the guns. Bulwarks were built at the angles of the enceinte of a city or fort, and were obtuse or rounded. They consisted of the traverses or flankers, the pome or shoulder, the front or curtain, the counter-front or spurs, and the parapets. The cavaliers were built within the curtain or walls of the bulwark, as places whence the curtain could be de- fended. The trench-master superintended this work. He was required to be a good geometrician, to have a quick eye and intelligent appreciation of any advan- tages offered by the nature of a country, and a clear intelligence. While the quartermaster divided a camp into quarters for the different regiments, the trench- master drew up his plan for intrenching the camp according to the nature of the ground. Master gun- ners were required to have warlike stores at hand, and to see that guns were properly loaded and trained. He supplied sponges and worms, cotton, matches, priming-irons, quadrants and rules for pointing the guns, engines for mounting and dismounting, car- riages, axle-trees, wheels, rammers, quoins, gabions, baskets, ropes, and intrenching tools. Sometimes the offices of master gunner and fire-master were separated, the latter making powder, and compound- ing all kinds of fire-works and charges for blasting. The wagon-master and forage-master were under the orders of the lieutenant-general of horse. The former had charge of all the baggage of an army, and of all means of carriage. With the wagons marched the boys, such women as were allowed to accompany the army, and the victuallers. The victual-master was an important official, who had under him a staff of clerks, carriers, bakers, butchers, and coopers. He 66 THE FIGHTING VERES. kept his accounts, for periodical submission to the treasurer. The provost marshal took delinquents into custody, and had charge of all gyves, shackles, bolts, chains, bilboes, manacles, whips, gallows, scaffolds, pillories, stocks, and strapados, a very formidable person. He watched over the cleanliness of the camp, kept the peace, and had the guard over all prisoners of war until they were ransomed or otherwise released. The judge marshal was the prosecutor at courts-mar- tial, and the referee in all martial causes. The scout-master was an accomplished and most valuable assistant to the general. He was expected to be a man of valor and judgment, a good cos- mographer and describer of the nature of a country and the positions of places, and one who was quick to take in the whole aspect of a district at a glance. He was supplied with a guard of light-horse, and he rode in front of the army to gauge the depth of fords, to try the nature of bottoms of rivers, and to observe all hills, valleys, woods, and swamps, with the advan- tages or disadvantages they offered to his general's plans. He sent out " vant-curriers " (avant-couriers) in all directions to bring him reports. Such was the system, mainly adopted from the Spaniards, which prevailed in the organization of the forces raised to resist them. There were various modifications in practice from time to time ; but the above details will furnish a fair general idea of the methods which guided our ancestors to eventual success in their efforts to assist the free people of the Netherlands, and of the materials whereby they achieved their grand object. CHAPTER VII. OPENING OF THE WAR. THE sympathy for the people of the Netherlands increased in England as the struggle developed. But Spain was then the most powerful nation in the world. It was no light matter to defy such a power, and a war would place the very existence of England in jeopardy. It was right that long and careful de- liberation should precede so momentous a decision. It was right that the government of Queen Elizabeth should hesitate. For years she continued to allow volunteers to cross the sea. For years she advanced money to the States. Both these measures were acts of war if the King of Spain saw fit to view them in that light His governors at Brussels sent embassies to remonstrate, the States sent envoys to entreat for intervention. The Queen wisely continued to give evasive replies to both sides, while she watched the course of events. At length the dreadful news arrived of the assassi- nation of William of Orange. Elizabeth shared the horror of her subjects. She desired her agent at the Hague, in a letter in her own hand, dated July 3, 1 584, to let the States know how greatly she grieved at the news of the death of the Prince of Orange. She grieved " not only in respect of having lost so constant and good a friend, but chiefly in respect of 68 THE FIGHTING VERES. the afflicted state of that country, being environed by the enemy as they are, to see them deprived of so good a Councillor and Director of their affairs in this their extreme necessity." Her Highness's agent was instructed to let the States understand that, foresee- ing the change in their affairs which must needs be caused by the loss of the Prince, and that they would require both advice and assistance, she had thought good to send him to consult with them. On July 12, she wrote a letter of condolence to the Princess of Orange. Prince Maurice, the son of William the Taciturn, was born on November 14, 1567, so that he was not quite seventeen ; and though he afterwards proved a very able guardian of their liberties, he was as yet too young to lead the destinies of the Netherlanders unaided. He was accepted as his father's successor, and a council was formed to conduct the government, but all eyes were turned more anxiously than ever to the longed-for help from England. In the following year the successes of the Duke of Parma and his famous siege of Antwerp made the decision of Queen Elizabeth still more urgent. The time was now ripe for action. In June, 1585, the envoys for the States arrived in London. There were two from Brabant, one from Flanders, Olden Barneveldt and three others to represent Holland, one from Zeeland, Paul Buys from Utrecht, one from Dordrecht, and three from Friesland. They were lodged in Tower Street, and " had their diet very worshipfully ap- pointed " at the Clothworkers' Hall in Mincing Lane. On June 29th they had audience of the Queen at Greenwich, when the Pensionary of Dordrecht de- OPENING OF THE WAR. 69 livered an oration in French, to which her Highness graciously replied. The terms of a treaty were then agreed upon. The Queen was to send an auxiliary force to Holland, consisting of 4,000 foot and 1,000 horse under a gen- eral, and to pay them during the war. The States were to repay this expenditure within five years after peace was made. The town of Flushing, with the castle of Rammekens, and the town of Brill, were to be delivered to the Queen. Ostend was afterwards added. These cautionary towns were to be restored to the States when the accounts between the two countries were adjusted. The general, and two other Englishmen nominated by the Queen, were to be members of the Council of the States. The States agreed to make no treaties without the advice and consent of the Queen. Ships, for common defence, were to be provided, in equal numbers, by both con- tracting parties and at the common charges, and to be commanded by the admiral of England. The Queen then caused a declaration to be pub- lished, setting forth the reasons which had induced her to give aid to the afflicted and oppressed people of the Low Countries. It was dated at Richmond on October i, 1585. It is one of the noblest state papers that was ever written, and it placed the Eng- lish nation in a most honorable position before the world. It is not unworthy to take a place beside the Declaration of American Independence. "We are moved," wrote the Queen, "to publish upon what just and reasonable -grounds we are re- solved to give aid to our next neighbors, the people of the Low Countries, being by long wars and perse- 70 THE FIGHTING VERES. cutions of strong nations lamentably afflicted and in present danger to be brought into perpetual servitude. " There has been a continual traffic and commerce between those Low Countries and our realm of Eng- land, in all ancient times, when the several provinces were ruled by several laws, and not united together, as of late years they have been by intermarriages, and at length reduced to be under the government of their lords that succeeded to the dukedom of Burgundy. There hath been, in former ages, many special alliances between the two people, for main- tenance of commerce and intercourse of mer- chants, and also for special mutual amity, with provisions for mutual powers, affections, and all other friendly offices. By which mutual bonds there hath continued perpetual unions of the people's hearts together, and so by way of continual intercourses, from age to age, the same mutual love hath been inviolably kept. " Of late years the King of Spain has appointed Spaniards, foreigners of strange blood, men more exercised in wars than in peaceable government, and some of them notably delighting in blood, as hath appeared by their actions, to be the chiefest gover- nors of all the Low Countries, contrary to the ancient laws and customs thereof. The Spaniards have vio- lently broken the ancient laws and liberties of all the country, and, in a tyrannous sort, have banished, killed, and destroyed, without order of law, within the space of a few months, many of the most ancient and principal persons of the natural nobility that were most worthy of government. Of the chiefest OPENING OF THE WAR. 71 that were executed of the nobility, none was more affected to the Romish religion than the noble and valiant Count of Egmont, the very glory of that country. The Spaniards have also lamentably de- stroyed by sword, famine, and other cruel manners of death a great part of the natural people, and now the chief towns are held and kept chiefly with force by the Spaniards. " We are sure that they could be pitied of none with more cause and grief generally than of our sub- jects of this our realm of England, and those coun- tries have by common language of long time resem- bled and called as man and wife. " For these urgent causes we have by many friendly messages and ambassadors to the King of Spain de- clared our compassion of this so evil and cruel usage of his people by sundry his martial governors, all strangers to these his countries. We have often and often most friendly warned him that if he did not otherwise by his wisdom and princely clemency re- strain the tyranny and cruelty of his governors and men of war, we feared that the people of his coun- try should be forced to seek the protection of some other lord. For they affirm that in such cases of general injustice, and upon such violent breaking of their privileges, they are free from their former hom- age ; the proof whereof is to be read in the ancient histories of divers alterations. " Having regard to the continual and lamentable requests made to us by the States for our succors, and finding no hope of relief of these their miseries, but rather an increase thereof by daily conquests of their towns and slaughter of their people, and join- 72 THE FIGHTING VERES. ing thereunto our own danger at hand by the over- throw and destruction of our neighbors ; we, there- fore, after long deliberation, determine to send certain companies of soldiers to aid the natural people of these countries to defend their towns from sacking and desolation, and to preserve their ancient liber- ties for them and their posterity, and so consequently to preserve and continue the lawful and ancient com- merce between our people and those countries. " We mean not hereby to make particular profit to ourself and our people, only desiring to obtain, by God's faVor, for the countries a deliverance of them from war by the Spaniards and foreigners, with a res- titution of their ancient liberties and government." The die was cast. The Netherlanders were trans- ported with joy at having at length obtained the powerful aid of England. The King of Spain re- solved to strike a blow at the islanders with his whole force ; a.nd meanwhile the Queen ordered prepara- tions to be pushed forward, in order to comply promptly with the terms of the treaty. " This she- David of ours," said Sir Fulk Greville, " ventured to undertake the great Goliath among the Philistines abroad, I mean Spain and the Pope, and takes (al- most solitary) truth for her leading star." The Queen selected Robert Dudley, Earl of Leices- ter, her early friend and trusted councillor, to com- mand the auxiliary force in chief. While military knowledge and experience were indispensable quali- fications for his advisers, it was considered that the most important recommendation for the general, at that particular juncture, would be the confidence of his sovereign. Born in 1532, Leicester had now reached OPENING OF THE WAR. 73 the age of fifty-three, a handsome, portly man with gray hair. But he had passed his life at court, and had no experience of martial affairs. Governors were also appointed for the cautionary towns. Sir Thomas Cecil, eldest son of the Lord Treasurer, became governor of Brill, and Sir Philip Sidney of Flushing and Rammekens. Cecil was the eldest of the two English governors. Born in 1542, he had served in Scotland when aid was sent to the Regent Murray in 1574, and was knighted at Kenilworth in the following year. His government was a post of trust, for Brill, placed at the mouth of the Maas and commanding the main approach to Rotterdam, was a seaport of considera- ble importance. It was memorable as the spot where the standard of liberty was first raised by De la Marck and his " sea gueux? and it had since been in the hands of the patriots. Situated at the western end of the island of Voorn, the town of Brill even now retains several buildings which were familiar to the Elizabethan garrison. The tower and roof of the old church at Brill are seen from a great dis- tance, rising over a mass of foliage. In front of the church there is a small open space, with a fountain dating from 1590, and the streets leading from it con- tain several curious old houses, with dates 1577, 1588, and 1592 on their gables. Many have slabs be- tween the windows, carved with a cow, or a galley, or a shield of arms, and the date beneath. The school has the date 1594, the prison 1623. A bronze statue of liberty, 1 with the inscription " Libertatis primitive, i April, 1572," stands on the site of the gate through 1 Erected in 1872. 74 THE FIGHTING VERES. which William de la Marck forced an entrance. Brill is still one of the most interesting and quaint old towns in Holland. It is quite hidden by the thick foliage of the trees round the ramparts, and when they are passed the picturesque canal appears, with old houses on .either side, and the massive church-tower rising above them. Brill retains many of the features which presented themselves to Sir Thomas Cecil and his English garrison, when they entered the town in November, 1585, and were wel- comed as deliverers by the inhabitants. The first English governor of Flushing was a younger man than Thomas Cecil, having just reached his thirty-first birthday. Philip Sidney was entering upon the last year of a beautiful life which was to be closed by the death of a hero. He had formed friend- ships in many lands. He had served his Queen in posts of high trust, and had done her that higher service of venturing upon frank and fearless expostu- lation. He had loved passionately and honorably, but unhappily. He had written poetry which will be read as long as the English language endures. He was beloved and admired by the leading intellects of a great period. On the whole, he was the most brilliant, the most chivalrous, of those bright spirits who formed the court of the great Queen. He was now about to draw his sword in a just and noble cause. His government of Flushing (Vlissingen), a town on the south side of the island of Walcheren, was even more important than Brill. It commanded the mouth of the Scheldt and the approaches to Antwerp. Walcheren itself was a place of consider- able trade, being a well-cultivated island, including OPENING OF THE WAR. 75 the city of Middelburg (the capital of Zeeland), only a few miles from Flushing; and the other seaport of Veere on the north side, also a thriving place. Flushing was originally a small fishing village ; but William the Good, Count of Holland, raised it to the rank of a shipping-port, by digging a haven from the sea, in the year 1319. From that time there was a canal, with quays for loading and unload- ing, which cut the town in two. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, built the walls in 1489, with five gates. The Water Gates, where the canal entered from the sea, with a strong bastion, were completed in 1 548. The " Gevangen," or Prisoners' Poort, faced the dunes. The Middelburgsche Poort was at the other end of the canal, facing the Water Gate. Through it the Spanish garrison was driven by the people in 1572. The Blaauw Poort was on the west side; and lastly the Altena Poort, on the sea face, was taken down in 1586, to make room for a new haven and dockyard. Just within the Blaauw Poort was the Klein Markt, where the people from the neighboring village of Ritthem used to sell their farm and garden produce to the garrison and townspeople. This open space still remains, shaded by some tall elm-trees. The old church, dedicated to St. Jacob, is large, and was once cruciform. It was founded in 1328. In it there are tombs of the Van de Putte family, which flourished in the time of Sir Philip Sidney, and pro- duced one great traveller in after years. 1 Here, too, rests Jan Lambrecht Coolen, who explored the Indies and New Guinea, and was a burgomaster of Flushing, dying there in 1619. A foot-bridge crossed the 1 See my introduction to Missions to Tibet. (Triibner.) 76 THE FIGHTING VERES. haven canal, dividing it into two parts, which were called the Kaas Kaai and the Bier Kaai. On the eastern side was the Groot Markt, where once stood two monasteries of Carmelites and Friars Preachers, which were endowed by Adrian van Borsselen, the Count of Flushing, in 1466. But they were pulled down by the insurgents in 15/3, and the stones were put on board ships and sunk off Fort Lillo, to stop the Spanish fleet. On the site of the monasteries rose the great town hall, on the model of that at Antwerp, which was commenced in 1596, during the English occupation. It contained the old bottle left by St. Willebrord, after which the town was named.; two great globes by Blaauw ; and the helm and sword of the ill-fated Juan Pacheco, who was put to death by the insurgents in I572. 1 Flushing contained numerous houses of wealthy townsmen, besides the warehouses of the merchants of Middelburg, the city whose lofty towers formed a main feature of the land- scape from the walls. Mr. Digges, the learned mathe- matician, submitted a very full report on the defences of Flushing, as soon as the English occupation began. The fort of Rammekens, which was included in the Flushing command, is about two miles from the town, at the entrance of the " Sloe " channel, separating Walcheren from South Beveland. It was an irreg- ular parallelogram, without bastions, built of stone, with a wide moat, the main entrance being a door- way approached by a drawbridge on the landward side. Now the moat is full of long weeds, where a 1 The town hall of Flushing, the English fleet on August 14, with all its interesting relics, was 1809. burnt during the bombardment by OPENING OF THE WAR. 77 heron or two may usually be seen fishing, and the place has a dreary, abandoned appearance. Sir Philip Sidney arrived with his English garri- son on the 1 8th of November, 1585, the Queen's accession day. He thus describes his landing, in a letter to his uncle : " On Thursday we came into this haven, driven to land at Rammekens, because the wind began to rise in such sort that the master durst not anchor before the town, and from thence came, with as dirty a walk as ever poor governor entered his charge withal. I find the people very glad of me." ] He had a garrison of 750 men, with Edward Norris as his lieutenant. Thus the two cautionary towns were duly occupied by English garrisons, and the general with his staff, and the rest of the expeditionary force, prepared to follow. Ostend had also been occupied by a garri- son under Captain Errington. The Earl of Leicester had many enemies, and he was attacked by anonymous writers. History has, to a great extent, indorsed the verdict of his contem- porary assailants. But he could not have been with- out good qualities, seeing that he won the affection of such a man as his nephew, Philip Sidney, who answered his detractors with vehement warmth. 2 In 1 Cotton MSS., Galba, c. viii. kill their masters. The wolves p. 213. that mean to destroy the flock hate 2 One attack was printed abroad most the truest and valiantest and anonymously, in 1584. Sidney dogs. Who hates England and answered it in the same year. The the Queen must also withal hate pamphleteer compared Leicester the Earl of Leicester." The to Piers Gaveston, Oxford, and pamphleteer spoke of the base Pole. Sidney, in his answer, says, blood of the Dudleys. Sidney "Their enemies did not stop with replied that Dudley was an ancient destroying them, but went on to baronial house, allied to Grey, Tal- 78 THE FIGHTING VERES. spite of Leicester's alleged unpopularity many of all ranks flocked to his standard. On the 6th of Decem- ber he came to Colchester with a great train, includ- ing the Earl of Essex, Lords North and Audley, Sir William Russell, Sir Thomas Shirley, Sir Arthur Bassett, Sir Gervase Clifton, and other volunteers to the number of 500 horse, all bravely appointed. The bailiffs of Colchester in scarlet gowns, with multi- tudes of people, met the Earl on the Lexden road, and he entered the town with great solemnity, where he was most honorably entertained by Sir Thomas Lucas. At Colchester young Francis Vere joined the ex- peditionary force as a volunteer. The fleet under the command of William Borough, 1 hot, Beauchamp, and Berkeley, and that the Dudleys were lords of Dud- ley Castle long before the time of Richard I. Sir Philip concluded by telling the writer that he lied in his throat, which he was ready to justify upon him where he would. 1 Correspondence of Robert Dud- ley, Earl of Leicester, 1585-86: edited by J. Bruce, F. S. A., for the Camden Society, in 1844. Harl. MSS., 6845. Fol. 26 is Appendix I . " Journal of my Lord of Leices- ter. Proceedings in the Loive Coun- tries : By Mr. Stephen Borough, Admiral of the Fleet." The Christian name Stephen is a mistake, for Stephen Borough died in 1584. Mr. Coote has clearly shown that the original docketing on the manuscript has been erased, and the word Stephen substituted for William by a later hand. Stephen Borough was born at Borough, in the parish of Northam, near Bideford, in Devonshire, in 1525. He served under Chancellor in the first voyage to Russia, in 1553. In 1560 he led another fleet to the White Sea, and made one more voyage in 1561. Borough induced Richard Eden to translate the Spanish navigation book of Martin Cortes into English, in 1561 ; and in 1563 he was appointed chief pilot and one of the four masters of the Queen's ships in the Medway, including the duty of examining and instructing seamen in the art of navigation. He died in July, 1584, and was buried at Chatham. William Borough, the younger brother of Stephen, was born at Borough in 1536, and served under his brother as an ordinary seaman in his first voyage to Russia, in OPENING OF THE WAR. 79 Admiral of England, was waiting at Harwich. The Earl of Leicester and his suite rode from Colchester to Manningtree, where boats were ready to take them down the river Stour to Harwich. Here the ships were ready for sea, and Leicester embarked on board the " Amity." The fleet weighed anchor at three in the afternoon of Thursday, the gth of December. At the same time another fleet of sixty ships sailed from the Thames. On Friday, the loth, they were in the Scheldt, and Leicester landed at Flushing the same afternoon, under salutes from the ships, with bonfires and fireworks on shore. The fleet was then moored off Rammekens. The Earl of Leicester was received with the great- est enthusiasm by the people of the Netherlands. Without aid from England their cause seemed hope- less, and the Duke of Parma was making great pre- parations for a mighty effort to subjugate the insur- gent provinces in the coming year. At the sight of the English fleet the hearts of the people were filled with joy. On landing at Flushing, the Earl was re- ceived by young Maurice of Orange and Sir Philip 1553. He continued to serve the commanded a small ship in the Muscovy Company in voyages to Armada fight in 1588. William the White Sea, and in 1570 he Borough constructed several valu- commanded a fleet sent to Narva, able charts, and wrote instructions in the Gulf of Finland, armed to and sailing directions. He died resist attacks of pirates. In 1581 in 1599. he published his Discourse of the The questions relating to the Variation of the Compass, and lives of these two eminent seamen in 1583 was comptroller of the Stephen and William Borough, navy. His next service was the have been ably discussed by Mr. command of the fleet to take the R. C. Cotton, in a paper printed by Earl of Leicester to Flushing, in the Devon Ass'n, 1880, and by 1585. In 1587 he was with Drake Mr. Coote in the Dictionary of in the expedition to Cadiz, and he National Biography. 8o THE FIGHTING VERES. Sidney. He inspected the castle of Rammekens, which was garrisoned by fifty English pikemen, and then proceeded to Middelburg. Over the gates of that city the red cross of England was painted beside the arms of the States. Leicester was lodged in the spacious apartments of the old abbey, and on Tues- day, the 1 4th of December, a grand dinner was given to him in the town hall, his hosts being the widowed Princess of Orange, young Maurice, and the prin- cipal nobles of Zeeland. The dinner lasted from noon to three o'clock ; the crowd was so great that many guests could not find seats, and glasses were broken in the struggle for them. On the lyth, the Earl of Leicester and Prince Maurice left Middel- burg for Dordrecht in a small " skute," in company with fifty other boats, but there was some delay in the passage, owing to a dense fog. They were forced to heave to, between Middelburg and Dordrecht, for five days, " insomuch that a crown would have been given for a halfpenny loaf." l At length they landed at Willemstad, a new town which had recently been fortified by the Prince of Orange, and reached Dord- recht on the 2 1 st. Leicester kept his Christmas at Delft, and proceeded thence to the Hague. On February i, 1586, the Earl of Leicester was declared governor and captain-general of the seven States, a measure which was disapproved by the Queen as giving her subject too much power; but the States explained their motive in all humility, and they were excused. Count Maurice was made gov- ernor of Holland and Zeeland, and Count Meurs of Gelderland and Utrecht. Early in the year the Earl 1 Letter from E. Burnham, 26th December. OPENING OF THE WAR. 8 1 of Leicester held a grand review of his forces at the Hague. Young Francis Vere had come thus far as a sim- ple volunteer, without employment either from the Queen or the States. He hoped, however, to obtain a company through the influence of Peregrine Ber- tie, Lord Willoughby, who had married his cousin, the Lady Mary Vere, and who was expected to ar- rive at the Hague from his Denmark mission. Peregrine Bertie was the son of Catharine, dow- ager Duchess of Suffolk, 1 and Baroness Willoughby in her own right, and of Richard Bertie. Mr. Bertie and his duchess were married in 1553, and went abroad to escape the Marian persecution. They took refuge at Wesel on the Rhine, where their son was born, on October 12, 1555, and named Peregrine. He succeeded as Lord Willoughby in 1580, married Lady Mary Vere, and in 1582 was sent on an em- bassy to Frederick II. of Denmark. He was engaged on a second mission to Denmark in 1585, to induce the king to give aid to Henry of Navarre. Having performed this service successfully, he proceeded to the Low Countries to obtain employment under the banner of the Earl of Leicester. Travelling by way of Emden, he reached the Hague on the 2ist of Febru- ary, 1586, where he found his young cousin anxiously awaiting his arrival. Francis Vere at once attached himself to the suite of Lord Willoughby with the certainty of seeing service, and the assurance of reg- 1 Fourth wife of that Charles died in 1545, leaving two sons by Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, whose his fourth wife, but they both died third wife was the Princess Mary, of the sweating sickness on July sister of Henry VIII. The Duke 14, 1551, when boys. 82 THE FIGHTING VERES. ular employment as soon as an opportunity offered itself. The gallant English volunteers were full of enthu- siasm and eager to be led against the enemy. The Hague presented a scene of bustle and activity dur- ing the winter of 1586, troops constantly arriving and departing, with reviews and stately ceremonials, and frequent musters of horse and foot. The feel- ings of the volunteers are well expressed in a letter from one of them, which has been preserved. Lord North thus wrote to the Lord Treasurer on the 28th of February : " The general and special love, both of the people and States, doth show such hope, giveth such cour- age to us all, as every man is willing to hazard his life and venture his all ; assuring ourselves that the Lord God, who hath stirred up her Majesty's heart to seek his glory by assisting this action, will still continue and so increase the same, as will bring hon- our to her life, safety to her kingdom, peace to this people, and eternal fame of her virtue to all pos- terity." 1 1 State Papers (Holland), vol. xxxi. CHAPTER VIII. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. THE army of the Earl of Leicester was organized on the Spanish model. He selected as his lieuten- ant-general a German prince of high rank, who some years afterwards married a daughter of the Prince of Orange. This was Count Philip of Hohenlohe Lan- genburg, always called Count Hollock by the Eng- lish. Leicester described him as "a wise, gallant gentleman, and a right soldier, and very well es- teemed with many of the captains and soldiers. He hath one fault, which is drinking, but good hope that he will amend it." In another letter he refers to him as "a right Almayn in manner and fashion, free of his purse and his drink, a very noble soldier." This rollicking boon companion was scarcely a sufficient support to a general advanced in years and entirely without military experience. Leicester re- lied, therefore, on his veteran lord marshal, who did not arrive until July. This was William Pelham, third son of Sir William Pelham, of a Sussex family, by Mary, daughter of Lord Sandys of the Vine. Pelham commanded the pioneers sent to assist the Regent Murray against the French in 1560, and had the chief direction of the siege of Leith. In 1562 he joined the French Protestants, and was at the taking of Caen, and then went to Ireland, where he 84 THE FIGHTING VERES. performed the duties of lord deputy until 1580. He had seen much service, and was well qualified for the important post of lord marshal. The colonel-general was John Norris, who had already served in the Netherlands for many years as a volunteer. He had with him two brothers, Edward and Henry, gallant men and true soldiers of fortune, but hot-tempered, and without judgment or adminis- trative ability. Leicester wrote of John Norris as " a subtle, dangerous man, not having a true word in his mouth." Among the captains who had compa- nies in this first campaign are the names of John Burrough, Edward and Henry Norris, Vavasour, Wingfield, Baskerville, Yorke, Morgan, and Uvedale. The lieutenant-general of cavalry was Sir William Russell, fourth son of the second Earl of Bedford, who had been knighted for service in Ireland, and had already acquired the fame of a dashing and zeal- ous officer. Lords Essex, Willoughby, North, Aud- ley, Sir Robert Sidney, Sir Thomas Shirley, and Sir Nicholas Parker commanded troops of horse. Fran- cis Vere was a volunteer in Willoughby 's troop, with his cousin Hugh Vere, and Hugh's cousin Robert Spring, from Lavenham. Thomas Fairfax (after- wards the first Lord Fairfax), Michael Harcourt, and Jerome Markham, who was soon afterwards killed in a duel, 1 were also serving in cavalry troops. 1 Jerome Markham was a very Markham. Those present repre- young man, and was bullied into a sented to him that Markham was a duel by one George Nowell. After very young man and without experi- the meeting was settled, Nowell ence in any affray, in answer to came into the house of Edward which Nowell swore that he would Stanhope and proclaimed that he thrust at him, and if he looked not was going into a field to fight well about him, he would thrust THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 85 The sergeant-major general was Thomas Wilford ; the master of ordnance, Sir Richard Bingham, and afterwards Sir John Conway ; the treasurer, Richard Huddleston, and afterwards Sir Thomas Shirley, 1 of Wiston ; the judge marshal, Dr. Sutcliff; the provost marshal, James Spencer. The mustermaster-general was Thomas Dishes, one of the most eminent mathe- OO maticians of his time, whose services were equally valuable in reporting upon the defences of fortified places. His father was Leonard Digges, who was also a renowned mathematician and surveyor; his mother was Bridget Wilford, sister of the sergeant- major general. Thomas Digges was educated at Oxford, and was author of several works on military engineering. 2 The Earl also had Dethick, the Wind- sor herald, in attendance as a member of his staff. In March, 1586, Lord Willoughby received the government of the important fortified town of Ber- gen-op-Zoom, in Brabant. He afterwards told Sec- retary Walsingham that " it was resigned to me by the singular love of your honorable son-in-law." 3 Sir Philip Sidney himself wrote : " For Bergen-op-Zoom, I delighted in it, I confess, because it was near the enemy, but especially having a very fair house in it, and an excellent air, I destined it for my wife. But I him through. He then went out and l Appointed February I, 1587. attacked young Markham, wilfully He got into sad trouble with his murdering him after his sword was accounts. His distinguished sons, broken. Next day Nowell picked Anthony and Thomas, were also a quarrel with Thomas Molyneux, serving in the army, and he was reported to be a brawl- 3 He was father of the more ing bully, always seeking occa- famous Sir Dudley Digges. sion to provoke a duel. Domestic a State Papers (Holland), vol. (Eliz.), vol. 28. xli. 86 THE FIGHTING VERES. have resigned it to my Lord Willoughby, my very friend, and indeed a valiant and frank gentleman, and fit for that place." ] Lord Willoughby was ac- companied by his cousin, Francis Vere, when he pro- ceeded to his new command, and in the following May the first brush with the enemy took place. Hearing of a great convoy of 450 wagons going to Antwerp, Lord Willoughby marched out of Bergen- op-Zoom to attack it with 200 horse and 400 foot. In the encounter 300 of the enemy were slain, eighty taken prisoners, and all their wagons were destroyed except twenty-seven, which were captured. This was the first piece of active service in which Vere was engaged, soon to be followed by a more important expedition under the lead of his cousin. The people fighting for their freedom were now aided by the whole power of England. Hope revived in spite of the threatening army of the Duke of Parma. The Netherlanders had their own gallant forces, and in addition they had the auxiliary army of their allies, and hundreds of sympathizing English volun- teers, whose numbers were augmented every week. The Earl of Leicester found himself in command of a respectable force, behind the encircling rivers. He held all Holland and Zeeland, Utrecht and part of Gelderland, with the fortified posts of Bergen-op- Zoom and Gertruydenburg in Brabant, Sluys and Ostend in Flanders. He necessarily acted on the defensive, and waited for the first move from the Duke of Parma. That able general already held Nymegen on the Waal, and Zutphen on the Yssel. In March he opened the campaign with the intention 1 Letter to Walsingham from Utrecht. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 87 of securing all the fortified towns along the lines of the Maas and the Rhine. He first laid siege to Grave, a very strong place on the Maas, and Leicester promptly took steps to relieve it. He trusted a good deal to the daring enterprise and bravery of a par- tisan warrior of Gelderland, named Martin Schenk, who supplied him with information and was ever ready for a desperate raid into the heart of the enemy's country. He also relied upon the same qualities in the veteran Roger Williams, who was a kindred spirit. Schenk and Williams were generally far in advance of the main body of Leicester's army. But the general organized an efficient force under Hohenlohe and John Norris for the relief of Grave, consisting of 3,000 picked men. After a desperate encounter with the Spanish besiegers, Grave was successfully provisioned, and with an efficient com- mander the town would have been safe. But the governor basely surrendered at a time when Leicester believed the place to be out of all danger, and was preparing to besiege Nymegen as a diversion. The Duke of Parma then captured Venlo, and so secured the whole line of the Maas. This success enabled him to turn his attention to the line of the Rhine. Zutphen and Doesburg on the Yssel were already in his hands. Neuss was taken by storm, and Parma commenced the siege of Rheinberg, an important fortified town on the Rhine, above Wesel. These great successes were secured by the Spanish general between March and July. But Leicester was not idle. He had provisioned Grave, had overrun the Betuwe between the Waal and Lek, and was threatening Nymegen. In the previous April he 88 THE FIGHTING VERES. had conferred the honor of knighthood on John Nor- ris and Martin Schenk, and he now employed the latter on a very important service. This was to erect a strong fort on an island at the point where the Rhine and Waal divide, at the foot of the hills of Cleves. Schenk's detachment consisted of one Dutch and two English companies, led by Edward and Henry Norris. He rapidly threw up the earthworks, with five bastions, and a ditch in rear connecting the two rivers. The fort has ever since been known as Schenken Schanz. He reported that in two weeks he had brought the fort to such perfection that he feared not the enemy with all his forces. On the i8th of May Leicester himself inspected Schenken Schanz, and fully appreciated its strategic importance. The earthworks of this famous post may still be traced, a modern village nestling within them. To the south are the wooded heights of Cleves, crowned by the beautiful Swan Tower ; to the north, the steep hill of Elten ; away eastward, the steeples of Emmer- ich, and all around the green meadows of the Rhine valley. The natural features have changed in the lapse of time. The point where the Rhine and Waal divide is now four miles further west, and the old fort is left, as it were, high and dry, between the present river and the former course of the Rhine. But at the time when the fort was built by Schenk, and inspected by the Earl of Leicester, its importance could scarcely be exaggerated. While these measures were being taken to check the advance of Parma, a diversion was projected by the young Count Maurice and Sir Philip Sidney from the side of Flushing. They proposed to cross THE FIRST CAMPAIGN, 89 the Scheldt and attack the town of Axel on the Flemish side. Leicester entered heartily into the plan, and went himself to Bergen-op-Zoom, where it was arranged that Lord Willoughby, with a small force, should take part in the expedition. This was the second action in which Francis Vere was engaged. The rendezvous was Flushing. Lord Willoughby, leaving Bergen-op-Zoom at midnight, proceeded to join Prince Maurice and Sir Philip Sidney with 500 men. The combined force, of about 3,000 men, landed at Terneuzen, on the left bank of the Scheldt. The country had been flooded for defence, and the approach from the coast to Axel was by three cause- ways, the distance about five miles. It was a long, silent march in the dead of night, and the surprise was complete. Axel was surrounded by a moat, but the garrison was unprepared, and the walls were easily escaladed by volunteers, who swam across and opened the gates from within. The Dutch com- pany entered first, followed rapidly by Willoughby and Sidney. Sir Philip made a speech to his sol- diers before the attack was made, explaining to them for what cause they fought, and that the people of the country were their friends and neighbors. By two o'clock in the morning they were masters of the town. The garrison consisted almost entirely of Germans, there being only two Spaniards. 1 A won- derful change has come over this town of Axel and the surrounding country since those days. Axel is now a small open town, without a trace of defences, except some indications of a moat on the south side ; 1 Leicester to Walsingham, July date. Also letter from Sir Thomas 8, 1586; and to the Queen, same Cecil. 90 THE FIGHTING VERES. and the whole country, which was then under water, is now carefully cultivated. There is, however, a long serpentine lagoon to the south, called the Axel- sche Kreek. The pilgrim who follows in the foot- steps of Sir Philip Sidney from Terneuzen to Axel, and thinks of his midnight march by starlight, with sheets of stagnant water on either side of the cause- way, must needs draw upon his imagination ; for the changes in the outward surroundings are very great. He now walks between double rows of Lombardy poplars. There are prosperous farms on either side, with orchards and rich meadows, and occasionally rows of exquisitely clean cottages, each with its little vegetable garden. Outside Terneuzen, a farm, with thick walls and angle buttresses, marks the site of an old Spanish fort. The change in the face of the country is mainly due to the triumph of that cause for which Willoughby and Vere bled, and Sidney died. The capture of Axel was only an episode. The very tough problem which the Earl of Leicester had to solve was the best way of resisting the advance of the Duke of Parma. 1 That general was besieging Rheinberg, which was being gallantly defended by Martin Schenk. His object was to take all the strong places along the line of the Rhine and Yssel, as he had already done along the Maas. Leicester assembled his forces at Arnhem on the Rhine. Pelham, as lord marshal, joined him from England with reinforcements. Sir Philip Sidney came from Flushing ; Lord Willoughby from Bergen- 1 He had just succeeded to the title. Both his father and mother died in 1586. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. gi op-Zoom, accompanied by young Francis Vere ; and Count Hohenlohe from Gertruydenburg, of which he was the governor. There, too, were Lords Essex, North, and Audley, Sir William Russell, Sir Thomas Wilford, the Norrises, and Roger Williams. A coun- cil of war was held. It was decided that the allies were too weak to attack Parma before Rheinberg. It was, therefore, resolved to make a diversion by threatening Doesburg and Zutphen, the towns held by the Spaniards on the Yssel. On Sunday, the 28th of August, Leicester reviewed the army, which was afterwards formed in hollow squares outside the town of Arnhem, and the preachers delivered ser- mons. Siege was then laid to the town of Doesburg on the Yssel, six miles below Arnhem. Artillery and provisions were conveyed by water, and nine siege-guns were brought to bear on the walls. At night, the general went with the lord marshal to see the pioneers at work in the trenches, and Pelham was struck in the belly by a spent caliver shot. A con- stant fire was kept up until the 2d of September, when two breaches were made, which, however, were filled up by the garrison. Still an assault was re- solved upon. There was a dispute about the leader- ship, and Leicester decided it by giving one breach to Hohenlohe and the other to Norris. The attacks were about to be delivered when, at two in the after- noon, the garrison surrendered at discretion. Pel- ham was only slightly hurt; but Roger Williams must needs run up and down the trench with a great plume of feathers in his gilt morion, and could hardly expect to escape. He was wounded in the arm. Only twelve men were killed. g 2 THE FIGHTING VERES. Leaving a garrison in Doesburg, Leicester then prepared for the investment of Zutphen, fourteen miles below Arnhem. The Yssel is a broad, tran- quil stream, where the ancient city of Zutphen stands on its right bank, and where the small river of Berkel, rising in the moors to the eastward, flows into it, and forms the moat round Zutphen walls. Huge barges, laden with little cubes of peat, float on the placid bosom of the Yssel. In those days a wall with round bastions rose from the brink of the river. An ancient brick water-gate still spans the Berkel, with machico- lated turrets at each end ; and the lofty brick tower of St. Walburga rises above the town as it did when Parma climbed to its summit to watch the army of Leicester. The Spanish garrison at Zutphen was commanded by Juan Baptista Taxis, who also held two detached forts, called the Zutphen Sconces, on the opposite side of the river. They had been con- structed by the advice of Don Francisco Verdugo, the marshal of the Spanish army. Leicester encamped his army on both sides of the Yssel, a short distance above the town of Zutphen, and made a bridge of boats across the river, to keep his communications open. These operations had the intended effect. Parma raised the siege of Rheinberg, and hastened to the relief of Zutphen. Collecting wheat and other sup- plies on his march, he advanced rapidly to Borquelo, a town to the eastward. He then entered the threatened city with a small escort, and reconnoitred Leicester's camp from the top of the church-tower. He would have remained in the town, but Verdugo dissuaded him, and he returned the same evening to THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 93 Borquelo to organize a force which was to escort a long train of provision wagons into the besieged place. 1 He advanced with his whole force to the vil- lage of Lockem, within a league of Zutphen, in the evening of September 21, 1586, and dispatched the convoy very early next morning. The conduct of this important service was entrusted to an officer of the highest distinction. Alonzo Davalos y Aquino, Marquis of Pescara and Vasto, was grandson of the nobleman of the same name who was a commander at the battle of Pavia, Governor of Milan, and whose epitaph was written by Ariosto. 2 His father was Viceroy of Sicily. The marquis who served under the Duke of Parma was worthy of his ancestry. He was renowned alike for valor, conduct, and humanity. The force entrusted to him consisted of 5,000 horse and foot. The infantry numbered 1,500 of the best soldiers of Spain under Manuel de Vega, with com- panies led by Juan de Herrera, Viedma, and Artajona. The cavalry was mainly Italian, commanded by An- nibal Gonzago, Giovanni Cre9ia, and Apio Conti. It was a perilous service, for the long train of wagons had to be convoyed over a plain, with their whole left flank exposed to attack by the neighboring English army. Near Lockem there are some sandy hills, covered with fir-trees, on which the Duke of Parma was encamped. Thence the road passes over wild moorland covered with heather to within a mile of the village of Warnsfeld, where cultivation commences. 1 Herrera, iii. lib. i. cap. 4, p. 7. over him. He died with the repu- 2 He found the Chevalier Bay- tation of being one of the greatest ard mortally wounded, treated the generals and ablest politicians of dying hero with kindness and gen- that century, aged thirty-six, erosity, and had a tent pitched 94 THE FIGHTING VERES. From the church to the east gate of Zutphen the road is perfectly straight, and to the south a flat plain extends to the Yssel. There was a thick fog, which cleared as the convoy approached Warnsfeld church. The proximity of the relieving army was known to Leicester the night before. But he was taken by sur- prise when the fog rose a little, and the long moving column of the enemy was momentarily exposed to view, and then again hidden. In hot haste the Eng- lish cavalry, under Sir William Russell, was called out to charge. Lord Willoughby was ready to lead his men in full armor, and Francis Vere was among his followers. Lord Essex, Lord North, Lord Audley, Sir William Pelham, Sir Philip Sidney, Captain ,Thomas M. Wingfield, rapidly came up with their troops. Norris and Stanley formed an advanced post near the road, and had given the first alarm. The chivalry of England was drawn up ready to charge. The leaders waited for the fog to clear, which was- so thick that a man could scarcely be made out ten paces off. Suddenly it rose, and the enemy was seen in overwhelming superiority close to Warnsfeld church. In a moment the English knights, numbering only 200, were upon them, led by Sir William Russell, who broke his lance at the first crash of the combatants. He then " so played his part with his curtle axe that the enemy reported him a devil, and not a man." l Lord Willoughby, with lance in rest, unhorsed Giovanni Cre9ia, who rolled into a ditch and was made prisoner. Lord North, though bruised on the knee from a musket -shot, 1 Stowe. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN, 95 sprang from his bed at the first alarm, and with one boot on and the other off, " went into the matter very lustily." 1 For two hours this heroic little band of cavalry fought with desperate valor. Annibal Gonzaga was mortally wounded by a great sword- cut on the head. The Marquis del Vasto was him- self in considerable danger, for the English knights cut their way to the centre of his body-guard, and a blow was aimed at his head. The cavalry escort was defeated ; it fell back and gave place to the Span- ish pikemen, dauntless veterans, who stood like a wall. In the foremost rank were Juan de Ugarte from Tordesillas, and Pedro Venero, a Basque from Bilbao. They held their ground until a reinforce- ment of musketeers came up from Lockem and opened fire. Then at length the English assailants fell back, and the convoy was brought safely into Zutphen. 2 The English loss was 34 killed and wounded, while 250 of the enemy were slain. Three colors were taken, two being sent to the Queen. " This," wrote Leicester, " hath flesht our young noblemen and gentlemen, and surely theie have won her majestic at this day as much honour as ever so few men did their prince." 3 Sir Philip Sidney had given his cuisses to Sir William Pelham, and his only defensive armor was a breastplate. At the close of the action he was shot in the left thigh, but he was able to return to the camp on horseback. " Being thirsty with excess of bleed- ing, he called for drink, which was presently brought 1 Leicester. 8 Leicester to Walsingham, Sep- 2 Carnero, lib. viii. cap. vi. p. tember 28, 1586. 210. Bentivoglio, pte ii. lib. iv. 96 THE FIGHTING VERES. him. But as he was putting the bottle to his mouth he saw a poor soldier carried along, who had eaten his last at the same feast, ghastly casting up his eyes at the bottle, which Sir Philip perceiving took it from his lips before he drank, and delivered it to the poor man with these words : ' Thy necessity is greater than mine.' " l The wounded hero was put on board a boat and taken to Arnhem. Count Hohenlohe, who was wounded in the throat by a musket -ball, was also sent to Arnhem. This generous prince neg- lected his own safety to succor his comrade. His surgeon coming to dress the count's wound, he in- quired after Sir Philip. The doctor replied that he was not well, on which Hohenlohe, caring more for his friend's wound than his own, exclaimed : " Away ! Never see my face again till thou bring better news of that man's recovery, for whose redemption many such as I were happily lost." 2 The noble Sidney lingered until the 1 7th of Octo- ber, when he expired in the arms of his dear friend William Temple. The body was embarked at. Flush- ing on November ist, and was interred with great pomp in St. Paul's Cathedral on the i6th of Febru- ary, 1587. The pall-bearers were the Earls of Leices- ter, Pembroke, Essex, and Huntingdon, Lord Wil- loughby and Lord North. Three of them had charged with him at Warnsfeld. The Earl of Essex and Lords Willoughby, Aud- ley, and North were created Knights Bannerets on the field of Warnsfeld, and Leicester conferred knighthood on John Wingfield and Henry Norris, 1 Fulke Greville's Life of Sidney, p. 145. 2 Ibid. p. 147. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 97 and on Goodyere, the captain of his guard. Sir William Russell succeeded Sidney as governor of Flushing. Although Leicester failed before Zutphen, he cap- tured the forts on the opposite side of the river, and he succeeded in his object of drawing Parma away from Rheinberg. Winter was now approaching. He made Sir William Stanley governor of the im- portant town' of Deventer, on the Yssel, some miles below Zutphen, and gave Rowland Yorke charge of the Zutphen Sconces. He then proceeded to Utrecht and the Hague, returning to England on the 4th of December, while the troops went into winter- quar- ters. Lord Willoughby also went to England for the winter. The Earl of Leicester had acquitted himself well. He had shown great activity, constantly visiting every part of his charge ; he had fearlessly exposed his person under fire, 1 and had made the best disposition of his forces that the circumstances rendered possible. He had successfully provisioned Grave ; had occupied and fortified a most important strategic position at the junction of the Rhine and Waal; had captured Axell, Doesburg, and the Zutphen Sconces, and had forced Parma to raise the siege of Rheinberg. But he was unfortunate. The misconduct of the gover- nor of Grave led to the loss of that place; and dur- 1 His activity and disregard of view this place he did put himself danger surprised Lord North, in danger of musket shot too " My Lord of Leicester did so no- much." (Letter to Walsingham, tably advise and direct the mak- May 23, 1586, State Papers (Hol- ing of the trenches, a thing I did land), vol. xxxii.) not look for, I confess ; and to 98 THE FIGHTING VERES. ing the winter Sir William Stanley, governor of De- venter, and Rowland Yorke, who held the Zutphen Sconces, both papists, became traitors, and delivered up those places to the enemy. These men were nominees of Leicester, and their treason excited great exasperation against the Earl in the minds of Dutch statesmen. But Leicester undoubtedly displayed zeal and anxiety to perform to the best of his ability the excessively difficult service on which he was em- ployed. He was ready to adopt the advice of mili- tary men, and to profit by their experience ; and on the whole this first campaign furnished good grounds for hopeful anticipations in the future. The young volunteers had acquired experience and had seen some service. An official list was framed of those who had been most distinguished, and who were competent to command companies. 1 In this list the name of Francis Vere appears. He had a zealous friend in Lord Willoughby, and in the autumn of 1 586 he obtained a company in the Bergen-op-Zoom garri- son. He is entered as captain of a company of 150 men, to receive pay from the i2th of November, 1586. The young captain settled down to garrison duty with several congenial companions, including Francis Allen, the comrade in his journey to Poland. It is 1 " The names of such gentle- are all valiant young gentlemen, men as I know to be serviceable, most sufficient to be lieutenants or and well acquainted with the wars cornets to any company, and some of the Low Countries : Mr. Nor- able to command any company, ris, Mr. Morgan, Colonel Bing- W. Powell, Francis Vere, Francis ham, Rowland Yorke is very val- Allen, T. Baskerville, M. Morgan, iant, C. Carleille, Captain Salis- G. Barton." (S. P. O., Holland, vol. bury, C. Norris, Captain Huntley, xcv.) Captain Wilson. The following THE FSXST CAMPAIGN. 99 here that, for the first time, we obtain a glimpse of his character and disposition ; but this period in his history belongs to another chapter, and meanwhile we shall see him winning his first laurels during the memorable siege of Sluys. CHAPTER IX. SLUYS. THE Duke of Parma resolved to open the campaign of 1587 with the siege of Sluys. He accordingly assembled his army at the city of Bruges on the 8th of June, consisting of the pick of the Spanish in- fantry and regiments from Italy, commanded by the Marquis del Vasto, Camillo Capizucca, and Carlo Spi- nelli. The Italians had been recruited chiefly in Urbi- no and the Romagna. In order to deceive the enemy, Parma sent the Marquis with the Sieur de Haute- penne to make a diversion in the direction of Bois le Due. This drew off a large force under Count Hohenlohe, who fought a successful action, in which Hautepenne was slain and the fort of Crevecceur, on the Maas near Bois le Due, was captured. Still the Duke gained his object by scattering the forces of the enemy. He then prepared for the investment of Sluys, having first garrisoned a fort at Blanken- burg near the seacoast, to check any advance from Ostend. Arnold de Groenvelt, the valiant old Dutch gov- ernor of Sluys, sent a pressing letter to Sir William Russell, at Flushing, for troops and provisions. Grain was rapidly collected, and a ship-load reached the threatened town in safety. Troops were assembled from Bergen-op-Zoom and Flushing, which also ar- SLUYS. 10 1 rived before the approaches were closed, making up the garrison to 1,600 men. They entered Sluys on the 1 2th of June under the leadership of Roger Wil- liams, the principal officers being Nicolas and Adolf Meetkerk and Charles de Heraugiere, command- ing the Dutch contingent, and Thomas Baskerville, Francis Vere, Francis Allen, Huntley, Hart, and others at the head of the English troops. Sluys was once the seaport of the great commercial emporium of Bruges, and the changes which in the course of centuries have taken place in the surround- ing region are most remarkable. Five hundred years ago there .was a long arm of the sea, called the Old Zwin, which connected Bruges with the port of Sluys, and reached the mouth of the Scheldt between the islands of Cadzand and Breskens. Later, a new channel was formed to the west of Cadzand, called the New Zwin, or Sluische Gat. These islands, and others formed by branch channels, were originally small, but the land continually gained on the water, and by 1528 there were as many as a dozen polders won from the waters of the Zwin. Still, in the four- teenth century the width of the channel at Sluys was 465 yards. Richly laden fleets discharged their car- goes, which were brought up to Bruges in barges, and in 1468 as many as 150 merchant ships came up to Sluys in one tide. These green islands at the mouth of the Scheldt, with their winding channels, have been the scenes of stirring events, both in peace and war. When, in 1337, the Count of Flanders garrisoned Cadzand with a number of knights and their retainers, with the object of harassing the allies of England, Edward III. sent a small force, in ships 102 THE FIGHTING VERES. from the Thames, to dislodge them. The English vessels ranged up close to the land, and a volley of arrows was discharged at the Flemish troops before the English landed, under the lead of the Earl of Derby and Sir Walter Manny. There was then a desperate hand-to-hand combat, in which the Eng- lish were victorious. They took and pillaged the town of Cadzand, and returned in triumph to the Thames. In midsummer of 1340 there was a more memorable battle before Sluys. The French fleet of upwards of 120 large ships, under the command of Sir Hugh Quiriel, was cruising off the coast, be- tween Sluys and Blankenburg, when Edward III. embarked for Flanders. When the king's fleet reached the opposite shore they saw so many masts in front of the town of Sluys that it looked like a wood. Edward was told that those were the ships whose crews had burnt his good town of Southampton, and had taken his large ship the " Christopher." The king replied that he had long wished to meet with them, and that now, please God and St. George, he would fight them. The English sailed boldly up the Zwin, the archers and crossbow-men shot with all their might at each other, and the battle raged fiercely. The " Christopher," which led the van, was recaptured, but the English were hard pressed, as the enemy's ships were far more numerous and were gallantly fought. The English were at length completely vic- torious, and not a single French ship escaped. King Edward remained on board all night, and landed at Sluys, with his nobles, on midsummer day. He then went on foot to our Lady of Aardenburg, to return thanks for the victory, which shows that there was SLUYS. 103 continuous land, unbroken by water-channels, be- tween Sluys and Aardenburg at that time. 1 Sluys was also the scene of festive receptions in the days of the Dukes of Burgundy. Hither the Princess Isabella of Portugal had come, in 1429, on her way to those splendid nuptials in honor of which Philip in- stituted the order of the Golden Fleece. Again, in June, 1468, Margaret of York, the fair sister of Ed- ward IV., with her ladies and attendants, was con- veyed in a fleet of sixteen vessels to the port of Sluys. Here she had her first interview with Charles the Bold, and rested for a week before proceeding in her barge to Damme, where the marriage ceremony was performed. Those were the most prosperous days for Sluys ; but in the following century it was still a place of some trade, and was fortified, though not very efficiently. A wall and wide moat sur- rounded the town, and at the north end there was a citadel connected with the town by a long bridge, which also had to be defended; making altogether a line of defences nearly two and a half miles round. The castle, surrounded by a wide moat, was con- nected with the town by a bridge. Along the north- west side of the town several gates opened on a wharf, where ships were loaded and unloaded in the Zwin, and bridges led across an inner moat to the town gates. Nearest the castle was the St. George Gate, and the others were the St. Anne, St. John, St. Jacob, and St. Nicholas Gates, and the Gate of our Lady. Then came the haven, a channel leading from the Zwin into the town ; and at the angle farthest from the castle there was a great round tower rising 1 Froissart. IO4 THE FIGHTING VERES. from the river. The West Gate opened on a bridge which crossed the moat at the extremity of the town farthest from the castle. In this part of the walls there were extensive cellars under the ramparts, for storing wines arriving for the merchants of Bruges, and a windmill stood on the bastion flanking the bridge. On the eastern face were the South and East Gates, and a postern by the Verloren sluice, 1 where the water of the haven found its way to the moat. A dike from the East to the West Gates divided the moat into two channels. The walls of Sluys enclosed a considerable space, occupied by fields and gardens, besides the houses, and seven windmills stood on the ramparts. The town was then a busy place, with numerous large houses and public buildings, and three open spaces used for markets. Above the roofs rose the towers of the church of Our Lady and of St. John, that of the Gray Friars, and the handsome tower of the town hall, which still remains. There were guilds of mer- chants and artificers, houses and ranges for crossbow practice, and several inns for the entertainment of strangers. The people were Protestant, and had warmly embraced the cause of freedom. If the brave Dutch governor had been left to him- self, he could not possibly have held out against the army of the Duke of Parma. It was therefore with feelings of grateful joy that he welcomed the arrival of ships from Flushing with reinforcements and pro- visions. Good men and true landed at the haven, raising the garrison to 1,600 men. Roger Williams had already seen many years of campaigning, and 1 Waste sluice. Touxr of Burgundy and small C 105 his deeds of reckless bravery had won him renown far and wide. 1 Cheerful and sanguine, Williams in- spired others with his own confidence, while he drove away care and despondency by his animal spirits and jovial conversation. 2 Thomas Baskerville and Hunt- ley had, like Williams, been engaged for several years in the wars. But Captain Francis Vere, and his com- panions Sir John Scott, Sir Edmund Uvedale, Allen, Hart, Shott, Merrick, St. Leger, Foulke, and Fer- dinando Gorges, were about to win their first laurels in the defence of Sluys. Dutch and English were both fully resolved to make a desperate resistance, and they worked hard at the defences during the respite which the enemy gave them while he was preparing for the siege. We have seen that the Duke of Parma had detached his Italian troops, with one Spanish tercio under Man- uel de Vega, to make a diversion, under the command of Hautepenne and the Marquis del Vasto. This left him a force of 6,000 3 men with which to commence the siege of Sluys. Among them were the two most renowned regiments in the Spanish service, the tercio viejo, commanded by Don Juan de Castilla, and a tercio under Juan de Aguila. 4 The rest of the besieging force consisted of Walloons and Germans. Williams enumerates the enemy as composed of 52 companies of Spaniards, 4 regiments of Walloons, 24 cornets of horse, i regiment of Burgundians, a 1 " He is worth his weight in humour, which maugre your great- gold, no more valiant than wise, est pain would make you heartily and of judgment to govern his to laugh." (Letter to Anthony Ba- doings." (Leicester Letters, p. 470.) con, in Birch.) 2 " I wish you sometimes to hear 8 Carnero and Herrera. Sir Roger Williams in his satirical * Herrera, lib. iii. cap. i. p. 47. 106 THE FIGHTING VERES. number of boats with munitions, and most of the mariners of Dunkirk. 1 Having masked Ostend by garrisoning the fort of Blankenburg, Parma occupied the island of Cadzand during the last week of May, 1587, where he established his headquarters. His object was to place himself between Sluys and the sea, and to secure a point of vantage whence to pre- vent any attempt at relief. His cavalry watched the coast whence the towers of Flushing were in sight, patrolling the Cadzand shore from the mouth of the Zwin to Breskens. The first operation of the be- sieging general was to block up the approach to Sluys from the sea. A battery of six guns was mounted at Hofstede, on the west side of Cadzand Island, and another on the opposite side of the Zwin, while boats were moored, head and stern, right across the stream. The preliminary measures were watched with great anxiety by the garrison, Captains Hart and Allen twice gallantly swimming out to commu- nicate with friendly vessels in the Scheldt, before the channel was finally closed. Having effectually blocked the only way by which succor could come from Flushing, the Duke of Parma began the regular siege works. The dikes had been cut and the open country inundated, so that it was difficult to occupy positions whence to approach the walls, or on which to form a camp. Houses were built of wood, strengthened with bags of earth brought from a distance ; but, owing to the frequent and determined sorties of the garrison, there were heavy losses while the camp was being formed. Parma's first efforts were directed against the castle 1 Roger Williams to the Queen, 2 June, 1587. SLISYS. 107 forming the northern extremity of the works, and connected with the town by a long bridge. After working hard at trenches for many days, and batter- ing from the other side of the Zwin, the castle be- came untenable. Brave Arnold de Groenvelt saw that the enemy might easily destroy the bridge of boats, and so cut the defenders of the castle off from the town. He also reflected that he had to guard the town, which was a hundred times more impor- tant than the castle. So, after long and careful con- sultation with his officers, it was resolved to abandon the castle, after removing artillery and warlike stores, and to concentrate their efforts on the defence of the town. Next day the enemy moved his siege-pieces, and opened fire on the walls. Parma determined to make his approaches by the west port, where there was more solid ground on which to plant batteries than on the eastern side. The garrison continued to make desperate sorties, but eventually the Spanish infantry got possession of the dike which divided the moat into two channels, and were thus close under the ramparts. Groenvelt made an effort to dislodge the besiegers. Sallying out of the south gate, the gallant English and Dutch assaulted the west dike. But the Spaniards were already intrenched 500 strong, and were constantly reinforced by boats from the Zwin. After a desperate struggle with pike and arquebus, the garrison retreated at great risk, return- ing by the south gate. A furious cannonade was then commenced, with thirty cannon and eight culverins. The great fusillade was on St. James's day, when 4,000 shots were fired between three in the morning I08 THE FIGHTING VERES. and five in the afternoon. At length a breach 250 paces long was made in the wall, and a bridge of large boats was constructed from the west dike to the foot of the rampart. This service had already cost the Duke hundreds of his soldiers, forty of his bravest sailors, and several valuable officers. The Marquis de Renty, a Flemish nobleman, had charge of the trenches until he was wounded; next a Span- ish officer named Mota took command, but he was disabled by having an arm shot away. Count Charles de Mansfelt succeeded, and was also badly wounded ; and finally Don Bartolome de Torralva, a Spanish veteran, came to the front. There was necessarily much danger, owing to the exposure, for there was great want of earth to make intrenchments, the surrounding country being flooded. The Duke of Parma at last caused wooden engines to be built of bullet-proof planks, on wheels, and about six feet high, behind each of which four men could work. The breach was made along the rampart from the west gate, and an assault was organized, which was to be delivered against the ravelin, under which were the wine-cellars. The garrison had not been idle. They had worked day and night, making incessant sorties, and had con- structed a half moon round a windmill, as a second defence in rear of the threatened ravelin. They now braced themselves to receive and hurl back the as- sault. The Spaniards were led by Domingo de Idia- quez, of the gallant San Sebastian family, Antonio Gomez, and Juan Bravo. They rushed up the breach with desperate energy, and were encountered by a line of pikes. Hurled back again and again, they SLUYS. 109 still came on. Alternately, and day by day, there were cannonades and assaults, the whole being ar- ranged with great care by Don Juan de Aguila, the maestro de campo, and his colleague, Juan de Castilla. They advanced slowly and step by step, until at last the ravelin and west gate were carried. But their work was only commencing. Now it was that the valor and endurance of the defenders were to be tested to the uttermost They were face to face with the cream of the Spanish in- fantry, the renowned tercio viejo. There was scarcely anything between them, an open breach and some hurriedly constructed earthworks on the rampart. There was no rest day or night, but incessant fighting. Meals were brought up to the ramparts, for there were no reliefs, and no one could be spared to go into the town. Furious assaults were as furiously repulsed with pike, sword, and curtle-axe. Ever fore- most in the fray was Roger Williams, leader of the English, with Baskerville and Francis Vere. Day after day, and in fight after fight, the Spaniards saw the white plumes of Baskerville and the crimson man- tle of Vere in the thickest of the battle ; and time after time the enemy fell back before them. Twice was Francis Vere wounded, but he was not disabled. Roger Williams urged him to retire, but the gallant young soldier replied that " he would rather be killed ten times in a breach than once in a house." 1 The defenders were reduced from 1,600 to 700 men, and for eighteen days the survivors never left the breach. The Duke of Parma despaired of forcing a way through the living wall which supplied the place of 1 Grimeston, p. 962. HO THE FIGHTIXG VERES. the rampart he had taken. He observed with admi- ration the valor of the heretics, and especially of the leaders with the white plumes and the red mantle. He saw that within the walls of Sluys there were soldiers who were even a match for the lercios of Spain. He resolved to proceed by sap, which, though a longer and more tedious, was a surer way of cap- turing the place. Mines were driven through the outer walls, and counter-mines were made by the garrison, led by Captain Uvedale. The miners and counter-miners found themselves in the great cellars, where there were fierce encounters while the battle was also raging overhead. The enemy could refresh and relieve their men daily, but the same defenders had to work continuously day and night. Arnold de Groenvelt had exhausted his powder. His artillery was disabled. His garrison was so re- duced that half the walls were left undefended. He beheld a fresh force of the enemy, embarked in forty large boats on the Zwin, and about to land on the wharf near St. John's Gate, which was unprotected. Endurance had reached its utmost limit; and at length the governor was obliged to open a parley with the enemy on the 2d of August, the very day on which a fresh Spanish regiment marched into camp under Juan de Vega. The Duke of Parma, full of admiration at the extraordinary gallantry of the defence, granted most honorable terms. The garrison was to march out with all their baggage and arms, matches lighted, and colors displayed. They were to proceed to Breskens, whence they were to embark for Flushing. The Duke of Parma entered Sluys on the 4th of August. He asked Roger Wil- SLUYS. ii i Hams to introduce him to Baskerville, whom he em- braced, declaring that no prince in Christendom was served by a braver soldier. 1 Williams wrote a report, containing generous but well-deserved praise of his comrades. The Dutch, he said, were constant, resolute, and valiant, especially those brave captains Meet- kerk and Heraugiere. The English officers re- ceived warm commendation from their veteran chief. But their highest acknowledgment was from their noble enemy. Parma declared that he had lost more men before Sluys than he did during the previous campaign before Neuss,Venlo, Grave, and Rheinberg put together. 2 Queen Elizabeth attached great importance to the retention of Sluys, and pressed forward measures for 1 Sir Thomas Baskerville was the son of Henry Baskerville, of Hereford. In 1589 he went with Lord Willoughby to France, and afterwards commanded troops in Picardy. He died of fever at Pic- quigny on the Somme, on June 4, 1597, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. The monument to his memory was destroyed in the great fire of 1666. By his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton, he had a son Han- nibal, born at St. Valery, in Picar- dy, on April 5, 1597, only two months before his father's death. He lived at Sunningwell, in Berk- shire, where he led a charitable but very eccentric life, and died in 1668. He married his cousin Mary, daughter of Captain Nicho- las Baskerville, by whom he had sixteen sons. One son, Thomas, was an antiquary, and died in 1 720. 2 The accounts of the siege of Sluys, from the Spanish side, are contained in the narratives of Strada, Bentivoglio, Herrera, and Carnero. On the English side are the letters and reports of Roger Williams in the Cotton MSS. (Galba, c. viii., ix., x., xi.), and in Grimeston's work. Meteren also gives a narrative of the siege ; and the official report of Arnold de Groenvelt, governor of Sluys, with a rough sketch map of Par- ma's defences on the Zwin, is in the State Paper Office, (Holland, vol. xlv., dated August 26, 1587.) There is an engraved plan of Sluys of the date 1588, "Slusa teutonicae Flandriae opp. admodum elegans," and an engraved view of the town taken from the Zwin ; also a plan of Sluys and the surrounding chan- nels, made to illustrate the siege of 1604. 112 THE FIGHTING VERES. its relief. It was known that Philip II. was prepar- ing a gigantic expedition for the conquest of Eng- land. Parma was to embark an invading army, and both Sluys and Ostend would be important points at which to collect his forces. Unfortunately the Earl of Leicester was on bad terms with the States, owing to the treason of Stanley and the loss of Deventer, and on other grounds. There was an absence of that cordial cooperation which alone could insure success. Leicester, however, left England in June, with supplies of money and reinforcements. 1 Sir William Pelham followed with more troops and nu- merous volunteers. 2 After the siege had lasted seven 1 All the young noblemen and courtiers longed to share the glory of defending Sluys. An example of this ardor is shown in Robert Gary's Memoirs. He says that the young Earl of Essex stole from court, after Sluys was besieged, with intent to get into the town if he could. The Queen sent her cousin, Robert Gary, after him, with orders to use the best means he could to persuade him to return to court. Gary found him at Sand- wich, and with much ado got him to return. As they were riding post back, Gary stayed a little be- hind the Earl, and when Essex was out of sight he returned to Sandwich. The Earl of Cumber- land was there, and had provided a small bark, in which he and Gary embarked to go to Sluys. When they came off Ostend they got in- to the ship's boat and pulled to the shore, only to receive news of the surrender of Sluys. Gary re- mained with his brother in the Ostend garrison for some time, and then went with him to Bergen- op-Zoom, where he passed the summer, returning to England at Michaelmas. He was created Earl of Monmouth by James I. His autobiography was published in 1759, from a manuscript belong- ing to the Earl of Cork. 8 Among them was Francis Mark- ham (brother of Gervase, the writer on farming, farriery, and gar- dening), who was then twenty-one years of age. He served with Sir William Pelham until his death, and afterwards he continued his military studies under Sir Francis Vere. They resulted in the pub- lication of a work which contains the best treatise on the duties of the various officers of an army in those days. (Five Decades of Epistles of War, by Francis Mark- ham. London, folio, 1622.) SLUYS. 113 weeks, Prince Maurice and his half-brother, Justin of Nassau, collected transports at Flushing, and Leices- ter embarked for Ostend with twenty-five companies of foot and six cornets of horse. He marched to- wards Sluys, and laid siege to the fort at Blanken- burg. The Duke advanced against him, and, despair- ing of success, Leicester withdrew to Ostend, and gave up the attempt. Another scheme for attacking the besiegers on the Flushing side was also aban- doned. On the 29th of June Roger Williams sent out a note to Leicester, written on a narrow scrap of paper, which reached its destination. He wrote : " Let Lord Willoughby and Sir William Russell land right against Cadzand with 4,000 men. Here are valiant captains and valiant soldiers that had rather be buried in the place than be disgraced in any point that belongs unto " [rest illegible]. But the pilots of Flushing discouraged the project, and it was given up. Sluys was lost after one of the most gallant defences recorded in history. The Earl of Leicester returned to England in November, and resigned his command on December 17, I587. 1 Sir William Pelham died at Flushing on November 24th. Lord Burgh succeeded Sir Thomas Cecil as governor of Brill on February 6, 1588. Sir Robert Sidney (Sir Philip's brother) became governor of Flushing, in succession to Sir William Russell, with Captain N. Errington in command of Ram- mekens, on June 27, 1589, and Sir John Conway was governor of Ostend. Few public men have been assailed with more indiscriminate abuse than the 1 He died at Cornbury Park, in Oxfordshire, on September 4, 1588. 114 THE FIGHTING VERES. Earl of Leicester, especially by modern historians. He was not an estimable character, but the detraction has been overdone, and on some points his memory has been unjustly treated. On his resignation Prince Maurice was chosen Governor of the States and Gen- eral of their forces, and Lord Willoughby succeeded as General of the English auxiliary army. Sluys remained in the power of the Spaniards for twenty years, when it was retaken by Prince Maurice. From that time the water became shallower, and the town gradually lost its trade. In 1715 only very small craft could reach it, and in 1 756 Bruges lost this fluvial highway to the sea. The very name of Zwin was forgotten. In 1812 Napoleon finished a canal from Bruges to Sluys, which was dug by Span- ish prisoners of war. The old channels were filled up, and in 1872 a polder was formed right across the mouth of the Zwin. There was a marvellous change. The flourishing seaport, once the great en- trepot of Flemish trade, became a small agricultural town. Where there were once arms of the sea and swamps there are now rich pastures and waving corn- fields. Yet the enceinte of the old walls can still be traced, and the landmarks of former greatness are clearly recognizable. The old town hall, with its pic- turesque tower, is still standing. Tall trees conceal its walls on the side facing the open square, but on the other side there is an ornamental fa9ade with six windows. The interior contains an interesting col- lection of books and curiosities relating to Sluys. 1 1 They were collected and ar- thor of Een Blik op de vortning ranged by J. H. van Dale, keeper der Stad Sluts en op den aanleg of the Sluys archives, and au- haven vestingwerken van 1382 SLUYS. 115 The great Church of St. John has entirely disap- peared. It was burnt down in 1811. The Church of Our Lady is also gone. But there is much re- maining of the West Port and other works memora- ble for the scenes of the gallant defence. The vast mass of brick-work was too solid to remove without great labor and expense. There are the walls of the entrance with grooves for a portcullis, vaulted pas- sages on either side, and a spiral staircase leading to the cellars. Tall rows of elm-trees mark the line of the walls ; but the castle has disappeared, a mound indicating the site. It was dismantled by the French, after Moreau took the place in 1794, and the walls were removed in 1820. The old haven remains, and communicates with the new canal to Bruges. But it is strange to reflect that those rich crops and pas- tures full of cattle and horses occupy the site of the Zwin with its crowded lines of shipping. The view from the grassy ramparts, along which there is a pleasant shady walk, extends over a bright green country, with the farms and villages of Cadzand, embosomed in trees, on the horizon. This happy change is due to the final triumph of the good old door 1587 (Middelburg, 1871). two iron balls and a Spanish Among the books in this collection sword, dug up at the West Gate in are Het Casteel van Sluis, etc., by 1875 ; a fine stone boss, consisting H. A. Callenfels (Zierikzee, 1844), of two angels with the pyx and a manuscript list of inscriptions vine leaves, probably from the old on tombs in St. John's churchyard church ; seals of the Church of at Sluys, made in 181 1, and an ac- Our Lady and of the smiths' guild count of Sluys published by J. at Sluys ; a manuscript volume, Bageleat, at Dordrecht, in 1749. curiously illustrated, containing There are also the arms of Sluys the ordinances and statutes of the carved in stone, and painted on Sluys guilds; and a collection of wood, remains of former grandeur; coins and medals. U6 THE FIGHTING VERES. cause for which Francis Vere struggled so valorously on the ramparts of Sluys, just three hundred years ago. 1 1 There is a map of the fortifi- cations were, for the most part, cations of Damme and Sluys on constructed in the seventeenth cen- the staircase of the town hall at tury, so that the plan does not fur- Bruges, drawn by Jacques Lob- nish a guide for the study of the brecht in 1660. But these fortifi- siege of Sluys in 1587. CHAPTER X. BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. THE siege of Sluys made Francis Vere famous. When he was mentioned it was as " young Vere who fought at Sluys," or as " Captain Vere, one of the defenders of Sluys." Robert Cecil, in speaking of the officers whose acquaintance he made at Ostend in 1588, says : " There be many tall gentlemen, espe- cially Captain Francis Vere that was in Sluys, who is a very proper man, and was as ready to have shown me any courtesy as I could have desired it." ] He served with Lord Willoughby in the field until the troops went into winter-quarters, and he was at Arn- hem in September, 1587, whence his earliest letter that I have met with was sent to Lord Willoughby. 2 On the retirement of the Earl of Leicester in No- vember, 1587, the Queen selected Lord Willoughby to succeed him. Willoughby had shown that he was 1 R. Cecil to Lord Burleigh, liver up an outlying fort of which March i o, 1588. he was in charge. Vere adds : "I 2 Dated September 19, 1587. would have come to your Excel- Vere incloses a letter which he lency myself, but that he, hearing had received from the traitor Stan- of my sudden departure (as no ley, saying that his attempts to cor- doubt that he hath correspondence rupt officers or men by bribes or with some papists of the town), " persuasion of his traitorous reli- might doubt that, I had disclosed gion must be carefully watched." his wicked intent." (British Mu- The request which Stanley makes seum, Cotton MSS., Galba, D, n, in this letter is that Vere will de- 71.) I i 8 THE FIGHTING VERES. a good diplomatist and a valiant soldier, but he felt himself to be unequal to the difficult and thankless duty that was thrust upon him. The States were discontented with the English alliance, begrudged the supply of provisions, and were constantly at cross- purposes with their allies. It was Willoughby's be- lief that the numbers and condition of the army ren- dered it quite unequal to cope with the Duke of Parma, and he looked forward to nothing but disas- ter and disgrace for its commander. He at least felt himself to be unequal to the task of doing his coun- try good service in the face of such perplexities and difficulties. He entreated Walsinghani to get him excused, if possible. He recommended several offi- cers as far better able to fill the post, mentioning Sir John Norris, Sir William Pelham, Sir Richard Bing- ham, or Lord North. But it was of no avail. The Queen would not excuse him, and his commission was signed on the loth of November, 1587. He was styled " Locum tenens Dux generalis totius exerci- tus et copiarumr He assumed command on the 4th of December, and the States, at the same time, made Prince Maurice Governor of Holland and Zeeland and General of their armies, who thus became the colleague of the English general, with superior rank. The Queen nominated a war council to advise Lord Willoughby, consisting of the veteran Sir William Read, Sir William Russell, the governor of Flush- ing, Captain Errington, the commandant of Ramme- kens, and Captain Wilford, who was in garrison at Bergen-op-Zoom, and had been Leicester's sergeant- major general. Lord Willoughby received a supply of money equal BERG EN-OP-ZOOM. 1 19 to ,10,000, which enabled him to pay the troops, leaving a small sum in hand. The pay of a company, including officers, was ,220 a month. There were many abuses, and proper checks were often wanting. It was also very difficult for the Queen's government to furnish the necessary supplies of money and stores as they were required. But the statements of mod- ern historians on this subject are grossly exaggerated. They quote from the gossiping news-letters of diplo- matists at the Hague, instead of relying upon the reports of responsible officials. The state of affairs at this time is very clearly explained by Mr. Digges, the muster-master general. He admits that the abuses were many, and most subtilely contrived. 1 " Many bands of 150 were not able to muster sixty, and those in such poverty and misery as was lamentable to behold ; and yet Her Majesty during all that time paid full and complete without any check? He is speaking of the times before the arrival of the Earl of Leicester. Afterwards he says that discipline and order were established in the musters, and there were allowances for supporting commissaries in all the garrisons. In a short time the companies were brought up to their full complement, and well armed and equipped. He added that there had been a fall- ing off since Lord Willoughby took command; but he attributed this to a reduction in the number of his deputies and clerks, anticipating that with a proper staff he could insure a restoration of efficiency. The difficulties were very great, and there were self-seek- ers among the officers ; but there were many loyal men who worked for their country's service with 1 State Papers (Holland), vol. liv. 120 THE FIGHTING VERES. single-minded zeal, and devoted all their energies to securing the efficiency of their companies, which in- cluded the wellbeing and comfort of their men. Among these good men and true, none was more devoted to his profession and to his country's service than the General's cousin, Francis Vere. His com- pany formed part of the garrison of Bergen-op-Zoom, where he was destined to pass the winter of 1587-88, and the greater part of the ensuing year. Among his most intimate comrades at this time there were several officers who gained distinction in the Queen's wars. Thomas Baskerville, with whom he had fought side by side on the ramparts of Sluys, belonged to an old Herefordshire family. Edmund Uvedale, or Udall, 1 came from Dorsetshire, of a family allied to the Sid- neys. Captains Pooley 2 and Wingfield were neigh- bors from Suffolk, the latter a cousin of the Veres. Scott had also served at Sluys. Bannaster .was a veteran. 3 Salisbury, 4 Blount, Parker, Knowles, Aud- ley, Danvers, and Powell were younger men. These, with the veteran Thomas Wilford, were the messmates and comrades of Francis Vere during many long months of garrison duty at Bergen, and afterwards they shared the glories of its defence. Mr. Bodley 1 The Uvedales were of More 2 The Pooleys came from Box- Critchill, a place which in later ted, near Lavenham, in Suffolk, years became the property of the 8 Having spent many years in Napiers and Sturts. Nicholas the wars, and growing old, Cap- Udall, born in Hampshire in 1506, tain Bannaster retired, and went was of the same family. He be- home in November, 1589. came head master of Westminster * Salisbury was afterwards sus- in 1555, a very learned person men- pected of treasonable communica- tioned by Strype, who translated tion with the enemy. He was a the works of Erasmus. Roman Catholic. State Papers (Holland), vol. xliii. BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. I 2 I reported to Secretary Walsingham that " there is not any other garrison in the Low Countries where the captains and companies are more obedient to their governor, at better agreement among themselves, and more at quiet with the burghers of the town." The fortified town of Bergen-op-Zoom, in Brabant, on the Oster Scheldt, is the key to Zeeland. It com- mands the channel separating the mainland from South Beveland and Walcheren ; and it protects the town of Tholen to the north, which is the key to the islands of Tholen and Schouvven. Its possession was consequently a matter of great importance, and a strong English garrison was prepared to hold it to the last. The name of Bergen-op-Zoom is not de- rived from a river, as old authors inform us, 1 but from a rising ground or hill (berg) called Zoom. It is " the hill at Zoom." There is no river, merely a drain passing through the town to the haven. The walls, surrounded by a moat supplied from the Scheldt, en- closed the town in the form of an irregular pentagon, with prolongations on the western side to protect the haven. The walls were strong, and were provided at intervals with semicircular towers, four of which were gate towers. On tne northwestern side was the Steenberg Gate, leading to Tholen ; on the east, the Wouw Gate led to the village and castle of that name on the road to Breda; and the Bosel Gate, on the south side, opened on the road to Antwerp. A fourth gate, called the OudePoort, led from the town to the haven. It is still standing, and consists of two massive circular towers with pointed roofs, and a pointed archway with two chambers above it. The 1 See Meteren and Bentivoglio. 122 THE FIGHTING VERES, Oude Poort opens on the haven, which is a canal leading to the Wester Scheldt. The town wall and moat were continued along either side of the haven, and at its junction with the Scheldt there were two important forts, one on each side. The northern one, called the Noord Sckans, was small ; but the Zuyd Schans was a larger work, with a moat and bastions, and it was connected with the haven by a small gate called St. Jacob's Poort, with an outlook. The whole tract on the north and south side of the haven was " Verdroncken Landt," swarnpy and overflowed at high tides, so that the water forts at the entrance of the haven could only be approached at low water, and then only by narrow causeways. The view from the site of the water forts takes in a wide expanse of water, with the green line of South Beveland in front, and Tholen, with its massive church-tower surrounded by trees, to the north. Now high dikes keep out the water, the country is pasture sprinkled over with black and white cows, and along the margin of the Scheldt there are extensive oyster-beds. The water forts have disappeared. All is changed. Bergen-op-Zoom was made a marquisate by Charles V. in 1523, and the " Hof," or palace, of the mar- quises is in the street leading from the great square to the Steenberg gate. It is a very large edifice, built round a courtyard, with a great archway, having a groined vaulted roof, leading from the street The court has a monastic appearance. In the gateway there are pillars with capitals carved with foliage, and an arcade gave a cloistral look to the walls. In the rear, there was an extensive fruit and flower gar- den. It was this " very fair house " and the excellent BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. I 2 3 air of Bergen-op-Zoom which made Sir Philip Sid- ney wish for the governorship. But, with character- istic unselfishness, he resigned his claim to his friend Lord Willoughby. In this spacious " Hof " it is prob- able that the principal English officers of the garrison had their lodgings, while others lived in a street which is still called the English Street; and the great mon- astery of the Minim Friars, on the north side of the town, had also been converted into an inn or " gast- huis." In the centre of the town was the great mar- ket square, one side of which was formed by the fine old church dedicated to St. Lambert. It is of vast proportions, and its massive tower was a landmark for miles around. The town contained houses of nobles and wealthy merchants, and there were exten- sive gardens and orchards within the walls. Mr. Bodley reported that " the burghers in short time had grown to be very wealthy. Three years ago there were but a thousand souls, now three thousand at the least." Lord Willoughby had to resign the governorship of Bergen-op-Zoom when he became general, and he appointed Sir William Drury to succeed him. He also begged that Wilford might be lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and Vere sergeant-major. Of Vere he reported : " Though but young, he hath experience, art, discretion, and valour sufficient to exercise the office." 1 But his recommendations were not at- tended to. The Queen thought that old Colonel Morgan, who led the very first band of volunteers, must be provided for, and she ordered that he should be governor of Bergen-op-Zoom. This caused much 1 State Papers (Holland), vol. liii. 124 THE FIGHTING VERES. ill-feeling. Drury was known and respected by the officers, who were also loyal to Lord Willoughby, and Morgan was very unpopular. When he arrived, in May, 1588, he was not very cordially received, and he complained that all the officers were ill disposed towards him. But this was untrue. The officers did not allow their own feelings and wishes to interfere with their public duty. Secretary Walsingham wrote privately on the subject, both to Francis Vere and to Baskerville. The former replied that he derived sin- gular comfort from the care the Secretary had taken to reconcile him with Colonel Morgan; that what causes he had to dislike the new governor he would pass over in silence and forget; and that no man would obey him more willingly. Baskerville gave Walsingham the same assurance, both in his own name and in that of Captain Uvedale and his other brother officers. The officers of the Bergen garrison set an example of subordination and public spirit. None were on better terms with the townspeople, and none were more vigilant and eager to harass the enemy, which their proximity to Antwerp rendered easy, especially as the Dutch squadrons of cavalry under the brothers Bacx formed part of their force. Lord Willoughby had spent large sums of his own in the public service, and had mortgaged his estates. He was harassed by demands for troops to be sent to England, and his wife had been obliged to come over to Holland because her straitened circumstances did not allow of her residence at home. In July, 1588, she was on board Lord Willoughby's yacht, off Gertruydenburg, where the garrison was in a state of mutiny, owing to the neglect of the Dutch authori- BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. I 2 5 ties to pay the soldiers. The general, with much trouble, succeeded in pacifying them for a time. All eyes were now turned to the mighty Spanish Armada, which was approaching the shores of Eng- land. Parma with his army was ready to embark at Dunkirk as soon as the fleet had cleared the Channel of English ships. Men and armor were hastily dis- patched from Holland for the reinforcement of the army of defence which was gathering at Tilbury ; and Francis Vere was sent to Flushing with 260 men, in readiness for any descent on the coast. The young captain was very anxious to be employed in the de- fence of his country against the threatened Spanish invasion. Writing to Walsingham, he suggested that " if news of the Spanish fleet continue it will be very necessary to choose some companies from here, in which number I hope, by your honor's favor, to be one. I would set down a young soldier's opinion as one that sometimes thinketh of those matters, but I dare not presume so far. This much I assure your honor, no man can enter more willingly into that action than myself." He was instrumental in the de- struction of one great Spanish ship. In the end of July the mighty Armada appeared off the Lizard, and beacons flashed the news along the English coast. On the 3ist the running action commenced in the Channel; on the 6th of August the Spanish admiral was off Calais, on the 8th his ships were defeated, and on the loth a furious gale scattered his fleet and drove it into the North Sea. The "San Mateo " grounded between Ostend and Sluys, and Vere was sent out from Flushing to capture and destroy the huge ship. 126 THE FIGHTING VERES. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was a turning- point in the war. Before that momentous event the Queen had always hoped for peace. Now that hope was gone. There could be no peace without the complete independence of her allies, and from that time she entered heartily upon the war. The last fifteen years formed the most glorious period in her long reign. Another result of this memorable defeat was that the allies in Holland were immediately placed on the defensive. When the Duke of Parma broke up his camp at Dunkirk, he felt bound to attempt something before he went into winter-quarters, and he deter- mined to undertake the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom. He came to this decision against the advice of the veteran Mondragon and his council of war. Daily raids were made by the Dutch cavalry under Bacx, who captured rich booty and sometimes secured wealthy prisoners. The roads to Antwerp were ren- dered unsafe by the proximity of the Bergen-op- Zoom garrison, while the capture of the town would place the keys of Zeeland in the Duke's hands. For these reasons he persisted in his design in opposition to the opinions of his most experienced advisers. The Duke of Parma marched through Brabant, sending a regiment of Tyrolese under the Marquis of Burgau, with troops under Count Mansfelt, the Prince of Asculi, and the Duke of Pastrana, in ad- vance. They were to attempt the capture of Tho- len, an important town to the north of Bergen-op- Zoom, on the opposite side of the channel separating the island of Tholen from the mainland of Brabant. Lord Willoughby worked hard to put Bergen in a BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. I 2 7 good posture of defence, although he continued the old distrust of his own abilities. 1 He constructed two blinds outside the Wouw Gate, to cover the drawbridges and protect sallying parties, and some other outworks, connected by covered ways. In these operations he had the benefit of advice from Count Everard Solms, who came over from Tholen, where he was commanding the Zeeland regiment. 2 On the 7th of September, 1588, the Duke of Parma arrived in person, and ordered the Marquis of Renty to attempt the capture of Tholen. Count Solms lined the parapet of a dike with his regiment, and opened such a fire on the enemy that they retired with a loss of 400 men. This failure made it im- possible for Parma to prevent supplies from coming by sea, unless he could capture the water forts; so he no longer delayed his main object, surrounding Bergen-op-Zoom by land with an army numbering 20,000 men. He had collected gabions, planks, ar- tillery, and boats for the attack on these water forts, and had planted guns on the levee to batter them. On September i4th the garrison sallied from the 1 Writing to Burleigh, on the such a power as assayles us, with- 6th of September, he said : " I out men or means. But if it tell beseech your Lordship, in all hum- out well for Her Majesty I would bleness and earnestness, let some not care. Pray God that I may better pylot than I, well acquainted be deceaved, and that Her Majesty how to face the difficulties of this lose not her people, her travayle, place, be employed to guide the and her treasure." helme. For I assure your Lord- 2 The muster at Bergen-op-Zoom ship my skill cannot tell how to in September, 1588, was as fol- stere out of the frith I am left in, lows : present, 802 ; absent, 502 ; which I more willingly endure than dead pays, 145. Reinforcements the reproche after. It had been were sent from Flushing and Brill and were an enterprize for the on Parma's approach, greatest souldier to warre against 128 THE FIGHTING VERES. Steenberg Gate to prevent the besiegers from occu- pying a position just outside, and, after a hot skir- mish, drove them back to their camp. On the i6th there was another sally, under cover of which pow- der and stores were brought in from Zeeland ; and while the Duke of Parma was reconnoitring the town from the Antwerp side, two of his pages were killed by a shot from the walls. The cavalry, under the brothers Bacx, frequently made sudden charges out of the gates, sometimes extending their in- cursions as far as Wouw, 1 and taking prisoners. In one of these sorties Francis Vere received a wound in the leg from a pike. 2 Among the prisoners there were two commissaries of ordnance, named Pedro de Luco and Tomas Swegoe. They were committed to the safe-keeping of Master Redhead, the deputy provost, who dwelt in English Street. There was a good deal of con- versation between the prisoners and the deputy's friends, who often dropped in for a chat. Among these was one William Grimeston, who saw reason to suspect that the pretended Italian, Swegoe, was really an English deserter, who had gone over with the traitor Stanley. In order to draw him out, 1 A castle and village about are of elaborately carved oak, and three miles to the eastward, the above them are seven carved-oak intervening country being a wild, figures on each side, with most sandy heath, now a good deal delicately chiselled drapery, lace, planted with firs. Wouw is a and fringes. large village, with very neat, clean 2 Letter from Bodley to Lord houses built round a green plant- Burleigh, dated October 10, 1587. ed with rows of trees. The This letter is in the collection of church (in the hands of the Catho- the Marquis of Bute. Vere him- lics) is of great size, with a tall, self never mentioned the wound, square tower. The choir- stalls THE SIEGE OF BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. 1 29 Grimeston observed that he wished he were fighting on the King of Spain's side, under Sir William Stanley. Then the spy eagerly showed his cards. He told Grimeston and Redhead to be merry and of good cheer, for that he was born in Seething Lane, and he had a sister who attended on my Lady Lum- ley. He added that, if they would be guided by him, they would be rich men in no time ; for that if they arranged to give up a certain fort to the Duke, they would be bountifully rewarded. The first object of the besieging general was to get possession of the water forts ; for so long as they were in the hands of the besieged, the garrison could be regularly supplied with provisions. Parma, with the traitor Stanley, had concocted an elaborate scheme for surprising the north fort by treachery ; but they were destined to be hoist with their own petard. Lord Willoughby, advised by Count Solms, was fully impressed with the importance of attending to the security of the water forts. He had entrusted the command to one of his most reliable officers, his cousin, Francis Vere. One day, Redhead and Grime- ston came to Lord Willoughby, and repeated the conversations of the unsuspecting spy. The general approved a plan by which Grimeston should promise to deliver up the northern sconce to Parma, and so decoy the enemy's troops to their overthrow. The spy wrote letters to the Duke and to Stanley, and Redhead, after having first shown them to Lord Willoughby, took them to the enemy's camp. At midnight on Sunday, the 6th of October, both Red- head and Grimeston had an interview with Parma, and promised to deliver up the north fort on the next 130 THE FIGHTING VERES. Wednesday night. Sir William Stanley then took them to his tent, where a banquet was prepared, and two gold chains were sent them from the Duke of Parma. An agreement was made that Robert Red- head should receive 1,200 crowns, and William Grime- ston 700 crowns and a commission in Sir William Stanley's regiment of traitors. They then took their leave, returned to Bergen-op-Zoom, and related all that had taken place to Lord Willoughby. He sent them back to induce Parma to agree to a delay of three days, which he considered necessary for making all his preparations. Vere was in the secret, and had everything ready at the north fort. On the appointed night, the 22d of October, Grimeston reported himself. He found, to his great alarm, that the Spaniards had become suspicious. He was bound, and led by a captain named Ortiz, with a drawn dagger, ready to stab him if there was treachery. The attacking column consisted of 3,000 picked men, including Stanley's regiment. There were also many volunteer knights. The leader was the maestro de campo, Don Sancho de Leyva. With him were Don Juan de Mendoza, 1 Don Alonzo de Idiaquez, 2 and Sir William Stanley. It was a dark, gloomy night; but, as they ap- proached, the drawbridge of the north fort was seen to be down, and the portcullis up. It seemed as if Redhead had kept his word. In reality Vere was ready at the portcullis, calmly watching, and Lord Willoughby was there in person, with 2,000 men. 1 Afterwards Marquis of Hina- 2 Of a San Sebastian family, josa and governor of Milan. He was afterwards Viceroy of Navarre. BERGEN-OP-ZOOM. 131 It was a veritable mouse-trap. It was low water, for the drowned land over which the Spaniards advanced was flooded at high tide. On they marched, along the causeway, with Grimeston in front, guarded by Cap- tain Ortiz. They crossed the drawbridge, and about fifty had entered, when Vere suddenly let fall the port- cullis and the drawbridge was hauled up. At the same moment Grimeston tripped up the heels of Ortiz, and so escaped his avenging dagger. A furious discharge of musketry and artillery from the walls killed 150 of the attacking party, while those inside were quickly slain or taken prisoners. 1 The Spaniards made a gallant but vain assault on the palisades. Meanwhile the tide began to flow, and the soldiers who had easily waded across the moat were washed away and drowned by scores in attempting to return. Never was discomfiture more complete. It practi- cally ended the siege. The Duke of Parma raised his camp on the I2th of November, and returned to Brussels, after a siege which had lasted six weeks. 2 Lord Willoughby had achieved an important suc- cess and had done the Queen good service, in spite of his extreme diffidence. He had done so in the face of many harassing difficulties ; and old Colonel Mor- 1 Among the prisoners was sent home. State Papers (Hoi- Don Inigo de Guevara, afterwards land), vol. Ivii. There are also Count of Ofiate. He had come to accounts of it in Grimeston, Mete- the Low Countries in 1584, when ren, Bentivoglio, Herrara, and Car- he was very young, to serve under nero, and several letters from the his uncle, Don Pedro de Tassis. officers among the State Papers His rank was not known to the (Holland). See particularly Sir English, and he got away with a William Russell's account of the common soldier's ransom. stratagem, in a letter to Walsing- 2 Lord Willoughby had a short ham. Vol. Iviii. journal of the siege kept, which he 132 THE FIGHTING VERES. gan had been a thorn in his side. But he was able to report in terms of the highest praise of all his offi- cers. Writing to Lord Burleigh, he said : " I could not omit to advertise your Lordship of the particular valour of Sir William Drury, who broke his lance valiantly in the face of the enemy, which, in my judgment, deserves the greater commendation, that with all humility he obeyed Her Highness's com- mand, and yet served her more forwardly than those that received the sweet ;" meaning old Morgan. " My cousin Vere, Baskerville, and Parker did very val- iantly, and, amongst others, I should speak of that noble gentleman, Mr. Wylford, who is lightly shot in the leg." 1 The following officers were knighted by Lord Willoughby when the siege was raised : Sir Francis Vere, Sir Thomas Wilford, Sir John Pooley, Sir Nicholas Parker, Sir Thomas Knowles, Sir Ed- mund Uvedale, Sir John Scott, Sir Charles Danvers, Sir Christopher Blount, Sir John Poore, Paul Bacx, and Marcellus Bacx. Lord Willoughby also wrote in generous but qualified praise of Sir Thomas. Mor- gan. " A very sufficient, gallant gentleman, and in very truth a very old soldier. For action he is un- doubtedly very able, if there were no more means to conquer than to give only blows." During the time that he was stationed in Bergen- op-Zoom the character of Francis Vere was devel- oped. Hitherto we have only seen him as a valiant soldier, fighting bravely and untiringly, and display- ing devotion to duty and great powers of endurance. But at Bergen he appears as a prudent adviser of his general, a cautious commander, and a resourceful 1 September 20, 1 588. State Papers (Holland), vol. Ivii. BERCEN-OP-ZOOM. 133 contriver of stratagems. His correspondence shows the interest he took in the affairs of his cousin, Lord Willoughby, the intelligence with which he watched the development of diplomatic negotiations, and the good - fellowship that existed between himself and his brother officers. It also shows that he was prompt to express disapproval of any conduct that appeared to be unbecoming or selfish. We find him applying to Walsirigham on behalf of a young brother of his comrade, Captain Audley, who died at Bergen, and writing strongly to Lord Willoughby respecting the grasping and unofficerlike proceedings of Cap- tain Wingfield. 1 He also wrote very gratefully to Secretary Walsingham, especially thanking him for his good offices with her Majesty, who had lately spoken graciously of him, " a thing which, above all others, I have most desired and will most carefully seek to deserve." 2 The time had now arrived for Sir Francis Vere to obtain leave of absence in England, after a continu- ous service of three years. He went home with a letter from Lord Willoughby to the Lord Treasurer, dated November 3, I588. 3 "I have made choice of 1 Captain Thomas Maria Wing- field continued to address corn- field had captured a prisoner at plaints to the Queen's Council, and the water fort, named Juan de at last the general deprived him of Mendoza. But all the captains his company : most justly, in the had agreed that Lord Willoughby opinion of Sir Francis Vere. This should bestow the prisoners on T. M. Wingfield was a brother of Redhead and Grimeston, as their one of the first settlers of Virginia, reward in managing the whole who for a short time had charge stratagem, at great risk. Wingfield of the colony, refused to agree, and complained. 2 Vere to Walsingham, 3 Aug. The matter was brought before a and 21 Aug., 1588. State Papers council of war, and Lord Willough- (Holland), vol. Ivi. by's action was approved. Wing- 8 State Papers (Holland), vol. lix. 134 THE FIGHTING VERES. my cousin, Francis Vere, as my most sufficientest reporter. If it please your lordship to afford favor of credit, I would in few words say that your lordship with him may boldly trust his speech and easily find the worth of the man." Thus introduced, Sir Fran- cis made a favorable impression on Lord Burleigh, who introduced him to the Queen. Walsingham was already his firm friend, and he had several rela- tions at court. Queen Elizabeth was in the full majesty of her regal greatness. She had reached her fifty-fifth year, and had reigned for thirty years. The halo of success was around her ; she was in the flood tide of prosperity, and the centre of devoted and ro- mantic loyalty. As in many other gallant spirits, this feeling, which was practically identical with pa- triotism, became a passion in the breast of Francis Vere, a passion the ardor of which continued un- abated until the death of the Queen. Such feelings are unknown in these days. They are not under- stood, and are therefore ridiculed ; but in the time of Elizabeth they were real, and there was neither exaggeration nor affectation in their expression. Having been graciously received by the Queen, Sir Francis Vere joyfully turned his face towards his Essex home, and passed a few happy weeks with his mother and sister and his three brothers, at Kirby. When he returned to the theatre of war, in February, 1589, he took his brother Robert with him, intending to get him a cavalry appointment, and eventually a company. The two brothers enjoyed each other's society through the subsequent campaigns, until, six years afterwards, young Robert Vere found a soldier's death on the battlefield. CHAPTER XI. RESIGNATION OF LORD WILLOUGHBY. WHEN Sir Francis Vere returned to the Nether- lands with his brother Robert, in January, 1589, he was appointed sergeant-major general of the forces by Lord Willoughby, with the full approval of the Queen's government. 1 The general had always had a high opinion of Vere's abilities and of his qualifi- cations for command. This view was now shared by the home authorities, and after three years of service, Vere took his place on the staff, in a position second only to the general. Lord Willoughby continued his earnest solicita- tions to be relieved of the command, and his repre- sentations that his forces were quite unequal to a serious encounter with the army of the Duke of Parma. In 1588 troops had been called away on the approach of the Armada, and now, in 1589, Sir John 1 " Since my coming over it hath Honor's favorable inclination to pleased my Lord General to estab- doe me good he presentlie pos- lish me in the office of sergeant- sessed me of the same, wherefore major, a place which divers months I doe yeald your Honour a great since his Honor intended to call portion of thanckes due for the me to, but performed no sooner, benefit!, assuring your Honour doubting, as I judge, thatt for my that nobody shall readyer de- yonge yeares I should nott att serve a good turne than mysealf." home be heald capable of so great (Francis Vere to Walsingham, a charge. But after I had in- from Middelburg, 24th Feb., 1589. formed his Lordship of your S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixii.) 136 THE FIGHTING VERES. Norris came over with a commission to arrange with Lord Willoughby for a supply of veterans to man the fleet which he and Sir Francis Drake were equipping for what was known as the " Portugal action." In January, 1589, there were, in the five English garri- sons, 6,517 men out of a nominal force of 7,400.* The annual cost to the Queen's government was ,150,300. The fact was that the Queen entertained a very high opinion of the ability, trustworthiness, and valor of Lord Willoughby, and, in spite of his diffidence, she had great confidence in his capacity for command when the moment of action arrived. After the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom was raised she wrote him a letter in her own hand : " Good Peregrine : Suppose not that your travail and labours are not accepted, and shall be ever kept in good memory." Such an approving note, in which the Queen her- self addressed her faithful subject by his Christian name, was a great honor. Men in those days loved their sovereign with romantic ardor. They loved her because she identified herself heart and soul with her people and her country. To love Queen Eliza- beth was to love England. The " good Peregrine " of that short note was more than equivalent to a Grand Cross of the Bath in these days. At length Lord Willoughby obtained permission to return home on leave. He departed in the end 1 Flushing garrison, 1,732 men, list 1,950; Utrecht, 135 men, list on the list, 2.000; Brill, 852 men, 150; cavalry, 900 men, list 1,000: list 950; Ostend, 1,166 men, list mustered, 6,517 men, list 7,400. 1,350; Bergen-op-Zoom, 1, 732 men, RESIGNATION OF LORD WILLOUGHBY. 137 of February, and arrived in London on the I4th of March, 1 589. His expenses, as general of the Queen's forces in the Netherlands, had swallowed up his whole income. He had cut down his woods, pawned his plate and his wife's jewels, and mortgaged his lands in Norfolk. Yet he was still ^"4,000 in debt. Sir Francis Vere, as sergeant-major general of the forces, had to take up the threads of Lord Wil- loughby's difficulties and perplexities, in his absence, and to deal with them as best he could. The great- est trouble was the mutinous conduct of the garrison at Gertruydenburg. Gertruydenburg was a fortified town on the banks of the old Maas, and about fifteen miles north of the important city of Breda. It was near the channel leading from Zeeland to Dordrecht and Rotterdam, and derived its prosperity from the fishery of stur- geon and salmon. One wall, with water-gates, was, in those days, on the very bank of the river, and the other sides, facing inland, were well fortified ; the river Donge sweeping round the southern and eastern faces and forming the moat. The town was built round a long market-place, shaded by trees, with short streets leading to the water-gates, and a tall, square church -tower at the eastern end. 1 For some years Count Hohenlohe had been governor. He was very unpopular, and the garrison complained bitterly that 1 Gertruydenburg is now a decay- above them. In the church there ing place, with the coehorn ram- is a curious picture of the town, parts round it, all planted with with the date 1616. The broad trees. At present it is a mile from waters of the old Maas are here the old Maas, which once bathed shown, washing the town walls, its walls. The long market-place and the great brick church-tower has rows of limes trained in front rises above the houses, of the houses, with gables rising 138 THE FIGHTING VERES, they received no pay. There had been an outbreak of discontent even before the siege of Bergen-op- Zoom, which had been partially appeased by Lord Willoughby, and he had induced the garrison to re- ceive his brother-in-law, Sir John Wingfield, as their governor. 1 In the winter of 1589 the discontent broke out afresh: the soldiers of the garrison had been unjustly treated by the States, there were long arrears of pay, and at first Sir John Wingfield espoused the cause of his men. Sir Francis Vere passed a most anxious time, striving to arrange matters, and visiting Ger- truydenburg more than once with this object. But the Dutch authorities were headstrong and unjust. At last the garrison became so exasperated that com- munications were opened with the enemy. Eduardo Lanzavecchia, the governor of Breda, offered the soldiers all their pay and much more if they would deliver up the place to the Duke of Parma. Prince Maurice was furious. He accused Wingfield of seek- ing his own profit rather than the public interest, 2 and in March, 1589, he began the siege of Gertruy- denburg. He made an attack on the water side, in 1 Sir John Wingfield had mar- VIII. for services at Terouenne ried, as her second husband, Susan and Tournay. He was a Knight Bertie, Countess of Kent, the sister of the Garter, and one of the ex- of Lord Willoughby, and he had a ecutors of Henry's will, son named Peregrine Wingfield, 2 Wingfield sent an indignant born in Holland. His grandmother reply. He wrote, " I will maintain was Elizabeth Vere, sister of John, with my sword that it is not true, sixteenth Earl of Oxford, which and that I am a gentleman in my made him a cousin both of Lady country, and am here in the ser- Willoughby and of Sir Francis vice of Her Majesty my mistress, Vere. His grandfather, Sir An- and without her I will recognize thony Wingfield of Letheringham, no other." in Suffolk, was knighted by Henry RESIGNATION OF LORD WILLOUGHBY. 139 flat-bottomed boats, and a furious assault was led by Count Solms and Count Philip of Nassau. But the garrison defended the walls with great resolution. The besiegers were forced to retire, having suffered serious loss, especially among the officers. 1 The States then applied to Bodley, the Queen's agent at the Hague, and he wrote to Sir John Wing- field, requiring him, in her Majesty's name, to take special care that the town should not fall into the hands of the enemy. A defiant reply came from the mutineers, which showed that the governor was no longer a free agent. Maurice then offered a pardon to all, and on the 5th of April he declared that any demands made by the malcontents would be con- ceded. It was too late. On the Qth Gertruydenburg was delivered up to the Duke of Parma, Wingfield and the officers being allowed to retire whither they pleased. The States were naturally furious, but they carried their anger beyond all bounds, and published a slan- derous placcart? denouncing several English officers who were as innocent as they were themselves. The governor, captains, and garrison Were all declared to be traitors, and they were to be hanged if at any time any of them were caught. The Dutch authorities even included Sir Francis Vere in their intemperate denunciations. Writing to Walsingham, on April 20, 1589, Vere said that he had been included in the list of alleged traitors. " I so behaved myself in the first trouble of that town that I deserved rather recompense than blame. I would say these accu- 1 Letter from Bodley, March 31, a Dated May 10, 1588. 1589. S. P. O., Holland, vol. xliii. I4O THE FIGHTING VERES. sations arise from malice against our nation, and to excuse their own rash enterprise which caused the loss of the place. I pray God their malice extend not to prejudice Her Majesty." On the I3th of May he reported to Walsingham that the States had withdrawn their charge against him. " For me they confess their error, and have razed me out of their list." Lord Willoughby was very indignant at the libel published by the States against English officers, and especially at the false accusation of treason levelled at Sir John Wingfield, who was an officer of spotless honor and integrity. He was put under arrest by the garrison when they began to treat with the enemy. Lord Willoughby wrote from London : " As to the proceedings of lewd persons of the States who offer money to kill Her Majesty's subjects as traitors, I hope Her Majesty will not tolerate more for her gen- eral and subjects that give their lives for her, than an honourable master would do for an honest private servant, when he is abused and slandered. If this may be suffered let me commend to your honorable wisdom that, amongst so many true English hearts, there mayhap be found such a one as, if these false accusers may not be lawfully punished, will make his revenge with his own hands. We are no subjects to these very traitors and accusers." The intemperate and unjustifiable character of the proclamation in which the States denounced the English officers fully deserved the indignant protest of Lord Willoughby. But these misunderstandings increased the friction, and rendered the task of his lordship's successor still more difficult. RESIGNATION OF LORD WILLOUGHBY. 141 On May 28, 1589, Lord Willoughby once more sent in his resignation, and it was at length accepted. He submitted that " for a general to be without au- thority, credit, or men is but a dangerous charge to his Sovereign, and an unrecoverable disgrace to him- self. For the present numbers that are to be drawn to the field, there is Sir Francis Vere, sergeant-major, able to take charge of twice as many. For them in the towns the governors are most sufficient. For the Council, Mr. Bodley and Mr. Gilpin. Where- fore I pray that I may be called upon to resign my office." Lord Willoughby was relieved of the command of the Queen's forces in the Netherlands, which he had long declared to be a heavier burden than he was able to bear. But his services were still required. He was almost immediately appointed to command a force of 4,000 men, which Queen Elizabeth had resolved to send to the assistance of Henry IV. of France. They landed at Dieppe in September, 1589, and Lord Willoughby did good and acceptable ser- vice in France during several ensuing months. In December the Queen honored him with another letter of sympathy and friendship : MY GOOD PEREGRINE : I bless God that your old prosperous success followeth your valiant acts ; and joy not a little that safety accompanieth your luck. Your loving Sovereign, ELIZABETH R. In 1597 Lord Willoughby was appointed Governor of Berwick and Warden of the Eastern Marches, and 142 THE FIGHTING VERES. he died at Berwick in June, 1601, in his forty-sixth year. 1 When Lord Willoughby resigned, a number of veteran officers of distinction were withdrawn from the Netherlands to serve in France or Ireland. Among them were Sir John Norris, Sir Roger Wil- liams, Sir Thomas Wilford, Sir William Drury, Sir Thomas Baskerville, and Sir John Burrough. Any one of these was qualified, as regards length of ser- vice, to succeed Lord Willoughby ; and they had strong claims. Some of them, Sir John Norris espe- cially, were high in the Queen's favor. But the sov- ereign had watched them closely, and there can be little doubt that she and her ministers had formed definite conclusions with respect to their fitness. Some were deficient in temper, others in judgment and tact, others in grasp of mind and administrative skill. They were still in high favor, and would receive such commands as were suited to their respective capacities. But the command of the troops in the 1 Lord Willoughby has been Edge Hill, fighting on the side of fortunate in his biographer. His Charles I. His grandson, Mon- life was written by Lady Georgina tagu, second Earl of Lindsey, was Bertie, the wife of one of his de- wounded at Edge Hill and Nase- scendants (Five Generations of a by, and died in 1666. He left Loyal House. Part I. Lives of two sons. The eldest was third Richard Bertie, and his son Pere- Earl of Lindsey, and his son was grine Isird Willoughby. Riving- created Duke of Ancaster and tons, 1845). This book is charm- Kesteven in 1715. The second ingly written, and at the same time son, James (by his second wife, it has the merit of accuracy. Its Bridget, heiress of Lord NorrisX accomplished author spared no became Lord Norris of Rycote, pains, and the work is based on and was created Earl of Abingdon much careful research. in 1682. He was the first English Lord Willoughby's eldest son peer to join William III. on his was created Earl of Lindsey in landing. 1626, and was slain at the battle of RESIGNATION OF LORD WILLOUGHBY. 143 Netherlands was a post requiring rare gifts, not often found combined in one man. It was a position of extreme delicacy and difficulty. The three previous campaigns had served to bring out the abilities of a young officer who had been fixed upon as the man that was wanted. The withdrawal of so many veterans left the field open to one who was possessed of the very qualifications that were required. There would be no general for some time to come. The governors would continue to command in the cautionary towns. But there would be an officer of approved valor and conduct, enjoying the confidence of his sovereign, who, in spite of his youth, would be the real leader of the English troops. From August, 1589, Sir Francis Vere, with the rank of sergeant-major general, was to be in command of all her Majesty's soldiers in the field. CHAPTER XII. SIR FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. Relief of Rheinberg. SIR FRANCIS VERE received his appointment from the Queen as " sergeant-major, with authority to com- mand as well those soldiers already in the field as those which her Majesty is intentioned to send during the absence of the lord-general and his lieutenant." His pay was two florins a day, or ^73 a year. 1 In theory there was still to be a general and a lieutenant-general over the sergeant-major, but those posts were never filled. Vere's official title was " Her Majesty's Ser- geant-Major in the Field." The governors of towns with English garrisons had independent commands, and supplied troops for service in the field according to their discretion. But Sir Francis was on excellent terms with them, even with old Sir Thomas Morgan at Bergen-op-Zoom. 2 His pay was most inadequate, but he received a very encouraging letter from Wal- singham, to which he replied : 3 "I received your Honors letter containing the great contentment your 1 In 1590 increased to "a noble gan then wrote that he was "well a day for allowances." (S. P. O., content : the gentlemen I know Holland, vol. Ixxi.) both honorable." In 1590 Vere 3 In September, 1589, com- writes: " I am going to Sir Thomas plaints against Sir Thomas Mor- Morgan, to see what troops may gan were referred to Sir Francis be spared from Bergen." Vere and Sir Robert Sidney. Mor- 8 October 28, 1 589. S/X FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. 145 Honor had at the hearing of our victories, as also Her Majesty's most gracious conceyte of me, with some hope of better maintenance." Vere's official position brought him in contact with various elements of antagonism and possible discord, which called for the exercise of tact and caution. There were the Queen and her government ; there was the government of the States; the English agent at the Hague; Prince Maurice in command of the army ; the governors of the cautionary towns ; the officers and men of the force under his own com- mand ; and lastly the enemy. Maurice was a young man of three-and-twenty, with experience and military knowledge yet to be gained. He was, however, devoted to martial pur- suits and to the cause of his countrymen. He did not impress Robert Cecil favorably when he saw the young prince at Ostend in 1588. Cecil wrote: "I met with Count Maurice to-day, in whom is neither outward appearance of any noble mind, nor inward virtue. In my life I never saw worse behaviour, ex- cept it were one lately come from school." 1 Lord Willoughby had a more favorable impression. He wrote : " Maurice is young and hot-headed ; he hath wit and spirit." 2 Vere knew him more intimately than either Cecil or Willoughby, and was a better judge. He said: "His Excellency is worthy to be esteemed, for I hold him to be as rare a young gentle- man as is in Europe, and one that may prove a good and able servant to Her Majesty and the States. 3 . . . He is very likely to grow great. He useth me well, 1 To Lord Burleigh, March 10, 2 S. P. O., Holland, vol. xlix. 1588. S. P. O. Ibid. vol. Ixx. 146 THE FIGHTING VERES. and I am persuaded he desireth much to be well thought of in England." 1 Maurice habitually con- sulted Vere, and relied upon his military skill and judgment; and besides commanding the English contingent, Sir Francis usually acted as marshal of the camp for the whole of Maurice's army. 2 Among the Dutch statesmen, Barneveldtwas always very friendly to Vere, and showed confidence in his generalship. But at first the commander of the troops looked to the Queen's agent at the Hague for advice and guidance in his dealings with the States. This was Sir Thomas Bodley, 3 who became the Queen's envoy at the Hague, and was admitted as one of the States Council, in accordance with the treaty, in 1588. Sir Francis Vere declared his inten- tion of following Bodley 's directions, being persuaded that he did nothing but on good grounds. " Myself," he added, " though the States have done me wrong, 1 S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixviii. vice. For four years, from 1576 * Bodley. S. P. O., Holland, to 1580, he was studying modern vol. Ixxiii. languages in France, Germany, * Thomas Bodley was born at and Italy. In 1585 the Queen Exeter, March 2, 1544. His father employed him on missions to Den- was an enemy to Popery, and mark and to several German during the Marian persecution he princes to induce them to join with fled with his family to Wesel, and her in aiding Henry of Navarre ; afterwards to Geneva. Here Bod- and he was next sent to Henry III. ley learnt Hebrew under Cheval- of France. Burleigh was always vius, Greek under Beroaldus, and his steady friend. Sir Thomas divinity under Calvin and Beza. Bodley was the Queen's envoy at On the death of Mary the Bodleys the Hague from 1 588 to 1 597, and returned to England, and settled her Majesty left much to his dis- in London. Thomas was sent to cretion. From 1597 he lived in Oxford, and became a Fellow of retirement, devoting himself to the Merton in 1564. In 1565 he under- care of the library at Oxford. He took the public reading of a Greek died in 1612, and was buried at lecture. But his desire was to Merton College. devote himself to the public ser- SIR FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. 147 will not forget my duty to this country, so long as I shall be in Her Majesty's service." There were cor- dial relations between the envoy and the commander of the English forces. After Vere had been a short time in command, Bodley reported : " No man's ad- vice is more respected and followed than Sir Francis Vere, who doth content the country exceedingly for his carefulness in all things, as well for direction as execution." 1 The first operation under Sir Francis Vere's orders was the relief of Rheinberg by Sir Martin Schenk, for which service some English companies were dis- patched, with Sir John Pooley as their leader. The enterprise was successfully carried out; but Vere strongly felt the necessity for reinforcements. " The army of the Hollanders," he reported, " is very small, and much out of order by reason they have no great soldier to command except Schenk." 2 In August, Sir Martin Schenk was killed in an abortive attack on Nymegen ; and thus fell the man whom Sir Francis Vere considered to be their only efficient general. Yet the turning-point of the war had ar- rived. From the date of Vere's appointment suc- cess followed success, until Spain had to treat on equal terms with the revolted provinces for a long truce. 1 Bodley, Aug. 19, 1591. S. P. O., most weighty military occur- Holland, vol. Ixxiii. Vere's emi- rences." Carnero alludes to Vere nence as a military leader was as "un muy prudente soldado." well known to the enemy. Benti- Meteren says : " Le Chevalier voglio spoke of " Sir Francis Vere, Frangois Veer estoit homme fort an Englishman who had already habile, et agreable aux Provinces, gained the opinion of a gallant plus qu'aucun autre estranger." officer, and whom the United (Fol. 333.) Provinces made use of in their 2 July 27, 1589, to Walsingham. 148 THE FIGHTING VERES. In July, 1589, Sir Francis Vere advanced with a small force into the Bommel-waart, the island between the Maas and Lek, to watch the movements of Count Charles Mansfelt, who was threatening an invasion of the liberated provinces on that side. Vere only had 1,140 men, of whom 650 were English. 1 Mansfelt was collecting flat-bottomed boats, and preparing to cross the Maas with a large army, numbering 12,000. It was a critical position ; and one day Sir Francis Vere was visited in his quarters by Prince Maurice and Count Hohenlohe, who wished to consult with him whether it would not be best to abandon the island. Vere dissuaded them from any retreat. He said that considering the importance of the position, and that this was the first occasion on which the Prince had commanded in person as general-in-chief, it would not be advisable to yield any ground without the knowledge and order of the States. Sir Francis undertook to hold the position until orders should arrive, and his advice was taken. 2 He worked hard at the intrenchments, planted artillery, and prepared to resist the overwhelming force which was about to attack him. Mansfelt had already embarked his Walloon and German troops to cross the river, when the Spaniards mutinied and refused to go into the boats. The invasion was abandoned, and on the 25th of August Mansfelt marched away. 3 This danger having been averted, the States General turned their attention to the relief of Rheinberg, now closely besieged by the Marquis of Warrenbon, a Burgundian nobleman. 1 Vere to the Lords of the Vere to the Lords of the Council. S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixv. Council. S. P. O., Holland, vol. 2 Vere's Commentaries, p. 2. Ixvi. SSX FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. 149 The Earl of Leicester had saved Rheinberg in 1586 by drawing Parma off to protect Zutphen, and the Spaniards had hitherto been unable to reduce it. Schenk had thrown supplies in during the summer, but now the garrison was again running short of food. The States, therefore, ordered Count Meurs, the governor of Gelderland, to undertake their relief, with English troops under Sir Francis Vere, and some companies commanded by Counts Overstein and Potlitz. Rheinberg was in the territory of the Archbishop of Cologne, whose romantic love for Agnes Mansfelt had induced him to forswear celi- bacy and espouse the cause of the Protestants. Another prelate had been appointed in his place, but the soldiers of Queen Elizabeth and of the States upheld the rights of the expelled Archbishop Truchses. The town of Rheinberg was of no great extent, but it was important from its strength, and from its com- manding position on the banks of the great fluvial highway. The walls were built of basaltic stones, brought down the Rhine on rafts, and strengthened with earthworks. There was a bastion at each angle, and a gate in the centre of each side. The walls on the eastern side rose from the river banks, and in the centre a channel was cut into the heart of the town, up to the foot of the church -tower, which formed a harbor. In the north wall was the Rhine Gate, leading to Wesel ; on the west side the Guelder Gate opened on a plain bounded by an eminence crowned by the little chapel of St. Anne ; and on the south was the Ursoy Gate. In the northeastern bas- tion the circular toll tower rose above the river, with 150 THE FIGHTING VERES. high pointed roof; and near it was a long brick build- ing, with stone-dressed gables in steps, which was used as the archbishop's brewery and wine-store, and also as a hospice. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is fairly proportioned, with aisles and an apsidal am- bulatory. Its tower faced the head of the harbor, and there was a monastery with another tower, and a town hall in the market-place. An island in the river, opposite the town, had a fort upon it, which was occupied by the garrison. 1 The defenders were hard pressed by the Marquis of Warrenbon, and Mansfelt was marching from the scene of his failure in the Bommel-waart, to swell the numbers of the besieging host. Early in October, 1589, Sir Francis Vere joined Count Meurs at Arnhem with 900 men ; but a day or 1 The scene is now entirely a small museum of antiquities. In changed. Rheinberg is a little 1880 Herr Pick, the judge of Rhein- market town, separated from the berg, was president of a small river by wide meadows and gar- verein for the study of local an- dens. The Rhine has altered its tiquities, which met under a ve- course, and is a mile and a half randa covered with vines, opening from the town. The walls are on a charming garden shaded by gone, and the moat is yielding the trees in the southeast bastion, rich green pasture. On the line Here the members smoke and of the ramparts grow avenues of drink beer, while they talk over the shady horse-chestnuts. The north- departed glories of Rheinberg. east bastion is occupied by an In the town hall there is an in- apple-orchard, and in one corner teresting old picture of Rheinberg. are the crumbling ruins of the old It shows the river washing the toll tower. Near it the great brick base of the stone wall, with an building, formerly the brewery and opening for the harbor. On the hospice of the archbishop, is still right is the lofty toll tower, with standing. A pleasant walk leads the gable of the hospice rising to the bastion at the southeast above the walls. To the left is angle, shaded by trees. The town the tower of St. Peter, and a line of hall, a building dating from the high roofs and gables peeping over seventeenth century, stands in the the parapet, centre of a square, and contains FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. \ 5 I two afterwards the Count was so injured by an acci- dental explosion of gunpowder that he died in a few hours. The States of Gelderland then called the English commander before them, and their spokes- man, the chancellor Ivry, requested him to proceed with the enterprise. He was accompanied by Count Overstein, a young kinsman of Meurs, at the head of twelve companies of horse. The troops crossed the Yssel and marched to Rees, where they were' ferried over the Rhine. The wagons, laden with provisions, waited for them at a fort which had been constructed by Schenk near the Rhine, and opposite the town of Rees. Vere then marched direct to Rheinberg, sur- prised the besiegers, who were scattered in isolated intrenchments, put the provisions into the town in full view of the enemy on the 3d of October, and re- turned to the fort opposite to Rees. 1 Meanwhile, the States received news that Count Mansfelt was assembling forces in Brabant, with a view to pressing the siege more closely. They therefore collected larger supplies, and requested Sir Francis to undertake the dangerous service of re- lieving Rheinberg a second time, in the face of these increasing forces of the enemy. This time Vere. resolved to advance by a shorter route, nearer the banks of the Rhine, which would take him through a wood with dense undergrowth in one place. He therefore took four small fieldpieces with him, 2 900 English and 900 Dutch infantry, and 800 cavalry under Count Overstein ; the force amounting in all to 2,600 men. 1 Vere's Commentaries, p. 3. number of fieldpieces as two, in * Official Report. Writing from his Commentaries. memory afterwards, Vere gives the 152 THE FIGHTING VERES. Marching through the town of Xanten, they came to a dense wood, with a castle or country house, called Loo, on its outskirts. They had to make their way along a very narrow path, with exceedingly thick underwood on either side, and swampy ground. On this spot there is still a wood, through which the road passes from Alpen to Wesel, crossed by the Rheinberg and Xanten road. There is also a coun- try house, called Loo, standing on the verge of the wood. Vere calls this part of the road a " strait." The enemy came out of the Loo enclosure to gall the men and horses while passing through the wood. Vere ordered the Dutch foot and the cavalry to pass through the strait as rapidly as possible, with ensigns displayed and drums beating, and to form on the other side, while he himself remained behind with the English reserve and about fifty horse. The enemy increased their numbers, and Vere attacked them vigorously, driving them back to the protection of the castle. He then led the rest of the troops through the strait, which is about a quarter of a mile long, with the cross-roads in the middle of it. As soon as he was in the open, Vere marched his whole force rapidly for a short distance, and then formed his men in line of battle facing the wood, which appeared to be full of the enemy. Soon they began to deploy and form for a charge outside, before Vere's troops were all in their places. He therefore took a detachment of pikes and shot, and marched rapidly against the enemy, with the object of giving time for the rest of his troops to form. Almost im- mediately he was at push of pike with them. His own horse was killed by a pike-thrust, and fell on him, _ KHEIXBKHG St. A line's 1 Budberf? RHEINBERG AND ADJACENT COUNTRY. SSX FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. 153 so that he could not rise. 1 Seeing his danger, the English pressed on with resolute tenacity, and he was rescued with no other harm than a contused leg and several pike-thrusts through his clothes. While the pikemen on both sides were maintaining a stub- born fight, the English shotmen spread along the skirts of the wood, and galled the flanks of the enemy so effectually that they began to fall back, closely followed by the English pikemen. Four times they rallied and turned upon their pursuers, but at last they broke and scattered among the brushwood. The English pikes remained in a serried, unbroken line, advancing upon the enemy's cavalry, who dis- mounted and fled through the thick undergrowth on foot. The Marquis of Warrenbon was there in person. His horse was captured, and Sir Francis sent it to England, as a present to Secretary Wal- singham. 2 Marching onwards, Vere next encoun- tered twenty-four companies of Neapolitan infan- try, who were easily put to flight. The defeat was decisive. Vere resumed his march, and entered Rheinberg two hours after sunset. The battle was fought by one English division of 450 men. The other, under Sir Oliver Lambart, 3 followed as a re- serve. The cavalry and Dutch infantry remained on the open plain, under Count Overstein. The enemy 1 He does not mention this in lop. He was knighted by the Earl iiis Official Report. The fact is of Essex at Cadiz. In 1601 he recorded in his Commentaries. became governor of Connaught, 2 S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixvii. and was created Lord Lambart of Vere to Walsingham, Dec. 17, Cavan in 1617. He died in 1618, 1589. and was buried in Westminster 8 Oliver Lambart was the only Abbey. His son, Charles Lam- son of Walter Lambart by his wife bart, was created Earl of Cavan Rose, daughter of Sir Oliver Wai- in 1647. 154 THE FIGHTING VERES. consisted not only of the besieging force under War- renbon, but also of the reinforcements with which Mansfelt had just arrived from Brabant. They were waiting for Vere on the road he had taken before, and on discovering their mistake they hurriedly marched across to the wood, and were routed in detail. 1 The next morning was fortunately thick and foggy. At break of day Vere set out on his return, and reached the fort opposite to Rees late in the evening, a distance of sixteen miles, without again encountering the enemy. His gallant relief of Rheinberg enabled the town to hold out until the following January, when at length the garrison was obliged to surrender. 2 Sir Francis then made his headquarters at Utrecht, a good position, whence he could oppose any body of the enemy that might make an attempt to cross the rivers, before going into winter- quarters; 8 and in November he proceeded to the Hague. During the winter of 1589-90, which was long re- membered for the length and severity of the frosts, Sir Francis Vere was very actively engaged in re- forming the arrangements for the supply of arms and clothing, and for the more regular payment of the field force, in improving the discipline, and in making agreements with the governors of the cautionary 1 Vere's Commentaries, pp. 4 to August, 1597. It was retaken by 10. S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixvi. the Admiral of Aragon in 1598. Grimeston, p. 1024. Bentivoglio. In July, 1601, Maurice again Herrera, lib. v. cap. ii. p. 146. took the place, and in August, Carnero, cap. ix. p. 240. The 1606, it was again surrendered to official report, in Vere's own hand- Spinola. writing, is among the Cotton 8 Gilpin to Lord Burleigh, Oct. AfSS., Galba, D. V., f. 226. 20, 1589. S. P. O., Holland, vol. 8 Maurice retook Rheinberg in Ixvii. SIR FRANCIS VERB IN CHIEF COMMAND. 155 towns as regards the employment of part of the gar- risons. His commission gave him sole command of all troops in the field. Great inconvenience and ex- pense were caused to the companies from having to send to Flushing for all supplies of arms, clothing, and accoutrements. Vere drew up a scheme for es- tablishing a central depot at Utrecht, and he obtained sanction to receive tenders from the merchants of Amsterdam for the supply of powder and saltpetre. He also issued rates for apparel and rations. He caused ordinances and instructions for musters to be promulgated, to prevent frauds and secure an effi- cient system of checks ; and he published orders for reforming abuses among the captains of companies. His correspondence shows the interest he took in the welfare of comrades with whom he had served, and the persistency with which he advocated their claims. During this winter he was anxious to obtain suitable employment for his old friend Francis Allen, with whom he made the journey to Poland, and who had served with such gallantry in the defence of Sluys. He wrote three times to Walsingham on the subject of Captain Allen's claims, and twice to Lord Burleigh; and at length, in September, 1590, he ob- tained a company for him. He also proved a warm friend to young Throckmorton, against whom there appears to have been a prejudice on account of his family. Vere strongly represented that the young man, both as ensign and lieutenant, had lived like an honest soldier and a good subject, that he had been wounded while fighting valiantly at the relief of Rheinberg, and that he ought not to suffer for the fault of his relations. Throckmorton took home I 56 THE FIGHTING VERES. Vere's despatches on two occasions, and, by dint of importunity, his patron obtained for him the com- pany rendered vacant by the death of Captain Smyth. That officer, while riding from the Betuwe to Does- burg, was set upon by some of the enemy's scouts and mortally wounded. In November, 1589, Sir Francis Vere made a kindly appeal to Walsingham on behalf of an old comrade of the Bergen-op-Zoom days. Captain Bannaster had spent many years in the war with credit and reputation. He was grow- ing old, and he undertook a journey to England in the hope of obtaining some means of living in his declining years. He relied a good deal on the help of Walsingham, and his appeal was warmly seconded by Sir Francis Vere, who wrote : " I think the con- siderate recompensing of such an old soldier would very much encourage men to continue in the service." We can only hope that poor old Captain Bannaster was granted some subsistence allowance. Vere also appears as an intercessor for countenance to a young officer who had become engaged at Flush- ing. The fair Netherland maidens were attractive from their modesty and grace, and there were many love passages between them and the English officers, especially in the garrison towns. The burghers were hospitable, and the society of their families was very agreeable; but marriages were rather sternly dis- countenanced and frowned upon, as tending to unfit soldiers for general service. Among other enamored youths was young Arthur Randolph. His love was returned, and, without asking permission, he was so rash as to enter into a contract of marriage with the beautiful daughter of Jacques Gelleet, an influential SIR FRANCIS VERE IN CHIEF COMMAND. 157 burgomaster of Flushing. He had to give bonds in consideration of her portion ; but he had nothing to offer to her father save some warrants for arrears of pay. When this proceeding became known, Secre- tary Walsingham, who was an old friend of Ran- dolph's family, was very angry, and Sir Francis Vere kindly interceded in the young officer's behalf. These good offices saved him the loss of his com- pany, of which he would otherwise have been de- prived, and the marriage took place. So long as Randolph's company remained at Flushing the young couple were perfectly happy; but in 1592 it was or- dered to Brittany. Then there was great tribulation. The burgomaster entreated that his son-in-law might be excused from this French journey. Both Sir Rob- ert Sidney and Sir Francis Vere interceded for him, and he was allowed to remain. These frequent kindly intercessions in favor alike of old comrades and of young officers, which con- tinually occur in Vere's correspondence, give a very pleasant impression. He was a man of warm, sym- pathetic feelings, and a true friend. After the cam- paign of 1589 was over, Vere sent his brother Robert to England, to visit their mother and to bring out their youngest brother, Horace, who began his mili- tary career in 1590. Robert continued in command of a troop of cavalry, while young Horace com- menced his service in the infantry company of Sir Francis. Thus the three brothers were happily united as comrades in the service of their Queen and coun- try, while John Vere, the eldest, remained at home to take care of their mother, at Kirby. CHAPTER XIII. BREDA, AND THE EXPEDITION INTO WESTPHALIA. WHILE Sir Francis Vere was actively engaged in his administrative improvements and in completing the complements of his depleted companies, the Dutch commanders were maturing an audacious scheme for surprising the important and strongly fortified city of Breda. Vere was kept fully informed from time to time of what was going on, and as early as December, 1589, he reported confidentially that all the details were arranged. 1 He gives the credit of designing the plan to Prince Maurice himself. Having heard that several large boats laden with peat were received into the town during the winter, with- out search, Maurice conceived the hope of winning the place by that means. On further inquiry, he found that one of the captains of these boats had once been a servant of his father. 2 His name was Adrien de Berghe. This man was approached very cautiously. Count Philip of Nassau 3 conferred with Charles de Heraugiere, a captain from Cam bray, who had distinguished himself in the defence of 1 Vere to Walsingham, Dec. 17, * Son of Count John, who pre- 1589. S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixvii. sided at the Union of Utrecht. * Vere to the Lords of the Coun- John was the eldest brother of cil, Feb. 24, 1590. S. P. O., Hoi- William the Taciturn, land, vol. Ixvii. BREDA. 159 Sluys. Heraugiere persuaded Adrien de Berghe to attempt the hazardous service. His boat was in a canal at the village of Lier, 1 three miles from Breda, and here it was prepared with great secrecy. Up- right props were secured amidships, to support a light deck of planks, leaving sufficient room below for about seventy men. Right aft there was a small cabin, as is usual with these barges, separated from the hold by a light bulkhead. The men to form this forlorn hope were selected by Heraugiere with great care from the garrisons of Count Philip at Gorcum and Lowesteyn. They were all young men, few with beards, and were chosen for their strength and hardi- hood. On the 26th of February they were ready to embark. There was some delay, caused by the ice, but on Thursday, the ist of March, they were all stowed in their cramped and comfortless quarters, each with two days' provisions. The peat was then piled on the deck, and made to look as if the barge was full from the keelson. Breda was a fortified town of the first class. The river Marck flowed through it to join the old Maas, and supplied the moats with water. On the western side, where the river left the town walls, was the old castle, with a moat of its own and special fortified lines. Two semicircular bastions frowned over the river, and beyond them was a quay where vessels dis- charged their cargoes. It was called the fish-market, and it led to an open space in front of the castle gates. High above the roofs of the houses rose the lofty spire of the great church. Edoardo Lanzavec- 1 Carnero says the boat was at Teteringen. Lib. ix. cap. ii. p. 242. But Meteren is probably correct. 160 THE FIGHTING VERES. chia, the governor of Breda, happened to be absent, superintending the fortification of Gertruydenburg, and the place was in charge of his son, Paulo An- tonio Lanzavecchia. He had 600 infantry, in five companies, to garrison the town, 100 infantry in the castle, and 100 cavalry of the regiment of the Marquis del Vasto, under a young lieutenant named Tarlatini. There were very strict orders with regard to the examination of all vessels entering the harbor, and there was a guard-house on the quay, whence a close lookout was kept night and day. From Friday to Saturday morning Adrien de Berghe waited in the river Marck for the tide to rise. He was moored off the " Heronniere," just outside the castle. The boat began to leak, and the nearly frozen water came up to the men's knees in the hold. As soon as Adrien passed the castle wall and reached the harbor, the corporal of the guard came off in a small boat. He went down into the dark cabin, and pushed aside a plank which separated it from the hold. A whiff of cold air rushed in, and it was all the soldiers could do to prevent themselves from coughing. A lieutenant named Matthew Helt, feel- ing that he could not stop a sneeze, presented his dagger to his next neighbor, to cut his throat. But the corporal went up, and the immediate peril was over. The harbor was much encumbered by ice, and the soldiers of the guard helped to haul the vessel alongside the quay. "It was like the Trojans drag- ging in the Grecian horse," observes Meteren. 1 Two soldiers were then ordered to unload the turf. They worked away, and Adrien felt that all was lost if they 1 Page 325. BREDA. l6l threw out much more and discovered the false deck. So he suggested to them that it was getting late, and that they could unload the rest the first thing in the morning. He added : " I have got an escudo to spend ; l so let us go on shore, and have drinks all round." So they all went to a public-house until it was dark, when the soldiers went away, and Adrien returned to the boat. Meanwhile, the men in the hold were nearly dead with cold and hunger, besides being up to their knees in freezing water. They began to move, Adrien making as great a clatter as he could with the pumps, to drown the noise caused by the men coming up. It was nearly midnight. The chosen seventy Dutchmen rushed on shore, led by Heraugiere, who divided them into two parties. Approaching the guard-house, a sentry challenged, and Heraugiere ran him through without a word. They then over- powered the guard, and threw open one of the town gates. Maurice, accompanied by Count Hohenlohe and Sir Francis Vere, was anxiously waiting with a suffi- cient force. Two hours before dawn Hohenlohe, at the head of 300 cavalry, thundered into the town, closely followed by Prince Maurice, Count Philip of Nassau, Sir Francis Vere with 600 English, and Count Solms; in all, 1,700. Paulo Antonio Lanza- vecchia, the acting governor, was in the castle. Hearing the noise, he rushed out with some of his men, and came on the open space in front of the castle. Here Heraugiere was engaged in a hand- 1 " Si quereis vamos a beber, que tengo un escudo que gastar." (Carnero.) 1 62 THE FIGHTING VERES. to-hand fight with another corps de garde, and they were all driven back into the castle, Lanzavecchia being wounded in two places. He surrendered. But there were still several hundred soldiers in the town. The officers lost their heads, and hearing that the castle was taken, they counselled flight. A young ensign, Count Vicencio Capra, proposed to break down the bridge leading to the castle, and de- fend the town. He urged that succor would arrive from Antwerp, if they would hold out but for a short time. The other officers hesitated, and while they wavered, Hohenlohe dashed in upon them. They broke, and fled along the Antwerp road. The news had reached the old veteran Mondragon, governor of Antwerp, with almost incredible celerity. He assembled 500 men and marched rapidly towards Breda, but, to his dismay and indignation, he met the flying garrison. He then knew that all was lost. 1 On Sunday, the 4th of March, Breda was in the hands of the Dutch, and Heraugiere was appointed governor. The Duke of Parma caused all the prin- cipal officers to be beheaded, except young Capra; and the corporal and two soldiers who unloaded the boat were hanged. The capture of Breda more than made up for the loss of Gertruydenburg. Sir Francis Vere reported that Breda was a place of very great importance, very strong, and provided with all manner of munitions and stores, sufficient for 2,000 men for one year. 2 Sir Francis added : " Count Maurice hath gotten great honour in this enterprise." 1 " Siendo el acto mas vil que 2 Vere to the Lords of the ha hecho esta nation." (Carnero.) Council. S. P. O., Holland, Ixviii. BKEDA Q0.lt- BREDA. 163 Standing by the quay at Breda on a moonlight night, one may recall the whole scene in imagination. There are the two semicircular bastions rising from the river; the barges lying along the quay ; the open space before the castle ; houses where the guard- house stood; and the beautiful church-tower rising over the roofs, with its graceful spire shooting up into the starlit sky. Within the great church of Breda is the tomb of Engelbert of Nassau, the re- cumbent effigies beneath, and four mythical kneeling figures supporting a slab on their shoulders, on which are the helmet, sword, and armor of Engelbert. This famous tomb furnished the idea for the monu- ment to Sir Francis Vere in Westminster Abbey. Count Charles de Mansfelt advanced to the neigh- borhood of Breda, devastating the country. Mau- rice took counsel with Hohenlohe and Vere, the re- sult of which was that the army of the allies marched into the Betuvve, and began to throw up intrenchments on the banks of the Waal. The immediate object was to divert the attention of Mansfelt, but there was a serious ultimate intention of capturing the city of Nymegen. On the 6th of May 2,800 men were be- fore Nymegen, on the opposite side of the Waal, of whom nine companies were English, under Sir Fran- cis Vere. They were all employed on the construc- tion of a strong fort exactly opposite Nymegen, and they worked at it steadily for several months. It was intended to threaten Nymegen, and also to check the incursions of the enemy into the Betuwe, the land between the Waal and the Rhine. The people of Nymegen were Catholic, and partisans of the Spaniards ; and they had raised a company of 1 64 THE FIGHTING VERES. clubmen, called Knodsendragers ; so the fort was named Knodsenburg, because it was built in spite of these clubmen. Vere was an officer who superin- tended every detail personally, and saw that each order was executed in the right way. Francis Mark- ham, who served under him, has the following re- mark on his qualifications as a trench-master: " Sir Francis Vere, both by experience and observation, was wonderfully skilled in the work of intrenching. Though he had excellent skilled officers under him, he still, in these great and important affairs of forti- fications, performed all things by his own proper commands and directions. In spite of many wounds, he ever performed these services in his own person." 1 By the end of July, 1590, the fort at Knodsenburg was finished. It was a strong and thoroughly well- planned work, constructed in spite of a heavy fire which Mansfelt opened on the camp from Nymegen. It was provisioned for six months, and furnished with a garrison of 600 men, under Gerart de Jonghe, a brave and able Dutch officer. Maurice then sta- tioned his army along the line of the Waal, from Schenken Schanz to Bommel, to prevent the passage of the enemy, and the States caused a new dike to be constructed across the lower part of the Betuwe, below Nymegen, from the Rhine to the Waal, to protect the country from inundations. In July, Sir Francis Vere was employed on de- tached service of an adventurous and rather hazardous character, as it entailed an advance into the enemy's country, far from all supports. Some troops of the States had got possession of the town of Reckling- 1 Francis Markham's Epistles of War (1622). EXPEDITION INTO WESTPHALIA. 165 hausen, with its castle of Litkenhoven, in Westphalia, for Archbishop Truchses, and were closely besieged by troops of the Duke of Cleves and of the new Archbishop of Cologne. The relieving force was composed of 800 English infantry and 500 cavalry. Vere's brother Robert accompanied him. The dis- tance of Recklinghausen from the Rhine near Wesel is twenty-five miles. Two rivers flow from east to west into the Rhine: the Lippe, rising in the hills of Lippe Detmold ; and the Emscher, to the south, a small parallel stream with a shorter course, falling into the Rhine below Duisburg. The country be- tween the two rivers is ten miles across, and the town of Recklinghausen is nearly on the water-parting, being just on the Emscher slope. The country is an expanse of sandy moor, with junipers scattered over it, and occasional woods of birch and stone pine. Vere marched rapidly across the moors, in the hope of surprising the besiegers. At break of day, on a bright July morning, the town came in sight, at a distance of about a mile. Recklinghausen is a very picturesque old place, on a gentle slope descending eastward to a swampy stream, a tributary of the Emscher. It was a walled town with a moat, which is now full of little gardens and apple and cherry trees. The walls, with two towers, are still stand- ing in the northwest angle, which is the highest part, and here stood the castle of Litkenhoven. The church has a square, solid tower and a richly deco- rated romanesque doorway, and there was a small cloister near the western gate. Sir Francis Vere gazed on the beleaguered little town by the light of the early morning sun, and he saw that the enemy 1 66 THE FIGHTING VERES. had built a fort, with bastions in the angles, in front of the west gate of the town, facing Litkenhoven Castle. This took him by surprise. He did not ex- pect that they would have thrown up intrenchments, and he had brought neither artillery nor scaling-lad- ders. They had raised earth walls of good height, and had fixed gabions on them, which added six more feet, so that it would be scarcely feasible to climb over them. He had not brought sufficient provisions to enable him to lay siege to the fort. Vere was a man of resource, and he never gave up an attempt until it was evidently impracticable. He resolved to take the fort. He divided his force into eight detachments, and disposed them, as secretly as possible, so that two detachments should be in posi- tion to assault each of the four bastions. At the first roll of the drum one detachment was to assault each bastion, and at the second roll the second detach- ments were to come up as supports. As soon as all was ready, Sir Francis summoned the fort. The answer was that they would like to see his artillery before they surrendered. He replied that if they made him wait until his artillery arrived, he would give them no conditions. They told him to do his worst, and his trumpeter returned. Vere then gave the signal, and his men assaulted all four bastions, but were unable to force their way against the desperate resistance of the garrison. Their leader waited to send forward the second detachments until he thought that the defenders had exhausted all the charges in their bandoleers. Then he gave the second signal, and with a hearty cheer the re- serves rushed to the support of their comrades. One EXPEDITION INTO WESTPHALIA, 167 soldier helped another, until at last they climbed over the parapet and drove the enemy back. More and more continued to pour over, and the place was taken. The besiegers then fled in all directions, and Recklinghausen was relieved, with a loss of about eighty killed and wounded in Vere's force. After having given his men a few days' rest in the rescued town, the indefatigable sergeant-major marched back to the Rhine, and found that the small town of Buderich, with its fort, on the left bank, oppo- site Wesel, had in the mean time been taken by the troops of the States. But the enemy held a strongerfort near the Rhine bank, and facing Wesel, which enabled them to pass their forces across the river without hindrance. Vere determined to take it. He remained quietly in Buderich for a day or two, busily making scaling-ladders with such rough materials as were at hand, while his brother Robert commanded a guard of cavalry to prevent the soldiers in the fort from receiving provisions and ammunition out of Wesel. The fort had neither moat nor palisades round it, but the walls were high. He therefore resolved to attempt to carry it by escalade. It was a large work, capable of holding 1,500 men, and had four well- constructed bastions at the angles. Vere's plan was to have false alarms at three of the bastions, and to make a serious attack on the fourth. Eight men, four shot and four pike, were appointed to carry, plant, and mount each ladder. On a given signal one half the ladders were to be planted on one side of the bastion, and the other half on the other. This was done ; the men ran up, and fought gallantly over the parapet, where the garrison was ready to receive 1 68 THE FIGHTING VERES. them. But the ladders had been hastily put together; several broke with the weight and movement of the men, and Vere deemed it prudent to call them off. The false alarms had drawn most of the defenders to the other bastions, and the loss was trifling. But there were several broken heads, for the day being sultry, the soldiers had left their morions behind. Their commander used such diligence that headpieces were provided for the men, and the ladders were repaired by next morning. The number of ladders was increased, for Sir Francis had persuaded the cavalry to take some also, as their pistols were effi- cient weapons for escalading. The attack began before daybreak, the men using the ladders as stands whence to fire over the parapet at the garrison, before entering. But when daylight broke the heavy guns were turned upon them from all sides, and once more they were forced to retreat. Vere was about to lead on a third assault, when he received a message from the governor to the effect that if he could have the honor of one piece of artillery being shown him, he would surrender. Anxious to gratify so moderate a petition, but having no artillery with him, Vere at last found an old gun at Biiderich, which he planted in sight of the fort before morning, and sent a sum- mons. The garrison marched out at once, and four double cannons, with good store of ammunition and victuals, \vere found inside. 1 The surrender of this strong place was important, especially in the event of any future plan for the recapture of Rheinberg. In reporting these successes to the Lords of the Council, 1 Vere's Commentaries , pp. 10 must be nearly on the site of the to 17. The present Fort Blucher fort taken by Vere. EXPEDITION INTO WESTPHALIA. 169 Sir Francis Vere observed that Biiderich and the fort opposite Wesel " might be made singular accompt of, as it was their principal passage over the Rhine." l This was a satisfactory termination of the cam- paign. In November Vere was at Flushing, receiving 400 recruits, which had been sent over, at his earnest request, to fill up gaps in the companies ; 2 and during the winter the commissaries went through the mus- ters, and great attention was given to all needful pre- parations for the labors of the coming year. In- cluding the garrisons, there were 7,450 English infantry and 500 cavalry in the Netherlands, at the opening of the year 1591. 1 Vere to the Lords of the Coun- 2 Vere to Lord Burleigh, Nov. cil, Sept. 20, 1590. S. P. O., Hoi- 28, 1590. S. P. O., Holland, vol. land, vol. Ixxi. bcxi. CHAPTER XIV. ZUTPHEN AND DEVENTER. THE BATTLE IN THE BETUWE. NYMEGEN. STEENWYCK. COEVORDEN. EVER since Sir Francis Vere had taken command of the field force he had been eager to recover De- venter and the Zutphen Sconces, and thus wipe the stain off the British escutcheon,* with which it had been smeared by the two traitors Stanley and Yorke. At last the time seemed to have arrived for this en- terprise, but, in the first place, Prince Maurice was bent upon undertaking a project analogous to that of Breda. He wanted to make an attack on Dunkirk in the dead of winter, a plan which was disliked by the Lords of the English Council. The expedition sailed in January, 1491, and landed near Dunkirk, where " one who had long dealt in the town prom- ised to take us where we might plant our ladders undiscovered." Such was the ground for hoping to surprise the place, as related by Sir Francis Vere. Maurice sent Colonel Meetkerk to reconnoitre, who confirmed the correctness of the information, and thought the enterprise easy. Then Vere and Count Solms . went with Meetkerk to inspect the ground, and they were seen by a sentry. The troops opened fire. Vere was wounded in the leg, and the attempt was abandoned. The wound proved to be serious, ZUTPHEN AND DEVENTER. 171 and Sir Francis was conveyed to the Hague, where he remained during the rest of the winter months. While he was on his sick-bed he received a visit from the veteran Sir John Norris, with a message from the Queen. Her Majesty offered him the choice of having a regiment in Brittany, or of remaining in his former command in the Netherlands. His wound made it impossible for him to move for some time, and he chose to retain the old command ; but the thoughtful kindness of his sovereign excited warm feelings of gratitude. " Her Majesty's care for me," he wrote to Burleigh, " hath given me exceeding content, and inflamed me with a most zealous desire to obtain the continuance of her gracious conceit towards me by all means possible." 1 The absence of the Duke of Parma in France, with a large part of his forces, encouraged the States to attempt the conquest which was nearest to Vere's heart. Maurice got his army ready to take the field in May, 1591. The rendezvous was Arnhem, and the determination was to recover the places which had been betrayed by the English papists. Vere, with his contingent, was at Doesburg by the I4th of May. Maurice wrote to Sir Francis Vere, requesting him to advance to Zutphen and cooperate with him in the siege. But Vere determined to recapture the Zut- phen Sconces, on the opposite side of the river, before the garrison became aware of the intention to lay siege to the town. It was necessary that this should be done by means of a stratagem. Vere therefore selected a number of lusty young soldiers, and dressed 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, Feb. 3, 1591. S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixxii. 172 THE FIGHTING VERES. most of them like the countrywomen of Gelderland, and the rest as boers. 1 He gave them bundles and baskets of eggs and vegetables, such as the people usually took with them to market, and provided them with short swords, daggers, and pistols, to be hid- den under their clothes. They were instructed to come, by twos and threes, to the Zutphen ferry, as if they were waiting to be taken across to the market in the town, and to sit about as near the gate of the fort as possible without exciting suspicion. At break of day they were assembled at the river bank. Then Vere showed some cavalry, as if approaching, and the pretended country people ran in feigned terror towards the fort. The gates were thrown open to receive them ; they all streamed in, threw off their disguises, and were in possession in a few minutes. 2 Vere being now in an advantageous position, pre- pared for the siege of Zutphen itself, sending to Maurice for assistance. The Prince arrived with eleven companies of infantry, boats, and other mate- rials, on the 1 5th of May. Zutphen surrendered on the 2Oth, but the army of Prince Maurice suffered one serious loss. Count Overstein and Sir Francis Vere were reconnoitring too close to the walls on the day before the surrender, when the former received a wound, of which he died in a few days, and the latter had his horse killed under him. The city of Deventer, the capital of Overyssel, had been betrayed by an Englishman, the infamous Stanley, and was now in the hands of the enemy, strongly garrisoned by a force commanded by Count 1 Dutch name for peasants. Bodley to Lord Burleigh, May 21, 3 Vere's Commentaries, p. 17. 1591. S. P. O. t Holland, vol. Ixxiii. ZUTPHEN AND DEVENTER. 173 Herman de Berghe. Its recovery was eagerly desired by Sir Francis Vere, for the treason of Stanley had cast a slur upon the English name. The very day after the surrender of Zutphen Prince Maurice com- plied with Vere's earnest wish, and encamped within a mile of the betrayed city. The siege-guns were brought down the Yssel in boats. Deventer stands on the eastern bank of the river Yssel, which washes its walls. It is now a flourish- ing manufacturing town. The central market-place, of irregular shape, is shaded by horse-chestnut trees. The principal edifice is the great church, which stands in an open space near the wall along the banks of the Yssel. It is dedicated to St. Libuinus, the apostle of Overyssel and Drenthe, and the ancient crypt, with its romanesque pillars, dates from 1020 A. D. Over this interesting relic of a distant past rises a church of grand proportions, with a massive tower of great height. Near the church of St. Li- buinus is the town hall, a quaint building of the six- teenth century; and there is another smaller church, with two towers, on high ground to the south. The town was surrounded by a strong wall and ditch ; but Sir Francis Vere, who had given the subject very close attention, had reasons for doubting the boasted strength of the works round Deventer. The ap- proaches were commenced at once, Prince Maurice having encamped his army round the walls. It was debated in council whether to build a fort on the opposite side of the Yssel and blockade the town, or to carry it by assault. The latter course was chosen, and eight days were spent in intrenching and making approaches. Then they battered the 174 THE FIGHTING VERES. walls facing the river, from four in the morning until two in the afternoon, with twenty-eight pieces of artillery. A breach was made, and the post of honor was given to Sir Francis Vere and his English com- panies. But the bridge of boats for crossing the river was too short, and he was obliged to retire, with some loss, intending to remedy the defect during the night and to assault next morning. Maurice was discouraged, and even meditated a withdrawal of his artillery, until he was persuaded by Vere, who under- took to guard the bridge during the night, to remain, and open another fire next day. Sir Francis fully ex- pected that if this course were taken the enemy would ask for terms, for the wall facing the Yssel, where the breach had been made, had no flanking bastions. It was built of brick, and had been razed to the founda- tion in the breach. Moreover, the town was close be- hind, and there was no space in rear to throw up new defences. He was right. Count Herman de Berghe, who had been wounded by a spent shot, capitulated next morning, June 2, 1591, and he was allowed to march out with his garrison. 1 Vere's loss was three officers and thirty soldiers killed, including the gal- lant Colonel Meetkerk, and eighty wounded. He begged that Meetkerk's brother, " a gentleman with very good deserts," might succeed to his company, and that the gallant conduct of his own lieutenant, young William Allen, might be borne in mind. The losses caused by the mistaken confidence which the Earl of Leicester had placed in the traitors Stanley and Yorke were now fully recovered. The country- 1 Vere's Commentaries, p. 18. June 2, and to the Lords of the Meteren. Vere to Lord Burleigh, Council, June 3, 1591. ZUTPHEN AND DE VENTER. 175 men of those miscreants could again look a Dutch- man in the face without any shame or misgiving. These successes, following one upon another with- out a check, were partly due to the absence of the Duke of Parma, with a portion of his army, in France. After the fall of Deventer the season was still before them, and the States thought the oppor- tunity should be seized of making an attempt to complete the liberation of the northern provinces, Drenthe, Groningen, and Friesland. The people of Friesland had chosen Count John, of Nassau, as their Stadtholder ; but Groningen was still in the hands of the enemy, as well as the strongly fortified towns of Steenwyck and Coevorden, further south. Francisco Verdugo, who commanded in these northern parts, had risen from the ranks. He was one of the ablest officers in the Spanish army. Mau- rice marched northwards with the intention of besieg- ing Groningen, but he found that Verdugo was so well prepared to receive him that he turned aside, and surrounded Delfziel on the land side. This place is on the shores of the Dollart, a large inlet dividing the Dutch province of Groningen from the German district of Emden, whence the Spaniards obtained supplies. After four days, during which Vere had worked indefatigably at the trenches, and when the guns were all in position, the place surrendered. 1 " The place is strong, and we found it provisioned sufficiently of men, munitions, and artillery, if their hearts would have served. Count William, 2 as be- longing to his government, hath appointed garrison." 1 Vere to the Lords of the Council, June 20, i'S9i. 8 Son of Count John of Nassau. 176 THE FIGHTING VERES. Alarming news from the States obliged Maurice to retrace his steps with all possible speed from Delf- ziel, and to leave the capture of Steenwyck, Coevor- den, and Groningen for another year. By the begin- ning of July he had returned to Arnhem, and the crisis was so alarming that the States had also pro- ceeded there, to consult with the leaders of the army and further their movements. The Duke of Parma had mustered all his forces, crossed the Waal into the Betuwe, and laid siege to the Knodsenburg fort, opposite Nymegen. This work had been prepared with great care by Maurice and Vere, and the States attached the utmost importance to its retention. It is true that the walls were of earth and could not be damaged by shot, that the ditch was broad and deep, and that the garrison had been well provisioned by Count Solms. Still the Duke had arrived with a large army, had repulsed several sorties, had opened trenches, and seemed resolved to reduce the fort and relieve Nymegen from threatened danger. The States, assembled at Arnhem, anxiously con- sulted with Maurice and Sir Francis Vere, insisting that an attempt must be made to raise the siege of Knodsenburg. The generals represented the great superiority in numbers, and the strength of the po- sitions held by the Duke of Parma. The council eventually broke up, after receiving an assurance from the leaders of the army that every effort would be made to harass the enemy and save the place. The States might well be satisfied with this assurance. Sir Francis Vere, after a careful examination of the position, and an attentive and thoughtful watch of the enemy's proceedings, worked out a plan which THE BATTLE IN THE BETUWE. 177 was accepted by Maurice. Vere observed that the enemy were acting with great vigor, and that large troops of their cavalry were daily told off to drive in the patriot scouts. This evident eagerness made him think that " they were likely to bite at any bait that were cunningly laid for them." Vere's plan required the employment of 1,200 foot and 500 horse, a force which was readily placed under his orders by Prince Maurice. The distance between the two armies in the Betuwe was four or five miles, along the two routes leading from Arnhem to Nyme- gen. One ran along a dike well raised above the low lands, and was most used in winter ; the other was broader. Both were bordered by deep ditches, beyond which were trees and underwood. About two thirds of the way from the patriot camp there was a bridge over the broader road. Vere marched to this bridge early one morning, and sent 200 light horse to beat in the enemy's outposts and then re- treat. Meanwhile he placed his infantry in ambush, one body close to the bridge, the other about a quar- ter of a mile further back, and the rest of his cavalry in the rear. The light horsemen were to retreat leisurely to draw the enemy's cavalry after them, which he in- tended to receive with his two bodies of infantry. But if they came in greater force, with horse and foot, he anticipated that they would march by the other road, and attempt to cut off his retreat. In the event of this contingency arising, Maurice arranged to be at the cross-road where the two routes met, with a choice body of horse and foot, to cover Vere's retreat. 178 THE FIGHTING VERES. The light horse gave the enemy the alarm at about noon, and retired according to orders, but were not followed. Vere then fell back to the cross-roads, where Maurice was waiting, and made a halt by the roadside at a short distance, where his men were con- cealed by the underwood. After about half an hour the scouts brought word that the enemy was at hand. Suddenly, without orders, about 800 of Mau- rice's cavalry galloped off in the direction of the foe. Vere whispered that they would come back quicker than they went, and in worse order. Sure enough, they passed by again at full gallop, with the enemy at their heels in great force. This made it necessary for Sir Francis to enter upon the scene sooner than he intended. He led his men out, and so galled the enemy on his flanks, both with shot and pikes, that they not only abandoned the chase, but turned their backs. Instantly the reserve of Vere's cavalry charged them, and followed them up closely in furi- ous running fight, until they were entirely routed. A great number of prisoners were taken, some of them officers of rank, and 500 horses. 1 The Duke of Parma appears to have been dis- heartened by this reverse, added to the stubborn de- fence of Knodsenburg. He prepared to raise the siege on the very next day, and to retreat across the Waal, a little above Nymegen. This manoeuvre was ably conducted, Ranuccio Farnese, the Duke's eldest son, being present. Parma then went to drink the waters at Spa, leaving Verdugo in command in the field. Thus all obstacles to the reduction of Nyme- 1 Vere's Commentaries, p. 20. Sir F. Vere to the Lords of th6 Council, July 27, 1591. (Bentivoglio, Meteren.) NYMEGEN. \ 79 gen were removed, and the wisdom of having con- structed the Knodsenburg fort, and of having obsti- nately retained it, was clearly demonstrated. On the 22d of October Sir Francis Vere announced that, after the army had spent three days in making preparations to attack Nymegen, the city surrendered without a shot being fired. Yet the citizens were very warlike. Over the gate of the town was written : " Melior est bellicosa libertas quant servitus pacifica? " Beter is eene strijdbare vrijheid dan eene vreedzame slavernij" Verdugo was then encamped at Grave, but he did not make any further attempt to save the place. 1 Sir Thomas Bodley, the Queen's envoy, entered Nymegen on the I2th of October, 1591, with Prince Maurice and Sir Francis Vere. He reported that the fire from Knodsenburg had done some injury, but that otherwise Nymegen was a fair town, and greatly beautified with ancient buildings of the Ro- mans. 2 " The inhabitants," he added, " are exceed- ingly devoted to the Pope and the Spaniards, how- beit with much ado they have taken an oath to join 1 Vere to the Lords of the Coun- is the ancient baptistery of Charle- cil, October 22, 1591. magne, rebuilt in the eleventh cen- 2 The palace of Charlemagne tury, an octagon with a vaulted ar- stood on the Valkhof, at the east- cade and gallery above. The other ern end of Nymegen. Engrav- is the apse of a very ancient ro- ings of 1784 and 1785 show an ex- manesque chapel. In remote tensive pile of buildings, with an times this chapel was the only oblong tower rising from the cen- place of worship for Nymegen. tre. Now there are groves of tall But a great church was built and trees, shrubberies, and lovely dedicated to St. Stephen in 1272. views up and down the rich valley It contains a fine tomb of Cathe- of the Waal and across the Be- rine de Bourbon, mother of the tuwe, with the towers of Arnhem last Duke of Gelderland. It is and a background of hills in the dis- in black marble, with an effigy of tance. There are two ruins among the duchess, and shields of arms the trees of the Valkhof. One in brass. l8o THE FIGHTING VERES. with these provinces in the general union. They have been very well entreated. When we entered the town we found their shops open, and the people as much busied about their daily traffic as if no inno- vation had happened to them." 1 Nymegen rises from the south bank of the Waal, on the side of a hill, with the wooded height of the Valkhof to the east, whence a line of hills extends towards Cleves. Exactly opposite, on the north side of the river, is the pretty little village of Lent, with clumps of tall trees and pleasant walks round it. Here there are some slight traces of the Knodsen- burg fort. There was no rest for Sir Francis Vere during the winters which intervened between the active cam- paigns in the field. He was hurrying from one cau- tionary town to another, negotiating with the gov- ernors for the supply of troops ; personally arranging for the transmission of arms and clothing; consulting with Maurice and the States, and with the Queen's envoy; and shipping troops for France. In these years England was giving active assistance to Henry IV., and troops were constantly called away from the Low Countries. These periodical demands for com- panies, the loss of which decreased the efficiency of Vere's force, would have driven poor Lord Wil- loughby nearly mad. Vere simply obeyed orders, did all he could to comply with the wishes of the Queen's government, and devoted the best energies of his mind to do the most useful service possible with the means left at his disposal. He had natu- rally entered heart and soul into the struggle for 1 Bodley to Lord Burleigh, October 16, 1591. THE BRITISH FORCES. freedom in the Netherlands, and had formed many warm friendships there. He had no wish to be transferred either to France or to Ireland ; and the opening of 1592 found him busily engaged in prepa- rations to cooperate once more with the States, and to furnish forth an effective contingent to Prince Maurice's army. At the opening of 1592 Sir Robert Sidney was governor of Flushing, with a nominal garrison of 1,250 men ; Lord Burgh was governor of Brill, Sir Edward Norris of Ostend, and old Sir Thomas Mor- gan was still at Bergen-op-Zoom. Captain Errington had retired, and Sir Thomas Baskerville commanded the garrison at the Rammekens. Including 926 men dispersed under Vere's orders, there were 5,235 effec- tive British troops in the Netherlands. Of this body Sir Francis Vere was able to assemble 1,344 men with Maurice's army, consisting of twelve companies of infantry under Horace Vere, Oliver Lambart, John Buck, John Audley, Roger Smyth, T. Williams, A. Meetkerk, and J. Christmas ; and four troops of cavalry, under Sir Robert Sidney, who left Flushing to take the field, Sir Nicholas Parker, Sir John Pooley, and young Robert Vere. Maurice had, besides, a force of 6,000 foot and 2,000 horse. He was surrounded by a brilliant staff, including Counts Hohenlohe, William and Philip of Nassau, Solms, Floris de Brederode, and Groenvelt, the brave old defender of Sluys. The States determined to prosecute the reduction of Spanish garrisons in the north with all possible energy, and relieve Friesland and Groningen of the presence of foreign invaders. The Duke of Parma 1 82 THE FIGHTING VERES. had again marched into France, leaving old Count Mansfelt as his deputy, while Verdugo was in com- mand in Friesland. The States determined to open the campaign with the siege of Steenwyck, a strongly fortified town on the route from the Yssel at Deventer to Groningen. Steenwyck is in that northern corner of the province of Overyssel, bordering on the Zuyder Zee, called Vollenhove. The town is still surrounded by its moat, and there are walks through shrubberies along the ramparts. The Steenwyck Diep, a sluggish stream, flows round the northern side, and through the suburb of t'Verlaat to Blokzyl on the Zuyder Zee, eight miles to the westward. The flat plain round Steenwyck is now a checkboard of small holdings, belonging to the Overyssel peasant proprietors. The little village of Giethorn is rather under four miles to the S. S. W. At the northern end of the town is the fourteenth-century church of St. Clement, with a lofty brick tower visible for miles around ; and on the south side, with a street leading to it from the shady market-place, is the smaller but more richly decorated church of Our Lady. Maurice was enabled to bring his siege train of fifty pieces of artillery by water, and on the 7th of May, 1592, he encamped before Steenwyck. The place had been strengthened with earthworks and well provisioned, the governor being Antoine de Cocquille. From the 7th of May to the loth of June the intrenchments were being prepared; the approaches being mainly on the south side, where the infantry was encamped. The cavalry was quartered at the village of Giethorn. A cavalier was raised, nineteen feet high, whence to batter the parapets, and SIEGE OF STEENWYCK. fifty guns were got into position. Vere directed the works on his side, working unceasingly, in spite of a slight wound in the leg. His brother Horace was also wounded. By the beginning of June the counter- scarp had been reached on all sides ; on the 1 3th the guns began to batter the walls, and on the 23d a ravelin was captured on the west side. The besiegers then constructed a tower on wheels, made of masts, called a lymstande. It was an invention of Captain Cornput of Breda. This lymstande was built in nine stories, each twelve feet high, and on each there was a parapet and a wall of canvas as a cover. It was brought close to the ditch, and manned by musketeers, who not only shot soldiers on the ramparts, but also people walking in the streets. Although the garri- son succeeded in battering down two stories of the lymstande, the others remained effective. Meanwhile the battering continued, but the walls were so strong that no practicable breach could be made. Mining was then resorted to, and by the igih two mines had been run under the defences, besides a way through the ditch, from the English approaches. Three days were then passed in perfecting the mines and placing the charges of powder. On the night before the 23d of June the whole army was secretly drawn into the trenches, and at dawn the mines were to be fired and a general assault delivered. As the sun rose over the heathy moors of Drenthe, three tremendous explosions announced the firing of the mines. One party, led by Count Wil- liam of Nassau, dashed forward, and the men carried the ruined bastion. Sir Francis Vere rushed into the thick of the blinding cloud of dust and mortar, 184 THE FIGHTING VERES. followed closely by his Englishmen. In a few minutes they were on the parapet. The third explosion also made a great breach, but here the assailants were so injured that they could not dash into the ruins with the necessary speed, and the enemy had more time to prepare for defence. The other assaults were de- cisive. A flag of truce was sent out, and the gov- ernor asked for terms. These were soon arranged, and the garrison marched out on the 5th of July. Prince Maurice lost 600 men, and he was himself slightly wounded in the face. Sir Francis and Horace Vere, Sir Robert Sidney, Captains Lambart and Buck, were wounded, beside 152 of their men. 1 Sidney returned to Flushing. Maurice next proceeded to lay siege to another strong place to the eastward of Steenwyck, and near the Westphalian frontier, called Coevorden. This town was well fortified, and held by a garrison com- manded by Count Frederick de Berghe, while Ver- dugo himself had taken the field and was in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, Maurice began the siege, although Vere had received positive orders to fall back. Very unwillingly he obeyed, and in the end of July he was at Doesburg, on the Yssel. In August he heard that Verdugo was threatening Maurice in his trenches. Orders or no orders, Vere flew to the rescue, and he was not a day too soon. Marching through the night, he came in sight of Coevorden at break of day on the 28th of August. He found a battle actually raging within cannon-shot of the trenches. Verdugo had organized a camisado. 1 Meteren, Bentivoglio, Grimes- the Council, March 31, May 29, ton. Sir F. Vere to the Lords of June 12, June 25, 1592. SIEGE OF COEVORDEN. 185 Dressing all his men in white shirts, he assaulted the camp of Maurice just before daybreak. The battle was at its height. Vere dashed into the thick of it, closely followed by his men. Young Count John of Nassau, writing to his father, said : " Vere fought with the enemy like a man. He came up half an hour after the fight began." l The assailants were at length repulsed, but there was a critical moment, and the Dutch infantry were giving way when Vere ar- rived so opportunely. Writing to Lord Burleigh, he said : " Considering the urgent necessity that drew me to the camp, I hope your Lordship will not dis- allow thereof." On September 3, he reported that, Verdugo having made no further attempt to relieve the place, Coevorden was surrendered to Count Maurice. He concludes: " I will now hasten as much as shall lie in me to bestow the companies in garri- son." 2 During the greater part of the winter he was employed on the uncongenial duty of shipping off companies which he had drilled and trained, to serve under other commanders in France and Ireland. Still there were 4,000 effective British troops in the Netherlands on the ist of January, 1593. The Duke of Parma died at Arras on the 3d of December, 1592, after having commanded the armies of Philip II. in the Netherlands for thirteen years. He had reached the age of forty-six. Parma was undoubtedly the ablest general of his time. He was well versed in every branch of the military art, patient 1 Archives ou Correspondance 2 Vere to the Lords of the ineVJite de la Maison d' Orange Council, July 23, 1592. Vere to Nassau, recueil par G. Groen van Lord Burleigh, Aug. 29, 1592, and Prinsterer. 2d e Series, I. 207, Let- Sept. 3, 1592. tre xciii. 1 86 THE FIGHTING VERES. and cautious in arranging his plans, quick to strike, and persevering in following up a success. Latterly he had suffered from gout, but his intellect never failed, and to the last he showed his remarkable skill in arranging the details of a campaign. He was succeeded by the aged Count Peter Ernest Mansfelt, with whom Don Pedro Henriquez de Azevedo, Conde de Fuentes, was associated. Mondragon, verging on his ninetieth year, was still in command at Antwerp, and Verdugo at Groningen. The Spanish troops, once so formidable, were now no more than a match for the English and Dutch ; while discontent caused by unrequited service, long banishment, and griev- ances with regard to pay, were fast undermining their discipline and sapping their efficiency. CHAPTER XV. SIEGES OF GERTRUYDENBURG AND GRONINGEN. THE time was now fast approaching when the United Provinces, having driven the foreigners from their soil, and assured their independence, would be able to face their enemy on equal terms. In the midst of a harassing war, the people had made marvellous strides in material prosperity : their cities were becom- ing centres of industry and wealth ; they were under- taking commercial enterprises on a great scale ; and they appropriated some of their resources to the ob- jects of the war. There remained two great strong- holds which threatened the peace and welfare of the provinces, and which it was necessary to reduce be- fore the liberated people could breathe freely. These were Gertruydenburg in Brabant, and Groningen in the north. The siege of the former place was un- dertaken on a scale which showed how rapidly the wealth of the provinces had increased, and how great were their present resources. Gertruydenburg had been much strengthened since its mutinous garrison delivered it up to the Span- iards in 1589, and approaches were difficult, owing to the network of ditches and canals which surround it. Moreover, a besieging force would be exposed to attacks from the army under Count Mansfelt. An elaborate siege on a large scale was necessary, 1 88 THE FIGHTING VERES. and the details were planned and matured by Prince Maurice. The first operations were to stop all roads by which an enemy could succor the town, and to fortify the camp against attacks from a hostile army in the field. This occupied all March, 1593, and in April the approaches against the town were com- menced. The trenches were divided by ravelins flanking one another, each ravelin mounting two guns, and outside there was a wide water ditch. In- stead of a counterscarp, rows of piles were driven into the ground, being left four feet above the sur- face, and pointed with iron. 1 A hundred ships, form- ing a semicircle in the old Maas, completed the blockade, with light brigantines on the flanks. There were four main forts, connected by smaller forts in a double line, and upwards of 100 pieces of artillery were mounted on the works. The remark- able feature of these elaborate siege works was that as much care was taken to complete them for repuls- ing an enemy outside as for checking the sorties of the garrison. The camp arrangements were excel- lent, and the country people came to sell their prod- uce just as if they were going to market in a peace- ful town. Prince Maurice, with Count Solms and Groen- velt, was posted on the western side ; Sir Francis Vere conducted the approaches from the south ; while Hohenlohe and Brederode were encamped at the village of Raamsdonk to the east. The river Donge, flowing from the south, supplied the moat with wa- ter. Two bridges over it connected the works, and on the 8th of April an outlying fort on the river was 1 Grimeston. SIEGE OF GERTRUYDENBURG. captured by Count Hohenlohe. During the siege the Princess Juliana visited her brother Maurice, on her way to be married to the Elector Palatine. She was conducted over the works, which were acknowl- edged to be the grandest that had ever been con- structed in the annals of war. Towards the end of May the approaches reached the counterscarp of the town on all sides. Mean- while, the walls had been constantly battered, two governors in succession had been killed, and both ammunition and provisions were running short. On the 28th Count Mansfelt tardily appeared with an army of 7,000 foot and 2,000 horse, encamping in the villages of Capelle and Waalwijk, about six miles east of Gertruydenburg. On receiving this news, Sir Francis Vere observed : " We may account that his coming hither cannot but turn to his loss and dis- honor. For if he attempt to succour the town, he must needs be foiled, our advantages are so great ; while in lying still he must endure great misery through want of vittayle, which they already begin to feel, having scarce any bread to put in their mouths." 1 Vere advanced against Mansfelt with 600 English and 1,000 Frieslanders, and repulsed his in- fantry. By this time galleries had been run under the ramparts in three places ; and on the 25th of June, the Sieur de Gissant having been slain by a stone shot, making the third governor who had been killed during the siege, Gertruydenburg sur- rendered to Prince Maurice. 3 Next day Mansfelt 1 Vere to the Lords of the Coun- voglio. Vere to the Lords of the cil, agth May, 1593. Council, nth April, 2yth May, 2 Grimeston, Meteren, Benti- 3ist May, i6th June, 23d June, i go THE FIGHTING VERES. marched away, followed by the Prince, whose troops occupied the Bommel-waart, in order to check any attempt in that direction. Count William of Nassau, the Stadtholder of Friesland, was holding his own with some difficulty against Verdugo and the Spaniards at Groningen and in the field. The Frieslanders had enlisted freely and fought valiantly in the patriot army, and had deserved well of their country. The States now felt anxious to send efficient aid to Count William, and to free the northern provinces from the presence of foreign invaders. Troops were sent into Friesland in July, and the States entrusted the command to Sir Francis Vere, of whose generalship a high opin- ion had been formed by Dutch statesmen. The summer had been very dry, which facilitated the march of Spanish regiments to reinforce Verdugo ; and Count William, not being strong enough to make a stand against them, fell back into Friesland. During September, Vere was manoeuvring in the neighborhood of Groningen, sometimes repulsing an assault behind intrenchments, at others following or retreating before the enemy. It was an arduous and skilfully conducted campaign, but his force was quite insufficient for attempting a serious attack on Gro- ningen. In October he returned to the Hague, and his troops went into winter quarters. 1 The States resolved to devote their whole power to the capture of Groningen during the season of 1593. Vere to Lord Burleigh, 23d 1 Vere to the Lords of the July, 1593. With this letter Vere Council, 4th Sept., I2th Sept., forwarded a plan of the siege of I7th Sept., 22d Sept., soth Sept., Gertruydenburg, "hoping that it 1593. would be grateful to his Lordship." SIEGE OF GRONINGEN. 1594. The Archduke Ernest succeeded Count Mansfelt in command of the Spanish army, entering Brussels on January 31, 1594, while Verdugo, with a considerable force, was still in the northern prov- inces. Sir Francis Vere had been appointed Gen- eral of all the English troops in the pay of the States, as well as Sergeant-major of the Queen's forces in the field. He marched with Prince Maurice's army, and the united forces encamped before Groningen on the 2Oth of May, 1594. The city of Groningen had declared for the Union of Utrecht, but the Stadtholder, George Lalain, Count of Renneberg, was a traitor. He sold the place for 10,000 crowns and the Golden Fleece, ar- rested the principal citizens, and opened the gates to the Spaniards on March 3, 1580. Groningen was built with the angles of the walls nearly at the cardi- nal points. The centre of the town, from southeast to northwest, is occupied by the long Visch-markt, lined with quaint old gabled houses, and the Groote Markt, with its ancient " Waag " or weighing-house. The church of Our Lady, a lofty brick edifice built in 1246, is at one extremity of the Visch-markt. At the opposite end of the Groote Markt is the great church of St. Martin, with its gardens extending to the northeast wall. The stone tower of St. Martin's, built in 1482, is the most striking feature of Gronin- gen. It is 300 feet high, of two stories, and a third forming an octagonal lantern. The church is of brick, and was once very imposing, with its lofty apsidal choir and ambulatory. The gates of the town, now demolished, were picturesque old mediaeval structures, with round flanking towers and pointed roofs. 192 THE FIGHTING VERES. The walls were protected by a wide, deep moat, whence a canal, called the Boter Diep, led from the northern angle to Delfziel on the Dollart. This was the main route of trade, and the way by which sup- plies reached Groningen from Germany. A few miles down this canal, on a lock, there was a strong fort, called Auwerderzyl. On the northwestern side of the town there were two fortified gates, called the Oude Boteringe Poort and the Ebbinge Poort. On the southwest side, facing Friesland, was the Aa Poort, in rear of the church of Our Lady. On the northeast side were the Porte du Garde and a curi- ous old gate, erected in 1428, called the Poele Poort, which led to a suburb called Schuyten Diep. At the east angle was the harbor, where vessels chiefly congregated, and here a strong round tower rose above the walls, called the Drenkelaar. The south- eastern side had three gates, called the Ooster Poort, in front of which there was a strong ravelin; the Heere Poort, through which a road led southwards to the village of Haren ; and a small sally-port called the Pas Dam. Approaching from Haren, these three gates were seen, breaking the line of the wall, with the frowning Drenkelaar on the right, and the towers of St. Martin and Our Lady rising high above the roofs. The walls were well supplied with artillery, and as Maurice approached a strong force under Lankama, Verdugo's lieutenant, entered the town by the Poele Poort to reinforce the garrison. There was a small fort in the Schuyten Diep suburb to pro- tect the haven. 1 1 In 1879 I saw a collection of sketches of Groningen at the interesting maps, plans, and house of Mr. Backer, in the Groote .^V.-^r^v-.lX-. ,- ---\ 3*\** S r-rJiV. SIEGE OF GRONINGEN. 193 Prince Maurice had 125 companies of foot and twenty cornets of horse. His artillery was trans- ported by water. It was not intended to blockade the town and make approaches on all sides, as at Gertruydenburg. The plan determined upon was to open trenches and attack on the south side. The Prince's headquarters were therefore established a little in advance of the village of Haren, nearly on the spot now occupied by the charming pleasure- grounds of the Sterre Bosch. From this position the approaches were made towards the several strong points of the enceinte. Five siege-guns were planted against the Drenkelaar tower, ten against the ravelin of the Ooster Poort, twelve against the Heere Poort, six against the Pas Dam, and three against the bas- tion at the southern angle. Count William captured the fort of Auwerderzyl by assault on the 2gth of May. Sir Francis Vere, with his English contingent, worked side by side in the trenches with the regi- ments of Friesland and Zeeland. When the guns opened fire there was a steady and continuous reply from the ramparts, and although the Drenkelaar was beaten down and half ruined, and much injury was done to the walls and gates, the defence promised to be stubborn and prolonged. Writing on the 27th of May, Sir Francis said : " We have approached the town in divers places, and mean to pass by galleries to the rampart. The ditch is very broad and deep, Markt. The oldest was Spanish, umes, octavo, 1852, Geschiedkun- with the date 1577. Another, en- dige Beschriving der Stad Gro- titled Het Belegh de Stad Gro- ningen door Dr. C. T. Diest-Lor- ningen in der Jaere MDXCIV., gion. There are engravings of the shows the siege works. There is old gates, now demolished, a history of Groningen in two vol- 194 THE FIGHTING VERES. and they ply with their artillery, so that, if they con- tinue as they have begun, it will be very near a whole summer's work. Succour they cannot expect any, we being possessed of the passages." 1 Early in June Vere had lodged his men within the counterscarp and along the moat, where they were much exposed. One night there was a sudden sortie from the Heere Poort, when the English were surprised, and there was serious loss. Captain Wrey, standing at the head of the trench, was shot dead, and several men were killed and wounded. On the i8th of June Sir Edward Brooke was slain ; " a gentleman," wrote Vere, " if it had pleased .God to spare him, would have done her Majesty good service." This caused another vacancy for Burleigh to fill up, and Sir Fran- cis applied for the company for young Horace. " I cannot," he wrote, " but recommend to your Lordship one of the fittest here for the place. My youngest brother hath, for his experience and trial made of his sufficiency, shown himself very capable of the charge. He has, for these three years, commanded my .own company of foot. If it please your Lordship to en- quire, I doubt not but you shall hear more good of him than I report; and if, according to the same, your Lordship be pleased to favour him, we shall think ourselves highly bound unto your Lordship." Thus Horace Vere received his first company and became a captain. Soon afterwards, Prince Maurice and Sir Francis had a narrow escape. They were making a reconnoissance close to the walls, under a large buck- ler, when a shot struck it, and they were both hurled to the ground. 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixxix. SIEGE OF GRONINGEN. 195 The mines were pushed under the strong ravelin in front of the Ooster Poort ; and on the night of the 5th of July they were exploded, with excellent results, the work being carried by the besiegers before dawn, with a loss of 200 men to the garrison. A few days afterwards the principal citizens came into the camp, and terms of surrender were agreed upon. Lanka- ma with his garrison was to march out, and the town was to receive magistrates appointed by Count Wil- liam of Nassau, as Stadtholder of Friesland. Prince Maurice with his principal officers made a trium- phal entry into Groningen on the I5th of July, 1594. Maurice then returned, by way of Amsterdam, to the Hague. The loss of the garrison was very great, for of 900 only 400 sound men marched out 1 Among the losses during this campaign was the death of Sir John Pooley, a brave cavalry officer, who had been Vere's companion in arms for many years and was a neighbor in Suffolk. The vacancy made Sir Francis a humble suitor to Lord Burleigh " for my brother Robert, that he may have your Lordship's favour for the company. He hath for this six or seven years served on horse, and for a good part of the time commanded my company. Were he not my brother I might well say that I know none of his fc*. rank that doth better deserve it. His sufficiency emboldens me to entreat your Lordship's favour, knowing he will not show himself unworthy the ad- vancement." 2 The three brothers had shared to- 1 Grimeston, Bor iii. 826-835. 2 Another application for Sir Meteren, xvi. 336. Vere to Lord John Pooley's company was made Burleigh, May 27, May 31, June by young Griffin Markham, who 1 8, July 6, July 13, 1594. Bodley was afterwards arraigned for high to Lord Burleigh, July 10, 1594. treason in 1603, with Sir Walter 196 THE FIGHTING VERES. gether the dangers of battle and siege, had held pleasant communion during long and weary marches, had sat and talked together before camp-fires; and now the eldest ventured to bring to notice the ser- vices of his young companions, that they might re- ceive the promotion they had so well earned. The English companies, after the fall of Groningen, were distributed in various garrisons. In the autumn Sir Francis Vere was engaged on an adventurous and somewhat perilous expedition. King Henry IV. had appointed the Due de Bouillon as general in the country round Sedan, and it was resolved that young Count Philip of Nassau should march through the enemy's country and join him with a contingent. Sir Francis Vere, at the head of twenty-six cornets of horse and 5,000 foot, was re- quested to accompany him as an escort, see him safely at his destination, and return with all speed to the Netherlands. Count Philip crossed the Rhine at Schenk's Sconce on the 22d of October, 1594, and Vere followed the next day. They marched in paral- lel lines, the Count near the Rhine and Sir Francis towards the Meuse, until they formed a junction at a small town in the diocese of Treves. Here they heard that the enemy was waiting for them, on the road they had to pass, with 5,000 foot and 1,800 horse. So they altered their route, crossed the Mo- Raleigh, Cobham, and Brooke. He jesty) your love which in particular wrote a letter from before Gronin- you have unto my singular person gen, dated July 25, 1594, to Sir Rob- which is a follower of the wars, ert Knight, one of her Majesty's May it, therefore, please your council. " The death of Sir John Honour (although there be many Pooley hath given an unwished of better desert for service) to occasion unto your Honour to de- commend me unto Her Majesty as clare (by your favour with Her Ma- one worthy of this company." THE MARCH TO METZ. 197 selle, hurried forward with all speed, and reached Metz on the yth of November. Next day they joined the Duke of Bouillon, who had a commission from Henry IV. to make war on the King of Spain. The original plan was that Vere should only go part of the way, but when he heard that the enemy was in force he did not feel justified in leaving Count Philip until he had formed a junction with Bouillon. Hearing that Count Mansfelt and Herman de Berghe were waiting for him in the neighborhood of Maastricht, Vere kept on the right bank of the Rhine during his return march. He crossed the river on November igth, and reached Gelderland in safety, without the loss of a man. Maurice and the States were greatly relieved at his return, for he had with him the flower of their cavalry. In the winter of 1594 the musters showed a strength of 4,500 men, including the garrisons of Flushing, Brill, and Ostend, and the companies which had served in the field, and were afterwards dispersed in various garrisons. CHAPTER XVI. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES AND PRIVATE AFFAIRS. DEATH OF ROBERT VERE. ACTIVE service in the field, year after year, was but a small part of the work expected from Sir Francis Vere by the Queen's government. His position en- tailed upon him very heavy responsibilities connected with the administration of the forces. He was also required to conduct negotiations with Maurice and the States relating to the supply and transfer of troops and the conduct of the campaigns ; and lat- terly he was called upon to correspond regularly with the government, and to submit full reports on all pub- lic events. Thus it came about that he who had hitherto passed his life almost exclusively in camps, with few thoughts of any matters apart from military business, was, by the force of circumstances, gradu- ally educated in diplomacy and in the conduct of civil affairs. Queen Elizabeth, while giving aid to the young republic of the Netherlands, in accordance with the treaty, had entered into a close alliance with the King of France, and had agreed to help him against the Catholic League with expeditionary forces, both in Normandy and Brittany. These engagements strained the resources of England to the utmost. Orders were sent to the Netherlands to transfer com- pany after company to France. No sooner had sol- ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES. 199 diers attained proficiency in drill and some experi- ence in the field, under the eye of Sir Francis Vere, than they were ordered away. He firmly believed that the best policy was to concentrate, and to strike at the heart of Spanish power in the Netherlands, and that the scattering of troops over France was a mistake. " Blows struck in this quarter," he wrote, " are at the very root whence the danger springeth, while Normandy and Brittany are but at the very top branches." * It was quite impossible that this business of drafting off his soldiers, carefully trained by himself, could be otherwise than very distasteful to Sir Francis Vere. He did his duty, and complied with the unreasonable demands upon his resources to the best of his ability, although that duty was a most unpleasant one. The government felt this, and increased his difficulties by incessant complaints of want of zeal in the Queen's service, or of too much concern for the affairs of the States. If a company arrived in France deficient in the regulation number of men, after having been thinned by years of cam- paigning and sickness in the Netherlands, Vere was accused by Lord Burleigh of slackness in executing his orders, while the Queen signified her heavy dis- pleasure. In vain he explained that " the weakness groweth by the wars ; " that " the service must be con- sidered where we had men hurt and slain, and our travail, whereof divers were sick ; " 2 and that " these were the reasons for the weakness of those that went into France." The unreasonable complaints and 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, i6th 2 Vere, at Doesburg, to Lord June, 1593. S. P. O., Holland, Burleigh, 1 3th Jan., 1592. Ixxvii. 200 THE FIGHTIXG VERES. unjust reprimands continued year after year, and had to be borne philosophically. Occasionally Vere had a chance of returning Burleigh as good as he gave. The Lord Treasurer granted leave of absence to captains without reference to Sir Francis, which was a great abuse. So Vere replied to his complaint of the inefficiency of companies sent to France, " that one effectual means to beautify and strengthen a company is the presence of its captain, which is one of the greatest wants that I complain of some of them." 1 Another hardship caused by the transfer of companies to France arose from the attractions of the young Dutch women. When the company of Sir Nicholas Parker was ordered to Brittany, it was found that several marriages had taken place ; and there were so many men married in the country, be- longing to Sir John Pooley's company, that the order for their removal was cancelled. 2 In reality Vere displayed uncommon zeal in com- plying with the orders he received. In September, 1592, he was personally inspecting the men at Brill and Flushing, and superintending their embarkation. He did his best to explain to Dutch statesmen and to Prince Maurice the necessity under which the Queen was acting. But the denudation of the Eng- lish contingent naturally caused discontent and alarm in Holland, 3 and in 1594 Maurice wrote to the Queen, entreating her to send more soldiers, without which the campaign could not be successfully undertaken. 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, ist 8 Sent to Normandy, 1,250; to Feb., 1592. Brittany, 2,350 : total, 3,600. About 2 Bodley, at the Hague, to Lord 1,250 returned from Normandy, Burleigh, 2tst Sept., 1592. but none from Brittany. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES. 2OI Another source of anxiety to the officer command- ing the forces in the field was the extent to which he could rely upon help from the governors of the cautionary towns. Flushing and Brill were safe from attack, and there could be no excuse for withholding a moiety of their garrisons for service in the field during the summer. At Flushing, Sir Robert Sid- ney, and in his absence Sir Edmund Uvedale, always appear to have acted cordially with Vere ; but at least on one occasion Lord Burgh, the governor of Brill, showed another spirit. 1 Ostend was differently situated. Its fortifications were for a long time in a very unsatisfactory state ; it was in the heart of the enemy's country, and there were incessant alarms. A single incident shows how easily anxiety was ex- cited in the minds of the officers at Ostend. A boy named John Coopman had been in the habit of going out into the swamps to catch fowl. One day he was captured by the enemy's cavalry, who took him to Nieuport, and asked him what artillery there was at Ostend. They also made him promise to go back, and then return to them with information as to where the sentries were stationed. He went home, and faithfully reported all that had happened to Sir Ed- 1 " At the setting forward of the made since I have commanded, enterprise of Grolle, the Count which I do more for other respects Maurice asked for some men from than for my particular, and yet I the Brill, which the Governor sent must humbly entreat your Lordship conditionally that they should not to let him know he hath done be commanded by me ; notwith- wrong to her Majesty's commis- standing, if the service had gone sion, which I have for the corn- forward, I was minded to have manding of the forces employed followed my commission. I know in the field." (Vere to Lord Bur- no reason why he should do it. leigh, Oct. 7, 1594.) This is the first complaint I have 202 THE FIGHTING VERES. ward Norris, the governor of Ostend. The incident excited great alarm. The boy's straightforward ac- count of what had occurred should have cleared him of blame ; but the apprehension of a sudden attack was so great that suspicion was aroused. The boy had been given orders not to go near the dunes where the horsemen from Nieuport might catch him, but to keep in the marshy ground. It was suspected that he might have escaped if he had chosen, as he was provided with a leaping-pole, and might have gone into drowned land, where horses could not follow him. It was recommended that he should be proceeded against by whipping. So the poor boy was whipped, while the whole case was seriously re- ferred to the Lords of the Council. 1 Alarms such as these made Ostend a less reliable source of sup- ply for troops than the other garrisons, but on the whole Sir Francis Vere worked well with the gov- ernors of the cautionary towns. In 1 593 there was a great improvement in Vere's position. He had proved himself to be so able and efficient as a military commander that Maurice and the Dutch statesmen were anxious to secure his ser- vices permanently. In July the States General be- gan to fear that, as the Queen had withdrawn so large a portion of the British force from the Netherlands, she might order Sir Francis Vere away also. So it was resolved to offer him 800 florins a month to secure his services. He accepted conditionally, be- lieving that the arrangement might enable him to do her Majesty better service. The action he had 1 Sir E. Norris, at Ostend, to the Lords of the Council, May 20, 1595. S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixxxi. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES. 203 taken was approved by the Queen. " I have received no small comfort," he wrote, " at the allowance of my proceedings with the States, which was with a duti- ful reservation of my service to Her Majesty, as did become me. I take this offer of theirs to have pro- ceeded from them, to witness unto the world their good acceptance of my small service, but chiefly to give Her Majesty some satisfaction ; she having, at what time the companies were drawn from here, made mention of me by way of recommending me to their favour." 1 Soon afterwards the States General obtained per- mission to recruit in England, and Sir Francis Vere was appointed general of all the English troops in their pay. In October, 1594, Vere himself received authority to raise 400 men in England, which he di- vided into three companies, and gave them to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 2 Captain Constable, and Captain Heydon. 3 He also got recruits from among dis- banded troops in the Netherlands. To the surprise of the army, the Queen ordered Sir Francis to dis- 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, July 8 Sir Christopher Heydon, who 2 and July 23, 1593. was knighted at Cadiz. He was 2 Sir Thomas, afterwards first the eldest son and heir of Sir Wil- Lord Fairfax, had seen much ser- liam Heydon, of Baconsthorpe, in vice, and was knighted by Essex Norfolk, by Anne Wodehouse. under the walls of Rouen. He was Sir Christopher had taken his de- an old friend and comrade of Sir gree at Cambridge, and was a Francis Vere, as was his brother, scholar as well as a soldier. He Sir Charles Fairfax. The third married Mirabel, daughter of Sir brother, Edward, was a poet of T. Rivet, of London, and had four eminence, and the translator of sons, one of whom was slain at Tasso. In after-years the friend- the Isle of Rlie". Sir Christopher ship between the two families was died in 1623, and Baconsthorpe cemented by the marriage of Vere's was sold by his son, Sir John niece with the grandson of his Heydon. friend, Sir Thomas Fairfax. 204 THE FIGHTING VERES. band the company of Sir John Pooley, who had died after the siege of Groningen. This was a laborious task. Mr. Sparhawke, the muster-master who had succeeded Mr. Digges, lived at Ostend, and it was some time before Vere could arrange a meeting with him at Bergen-op-Zoom, where the company was in garrison. It took a week to get the soldiers' ac- counts, which were in great confusion, into proper order. Vere reported that " he had much ado to content the poor men, which he did by granting them tickets under his hand for what the deceased captain remained in their debt, and by putting them in hope that the Queen would take further order for satisfying them." 1 Many were married in the coun- try, and most of them determined to remain. They entered under Sir Francis Vere's standard, receiving pay from the States. In March, 1593, Sir Francis Vere sent forward a statement of the grievances of the soldiers, "which had been perused by the cap- tains, but not devised by them." The clothing was not equal to the patterns, and of bad stuff ; there was no fair rule for ransoming prisoners, and insufficient provision for sick and wounded. The paper was signed by Vere, and also by Sir T. Morgan, Sir T. Baskerville, and others. Vere strongly represented that if these grievances were not redressed, it would greatly hinder the course of martial discipline. These various details of military administration are men- tioned as examples of the character of Vere's work, in addition to actual service in the field. Although Sir Francis was now a general in pay of the States, as well as sergeant-major in command of 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, April n, 1595. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES. 205 the Queen's forces in the field, he did not escape criticism, and even severe censure, for his military acts. The service of escorting Count Philip to Metz was hazardous, but it was successfully and ably per- formed, and it was undertaken at the request of the States and with their troops. Yet Queen Elizabeth saw fit to write him a very severe reprimand, and her letter, dated November 8, 1594, was put into his hands on the very day of his return. He was at a loss how to reply. Her Majesty said that "she nourished conceit of his evil carriage," on the ground of his want of prudence in his proceedings, of his slackness in obeying her commandments, of his over- great forwardness in matters concerning the States, and of rash venturing of the lives of her subjects. He answered that if he had not obeyed her orders exactly, it was from sincerity in her service ; that his journey into France was sudden and was to protect the march of Count Philip ; that all his men had re- turned safely and without loss. He concluded by saying boldly, " If, in accepting this charge, being suddenly entreated thereunto, I have offended your Majesty, I humbly beseech I did so as part of my duty to yourself, since by your Majesty I am em- ployed here to do the States service." 1 Sir Francis was several weeks thinking over and preparing his answer to the Queen's reprimand, and even then his heart failed him. He at last sent it under cover to Lord Burleigh, saying, " I have presumed to reply, yet not being used to write to Her Majesty, neither knowing where I may be instructed what is fit, I have presumed to present your Lordship with a copy. I 1 Vere to the Queen, Dec. 20, 1594. S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixxx. 206 THE FIGHTING VERES. humbly beseech your Lordship to vouchsafe to read, and to provide either for the delivery or stay, as your Lordship shall judge for my good." ] The Lord Trea- surer appears to have delivered the letter, and it did no injury to Sir Francis. The Queen soon ceased to nourish " her conceit of his evil carriage," and her sound good sense led her to accept the explanation of one of the ablest and most loyal of her subjects. Mr. Bodley and Mr. Gilpin were both at the Hague, yet the Queen and Lord Burleigh required long re- ports from Sir Francis Vere on all political events, and on commercial and other enterprises which might be expected to come within his knowledge. Any neglect of this part of his multifarious duties brought down upon him a severe reprimand. This was ex- cellent discipline. It called his powers of observation into play, and obliged him to reflect and ponder over the events, apart from military operations, which were passing around him. Since he landed with the Earl of Leicester at Flushing, a great nation had been created. The marvellous energy and intelligence of the Dutch people, during the last years of the six- teenth century, might well astonish contemporaries, as it has excited the admiration of posterity. They were fighting a powerful enemy who threatened their- very existence, and at the same time they were en- gaged in a desperate struggle with the elements. 2 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, from of damage. There hath not been the Hague, Dec. 22, 1594. such a flood in 400 years ; caused 2 "There hath been great loss by a sudden thaw after a long frost in this last flood. The Betuwe and great snow, while the tempest and Bommel-waart were utterly at S.W. stopped the river's mouth." drowned, the rivers being so swol- (Vere, from the Hague, to Lord len that the water ran over the Burleigh, March 17, 1595.) dikes : 2 or 3,000,000 florins worth OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 207 They lived, as it were, in a leaky, sinking ship, with enemies pouring in over the bows. Half the men were at the pumps day and night, while the rest of the crew repelled boarders. Yet, in the midst of this mortal struggle, they coolly prepared great commer- cial ventures, and dispatched expeditions of discovery. It was the quality of calm intrepidity which at once raised this gallant people to a high position among the nations. Others have fought bravely for their independence. But no other people ever sent out Arctic expeditions and commercial voyages to the Indies, at a time when the sea was pouring wildly over their own homes, and a powerful enemy could hardly be kept from their doors. It was these glorious deeds which it was Sir Francis Vere's duty to watch and report upon. In his letter of October 7, 1594, he related to Lord Burleigh the story of the attempt of Willem Barents to discover the north-east passage. " For the discovery of the passage to Chinay there were two ships sent hence at the country's charge with instructions, the one to search the passage along the continent, 1 the other more to the northward, 2 and when they had passed to the mayne to return. Either of them per- formed that he had in charge, both making the full discovery, and this report they make at their return. He who coasted the continent found a narrow pas- sage, not so broad as that between Dover and Calais, where the greatest difficulty was that by reason of the narrowness it was soonest frozen, yet for six weeks it was open and navigable. The other, which sailed 1 By the Waigat. 2 Round the north end of No- vaya Zemlya. 2C>8 THE FIGHTING VERES. more to the northwards, coasted that land which made the straight on the other side, and found an open sea to the northward. In comparing the courses which they held, they find the island lay between north and south 140 leagues. 1 The people like the greater sort of dwarfs, with great and flat faces, exceedingly active so that our men could not come near them. They are subtill enough, and their clothing skins. 2 To this island they sailed in less than six weeks, and they hold it the better half way to Chinay, so that if the passage were so long open, it were to be per- formed in six months. The next season they are to make the full discovery, being in great hope that a rich trade will be found that way." In another letter Sir Francis reported the proceed- ings at Middelburg for the dispatch of the first Dutch voyage to the East. " They are sending forth two great ships to the East Indies by the ordinary way the Portugals use, the charge of which amount- eth to ,30,000 besides munition and artillery, which the States furnish." In other despatches he reported upon the affairs of Hungary and of Persia. After the resignation of Mr. Bodley 3 in November, 1596, Mr. Gilpin became her Majesty's envoy to the 1 Novaya Zemlya. go again, for it will only work in 8 Samoyedes, on the south coast Her Majesty further discontent- of the Waigat. ment, and purchase more disgrace 8 Bodley was dissatisfied, and to all my actions in her service." he declined to serve any longer in (Bodley to Lord Burleigh, Nov. 18 the States, owing to ill health. He and Dec. 18, 1596.) This man was wrote to Burleigh : " Never was not endowed with that patience any minister more faithful in Her and unselfish zeal which enable Majesty's service nor no man patriotic public servants to bear living ever handled more hardly unreasonable censure as a part of than myself. I will submit myself the day's work. to any kind of rigour, rather than PRIVATE AFFAIRS. 209 States, and from that time the employment of Sir Francis Vere on confidential and delicate missions to the States General, usually with Mr. Gilpin as a colleague, but sometimes single-handed, was frequent. The Queen and her ministers were beginning to rely as much on his tact and judgment in the council- room as on his valor and conduct in the field. But they complained that his handwriting was illegible. In a letter to R. Cecil, dated Feb. 6, 1603, he says: " I do write unto your Honor with another pen, because I have heard your . Honor cannot read my hand readily." l Vere's private affairs fortunately required little attention. His mother and sister were intrusted to the efficient care of his elder brother John, and his two younger brothers were with him in the camp. But the head of the family had ruined a great estate. The Earl of Oxford had sold or mortgaged nearly every acre. By Lord Burleigh's daughter he had three daughters, 2 and the Treasurer was doing all in his power to save something out of the wreck for his grandchildren. John Vere and his mother had a long lease of Kirby Hall from the Earl, and Francis had a reversionary interest in the lease. Among other schemes, Lord Burleigh cast his eye upon this 1 Yet his handwriting, though usual seal. But he sometimes sprawling and unsightly, is very sealed his letters with a larger one, legible to modern readers, much having a shield with eight quarter- more so than the hands of those ings: Vere, Bolebec, Sanford, Ser- who complained of it. He used jeaux, Badlesmere, Archdeacon, two seals. One was simply the Trussell, and another ; with an Vere arms, with a martlet charged annulet in the centre. with a crescent in the centre of 2 Elizabeth, Countess of Derby; the shield, to denote the second Bridget, Lady Norris ; and Susan, son of a fourth son. This was his Countess of Montgomery. 210 THE FIGHTING VERES. lease, in hopes of shortening it, or getting rid of it, in his grandchildren's interest. He applied to John Vere to surrender the lease, who demurred on the ground that the reversion belonged to his brother. Burleigh then addressed himself direct to Sir Francis. As that officer's advancement depended mainly on Burleigh's good will, this proceeding was in very questionable taste. The reply was satisfactory. " As touching my brother's lease," wrote Sir Francis, " which your Lordship desireth and he deferreth to part with in respect of me, it may please your Lord- ship to understand that I have signified unto him how greatly I desire your Lordship should be satis- fied therein, so that I am out of doubt he will be con- formable : and so much the rather for the entail your Lordship maketh to those ladies, whose honour and good, by all manner of obligation, we are bound to desire and further. I thought fit to inform your Lordship whereby my brother's slowness in resolution may be excused concerning this matter ; that our mother nor any of us have where to put our heads but there ; and myself, on whom a part of their hope is grounded, the greatest beggar of all, if by your Lord- ship's favourable patronage I be not supported." A few months afterwards Burleigh wrote again on the same subject, and elicited a reply from Sir Francis that " as to the lease I will pass my interest therein fully to your Lordship." l Yet the scheme of taking the lease of Kirby Hall from this branch of the Veres, for the benefit of Burleigh's grandchildren, must have fallen through. For the old place continued to be the residence of their mother until her death, then of 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, Nov. 7, 1593, and Jan. 7, 1594. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES. 211 John Vere and his widow, and afterwards of Horace Vere's widow. Francis, being unmarried and in active service, gave the matter little thought Doubt- less he was glad enough of the chance of complying with the request made to him by the powerful Lord Treasurer. During the winter of 1592-93 he was in England for a short time ; but he had no opportunity of seeing his family again until he returned to Kirby Hall, bringing with him the tidings of a great sorrow. The year 1 596 opened with festivities, for in Feb- ruary Count Philip of Hohenlohe Langenburg was married to the Lady Mary, eldest daughter of William the Taciturn. The ceremony took place at the castle of Buren, in Gelderland, the States General and all the principal officers of the army being invited. In the same year her half-sister Elizabeth was married to the Due de Bouillon. She became the mother of the famous Marshal Turenne. This year, also, saw the last of the two oldest English officers who had served in the war for freedom. Sir Thomas Morgan had continued to be governor of Bergen-op-Zoom until I593, 1 when old age obliged him to retire. He was the very first volunteer to land at Flushing. Sir Roger Williams had been Morgan's companion when the volunteers first landed, and had served with distinction ever since. He was the most daring and headlong of all the English volunteers. In 1591 he 1 He was deprived of the gov- the senior captain in the garrison, ernment of Bergen-op-Zoom very Bodley urged in opposition " that ungraciously. The Council of Morgan was the ancientest captain State, in Holland, took this reso- that had served in this country, lution on the ground that a gov- and it could not but be taken very ernor was unnecessary, and that ill by Her Majesty." (Bodley to the charge might be intrusted to Lord Burleigh, April 12, 1593.) 212 THE FIGHTING VERES. had been transferred to France, where he continued his dashing exploits. Morgan and Williams both died in the same year. The funeral of Sir Roger Williams took place at St. Paul's, 1 and was attended by all his brother officers who were then in England. 2 In July, 1595, Maurice took the field with all his forces, including the English contingent under Gen- eral Vere, and laid siege to Grolle. The Spanish forces were once more under the command of the ablest officer in Philip's service. Verdugo was dead ; but Colonel Mondragon, the aged governor of Ant- werp, took the field with the object of thwarting Maurice in any siege operations he might attempt, and closely watching his movements. The Count Herman de Berghe was nominally in chief command, but Mondragon, now actually in his ninetieth year, was the ruling spirit. 3 The works before Grolle were expeditiously begun, and the approaches had reached the counterscarp in several places, when Mondragon's army came in sight and offered battle. As Maurice was inferior in numbers, the States would not con- sent to a general action. The siege was consequently raised, and Mondragon, having relieved Grolle, fell back to a position on the Rhine, at Orsoy above 1 Camden. by Jean Francois le Petit (London, 8 His writings were : The Ac- folio, 1609), contains additions tions of the Lowe Countries, from the MSS. of Sir Roger Wil- printed by Humphrey Lownes in liams. Williams also wrote A 1618 ; A brief Discourse of War, Discourse of the Discipline of the with his Opinion concerning some Spaniards. See Wood's A thence, part of Military Discipline. Lon- Oxon., I. col. 643. don, 1590. The Actions of the Lowe 8 " Count Herman of Berghe is Countries were reprinted in the in command, but Mondragon sway- Somers Tracts, I. pages 333 to eth all." (F. Vere to Lord Bur- 382. Grimeston's translation of leigh, July 20, 1595. MSS. at the History of the Netherlands, Hatfield, vol. 31.) THE COUNTRY ABOUT WESEL. ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES. 213 Rheinberg, whence he could watch Maurice's every movement. The patriot army then encamped at Bislich, on the right bank of the Rhine, a few miles below Wesel, 1 where it was strongly intrenched. The river Lippe, flowing from east to west, falls into the Rhine at Wesel. The army of Maurice was on the northern side of this river, with his headquar- ters at Bislich ; Mondragon on the south side, with his headquarters at Rheinberg and Orsoy. On the south side, eastward from Wesel, the valley of the Lippe consists of a great moor called the Spellener Heide, bounded by a range of moorland hills called the Tester-berge, which approach the left bank of the Lippe. On the opposite bank is the little village of Crudenburg and the old castle of Schwarzenstein. The river is deep and rapid, and about twenty-four yards wide, with steep banks. Crudenburg is about five miles east of Wesel. On the south bank there are water meadows of no great width ; then a very sandy heath with scrubby undergrowth, whence the hills of the Tester-berge rise abruptly. On the north side the country is a sandy moor, now partly cultivated, and with many pine and oak plantations. It was observed by the Dutch cavalry outposts that the slopes of the Tester-berge were occupied by the enemy, but it was believed that the force did not consist of more than two cornets of horse. Young Count Philip of Nassau proposed a daring plan to 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, July lodging near to take such occa- 10 and July 20, 1595, and Aug. 22. sions as may be offered to give MSS. at Hatfield. Vere says that them a blow. For we hold it no Maurice was resolved not to give small service to keep these men battle. He adds : " Our drift is from making war in France." to hold the enemy here, and by 214 THE FIGHTING VERES. cut them off, by fording or swimming the river with a body of cavalry, and charging across the moor. His scheme was approved with some reluctance, and he was allowed to organize a picked force of 500 men for the service. His brothers Ernest and Louis, and his nephew Ernest de Solms, Count Buchert de Kin- ski, Prevost de Sallandt, Godart de Balen, and Sir Marcellus Bacx led the Dutch troops, while the Eng- lish were commanded by Sir Nicholas Parker and Robert Vere. On August 22d the reckless chivalry of Holland and England assembled along the banks of the Lippe. The project was wilder and more des- perate than the Balaclava charge. They plunged into the river near Crudenburg, swam their horses over, and galloped across the moor. Mondragon knew all that was in preparation. The wily old fox had brought up his forces during the night, and, in- stead of finding two cornets of horse, Count Philip and his gallant followers encountered half the Span- ish army. When this became evident there was only the choice between hasty retreat and a glorious death. Not a man hesitated. Putting spurs to their horses' flanks the 500 dashed into the enemy's ranks, and fought with desperate valor until they were over- powered by numbers. Count Kinski fell, mortally wounded. Count Philip and his nephew, Ernest Solms, had their horses killed under them, were badly wounded, and taken prisoners. Young Robert Vere nobly upheld the honor of his family on that fate- ful day. Fighting manfully in the thickest of the press, he was slain by the blow of a lance in the face. 1 Sir Nicholas Parker and Marcellus Bacx con- 1 Motley says that Robert Vere was taken prisoner and murdered DEA TH OF ROBERT VERE. 215 ducted the retreat, which was covered by Prince Maurice with the reserves on the opposite bank. Count Philip and young Solms were conveyed to Rheinberg, where they were treated with all possible kindness and attention by old Mondragon. But they died of their wounds, and their bodies were sent to Maurice, in his camp at Bislich. 1 The two armies continued to watch each other during September, and in October Mondragon, after ravaging the coun- try of Juliers, marched into Brabant, 2 while Maurice went into winter-quarters. Sir Francis bore generous testimony to his ability and powers of organization. 3 Sir Nicholas Parker, of whose conduct Sir Francis Vere spoke very highly in his despatch to Lord Bur- leigh, brought the melancholy tidings of the death of Robert to his two brothers. The loss was deeply felt. The three young men had scarcely ever been separated. From childhood they had studied and played together in their Essex home. Francis had gone to the wars first, but he had soon sent for his younger brothers, and they had been comrades for several years. Robert had first borne arms in 1589, for when Sir Francis returned, after his visit to England, he brought back his next brother with him. Robert entered the cavalry, and continued to serve in that arm until his death. Horace joined them in 1590, in cold blood. But he does not in- 2 Old Mondragon died the fol- dicate his authority. Sir Francis lowing winter, 1596. Vere, in his letter to Lord Bur- 8 "His Excellency hath made leigh, reported that his brother was his army exceeding perfect and fit slain in the battle by a blow in the for any hazard." (F. Vere to the face from a lance. Earl of Essex, October i, 1595. 1 Grimeston. Meteren, 381. MSS. at Hatfield.) Bentivoglio. Vere to Lord Bur- leigh, August 24, 1595. 2l6 THE FIGHTING VERES. and served in his elder brother's company of foot. Robert and Horace looked to their brother for guid- ance and advancement. They soon became useful officers, and there was always affectionate harmony between them. When the troops had been distribu- ted into winter-quarters Francis and Horace obtained leave to visit England. It was a sad home-coming- They rode away into Essex as soon as they landed, to break the news to their mother and sister, 1 and to tell them that there must be a place vacant for ever- more when the family assembled round the old hearth at Kirby. During this visit Sir Francis Vere was taken more closely into the counsels of his sovereign. It had been decided that a great blow should be struck at Spain, that the war should be carried into the ene- my's country ; but the cooperation of the States Gen- eral was necessary. Sir Francis was not only to have an important command in the expedition to Cadiz, but he was entrusted with all the negotiations on the subject with the States General. 1 Sister Frances was still living at home. She was married to Rob- ert Harcourt, at Barking in Essex, on March 20, 1598. CHAPTER XVII. CADIZ. THE resolution to carry the war into the enemy's country, and to strike a blow at Spain on Spanish ground, was arrived at, by the Queen and her min- isters, in the autumn of 1595. The Earl of Essex, then aged twenty-eight, and Lord Howard of Effing- ham were to be entrusted with the command of the expedition by land and sea, and they both advanced sums of money out of their private fortunes to help in its equipment. Preparations were made on a large scale, and with as much secrecy as possible ; and it was considered that the United Provinces ought to furnish substantial aid for the common cause. Sir Francis Vere was entrusted with a con- fidential mission to the Hague, the object of which was to secure help from the States, in ships and troops. On the ist of March, 1596, Sir Francis, after a long and stormy passage, arrived at Middelburg, and has- tened on to the Hague. He found the country full of alarms about Spanish invasions, and he anticipated that these alarms would be used as excuses for making difficulties about the Queen's demands, but he was resolved to execute his mission by urging the reasons for compliance. He submitted her Majesty's wishes to the States on the day of his arrival at the 2l8 THE FIGHTING VERES. Hague. On the yth of March, Barneveldt waited upon him, to ask whether the Queen's purposes were so absolute that no excuses nor allegations could be admitted. Vere, in reply, assured him that the de- mand was urgent, and implored him to induce the States to come to a speedy and favorable decision. After much discussion with Barneveldt during the ensuing days, the objects of Vere's mission were se- cured, and on the 2Oth the States announced to him that they would comply with the Queen's wishes. The expenses would be heavy, but several deputies declared that " there was no surer way of putting a good end to the war than to transport the same nearer to the heart of the great enemy." ] During his stay at the Hague, Sir Francis encour- aged and incited Count Louis Gunther of Nassau to obtain the command of the Dutch contingent. The young Count wrote for leave to his father, saying that " the enterprise will be of great importance to the good of all Christendom, and that such a voyage may never offer again for a young soldier like me, who will thus not only see England but all other countries." 2 He left the Hague with Sir Francis Vere, having obtained the appointment, and accompanied him to Middelburg, where active preparations were being made. Vere was to take with him a thousand of his English veterans, who were in the pay of the States, and at his earnest request they received a month's pay in advance. By the 22d of April he was ready to sail from Flushing with them, to join the 1 Vere to Lord Burleigh, March Comte Jean de Nassau depart pour 1,7,9,20,1596. Angleterre." (Prinsterer Lettre 8 " Le Comte Louis Gunther au xcvii. 2d Series, I. p. 365.) CADIZ. 219 expedition. He found the whole fleet assembled at Dover. The fleet was divided into four squadrons, under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham as lord admiral, the Earl of Essex as lord general, Lord Thomas Howard as vice-admiral, and Sir Walter Raleigh as rear-admiral. The lord admiral was in the " Ark Royal," with Sir Ames Preston as his captain ; and Captain Monson was the sailor and navigator in charge of the " Repulse," with the Earl of Essex. Lord Thomas had the " Mere-honour," and Raleigh the " Warspite." Sir Francis Vere was lieutenant- general and lord marshal, and in command of the " Rainbow." He was to be the chief adviser of Essex, and the conduct of operations on shore was practically entrusted to him. Sir George Carew was master of the ordnance, and in command of the " Mary Rose ; " Sir Conyers Clifford, in the " Dreadnought," was sergeant-major general ; Sir John Wingfield, in the " Vanguard," was camp-master ; Sir Robert Dudley had the " Nonpareil," Sir Robert Southwell the " Lion," Sir Robert Cross the " Swiftsure," Sir George Gifford the " Quittance," Captain King the " Tremon- taine." There were also twelve ships of London, and twenty-two Hollanders and Flushingers under Count William of Nassau. The council of war to advise the General consisted of the Earl of Essex, Sir Fran- cis Vere, and four colonels of regiments, the Earl of Sussex, Sir Christopher Blount, Sir T. Gerard, and Sir John Wingfield. The Earl of Essex went on board the " Rainbow " when the fleet got under weigh at Dover, in order to confer with Sir Francis Vere on the plan of the 220 THE FIGHTING VERES. expedition ; and, landing near Rye, they both went up to court, while the ships proceeded to Plymouth. After consultation with the Queen and Burleigh, Sir Francis posted down into the west country, and set to work diligently with the organization of the troops. There were altogether 6,360 soldiers and 1,000 volun- teers, besides nearly 7,000 sailors. The whole month of May was devoted to drilling the men and equip- ping the ships at Plymouth. The army was regularly organized, with grades of officers from the general downwards. But the naval officers were in positions which were undefined. Sir Walter Raleigh, with all his great qualities and ac- complishments, had a high idea of his own impor- tance, and considered that his appointment of rear- admiral gave him superior rank to the lord marshal. Vere rightly held that the discipline and efficiency of the land force depended on his being next in rank to the General. Raleigh was a much older man. He had served with the Huguenots when Vere was a boy at school. He had since done good service in Ire- land, had fitted out expeditions to Virginia, had com- manded in a voyage to Guiana, and had risen to high favor with the Queen. He considered himself a far more important personage than the zealous and hard- working General of the forces in the Netherlands, who was ten years his junior. He had several eager and not very wise supporters and admirers among the younger volunteers. One evening, after dinner, when the officers were sitting over their wine, some words passed, on the question of rank, between Sir Francis Vere and Sir Edward Cooke, in the presence of the General and the officers of the Dutch fleet. CADIZ. 221 The matter was taken up by a hot-headed youth named Arthur Throckmorton, " who used such words that my lords ordered him from the table." : This led to the question of military rank being seriously considered ; and eventually the General ordered that Sir Francis Vere should have precedence of Raleigh on shore, and that Sir Walter Raleigh should be the superior officer at sea. Vere then assisted the Earl of Essex in drawing up the articles of war, 2 and at the same time they set down in writing the duties of each officer. 3 All things being at length arranged, the fleet an- chored in Cawsand Bay on the ist of June, 1596, and made sail before a northeast wind on the $d, which carried them across the Bay of Biscay. There were high hopes and patriotic resolves in the hearts of those who manned that fleet. Philip's Armada had insulted the coasts, and filled the homes of England with alarm and dread. Eight years had passed away, and now the chivalry of England was about to return the compliment. Everything that was calculated to arouse the enthusiasm of young soldiers and volun- teers seemed to unite in this memorable adventure. The lord admiral was the same dauntless seaman who had repulsed the great Armada. Raleigh's very name was enough to call forth the ardor and zeal of his companions. For who among them had not heard of his deeds of valor and adventure in Guiana and the Spanish Main ? who had not read, with a thrill of pride and wonder, his narrative of the fight of the " Revenge," and of the death of Sir Richard Gren- 1 Sir A. Standen to Anthony Birch, ii. 21. Bacon, May 23, 1596. Birch, ii. 11. Vere's Commentaries, p. 26. 222 THE FIGHTING VERES. ville ? The very ships which had basely triumphed then were in Cadiz now; and Raleigh, as he said, was on his way to ' revenge the ' Revenge.' " There too was the gallant Sir Francis Vere, who had upheld the honor of England in the Low Countries for ten years, in numberless battles and sieges ; who was cov- ered with scars received in the fight for freedom ; and under whose banner it was the dream of every brave English boy some day to learn the art of war. With him was the flower of his army : his gallant young brother Horace ; Oliver Lambart, who fought by his side in the romantic relief of Rheinberg ; Wingfield, Parker, and many another good man and true from the Netherlands field force. And if the adventurers were justly proud of their leaders, they were equally proud of the glorious cause in which they were em- ployed. They were to fight for their country and their beloved Queen against the bitter and cruel enemy of both. They had all heard of the horrors of the Inquisition, and of the fate of the gentle In- dians of America. What man could inform them more fully on such points than their rear-admiral ? Their hearts overflowed with pity and indignation when these stories were recounted, and they believed that they drew their swords "for the good of all Christendom," as young Louis of Nassau expressed it. Yet they approached the Spanish coast in no savage mood. They would fight with those who re- sisted, but they would.be full of chivalrous courtesy to the vanquished. In this spirit the English adventurers rounded Cape St. Vincent. The ships had kept out of sight of land, while passing the coast of Portugal, lest the CADIZ. 223 news of their approach should precede them. Their three best sailers the " Litness," "Lion's Whelp," and " Truelove " were sent on in advance to stop any small vessels which might spread tidings of the coming danger. By this precaution three fly-boats, bound for Cadiz, were captured and detained; and early in the morning of the 2oth of June the fleet anchored off the spit of San Sebastian, on the south- ern side of the city of Cadiz. The ancient city of Cadiz is built at the extremity of a narrow spit of land, six miles long, which forms a bay, a great part of which is very shallow. One deep channel, from half to a quarter of a mile wide, passes down its centre to Puerto Real, and there is another port, called Santa Maria, on the north side of the bay, which can only be approached by vessels drawing very little water. Cadiz was a walled town, with a small harbor called the Caleta, and a long spit at the end of which was the fort of San Sebastian, on the southern side. On the north side it was defended by the castle of San Felipe, which commanded the entrance of the bay; and the castle of Puntales further east, facing the narrowest part of the chan- nel of Puntales, leading to Puerto Real. To the west of the town, at the entrance of the bay, there are rocks, called Las Puercas and Los Cochinos ; and near them was the anchorage where it was usual for the fleets bound for the Indies to assemble before taking their final departure. On that Sunday morn- ing, when the English fleet hove in sight, there was a fleet of forty richly laden merchant ships at anchor off Las Puercas, about to sail for Mexico. They were to be convoyed by four large men-of-war, 1 the " San 1 " Four of the King's greatest and warlikest galleons." (Vere.) 224 THE FIGHTING VERES. Felipe," "San Mateo," "San Andres," and "San Tomas," two great Lisbon galleons, two argosies which had great ordnance for ballast, and three war frigates. Nearer the town there were seventeen gal- leys, commanded by Don Juan Portocarrero. The Spaniards were taken entirely by surprise. Hasty preparations were made for defence. The forty merchant ships were sent up the Puntales chan- nel to Puerto Real. The four men-of-war were an- chored in the narrowest part of the channel, with their broadsides to the sea. In their rear were the ar- gosies and frigates. The galleys were ranged under Fort Puntales, with their bows, armed with long guns, pointing across the channel. By these dispo- sitions the Spaniards hoped to repel the English attacking force, and save the merchant ships. The English fleet had anchored off San Sebastian, outside the bay, and it had been hastily determined to attempt a landing at the Caleta. Troops were actually got into the boats, which were made fast astern of the ships, and the landing was only delayed by the heavy sea caused by a fresh gale. Spanish troops also were seen, ready to oppose the attempt. The " Warspite " had been behind the rest of the fleet, and when she arrived Sir Walter Raleigh went on board the " Repulse," and protested strongly against the plan of landing at the Caleta. He said that unless the Spanish fleet was first defeated a landing would fail, and that therefore the English ships ought to come round into the bay. Essex was convinced, but he said that the lord admiral had the direction of operations at sea. Raleigh went on board the " Ark Royal," and his arguments induced CADIZ NAUTICAL MILES SPANISH SHIPS. 1. San Felipe. 2. San Tomas. 3. San Andres. 4. San Maleo. 3 Great Lisbon Galley*. 5. ) T 6.t 1. Three War Frigate*. 8. Two Argosies. ENGLISH SHIPS. 1. "Rainbow" Sir F. Vere. 5. "Warsplle" Sir W. Raleigh. 3. "Nonpareil" Lord T. Howard (Lord Admiral on board.) 4. "Lion" Sir R. Southwell. 6. "Mary Rose" Sir Georjre Carew. 6. "Drt- ;1 ilni>U(fht" Sir C. riiffor.l. T. i:,-|,ule" Earl of Enex and Capt. Monwn. 8. "Swiftaure" Sir R. Crog. CADIZ. 225 Lord Howard to alter the plan of attack. He then jumped into his boat, and pulled back to the " Re- pulse " to announce the change. Essex was eagerly waiting on the poop, and when Raleigh shouted Entramos to him as he came alongside, the excitable young Earl threw his hat into the air for joy, and it dropped overboard. The troops were all got on board again, but not before some of the boats had been swamped and a few men drowned. Towards evening the fleet was got under weigh, and anchored at the entrance of the bay, inside Las Puercas, ready for the attack next morning. Vere found himself to leeward of the other ships, and he hoped to get a better place by being under weigh first. So he began to heave up his anchor before the rest. There was a heavy sea, and he had forgotten to swift his capstan bars ; this being his first command at sea. The ship was pitching, and the capstan proved too strong for the men, who were hurled backwards, and several were badly hurt. So Vere cut his cable in the hawse, made sail, and worked to windward up the bay until he was able to anchor within range of the Spanish ships and forts. Late in the evening the lord admiral displayed the flag of council in his mizzen rigging, as a signal for the Earl of Essex and the other officers to come on board the " Ark Royal." It was resolved to move up the bay with the tide next morning, and to board the Spanish ships; stations were arranged, and Ra- leigh was to lead the attack. But the eagerness to be first outweighed all other considerations. Vere sub- mitted that the " Rainbow" drew less water than the larger ships, and that it was desirable that she should 226 THE FIGHTING VERES. go in ahead of them. Essex replied sharply, " In any case you shall not go in before me." Lord Thomas Howard shifted his flag to the " Nonpareil," which was of lighter draft than the " Mere-honour," and claimed the foremost place. Raleigh was determined to get ahead, and wrote afterwards that " always I must without glory say for myself that I held single in the head of all." They were all behaving like a pack of schoolboys, and it seemed likely there would be a regular scramble next morning. The four Spanish men-of-war remained with their broadsides across the passage, about in a line with the Puntales fort, and the seventeen galleys were close in under the land, to flank the enemy as his ships approached. Vere was much excited and inter- ested in a conflict the nature of which was quite new to him ; " having till that time been a stranger to actions at sea." During the night he brought the " Rainbow" up over her anchor, ready to make sail when the tide served next morning. He was the first to get into action, firing his heavy ordnance at the galleys, and driving them still further under the walls of the fort. He kept approaching them, with the lead constantly going, until he came within range of Puntales fort and the ships, and was exposed to a heavy fire on all sides, to which he promptly replied. The master of the " Rainbow " then anchored, being closer in shore than any of the other ships. The " Warspite " was next to him, and a little ahead, en- gaged with the large Spanish ships. Next came Lord Thomas Howard in the " Nonpareil," with the lord admiral also on board. Near the centre of the channel was Sir Robert Southwell in the " Lion ; " CADIZ. 227 and on the eastern side were Sir George Carew and Sir C. Clifford in the "May Rose" and "Dread- nought" A little later Essex came up in the " Re- pulse " and Sir Robert Cross in the " Swiftsure." Soon they were all closely engaged with the Span- iards, the cannonade lasting several hours, and the guns becoming very hot. Raleigh thought that if the firing continued his ship would be sunk, so he went in his boat to the general, to ask for fly-boats to board the enemy. While he was gone Lord Thomas got under weigh and shot ahead of the " Warspite," and Sir Francis Vere sent a boat with a hawser to make fast to the " Warspite's " stern, in order to haul the " Rainbow " ahead. When Raleigh came back he cut Vere's hawser unceremoniously, and put his ship broadside across the channel, to prevent the others from getting ahead of him. The firing was then renewed, and continued until four in the afternoon, when the Spaniards gave it up in despair, trying to run the ships on shore. Their men abandoned them. Raleigh says : " Heaps of sailors were tumbling into the sea, as thick as if coals had been poured out of a sack, some being drowned, others sticking in the mud." The galleys slipped their cables, made sail, and ran up the bay. Three were taken by Sir John W 7 ingfield in the " Van- guard," but the rest passed through a narrow channel at the south end of the Isle of Leon, and got out to sea. Vere hurried on board the " Repulse " to urge the general to send boats with boarding parties to secure the grounded ships. Captain Monson went on this duty from the " Ark Royal," and Sir William Constable, with some soldiers, from the " Repulse," 228 THE FIGHTING VERES. and two ships were captured, the " San Mateo " and " San Andres." The Spaniards set fire to the flag- ship "San Felipe," of 1,500 tons, and to the "San Tomas." They were burnt to the water's edge. The argosies were taken by the Dutch ships under Louis of Nassau, and it was found that their ballast consisted of heavy ordnance. This hotly contested action had lasted from break of day until the after- noon. Sir Walter Raleigh was severely wounded in the leg by a splinter, and was unable to take part in the subsequent proceedings. He had been the true leader among the naval officers. 1 Sir Francis Vere then took the lead in the land operations for the capture of Cadiz. The last half of a summer's afternoon was left, and there was not a moment to be lost. Boats were got ready, and the regiments of Essex, Vere, Blount, Gerard, and Clif- ford were told off as a landing party. The disembar- kation was to be effected on a spit of land between Puntales and the town. The boats were placed in line and at equal distances: the regiments of Essex and Vere on the right and nearest the town, the other three on the left. The general and the lord marshal led in a boat some distance in advance, and gave the signals by beat of drum. They were close- ly followed by smaller boats, full of richly dressed young gentlemen volunteers. The bows of the boats 1 In discussing the question of from our anchoring by it, though ships versus forts, Sir Walter it played upon us with four demi- Raleigh said : " The fort St. Philip cannons within point blank, from terrified us not, in the year 1596, six in the morning till twelve at when we entered the port of Ca- noon." (History of the World, diz ; neither did the fort of Pun- lib. v. cap. i.) tal, when we were entered, beat us CADIZ. 229 touched the shore almost at the same moment, and the soldiers jumped out and formed in line without opposition. About 2,000 men landed. On the land side, facing the spit, Cadiz was de- fended by a wall, with a gate in the centre and bas- tions at each angle, against which the sea washed at high tides. These fortifications and the strength of the garrison had taken away all idea, in the minds of the English Council of War, of taking the place without first landing heavy guns, placing them in position, and battering the walls. The first thought of Essex was, therefore, to select a site for the en- campment. Sir Francis Vere had a different plan. The spit of land was about half a mile across, and on the western side there were low hills, under which both cavalry and foot were seen to be hurrying into Cadiz. The three regiments of Blount, Clifford, and Gerard were sent southwards to the narrowest part of the spit, to guard the approach and prevent further com- munication between the town and the mainland. There remained a force consisting of the regiments of Essex and Vere and about 250 gentlemen volun- teers, in all not quite a thousand men. The Spaniards were drawn up outside the walls, with some light horse thrown forward, apparently to invite a skirmish. Vere then explained his plan for taking the town that night, pointing out that those very Spanish troops before the town would show the way into it, if they were properly handled. Essex, who when kept in good-humor was quite ready to listen to advice, and whose fiery valor made him eager for any hazardous enterprise, entered heartily into the scheme of the 230 THE FIGHTING VERES. lord marshal. It was to lead the troops as near as possible to the town wall, under cover of the low hills on the west side of the spit, then to draw the Spaniards into a fight with what would appear to be an inferior force, drive them back in confusion and disorder, and enter the town with them. Vere marched all the men over to the west side of the spit. He then picked out 200 soldiers, placed them under Sir John Wingfield, " a right valiant knight," and gave him his instructions. He was to march rapidly on the Spanish troops, drive in their skirmishers, and if the main body advanced against him he was to make a hasty retreat until he met his supports, and then to turn upon the enemy furiously. The supports consisted of 300 men under Sir Mat- thew Morgan, and they were to advance as soon as they saw Wingfield retreating. Essex and Vere were to follow with the main body. Count Louis of Nas- sau, the Earl of Sussex, Sir Robert Drury, and Chris- topher Heydon were with them. The orders were so ably carried out that the Span- iards were fully engaged in chasing Wingfield be- fore they discovered his supports. When fresh men suddenly appeared the Spaniards turned and fled. They were so closely followed that the cavalry aban- doned their horses, and the fugitives saved them- selves, some by the gates, which were hurriedly closed, and others by clambering over the walls. The whole English force, led by Essex and Vere, then came up to the walls, which extended from sea to sea, with a broad dry ditch in front. The ramparts were massive and high, with a round bastion at either end ; but they were not scarped, so that it was easy CADIZ. 231 to mount them. These outer walls were, however, overtopped some six feet by the old wall of the town behind. Vere's veterans from the Low Countries, gallantly led by Essex himself, climbed up the outer wall, scaled the inner defence, and drove the enemy back with their shot. Lieutenant Evans, of the regi- ment of Lord Sussex, was the first man over the wall. He had to leap down a pike's length. Arthur Savage followed close at his heels. Meanwhile, Vere sent a countryman of his, named Upsher, with a few men to see what guard was kept on the eastern side, towards the bay, and to report whether an entrance could also be effected in that direction. Upsher found a very slender guard, and entered the town on that side with slight opposition. Vere was on the ramparts, directing the operations. He saw that Es- sex was among the first to get over the wall, followed by the soldiers, that he was keeping no order, and that all were rushing recklessly up the streets. 'He therefore determined to break down the gates, and to march in with a reserve force, which he could keep in hand. The gates were forced open with much difficulty and some delay. Sir Francis then marched in with his troops 1 in good order, and advanced to the market-place, where he found Essex engaged with the enemy. Most of those who kept up any resistance retreated into the town hall, where they surrendered to Vere, and the Earl of Essex took pos- session. Vere then scoured the town and drove all the .Spaniards out of the streets, either into the cas- tle of San Felipe or the convent of San Francisco. Towards sunset about 200 Spanish cavaliers, who 1 Camden says that Essex went through the gates with Vere. 232 THE FIGHTING VERES. had taken refuge in the convent, surrendered, and the castle was delivered up the following day. Mean- while, the lord admiral had landed with more troops, and guards were stationed along the walls, under Sir Edward Conway. Thanks were offered up to God for this great vic- tory, in the town hall, and afterwards the Earl of Essex conferred the honor of knighthood on Sir Samuel Bagnall, 1 for his special merit in the day's service. The loss was not very great on either side, but the English had to mourn the death of the gallant Sir John Wingfield, who fell mortally wounded in the market-place, just before all resistance ceased. 2 When the people who had taken refuge in the castle of San Felipe surrendered next morning, they were treated with the utmost courtesy and considera- tion. The ladies received every sort of civility from their English captors, the memory of which is pre- served in the old ballad of the "Spanish Lady." 2 About 5,000 Spaniards, including women and priests, were allowed to leave the town. Dr. Quesada, who knew English, remained to make terms and to obtain leave for non-combatants to depart. The terms were that citizens might depart with their clothes, that 1 He had received eight wounds. 8 Percy's Reliques, ii. p. 256. Arthur Savage was also wounded The hero of the story was sup- and knighted. posed to be either Sir Richard * Sir John Wingfield, brother-in- Leveson of Trentham, or a Pop- law of Lord Willoughby, was the ham of Littlecote. But the late same officer who was falsely ac- Mr. Charles Long fully established cused and slandered by the Dutch the claim of a young member of authorities when the mutinous gar- the family of Bowles of Swines- rison delivered up Gertruydenburg head. Jewels which belonged to to the Spaniards. Wingfield was the Spanish lady of the ballad a man of honor and a valiant offi- were in possession of the Lees of cer. Coldrey. CADIZ. 233 they should pay a ransom of 520,000 ducats, and that some of the chief citizens should remain as hostages for payment. All English galley-slaves were to be delivered up. All priests, women, and children who wished to go were taken across the bay to Puerto Santa Maria in boats. 1 The forty merchant ships, all laden with valuable cargoes, had escaped up the channel to Puerto Real. Essex, when he landed, had sent a message to the lord admiral, by Sir William Monson and Sir An- thony Ashley the treasurer, entreating him to take prompt measures for the capture of these merchant ships. But the admiral, fearing that Essex's force was too weak, thought it necessary to land with rein- forcements, in the first place. Meanwhile, the Duke of Medina Sidonia ordered all the ships and their cargoes to be burnt. The conflagration took place on the 23d of June. The loss to the merchants of Seville and Cadiz was estimated at 20,000,000 ducats. 2 The English remained a fortnight at Cadiz. Be- sides Sir Samuel Bagnall, a number of officers re- ceived the honor of knighthood. Among them were the admiral's son William Howard, the lord mar- shal's brother Horace Vere, Christopher Heydon, 8 1 We have the testimony of Her- Earl of Essex ordered a man to rera on the subject of the conduct be hanged for taking a cloth from of the English at Cadiz : " In this a woman." (Lib. xii. cap. xii. p. affair the English behaved in di- 672.) vine matters as heretics, in human 2 Camden. The report in the as politicians and men of war. They State Paper Office gives the loss did not torture more than four or at 8,000,000 crowns. The mer- five to make them give up hidden chants had offered Essex 2,000,000 treasure, they killed no one in cold as ransom. blood, they ill used no woman, 8 See ante^ foot-note in p. 203. they took away no prisoners. The 234 THE FIGHTING VERES. Oliver Lambart, 1 William Pooley, Nicholas Meetkerk, John Buck, 2 John Aldrich, and Arthur Throckmor- ton. Sir Francis Vere received the ransoms of three wealthy prisoners : a clergyman, who was president of the Casa de Contratacion at Seville, and two cavaliers, named Don Pedro de Herrera and Don Geronimo de Avalos. 3 The town was set on fire, and the fleet departed on the 5th of July. After stopping at a small port named Faroll, on the coast of Algarve, for fresh provisions, a course was shaped for England, and on the 8th of August the victorious expedition arrived safely at Plymouth. The fleet was increased by two large Spanish prizes, the " San Mateo " and " San Andres," which were the more welcome be- cause they formed part of the great fleet to which the little " Revenge " was forced to surrender in 1592. As soon as the English expedition had made sail, Don Antonio Osorio entered Cadiz with 600 men, and he was soon followed by the Duke of Medina Sidonia. They found that the cathedral, the church of the Jesuits, the nunneries of Santa Maria and Candela- ria, and 290 houses had been burnt. 4 The most seri- 1 For some account of Sir Oliver 60 of plate, and a suit of buttons Lambart, afterwards Lord Lam- which cost me 40 shillings each to bart of Cavan, see ante, p. 153 (). Sir Oliver Lambart. That is all I a George Buck, the author of set down to the Commissioners at The Life of Richard III., was Plymouth." (F. Vere to the Earl also in the Cadiz expedition. But of Essex, August 15, 1596. MSS. he was not knighted until 1603, at Hatfield.) In the report of the when he became Master of the commissioners appointed to in- Revels. quire into the amount of booty 8 " I have received of certain taken at Cadiz, the value of Vere's Spaniards taken in Cadiz, for their share is set down at ^3,638 155. ransoms, the sum of 12,570 ducats See Archaologia, xxii. p. 175. at 55. 6d. the piece, moreover 50 or * Madoz. CADIZ. 235 ous loss was the library of the Jesuits. Among that priceless collection was the manuscript history of the Jesuit Bias Valera, containing particulars respecting the Incas of Peru by one whose opportunities for collecting information were unequalled, and whose education and linguistic talent enabled him to profit by those opportunities to the full. The fragments that were saved from the fire were utilized by Garci- lasso de la Vega in his " Royal Commentaries." But the bulk was destroyed. The loss to posterity is irreparable. 1 The sack of Cadiz, with the destruction of the fleet, was a blow from which Philip II. and his govern- ment never recovered. It ruined the merchants and crippled the resources of the country, while it clouded the last years of the tyrant with mortification and shame. In proportion it raised the power and influ- ence of the great Queen, and filled the hearts of her subjects with joy and gratitude. Sir Francis Vere passed the greater part of the winter of 1596-97 at the court of Queen Elizabeth. 2 1 See the introduction to my grandson, Philip Raleigh, at the translation of the Royal Commen- end of an abridgment of the His- taries of Garci lasso de la Vega tory of the World (&vo, 1700) ; and (Hakluyt Society, 1869), p. xiii. in Lord Essex's Report, S. P. O. 2 The narrative of the Cadiz ex- Vere gives the fullest account of pedition is given in Camden's An- the land operations in his Commen- nals and in Hakluyt. The naval taries. The narrative in the State action is fully reported in Vere's Paper Office is headed "A Rela- Commentaries j in Sir William tion of the Winning of Cadiz." Monson's Tracts; by Sir Walter See also the ballad " The Winning Raleigh in a letter printed by his of Cales," in Percy* s Reliques, ii. p. 252. CHAPTER XVIII. THE ISLAND VOYAGE. AN officer who had passed his life in training and leading soldiers on land was often called upon to be- come the captain of a ship, in the service of Queen Elizabeth, at a moment's notice. All his habits and ideas had to be changed for the time, and he had to learn new methods, a different science, and a strange phraseology. He had the help and advice of a pro- fessional seaman, who served under him as master ; but the responsibility, the decision in all important cases, and the command rested upon the captain. Such demands on the powers of the Elizabethan officers must have had a tendency to put every faculty on the alert, to make men self-reliant, many-sided, and inventive. Sir Francis Vere had passed the active season of 1596 in command of the "Rainbow," learning the seaman's art and gaining a practical knowledge of what he called " sea cases." He was again to serve as a sea-captain in the following year. For King Philip was making great preparations to avenge the sack of Cadiz. A fleet was collected at Ferrol, an army was to be embarked, and it was believed that the invasion of Ireland was contemplated. The Queen resolved to meet this danger by equip- ping another fleet, with troops on board, to be com- THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 237 manded by the Earl of Essex, who this time was to be admiral as well as general of the land forces. Vere was again sent to the Hague, to arrange with the States for the services of a thousand of his vete- rans ; and the Dutch statesmen were so well satisfied with the victory at Cadiz that no serious difficulties were raised. The same old ships in which such glorious work had been done at Cadiz were refitted and commis- sioned once more. Essex at first took the " Mere- honour " as his flagship, but she was no longer fit for sea, and he shifted into the " Due-repulse," with Master Middleton as his captain, and a dull, unlucky fellow named Cover as master. Lord Thomas How- ard and Sir Walter Raleigh sailed again as vice and rear admirals in the " Lion " and " Warspite." Ra- leigh had the accomplished Sir Arthur Gorges with him as captain and trusty friend, and Master Broad- bent to navigate the ship. Young Lord Mountjoy had received the appointment of lieutenant-general ; and he was to command the " Defiance," with Sir Ames Preston as captain. Sir Francis Vere was lord marshal, on board the " Mary Rose," his mas- ter being Captain John Winter, 1 a companion of Sir Francis Drake. Sir Christopher Blount was colo- nel-general, Sir Ferdinando Gorges sergeant-major general, and Sir George Carew master of the ord- nance on board the great Spanish prize, the " San Mateo." Three famous and gallant sailors had sep- arate commands : Sir William Monson in the " Rain- bow," Sir Edward Michelborne in the " Moone," and 1 John Winter was in Drake's voyage of circumnavigation, but re- turned home from Magellan's Straits. 238 THE FIGHTING VERES. Captain Fenner in the " Tramontane." The " Gar- land " was commanded by the young Earl of South- ampton, the faithful friend of Essex, 1 the " Bonaven- ture " by Sir William Harvey, the " Dreadnought " by Sir William Brooke, the " Swiftsure " by Sir Gilly Merrick, the " Nonpareil " by Sir Richard Leveson, 2 the "Antelope" by Sir Thomas Vavasour, the Spa- nish prize " San Andres " by Captain Marcellus Throckmorton, and the " Foresight " by Sir Carew Reignall. Besides these seventeen Queen's ships, there were several ships of London and numerous small tenders and victuallers. Vere's veterans num- bered 1,200 men, and, in addition, about 7,000 sol- diers were to be embarked. Having succeeded in his mission at the Hague, Sir Francis hurried back to England, and found the fleet at anchor in the Downs. The Earl of Essex was at Sandwich when Vere came to report himself. It was early in the morning; the luxurious courtier 1 Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Sec- in 1667, when the fourth Earl died, retary of State in 1539, and after- who was Lord Treasurer, wards Lord Chancellor and one of Sir Thomas Wriothesley built the executors to Henry VIII. , "a right stately house " at Titch- was created Earl of Southampton field, chiefly with the materials of in 1547, and died in 1550. He re- the abbey, where his descendants ceived the abbey of Titchfield from lived. the Crown. His son, the second 2 Sir Richard Leveson of Trent- Earl, died in 1551. Henry, third ham married Margaret, daughter Earl of Southampton, succeeded of the Lord Admiral C. Howard when he was very young. He (Earl of Nottingham). He was a was the friend of Shakespeare very distinguished naval officer, and of Essex, and he married a In this voyage he was aged twen- niece of the latter: This Earl died ty-eight. He died in 1605, and in 1624. His granddaughter was there is a monument, with his ef- Rachel, Lady Russell. The title figy in brass, in Wolverhampton of Earl of Southampton became Church, extinct in the Wriothesley family THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 239 was still in bed, but the lord marshal was at once admitted, and was cordially received. Lord Mount- joy had been made lieutenant-general, an office which had been filled by Sir Francis Vere in the previous voyage. Essex declared that the appointment was forced upon him by the Queen, that Vere would still be next to him, and that Mountjoy would have a title without an office. Vere coldly replied that his duty would oblige him both to obey Lord Mountjoy and to respect his place ; that he was not so ignorant of the Earl's power as to suppose that Lord Mountjoy could be thrust upon him without his consent and procurement; and that in future he requested that Essex would not use him at all in any action wherein the Earl was to go as chief. Essex looked upon this speech as the result of passing annoyance, and re- plied good-naturedly ; but Vere had considered the matter, and spoke with a purpose. Essex had some fine qualities, but he was unstable and without judg- ment, and was not a man under whom Vere cared to serve. This " island voyage," as it was called, was the last in which the great general would serve under the Earl of Essex. Some of the troops were shipped at the Downs. The fleet then got under weigh, and anchored in Portland Roads to embark more men, who were waiting there to meet the ships. There had been some misunderstandings between Sir Francis Vere and Sir Walter Raleigh during the Cadiz expedition. Essex was anxious that they should be reconciled. He therefore invited them both to come on board his ship, while they were at Portland, and asked them to shake hands in his presence. 1 This they 1 Birch, ii. p. 352. Vere's Commentaries, p. 47. 240 THE FIGHTING VERES. both very cordially consented to do, the more will- ingly as " nothing had passed betwixt us that might blemish reputation." Thence the fleet proceeded to Plymouth, where more troops were waiting, and a number of gallant young volunteers, " making a fine show with their plumes of feathers and rich accou- trements." 1 The orders were to attempt the destruc- tion of the Spanish fleet in Ferrol, and then to cruise for the Indian galleons off the Azores. The expedition sailed from Plymouth on the Qth of July, 1597- Those old ships, with their hulls high out of the water, and their poops towering still higher, looked gay and brave enough in Cawsand Bay, when flags and pendants fluttered from mast-heads and yard- arms, and the decks glistened with the splendid dresses and bright arms of the adventurers. The trumpets and drums sounded, guns were fired, and the sea seemed alive with boats of all shapes and sizes, as the stately ships sailed out of the bay, and shaped a course westward, in a smooth sea. But the scene entirely changed when, a few days afterwards, they met with a storm in the Bay of Biscay. The old ships were really dangerous in a heavy sea and a gale of wind. They were short in propor- tion to their beam and height above the water-line, and they answered their helms badly. They were made top-heavy by ordnance on their upper decks, and in very bad weather the guns had to be struck down into the holds. When the fleet of Essex reached the 4yth parallel they encountered the full force of a furious gale. The ships strove obstinately 1 Camden, p. 597. THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 241 against it until they were all more or less disabled. The Earl himself stood out until his ship sprang a dangerous leak, the mainmast was gone in three places and the foremast in two, the oakum worked out and the seams opened, the main beams were shivered, the upper works gave way, and the guns threatened to drop into the hold and make holes in her bottom. Then Essex reluctantly shaped a course for England. The ships of Lord Thomas Howard, of Mountjoy, of Raleigh, of Shirley, of Blount, were all in the same plight. Shattered and disabled, they sought shelter from the storm at Falmouth or Ply- mouth. The mainmast of the " Mary Rose " was sprung in the partners, and shattered down to the step. Experienced old John Winter wanted to have it hove overboard, but Vere would not consent. He at length got back to Plymouth, and his mast was so effectually fished that it lasted out the rest of the voyage. On July 20 Essex sent a message to Robert Cecil, who had become Secretary of State, that he had removed from Falmouth to Plymouth, " to gather his scattered flock." Never had smart young courtiers and gay volun- teers been so bucketed about. It would be long be- fore they forgot the Bay of Biscay. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Sir Carew Reignall were so dreadfully seasick that they could not embark again. Sir A. Shirley took the place of the former, and Sir Alex- ander Ratcliffe, " a very forward and gallant young gentleman," * of the latter. The treasurer, Sir Hugh Biston, had also suffered so much from seasickness that he resigned his appointment. Many young 1 Not long afterwards slain in Ireland. 242 THE FIGHTING VERES. gentlemen volunteers, including Lord Rich, secretly went home without taking leave. It was found im- possible to provide for the large number of troops that had been embarked. All were dismissed, except Vere's 1,200 veterans. The supplies of provisions were not only deficient in quantity, they were bad in quality, and there were loud complaints of the beer especially. It was very vile and unsavory, and the sickness was attributed as much to the bad beer as to the motion of the sea. Luckily, while the fleet was being refitted, a prize was taken and brought in, which was laden with Canary wine. This was served out to the different ships, instead of beer. Essex and Raleigh went up to the court to consult respecting future operations, and it was resolved that an attempt should be made to burn the Spanish ships at Ferrol, and that the expedition should after- wards proceed to the Azores, to watch for the fleet coming from the Indies. Essex finally sailed from Plymouth on the I7th of August, 1597. Again the fleet sailed southwards, across the Bay of Biscay, and again it encountered boisterous weather. The great Spanish prize, the " San Mateo," with her spritsail set, carried away her bowsprit, and there was a great wreck under her bows. Then the foremast broke off close to the partners, hurling four men into the sea, who were keeping watch in the foretop. The gallant Sir George Carew was in com- mand. He cleared away the wreck, and the Earl of Essex sent to propose that he and his crew should abandon the "San Mateo," and be distributed among the other ships. Carew declined, declaring his inten- tion to stand by his charge to the last. He rigged a THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 243 jury-foremast, set a pinnace's sail on it, and, running before the wind, eventually reached a French port. 1 Soon afterwards, on the 27th of August, Raleigh's ship, the " Warspite," carried away her mainyard by the parral, and for some time was quite unmanage- able, wallowing in the trough of the sea and rolling excessively. She was obliged to run before the wind, the " Dreadnought " keeping her company. These and other disasters led to the abandonment of the project for attacking Ferrol, and Essex decided upon shap- ing a course direct for the Azores, a run of 700 miles from the Portuguese coast. A fly-boat was dis- patched to the " Warspite " and " Dreadnought " with the rendezvous. After a voyage of eight days, the fleet came in sight of Flores and Corvo, the two most westerly of the Azores, where the inhabitants declared they were Portuguese and enemies of the Spaniards, bringing off fruit and fresh provisions. In a few days Raleigh and Brooke arrived, and a council of war was held on board the admiral's ship. The Azores are nearly in the centre of the Atlan- tic, being 1,147 miles from the Lizard, and 1,680 from Newfoundland. They are between the 37th and 4oth parallels, and the nine islands extend from W. N. W. to E. S. E. for four hundred miles. The small islands of Corvo and Flores are furthest to the 1 Sir George Carew was a son well as a soldier. In 1605 he was of Dr. Carew, Dean of Windsor, created Baron Carew, and made He was afterwards President of master-general of the ordnance for Munster, did excellent service in life. 1625, created Earl of Totnes. Ireland, and published a book in He died in 1629, leaving an only 1633, called Hibernia Pacata. He child, a daughter named Anne, was an accomplished scholar as married to Sir Allen Apsley. 244 THE FIGHTING VERES. west. Next come Fayal and Pico, Graciosa and St. George, which were originally settled by Flemings. Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg, the learned cosmogra- pher, lived and was married at the town of Horta, the capital of Fayal. Farther east is Terceira, and still more to the south and east is St. Michael, the largest and most important island in the group. To the southeast of St. Michael is the smaller island of St. Mary. The richly laden fleets coming from the West Indies usually passed among the Azores, and stopped to take in water and fresh provisions. When the fleet was assembled, the council decided that the Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh should attack Fayal, Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Francis Vere were to go to Graciosa, Mountjoy and Blount to St. Michael's ; but the arrangement was not followed very exactly. Raleigh, with the " Swiftsure," "Warspite," and " Dreadnought," ran ahead of the rest of the fleet, and anchored off Fayal. He waited for three days, and then effected a landing at some little distance from the town of Horta. The Spaniards had forti- fied a steep hill, where the English were repulsed, suffering some loss. But they marched on, and en- tered the deserted town. It was built of stone, with red tiled roofs and a fine church, orchards and gar- dens being interspersed with the rows of houses. Raleigh was no sooner in possession than the rest of the fleet hove in sight, on the 22d of September. Essex was incensed with Raleigh for having pre- sumed to land and engage the enemy without his knowledge and permission ; and there were not wanting those who fanned the flame of his wrath. THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 245 Sir Christopher Blount, Sir A. Shirley, and Sir Gilly Merrick were the leaders among those who strove to stir up dissension, urging that the rear-admiral ought to be put under arrest, and even cashiered, as well as the officers who landed with him. Raleigh was called before an assembly of principal officers, in the general's presence. Many spoke strongly against him. Vere gave his vote in Raleigh's favor. Lord Thomas Howard made friendly mediation, and the general was pacified. With a wise and noble admo- nition he forgave the offence, 1 and Essex, with the principal officers, dined on board Raleigh's ship. The Spaniards were still intrenched on the top of a steep hill overlooking the town of Horta, called the " Cerro de Carneiro," with their flag flying. Sir Oliver Lambart received a sufficient number of men to guard the approaches to the town, and after sunset Sir Francis Vere prepared to make a close reconnois- sance of the fort. He took with him the young Earl of Rutland, several other volunteers, and about 200 soldiers. On reaching the top of the hill it was found that the place had just been abandoned, and several English prisoners, including Captain Hart, were lying there with their throats cut. It was use- less to attempt the pursuit of the murderers over the mountainous island, so fire was set to the town as a punishment. The fleet, after taking fresh provisions on board, sailed from Fayal. Essex then cruised off and on, between the islands of Graciosa and Terceira, for three days, watching 1 Camden says : " Essex re- leigh's defence was that he waited proved Raleigh sharply for acting four days, wanted water, and was without orders." (Page 598.) Ra- obliged to win it by the sword. 246 THE FIGHTING VERES. for the treasure fleet from the Indies. The people of Graciosa, like those of Corvo and Flores, sent fruit and fowls to the ships, submitted to all demands, and declared that, as Portuguese, they detested the Spaniards. Then, by a fatal error in judgment, Essex bore away to St. Michael's, leaving only four ships to cruise off Graciosa. Gorges says that this course was adopted by the advice of the master of the " Repulse," " a dull, unlucky fellow, named Cover." A pinnace was dispatched to the " Mary Rose," with orders to Sir Francis Vere for that ship and the " Dreadnought," on board of which was Sir Nich- olas Parker, to cruise between St. George and Gra- ciosa. The Earl of Southampton, in the " Garland," and Sir William Monson, in the " Rainbow," were ordered to cruise off the north side of Graciosa. Vere received his orders at about ten p. M. A little after midnight the look-out men of the " Rainbow " heard signal guns. There was scarcely any wind, but Vere and Parker crowded all sail in the direction of the reports. The morning was very foggy, and nothing could be seen, but still the guns could be heard at intervals. At eight A. M. the fog rose, and disclosed to view a fleet of twenty Spanish ships, nearly hull down, making all sail for Terceira. Vere set every stitch of canvas, and kept wetting the sails, to make them draw, as the wind began to freshen. The " Garland " and " Rainbow " were far ahead, and near the Spanish ships ; and the Earl of Southamp- ton did capture a lagging frigate, laden with cochi- neal. But the rest of the fleet got safely into Ter- ceira, where the treasure was landed, and the ships THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 247 were moored close under the guns of the fort. Among the Spanish fleet, which was commanded by Juan Gutierrez de Garibay and Francisco de Corral, there were six galleons laden with silver. The trea- sure amounted to 10,000,000, belonging to the crown and to private persons. The unfortunate Sir Rich- ard Hawkins was on board one of the Spanish ships, being conveyed a prisoner of the Inquisition from Lima. He must have been sadly disappointed at losing this most tantalizing chance of escape. It was now evening, and the Earl of Southampton, Sir William Monson, and Sir Nicholas Parker came on board Vere's ship to consult. They resolved to send in boats to cut the cables of the outer Spanish ships ; but the attempt failed, and they continued to watch the entrance, while a fast-sailing pinnace was sent to St. Michael's, to apprise the general. Two days af- terwards Essex arrived with the rest of the fleet, but the conclusion was that no attempt could be made on Terceira without extreme hazard ; so the enter- prise was abandoned. Provisions were running short, and it was decided that water and supplies should be taken in at St. Michael's, and, as the season was well advanced, that the fleet should then return to England. The plan was, that most of the ships, un- der Raleigh, should remain off the town of St. Mi- chael's, while the soldiers, embarked in smaller vessels, were to effect a landing in the bay called Rostro de Can, near Villafranca, a town about fifteen miles south- east of St. Michael's, on the same side of the island. Sir Francis Vere went ahead in his boat, to select a good place for disembarking ; and the troops, led by the Earl of Essex, landed on a sandy beach in 248 THE FIGHTING VERES. front of the town. Vere then occupied the town with 200 men, and found a good supply of corn and fruit. About 2,000 men were then marched up and quartered in the houses, where they were placed under the command of Vere. Essex and Mountjoy returned to the fleet off St. Michael's. Meanwhile, Raleigh had driven a large carrack on shore, and captured a ship laden with sugar and Brazil wood. The fleet then came to Villafranca to water ; but it was tedious work, as the sea was shallow, and it was necessary to float the casks off to the boats. After watering for three or four days, Essex gave the order to embark. This, also, took a long time. The ships were at anchor at a considerable distance from the shore, and only one boat could come in at a time, owing to the surf. Essex was most of each day at the water-side, superintending the embarkation, and sending up to Vere for more men from the town, as he was ready to embark them. At five in the afternoon of the yth of October, the sentry on the church-tower reported masses of men approaching from the town of St. Michael's. Sir Francis Vere then sent up Sir William Constable, who corroborated the sentry's statement. There were still about 500 men on shore. Dispatching Constable to report the news to the Earl of Essex, Vere sent out thirty shot-men to a little wayside chapel, a long musket range from Villafranca, with or- ders to give the enemy a volley as soon as they came within range, and then to retire hurriedly towards the town, where Vere would be ready with the rest of his men to repulse and rout them. As soon as these arrangements had been made, the Earl of THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 249 Essex, with Lord Southampton and several others, came into the market-place, asking Sir Francis what he had seen. Essex was on horseback, the rest on foot, chatting round him, and giving little credence to the report. Essex called for tobacco, and he sat quietly smoking with his friends. Suddenly the sound of volleys of musketry was heard. The Earl dropped his pipe, and listened intently. Another volley \vas heard. Evidently the soldiers at the chapel, instead of hastily retiring, in accordance with Vere's orders, were holding their own. 1 The conse- quence was that the enemy halted. Keeping the advanced post in sight of the Spanish troops, the embarkation was continued after sunset, and at about midnight the last soldier stepped into the boat. Essex followed him. Then the outlying picket, com- manded by Sir Charles Percy, was quietly withdrawn. Vere was the last man to leave the shore. Before sailing, Essex conferred the honor of knighthood on the Earls of Southampton and Rutland, Sir William Evers, Sir Henry Docwra, Sir William Browne, and a Dutch gentleman. 2 On the 9th of October the fleet shaped a course for England. It was soon scattered by a gale of wind. The " Mary Rose " very nearly ran into the " Warspite," her stem tearing away the whole of the 1 Herrera says that the Span- cap. xiv. p. 1935, which is followed iards, commanded by Antonio Fa- by A Larger Relation of the Is- vella, killed 50 English, and took land Voyage, by Sir A. Gorges, p. some prisoners. 1938. Sir Walter Raleigh de- 2 Sir Francis Vere gives a full scribed his landing at Fayal in account of the "island voyage" his History of the World. See in his Commentaries, and there is also Sir William Monson's Naval another in Camden. The official Tracts, and Herrera, lib. xvi. cap. report is in Purchas, iv., lib. x. xxi. p. 730. 250 THE FIGHTING VERES. " Warspite's " port-quarter gallery. Then the " Mary Rose " sprung a very dangerous leak, and the men were kept constantly at the pumps until they reached Plymouth. Fortunately, the same weather had scattered and almost destroyed the great Spanish fleet which had been fitted out at Ferrol for the invasion of Eng- land and Ireland. The intention of Philip II. had been to land an army of 10,000 men at Falmouth ; but his ships were scattered, and as many as thirty-six were lost at sea. 1 The English ships had suffered seriously, but they reached Plymouth at last, and the Earl of Essex posted to the court. Shortly afterwards a supply of treasure was sent down, with commission to Sir Wal- ter Raleigh and Sir Francis Vere to pay the men, re- fit, and send the Queen's ships round to Chatham. Thus ended the unlucky expedition which is known in history as the " Island Voyage." The leader was a young man of distinguished bravery and zeal, but very deficient in judgment and knowledge. He was proud and irascible, yet generous and readily ap- peased ; one who could take advice and was easily led, but who could not be driven. Both his virtues and his faults hurried the ill-fated Earl of Essex to his untimely end. He had around him the most re- nowned sailors and soldiers of their time, Raleigh and Monson, Vere and Mountjoy, and if experience and bravery could alone have won success, its attain- ment was certain. The elements which prevented 1 Vere had information from that Falmouth was to be attacked, prisoners that the Spaniards in- (Vere and Raleigh to Essex, Nov. 2 tended to attack Ireland, and also and 6, 1597. MSS. at Hatfield.) THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 251 the achievement of all that was intended, at the same time secured, in their own way, the main object of the expedition by scattering and destroying the Span- ish fleet. As soon as all his duties were completed at Plym- outh, Sir Francis Vere set out on horseback for Lon- don, travelling post. He was galloping along near Marylebone Park, when he overtook a coach in which was Sir William Russell, the Lord Deputy of Ireland. 1 They had not met for years ; but Vere had seen Sir William charge at the head of Eng- land's chivalry near Zutphen, and Sir William had been governor of Flushing when Vere was defending Sluys. Vere jumped off his horse to salute his old friend with dutiful affection, and Russell stepped out of his coach to show the same cordial pleasure at the meeting. But Vere was in a profuse perspiration from having ridden hard ; and standing bareheaded for some time in a bleak November afternoon, he caught such a violent cold in his head that he was confined to his lodging for three weeks. Meanwhile, the ears of Queen Elizabeth had been filled with ill- natured remarks about the Island Voyage, by the enemies of the Earl of Essex. Sir Francis con- sidered that this detraction was unjust, and as soon as he was able to go out he went to the court, which was then at Whitehall. He determined not to seek an introduction, but to be in attendance in the gar- den when the Queen should come forth. Presently Elizabeth appeared at the head of a crowd of court- 1 He was created Baron Rus- father of the patriot Lord Russell, sell of Thornhaugh in 1603, and who was judicially murdered by died in 1613. He was great-grand- Charles II. 252 THE FIGHTING VERES. iers, and as soon as she set eyes on Sir Francis Vere she called him to her. Immediately she began to question him about the Island Voyage, appearing to be much incensed against Essex, and laying the whole blame of the failure upon him. In reply Sir Francis boldly justified the young Earl, and answered all the objections that had been raised against him, in presence of his detractors. The Queen was satis- fied, and, having reached the end of the walk, she sat down, and continued to hold more confidential dis- course with Vere alone, about the Earl's disposition. Essex was afterwards made Earl Marshal of England; the lord admiral, who was his colleague in the Cadiz voyage, having previously been created Earl of Not- tingham. During the absence of Vere at the Azores, one of the oldest and bravest of his companions had passed away. Sir John Norris, second only to Morgan and Williams for length of service, and second to no one for gallantry in action, died in Ireland in 1597. He was President of Munster. Lord Burgh, 1 the gov- ernor of Brill, had also died, and his successor, Lord Sheffield, resigned after a few months. Sir Francis Vere, after the battle of Turnhout, in January, passed most of the winter and spring of 1598 at court, " gal- lantly followed by such as profess arms." 5 Every 1 Thomas Lord Burgh of Gains- of T.Vanghan. His gallant brother borough was descended from Sir John was knighted by the Earl of Thomas de Burgh, who was created Leicester, but came to an untimely a Knight of the Garter by Richard end in a duel, in 1594, aged thirty- Ill., and made Lord Burgh of two. There is a tomb to Sir John Gainsborough in 1488. Lord Burgh Borough (or Burgh) in West- succeeded Thomas Cecil as gov- minster Abbey, ernor of Brill, and died in 1597. a Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert His widow was Frances, daughter Sidney, ii. p. 78. THE ISLAND VOYAGE. 253 ambitious young gentleman sought employment under the greatest English captain of the time, and he received numerous applications whenever he ap- peared at court. He was himself desirous of obtain- ing the government of one of the cautionary towns, and that of Brill was now vacant. Many friends urged him to apply for it, and Sir Fulk Greville brought the subject to the Queen's notice. After- wards Sir Francis, when her Majesty was walking in the garden one evening, ventured to make the request to her in person. The Earl of Sussex was his only competitor, while he had a warm friend in Sir Robert Cecil, who had just become Secretary of State. The Queen, in the summer of 1598, finally decided in favor of Sir Francis Vere. Towards the end of Sep- tember he left England, and assumed the government of Brill, after taking the oaths of office. 1 He was now governor of Brill, general of her Majesty's forces in the Netherlands, and general of the English troops in the pay of the States. 1 Sir Francis Vere's lieutenant- yearly cost of the Brill garrison of governor at Brill was Sir Edward 500 men was, for officers, 2,244 ; Conway, who had been knighted men, .7,098 ; total, .9,342. The at Cadiz. Sir Edward was created governor received ,1,241 a year, Lord Conway of Ragley in 1624, out of which a pension had to be and was Secretary of State in 1630. paid to Lady Burgh. Vere's lieu- His father, Sir John Conway, died tenant was young E. Wilford, son in 1603, and his mother was Elena, of his old comrade Sir T. Wilford. daughter of Sir Fulk Greville. Sir The sergeant-major was Thomas Edward married Dorothy, daugh- Fawkes; water baily, Captain H. ter of Sir J. Tracy of Toddington, Fawkes ; officer of musters, George and had Edward, 2d Lord Conway, Thoresby ; master gunner, Gregory and Brilliana, born at Brill, and Gibbs ; captain of a company, Sir married to Sir R. Harley. The F. Gorges. CHAPTER XIX. BATTLE OF TURNHOUT. DURING the absence of Sir Francis Vere from the Netherlands on naval service, the activity and enter- prise of Prince Maurice had been as conspicuous as ever; and there had been a change in the Spanish command. The Archduke Ernest died in February, 1595, and during the following year Don Pedro de Guzman, Conde de Fuentes, had been captain-general of the army of Philip II. The Archduke Albert, one of the younger sons of the Emperor Maximilian II., had been intended for the church, and had actually been appointed a cardinal and Archbishop of Toledo. But his career was changed ; and his cousin, Philip II., selected him to represent Spanish power in the Low Countries. He was an amiable man, but was not remarkable for military talent. His very plain features are familiar to visitors to the Brussels picture gallery. The Archduke Albert entered Brussels on the nth of February, 1596, when he was thirty-seven years of age. In the following summer the siege and capture of Hulst gave some eclat to his government. Late in the autumn of 1597 Sir Francis Vere came over to Holland and inspected the English field force, residing for some time at the Hague. On the ap- proach of winter a division of the Archduke Albert's army, under the command of the Count of Varras, BATTLE OF TURNHOUT. 255 had advanced to the village of Turnhout, about twenty miles south of Breda. It consisted of 4,000 infantry and 600 cavalry, and it was evident that they were watching for an opportunity to undertake some ex- ploit against the Dutch ; probably their design was to surprise the town of Tholen. Sir Francis Vere saw a good deal of Barneveldt at the Hague, and one day, in the course of conversation, he remarked to the Dutch statesman that " the enemy did but tempt us to beat them." The idea bore fruit. Barneveldt dis- cussed the matter with the other members of the States General, and, towards the end of December, Maurice received orders to collect a force at Ger- truydenburg, very secretly, to attack the enemy at Turnhout. This enterprise was well planned, ably carried out, and was completely successful. It was an instance of the reward which attends upon vigilance and prompt action ; and it served to display the special qualities of Sir Francis Vere to the best advantage. A force of 5,000 foot and 800 horse, with two demi- cannons arid two fieldpieces, under Heraugiere, the governor of Breda, was secretly assembled at Ger- truydenburg. Sir Francis Vere brought an English regiment, and he was to command one of the two troops into which the English cavalry was divided. Sir Robert Sidney came from Flushing with 300 of his garrison. Hohenlohe, with Marcellus Bacx under his orders, commanded the States cavalry. Brederode and Solms arrived with drafts from various garrisons, and Sir Alexander Murray with a regiment of Scots. At break of day on Thursday, the 23d of January, 1598, the expedition marched out of Ger- 256 THE FIGHTING VERES. truydenburg in four divisions, with cavalry on the flanks. In the van were, six ensigns of foot under the colors of Maurice himself, next came 700 men under Sidney, then eight ensigns of foot under Sir Francis, and Murray brought up the rear with his Scots. Marching all day, they reached the village of Ravels, near Turnhout, about two hours after dark. The distance from Gertruydenburg was twenty-four miles, a long march. The rear guard did not reach camp until after midnight. It was a dark and bitterly cold night. Spies reported that the enemy was en- camped at Turnhout, three miles from Ravels, without any intrenchments, and ignorant of their danger. Supper was hastily cooked, and the men rested after their long march. Maurice, Vere, and Sidney wrapped their cloaks around them, and lay down on the frozen ground. But Maurice was restless, walking up and down, and lighting fires of straw with his own hand, by the corps du garde. There was no sleeping by him, so Vere and Sidney went into a barn full of soldiers, and there got a little sleep. At length morning dawned. The Count of Varras, brother of the Marquis of Warrenbon," though an honorable knight, had more of magnificence, sumptuousness, and eloquence than experience in war." l He had heard nothing of the threatening assemblage of troops at Gertruydenburg, and was encamped in the large village of Turnhout without any suspicion of danger. The small castle, surrounded by a moat, contained a garrison of forty men. The force commanded by the Count of Varras consisted of four battalions of infantry, the Germans 1 Herrera. Wouw _Rosendaal > Bergen op Zoom Turnlionl Zevt-rdenck Antwerp Rmelmonde r/^. Ja Qrobbendoncfc ~~~^. Heerenthals \0* ^Louvaine .Brussels - Waterloo TWaT i v SCALE OF MILES 3 9 13 tt THE FIELD OF TURNIIOUT. BATTLE OF TURNHOUT. 257 under Count Solst, the Walloons and Burgundians under the Comte de Hachincourt and the Sieur de Barlaymont, and the Neapolitans under the Marquis of 1 Treviso ; and of five squadrons of cavalry, led by Nicolo Basta. The regiments of horse were com- manded by Juan de Cordova, Alonzo de Mendoza, Juan de Guzman, Alonzo Mondragon, and the Flem- ings under the Sieur de Grubbendonck. At about midnight the Count de Varras first heard of the proximity of Maurice's army. He immediately or- dered a retreat to Heerenthals, twelve miles to the southwest, on the road to Malines. The baggage wagons were packed and sent off at once, escorted by the cavalry, the battalions of infantry following. Before dawn the retreat had commenced, and the whole force was well on the road to Heerenthals. In those days the country consisted of woods, with plenty of undergrowth, alternating with expanses of open heath. At a distance of a mile south of Turnhout, the little river of Aa crosses the road. Maurice broke up his camp before dawn, and by break of day he reached Turnhout, and found that the rear guard of the enemy had just marched out of the village. On reaching the banks of the Aa, the wooden bridge had been broken down except one plank, and parties of the enemy were stationed on the other side. Maurice halted halfway between the village and the bridge. His council advised against pursuit, with the exception of Sir Francis Vere and Sir Marcellus Bacx. Vere not only insisted upon vigorous pursuit, but urged that if it were not imme- diate and sustained it would fail. Maurice concurred, and gave Vere 200 musketeers to dislodge the 258 THE FIGHTING VERES. enemy's rear guard from the bridge-head. The country was intersected in all directions by hedges and ditches. Sir Francis put his heavily weighted war-horse at a wide brook, where there was bad taking off, and it fell. Meteren says that the horse was killed under him. The general scrambled out on the other side, and continued to lead on foot, until he was remounted. The Dutch musketeers under his orders were commanded by Captain van der Aa, who, by a curious coincidence, had the same name as the river. Some crossed the bridge, while others, with the cavalry, got over the river by a very deep and dangerous ford. The enemy was now in full retreat, and it was evident that the pursuing infantry could take no further part in the operations. Vere saw at once that the only chance of delaying them was to keep constantly in their sight. He therefore rode on with a few officers. He saw some marching and others halting, as if there was some impediment in front, which he supposed to be caused by a block of wagons. They were marching along a broad lane, with trees and underwood on either side. The English general took in the position at once. Assuming that the trees would conceal the small ness of his force, he called up his musketeers, and stationed them along the skirts of the wood, with orders to keep up a dropping fire, while he himself, with six- teen horsemen, followed along the highway, in full sight. He sent back a report to Maurice, with an urgent request that he would advance promptly and rapidly with all his cavalry, in which case victory was certain. Meanwhile, Vere continued to keep touch of the BATTLE OF TURNHOUT. 259 enemy, whose rear guard maintained a skirmishing fire, and he was slightly wounded in the leg. Thus he kept them in play for three hours, when they emerged on an open heath, about three miles from the bridge. 1 This skirmishing caused considerable delay in the retreat, which was Vere's object, and it thus secured the victory. The open heath was about three miles across, with woods and enclosed fields on the left. Along these Vere caused his musketeers to advance and fire upon the enemy ; while he, now con- siderably reinforced, continued to follow in the open. The Count de Varras, now that he had sufficient space on the heath, formed his infantry in four solid squares of pikemen, with shotmen on the flanks. His cavalry and wagons had already crossed the heath, and entered the lane beyond, which had woods and enclosures on either side. The first square consisted of Germans led by Count Solst, then came Walloons and Burgundians under Hachincourt and Barlay- mont, and the Marquis of Treviso brought up the rear with his Neapolitans. They were fast traversing the heath, and approaching the woods, where they would be in comparative safety. Vere kept following them, anxiously watching the trees in the rear for the appearance of Maurice and his cavalry. At length, to his great relief, they began to come in sight. Then squadron after squadron emerged from the wood and formed on the open heath. There were very few minutes to spare. Vere galloped off to Count Maurice, and proposed to lead 1 Vere says five or six miles, the commencement of the heath at Docwra two miles. An examina- a distance of three miles from the tion of the ground leads me to place river Aa. 260 THE FIGHTING VERES. a charge at once ; while Hohenlohe took up a posi- tion on the right. Then, almost at the same mo- ment, Hohenlohe charged the enemy's right flank, while Vere dashed upon their rear. After the first volley their shotmen broke and fled. The pikemen were injudiciously formed for receiving cavalry, and the English and Dutch soon broke their massed squares. Then several companies of horse galloped down the Heerenthal road, in chase of the enemy's cavalry and baggage. Vere foresaw that these dis- ordered and victorious pursuers would soon be routed by the well-ordered cavalry of the enemy, which had not yet been in action. He told Count Hohenlohe that he would do well to stop the pursuit. He then overtook Sir Nicholas Parker, who commanded his own English companies, and ordered him to station his men at the end of the heath, and check the coun- ter-pursuit he anticipated. Sure enough, the dis- ordered cavalry were soon seen to be returning as fast as they went, and galloped past Vere and Parker in wild flight. The enemy's cavalry were rapidly approaching in pursuit. But seeing fresh troops formed to receive them, they retreated without any further hostile attempt. The destruction of the infantry battalions was com- plete. Out of 4,000, the number of killed was 300, of prisoners 600, and thirty-eight ensigns were taken. The Count of Varras was slain in the battle. Of the allied forces not above ten were slain ; and the whole action was fought by under 800 horse. The infantry never came up. That night they rested at the village of Turnhout. 1 Next morning the castle of Turnhout 1 Turnhout is now a growing manufacturing town. The church is BATTLE OF TURNHOUT. 261 capitulated, and the troops began their return march to Gertruydenburg. 1 Prince Maurice returned to the Hague on the 8th of February. Sir Francis Vere accompanied Sir Robert Sidney to Willemstad, whence the governor of Flushing intended to pro- ceed by water to his charge. Vere wrote his official despatches, and gave them to one of Sidney's captains to deliver in England. Sidney's letter was sent home by the same opportunity. Both these gallant soldiers spoke generously of each other. Vere said : " Sir Robert Sidney deserved exceeding well in this ser- vice, being one of the first that charged." Sidney reported that the victory was due to Vere. Yet mis- chief was made between them, and Sir Francis was told that " his letters were kept back, and Sidney's delivered, that were far more partially written." The news of the battle of Turnhout was received in England with great rejoicing, and congratulations in the centre of the Groot Markt. of Turnhout is given by Sir Francis It is a modern cruciform building Vere himself in his Commentaries; of brick, but contains a very fine and in his official report, dated at pulpit of carved wood, like that at Breda on January 27, 1597. (S. St. Andrew's in Antwerp, the P. O., Holland, vol. Ixxxv.) Sir apostolic fishers in a boat, drawing Robert SioThey's report, dated from their net, and at the foot the figure Flushing, is in the same volume, of Christ calling them. The ban- On February 28, 1597, Sir F. Vere isters represent a vine with clus- sent a discourse of the exploit to ters of grapes on one side, and on Lord Burleigh, which had been* the other an orange-tree with leaves published in French, Latin, and and fruit. The old castle was at Dutch. At Hatfield there is an a short distance northwest of the account of the battle by Sir Henry market-place, a square building Docwra, dated January 30, 1598, with an angle tower, surrounded which was sent to the Earl of by an unusually wide moat. It is Essex. I was supplied with a now used as the prison. A street copy of this interesting document now extends south from the market through the kindness of the Mar- place to the river Aa, and beyond it. quis of Salisbury. See, also, 1 The best account of the battle Grimeston, Meteren, Bentivoglio. 262 THE FIGHTING VERES. poured in on all sides. It was even dramatized in London, and introduced on the stage, all the officers who were present at the battle being personated. " He that played Sir Francis Vere got a beard resembling his, and a watchet satin doublet with hose trimmed with silver lace. Sidney and the others were among the dramatis persons, and honorable mention was made of their services in secondmg Sir Francis." 1 Queen Elizabeth wrote herself to Sir Francis Vere, on February 7, 1598, in the following terms: "It is no news to hear, by the late defeat at Turnhout, that your presence and that of the other English in the service, has furthered both your own repu- tation and its success : yet we wish to signify our good liking of the report we hear of your services." The receipt of this gracious letter from his sovereign gave no small comfort to her faithful and most loyal general, who warmly expressed his gratitude in a letter to Lord Burleigh. 2 Elizabeth did not shower titles and orders among her public servants, but they knew that she watched all they did with close and intelligent interest, that she appreciated their efforts and admired their skill and gallantry. She did not create her general a peer, because she held that the name of Francis Vere had become, through its owner's Merits, more illustrious than any court title that she could bestow. 1 Rowland Whyte to Sir R. the Hague, Feb. 20, 1598. (S. P. Sidney. O., Holland, Ixxxv.) 2 Vere to Lord Burleigh, from CHAPTER XX. THE BOMMEL-WAART. THE long war was entering upon a new phase. Spain was becoming exhausted, and even Philip II. began to contemplate the necessity for peace and conciliation. The heretics, he unwillingly admitted, must be spoken fair. He determined to cede the Netherlands to his daughter Isabella, who was to marry the Cardinal Archduke Albert, and they were to be sovereigns, while the Spanish monarch only retained a suzerainty. Liberal terms were to be offered to the heretics if they would accept this ar- rangement, while proposals of peace were to be made to France and England. What a change since the days of Alva, or even of Parma ! The once match- less Spanish infantry was no longer feared. The successes of the patriots, culminating in the battle of Turnhout, had produced a great moral effect both on the victors and the vanquished. Holland had grown rich and prosperous in the fight for freedom, while Spain had sunk deeper and deeper into debt and embarrassments. At last the haughty and exacting monarch of Spain and the Indies, who for years would listen to nothing but abject submission from his insurgent provinces, was fain to make the first overtures for peace. The King of France, whose country was exhausted 264 THE FIGHTING VERES. by a long civil war, listened to these overtures rather too eagerly, and without any regard for the obliga- tion he had contracted with England and Holland in the time of his sore need. The English ambassa- dor exerted all his influence to prevent the conclusion of a separate peace, but in vain ; and the efforts of Barneveldt and Justinus of Nassau, who were sent on a special mission to Henry IV., were equally fruit- less. The States General were convinced that there could be no lasting peace while Philip II. was alive. The Dutch envoys arrived in France during March, 1598, and they were in London, on their way home, in May ; when they had several conferences with the Queen and her ministers. The Spanish overtures for peace, in whatever spirit they might be entertained by the English govern- ment, suggested a careful review of the position and of the relations between England and her ally. For fifteen years the brave Queen and her loyal people had strained every nerve to help their neighbors in the death-struggle against despotism. The sacrifices made by England had been heavy and burdensome, and the time had come, now that Holland was no longer poor and in danger, when the propriety of concluding a new treaty between the allies might properly be considered. But Barneveldt and his col- league had no authority to enter into negotiations, and they merely expressed their individual opinions when they declared that " there should be no accord with Spain upon any conditions, and that the States ought not to hearken to any peace." On the 3ist of May the Dutch deputies left London for the Hague. The government of Queen Elizabeth then came to THE NEW TREATY. 265 the conclusion, that although the States could not be deserted, and that if they decided for a continuance of the war England must stand by them, yet that the overtures for peace ought to be carefully considered on their merits. It was also resolved that the rela- tions between England and Holland ought to be revised, and that a new treaty should be negotiated, in accordance with the changed condition of affairs, and on a basis which should render the war some- what less burdensome to England. This would en- tail the employment of a special envoy on a delicate and very confidential mission to the Hague. The choice of the Queen fell upon Sir Francis Vere. Since the victory of Turnhout he had been in Eng- land, had been most graciously received, and was fully acquainted with the course of the negotiations. He was a persona grata at the Hague, having always been a favorite of Olden Barneveldt. He had an in- timate knowledge of all matters of account between his own country and the States, and had already shown his capacity as a diplomatist. He was ap- pointed special envoy to the States General, with Mr. George Gilpin, the resident minister at the Hague, as his colleague. 1 Vere's instructions were carefully drawn up, and dated June 7, isgS. 2 He was to remind the deputies that the Queen had performed all the obligations of friendship in urging the King of France against a 1 " Sir Francis Vere is to go set forward if the wind is not very shortly with secret instructions to contrary. I have received my full the Hague." (Chamberlain to despatches." (F. Vere in London Dudley Carleton, May 31, 1598.) to R. Cecil, June 9, 1598. MSS. 2 " I will not fail to make all the at Hatfield.) haste I can over. To-morrow I 266 THE FIGHTING VERES. separate peace and in refusing to negotiate without the States, although she thus incurred the slander of being the main cause of the continuation of the war ; and he was to inform them that, notwithstanding all the arguments she could use, Henry IV. had pro- ceeded to proclaim his peace. He was then to urge upon their attention the extent to which the Queen's own people had suffered from the long war, losing their lives and fortunes daily, until they were weary of such continual and endless vexations. The Queen had loyally prohibited all traffic with the enemy. But the States had acted very differently, and their conduct had caused much indignation throughout England. Dutch ships had been continually em- ployed for the Spaniards, not only in bringing their commodities from Brazil and other parts of the In- dies, for gain and lucre, but in conveying all manner of grain to relieve their wants. Not longer ago than the previous April Dutch ships had come freighted with grain into the Tagus. 1 The envoy was then to remind the States more fully of the sacrifices Eng- land had made for them, and of the benefits they had secured by this generous help. He was to recall to their memories how often they had been made ac- quainted with the heavy burden of the Queen's ex- penses for their country, and with the courses she had adopted to preserve their country from conquest since the fall of Antwerp ; and that they had made solemn and confident promises to reimburse her. Yet it was then beyond expectation that she could have continued her charges as she had done. They knew full well that no prince of any realm of Christendom 1 Spain and Portugal were then united. THE NEW TREATY. 267 had ever done the like for any nation whatsoever ; and they must consider that, by reason of help from England, they had settled their form of government, increased their traffic and commerce abroad, fortified and enlarged their cities and towns, filled them with rich inhabitants who had taken refuge from the enemy, increased their general wealth in every direc- tion, and captured many places of notable strength. Vere was then to remind the States that the Queen of England was accountable to God, in her own conscience, if she should needlessly grieve or expose her people. The peace with France would free the Spanish forces, and the Queen's affairs could not be allowed any longer to hang in uncertainty. For Spain had offered peace to England, while the Spanish king possessed nothing of the Queen's, " nor, God be thanked, has he any cause to boast of any pleasant fruit of any of his encounters with us." The answer Vere was to require from the States General, after pressing these considerations on their attention, was first whether they would assent to or dissent from a treaty of peace with Spain ; and if they dissented they were expected to submit an exact comparison between their means and those of the Queen since she first contracted with them, and to give her reasons why she should continue the war. But her Majesty left the decision " to their own best liking, as she never had any intent to persuade them to anything but what might be best for their own preservation." The Queen would not recommend any accord but on reasonable grounds, with all immu- nities and privileges preserved, and with no other acknowledgment of sovereignty but such as would be 268 THE FIGHTING VERES. vested in a Duke of Burgundy, and not in a King of Spain. She desired Vere to assure the States that, in any dealings about peace, she would do her best to provide for them as those whom she held in dear- est regard. Finally, if the States continued in their resolution to make no peace with the King of Spain, then the Queen of England would still stand by them in that resolve. But in that case they must enter into a new treaty. Vere was to indicate certain points, " the better to lead them into the right accompte of what nature their offers ought to be made." They were to understand that the Queen expected repayment of some good portion of the debt ; that henceforward she should have no more charges either for auxilia- ries or for the cautionary towns ; that the States would be ready with good aid of ships and men if England was assailed ; and that they would furnish supplies for the army in Ireland. 1 These concessions the Queen had a right to expect, in consideration of the greatly increased wealth of the provinces, and of the efficient help she had given them during many years. Having received these detailed instructions and taken leave of the Queen, Sir Francis Vere sailed for Flushing, but he was three days on the voyage " by reason of scant wind." He arrived at the Hague on the 1 6th of June, and next day he and Gilpin de- manded an audience of the States General. 2 On the 1 " Instructions to Sir Francis 2 Sir W. Browne to Sir R. Sid- Vere, Kt., sent to the States, to be ney, from Flushing, June 16, 1598. communicated with Mr. Gilpin," Sir F. Vere to Sir R. Cecil, from June 7, 1598. (In the British Mu- Middelburg, June 16, 1598, and seum, Galba D, xii. 159; 20 pages, from the Hague, June 21, 1598. damaged by fire.) THE NEW TREATY. 269 1 8th they were received, and Vere delivered a speech embracing the various points of his instructions. The States acknowledged all the benefits that had been conferred on their country by the Queen, and declared that they desired by all means to make their thankfulness manifest, and that they would do their uttermost to give her satisfaction. 1 As regarded the Spanish overtures, they were inclined rather to war than to a doubtful peace. 2 Many conferences with Barneveldt followed, and Vere reported that the States would omit no possible means to yield her Majesty all the contentment in their power. The resolution in favor of continuing the war made it necessary to examine the accounts between the two countries, and to obtain the concessions required by the Queen. The States eventually acknowledged a debt to England of ,800,000. They agreed to relieve the Queen's government of expenses connected with auxiliary troops and the cautionary towns, to make an annual payment of ,30,000, and to furnish aid, in ships and men, in the event of England being in- vaded. Barneveldt proceeded to London with the treaty, and it was ratified on the i6th of August, I598. 3 Lord Burleigh, who had served Queen Elizabeth with such unexampled fidelity and consummate ability during forty years, died, full of years and 1 Vere and Gilpin to R. Cecil, Nottingham, Hunsdon, Essex, June 27, 1598. MSS. at Hatfield. North, Knollys, Buckhurst, Rob- 2 Grimeston ; Meteren, p. 429 ; ert Cecil ; the Dutch signers were Gilpin. Olden Barneveldt, Duvenvoord, 8 S. P. O., Holland, vol. Ixxxix. Van Worck, Van Hottman, Hep- The English commissioners who pela, and Noel Caron. The treaty signed this treaty were Egerton, is in French. 270 THE FIGHTING VERES. honor, on the 4th of August, 1598, twelve days be- fore the signature of the treaty. He lived to see all his plans for the good of England succeed, all his patriotic aspirations fulfilled. A few weeks after- wards his equally industrious but far less able oppo- nent breathed his last. Philip II. died on the 13th of September, 1598. On the 6th of May Philip had formally ceded the Netherlands to his daughter Isabella, and on the I4th of September the Archduke Albert set out from Brussels to be married to the new sovereign, and to share with her the government of those provinces which still remained in the power of Spain. He left the Cardinal Andrew of Austria, and Don Francisco de Mendoza, the Admiral of Aragon and Marquis of Guadalete, in charge during his absence. A vigor- ous attempt was made to gain some important suc- cess during the Archduke's visit to Spain. The ad- miral crossed the Meuse with a large army in Sep- tember, 1598, and overran Cleves and Westphalia, in violation of the neutral rights of the Empire, and in November he battered the town of Doesburg. Shock- ing barbarities were committed by his soldiery, which aroused the indignation of the German princes, 1 but he obtained no permanent advantage. Maurice had remained in an attitude of observation in the neigh- borhood of Arnhem. Towards the end of the year Sir Francis Vere was called upon, in a letter from Queen Elizabeth herself, 2 to arrange with the States for the 1 On December 30, 1 598, the laging o the Spaniards within the Emperor published a mandate empire. (Meteren.) against the Admiral of Aragon, 2 Dated December 15, 1598. recounting the hostilities and pil- THE BOMMEL-WAART. 271 immediate dispatch of 2,000 English troops to Ire- land. He promptly gave the necessary orders, and by January, 1599, the detachment was ready for em- barkation at Flushing. The general had withdrawn 700 men from the cautionary towns, and 1,300 from the strength of eighteen companies. On this occasion the services of Sir Arthur Chichester, the future lord deputy, were transferred to Ireland. He had hitherto served in France and in the Ostend garrison. By this time Queen Elizabeth had learned the value of Sir Francis Vere's services. He scarcely needed an advocate, for her appreciation of the mer- its of her general had been shown by entrusting to him the conduct of intricate negotiations, by giving him command of all English troops in the field, and by conferring on him the government of Brill. If such advocacy were needed, Vere had secured the confidence and friendship of Sir Robert Cecil, who had been Secretary of State since 1597. In March, 1599, Sir Francis expressed his thanks to Cecil for his labor to keep him in her Majesty's good opinion, in spite of the Earl of Essex, and also for his speeches at the council table in favor of his brother Horace. It was not until the early spring of 1599 that Vere was able to proceed from the Hague to Brill, in order to organize his new government ; and in May he joined the army of Maurice, which was assembling along the line of the Maas, to oppose a formidable invasion of the Spaniards. He was accompanied by his brother Horace and by young Edward Cecil, a nephew of the Secretary, who now began his military career under the auspices of the greatest living mas- ter of the art. His father, Thomas Cecil, who had 272 THE FIGHTING VERES. just succeeded as second Lord Burleigh, had been the first English governor of Brill. But he had soon retired, having shown no taste for the life of a soldier. The army of Maurice was at first stationed along the line of the rivers, ready to succor Schenk's Sconce, Nymegen, Doesburg, or any other point that might be attacked. But the object of the Spaniards was to conquer the island of Bommel-waart, lower down the rivers, and thence to threaten Holland. Where the rivers Waal and Maas unite, at the eastern end of the Betuwe, there is a small island called Voorn, on which the Dutch had a strong position called Fort Nassau. The two rivers then separate again, to form an island called the Bommel-waart, which is twelve and a half miles long, and five across in the widest part. South of the Bommel-waart, the country of Brabant is drained by the rivers Aa and Dommel, which rise in an extensive morass, twenty-five miles long by six, called the Peel. The Peel yields excel- lent peat. Uniting at the important city of Bois le Due, the two streams form the river Dieze, which falls into the Maas, nearly opposite the centre of Bommel- waart island. At its mouth, on the Brabant site, was the strong fort called Crevecoeur. On the opposite side of the island, built along the left bank of the Waal, is the flourishing town of Bommel, with its lofty church-tower. 1 1 The old ramparts of Bommel lofty tower is of brick, with stone- are now planted with avenues of faced buttresses in four stories, lofty trees, chiefly horse-chestnuts, having a gallery and light balus- except along the quay facing the trade round each. Thus the angle Waal. The church is near the in- buttresses incline inwards and land or south end of the town ; the taper to the pinnacles. Formerly THE BOMMEL-WAART. 273 On the 4th of May, 1599, the Spanish army crossed the Maas between Kessel and Theren, and invaded the island of Bommel-waart. Maurice rapidly concen- trated his forces in the city of Bommel, throwing up intrenchments, while Bourlotte, in command of the invaders, encamped at the village of Alst. Follow- ing up this onward movement, the Admiral of Ara- gon captured the fort of Crevecceur, and laid siege to Bommel. Nor did he rest content with this open- ing success. On the i6th of May he delivered a furious assault along the lines round Bommel, which was repulsed, the Spanish maestro de campo, Alfonso Davalos, being severely wounded. But the admiral continued his approaches, and planted guns, while skirmishes were of daily occurrence. The States General strained every nerve for the defence of Bommel. They sent 280 vessels, several mounted with guns, to help in the river ; 379 wagons were dispatched with provisions, and 356 horses were there was a spire. The church, ded- Bois le Due away to the south; icated to St. Martin, has spacious Bommel-waart, with its bright aisles, which are apsidal at the east green pastures, bounded by its two end, and a loftier nave, with trifo- rivers, the Waal and the Maas ; rium and clerestory. The capitals Rossum some three and a half of the pillars are richly carved with miles to the east, and the famed double chaplets of oak-leaves. At forts of Nassau and San Andres the west end of the south aisle just beyond. Fort Crevecceur is there is an exceedingly pretty bap- five miles to the south, in a line tistery, and an old font, with the with Bois le Due. A little nearer ark, tree of knowledge, and birth is the village of Hedel, and a mile of the Saviour carved round it. to the east of it was the castle of There are two nearly obliterated Ammerzoden. Alst, where the frescos on the wall. From Bom- Spaniards encamped befare the mel tower the whole scene of the siege of Bommel, is six miles to campaign of 1599 is spread out the east. There are several quaint like a map : the broad waters of old houses, with rich carvings, in the Waal immediately below, and the town of Bommel. 274 THE FIGHTING VERES. collected for dragging the guns. Their army num- bered 10,000 foot and 3,000 horse. On the I3th of June Maurice was able to open a tremendous fire on the enemy's camp, which obliged the admiral to raise the siege. He retreated across the island and began the construction of a formidable fortress at the east- ern end, facing the isle of Voorn, which he named San Andres in honor of his colleague, the Cardinal. His camp was moved to the village of Hurwenen. Maurice exerted himself to hinder the progress of Fort San Andres. Two bastions were to be raised towards the Waal, two towards the Maas, and a fifth inland, with connecting curtains, the rivers serving as a ditch. The works were designed by Velasco. Maurice planted guns on the opposite bank, and there was a heavy cannonade, but for many days the two armies were comparatively inactive. On the 24th of June a force under Count William Louis of Nassau and Sir Horace Vere crossed the river, and by break of day they had thrown up a half- moon of small extent at Heerewaarden, under a league from San Andres. Next day, 3,000 Spaniards and Italians, led by Jasper Zapena, and encouraged by several monks, attacked the half-moon with great fury, forcing the palisades, and fighting hand to hand and at push of pike. Horace Vere, aided by the Scottish Colonel Edmunds and the Huguenot De la Noue, defended the position most gallantly, and the assailants were repulsed with heavy loss. 1 Maurice then . connected Heerewaarden with Voorn by a 1 Prinsterer, page 429. Lettre slain was Count Pacheco, son of clxxxii. Le Comte Guillaume the architect of the castle of Ant- Louis au Comte Jean de Nassau, werp. Voorn, June 26, 1 599. Among the THE BOMMEL-WAART, 275 bridge, and fortified a position on the Brabant side, called Lithoijen, for its protection. Sir Francis Vere, crossing the river with 6,000 men, made a brilliant attack on another Spanish fort, which they called Durango. The vigilance of the allies thwarted all the Spanish schemes of invasion, and on the 22d of July the enemy evacuated the Bommel-waart. 1 Meanwhile, Sir Francis Vere had been struck down with a severe illness, and was confined for some days to his tent on the island of Voorn, " with no other troops about him than the musketeers of his own company." 2 On the 27th of July he sent Robert Cecil a plan of the island of Bommel-waart, showing the operations of the cam- paign. He reported that the Spanish army was so weaned and discontented that the soldiers disbanded in heaps, and that there was no likelihood of good gov- ernment among them until the coming of the Arch- duke. In August another demand for troops arrived from the Queen, and Sir Francis Vere had the unpleas- ant duty of urging it upon Barneveldt, who was then at the camp. The Dutch statesman represented that the sword was now over their heads, and that the loss of more troops would be their ruin, but that the States would readily comply with the demand for ships. 3 Vere then proceeded to the Hague, had an audience of the States General in full assembly on the loth of August, and eventually obtained compli- ance with the Queen's demands in full. 1 For the Bommel-waart cam- Sidney, 2d July, 1599; Sir W. paign see Grimeston ; Meteren, p. Browne to Sidney, etc. 463 ; Bentivoglio; Sir F. Vere to * Sir W. Browne to Sir R. Sid- R. Cecil, 26th May, 26th June, 23d ney, 2oth July, 1 599. July, 27th July, 1599: Edward Ce- * S. P. O., Holland, vol. xci. cil to Lord Burleigh, I3th July, Sir F. Vere to Robert Cecil, 1st 1599; Rowland Whyte to Sir R. Aug., 1599. 276 THE FIGHTING VERES. The truth was that a Spanish invasion was once more apprehended, and an army of defence was rap- idly organized. 1 The Castilian admiral was reported to be assembling ships and troops at Corufia. Sir Francis Vere was ordered to England with 2,000 of his best soldiers, and received the appointment of Lord Marshal of the army. He arrived in August, and was received in audience by the Queen. 2 Row. land Whyte says that on reaching London " he came to Mr. Secretary's, who brought him to the Queen, with whom he was long and very graciously used, and true it is that Mr. Secretary gives him all grace." He and his men were kept on full pay until the dan- ger of invasion had blown over. He was high in favor, and in September there was a rumor over London that Vere would be the next Lord Deputy of Ireland. 3 In November he returned to the Hague. 4 The Archduke Albert had arrived in Spain some months after the death of Philip II. On the i8th of April, 1599, double marriages were celebrated at Va- lencia between King Philip III. and Margaret of Austria, and the Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella. The sovereign Archdukes, Albert and Isa- 1 Chamberlain to Carleton, ist Shirley, which Mr. Evelyn Shirley Aug., 1 599. has printed in his Sherley Broth- 2 Rowland Whyte to Sir R. Sid- ers, p. 21. It is dated at the ney, I2th Sept., 1599. Hague, on i8th Feb., 1600. Sir 8 Rowland Whyte, 8th Sept., Anthony was an old companion in 1599 : " Sir Francis Vere will have arms of Sir Francis, and was then Ireland if Lord Mountjoy does not at the court of Persia, in high fa- go." vor with Shah Abbas. The letter 4 There is a letter in the State is cordial and complimentary, but Paper Office (Persia) from Sir contains no news. Francis Vere to Sir Anthony THE BOMMEL-WAART. 277 bella, then set out for their government, travelling by Milan, over the Alps to Basle, and thence by Besan9on and Luxemburg. They entered Brussels on the 5th of September, 1599, and established a decorous, very dull Spanish court, representing a losing cause. Early in the following year the Span- ish garrisons of San Andres and Crevecceur sold those important fortresses to Prince Maurice for their arrears of pay. 1 They had been in a mutinous, dis- contented state throughout the winter. All the fruits of the Bommel-waart campaign were thus lost to the Spaniards, and the prospects of the Archdukes were gloomy and disheartening. On the other hand, the new century opened to the allies with bright an- ticipations of independence and prosperity. 1 22,500 for the forts, with ordnance and munitions. (Letter from Sir F. Vere, at the Hague, 29th April, 1600.) CHAPTER XXI. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. THE States General, guided by the advice of Olden Barneveldt, resolved to carry the war into the enemy's country in the summer of 1600, believing that the Archdukes were embarrassed by want of funds and by mutinous troops. Ostend was held by their ally, the Queen of England, and it was determined that the bulk of their army should be landed on the Flem- ish coast, and should lay siege to the town of Nieu- port, west of Ostend, and afterwards to Dunkirk. Prince Maurice considered this enterprise to be ex- tremely hazardous, and Sir Francis Vere held the same opinion. But the military authorities were overruled, and a large fleet was assembled off Flush- ing, to embark the troops and land them on the op- posite shore. The army consisted of 12,000 infantry, 1,600 cav- alry, and 10 pieces of artillery. It was divided into three divisions : the van led by Sir Francis Vere, the battle by Count Everard Solms, and the rear by Count Ernest of Nassau and Olivier de Tempel. Count Louis Gunther of Nassau was general of cav- alry. Vere's division consisted of 1,600 English vet- erans, 2,500 Frisians, 250 of Prince Maurice's guard, and 10 cornets of horse, making a total of 4,500 men. His brother, Sir Horace Vere, was with him, and his THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 279 trusty friend and counsellor, Sir John Ogle, who was lieutenant - colonel. There, too, were Sir Robert Drury, Sir Charles Fairfax, Captains Holies, Gilbert, Sutton, Lowell, and Morgan, while Sir Edward Cecil commanded Vere's regiment of horse. Vere's Fris- ians were led by Generals Taco Hettinga, Arusma, and Ripperda. Maurice, who commanded in chief, had with him his young brother Frederick Henry, Counts Frederick, Albert, and Otto Solms, his half- brother Justinus of Nassau, two sons of Admiral Coligny, and Lord Grey de Wilton. Young Ernest of Nassau occupied Fort Philippine on the 2ist of June, this being the point selected for the disembarkation of the army on the Flemish coast. Philippine is near the head of a large shallow inlet, with many sandbanks, dry at low water, called the Braakman. 1 It is now a fishing village, with a thriv- 1 The Braakman penetrates to the mouth of the Braakman, or in within a few hundred yards of the the Scheldt. Next year it is Belgian frontier, and thus divides brood, and in the third year the Dutch Flanders, on the south side mussels are taken up. Carts come of the Scheldt, nearly in two. It in from Belgium to take away the is about five miles deep and two sacks of mussels, with strong net across, and contains two islands, bottoms, so that the wet from the called Kleine Stelle, on which mussels can easily drip out. They there is a farm, and Angeline Pol- are sent to all parts, but princi- der. Philippine is on the western pally to Paris. The men fish, the side, a little fishing village of women cultivate the vegetable gar- one street, running up from the dens. The Protestant church at tiny harbor, where over twenty Philippine probably dates from the boats come in on a Saturday night, time of the Synod of Dort, or and gayly fly the Zealand flag from thereabouts, judging from the style their mastheads all Sunday. These of carving of the pulpit. There- boats busily unload their cargoes mains of the old ramparts form a of mussels, which is the great breezy promenade on soft turf, but trade of the place. The mussel they are not planted with trees, spat is obtained from Dunkirk, At high tide the Braakman is one and put on regular layings near sheet of water, with bright green 280 THE FIGHTING VERES. ing trade in mussels, but in those days there seems to have been nothing but a small fort. The fleet arrived on the 22d, and the whole of that day was occupied in landing the army. When Maurice disembarked there was only a small force of Spaniards in the neighborhood, under an officer named Rivas. But as soon as the news reached the Archduke Albert at Brussels, he rap- idly concentrated his army round Ghent, and pre- pared to march against the invaders. This aggres- sive campaign was a bold and hazardous step on the part of the States General. The destruction of their army, thus isolated in a hostile country, would have left Holland open to invasion, and might have led to the annihilation of her recently acquired liberties. On the other hand, a victory in a great pitched bat- tle between Maurice and the flower of the Spanish forces in the Netherlands would have a moral effect throughout Christendom of the utmost importance to the cause of liberty, quite apart from its immedi- ate consequences. The army of Maurice advanced from Philippine to the neighborhood of Ostend by rapid marches, and captured the forts and redoubts of the enemy round that city, including Oudenburg and St. Albert. The latter was in the dunes, about two miles to the south of Ostend. A body of 2,000 men was left to garrison these important positions, which were on the line of march that the Archduke must take from Bruges to Nieuport; and on June 30 Maurice re- shores, and extensive flats covered frequented by wild ducks and with equisetum and other marsh many other aquatic birds, plants. In winter these flats are THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 281 sumed his advance upon the latter town. Solms had been detached to capture Fort St. Albert. The rest of the army first advanced somewhat inland, appar- ently along the line of the present canal between Bruges and Nieuport; but finding the country in a swampy condition and unfit for the passage of artil- lery, they passed over a stream called the Yper-leet, at the village of Leffinghe, and made their way across the meadows to the seaside with much difficulty, filL ing up ditches, laying bridges, and making a road practicable for field-guns as they advanced. Cross- ing the dunes, they reached the shore at about a cannon-shot from Fort St. Albert, which had already surrendered to Solms, and early in the morning of the ist of July they marched along the beach to Nieu- port Haven, which was waded by the greater part of the army at ebb tide, about eight A. M. The division of Solms arrived a day or two earlier. He had ad- vanced direct along the sands, after taking Fort St. Albert on the 28th. He crossed the haven with half his force, leaving 3,000 men on the Ostend side. This part of the army was before Nieuport for two or three days, and the rest for one day, busily en- gaged in making a bridge over the haven, selecting points of vantage for the siege, intrenching, and pre- paring an encampment. The fleet arrived on the morning of the ist Of July. 1 1 Mr. Motley (in his United one whose advice was so bad that Netherlands, iv. pp. 17, 51) repre- it could scarcely have been given sents Sir Francis Vere in a very in good faith (iv. p. 17), whose only unfavorable light. He has, most virtue was personal courage, and unfortunately, taken an erroneous who published a party pamphlet view of Vere's character and con- marked by " spleen, inordinate duct. He writes of Sir Francis as self-esteem, and wounded pride of 282 THE FIGHTING VERES. Nieuport is a quaint and interesting old Flemish town, between Ostend and Dunkirk, with a wet ditch supplied by a canal from Bruges and by the river Yser, which here falls into the tidal estuary forming the haven. Nieuport was originally a village, called Sandhoofd, depending on a seaport town founded in very ancient times by a Lombard colony, called Lom- baertzyde. But this port was swallowed up by the sea, and the approach to it choked with sand in 1116. The change seems to have opened the pres- ent haven, for Sandhoofd was erected into a town, with the name of Nieuport, in 1160, and Lombaert- zyde became and still is a little rural village, a mile from the haven and from Nieuport. The town of Nieuport was strongly fortified with a brick wall, hav- ing high, circular towers at intervals, with conical tile roofs and a lofty and solid square keep at the south- opinion," upon which no reliance Nieuport at two or three days. can be placed. These, it must be On the strength of this imagi- admitted, are grave charges ex- nary discrepancy Mr. Motley pro- pressed in very strong language, nounces Vere's narrative to be Mr. Motley has added a Special untrustworthy. Both accounts are Note, with the object of justifying correct. The main, body, under his censures on Sir Francis Vere. Maurice, was, it is true, only before It will be my duty to refute en- Nieuport during the ist of July and tirely every single point which Mr. the early morning of the 2d; al- Motley has raised against Vere. I together about twenty-four hours, propose to deal with each accusa- But the division of Solms arrived tion of Mr. Motley as it occurs in on the 29th. Vere is quite accu- the course of the narrative. rate in giving the whole time dur- Mr. Motley's first charge is (iv. ing which the troops were before p. 51) that all other authorities Nieuport at two or three days, agree that Maurice's army came (Vere's Commentaries, page 84.) before Nieuport in the morning of Considering that he was writing the ist of July, and that the battle from memory, some years after the was fought on the 2d, while Vere event, Sir Francis Vere's precise gives the time occupied in quar- accuracy on this and all other tering and intrenching before points is very remarkable. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT- 283 east angle, which is still standing. The place was taken by the English under the Bishop of Norwich in 1383, 1 but stood a long siege from a French army, resisting three assaults, in 1489. The Hotel de Ville, built in 1710, contains a curious and ancient but very inaccurate plan of the battle of Nieuport ; a large modern picture, by L. Moritz, representing the Admiral of Aragon surrendering himself prisoner to Prince Maurice after the battle, which was given to the town by the late King William I. of the Nether- lands, in 1820 ; and a painting on panel of the town as it was in 1600. The haven is now artificially deepened, so that timber-laden brigs and other small craft come up to the town. This channel connects Nieuport with the sea, a distance of a mile and a half. It could easily be waded across during the greater part of the time between half ebb and half flood. On the left bank of the haven, halfway be- tween the town and the sea, there were two light- houses, built by Count Guy de Dampierre in 1284, at a place called Vterboede. They are shown on the old map at Bruges. One still remains, a picturesque hexagonal tower surmounted by a short steeple, which has recently been carefully restored. From the Texel to Dunkirk the flat and fertile plains are protected from the sea by the dunes, a line of hills of fine sand and varying height, thrown together in an apparently confused mass of crests and ridges. There is evidence that the dunes were once much further to the westward, and that they have gradually encroached on the land. In some places the same soil as forms the fields within the dunes crops out on 1 Froissart. 284 THE FIGHTING VERES. the seashore, and at others the roots of trees are un- covered and fishermen's nets get entangled in them. In 1520 a castle built by the Romans at the mouth of the Rhine, inside the dunes, appeared, uncovered, on the seaside, with walls eight feet thick. In 1674 these old Roman walls were 1,600 paces out at sea, beyond the shore line of Katwyk ; and in 175 2, at very low water and after a long continuance of east- erly winds, the last remnants of them were seen. In 1460 the church of Scheveningen was destroyed by the sea. It stood 1,900 yards more to seaward than the present church, which was built on the inland side of the village, and is now nearly on the seashore. The coast of North Holland loses, on an average, about eight feet every year, the dunes being blown inland ; but dunes can be artificially raised by making a sand dike, against which the blown sand accumulates. Part of the dunes on the coast of North Holland were thus formed by order of Olden Barneveldt in 1610, soon after the battle of Nieu- port. In South Holland the dunes are from thirty- two to forty-eight feet above high-water mark, and the highest dune in North Holland attains a height of one hundred and twenty feet. Their width in Walcheren varies from one hundred to six hundred yards, but on the Flemish coast, west of Ostend, it is less. They have, in some parts, a motion from the sea towards the inland, and it is possible that the dunes at Nieuport may have receded; but this seems very doubtful. There is a large bird's-eye map of Flanders in the Hotel de Ville at Bruges, which shows the position of the dunes before the battle. This map was made by Pierre Clarissius in 1597, and THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 285 is a copy of the original map, on a very large scale, constructed by Pierre Pourbus in 1566. Here the po- sition of the dunes, their distance from the haven and from Lombaertzyde, and their width, are shown much as they appear now. It is not a little remarkable that the ridges and bottoms, the hilltops and valleys, are precisely as Sir Francis Vere described them ; so that the relative distances and the general features have continued nearly the same to the present day. The dunes have been sown, since 1820, with a pe- culiar tough grass, called helm (Psamma arcnaria, P. B.), which takes deep root in the sand, and is very useful in checking the drift, but it fails in preventing the sand from being, to some extent, blown inland by strong westerly gales. The section of dunes between Nieuport and Ost- end, a distance of nine miles, has the peculiarity of containing small oases or valleys, surrounded by the sand-hills, where ragwort, wild pansy, plantain, and clover grow luxuriantly ; and from their inner edge a grassy slope extends to the line of cultivation. The whole place swarms with rabbits. The view from the higher ridges of these dunes, looking inland, is very picturesque. To the right is the town of Nieu- port, with its massive church-tower, embosomed in trees, and all along the line of the horizon are the Flemish villages, with their red -tiled, white-walled houses and church -spires, surrounded by fruit or- chards, and wider outer circles of waving crops and emerald pastures. It was in these dunes, and within sight of the peaceful villages of Lombaertzyde and Westende, that the memorable battle of Nieuport was fought, on July 2, 1600. 286 THE FIGHTING VERES. During the whole of the ist, Prince Maurice's army was hard at work completing the bridge and preparing for the siege of Nieuport Many vessels of the fleet had come up the haven, and at low water were high and dry on the mud. Towards evening Maurice re- ceived news from Ostend that a large force of the enemy was before the fort of Oudenburg. A coun- cil of war was called, and most of the officers declared that it was a mere piece of bravado on the part of Rivas, at the head of a small body of infantry, with which he had advanced from Sluys. But Sir Francis Vere maintained that it was the main body of the Archduke's army. He advised Maurice to retrace his steps with his whole force before the enemy could have time to retake the forts, and so attack him at a disadvantage, with the forts in his rear. The advice was excellent, and recommended itself to Maurice ; but, as Vere says, the Prince was usually slow in re- solving, and he waited for further news. 1 The same evening another messenger arrived, fol- 1 In commenting on this coun- ing; and that if the enemy made cil of war, Mr. Motley makes his his appearance while they were second charge against Sir Francis crossing, the army would be hope- Vere. He says : " The advice of lessly lost. Vere involved an outrageous im- The answer to all this is conclu- possibility, and it seems incredible sive. Maurice did not reject the that it can have been given in good advice, but merely procrastinated ; faith ; still more amazing that its and Vere certainly never censured rejection by Maurice should have his old comrade in arms, of whom been bitterly censured. Two he invariably speaks in respectful thirds of the army lay on the other terms. It was nearly dead low side of the harbor, and it was high water when the first news arrived, water at about three o'clock." (iv. before dusk, and the army could p. 17.) He goes on to say that it have waded across the haven with would take longer to cross by ease, without danger from an en- boats and temporary bridges than emy, who was then upwards of ten to wait for low water in the morn- miles off. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 287 lowed by a third, who reported that the forts had surrendered to the Archduke. Maurice again sent for his trusty councillor, Sir Francis Vere, who gave the same advice, with this change : that, whereas his first project was to attack the enemy under cover of the forts, he now, that chance being lost, proposed an advance to the road from Leffinghe to the Dunes, which the army had constructed on the 29th, through the low ground. In that advantageous position he would await the attack of the Spaniards, with the river Yser-leet in their rear. Maurice saw the importance of Vere's advice, but, instead of advancing with the whole army, as Vere intended, and as was essential to success, he detached the portion of the division of Solms which had re- mained on the right bank of the haven, consisting of 2,500 infantry, 500 horse, and two guns, under the command of his cousin, Ernest of Nassau, saying he would follow with the rest of the army in due season. Vere was strongly opposed to this division of the forces. 1 He urged that so small a number of men could offer no effectual resistance, whereas, if the whole army advanced at once, their position would be improved under any circumstances. If the enemy had already crossed the low ground, the army could give him battle better there than at Nieuport, with the haven cutting off all retreat. If part of the ene- my's force only had crossed, which was most likely, the victory would be easy. But at midnight the de- tachment was dispatched under Count Ernest, and it fell out exactly as Vere had predicted. The enemy was crossing the stream at Leffinghe when Ernest 1 Commentaries, p. 85. 288 THE FIGHTING VERES. came up. His men broke and fled at the first fire, being daunted by the overpowering numbers of the enemy, and 2,500 men were thus lost, without check- ing the Archduke's advance for a moment. Fortu- nately, that personage marched slowly, and with long halts, or the position of Maurice would have been very critical. As it was, the invaders were placed in a most hazardous position. They must give battle in the dunes, with Nieuport in their rear, and with the certainty that a reverse would be little less than annihilation. Maurice ordered the rest of the army to march down to the haven side by break of day, in readiness to cross at the first ebb. 1 Sir Francis Vere com- manded the vanguard, and was at the water side by dawn ; but the haven was not yet fordable. He therefore joined Prince Maurice again, and was with him when news came that the Archduke had crossed the dunes, and was marching along the seashore. Vere urged the necessity of crossing with all pos- sible speed and taking up a position in the dunes before the enemy was upon them. He then re- turned to his troops. The soldiers would have stripped to keep their clothes dry, as they had done the day before, but Sir Francis thought it inexpe- dient, the enemy being so near at hand, and there- fore " willed them to keep on their clothes and not to care for wetting them, for they should either need none, or have better and dryer clothes to sleep in that night." 2 The cavalry, commanded by Count Louis Gunther of Nassau, who had been placed un- der Vere's orders, crossed the haven at about 8.30 1 Vere's Commentaries, p. 86. 2 Vere's Commentaries^ p. 87. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 289 A. M., " demy a nage, a demy a gue," as the Count told his father, and the infantry of the vanguard followed, taking up their positions on the seashore and in the dunes. 1 When Sir Francis Vere and Count Louis reached the seashore, they could see the enemy afar off, marching along close to the edge of the breaking waves. There was not a moment to be lost, and Vere at once proceeded to select the most advan- tageous positions in the dunes to post his troops of the vanguard, and prepare for battle. The haven makes a break in the dunes, and they begin to rise, at first in very gentle grassy undula- tions, at a distance of 180 yards from the haven's margin. Here they are of considerable width, but their breadth is much less a few hundred yards fur- ther towards Ostend. At this narrow point Vere 1 Mr. Motley bases his third puts in his mouth, but gives an charge against Sir Francis Vere entirely different and perfectly ae- on his account of the passage curate account of the passage, across the haven. He says that it His words are : " The rest of the is inaccurate, and that these mis- army was commanded to march statements render Vere's evidence down to the haven's side by the untrustworthy, and make him un- break of day, to pass at the first worthy of credit. Mr. Motley al- ebb tide." He does not imply leges that Vere's words are that he that the ebb tide was at break of ordered them" to cross the haven at day, and what follows complete- dawn of day, at the first low tide" ly disposes of Mr. Motley's accu- The italics are Mr. Motley's. Here sation. Sir Francis goes on to is certainly a mistake, but it is not say that the water was not then made by Vere. Mr. Motley goes passable, that he therefore re- on to show that it was high tide at turned to Prince Maurice, and dawn of day on July 2, 1600, while that he afterwards went back to the crossing took place at eight his troops, " and, so soon as the A. M., and that consequently Vere's tide served, I passed my men as statement is erroneous. Now, Sir they stood in their battalions." Francis Vere not only does not (Vere's Commentaries, p. 86.) use the words which Mr. Motley 290 THE FIGHTING VERES. resolved to give battle. Towards the haven, and 250 yards within the dunes, there is a high, rounded sand-hill, 50 feet above the sea, with ridges sweeping round from either shoulder and forming a circle. In the centre of this circle there is one of those flat plains already referred to, now called the " Oasis Va- lerie." Directly across this oasis, and in front of the first, or West Hill, there is a second, or East Hill, the distance between them being 120 yards. Vere, judg- ing by eye, calls it about 100 paces. In front (east) of the East Hill the dunes are intersected by a hollow bottom, the sand ridges being higher to the seaside, or north, than towards the inland, or south. The bottom runs clean across the dunes, which are here only 368 yards wide, from the seashore to the inland plain, so that Vere could conveniently occupy them with his vanguard. On the hither or western side of the bottom, where the East Hill stood more advanced than the rest, he resolved to await the enemy. The ridge and hill tops vary in height from 30 to 50 feet above high-water mark. The above is Vere's de- scription, and exactly similar features can be traced in the present dunes. The vanguard consisted of 4,350 men, of whom 1,600* were English, 2,500 Frisians, and 250 of Prince Maurice's guard. From this force Sir Francis selected a thousand picked men, 250 English, 250 of Maurice's guard, and 500 Frisian musketeers. He posted the 250 English and 50 of the guard in the very front of the position on the East Hill, which is steep and sandy, and at the top so hollow that the men, when lying down, were covered from the sand- 1 Not 2,600, as stated by Motley, iv. p. 54. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 291 hills on the other side of the bottom as by a parapet. On the top of the loftier West Hill the remaining 200 of the guard were posted, and Maurice caused two demi-culverins to be placed there. The semicircular ridge connecting the East and West Hills on the land side is rather lower than the West Hill, and very steep on the side facing inland, with loose sand. Here Sir Francis posted the 500 Frisian musketeers, with orders to fire only to the south, as they com- manded all the ground by which the enemy's cavalry could pass on that side. On the other ridge, between the two hills facing the sea, and concealed in the sandy ravines, were 700 English pike and shot men, ready to support the forlorn hope on the East Hill. Prince Maurice placed the rest of his artillery, consisting of six pieces, on the seashore at the foot of the dunes, nearly in a line with the West Hill ; and the remain- ing troops of the vanguard, consisting of 650 English and 2,000 Frisians, were stationed on the outer slopes of the dunes, near the battery, ready to reinforce the advanced party. The cavalry were at first on the extreme left, close to the sea, Count Louis being on the right by the dunes, and that dashing cavalry officer, Marcellus Bacx, on the left, near the sea. The divisions of Solms and Tempel were also on the seashore, in the rear of the West Hill. As soon as Sir Francis Vere had completed his arrangements, Prince Maurice rode to the front with the other commanders to consult whether the army should advance or abide the coming of the enemy. They all counselled an advance except Vere. That experienced veteran expressed an opinion " that the Archduke's forces had been gathered in haste, that 292 THE FIGHTING VERES. they had no provisions with them to last for any time, and that they had no alternative but to advance and give battle." He therefore strongly advised that the army should await the attack of the enemy in the excellent positions he had selected. This ad- vice was adopted by Maurice, and a decisive victory was the consequence. 1 The Archduke's army numbered 10,000 infantry, i, 600 horse, and six guns. Zapena, an experienced officer, was marshal of the army, and the cavalry was commanded by the Admiral of Aragon. The Arch- duke's chief strength was in his infantry, composed of old and trained soldiers, who, up to that date, were " unfoiled in the field." After they were in full view they rested for two hours on the inner slopes, waiting until the rise of the tide should render the sands unserviceable for cavalry, their chief trust be- ing in their foot. At about half flood they again crossed to the sea-sands, and marched forward, with some light cavalry in advance. As these horsemen were well in front, Vere wished to send forward the cavalry of the vanguard, with the object of drawing the enemy's horse away from the foot until they were within range of the battery on the beach, and then to have opened fire, and afterwards charged them vigorously. But Count Louis of Nassau, through 1 Such was Vere's advice, as 27). Nothing of the kind ever stated by himself. Mr. Motley happened. Vere would not have says that Vere's advice was to posted his vanguard in carefully throw up intrenchments to the selected positions if he had not in- northeast, and refuse the battle tended to fight that day. The pro- that day, if possible ; and that posal to intrench in shifting sand Maurice replied that there would would have been absurd, if it had be no intrenchments that day but ever been made, those of pike and arquebus (iv. p. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 293 some misunderstanding, did not charge, and when the enemy's horsemen came within range, Vere or- dered the guns to be fired. The artillerymen did their work so well that the enemy's horsemen were scattered and thrown into confusion, eventually tak- ing refuge in the dunes. 1 Soon afterwards it was high tide, when there is barely a space of thirty yards between the sea and the steep sand-hills. The enemy, therefore, marched all his infantry into the dunes, while his horse crossed over to what Vere calls the " Greenway," be- tween the dunes and the cultivated fields inland. The remaining portion of Maurice's army executed a similar movement. The 2,000 detached to garrison points were strictly accurate, so that these reasons for discrediting the English general are invalid. The truth is clear enough. Mr. Motley states (iv. p. 33) that, by Vere's order, the cannoneers fired a volley before the cavalry had time to make the proposed feint, " thus precipitating the action, and almost in an instant changing its whole character and defeating its original plan." Now what was the object of this proposed feint on the part of the cavalry? It was to draw the enemy's cavalry within range of the guns. It is admitted on all sides, that, when Vere opened fire, the enemy's cav- alry actually was within range, and was thrown into confusion. It is clear, therefore, that the guns were not fired too soon, but exactly at the right moment. Young Louis simply misunderstood the order, which was to advance, not to fall back. But no harm was done, and 1 Vere's Commentaries-, p. 94. This little skirmish gives occa- sion for the fourth charge which Mr. Motley brings against Sir Francis Vere. Count Louis Gun- ther, in a letter to Count John of Nassau (Prinsterer, Lettre ccviii. ii. pp. 23-35), sa id : "Vere judged that I had advanced too far, and thought I should fall back nearer the infantry. I feared this move- ment might cause confusion, the enemy being so close, and dis- hearten the men." Mr. Motley turns this into Louis having want- ed to charge, and Vere having or- dered him to fall back. Upon this Mr. Motley at once assumes that Vere's account is false. His ground for this assumption is that Vere made inaccurate statements as to the length of time the troops were before Nieuport, and as to the tide when they crossed the haven. It has already been shown that Vere's statements on both 294 THE FIGHTING VERES. the forts near Ostend, and the 2,500 sent away with Count Ernest, had reduced the infantry to less than 7,500 men. Of these, 4,350, or more than half, com- posed the vanguard under Sir Francis Vere, which really fought the battle. The centre under Count Solms, numbering about 1,000 men, was stationed in the dunes, about a musket-shot to the right rear of the vanguard, and the rear, of 2,150, under Tempel, was at the same distance to the right rear of the cen- tre, so that the three divisions were posted en echelon across the dunes. The rear was never engaged at all. The whole of the cavalry, except Sir Francis Vere's own troop and that of Ball, which remained by the battery on the beach, was moved to the " Green- way " facing the Spanish cavalry. This " Greenway " is an undulating grassy lane, sloping from the dunes to the dry hedge which fences in the fields of corn and beans, and is 150 yards in width; 1 so that, as Vere says, the cavalry was not formed " in any large front, but one at the tail of the other, as the narrow- ness of the passage enforced." The " Greenway " was fully commanded from the southern ridge, where Vere had posted the Frisian musketeers. Maurice heartily approved of all the arrangements made by his trusty English colleague ; and when the battle was about to commence, he was urged, for many reasons, to keep in the rear of all. To this he agreed ; while Sir Francis Vere took his post on there was no intentional misstate- * There are not, and never can ment on either side. The action have been, any ditches across this was not precipitated, its character sloping " Greenway," as Mr. Mot- was not changed, and the original ley tells us (iv. p. 35), unless water plan was not defeated, but was could run up hill, carried out to the letter. THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 295 the top of the East or foremost hill with his 250 gal- lant Englishmen. Soon the Spanish forlorn hope of arquebusiers appeared on the crests of the ridge on the opposite side of the bottom and opened fire, while their vanguard advanced down the slopes. CHAPTER XXII. THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. THE battle of Nieuport began at about half past two in the afternoon of the 2d of July, 1600. Vere's plan was to hold the advanced positions as long as possible with his forlorn hope of the vanguard, bring- ing up the 700 men on the north ridge and the 650 English reserves gradually as required, and fighting with bull-dog tenacity. He thus intended to wear out the Spaniards, who were already tired by the long march from LefHnghe. Then, at the last mo- ment, and when overborne by numbers, he intended to send for fresh reinforcements to fall upon the exhausted enemy. After exchanging fire from the hills on either side of the bottom, 500 of the flower of the Spanish in- fantry rushed into the hollow and charged the East Hill, on which Vere was posted. The 250 English- men and 50 of Maurice's guard received them on its sandy slope at push of pike, and a desperate struggle ensued, which was obstinately continued for half an hour; the Spaniards being at last obliged to fall back behind some low ridges in the bottom. At nearly the same time the enemy's cavalry advanced down the " Greenway." But the two demi-culverins on the West Hill, and the 500 Frisian musketeers on the south ridge, so galled them, that, at the first THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 297 appearance of a charge by the horse under Count Louis, they fell back to their infantry supports, fol- lowed for some distance by the young Count. At the same instant, and while the Spanish forlorn hope was falling back from the assault on the East Hill, Vere ordered 100 Englishmen from the north ridge to advance as covertly as possible and attack the Spaniards in the bottom on their right flank, while 60 men charged down the hill and engaged them in front. The Spaniards broke and fled to the main body of their vanguard, where they rallied, were re- inforced, and seized a round sandy hill in the bot- tom, near the West Hill, which Vere considered to be an important post. He therefore brought up more men from the north ridge, and strove to dis- lodge them. Vere describes the struggle as a " bloody morsel." The position was an isolated eminence, and the men came to hand -blows upon the whole circle of the hill, with much slaughter on both sides ; but in the end the enemy was forced to retire. At this juncture the Archduke advanced his centre in line with his vanguard, and strove to drive the English from their points of vantage in the bottom, sometimes gaining and sometimes losing ground. Vere continued to draw from his 700 men on the north ridge, and persisted in the desperate struggle, his design being to draw down the bulk of the enemy on his handful of men, and so spend and waste them as that they should be unable to with- stand the reserves. The ensigns of the van, centre, and rear of the Spaniards were now brought up in line on the hills to the east of the bottom, but 298 THE FIGHTING VERES rather to the right of Vere's hill, and directly front- ing the more distant centre and rear of Maurice's army. In this order the Spaniards advanced until they received a check from the fire of the Frisian musketeers on the south ridge, and their leading columns took shelter in the hollows, sending out skirmishers. Then the Spaniards turned their main force upon Vere, the fight continuing hotter and hotter, without intermission, in the bottom, until the whole of the i, 600 English were engaged. They were overborne by the overwhelming numbers of the Archduke's soldiers. Vere now saw that the time had arrived for the reserves to come to the front, and that a charge of cavalry could alone settle the day ; for even if driven back by infantry, the enemy would have time to rally. He therefore sent orders for his 2,000 Fris- ians, posted near the seaside battery, to advance ; and he also sent to ask Maurice for part of the cavalry of the centre. He sent messenger after messenger, but no aid arrived. At last he himself rode down into the bottom amongst his men to cheer .them on, doing the work of a common soldier as well as of a general. Thus, with extreme difficulty, the little band and its heroic leader continued to hold the enemy in check. Still no help came. Vere received a musket-shot in the thigh, and soon afterwards another in the leg. He concealed his wounds from the men and fought on, hoping for succor, but none came. At last his men were overwhelmed by numbers, and fell back slowly and in good order towards the battery on the seaside. The Spaniards followed at a respectful distance, though a few of the THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 299 enemy's skirmishing cavalry came close up, and killed some men by thrusting rapiers under their armor. During the retreat Sir Francis Vere's horse fell dead under him and upon him, so that, sorely wounded as he was, he could not move. His Lieu- tenant-Colonel, Sir John Ogle, Sir Robert Drury, and a gentleman named Thomas Higham, came to his assistance. They extricated their chief and put him up behind Sir Robert. Ogle's clothes were stained by the blood from his general's wounds. The fact that there should have been time for this shows how cautious was the Spanish pursuit, though Ogle says that there was only just time, and that they ran considerable danger of being captured. 1 1 Here Mr. Motley makes another attack upon Sir Francis Vere (iv. p. 37). He says : " Vere complained that he was not sufficiently second- ed, and that the reserves were not brought up rapidly enough to his support. He was manifestly un- just ; for, although it could not be doubted that the English and the Frisians did their best, it was equally certain that every part of the army was as stanch as the vanguard. It may safely be as- serted that it would not have bene- fited the cause of the States had every man been thrown into the fight at one and the same mo- ment." The answer to this charge is conclusive. Vere not only made no complaint, but he distinctly dis- claimed anything of the kind. His words are : " I will charge and ac- cuse none but the messengers of their slackness." Yet never was complaint more justifiable. The delay in sending succor as nearly as possible enabled the Spaniards to gain a complete victory. Mr. Motley speaks of the Frisians hav- ing done their best. Why, the 1,000 Frisians composed the very reinforcement for which Vere sent messenger after messenger, and which never came ! Mr. Motley continues, that " every part of the army was as stanch as the van- guard." But he forgot that a large part of the army was never en- gaged at all ! It was very easy for troops to be stanch when they were out of range. Mr. Motley's last sentence, in the passage quot- ed above, is also calculated to con- vey an erroneous impression. Vere was the last man to desire that "every man should be thrown into the fight at one and the same mo- ment." His whole plan was the very reverse of such tactics. It 300 THE FIGHTING VERES. On reaching the battery on the sands, Vere found the 1,000 Frisians, who might have turned the scale, still there. They had received no orders to advance. There were also 300 foot under Sir Horace Vere, and some cavalry under Captain Ball. Sir Francis ordered the cavalry, supported by Horace, to charge the Spaniards, who were now streaming out on to the beach. The enemy's troops were routed on the sands, and fled back into the dunes. Then, at length, the worn-out hero, who was suffering from severe illness as well as from two bleeding wounds, put himself into the hands of his surgeon. 1 The Spaniards now carried the East Hill and ad- vanced into the valley beyond, where 2,000 of their number formed in tercios. Others drove back the Frisian musketeers from the south ridge, and the Archduke's own arquebusiers advanced along the Greenway. This was the most critical moment in the battle. The fate of the army of the States was hanging on a thread. Maurice now took his stand on the West Hill, where the two demi-culverins were planted, whence he had a better view of the field. The Spaniards, though momentarily victorious, were tired and worn out with fighting. There was still hope. The English officers began to rally their men in the sheltered hollows between the West Hill and the was to hold the enemy in check Spanish army at bay for hours ; and tire him out with the smallest half their number fell ; Vere's re- force possible, bringing up re- peated and urgent entreaties for serves gradually, and only at the aid were unanswered ; and yet he moment they were needed. He made no complaint, imputing blame and his men performed prodigies only to the slackness of messen- of valor: the 1,600 picked men gers. from the vanguard kept the whole l Ogle's Narrative, pp. 107-109. THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 301 beach, almost overlooking the valley where the 2,000 Spaniards had formed. Hither Sir John Ogle brought 30 men. 1 He was soon joined by brave Charles Fairfax. Then came young Gilbert, slain immediately afterwards, with more men. Seeing this force gradually increasing, the Spaniards sent out 150 men against them from the main body of 2,000. At that moment Sir Horace Vere rode up from his victorious charge on the beach, bringing further re- inforcements, including the companies of Captains Lowell, Sutton, and Morgan. Seeing this, the 150 Spaniards fell back again to the main body. Prince Maurice also saw it, and joyfully exclaimed : " Voyez, voyez, les Anglais qui tournent a la charge!" He gave orders to Dubois, the commissary-general of cavalry, to bring the remaining horse forward, under Sir Edward Cecil, to be ready to charge in any direction that might be required. All these move- ments took place more rapidly than they can be related, and amidst shouting and uproar. Then Sir Horace Vere, Ogle, and Fairfax, with their rallied men, charged furiously down the slope and across the valley, just as the main body of Span- iards was thrown into slight confusion by the retreat of the 150 skirmishers. The renewed fight was short and decisive. The Spaniards were tired and worn out. They broke and began a retreat which ended in flight. Maurice, "whose vigilant and judi- cious eye was upon our actions and motions all this while," as Ogle tells us, ordered Sir Edward Cecil to charge with his cavalry. The regiments of Mar- cellus Bacx and of Ball also charged. The Frisian 1 Ogle's Narrative, p. 103. 302 THE FIGHTING VERES. musketeers rallied; Maurice advanced the centre division under Solms, and plied the enemy with shot from the demi-culverins. By a second charge Cecil scattered the Archduke's arquebusiers on the Green- way. " These charges," says Ogle, " by the. hand and favour of God, gave us the day." The Spaniards broke and fled in all directions. The Archduke never drew rein until he reached Bruges. Zapena and the Admiral of Aragon were taken prisoners, and about a third of the Spanish army was killed or wounded. Of the 1,600 English, no less than 800 were killed or wounded ; eight captains we're slain, and all the rest but two were wounded. But the victory was complete. The terrible slaughter of the English proves, as Vere expresses it, that " on our side in a manner the whole loss fell on the English "; that is to say, that they bore the brunt of the fight, and that the heaviest share of the loss was theirs. He adds: " I dare not take the whole honour of the victory to the poor English troop of 1,600 men, but leave it to be judged by those that may give their censure with less sus- picion of partiality." ] 1 Mr. Motley's attacks on Sir " looseness and recklessness of Francis Vere have now been dis- assertion, which would be almost proved and shown to be without impossible had Maurice or his any justification. We next come cousins been likely to engage in a to that eminent historian's remarks controversy concerning the Nieu- pn Vere's writings. He says: port expedition" (iv. p. 51). He " The narrative of Vere is marked finally remarks that, while the let- throughout by spleen, inordinate ters written by the Counts Louis personal and national self-esteem, and Ernest concerning the battle undisguised hostility to the Nas- of Nieuport remained in the family saus and the Hollanders, and archives for two centuries and a wounded pride of opinion." He half, so that " the controversy with then accuses the great general of Vere " is an " all unconscious one THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 303 Mr. Edmonds, with Sir Francis Vere's despatch, and another from Lord Grey de Wilton, arrived in on the part of those buried war- riors," Sir Francis Vere's narra- tive " was a publication, a party pamphlet, in an age of pamphlet- eering." In reply to this formidable in- dictment, it may be observed in the first place, that Mr. Motley appears never to have read Vere's narrative, for he quotes from an incomplete French abridgment. The narrative to which he refers is contained in Sir Francis Vere's Commentaries. Its whole tone is diametrically opposite to what Mr. Motley represents. It is a calm and remarkably accurate state- ment of facts relating to actions in which Vere was personally en- gaged, written from memory at the close of his life, and not intended for publication. Its accuracy can be proved by comparison with his own letters and those of others de- scribing each action, and written at the time, which are still pre- served ; but which were not be- fore Vere when he wrote his Com- mentaries. The members of the House of Nassau are never men- tioned but in respectful, sometimes in affectionate, terms. Vere's fond- ness for the Hollanders and devo- tion to their cause are conspicuous in all his writings. This strong and natural bias not unfrequently brought down upon Vere the cen- sure of the Queen and Burleigh. The expressions of affection and gratitude in the grant of a pension to Sir Francis Vere, by the States- General, bear strong testimony to the cordial relations between them. Thus the Dutch themselves con- clusively refute Mr. Motley's as- sertion that Vere felt hostility to- wards them. (See page 348.) There is no sign of spleen or inor- dinate self-esteem in his writings, and certainly there could be no wounded pride of opinion, for Vere's advice was always taken. The accusation that Vere was guilty of looseness and reckless- ness of assertion has already been refuted with reference to the five cases put forward by Mr. Mot- ley. The controversy between Vere and the House of Nassau existed only in Mr. Motley's imag- ination. There was no such con- troversy. On the contrary, Mau- rice gave Sir Francis Vere full credit for his conduct of the battle of Nieuport, and said, in his letter to the Queen, that the victory was due to her general (Sidney Papers, ii. p. 204). Surely Maurice him- self was a better judge, on this point, than Mr. Motley ! The nar- rative of Vere was no more a pub- lication or a party pamphlet than were the letters of the Nassaus. Neither the one nor the others were intended for publication, nor were published until many years after the deaths of the writers. Mr. Motley finds fault with Vere for not mentioning the rout of Count Ernest at Leffinghe, and the charges of cavalry led by Count Louis. In the first place, Vere does mention the charges of cav- alry ; and in the second, his avowed 304 THE FIGHTING VERES. London on the 4th of July. The news of the victory had preceded him ; for Caron, the Dutch envoy, gal- loped out to Richmond on the previous day and re- ported what he had heard from Barneveldt. The Queen was highly pleased, and sent warm congratula- tions to Prince Maurice, who, in his letter to her Ma- jesty, did full justice to her general, " attributing the victory to the good order and direction of Sir Francis Vere." 1 The name of Vere was in every man's mouth, and just pride was felt that the work was done so well by the English contingent. The Queen was very often heard to say that she held Sir Francis to be the worthiest captain of her time. 2 Fifteen years of faithful and steadfast work had wrought a change which must have seemed marvellous to those object in writing was to describe the operations of troops under his own personal command only. It is with great regret that I feel obliged to refute these persistent attacks by Mr. Motley on the good name of a great general. But the reputation of such a man as Sir Francis Vere belongs to posterity, and it is a bounden duty to defend it when unjustly assailed. It is dif- ficult to understand how so strong a prejudice can have arisen in Mr. Motley's mind. It is curious that Mr. Motley's daughter should since have married a lineal descendant of Sir Francis Vere's sister. Sir William Vernon Harcourt, de- scended from Frances, sister of Sir Francis Vere and wife of Sir Robert Harcourt of Nuneham, was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Lothrop Motley, in 1876. They have a son Robert, born in 1878, who is grandnephew of Sir Francis Vere, and grandson of Mr. Motley. " Blood is thicker than water," and if the great his- torian had been spared longer, he would probably have reconsidered his estimate of Sir Francis Vere. In that case a different conclusion might confidently have been antic- ipated, based on the merits alone. 1 Rowland Whyte to Sir Rob- ert Sidney, July 5. 1600, ii. p. 204. There was great surprise at the conduct of Sidney. He was at Nieuport on the ist, but went off to Flushing in a ship on the morn- ing of the battle. His brother Philip would certainly have been in the thickest of the fight. Sir Robert Sidney's own explanation was merely that he withdrew him- self out of the fight, being wholly unprepared for such a day. 2 Sidney Papers, ii. p. 204. THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 305 who watched the course of events. No one did so more intently and with fuller knowledge than Queen Elizabeth herself, and no one knew better to whom it was mainly due that the successors of the men who fled like sheep at Gemblour, were able to turn the dreaded tercios of Spain into mobs of panic-stricken fugitives among the sand-hills of Ostend. Sir Francis Vere's wounds proved to be very seri- ous. He was carried to Ostend, where, while still confined to his bed, he was gladdened by the receipt of a most gracious letter from the Queen herself, which was delivered to him by the Earl of Northum- berland. In August he was conveyed to Ryswick, where he was lodged in a pleasant house belonging to the Prince of Orange, and in this suburb of the Hague he slowly recovered ; but he was suffering from his wounds for several months. He, however, had the great pleasure of knowing that the military success of the allies went hand in hand with cordial diplomatic relations. In the autumn of 1600 he was able to report that " in all the time I have served on this side, I have never seen so much willingness to accomplish the wishes of her Majesty, nor so abso- lute a belief in her singular care for their provinces as now of late, which they generally acknowledge with no small applause of her Majesty's courses." ] 1 Sir F. Vere to Sir R. Cecil, from Ryswick, 10 Sept. 1600. S. P. O., Holland, vol. xcii. CHAPTER XXIII. THE SIEGE OF OSTEND. SIR FRANCIS VERE enjoyed the hospitality of Prince Maurice while he slowly recovered from his wounds. His health had been seriously impaired. But he was obliged to give constant and close attention to the efficiency of the force under his command ; for a time of trial was approaching. Ostend was seriously threatened with a siege. One of the general's chief troubles had been the way in which useless officers were forced upon him by powerful relations at home. These fine gentle- men did not object to an exciting skirmish, or even to a battle, if they could go home to swagger about it immediately afterwards. In ordinary times they were constantly absent. They had a strong dislike to hard work, and were useless as regimental officers. The general naturally deprecated their presence in his army. Among these incumbrances were the Earl of Northumberland, a consequential, pompous nobleman ; and Sir Callisthenes Brooke, who thought he could do as he pleased because he was a cousin of Lord Cobham. Brooke chose to absent him- self without leave, and we gather from one of Sir Dudley Carleton's gossiping letters that " Sir Callis- thenes is likely to be displaced unless he is well THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 307 seconded by friends in England." 1 Sir Francis was not a man to brook interference of this kind. He wrote to Lord Cobham : " My care for Sir Callis- thenes has been great, but on the other side he hath not answered any part of my expectations of his affec- tion and towardliness to the wars, insomuch that the States themselves are highly offended with his long absence." Instead of at once resuming his duties on his return, he went off with Sir Dudley Carleton to see the sights at Amsterdam. At last the general was obliged to dismiss him from his company. Cap- tain Lower, a creature of the Earl of Northumberland, was another inefficient officer whose services were dispensed with. Sir Dudley Carleton's barrack-yard gossip was, that the general " held himself hauta la main to all his cap- tains, which breeds a general discontentment among them." Sir Francis Vere explained the position to Secretary Cecil in a subsequent letter. He wrote : "Ihave done nothing out of spleen to Sir Callis- thenes, but constrained thereunto by his own car- riage, after long toleration of his courses. I am, I confess, very curious to have worthy officers, and to that curiosity I impute chiefly the good success it pleaseth God to give to our actions ; and though my changing of men may bear with divers a hard inter- pretation, it shall never be found I discharged any without just cause." Sir Francis Vere "bred general discontentment" among the Callisthenes Brookes of his army, but he was revered by officers like Lambart and Parker, 1 Carleton to Chamberlain, from the Hague, Feb. 14, 1601. S. P. O., Holland, vol. xciii. 308 THE FIGHTING VERES. Ogle and Fairfax. Such men as those whose statues kneel around his monument in Westminster Abbey were ready to live and die for their beloved general. While Sir Francis was still convalescent at Rys- wick, he received tidings of the rebellion of the Earl of Essex, 1 and a copy of the Queen's proclamation. " I caused it to be printed in Dutch, and by that means things are generally understood according to the truth. This conspiracy is likened to that of Cati- line. My Lord Admiral and my Lord Burleigh, the one for entering the city and proclaiming the Earl traitor to his face and in the heat of the stir, and the other for his exceeding diligence in raising forces and taking the Earl, are greatly reputed." Vere had been an object of Essex's dislike and hostility ever since the Island Voyage. He had generously defended the Earl to Queen Elizabeth, and had received nothing but ingratitude for his pains. The battle of Nieuport was the most signal victory gained by the Dutch patriots and their allies during the long struggle for independence, and its moral effect was very great. But the siege of Ostend was of even higher moment The desperate tenacity with which the heroic defenders held out, by fully oc- cupying the main army of the Archdukes, enabled Prince Maurice to capture strong places and gain advantages in the field in one campaign after another, without a check. The States General appear to have been mainly influenced by a desire to retain the 1 On the yth and 8th of Febru- yielded to the importunities of her ary, 1601. Essex was tried on the ministers with the utmost reluc- I9th, and executed on the 25th. tance. On this occasion, Queen Elizabeth THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 309 Flemish port, but the result of their policy was to bring the most memorable struggle in modern his- tory to a close. The siege of Ostend led directly to the twelve years' truce. Ostend was originally a little fishing-town facing the sea, with a haven on its western side, formed by the mouth of the Yper-leet, the sluggish river which flowed under the bridge at Leffinghe, where Ernest of Nassau was defeated. The old church and town faced the sea, on the site of the present esplanade and Kursaal, but in 1583 the new town, more in- land, was regularly fortified with ramparts, counter- scarps, and two broad ditches. The dunes were cut away, and the sea was allowed to fill the ditches and surround the town; and a wide gullet, called the " Geule" w^as beginning to form a new harbor on the east side, towards the end of the sixteenth century. This is the present harbor. To the south the coun- try was intersected by a network of canals, and was often flooded ; and the land rose slightly towards the dunes, on either side of the town. On the 5th of July, 1601, the Archduke Albert began the siege of Ostend with 20,000 men and 50 siege-guns in position; while the small garrison of under 2,000 was at first commanded by stout Gover- nor Vandernood. The States General held that the defence of this outlying post was a matter of vital importance. They looked round for the ablest com- mander in their service, to whom the post of danger and heavy responsibility might be entrusted. The choice naturally fell upon the hero of Nieuport. Sir Francis Vere received his commission from the States, not as governor, but as general of the army employed in and about Ostend, with very ample powers. 310 THE FIGHTING VERES. Sir Francis first dutifully proceeded to England to obtain the approval of Queen Elizabeth, and to raise a body of 3,000 recruits. His brother Horace \vas detached from the army of Prince Maurice with eight companies of veteran English to reinforce the Ostend garrison. On the Qth of July Sir Francis landed, with these troops, on the sands opposite the centre of the old town of Ostend, for the besieging enemy com- manded both havens with their guns. Governor Vandernood met him at the water's edge, and de- livered up the keys of Ostend. The garrison then consisted of thirty companies of Netherlanders in two regiments of 2,600 men, under Vandernood and Uchtenbroek, to which Vere added his eight com- panies of English of 100 men each, which brought up the total to 3,500 men. 1 The enemy had an army of 20,000 men, three parts of which were encamped round Fort Albertus, under the immediate orders of the Archduke, while a fourth was on the east side under Count Bucquoy. Thirty pieces were in position on the west, and ten on the east side, which kept up an intermittent fire, .and did much damage, even at this early period of the siege. Ostend was not possessed of any great natural ad- vantages for defence, beyond the facilities for letting the water from the sea into the numerous ditches and canals which intersected the country. The siege was a desperate struggle for the possession of the sand- hills and marshes on the bleak shores of the North Sea. Yet the whole civilized world watched with bated breath for the result. Landward that is, to the south the town was well protected by an intri- 1 Vere to Cecil, July 17, 1601. S. P. O., Holland, vol. xciii. OSTEND. THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. ^U cate network of ditches and marshy ground, over- flowed at spring tides. To the east was the "Geule," or gullet, corresponding with the present harbor; to the west, the old harbor, then fast filling up ; and to the north, the old town with its palisades facing the seashore. The vulnerable points were on either flank of the old town, where, the land rising towards the ridges of the dunes near the sea, the besiegers were enabled to approach with their parallels and batteries. On the east flank the " Geule " was broad and deep, but on the side of the old harbor the water was fordable for four hours at every tide; and the defences on the west side of the old town conse- quently formed the key of the position. The ditch passed between the old and new towns, which were connected by bridges, and round the new town, par- allel to the " Geule " on one side, and to the old har- bor and Yper-leet river on the other. It was broad and deep, and had ramparts and bulwarks (or bas- tions) on one side, and a counterscarp with ravelins on the other. The most important point for defence was the northwest angle, near the mouth of the fordable old harbor. This was the only place where an approach could be made to the walls on firm ground. Here the enemy concentrated his efforts. The defence at this hotly disputed corner consisted of a strong rave- lin in the counterscarp called the " Porc-espic," and a bastion in its rear known by the name of the " Hel- mund." l On the other side of the ditch, in the old town, and still closer to the mouth of the old harbor, a fort called the " Sand-hill " was formed on a portion 1 Hell's mouth. 312 THE FIGHTING VERES. of the dunes that remained when the rest was cut away. Its site is to the right rear of the present Kursaal. These three works formed the key of the position. From the " Sand-hill," along the sea-face, the old town was protected by strong palisades form- ing bastions with connecting curtains, and a succes- sion of three small forts, called respectively the " Schottenburgh " next to the " Sand-hill," the " Moses Table," and the " Flamenburgh," defending a cut from the town ditch into the " Geule," at the eastern corner. On the eastern side of the town facing the " Geule," the defences consisted of the " North Bul- wark " at the northeast angle, with a corresponding ravelin in the counterscarp ; the " East Bulwark " or " Pekell," in the centre of the eastern wall ; and the " Spanish Bulwark " at the southeast angle, with an outwork called the " Spanish Half-moon " on the other side of the " Geule." In the centre of the south wall was the " Southeast Bulwark," flanked to right and left by the " Spanish " and " South Bul- warks," all with corresponding ravelins in the coun- terscarp. On the west wall, facing the old harbor, were the " West Bulwark " and " Southwest Bulwark " and ravelins. Between the " South " and " Southwest Bulwarks," and beyond the counterscarp, there was an extensive outwork near the point where the river Yper-leet flows into the old harbor. It was called the " Polder," and had formerly been a field from which the water had been pumped by means of windmills. It was necessary, from its position, to include it in the system of defences. These details, which would be tedious and scarcely intelligible without a map or plan, become perfectly clear when the necessary THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 313 illustration is supplied ; while it will not be possible to retain a sufficiently correct notion of the works, so as to follow the events of the siege, unless the system of defences is kept in the mind's eye. 1 Sir Francis Vere, after a careful examination of the fortifications, came to the conclusion that his first care should be to strengthen and secure the " Polder," and his next to provide a safe place for the shipping to unload. The "Polder" at the southwest corner of the works was a space of some extent, surrounded by water, the old haven washing it on one side, and the ditch of the counterscarp on the other. Vere saw at once that if the enemy got possession of it, he might drain the water out of the ditches and so make an easy approach to the town wall. The general, there, fore, set the garrison to work intrenching the " Pol- der," the outer wall of which was well flanked by the " West Bulwark " and ravelin, raising the ramparts to resist cannon, and constructing two works called the " Polder Square " and the " Polder Redoubt," the latter at the extreme southwest angle, and another called the " West Square," or " Quarrier." He also threw up a work beyond the southern counterscarp, called the "South Quarrier." The "Polder" was thus assured from sudden attack. In order to protect the shipping, Sir Francis cut a passage in the coun- terscarp at the southeast angle of the works, by which the water from the " Geule " flowed into the town ditch, and here a hundred vessels at a time could lie and unload, safe from the annoyance of the enemy's shot. But to reach this place the vessels had to run the gauntlet of Count Bucquoy's batteries on 1 There were five main guards. 314 THE FIGHTING VERES. the " Geule." To escape this danger, another cut was made near the sea, between the " Flamenburgh " and the " Northeast Ravelin." Having strengthened the " Polder " and provided for the safe entry of ships with supplies and troops, Sir Francis Vere conceived the idea of drawing the enemy into the low marshy ground to the south of the Yper-leet, which he knew would entail upon them great expense, delay, heavy labor, and much loss. With this object he determined to occupy a rising ground surrounded by swamps and ditches, whence he could annoy the enemy's boats coming with sup- plies from Bruges, and probably draw part of the Archduke's forces away from the real key to the po- sition on the dry land of the dunes, near the mouth of the old haven, and into the water-covered swamps to the south. Accordingly 200 Englishmen occupied the post thus selected by Vere, and a heavy fire was opened upon them from one of the enemy's forts called " Grooten-dorst," doing little harm. Then, as Vere had intended, the Spaniards advanced in force from the dunes, and the English general withdrew his men, leaving eighty to decoy the enemy farther into the swampy lands, with orders to fall back into the "South Ravelin." This was a successful little piece of strategy. The enemy would have been deluded with other feints and surprises, and worn out by con- tinuous heavy marching, had not their antagonist been temporarily disabled. The Spaniards kept up a tremendous fire on the town from all their batteries, and on the 4th of Au- gust Sir Francis Vere was severely wounded in the head. His condition became so critical that com- THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 315 plete rest was ordered for him. Writing to Secretary Cecil on the lyth, his brother Sir Horace said: " My brother left this town the loth of this present, being grown into extremity of illness, altogether in- clined to a fever, so that his hurt, accompanied with a fever, and the offence our turbulent neighbors gave him with their artillery, made that by no means he could take his rest, so that weakness grew upon him very fast, and by the judgment of the doctor and chi- rurgeon if he did not remove there could be no like- lihood of his recovery. It was very apparent that his stay would endanger his life. But now I hope he will, in few days, be in good forwardness to resume his post." l Sir Francis went to Middelburg to be cured of his wound, and in a few weeks he was con- valescent. In September he returned to Ostend with Sir R. Drury. 2 Meanwhile the fire from the besiegers was con- tinued with unabated fury; and the soldiers of the garrison dug underground quarters in the market- place and near the " Pekell " bastion, for protection against the hail of shot. The Queen and the States "were steadfast in their resolution to defend the place. Recruits arrived on the ist of August .from England, and the Queen's government had taken praiseworthy care for their equipment. Vere reported that " the men were very well apparelled and the arms are very serviceable." On the 8th of August 1,200 more were landed, of whom Sir Horace said : " For the 1 Sir Horace Vere to Cecil, yet nothing well cured, yet his August 17. 1601. honour carries him thither." Sir 2 " Sir Francis Vere, as I con- R. Cecil to Sir J. Carew, Septem- ceave, is by this day in the town, her 5, 1601. (Camden Society, and although his wounds are as 1864.) 316 THE FIGHTING VERES. soldiers, in my time, I have not seen their like for proper men, well armed and apparelled." Sir Horace led out several sorties, and there was some loss. 1 But the enemy, no longer distracted by puzzling ma- noeuvres of the veteran Sir Francis, steadily advanced his approaches to the margin of the old haven, op- posite the " Sand Hill " fort, between which and the water's edge seven rows of palisades had been fixed. Soon the sides of the " Sand Hill " were sown so thick with shot that they formed an iron wall, against which the fresh shot struck and were shattered, the pieces flying into the air. One day the Dutch Col- onel Uchtenbroek and the Sieur de Chatillon, the gallant young commander of a French contingent, were standing on the "Sand Hill" watching the iron hail, when Chatillon's head was struck off with a cannon-shot, and the brains were dashed upon Uch- tenbroek's left cheek. On the i Qth of September, to the great relief and joy of the garrison, Sir Francis Vere returned. In the interval, contingents of French, Scots, and Fris- ians had arrived, besides 2,000 English recruits. The siege of Ostend was becoming the military school of Europe. Young noblemen and gentlemen from England, France, and Holland flocked here to learn the art of war from the renowned Sir Francis Vere. Those who came to learn and to work were cordially welcomed by the general as pupils and comrades in arms. Those who came to swagger and indulge their 1 Sir Horace reports : " Captain in Captain Holcroft. This bearer, Madison was sore hurt. We have Captain Brett, has had the reputa- indeed lost a good number in our tion among us of an honest under- commonwealth here, and one ex- standing soldier." ceedingly devoted to the service, THE SIEGE OF OSTEND. 317 personal vanity were soon made to know that their room was preferred to their company. Among the latter class was the Earl of Northumberland, who passed his time in fancying that he had been slighted, and in standing upon his dignity, while all good men and true were fighting and working heart and soul under their great commander. 1 If a man under his command was no use, Vere let him know it, whether he was a peer or a pikeman. 2 Meanwhile the Archduke Albert was fighting with other weapons than pike and shot. He engaged a traitor named Conisby, who went to England, pro- cured letters to General Vere, and crossed over to Ostend. He then began to convey intelligence to the besiegers of all that took place in the town, under an agreement with Albert. There was a boat sunk in the mud, on the banks of the old haven, near the " Southwest Redoubt." His habit was to deposit letters there, whence a Spanish soldier took them during the night. At last Conisby grew bolder, and tried to bribe a sergeant to blow up the powder mag- azine. The sergeant revealed the plot. 3 The traitor confessed everything, and was sentenced to be whipped out of the town. After this disclosure, the 1 " The Earl of Northumber- companies consisted of 250 men land went hence yesterday, weary each, except those of Sir Francis enough of the discommodities of and Sir Horace Vere, which num- this place, and of the little ob- bered 300. These were the origi- servance done him." Vere to Ce- nal complements, but on Septem- cil, September 22, 1601. ber 22d the whole number was re- 8 On September 22d the garri- duced to 2,440, there being often son consisted of 29 English com- no more than 80 in a company, panics, 29 Dutch companies under The whole garrison numbered Colonel Van der Noor, 22 French 4,480. and Scots who came with Chatil- 8 Vere to Cecil, November ll t Ion ; total, 80 companies. The 1601. 318 THE FIGHTING VERES. Archduke Albert could lay but slight claim to any extremely punctilious etiquette when stratagems were planned, and this matter of Conisby should there- fore be borne in mind. It was not until the 4th of December that the Archduke was prepared to storm. For months the Spaniards had been at work advancing their bat- teries, forming foundations in the haven by sinking huge baskets of wicker-work filled with sand, and building floating platforms, on which guns were mounted in the " Geule." But at last, on the night of the 4th, there was an alarm that the enemy was assaulting the walls. The general rushed out un- braced, followed by Captain Caldwell and some sol- diers, and found his own company at push of pike with the Spaniards. A fierce struggle ensued, and the besiegers were driven back. Vere ordered wisps of straw to be set alight and fixed on the ends of the pikes, that the retreating foe might be fired upon with effect as they fell back ; 500 remained behind to pay for their temerity. Then Sir Francis called his young page, Henry Hexham, 1 who tells the story, and said, " Boy, come now, pull up my stockings and tie my points," and so he returned home again to his rest. On the 1 2th of December there was a hard frost, and it continued to blow a gale of wind from the southeast until Christmas. No succor could reach Ostend in all these dreary weeks, either in the form of supplies or men. The garrison was wasting daily. 1 Henry Hexham afterwards cis Vere's account of the siege of became an officer of distinction, Ostend is very useful. It furnishes quartermaster of Lord Vere's reg- undesigned evidence which serves iment, and a military author, to refute the attacks of Mr. Mot- His brief supplement to Sir Fran- ley. THE SIEGE OF OSTEND. 319 Ammunition was falling short. The places to be guarded were very numerous, and the numbers were alarmingly small. It was known that the Archduke soon intended to make an assault upon the town with his whole power, and Vere's only hope was to gain time. The welfare of a great cause, one of the great- est for which brave men ever fought, depended on the prolongation of the defence of Ostend. Vere saw the power of the besiegers and his own weak- ness. The strength of the garrison had dwindled to 2,100, while 4,000 men were barely enough to man the works. The industry of the general slept not ; his vigilance was shown by his daily and nightly rounds about the town and works. Yet there was no hope but in recourse to some stratagem, such as has always been held to be within the rules of hon- orable warfare, if not accompanied by any breach of word or faith. One day, after Sir John Ogle had gone his rounds, the general called him into his lodgings and said : " Rather than you shall see the name of Francis Vere subscribed to the delivery of a town committed to his custody, or his hand to the least article of a treaty, had I a thousand lives I would bury them all in the rampier." He was strongly moved, but he said nothing more at that time. Soon afterwards he called a council of colonels and chief officers, and asked their advice on two points : first, whether, with the present numbers, all parts of the works could be manned in case of an assault; and second, if not, whether it would be advisable to withdraw the guards from the " Quarriers," to strengthen the garrison within the walls. The officers said that the numbers 320 THE FIGHTING VERES. were too few, but that the " Quarriers " ought not to be abandoned, though no one could suggest any plan for holding them. Sir Horace Vere and Sir John Ogle alone gave their advice to abandon the " Quar- riers" rather than endanger the loss of the town. 1 Some days elapsed, and the Archduke had com- pleted his preparations for an assault, and was only waiting for low water. . Then, and not till then, it was that Vere bethought him of a stratagem. He took no counsel. He sent an officer, who spoke Span- ish, into the " Porc-espic " to ask for a parley. The officer called, but got no answer. He then sent Sir John Ogle, who went to the side of the old haven with a drummer. Don Mateo Serrano, the governor of Sluys, came forward, and Ogle gave the message, which was " that General Vere wished to have some 1 In commenting upon this inci- dent, Mr. Motley renews his attack upon the character of the English general. He says that " Sir Francis Vere called his principal officers together, announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and to protract the negotiations as long as possible, until the wished-for sails should be discerned in the offing, when he would at once break them off and resume hostilities " (iv. p. 77). Mr. Motley calls this statement "a cynical trifling with the sacredness of trumpets of truce and offers of capitulation, such as in that loose age were (sic) deemed far from creditable." He goes on to assert that " the Council of War highly applauded the scheme, and importuned the general to carry it at once into effect." Further on he characterizes this alleged con- duct as "Vere's perfidy" (iv. p. 92), and as " gross treachery " (iv. p. 86). Mr. Motley's accusation is dis- proved by the evidence of Sir John Ogle, a man of unimpeachable in- tegrity and stainless honor, which evidence is undesignedly corrobo- rated by that of young Hexham, the general's page. They relate exactly what took place at the council, as narrated in the text. No such proposal as Mr. Motley describes was made by Vere to the council. As the scheme was never propounded to the council, it follows that the council never highly applauded it, and never im- portuned the general to carry it into effect. Mr. Motley appears never to have read the narratives of Ogle and Hexham. THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 321 qualified person to speak with him." 1 Serrano re- ported this to the Archduke, who agreed, and it was settled that Ogle should be a hostage for the Spanish officer, and that each should bring a colleague. Ogle took his tried companion-in-arms, Sir Charles Fair- fax, the brave young officer who helped to rally the English at the battle of Nieuport. The two Span- iards were Governor Don Mateo Serrano and Colonel Don Simon Antonio. They crossed to the Ostend side, while Ogle and Fairfax were conducted to the presence of the Archduke. Albert conjured Sir John Ogle to tell him " if there were any deceit in this handling or no ? " Ogle answered : " if there were it was more than he knew ; " for Vere had told him nothing. The Archduke then asked what instruc- tions Ogle had, who replied that he had none, and that he and Fairfax had merely come as pledges for the return of the Spanish officers. He next asked whether Ogle thought the general intended sincerely or not; and the English hostage answered that he was altogether unacquainted with the general's pur- pose. 2 Next morning the news arrived that Serrano and Antonio had returned without speech of Sir Francis Vere. Then it was that Ogle, calling to mind the speech of the general in his lodgings, said to Fairfax : " he verily believed he meant to put a trick on them." 1 Not a word about treating for syllable of Vere's stratagem, and a capitulation, as Mr. Motley in- had heartily approved the whole correctly states. plot." It has been seen that the * This was quite true. Vere subject was not mentioned at the had not divulged his intentions to council. Ogle and Fairfax were a soul. Yet Mr. Motley remarks, ignorant of the general's plan, and "Although Captain Ogle had been Ogle spoke the simple truth to the one of the council, had heard every Archduke. 322 THE FIGHTING VERES. Fairfax's rejoinder was, " The trick is put upon us me- thinks, for we are prisoners and in their power, they at liberty and our judges." Ogle said there must be some mistake, and offered to write to Vere. The object of all this was to gain time. The Spaniards were sent back on pretext of some irregularity, but they were sent to Count Bucquoy on the east side, so that they had to make a long round, and a night and day were thus gained. Next day, towards evening, Serrano and Antonio were once more admitted into Ostend, and this time Sir Francis received them very hospitably. He feasted them, and drank many healths; but the terms he had to propose to them were, not that he should surrender Ostend, but that the Archduke should raise the siege. He then led them into his own chamber, and laid them on his own bed to take their rest. Meanwhile Captains Clark and Ralph Dexter were at work all night in the old town the vulnerable point strengthening the palisades. After break of day the sentries saw, to their great joy, five men-of-war from Zeeland at anchor off the town. They brought 400 men, besides provisions and materials of all kinds. The troops were immediately landed under a heavy fire from the enemy's batteries on either side, but only three sailors were hurt. The noise aroused Serrano from a heavy sleep after his debauch, and he asked the reason for the firing. When he was told he was amazed, and would not believe it until a certain Captain Pottey, who had come with the ships and whom Serrano knew well, assured him that it was so. The general politely informed the Spanish officers that, as succor had arrived, the negotiation must be broken off. THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 323 They were sent back, while Ogle and Fairfax re- turned to Ostend. The Archduke was naturally much discomposed at so unexpected a disappoint- ment. He thought the place was his. The Infanta Isabella, gorgeously attired, with twenty ladies and gentlemen in her train, had walked before the walls of the town. They would have to wait a long time before they could come in. The stratagem had saved Ostend. 1 Sir Francis now set to work in good earnest to prepare for the assault. He had 1,200 men busily employed for the eight following days, and at time of low water, in the night, the time of greatest danger, he stood on guard in person, which conduced much to the encouragement of the men. Early in January, 1602, he received intelligence that the enemy was preparing for a general assault ; and during the whole of the yth two of the besieging batteries, consisting of eighteen cannon, sending balls of forty to forty-six Ibs. weight, kept up a crushing fire on the " Porc- espic," " Helmund," and " Sand-hill." The Spaniards had by that time sent 163,200 cannon-shot into the town, and scarcely a whole house was left standing. The " Sand-hill " was more thickly lined with iron than ever, and the shot, striking against each other, rolled into ihefausse braye, or, breaking into pieces, 1 Vere reported the whole trans- offered no terms, made no propo- action to the States, in a letter in sal, and there was no breach of French dated Dec. 25, 1601, and faith. If the Archduke chose to to Cecfl on Dec. 22. The council assume that a surrender was in- of war knew nothing of Vere's tended it was his own lookout, intention, nor did Sir John Ogle, and he little knew of what stuff The general consulted no man. Vere was made. The employer He simply asked for two Spanish of the traitor Conisby was " hoist officers to speak with them. He with his own petard." 324 THE FIGHTING VERES. flew into the air as high as the steeple of the old church. Towards evening the enemy was seen bringing down scaling-ladders, hand-grenades, and ammunition to the farther bank of the haven, and the Archduke's army was marshalled for the assault Count Farnese, with 2,000 Italian and Spanish troops, was told off to attack the " Sand-hill " and the curtain of the old town wall. The governor of Dixmunde, with 2,000 Spaniards, was to assault " Helmund " and the " Porc- espic." A force of 500 men, under another captain, was to scale the west ravelin, while a similar number attacked the " South Quarrier." On the east side Count Bucquoy was to deliver a general assault, spe- cially attacking the east ravelin and the defences of the new haven. Vere watched these preparations with unceasing vigilance. He never slept, and all that day he was preparing for the defence. Several houses, which had been ruined by the enemy's fire, were pulled down for the sake of the beams and spars, to be used as palisades. At high water the general caused the west sluice, which let the water into the town ditch from the old haven in the rear of " Hel- mund," to be shut, in brder to retain as much water as possible for an object which will appear presently. He then stationed his little garrison in the best possible way. But the works were numerous, and his numbers very inadequate. Sir Horace Vere and Sir Charles Fairfax, with twelve weak companies, some of them not above ten or twelve men strong, armed with pikes and muskets, were stationed in the " Sand-hill." Farther east, THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 325 along the wall of the old town, the Schottenburgh and adjoining curtain had been much damaged by the action of the waves during recent gales, and by the enemy's shot. This was a most critical point. Here Sir Francis Vere himself took his stand 1 with six weak companies. Two more companies, under Captains Haughton and Utenhoven, occupied the Schottenburgh redoubt. From the Schottenburgh to the old church, which the enemy had shot down, there were 300 of the Zeelanders who had arrived on the day that the parley was broken off. From the church to " Moses Table " were six weak companies under Captain Zittan. In the work called " Moses Table" was a worthy French captain named Montes- quieu de Roques, " whom Vere loved entirely for the worth and valour that was in him." He had two French companies and five weak Dutch companies to second him. Captain Charles Rassart occupied the north ravelin with four companies, and there were two whole cannon and two fieldpieces in the " Fla- menburgh." These works protected the new haven where the ships were lying, and thus the defence of the old town was provided for. The two most important works, flanking the breach by which the enemy must approach, were the " Porc- espic" and " Helmund." Four of the strongest com- panies garrisoned the former work, and in the latter were ten weak companies and nine pieces loaded with musket-bullets. This post was entrusted to Ser- geant-major Carpenter and Captain Meetkerk. Here also was Auditor Fleming (one of the historians of the siege). In the " West Bulwark " were two whole 1 Not in the " Sand-hill," as stated by Motley. 326 THE FIGHTING VERES. and two demi-culverins, to sweep the old haven. The rest of the works, especially to the south, were weakly guarded, because the enemy must necessarily first carry the keys of the position, which had been so long battered by his guns. Along the curtain of the old town, and on the breach which had been made under the " Sand-hill," were collected firkins of ashes to blind the assailants, little barrels full of tenter nails to pour on them, heaps of stones and bricks from the ruins of the old church, hoops bound with squibs and fireworks to throw over their heads, ropes of pitch, hand-grenades, and clubs. At dusk, and a little before low water, the besiegers rested to cool the guns which had been playing on the breach all day. There was an ominous pause, a lull before a still more terrific renewal of the tempest. Taking advantage of this precious time, Vere ordered his trusty engineers, Captains Dexter and Clark, with fifty stout sappers, who each had a rose noble for every quarter of an hour's work, to get on the breach and rapidly throw up a small breast- work, driving in palisades. In defending this vital point Horace Vere and Fairfax would thus have some slight shelter. ' Then the general himself went down into the " fausse braye," and called for an officer to go out " sentinel perdu " and creep to the margin of the old haven between the gabions. He crept out on his belly, and discovered Count Farnese wading across with his 2,000 Italians, and drawing them up in battalions on the Ostend side. Then he crept as silently back to Vere. " What news ? " whispered the general. " My general," he answered, " I smell good store of gold chains, buff jerkins, Spanish cas- THE SIEGE OF OSTEND. 327 socks, and Toledo blades ! " " Ha ! " exclaimed his chief, " sayest thou me so ! I hope thou shait have some of them anon." Vere then went to the top of the " Sand-hill" and issued orders to have everything in readiness, but not to fire until he gave the signal, and then to open with both ordnance and small shot. The lull was succeeded by a deafening storm. The Archduke fired a gun as a signal to Bucquoy, and the besiegers rushed to the assault from all points just as the darkness of night set in. Vere at once opened a hot fire, raking through their battalions, and making lanes amongst them as they formed on the sands. In another minute they dashed onwards to the foot of the " Sand-hill " and along the curtain of the old town, halted for a moment, and poured in a volley. All the parapets had been crumbled down by the fire -during the day, so Vere ordered the men to fall flat, and the volley passed over their heads. Then the Spaniards rushed into the breach where Sir Francis Vere stood, brandishing his sword, and calling to them, in Spanish and Italian, to come on. As they climbed up, the firkins of ashes, stones, and clubs were hurled at them, and flaming hoops were cast over their necks. The ordnance thundered on them from the bulwarks, and all the walls of Ostend were alight with fire. The brave assailants no sooner climbed to the crest of the " Sand-hill " or the " Schot- tenburgh " than they were knocked on the head or run through. Three times they rallied to the charge, and three times they were beaten back along the cur- tain, while the struggle on the breach waxed hotter and hotter during the space of an hour. Similar assaults were made on the " Porc-espic," on the west 328 THE FIGHTING VERES. ravelin, and on the " South Quarrier." On the east side three strong battalions of the enemy were formed on the margin of the " Geule," and attacked the out- work known as the " Spanish Half-moon." Vere resorted to another stratagem. A soldier was or- dered to jump out and give himself up, telling the enemy that the " Half-moon " was slenderly manned, and offering to lead them in. This was done, and the Spaniards took the place easily. The general's object was to draw them away from the support of their comrades on the western attack. He contented himself with guarding the points of most importance, feeling sure that he could recover the others at his leisure. In fact, the " Half-moon " was quite open towards the town. The tide was rising, a heavy fire was opened on the intruders from the " Spanish Bul- wark," and finally Captain Day, at the head of a com- pany, drove them out with a loss of 300 men. At length the besiegers were repulsed at all points. The columns on the west side beat a doleful retreat to the ford over the old haven, while the strong south wind bore the tidings of Vere's glorious victory to friends in England and Holland. The beaten assailants were no sooner in the ford than Vere caused the west sluice to be opened, and the waters he had stored in the town ditch, by closing them in at high tide, rushed down the haven in a tor- rent while the enemy were wading across, and car- ried many away into the sea. 1 1 It is with reference to this in- Auditor Fleming, whom nothing cident that Mr. Motley aims his escaped, quietly asked the gene- final shaft at Sir Francis Vere. It ral's permission to open the west- is a small matter, but it should be ern sluice. Vere's consent was at put right. Mr. Motley says : ' Cool once given. The historians Ben- THE SIEGE OF OS TEND. 329 The defenders then poured over the walls and se- cured an immense amount of plunder. There were Spanish pistols, cassocks, swords, gold chains, targets, and among them a shield on which were enamelled the seven worthies. There were heaps of dead under the " Sand-hill " and along the wall of the old town, goodly young men Spaniards and Italians amidst broken scaling-ladders, axes, spades, and shovels. Among the slain there was the body of a young Spanish girl in male attire, who had fallen in the as- sault. Under her dress was a chain of gold set with precious stones, besides other jewels and silver. Her name is unknown, her history unwritten. Doubtless it was not less romantic than that of Catalina de Erauso, "the Nun-Ensign," who, born in 1585, was the contemporary of the nameless heroine of Ostend. The enemy lost 2,000 men, including the Count d'Imbero and Colonel Antonio, the envoy. The loss of the garrison was 30 killed and 100 wounded. Charles Fairfax fought gallantly in the breach. 1 Horace Vere was wounded in the leg with tivoglio, Grotius, and many others, Hexham, the general's page. He give Vere, as a matter of course, says : " General Vere, perceiving the credit of this feat. But Flenv the enemy to fall off, commanded ing was a man whom I should me to run as fast as ever I could judge incapable of falsehood " (iv. to Sergeant-major Carpenter and p. 90). Nevertheless Fleming was Auditor Fleming, who were upon not without capacity in that line. ' Helmund,' that they should pres- The historians are undoubtedly ently open the west sluice, out of right, and "cool Auditor Fleming" which there ran such a stream and made a very cool statement by giv- torrent down through the channel ing himself credit to which he has of the west haven that upon their no claim whatever. The previous retreat it carried away many of order of Sir Francis Vere indicates their sound and hurt men into the that the plan was entirely his own. sea." But the matter is set at rest by the l Sir Charles Fairfax was broth- undesigned corroboration of young er of Thomas, first Lord Fairfax, 330 THE FIGHTING VERES. a splinter. Captains Haughton and Madison and Nicholas Van den Lier were killed, and four other officers. Among these was Master Tedcastle, a gen- tleman of Sir Francis Vere's staff, who was killed when standing between the general and his page. He called to young Hexham to take off his gold ring and send it to his sister as his last farewell, and then he died. The besiegers had had enough to last them for some time. The general remained for a few months longer, when he was called away by the States Gen- eral to assume an important command in the field. Sir Francis Vere left Ostend on the yth of March, 1602, accompanied by his brother Horace, " both car- rying away with them and leaving behind them the marks of true honor and renown." Sir John Ogle also went with the general.. Sir Francis had con- ducted the siege of Ostend for the first eight months. With uncommon engineering ability he put the town into an excellent posture of defence ; he showed ad- mirable skill and activity in drawing the enemy from the main attack ; his splendid example inspired his garrison with confidence and courage ; and in the arrangements for the defence against the grand as- and of Edward Fairfax, the trans- end. Fairfax was not slain at this lator of Tasso. In the Fairfax time. We learn from a letter from Correspondence (i. p. xix) it is him to the Earl of Northumber- stated that Charles was slain by a land, dated June 14, 1604, that he wound in the face, from a piece of was badly wounded in the right the skull of a marshal of France, arm during this assault, that he who was killed close beside him was afterwards at the siege of by a cannon-ball. This is evi- Sluys, and that he was sent back dently a confused version of the to Ostend to command the Eng- death of Chatillon (see ante) ap- lish companies towards the end of plied to another person. There the siege, was no marshal of France at Ost- THE SIEGE OF OSTEND. 331 sault, and his conduct of the action itself, he displayed all the qualities of a consummate general. After the departure of Sir Francis Vere, the garri- son of Ostend, thanks to the heroic valor of a suc- cession of Dutch governors, held out for two years and a half. Their constancy was of the utmost mo- ment, for the siege continued to occupy the great mass of the Spanish army, and so led to the recog- nition of the independence of the Dutch Republics. Vere was succeeded by Frederick van Dorp, who gallantly repulsed an assault on the " Porc-espic " in April, 1603, but the Spaniards captured and retained the " Polder." The loss during that year, from wounds and sickness, amounted to 4,000. Van Dorp was followed by Charles van de Noot; and in October, 1603, the renowned Spinola assumed the conduct of the siege. In December, 1603, Peter van Gieselles became governor. He repaired the " Sand-hill," " Porc-espic," and " Helmund." He was slain on March 12, 1604, in repulsing an as- sault from the Polder. The two next governors were slain; and in June, 1604, Colonel Uytenhoove made an heroic attempt to hold the place by throwing up an inner line of defences on the west side, which were called " Little Troy." The last governor was Daniel de Hartaing, Lord of Marquette. The place was a mass of crumbling ruins. On September 13, 1604, the " Sand-hill," the true key to the whole posi- tion, fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and on the 2Oth the governor capitulated to his generous enemy, the Marquis Spinola. When the Archduke Albert entered upon possession of this long-sought prize it 332 THE FIGHTING VERES. was a confused heap of smouldering ruins. The bleak Flemish sand-hills were his, but Holland was lost forever. Freedom gained an enduring triumph through the glorious defence of Ostend. CHAPTER XXIV. DEATH OF THE QUEEN, AND RESIGNATION OF SIR FRANCIS VERE. SIR FRANCIS VERE was recalled from Ostend by the States General to be consulted on an urgent question. He was received at the Hague at an assembly of all the deputies, when he reported fully on the state of the beleaguered town, and the pros- pects of the defence. He was then referred to a special committee consisting of Prince Maurice, Barneveldt, and a few others, to whom, for speedier dispatch and greater secrecy, the succoring of Ostend was committed. There was great difficulty, owing to the intolerable cost of the defence, in levying a force with which to carry on an offensive war, and draw the enemy from Ostend. The object of the States was to raise an army of 20,000 foot and 5,000 horse ; but they needed further help from England to complete the numbers. 1 Vere was therefore re- quested to undertake a special mission to the Queen, to obtain her sanction for raising more recruits, and then to return with all possible speed to Holland, to assume command of the English contingent in the field. Noel Caron, the Dutch envoy in London, was joined with Sir Francis Vere in this mission. The 1 Sir F. Vere, at Ryswick, to Sir R. Cecil, March 21, 1601. S. P. O., Holland, vol. xciv. 334 THE FIGHTING VERES. great general was cordially welcomed by the Queen, and the wishes of the States were complied with at his request. During this rapid visit to England on urgent affairs of state, Sir Francis was subjected to some annoy- ance by the Earl of Northumberland, 1 who thought that he had been treated with less respect than his rank demanded while he was at Ostend. As soon as he heard that Vere had been at court he watched an opportunity to insult him, and eventually sent him a foolish challenge by a certain Captain Whit- lock, on the 24th of April. The Earl's letter was as follows: " You love to take the air and to ride abroad: appoint, therefore, a time and place to your liking that I may meet you. Bring your friend with you. I will be accompanied with another that shall be wit- ness of things I shall lay to your charge. If you satisfy me we will return good friends; if not, we shall do as God shall put in our minds." Sir Francis said he would not answer it at once, but would consider the matter. On Sunday, the 25th, he sent his friend Sir John Ogle with a letter which the Earl would not receive, using violent language, and threatening Ogle if he offered it to him again. Sir Francis then sent to suggest a meeting in London, each accom- panied by a man of gravity and some rank in the state. Vere named Sir Edward Stafford. 2 The Earl 1 Henry Percy, ninth Earl of His uncle, the seventh Earl, was Northumberland, was a cousin of beheaded at York for treason in Sir Francis Vere, his maternal 1572 ; and his grandfather, Sir grandmother having been a Vere. Thomas Percy, was executed at His father had committed suicide Tyburn in 1537. in the Tower in 1585, to avoid 2 The Queen's ambassador in trial and sentence for high treason. France. NORTHUMBERLAND'S CHALLENGE. 335 rejected this proposal, demanding a private meeting. A third time Sir John Ogle went to this foolish brawler and informed him that the general thought it not reasonable to satisfy him after the manner he required, and therefore he would not do it. But he desired to have, under the Earl's hand, the particular causes for which he considered himself aggrieved. Northumberland replied that to write would be tedious; that by his refusal he was thoroughly per- suaded Sir Francis had done him those wrongs which he meant to lay to his charge ; that he would lay up the general's injurious dealing in his heart, and right himself thereafter as he should think fit. The matter rested for three days, and meanwhile it came to the ears of Noel Caron, the Dutch envoy, who reported it to the Queen in council. Her Majesty commanded Northumberland to forbear any attempt against Sir Francis, as he was then employed on her service. The Earl submitted, but he declared that Sir Francis was a knave and a coward, and that " in fleering and geering like a common buffoon he would wrong men of all conditions, and had neither the honesty nor courage to satisfy any." Sir Francis Vere then drew up the following note: " The Earl of Northumberland makes profession to hate Sir Francis Vere upon divers sinister reports made by base and factious persons, but never called him to account at the time. Sir Francis admits that upon the certain knowledge he had of the counte- nance and favour the Earl showed to certain mean persons, and the contentment he took in their back- biting Sir Francis Vere, he grew into contempt of this humour of the Earl's and afforded him little 336 THE FIGHTING VERES. respect. Their first meeting in England was at the Court, on April I2th, Sir Francis Vere being sent to Her Majesty by the States as a public person upon very weighty and important affairs. On the 23d of April, at 6 in the evening, Captain Whitlock came with a challenge. Sir Francis framed an answer and sent it by Captain Ogle, his Lieutenant Colonel, from his lodging in Aldersgate Street, on the 25th. The Earl refused the letter." The Earl of Northumberland, although bound in honor to defer his quarrel until the general was free, published a scurrilous paper in English, French, and Italian, calling Sir Francis a knave, a coward, and a buffoon. Vere was on the very eve of starting on his return to Holland. He addressed the following letter to the Earl, in reply to his disgraceful slander: " Because I refused to meet you on your peremptory and foolish summons, you conclude me, in a discourse sent abroad under your name, to be a knave, a cow- ard, and a buffoon ; whereupon you have procured me to set aside all respect of your person and to say you are a most lying and unworthy lord. You were bound by Her Majesty's commandment not to assail me, and I, by the business committed to me, not to seek you. When we shall be freer, as God shall make us meet, I will maintain it with my sword. FRANCIS VERE.' M 1 The correspondence between copy of Northumberland's chal- the Earl of Northumberland and lenge and the answer is in the Sir Francis Vere, from the Cotton possession of the Duke of West- MSS.j is published in the supple- minster at Eaton. The Duke of ment to Collinses Peerage (8vo, Sutherland has another copy of 1730), and also in the Somers the challenge. Tracts, i. p. 487. A manuscript NORTHUMBERLAND'S CHALLENGE. 337 Mr. White, the general's servant, brought this let- ter to the Earl on the day his master sailed for the Low Countries. Three years afterwards the Earl of Northumberland was committed to the Tower on charges connected with the Powder Plot, and there he remained for many years, 1 safe from Vere's sword, and from the punishment for his insolence, which he so richly deserved. In this unpleasant affair Sir Francis Vere kept his temper, and acted with dignity and sound judgment. While refusing to gratify the foolish lord's whim, at a time when he was engaged on important public duty, he offered to make any explanation that might be right, with persons of gravity and position to de- cide between them. On arriving at the Hague, Vere at once joined the army of Maurice, and in the hurry of preparation for the campaign he must have soon forgotten the annoying piece of folly which wasted some of his precious time in London. He was at the head of 8,000 Englishmen in the pay of the States, who formed nearly half the infantry of the patriot army. In Vere's absence the command of the English com- 1 The Earl's imprisonment by prison in 1620 he was as silly and the Star Chamber was illegal and pompous as ever. Hearing that unjust. The pretext was that his the favorite Buckingham drove in namesake, Thomas Percy, was a a coach and six, he went down to gunpowder-plot conspirator, but Petworth in a coach and eight, the Earl himself was quite inno- He died in 1632, aged seventy, cent. He was not only imprisoned leaving by his wife Dorothy, for fifteen years, but fined ^30,000. daughter of Walter Devereux, Earl During his confinement he patron- of Essex, a son Algernon, tenth ized the mathematicians Robert Earl of Northumberland, who nat- Hues and Thomas Harriott. But urally became a stanch Parliament his character was not changed by man. adversity. When he came out of 338 THE FIGHTING VERES. panics of horse had been given to Sir Edward Cecil, an appointment which had his full approval. 1 Mau- rice named Schenken Schanz as the rendezvous, and as soon as the army had assembled, he crossed the Waal at Nymegen, and the Maas at Mook, advan- cing thence into the heart of Brabant. There had been some delay owing to negligence in sending for- ward provisions for the English contingent. 2 Mau- rice found his progress opposed by the Admiral of Aragon, who was strongly intrenched ; so he retraced his steps, and laid siege to Grave 3 on the gth of July, 1602. This was the last military operation in which Sir Francis Vere was engaged. When, as a young man, he began his military career under the Earl of Leicester, the first event in the campaign was the loss of Grave. And now the last service he per- formed was connected with the recovery of Grave. At about noon on a Thursday in August, Sir Francis was in the trenches, directing the siege works, when he was wounded in the face. A bullet struck him under the right eye and passed towards the ear, 1 " One very worthy of com- with its Groot-markt, town hall, mand." Vere to R. Cecil, May lofty church, and avenues of trees 26, 1602. round the grassy ramparts. The 2 F. Vere to Secretary Cecil, church dedicated to St. Elizabeth July n, 1602. has its western end facing the 8 The distance across the coun- Groot-markt. It consists of a try between the Waal and the Maas, choir and transepts, but the nave from Nymegen to Grave, is seven has been destroyed. There is a miles. Grave is a small town, tomb of Arnold, Duke of Gelders, surrounded by disused fortifica- a great-grandson of Edward III., tions, on the left bank of the broad and father of Mary, wife of James stream of the Maas. These de- II. of Scotland. Arnold died in fences are of the Coehorn period, 1473. The church also contains and there are no traces of the walls some fine oak carving, and curious which existed in Vere's time. It pictures representing the martyr- is now a quiet little Dutch place, dom of some white friars. NEGOTIATION WITH THE STATES. 339 where it lodged. 1 The old warrior was conveyed to his former lodging at Ryswick. There he remained in a critical condition for many weeks, and it was the end of October before he was able to go out and attend to business. 2 The organization of the States army was under revision, and the changes made it necessary for General Vere to maintain his own posi- tion, and to advocate the rights and interests of his countrymen in the pay of the States. It was not until the end of the year that these weighty affairs began to be discussed, and in the mean while Prince Maurice had returned from the capture of Grave. 3 In September, 1602, Mr. George Gilpin, the Queen's agent at the Hague, died rather suddenly, and it was some time before Sir Ralph Winwood was sent to succeed him. 4 Sir Francis Vere was left to fight his battle single-handed. He contended that he ought to have sole command over his own men, with suitable jurisdiction, so as to ensure their being dealt with according to their own laws. He sent his friend Sir Edward Con way, who thoroughly under- 1 Sir R. Sidney to Cecil, Aug. Maurice) coach, and passed by 15, 1602. without saluting him, and that 2 F. Vere, from Ryswick, to afterwards he sent his excuse, Cecil, Oct. 19, 1602. "I am a saying that he was sorry, that he stranger to affairs by reason my saw not his Excellency, as it was hurt suffers me not to go abroad." on his blind side. I hear that his 8 Sir W. Browne, who was then Excellency's answer was that it acting governor of Flushing for was a blind excuse." Sidney Sidney, was a very fine old war- Papers, ii. p. 260. rior, but he was sadly given to Sir Francis Vere and the Prince spreading unauthenticated and im- were in reality on perfectly ami- probable gossip. On November cable terms. 29, 1602, he wrote: "I hear that * He did not arrive at the Hague of late Sir Francis, abroad in his till July, 1603. coach, met his Excellency's (Prince 340 THE FIGHTING VERES. stood the position, to explain the grounds of his con- tention to Secretary Cecil. On the 22d of January, 1603, Sir Francis was received in audience by the Assembly of the States General, when he deliv- ered a strong and peremptory speech, claiming better treatment for his soldiers. He implored the Queen's government to support him in the line he was tak- ing, 1 especially with regard to his men being subject only to their own laws and ordinances, and to the English general being judge of causes concerning his people. The negotiation was delicate and rather intricate, but Maurice understood the points at issue and was well disposed, while Barneveldt was Vere's friend and upheld him. 2 He was well supported by Cecil and the English government, and in January, 1603, he wrote: "On the point most debated I do think they will give me contentment." By February Vere had gained his point, and was able to report that " the States have granted my request, which is an addition to my former authority." 3 Vere reported, at this time, that the power of the Stadtholder was increasing. He wrote : " The Prince Maurice groweth daily more powerful in this State, and taketh upon himself more princely greatness than heretofore. As long as the States can endure the charge they are now at, in all appearance he will de- fend their country from the power of Spain." Wearied by these long negotiations, and still suf- fering from his wounds, Sir Francis Vere had retired for a little rest to the pleasant suburb of Ryswick. 1 F. Vere, at the Hague, to Ce- a F. Vere, at the Hague, to Ce- cil, February 6, 1603. cil, February 27, 1603. 2 Sidney Papers^ ii. p. 255. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 341 Over him was the shadow of a great national calam- ity. On the evening of Monday, the 2ist of March, one of Prince Maurice's pages was ushered into the English general's presence. He brought a letter which the Prince had received from the States of Zeeland, reporting that the Queen was dangerously ill and past all hope of recovery. The news had been brought over " by the captain of a Zeeland man-of- war, named Cornelius Lensen, who was desired by a Dutch merchant of good repute to hasten into these parts lest, by a general arrest, both he and his ship might be stayed." The page also had instructions from Maurice to tell Vere that he had news of the death of Her Majesty. Sir Francis immediately hur- ried to the Prince's house, and found that this news was grounded on the report of the same Cornelius Lensen. He therefore allowed himself to indulge in hope, and tried to think no more of it. But this was impossible. Elizabeth was the object, not of de- voted loyalty only, but of affection and love, to all true Englishmen. She was their ideal of a great queen, loving her subjects, devoting herself to their good, wearing out her life in their service. Vere was plunged in grief. He could not rest. Next morning he flew to the house of his friend Barneveldt for more news. A letter had just been re- ceived from Noel Caron, the Dutch envoy in London. He reported that the Queen was ill at ease, and that, in his opinion, this was caused by trouble of mind at having pardoned Tyrone, and at the marriage of the Lady Arabella. 1 On this Vere observed : " Her 1 The Queen's grief had been and life-long friend the Countess caused by the death of her cousin of Nottingham. Arabella Stuart 342 THE FIGHTING VERES. Majesty's most princely wisdom and magnanimity were warrant to me that no deed of hers and no acci- dent could so far distemper her mind. So I con- cluded with myself that the Queen was not sick, in which belief I remained for two days. Then the wind became fair to come out of England, and ad- vertisements came on all hands from our private friends that Her Majesty was dangerously sick. Now there are letters from M. de Caron, wherein he writ- eth that he, being betwixt the coffer-chamber and Her Majesty's bed-chamber, did see great weeping and lamentation among the lords and ladies as they passed to and fro, and that he perceived by them that there was no hope that Her Majesty should escape. This hath made me doubtful of Her Majesty's welfare, and perplexed me in my mind, no less than I have cause and more than I can express. And yet I have been so far from thinking that I should live to see that dismal day, that I cannot thoroughly keep from my mind the suspicion I have that this bruit is alto- gether false, or at the least the malady is not so serious as is given out. I end with my most humble prayers to the Almighty to deliver Her Majesty from the present danger, and lengthen out her days to the uttermost course of nature." ] For a few days longer Sir Francis Vere continued to hope against hope that the life of his beloved sov- was at Sheriff Hutton. The Queen judged. Nothing of that sort was had been annoyed at a report that capable of giving a shock to one this lady was said to be in treaty of the most truly brave women of marriage with William Sey- that ever lived. Physical causes mour; but the report was denied, alone accounted for her death, and had had no effect upon the * F. Vere, at the Hague, to Ce- Queen's health, as Vere rightly cil, March 24, 1603. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 343 ereign might be spared. But on the 2Qth of March official news, which could not be doubted, arrived of the great Queen's death. Vere then reported that "although I was full of grief for the loss of so gra- cious a Sovereign, I instantly sent to the magistrates and my officers in the Brill to cause the King to be proclaimed." He also sent his brother Horace with a letter to his new master, a copy of which he for- warded to Cecil. The Queen's death was a greater public calamity than was at first understood. Yet the grief, not only of men like Vere who knew her well, but of the whole people, was deep and real. She had loved them, and was in perfect sympathy with them. Never was this more strikingly shown than at the meeting of her last Parliament, in 1601, when she conceded their demands before they were presented to her, almost as if by instinct. All her great undertakings for the good of her people, and on behalf of causes which they held dear, had succeeded. Spain, the mighty enemy, was defeated and humbled. The Dutch allies had gained their freedom. Ireland was conquered. The East India Company was founded. Trade and commerce flourished. Elizabeth had worked harder than most strong men could do. The incessant toil and anxiety, the constant strain on her faculties, had at length worn her out. She disregarded the warn- ings of approaching collapse. At the opening of her last Parliament she could scarcely bear the weight of her robes, and needed actual support of those around her. Yet she delivered the noblest speech that con- stitutional sovereign ever uttered. Only six weeks before her death she received the Venetian ambassa- 344 THE FIGHTING VERES. dor in state. She continued to work long after pru- dence would have prescribed absolute rest. At last she broke down suddenly and utterly, and died three weeks afterwards. She literally died of overwork in the service of her people. A nobler end no sover- eign ever made. No wonder she was beloved. No wonder that the people cherished the memory of the great queen who had loved them so devotedly, had worked for them, and died for them. Nearly all her early friends had died before her: the unworthy Leicester, the only man she ever loved ; Burleigh, the life-long friend and adviser; her cousins Kate Gary and Lord Hunsdon ; her old friend in adver- sity, the Lady Norris " my own crow," as the Queen called her; fair Isabel Harington, her cher- ished bedfellow, all had passed away. One of the lovely maids of honor who attended the Princess Elizabeth at Hatfield in Mary's days, was still by the great Queen's side in her saddest hour and her death. Sweet Margaret Willoughby was faithful to the end. 1 The children of her old friends were also faithful to the end, in most instances, and cherished the memory of their Queen and their benefactress. To those around her the loss was heavy. To the country the news came as a stunning blow. How much greater would the grief have been if all the shame, dishonor, and mean tyranny of- the next forty years could have been foreseen! James I. began his reign by making a treaty with France, which included promises of aid to the States General. This was in July, 1603. In 1604 the per- fidious pedant made a treaty of peace with Spain 1 She had become Lady Arundell of Wardour. RESIGNATION OF SIR FRANCIS VERB. 345 and the Netherlands Archdukes, leaving the Dutch patriots to fight their battles alone. The people of England submitted to the reversal of their great Queen's policy with undisguised regret and shame. The English companies continued to serve the States, and volunteers were as abundant as ever. No one felt the shame more deeply than Sir Fran- cis Vere. James had confirmed him in the govern- ment of Brill, 1 which town was to be retained until the debt of the States General was paid. He was gen- eral of the English troops in the pay of the States, with enlarged powers, enjoying the confidence and friendship of Prince Maurice and Barneveldt. Sir Edward Cecil tells us that the soldiers reverenced and stood in awe of him. " He was the very dial of the whole army, by whom we knew when we should fight or not." He loved the States, and was devoted to their cause. His twenty years of service had ce- mented many friendships, not only among his own comrades in arms, but also among the people for whom he had fought so long and valiantly. He was at the zenith of his fame, and second only to Maurice in the army of the States. But it was at this time that Sir Francis Vere re- signed his honorable employment in the service of the States General. His health was failing, he was covered with wounds, riddled with bullets, and they had left their effects on his powers of endurance and of application. Exposure, incessant toil, attacks of ague, and mental strain had done their work. He felt that at the early age of forty-four he was past his prime. He knew that his younger brother Horace 1 By Patent, April 16, 1603. 346 THE FIGHTING VERES. would ably fill his place. Moreover, the death of his beloved sovereign and the disgraceful peace had taken the heart out of his work. So he retired from the service of the States in the summer of 1604, amidst expressions of regret and cordial wishes for his future welfare. The States insisted upon his re- taining honorary command of his regiment of horse. Sir Francis returned to England, and went to live on his own property at Tilbury, close to Kirby Hall, the home of his mother and elder brother. In August, 1605, the old warrior became tired of inaction, and wrote to his friend Secretary Cecil, who had been created Earl of Salisbury in the previ- ous May, for leave to proceed to his government at the Brill. Sir Edward Conway had been acting as his deputy. He could not bear to frequent the court, where he would be reminded of the' change at every turn. Nor would James be likely to desire the com- pany of warriors such as Vere, infinitely preferring the society of such creatures as Carr or Villiers. Writing to Salisbury, the great general said : " Your Lordship knoweth how unfit I am for the court, and hope in your favor to excuse my backwardness that way. I am and shall always be most ready, with my best industry, to perform what shall be commanded of me." 1 Salisbury, in a friendly and very compli- mentary letter, informed Sir Francis that there was no necessity for his going to his government at the Brill, so far as the King's service was concerned. But he was entrusted with an honorable mission to the Hague, and with letters from James which would be 1 F. Vere, at Tilbury, to the Earl of Salisbury, May 2, 1605. MS. at Hatfield. RESIGNATION OF SIR FRANCIS VERE. 347 very acceptable to the States General, for they con- tained a promise that the Archduke Albert should be restrained from recruiting in the dominions of the British King. Vere arrived at the Brill on the 2d of December, I6O5, 1 on which event that incorrigible old gossip, Sir William Browne, observed, " We shall un- derstand shortly how the States and he will agree." 2 He proceeded to the Hague, and delivered his Ma- jesty's letters to Prince Maurice and the States Gen- eral in solemn assembly. All were glad to see their faithful old friend again. " They gave me a very good welcome, seeming to be glad of my return into these parts, and of my affection to their service." Sir Francis Vere had the pleasure of hearing the praises of his brother Horace for his gallant services at the recovery of Sluys in 1604, a d for his skill and bravery in saving the army of the States in the re- treat from Mulheim in 1605. Horace had been brought up as a soldier by Francis, had learned the art of war from him, and had been his comrade for many years. They were more than brothers, and the successes of one were sources of deepest pleasure to the other. This last visit of Sir Francis Vere to the Hague was, in all respects, most agreeable and satis- factory. He took his final leave of his old comrade in arms, Prince Maurice, and of the States General, in May, 1606, and returned to England in June, bringing with him a substantial proof of the regard and affec- tion in which he was held by his old masters. He thus announces it to Salisbury: " An annual liberality the States have laid for me, and desired I should 1 Vere to Salisbury, December 2 Sidney Papers, ii. p. 316. 15, 1605. Papers at Hatfield^ vol. 1. 348 THE FIGHTIXG VERES. take as a testimony of their favour, whereof I thought it my duty to advertise your Lordship." ] The an- nouncement of this " annual liberality," as Vere calls it, is preserved in the British Museum, and is ex- pressed as follows : " THE STATES GENERAL OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. Whereas the noble valorous Sir Francis Vere Knight, o governor of the town and forts of Brill, did many years well truly commendably and beneficially serve the United Low Countries not only in the said qual- ity but also in divers other qualities as well as Com- mander General of the forces by the most laudable goodness of the Queen's Majesty of England France and Ireland to those countries kindly granted. Also as Colonel of a regiment of English companies levied at the charge of this country likewise as Commander General of troops of horse and foot of divers nations used under his conduct in many exploits, and after the last agreement made with the most honourable the Queen's Majesty of England in the year 1598, as General of the Englishmen of war both horse and foot being in the service of the Low Countries. Also of a third part of the army in divers expeditions and besiegings, and within and without the city of Ostend in the renowned siege of the same town in 1601 and 1602 as otherwise; and that we always have noted his honor and perfect and steadfast affection for the welfare of the United Low Countries in general and particular. To acknowledge the said continual great and notable services and affection, we, after perfect 1 F. Vere, at the Brill, to Lord Salisbury, May 31, 1606. MSS. at Hatfield, vol. 1. PENSION TO SIR FRANCIS VERE. 349 deliberation, in recompense of the said services, as well for his person in the aforesaid qualities and as Captain of his two companies of horse and foot, as also for the services of his officers and soldiers of the same, until the day of the purchase thereof made (of the which he hath delivered us over the acknowledg- ment and acquittance) have granted and ordained, and do grant and ordain by these presents to the said Sir Francis Vere a pension during his life time of three thousand pounds of 40 pence 1 the pound, a coin of these countries, yearly. The first year shall expire on June 8, 1607, so forward from year to year during the life time of the said Sir Francis Vere ; and to shew yet further to the said Sir Francis Vere how acceptable we did hold his services, we have, at his ear- nest instance, granted and consented, and do grant and consent by these presents, that if, at the time of his decease the honorable Lord, Henry Vere Earl of Oxford, 2 being the head of his House, be alive, the payment of the said pension of three thousand pounds yearly during the life of the same Lord shall be continued so long as the said Earl shall be alive. " In's GRAVEN HAGE, the 6th day of June, i6o6." 3 1 /5 sterling a year. rice and the States General, and 2 Edward, seventeenth Earl of that there was no love lost between Oxford, died and was buried at them. Maurice and the States Hackney on July 6, 1604, after General could not offer a better having run through nearly all his refutation of these erroneous state- estates. His son Henry succeeded ments than the above document as eighteenth Earl, but was very affords. In every line it shows the poor. cordiality and friendship which ex- 8 Cotton MSS., Titus, cvii. 132. isted, from first to last, between The signatures are gone. Motley Maurice and the States General on and other writers allege that Vere the one hand and Sir Francis Vere was not on cordial terms with Mau- on the other. 350 THE FIGHTING VERES. Long and faithful service was thus suitably re- warded, and the grand old champion of liberty could have had nothing but pleasant reminiscences and kindly feelings towards the rulers and people of Hol- land when he sailed from the Brill, and took his last farewell look of the Dutch coast in June, 1606. On returning to his native land to end his days there, he was welcomed with the news that further well-won rewards had been conferred upon him by the English government. On June 15, 1606, he was appointed Governor of Portsmouth and the island of Portsea, 1 Constable of Porchester Castle, and Keeper of East Beare forest for life. 2 And so the old warrior rested from his labors. He saw the complete success of all his toils and services a few months afterwards, when the armistice practically acknowledged the indepen- dence of the United Provinces. 1 In succession to the Earl of 2 Sir Thomas Cornwallis was Devonshire, who died in April, appointed Deputy Keeper of East 1606. Devonshire was the Lord Beare forest, under Sir Francis Mountjoy of the "Island Voyage." Vere. His tomb is in Porchester church. CHAPTER XXV. MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF SIR FRANCIS VERE. WHEN Sir Francis Vere finally returned to Eng- land, after twenty years of glorious service, he found that a home had been made ready for him within a short walk of Kirby Hall, where his brother John lived with their mother, and almost in "sight of the ancient keep of Hedingham Castle. This residence, prepared for the great general, was called Tilbury Lodge. The estate of Tilbury near Clare, in the valley of the Stour, 1 had belonged to the Veres for centuries, 2 when the seventeenth Earl of Oxford sold it to Israel Ames in 1583, who made it his place of residence. 3 Ames had married Thomasine, daughter of William Carew of Stone Castle, near Greenhithe in Kent, 4 and Mr. and Mrs. Ames thus became neighbors of John Vere at Kirby Hall. There they resided for twelve years, but in 1593 Israel Ames sold Tilbury to Edward Cotton, who 1 Called Tilbury near Clare, to ter of George Lawson, of York- distinguish it from East and West shire. Tilbury on the Thames. 4 There is a gravestone of black 2 Tilbury was granted to Alberic marble in Stone church, to the Vere, first Earl of Oxford, by the memory of William Carew, brother Empress Maud. The parish con- of this Thomasine, who afterwards tained the manors of Tilbury, married John Vere. He is said Skeyes, Brays, and North Tofts. to have died in 1625, aged about 8 Israel Ames was a son of thirty-five. Roger Ames, by Elizabeth, daugh- 352 THE FIGHTING VERES. merely held it until another purchaser could be found. At this time Sir Francis Vere was anxious to acquire a home for himself in his native county, and he had requested his brother to look out for any estate in his neighborhood that was for sale. The opportunity soon offered. In December, 1598, Cotton sold the estate of Tilbury to John Vere of Kirby in trust for his brother, and John conveyed it to Sir Francis Vere on May i, I6O4. 1 The estate included the manors of Tilbury juxta Clare, Skeyes, and North Tofts, and the advowson of the living. 2 The house, usually called Tilbury Lodge, was surrounded by a park, and near it was the church, the tower of which was built by the Countess of Oxford in 1 5 1 9. It had the badges of the Veres cut in stone and let into the brickwork. 3 A pleasant, well-timbered expanse of country extended from Tilbury Park to Kirby and Hedingham Castle. One result of the negotiations for the purchase of Tilbury was that John Vere mar- ried the widow of Israel Ames, its former owner, and brought her home to Kirby. The old soldier, covered with honorable wounds and prematurely aged by exposure and hardships of all kinds, certainly needed repose. He found rest at the pleasant lodge in Tilbury Park, close to his relations, and surrounded by the haunts of his childhood. He avoided the Court, so changed and degraded since 1 Morant's Essex, \\. p. 335. called Little Bromley Hall, alias 8 In the Inquisitio post mortem Church Hall, and Ovington, and of Sir Francis Vere (No. 7, James several fields in the parish of I., 1st Pt, No. 182) lands are men- Ashen-on-Esse. tioned, as part of the estate, in the 8 Holman MS. Coll. " Now parishes of Belchamp St. Paul defaced by time. Vidi August 5, and Great Yeldham. Sir Francis 1825." is also said to possess the manors MARRIAGE OF SIR FRANCIS VERE. 353 the days of the great Queen ; but his office of Gov- ernor of Portsmouth and of the island of Portsea occupied much of his time. The last years of his life were passed between his official post at Ports- mouth and his home at Tilbury. He actively pro- moted the repair and completion of the Portsmouth defences, and reported the defects to Lord Salisbury. At the same time he was anxious to prevent the gar- rison rules from interfering with the trade of the town. He wrote to Lord Salisbury that " the Mag- istrates complain of difficulty in having passage to their shipping in the haven at all times of the night, as tide and weather require," the consequence being that seafaring men for the most part resorted to Gosport. Sir Francis recommended that the rules should be relaxed. 1 A contemplation of the life of Sir Francis Vere leads to the conclusion that during his active career he had been wholly wrapped up in the duties of his profession, to the exclusion of all softer feelings. We meet with no indication of a love passage of any kind, throughout his own correspondence and that of his contemporaries. If there had ever been any- thing of the sort, it is almost certain that Sir Wil- liam Browne or some other gossiping letter-writer would have put it on record. But now that he had leisure, Sir Francis turned his thoughts to matri- mony, and it was not long before he was engaged to a very young lady, who no doubt conceived a romantic affection for the great general. The pleasant Surrey village of Mitcham, on the 1 Vere to Salisbury, March 13, 1607, August 16, 1609. MSS. at Hatfield. 354 THE FIGHTING VERES. edge of the Downs, was on the road from London to the Queen's palace at Nonsuch ; and the hand- some residences there often served as halfway houses, where hospitality was dispensed to the numerous courtiers and public servants who frequented the road. Sir Henry Burton was Lord of the Manor of Mitcham, and Sir Walter Raleigh had a house and estate there. Another goodly house by the roadside at Mitcham was the property of Mr. John Dent, a citizen of London belonging to the Salters' Compa- ny, whose place of business was in St. Bartholomew's parish by the Exchange. 1 He came from Leicester- shire, his father having owned property at Hallough- ton, in that county. His second wife was Alice, daughter of Christopher Grant, of Manchester, by whom he had a son, Thomas, and two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. The position of Mr. Dent's house on the road to Nonsuch procured a great honor for its owner. In 1592 the Queen not only stopped at Mitcham, but paid Mr. Dent a visit which lasted three days, from Friday the 28th to Monday the 3ist of July. 2 Three years after the Queen's visit Mr. Dent died, and was buried in the church of St. Bartholomew by the Exchange on the 3Oth of December, 1595. His widow was soon consoled. Less than three months after his death, on April 10, 1596, she was married, 1 Where the Bank of England July 28th, the same day yt' her now stands. Ma tie came to Mr. Dent his house, 2 This appears from the bap- and baptized Monday 3ist the tismal entries for 1592, an unex- same day that her Matie wente from pected place to find the sole record hence to Nonsuche." I am in- of a royal visit : " Edward son of debted to Colonel Chester for this Henry Whitney Esq. born Friday interesting extract. MARRIAGE OF SIR FRANCIS VERE. 355 at Mitcham, to Sir Julius Caesar, an eminent lawyer and Master of Requests. 1 Sir Julius was the son of Dr. Caesar Adelmar, the Italian physician to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, who had the name of Caesar from his mother, a daughter of Giovanni Pietro Cesarini. Queen Mary ordered his posterity to adopt the name of Caesar. Julius was born at Tottenham in 1557, and lost his father in 1569. He was educated at Oxford and at the University of Paris, and soon distinguished himself at the bar. He became judge of the High Court of Admiralty in 1583, Master of Requests in 1590, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1606, and Master of the Rolls in 1614. By his first wife, a daughter of Alderman Martin, whom he married in 1582 and buried in 1595, he had a son Charles, who was his heir. His town house was on the north side of the Strand, but after his marriage with Mistress Alice Dent he frequently re- sided in her house at Mitcham. 2 The Queen had found this house a very pleasant and hospitable rest- ing-place on her way to Nonsuch. So she repeated her visit. Sir Julius Caesar had the honor of enter- taining her there on Tuesday the 1 2th of September, 1598. She supped and lodged, dined next day, and went on to Nonsuch " with exceeding good content- ment." 3 1 She bore him two sons, Robert wife, and that his second wife's and Edward. See Life of Sir maiden name was Green. Her Julius Ccesar by E. Lodge (410, name was Grant. See Lodge's 1827). Life of Sir Julius Ccesar (1827). 2 In the article on Sir Julius Cae- 8 Sir Julius Caesar enumerates sar, in the Dictionary of British the presents he gave to her Majes- Nalional Biography, it is errone- ty on this occasion, and plaintively ously stated that he inherited the remarks that the visit cost him house at Mitcham from his first 356 THE FICHTIXG VERES. We may suppose that Sir Francis Vere, in his fre- quent rides to court, occasionally enjoyed the hospi- tality of the house at Mitcham. He was acquainted with Sir Julius Caesar, and after his retirement from active service he became intimate with the other in- mates of the house ; for the worn-out veteran, the hero of so many glorious deeds, England's greatest and most renowned general, became the lover of young Elizabeth Dent, a girl who had only just passed her sixteenth birthday. 1 For her there was doubtless a romance in having won the love of so famous a war- rior. Her sister Mary was engaged to Sir Henry Saville, of Methley, a young gentleman twenty-eight years of age, while Elizabeth's lover had reached the maturer age of forty-eight. Sir Julius Caesar 2 arranged a grand wedding for his stepdaughters. They were to be married in Mitcham church 3 on the same day and at the same time. On the 26th of October, 1607, the following entry occurs in the Mitcham register : " Sir Francis Vere and Elizabeth Dent, Sir Henry Savill and Mary Dent* were maryed the same day and at y e same tyme : they were both the daughters of Mr. John Dent gentleman, and of the right worship- ful y e Lady Caesar, now wife to the right honorable Sir Julius Caesar, Chancelor of y e King's Ma ties Exche- quere and one of the Lordes of his privie Counsell." 1 Baptized at the church of St. * Sir Henry Saville was created Bartholomew by the Exchange, a baronet in 1611. By Mary Dent London, on October 18, 1591. he had one son, John, who died in 8 In Sir Francis Vere's marriage France just after he had reached settlements he is called " Sir Julius his majority. Sir Henry died on Caesar alias Adelmar." June 23, 1632, aged fifty-three. 8 This church was destroyed by His widow was married secondly lightning in 1627, and its ten bells to Sir William Sheffield, were melted. VERB'S COMMENTARIES. 357 By the marriage settlement, Sir Francis Vere re- ceived ,2,000 with his wife, and he settled all his landed property on her for her life. During the very brief interval of twenty-two months between the mar- riage and death of Sir Francis there was scarcely time for the young girl's romance to wear out, and when she was left a widow, at the early age of eigh- teen, the deep grief recorded on her husband's monu- ment was doubtless sincere. It was no slight honor to be the cherished wife of so great a man. 1 In the last years of his life Sir Francis Vere amused his leisure by writing, from his own point of view, some account of those actions in which he was specially engaged, and the results of which were due either to his advice or to arrangements made or sup;- o o gested by him. These notes were jotted down as reminiscences for himself and his friends, and were not intended for publication. 2 They only relate to a 1 The peerages say that Sir Lady Caesar (Alice Dent) died Francis Vere had five children, on the 23d of May, 1614. She and even give their names John, was buried with great pomp on the Edward, Henry, Dorothy, and Eliz- 3Oth of June at St. Helen's church abeth. This is obviously impos- in the city, being aged forty-five, sible, as he was only married for Sir Patrick and Lady Murray and twenty-two months and three days, Sir Henry and Lady Saville at- and I can find no trace of his having tended the funeral. Sir Julius been married previously. He may Caesar married a third time in have had one child, which died be- 1615, and died on April 18, 1637, fore him. The authority for the aged seventy-nine. He was also names of Sir Francis Vere's imag- buried at St. Helen's, where his inary children, as given in the Bio- monument still exists. The in- graphia Britannica, is the Visita- scription is wrought in the device tion of Essex in the Herald's Office, of a deed with pendant seal, the No. 124. His widow, in August, attaching cord being severed. 1613, married Sir Patrick Murray, 2 These notes were published third son of John, Earl of Tulli- by Dr. William Dillingham in 1657, bardine, and had two sons. nearly fifty years after the death of THE FIGHTING VERES. 358 fraction of the actions in which he was engaged. To one who has also read his letters and despatches the writer of them, with the fol- lowing title : " The Commentaries of Sir Francis Vere, being diverse pieces of service wherein he had command, written by himself by way of commentary, published by William Dillingham, D.D., Cam- bridge, 1657. Small folio, pp. 209," and eight pages of introductory matter unpaged. The volume is illustrated by very fine engravings of the battles of Turnhout and Nieuport and several maps. It also contains engraved portraits of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere and Sir John Ogle, and an engrav- ing of the tomb in Westminster Abbey. It is dedicated to Sir Horace Townshend, Bart., a grand- son of Sir Horace Vere. Dr. Dil- lingham, in his address to the reader, explains that he met with a manuscript copy of Sir Fran- cis Vere's Notes in the library of a friend, which had been transcribed from one in the pos- session of General Skippon. He at once concluded that a work of such value ought not to remain in manuscript. He therefore sought for other copies, with a view to ob- taining an accurate version, and found one in the library of the Earl of Westmoreland which had been transcribed from the original, and another in the possession of the great Lord Fairfax. He also obtained the original, which was the property of the Earl of Clare. Dr. Dillingham made his volume more complete by adding Sir John Ogle's accounts of the last charge at the battle of Nieuport and of the parley at Ostend, as well as a short narrative of events at the siege of Ostend, written by young Hexham, Sir Francis Vere's page. After the brief epistle to the reader, Sir Robert Naunton's eulogium on Sir Francis Vere (from his Frag- menta Regalia, p. 41) is given. Lastly, there is inserted at the end of the volume a Latin translation of Vere's account of the battle of Nieuport, by the learned Dr. Do- rislaus. The actions treated of by Sir Francis. Vere include but a small fraction of those in which he was engaged. They are : 1. Bommel-waart. 2. Relief of Rheinberg. 3. Second relieving of Rhein- berg. 4. Relief of Litkenhoven. 5. Surprise of Zutphen Sconce. 6. Siege of Deventer. 7. Defeat of Parma at Knod- senburg. 8. Cadiz Journey. 9. Island Voyage. 10. Government of the Brill. 11. Action at Turnhout. 12. Battle of Nieuport. 13. Siege of Ostend. Some of the manuscripts referred to by Dr. Dillingham are probably still extant. There is a manuscript folio of the "Cadiz Journey," by Sir F. Vere, at Kimbolton Castle. Lord Calthorpe possesses a com- plete manuscript copy of the Com- mentaries. The Duke of North- umberland has a manuscript com- VERE? S COMMENT A RIES. 359 written on the spot, and the letters of others describ- ing the same events, the most striking feature of these Notes is their accuracy. With the exception of discrepancies in numbers of men or guns, and even these are of rare occurrence, the agreement of the notes, written from memory long after, with narra- tives prepared at the time, is very remarkable. An- other point worthy of remark is the proof afforded by the Notes, of the modesty and absence of self- assertion in Vere's public despatches. We hear for the first time in the private Notes of wounds received in battle and of horses killed under him, incidents which receive no notice in his official reports. The notes are, to a great extent, in the form of commen- taries on the actions treated of, interspersed with re- marks which illustrate the development of events. The narrative portions are clearly written and very interesting, and as historical evidence they are inval- uable. 1 prising the Cadiz Journey, Island rum, says : " Inimici ejus dixerunt Voyage, and battles of Turnhout obtrectare alienee glorias solitum " and Nieuport; and Lord Lecon- (p. 460). Dr. Birch, in his Me- field, in a thick MS. folio (71), has moirs of the Reign of Elizabeth, copies of the chapters on the bat- says : " Vere never fails, in his ties of Turnhout and Nieuport and Commentaries, to claim the chief the parley at Ostend. merit in all the actions in which 1 If it is borne in mind that he was concerned." The answer Vere's Commentaries were only in- to this is conclusive. Vere does tended to discuss those actions in not mention half the actions in which he took a leading part, that which he was concerned, in his they were not intended for publica- Commentaries, so that it is simply tion, and were not published until impossible that he can claim the fifty years after the author's death, chief merit in all. The avowed the injustice of some of the criti- object of the Commentaries is to cisms which have been made upon discuss such actions as were con- them will be apparent. Johnson, in ducted by himself or by his ad- his Historia Rerum Britannica- vice ; surely a natural and reason- 360 THE FIGHTING VERES. Sir Francis Vere lived to see the great work of his life crowned with complete success. The mighty battle for freedom had been won. In April, 1609, the truce for twelve years was signed, and the inde- pendence of the Dutch Republics was secured. The great general continued to perform his public duties to the last. There is a letter of his from Portsmouth, written within a fortnight of his death, in which he discussed various details respecting the affairs of the garrison. The date of this letter, showing that he was then transacting business at Portsmouth, seems to point to the conclusion that his death was rather sudden. He died in London on the 28th of August, 1609, and was buried next day. The remains of Sir Francis Vere were interred in Westminster Abbey, in the chapel of St. John the Evangelist, on the eastern side of the north transept. Near his tomb rest the bodies of several companions in arms, among them those of the gallant N orrises, under a splendid tomb, and that of Sir George Holies, over which there is a statue in the costume of a Roman soldier. The funeral, which took place on the 29th of August, I6O9, 1 was attended by his able subject for the chief actor to The Commentaries were written take in hand. The only fair course for himself and his immediate for a hostile critic to adopt would friends, and were never intended be to dispute Vere's facts. This for publication. They were not is what Mr. Motley has attempted, published until half a century after and a perusal of the foot-notes in Vere's death, and then only owing the chapters on the battle of Nieu- to the accidental circumstance of port and the siege of Ostend, in the a copy having fallen into the hands present work, will show with what of Dr. Dillingham. success. Mr. Motley also accuses 1 Sir Francis Vere's name is the Sir Francis Vere of publishing a eighth in the Westminster Abbey- party pamphlet in an age of pam- register of burials, which only be- phleteering. This is not the case ; gins in January, 1607. See Colo- he never did anything of the kind, nel Chester's work. DEATH OF SIR FRANCIS VERE. 361 brothers and by all the friends and brother officers who were then in London. Soon a noble monument was raised over his grave by the young widow, doubt- less under the advice and with the assistance of her accomplished stepfather, Sir Julius Caesar. It is in imitation of the beautiful tomb erected over the grave of Engelbert of Nassau, at Breda, which Sir Francis Vere must have seen and admired. The effigy of the great general lies on a platform of black marble. The eyes are closed, the beard cut square, the forehead broad and high, the nose straight. The dress is a civil magistrate's cloak and a shirt. The feet rest on a wild boar, the crest of the Veres. At each angle of the platform kneels the full-sized figure of an officer in armor, with sword and sash passed over the left shoulder. These figures support another slab of black marble on their shoulders, on which rests the general's armor, a helmet with plumes, breast- plate, a shield with eight quarterings, pouldrons, vant- braces, gauntlets, taces, and spurs, all carved in white marble. The inscription is as follows: "Francisco Vero, Equiti Aurato, Galfredi F. jFoannis Comitis Oxoni& Nepoti, Brielia et Portsmutha Pr&fecto Anglicarum copia- r it m in Jlclgio Ductori summo. Elizabetha uxor iriro charissimo, quocum conjnnctissime vixit hoc supremum amoris et fidei conjugate monumcntiim mcestissima et cum lacrymis gemens posuit. Obiit xxviii Die Augusti anno salutis MDCVIII et anno sEtatis su& /////." 1 The inscription errs both as by the entry at the Herald's Col- regards the year of Vere's death lege, and by the existence of let- and his age. He was forty-nine, ters written by Sir Francis Vere in not fifty-four, when he died. The 1609. The Biographia Britannica latter figure would make him older gives 1608 as the year of his death, than his elder brother John. The and his age fifty-four, quoting from year 1608 should be 1609. This the epitaph, is proved by the Abbey register, 362 THE FIGHTING VERES. The post-mortem inquisition of Sir Francis Vere's property was taken at Stratford Langthorn, in Essex, on the 4th of November, I6O9. 1 The story of the life of Sir Francis Vere clearly points out the main features of his character. He was earnest and persevering. He put his shoulder to the wheel when he was a young man, and he never faltered nor turned aside until the work was done. And such work ! It demanded every faculty, every power of mind and body, and he gave them all lav- ishly and without stint. He lived for duty. He de- voted his life to the service of his country. That service consisted mainly in fighting for the cause of an ally, and Vere naturally came to love the cause which was dear to his countrymen, and the people among whom he lived for so many years. They trusted him in return. Maurice invariably consulted him, and relied upon his advice. Barneveldt was his firm and constant friend. The one romance of Vere's life was his devoted loyalty to Queen Elizabeth. It may seem that his devotion was poorly requited, but it was not so. The Queen, who was a good judge of character, considered Vere to be the best general in her service. She entrusted him with diplomatic missions, made him commander of her forces, and governor of the Brill. She was urged to do more, and to make him a peer. This was her reply : " In his proper sphere, and in my estimation, Sir Francis Vere is above a peerage already. All that could be expected from such an addition would be 1 Public Record Office. Chancery Inquisitions Post Mortem, No. 7, James I., ist Part, No. 182. DEATH OF SIR FRANCIS VERB. 363 the entombing of the spirit of a brave soldier in the corpse of a less sightly courtier; and by tempting him from his charge, hazard that repute upon a car- pet which his valour has dearly purchased him in the field." ' The only portrait of Sir Francis Vere is a half length, painted when he was a young man, a pro- file to the left. 2 It is now in the collection of the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck. It was engraved by Faithorne, and is given in Vere's Commentaries. 1 Osborne's Traditional Memoirs. It has been reprinted among the of Elizabeth, Art. 17, quoted by " Plays and Poems of Cyril 'Tour- Cayley in his Life of Raleigh, neur, edited by John Churton Col- i. p. 72. An elegy on Sir Francis lins." (2 vols., 1878.) Mr. Col- Vere was written by Cyril Tour- lins says of the elegy, that " it is neur, and published in 1609, with a barren miracle of cold blooded the title : " A Funeral! Poeme analytical panegyric, sometimes upon the death of the most worthie reminding us of Dryden at his and trite soiildier Sir Francis worst." Vere, Knight, Captaine of Ports- 2 This portrait (i ft. 11 by I ft. mouth, Lord Cover nour of his 5^) was exhibited in the portrait Majestie^ cautionarie towne of gallery (No. 75) of the 1857 Man- Briell in Holland." (4to, 1609.) Chester Exhibition. PART II. SIR HORACE VERB. CHAPTER I. THE RECOVERY OF SLUYS, AND THE BATTLE OF MULHEIM. THERE had been intimate companionship between the two brothers, Francis and Horace Vere, during their military life. Horace had come to the Nether- lands to learn the art of war, after his brother had been five years in active service and had attained to the command of the English forces. They had been together ever since. Together they worked at many a famous siege, and fought in many a battle; to- gether they mourned the death of their brother Robert; together they entered Cadiz as victors, when Horace was knighted ; together they won the battle of Nieuport; and together they gallantly de- fended Ostend, where both were severely wounded. On the retirement of Sir Francis, his brother Horace took his place, though not with the same rank and powers. At first he was only the senior of the four colonels of the English companies, the others being Sir John Ogle, Sir Edward Cecil, and Sir Edward Harwood. Sir Horace was in his fortieth year, with HORACE LORD VERB. THE RECOVERY OF SLUYS. 365 fifteen years of military experience acquired under his brother, and like him an able and resolute com- mander. Brave, self-controlled, and judicious, he was alike valorous in the field and wise in council. These qualities he shared with Sir Francis. The difference between the characters of the two brothers was, that while Sir Francis was more self-asserting and stern, Horace was extremely modest, and ruled those under him by kindness rather than by severity, though both were strict disciplinarians. It was said that the soldiers stood in awe of Sir Francis, while they loved Sir Horace. 1 The elder brother lived to see Horace obtain great distinction in two important actions before the armis- tice commenced ; the first being the recapture of Sluys, and the second the saving of the States' army at Mulheim. A new general had just appeared at the head of the army of the Archdukes, whose military genius probably saved the Spanish cause in the Netherlands from total overthrow. Spinola was not educated as a soldier. Like Oliver Cromwell, he was a born gen- eral. Immensely rich, and belonging to one of the oldest families of Genoa, Ambrosio Spinola took a corps of 9,000 veterans under his own pay, and led them from Italy to the theatre of war. Like his countryman Columbus, Spinola had fair hair and beard, and, like Columbus, he was prematurely gray. He was thirty-four when, he arrived and took charge of the siege of Ostend; and when it fell, on Sep- tember 24, 1604, he was created Duke of San Seve- rino, and received the Golden Fleece. He was a man 1 Biog. Brit. 366 THE FIGHTING VERES. of a noble and generous disposition, with gentle and kindly manners, but prompt and vigorous in action, a thoughtful organizer and a consummate general. No one can look upon the expression of his countenance as, in the picture of " Las lanzas," by Velasquez, he gently puts his hand on the shoulder of the defeated governor of Breda, without almost loving Spinola for the noble pity that beams in his face. His whole heart seems to be absorbed in the desire to soften the humiliation of his foe. 1 Such was the commander against whom Maurice and his officers were now to be matched. The States General had resolved to find compensation for the loss of Ostend by recovering the important fortified town of Sluys. Francis Vere had won his first laurels in its defence. Horace was to win his first success, after his brother's retirement, in its recovery. In April, 1604, Prince Maurice had assembled an army of 14,000 men at Dordrecht, which was finally embarked at Arnemuiden and Flushing. The army included the whole English contingent under Horace Vere, Ogle, and Cecil. Under Maurice, who was accompanied by his young brother Frederick Henry, the Dutch troops were commanded by his cousins, Counts Ernest Casimir, Louis Gunther, and William of Nassau. A vast number of vessels 2 had been collected, and they made sail in excellent order, successfully landing the army on the opposite shore, between Vulpen and Cadzand, on the 24th of April. In the two following days, Hofstede and all the 1 Velasquez was present, and he himself appears in the group of officers round Spinola. 2 Three thousand five hundred, according to Grimeston. THE RECOVERY OF SLUYS. 367 other forts on Cadzand Island surrendered to Prince Maurice ; and on the 3Oth he crossed the channel to Coxie, and captured the forts on that side. Isendike also submitted, the town of Ardenburg opened its gates, and the Dutch cavalry scoured the country to the very walls of Ghent and Bruges. The object of Maurice was to get possession of all the military posts in the vicinity before laying regular siege to the town of Sluys. His movements had been bold and judicious, and were crowned with success. But before a close siege could be formed it was necessary to outmanoeuvre the efforts to relieve the garrison, not only of Don Luis de Velasco, the Spanish gen- eral of horse, but of Spinola himself. Velasco had intrenched his force of 2,000 men in a narrow pass, in front of Damme, the town between Sluys and Bruges, which, with Sluys, long formed one of the two ports of the great Flemish emporium of trade. Leaving garrisons in Isendike and Ar- denburg, Maurice advanced against the Spaniards. Count Ernest led the vanguard, with cavalry under Marcellus Bacx, but they were taken at a disadvan- tage and were observed to be falling back. Sir Horace Vere, seeing that the enemy was gaining ground, entreated the Prince to allow him to charge at the head of the English companies. The request was at once granted. He selected 100 pikes and 200 shotmen from his brother's old regiment, and placed them under the command of Sir Charles Fair- fax. A second detachment of 400 men, under Sir John Ogle, was to follow. The way was narrow, and on either side there were swamps and stagnant waters, where the sea had been let in over the polder 368 THE FIGHTING VERES. lands. Fairfax led his men to the attack with great resolution. After a sharp engagement, he forced the enemy to retire behind their intrenchments, and followed them so closely that they were routed. Velasco himself was one of the first to fly. Many plunged into the swamps and flooded polders. The slain numbered 423, and 400 prisoners were taken. The States General gave the honor of this gallant action to the English companies. 1 On the same night Colonel Van der Node, who had been governor of Ostend, crossed the Zwin at low water with thirty companies, of which ten were English, and fortified a spot selected by Prince Maurice, opposite to Sluys. The approach from Bruges and Damme was thus commanded, and the investment of the town was completed. In the end of May the Archduke sent a large force with a convoy of provisions for the be- leaguered garrison, but it was routed, and all the wagons were captured. The siege-works were fortified with trenches and square sconces, both against sorties from the town and attacks from outside. Prince Maurice himself was encamped on the north side, Count Ernest on the other side of the Zwin, Count William on the east, and Colonel Van der Node occupied the flooded lands with a large flotilla of armed vessels drawing little water. In July Spinola himself made an attempt to relieve Sluys. On the 28th he encamped between Bruges and Damme, with 10,000 men and 600 wagons laden with meal. He thence advanced by Ardenburg to- wards the quarters of Van der Node. His object 1 Letter from Sir John Ogle, May 9, 1604. Hatfield MSS. THE RECOVERY OF SLUYS. 369 was to reach the town by a wide causeway which was still open. But Maurice set a large force to work, and in forty-eight hours he had dug a trench across, which effectually stopped the passage. He then mounted several guns between the quarters of Van der Node and Count William, and opened a heavy and continuous fire on the camp of Spinola. On the evening of the 6th of August the Genoese general made an attack on Count William's quarters, and there was a desperate conflict in the trenches which was long doubtful. But at length the assailants were forced to retreat, and on the i8th Spinola gave up hope and marched away. The garrison was now reduced to great straits by famine, and on the 2Oth of August, 1604, Sluys sur- rendered, 4,200 half-starved men presenting a melan- choly spectacle as they marched out, some of them scarcely able to walk. A large store of munitions, eighty-four brass and twenty-four iron guns, were captured, and the place was ordered to be well strengthened for the States General. During the siege Count Louis of Nassau died of fever, and Colonel Van der Aa, who had so gallantly seconded Sir Francis Vere at the battle of Turnhout, was mor- tally wounded. The army of Prince Maurice had to overcome much greater difficulties in this second siege of Sluys than were encountered by the Duke of - Parma in 1586. The place was stronger and better provided, the garrison was more numerous, there were a num- ber of outposts to capture, and there was an active army in the field, operating against the besiegers. On the whole, this was the most difficult and the 370 THE FIGHTING VERES. most ably conducted military operation in which Prince Maurice was ever engaged. 1 In May, 1604, while the siege of Sluys was pro- ceeding, the veteran Count Peter Ernest de Mansfelt died, at the age of eighty-seven. He had served with Charles V. at Tunis, and behaved with great gal- lantry at the battle of St. Quentin, where he was wounded. He married Marguerite de Brederode, and had three sons, who were all slain; 2 but his natural son was the famous Count Mansfelt of the Thirty Years' War. The strategic skill of Spinola was displayed to great advantage in the campaign of 1605. This was the least fortunate year, from a military point of view, in the whole career of Prince Maurice. He not only gained no ground, but barely held his own. At one time his active enemy had advanced almost to the borders of Friesland, and for a moment the fortress of Coevorden was in imminent danger. Towards the end of September, Prince Maurice with his army was at Wesel watching the movements of Spinola, who was causing a fort to be constructed on the Rhine, near the mouth of the Ruhr. His head- quarters were at Ruhrort, at the junction of the two rivers, and he had detachments stationed several miles up the Ruhr valley. Ruhrort is fifteen miles above Wesel. 1 See Meteren, Grimeston, Ben- 1604 : " in Prinsterer, No. ccxv? p. tivoglio, etc. Letters from Sir 282. Also ccxvi. p. 291. Ernest William Browne at Flushing, from Casimir to Count John. " Sluys, Sir Horace Vere, Sir John Ogle, June 7, 1604." and Sir Edward Cecil. " Journal 2 Charles de Mansfelt was slain di 1'expedition en Flandre par in Hungary, the second son fell in Junius, Secretaire de Comte Guil- a duel, and the third met a soldier's laume de Nassau. Sluys, May 21, death before Knodsenburg Sconce. THE BATTLE OF MULHEIM. 371 The Ruhr, flowing from the Waldeck country, has a course of about eighty miles, with here and there a stretch of fertile plain bordering its banks, while in other places the hills rise almost directly to plateaux, which in those days were covered with forest. Close to Ruhrort is the ancient town of Duisburg, where the great geographer, Gerard Mercator (or Cremer), dwelt for upwards of forty years, and where he con- structed the famous map of the world on the pro- jection which bears his name. Ten years before Spinola encamped at Ruhrort, Mercator breathed his last in the neighboring town, at a good old age. He was buried in the church of St. Saviour at Duisburg, and his statue now graces the Burg-platz. The quaint old tower of St. Saviour is visible from Ruhr- ort and for miles along the lower course of the Ruhr. Seven miles up the river stands the town of Mul- heim, which was then a small village, consisting of one street on a steep slope, at right angles with the stream. On the opposite or southern bank of the Ruhr the hills rise abruptly, and the old castle of Broick stood on their slope. There it still stands, while all around is changed. The steep hill has been partly faced with terraced walls, and on one of the terraces there is a very ancient elm which may have afforded shade to the soldiers of Spinola. The castle was a quadrilateral work, with round bastions at the angles. Part of the old walls and one bastion re- main, and there is a garden with tall shady trees on the rampart overlooking the river. The chief build- ing, pierced by an archway, is on the east side of the courtyard, and over the arch there is a shield of arms with the year 1648, the date of the Peace of West- 372 THE FIGHTING VERES. phalia. This indicates that the castle was restored at the close of the Thirty Years' War. There are also two richly decorated coats-of-arms of the Neuberg branch of the Palatine family, with crown and sup- porters, on a gable of another block of buildings. Enough remains to enable us to build up the castle of Broick in imagination, as it appeared in the days of Spinola and Maurice of Orange. Spinola had stationed Count Teodoro Trivulcio, a Milanese nobleman, with a large body of cavalry, at Mulheim ; and a detachment under Don Francisco Arirazabal, a Spaniard from the Basque province of Guipuzcoa, occupied the castle of Broick. Maurice was watching his enemy's movements with close attention, from Wesel. Finding that detachments were scattered along the Ruhr valley, and that Tri- vulcio was several miles from the main body, he made a plan for attacking him simultaneously at Mulheim and Broick, and annihilating his forces before succor could arrive from Ruhrort. With this object, Mau- rice set out from Wesel as soon as it was dark, on the night of the 8th of October, 1605, with all his cavalry and twenty-four companies of foot, including the English contingent under Sir Horace Vere. Young Prince Frederick Henry, who had already distinguished himself at the recovery of Sluys, and was now only in his twenty-first year, commanded the cavalry. With him was the veteran Marcellus Bacx. It is said that the infantry were carried in wagons. Maurice also had four fieldpieces. His plan was for Bacx to cross the river above Mulheim and occupy Broick, while Prince Frederick Henry attacked Mulheim and drove the enemy across the THE BATTLE OF MULHEIM. 373 river, to be received by Bacx on the other side. Maurice was then to come up with the infantry and complete the victory. It was a well-conceived idea, but it failed through the misconduct of some of the cavalry. Marcellus Bacx succeeded in crossing the Ruhr out of sight of the enemy, and, riding over a hill called the Cassenberg, he came suddenly upon the detachment of Spanish cavalry commanded by Don Francisco Arirazabal. After a very brief encounter the Spaniards were routed, and Bacx took the castle of Broick without further opposition. Meanwhile, Prince Frederick Henry led his cavalry direct to the head of the street of Mulheim village, which descends to the river bank, and in the upper part is steep and narrow. He first came to the Old Market (Alt Markt) at the entrance to the village, where there was a small fortified house in those days. Thence a narrow lane, called the " Bogen-strasse " (Bow Street), leads down to the main thoroughfare of the village, a steep street called " Delle." On the right of the Bogen-strasse there is a high wall supporting the churchyard and old church, approached from be- low by many steps. Three arches span the Bogen- strasse, over which the churchyard is reached from the second stories of the houses on the other side. The Prince halted in the Alt Markt at the head of the Bogen-strasse, waiting for his brother with the main body. No enemy had encountered him, for Trivulcio, seeing that Broick had been attacked and occupied by Bacx, had evacuated Mulheim, and began to cross the river. Hearing that this move- ment was in process of execution, Prince Frederick 374 THE FIGHTING VERES. Henry rode down the Bogen-strasse into the " Delle," formed his men in line, and led them down that thoroughfare to the river bank. Here he halted. Trivulcio was in the act of crossing with his cavalry ; but seeing Prince Frederick Henry's troops on the bank he had just left, he wheeled and charged them. An unaccountable panic seized the Prince's men, and they fled in complete rout. Two companies, under Sir John Selby of Twizell, alone stood firm. With these the young Prince rode up the valley, forded the river higher up, and joined Marcellus Bacx at Broick. That veteran was already hard pressed by reinforce- ments from Ruhrort, as, well as by Trivulcio with his victorious troops. 1 On the same morning Spinola was riding up the valley from Ruhrort to visit the camp at Mulheim, accompanied by Don Luis de Velasco, his general of cavalry. What a change have the succeeding cen- turies effected in that German valley, where the Italian and the Spanish commanders were then so intent on the subjugation of alien peoples, who were to them as mere pawns on a chessboard ! Spinola and Velasco saw only forest-covered slopes on either side of them, as they rode through swampy meadows to the secluded little village on the Ruhr. Now these uncultivated tracts are covered with waving crops. From among the trees on the hillsides rise the lofty chimneys of Oberhausen, with its iron-works and weaving and spinning factories. In the Duis- burger Wald to the south, which was the haunt of wild boars and deer in Spinola's day, there are now gardens and pleasure-houses, frequented by crowds 1 Meteren ; Grimeston. THE BATTLE OF MULHEIM. 375 of children and other holiday folk from the neighbor- ing towns. The little village of Mulheim is now a handsome and flourishing manufacturing town, with two bridges connecting it with Broick, and a river made navigable by locks. No speculation as regards the future of the country through which they were riding occupied the minds of the southern generals. Yet all the prosperity, in the distant future, was due to the total overthrow of the cause for which they fought, and to the vindication of those rights of nationalities which they sought to trample under foot. As they rode along the river banks, Spinola and Velasco were met by a messenger from Trivulcio, galloping in hot haste, with news of the attack and a request for help. Spinola went back with the mes- senger to organize reinforcements, sending Velasco on towards Mulheim. Directly afterwards that officer encountered three companies of cavalry under a Neapolitan captain named Fabricio Santomago. 1 He placed himself at their head and hurried to the scene of action, which now centred round the castle of Broick. Some of the allied cavalry had been again put to disgraceful rout. Bacx and the young Prince were seriously outnumbered. Spinola himself came from Ruhrort with some companies of foot; 2,000 more were on the road, and he adopted the stratagem of sending mounted drummers ahead to sound marches, and make the enemy believe that still further reinforcements were on the road. This was the state of affairs when Prince Maurice arrived at Mulheim, marched down the Delle Strasse, and obtained a full view of the action raging round 1 Eentivoglio. 376 THE FIGHTING VERES. Broick castle, from the river bank: most of his cav- alry flying in all directions, a small remnant led by his brother and Bacx fighting desperately, but almost surrounded by the enemy, and his own force far too small to encounter the army of Spinola with any hope of success. He got his guns into position and opened fire, and he made desperate efforts to rally the panic-stricken fugitives. There was nothing left but retreat, with every prospect of the movement being converted into a complete rout, unless Spinola gave him time to rally his men and form again, which was not likely. At this critical moment Sir Horace Vere proposed to Maurice that he should quit his post in the main body, with the English companies, cross the river, and by keeping the enemy at bay, gain time for Bacx and the young Prince to fall back, and for Maurice to reorganize his forces preparatory to a retreat. The suggestion was cordially accepted. The place for fording, which was selected by Vere, was at the end of the Delle Strasse. The river is here of considerable width, but the men were only up to their middles in one place, and there are two grassy islets in the channel. The English pikemen marched steadily across, and advanced up the hill shoulder to shoulder, with calm resolution. Bacx and the Prince had routed the first attack of Spanish horse on the plateau of Speldorf, above the castle; but the fugitives rallied behind their infantry, were reinforced by Trivulcio and Velasco, and once more charged the heroic Dutchmen. Again they were forced back. Then reinforcements began to arrive from Ruhrort, accompanied by Spinola in per- THE BATTLE OF MULHEIM. 377 son. Many of the Dutch fled in panic, leaving their two leaders with only 400 men opposed to a thou- sand. The Prince was twice in imminent personal danger. Almost surrounded, and in close hand-to- hand fight, these gallant heroes long held their own, hoping for succor. Then came the diversion organ- ized by Sir Horace Vere, and the remnant of cavalry, nearly worn out, effected a retreat. They had been fighting for seven hours. The whole Spanish force then turned upon Vere. He had with him four English companies and one Scotch company under the Earl of Buccleuch. They firmly stood their ground for an hour, in a disadvan- tageous position on the Broick hill-slope, repulsing the enemy with their pikes, and never faltering, not- withstanding the furious charges of the Spaniards. At length a French company came to their help, its leader, the gallant Dommerville, falling while at the head of his men in the river. Vere's object had been attained, and he gave orders for a retreat. As soon as the Spaniards saw his intention they again charged down the hillside in great numbers. Vere selected sixty veterans as a forlorn hope, to cover the retreat of their comrades across the Ruhr. He himself was in the post of danger, disputing the passage with the enemy on the brink of the river. Nearly all the sixty British heroes were killed, and Vere's horse was mortally wounded. It was just able to carry its master across, and fell dead on the oppo- site bank. Spinola declared that Sir Horace Vere had saved the army of the States. His brilliant movement and the dogged valor of his men gave time for Mau- 378 THE FIGHTING VERES. rice to rally the fugitives, and he retreated to Wesel without further molestation. Count Trivulcio was killed by a shot from one of Maurice's fieldpieces, and his body was conveyed to Milan for interment. Santomago was also killed. Young Nicolas Doria, a cousin of Spinola, was wounded and taken prisoner. On the other side 200 fell, including several officers of distinction. Sir Henry Gary was captured, and, being a volunteer, was obliged to pay a very heavy ransom. Captains Pigott and Ratcliffe were also taken prisoners. Shortly after this memorable action the two armies went into winter-quarters. Prince Maurice fully recognized the importance of the service rendered by Sir Horace Vere at the battle of Mulheim. From that time the English commander became one of the most trusted and valued officers upon whom the Prince of Orange relied. Sir Francis was always on good terms with Maurice, was invariably consulted, and his advice was generally taken. But while Sir Horace succeeded to his brother in these respects, there was a still closer tie of friendship between him and the Prince, which continued unchanged until the death of the latter. The armistice of twelve years followed shortly after the battle of Mulheim. Sir Horace Vere thus had leisure to return to his relations in England for a season, and to be with his beloved elder brother during the last years of his life. CHAPTER II. MARRIAGE OF SIR HORACE VERE. HIS YOUNG RE- LATIONS. THE PILGRIM FATHERS. DEATH OF BARNEVELDT. AFFAIRS IN THE PALATINATE. THE long years of service in the wars, separated for many months at a time from relations and friends at home, and constantly exposed to dangers and hardships, never seem to have deprived the warrior brothers of the hope that one day they might be able to enjoy the pleasures of courtship and love. At length the truce of twelve years with the Span- iards announced that their labors were over, and that their work was done, and done most nobly. Sir Francis won the heart of a young lady in her seven- teenth year. Sir Horace chose for his bride a youth- ful widow with two little boys. The brothers were married in the same month of the same year. Mary Tracey was the youngest child of Sir John Tracey of Todington, in Gloucestershire, a knight of most ancient lineage, descended in the male line from the Saxon kings. Her mother, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton, died on the 2ist of May, 1581, three days after the birth of her daughter 1 Mary. Her father, Sir John, followed his wife to the grave in 1591. There were four children. Sir John, the eldest, who succeeded at Todington, married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley, of Isfield, 380 THE FIGHTING VERES. and was created Viscount Tracey in 1642.* William, the other brother, married Mary, daughter of Sir John Conway, of Arrow, whose brother, Sir Edward Conway, was for several years lieutenant-governor of the Brill for Sir Francis Vere. 2 Sir Edward himself married Dorothy, the elder sister of Mary Tracey. Mary was in her twentieth year when she was married to her first husband, William Hoby, son of Sir William Hoby, a privy councillor to Henry VIII. She was left a widow with two children about three years after her marriage, and she was twenty- six when she won the heart of Sir Horace Vere, on his return from the Low Countries. It is probable that they first became acquainted through Sir Ed- ward Conway 's friendship with the Veres. The mar- riage took place in October, i6c7, 3 and Mary Tracey proved to be a fitting helpmate to her gallant hus- band. She was a woman imbued with strong reli- gious feelings, and endowed with a firm will and clear intellect. She followed her husband to the Low Countries, and devoted herself to his interests. Her residence in Holland strengthened her early convic- tions, and during a long and useful life she was ever a stanch advocate of civil and religious liberty. A great sorrow overtook Sir Horace Vere less 1 The male line came to an end His grandson is the present Baron with Henry, eighth Viscount Tra- Sudeley. cey, who died in 1797. His daugh- 2 He was Secretary of State in ter Henrietta married Charles 1623, and created Baron Conway Hanbury, who took the name of of Ragley in 1624, and Viscount Tracey, and was created Baron Conway in 1626. He died in 1630. Sudeley of Todington in 1838. 8 This appears from a letter in the Shrewsbury Correspondence. MARRIAGE OF SIR HORACE VERE. 381 than two years after his marriage, in the death of his renowned brother, whose remains he followed to their last resting-place in Westminster Abbey. He succeeded Sir Francis as governor of the Brill, the appointment being dated October 18, 1609. Al- though James I. had abandoned England's ally, and had made a disgraceful peace with Spain, the cau- tionary towns were to be retained until the States General had cleared off their debt. This important charge and the command of the English troops in the pay of the States made it necessary for Sir Hor- ace Vere to reside in Holland, and between 1610 and 1614 his four eldest daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, 1 Katherine, and Anne, were born there. During their visits to England Sir Horace and Lady Vere had a house or lodging near the Ex- change, in the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great. Their fifth daughter, Dorothy, 2 was born there, and baptized in the church of St. Bartholomew on the 1 5th of January, 1616. She came to them at a time of sorrow, for the aged mother of Sir Horace died in December, 1615, and his young step-son, Philip Hoby, was buried at Isleworth in January, i6i6. s The other child of Lady Vere, by her first husband, had died previously. 1 An Act of Parliament was a Afterwards Mrs. Wolsten- passed in 1624 for the naturaliza- holme. tion of Elizabeth and Mary Vere. 8 January 13, 1616. Isleworth {Rushworth, i. p. 151.) Elizabeth Parish Register. Holman, in his was Countess of Clare ; Mary be- MS. history of the Veres, says came Lady Townshend, afterwards that the two sons of Lady Vere by Countess of Westmoreland; Kath- W. Hoby died aged nineteen and erine married, first, Oliver St. John, twenty-three respectively. But the and second, Lord Poulett ; Anne Isleworth Register shows that this was Lady Fairfax. must be a mistake. 382 THE FIGHTING VERES. In 1616 more stirring times began to loom on the horizon, though the truce with Spain did not termi- nate until 1621. Young nephews and cousins were beginning to reach years of discretion, who were anxious to serve under their famous relative, the greatest living English general. Among these, the youth in whom Sir Horace naturally took the deep- est interest was his cousin and the head of his house, Henry, the eighteenth Earl of Oxford. Edward, the seventeenth Earl, who was a boy at Hedingham in the childhood of Francis and Horace, had led a life of reckless extravagance, and had ended in totally destroying the noble inheritance to which he had succeeded. One by one the numerous manors and estates in Essex and Suffolk were mort- gaged and sold. His first wife, the daughter of Lord Burleigh, had died in 1588, leaving three daughters, whose nests were carefully feathered by their grand- father, the Lord Treasurer, with all the remnants of the Vere estates that the law could be made to give them. 1 There was no son. So in 1590 the spend- thrift Earl was married again to one of Queen Eliz- abeth's maids of honor. This was Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Thomas Trentham of Rocester, in Stafford- shire, by whom he had an only son, Henry, born in I593- 2 In the last years of his life Earl Edward lived in a house at Newington, where he died on the 1 The Earl of Oxford, we are But Collins denies the truth of this told by Dugdale, entreated Bur- story. leigh for the life of his friend and 2 Henry, known as Lord Bole- cousin, the Duke of Norfolk. The bee during the lifetime of his fa- refusal so incensed him that he ther, was born on February 24, swore he would do all he could to 1593, and baptized at Newington ruin Burleigh's daughter (who was on March 3ist. (Newington Reg- his wife) by consuming his estate, ister.) VOLUNTEERS FOR SERVICE. 383 24th of June, 1604. He was buried in the church at Hackney. The Dowager Countess of Oxford and her little son, now become Henry, the eighteenth Earl of Ox- ford, went to live in a house in Canon Row, West- minster, with very small means. As the boy grew up he got into undesirable company, and his poor mother found that she was quite unable to manage him. At last she was driven to the extreme measure of drawing up articles against one John Hunt for corrupting the Earl, her son, and preying on his es- tate. 1 In this document the Countess made the fol- lowing statement : " Under pretence of kindred Hunt insinuated himself into my son's acquaintance, draw- ing him from his lessons to course with greyhounds ; taking him to taverns plays and bad company; and teaching him swearing, and filthy and ribald talk. He withdrew him from my house in Canon Row to 1 Aubrey Vere, second son of Hunt of Currah, in Limerick. His the sixteenth Earl of Oxford, and son, Sir Vere Hunt, was created a uncle of Sir Francis and Sir baronet in 1784, and married Eli- Horace Vere, married Margaret, nor, daughter of Dr. W. Cecil, daughter of John Spring of Laven- Dean of Limerick. Their son as- ham, and secondly, Bridget, daugh- sumed the name of De Vere only ter of Sir Anthony Gibbon of in 1832, and became Sir Aubrey Lynn, in Norfolk. His son Hugh, De Vere. He was the author of by his first wife, married a daugh- Julian the Apostate and other ter of William Walsh, and was poems. Dying in 1846, he left, by father of Robert, nineteenth Earl his wife Mary Spring Rice, sister of Oxford. His daughter Jane of Lord Monteagle, Sir Vere De married Henry Hunt of Gosfield, Vere, who died in 1880; Aubrey, in Essex, and was the mother of author of the Waldenses and other this disreputable John Hunt, who poems ; Sir Stephen, the present was thus a second cousin of the baronet, unmarried ; William Cecil, young Earl whom he led astray, a commander R.N., who died child- John Hunt had a son, Vere Hunt, less in 1869; and Francis, in the who settled in Ireland in 1657, and artillery, who died leaving three whose great-grandson was Vere daughters. 384 THE FIGHTING VERES. a disorderly life in Essex, hunting in deer parks, and other like disorderly actions. He hath impudently presumed to be his bed fellow, and otherwise used him most disrespectfully, has borrowed money in my son's name to his dishonor, and lives wholly on my son's purse, draws him from my house, and causes him to spend all his time in play at an ordinary in Milford Lane, not coming home until i or 2 in the morning." 1 The Earl was very young when he thus got into bad company, not more than seventeen, and his poor mother was in despair. She appears, how- ever, to have placed him under the care of trustees, and a few years afterwards he went abroad, remain- ing in Italy until October, 1618. He came home much improved, and worthy to serve with his great relative, Sir Horace Vere, under whose command he met a soldier's death. Sir Francis took a deep interest in this young head of his house ; and when the States General granted him a pension he made an earnest request, which was complied with, that it might be continued, after his death, to his relative, Henry, the eighteenth Earl of Oxford. Another young follower of Sir Horace Vere was John, a natural son of his eldest brother, John Vere of Kirby Hall. This youth caused his father much embarrassment, and for many years he is said to have lain under dreadful apprehensions of God's wrath on account of the boy's irregular entrance into the world. But his uncles befriended him, and opened for him an honorable career. He was sergeant-major in the regiment of his uncle Horace, and received the honor of knighthood in 1607. There was also a 1 State Papers, Elizabeth, Domestic. VOLUNTEERS FOR SERVICE. 385 kinsman named Edward Vere, whose precise relation- ship is not clearly made out, 1 but who served with great distinction under Sir Horace, and was slain at Bois le Due. Another young volunteer for service under Sir Horace Vere was his nephew Simon Harcourt. Frances Vere had been married, in 1598, to Sir Rob- ert Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt, in Oxfordshire, an adventurous knight who obtained letters patent from James I. to plant the region between the Ama- zons and Essequibo in South America. He sailed in the " Rose," of eighty tons, with his brother Mi- chael, and returned after an absence of three years, leaving Michael behind. 2 He published an account of his voyage, 3 and died in 1631, aged fifty-seven. He left two sons by Frances Vere : Simon, the eld- est, who became a distinguished officer under his uncle Sir Horace Vere ; and Vere Harcourt, to whom his uncle John Vere left an annuity of ,40 a year, and who became a clergyman. These aspirants to military fame had either com- menced their careers, or were soon about to seek appointments under their kinsman, when Sir Horace Vere returned to Holland, commissioned to restore the Brill to the States General, after it had been gar- risoned by the English for upwards of thirty years. The States General, having repaid the loans from 1 The above Sir John Vere had Edward Vere who was slain at the a son Edward, but he would have siege of Maastricht, been too young to be identified 2 Michael's fate was never as- with the Edward Vere referred to certained. in the text, and moreover he died * Relation of a Voyage to Guiana young. He is probably the Lieut. (1613), 2d ed. (1626), a very scarce work. 386 THE FIGHTING VERES. England, received back the cautionary towns in May, I6I6. 1 Vere received a life pension of ^800 a year as compensation for the loss of his governor- ship. 2 Sir Horace found his good friend Sir Dudley Carleton 3 at the Hague, as envoy from England, a post which he continued to hold from 1616 to 1628. He was the last English minister who had the privi- lege of sitting in the Council of the States General, a privilege gained by Queen Elizabeth, and annexed to the occupation of the cautionary towns. The privilege was continued to Carleton as a matter of courtesy after the towns had been restored. There was cordial friendship between Sir Dudley Carleton and Sir Horace Vere, who was at the Hague during the summer of 1616, inspecting the troops. He then went to drink the waters at Spa, and at first found himself rather weakened by them, but after completing the course his friend Carleton reported that he had become a " novus homo? 4 The truce 1 The treaty by which the cau- embassy at Paris. In 1605 he tionary towns were restored to the went to Spain with Lord Norris. States General will be found in In May, 1610, he was appointed Rymer, xvi. 783-787. to succeed Sir Thomas Edmondes 2 The widow of Lord Burgh, as ambassador to the Archdukes the former governor of Brill, had at Brussels, but a reason of state a pension of ^200 a year, which intervened and stopped his jour- was to be added to Sir Horace ney. In September of the same Vere's pension on her death. year he was knighted and nomi- 8 Dudley Carleton was the son nated to the embassy at Venice, of Anthony Carleton of Baldwin and was there engaged in an im- Brightwell, in Oxfordshire, and portant negotiation as mediator was born on March 10, 1573. He between the Dukes of Savoy and was educated at Westminster Mantua. Returning to England School and Christ Church, Ox- in 1615, he was appointed envoy to ford, and travelled until 1600, the States General, when he became secretary to the 4 Sir Dudley Carleton to Sir THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 387 enabled Sir Horace to visit Spa, which was in the territory of the Archdukes, and in September he returned to England. He was with his family at his house in the city during the rest of the year, and in November we find him sending a present of four venison pasties to his friend Carleton. 1 During Sir Horace Vere's long residence in Hol- land, while the truce continued, he resided at the Hague and at Leyden, with periodical visits to the Brill, and latterly at Utrecht. Like his brother, he did not fail to derive inspiration from the principle for which he fought, and to sympathize with the cause of civil and religious freedom. The same sentiment was very prevalent among those who took service under the Veres. Their feelings were en- listed against persecution and tyranny. When the hunted congregation of John Robinson arrived in Holland, 2 and was permitted to establish itself in Leyden during the month of May, 1609, it met with Ralph Winwood, August, 1616. his cure to join the Separatists. {Carleton Letters, pp. 44, 54.) The William Bradford, a native of the Duke of Parma used to take a neighboring village of Austerfield, course of the Spa waters for his in Yorkshire, was another leading gout, in the intervals of campaign- member. When a sharp persecu- ing. tion began, they resolved to go to 1 State Papers, Domestic, James Holland, where they heard that I., vol. xc. No. ii. there was freedom of religion for 2 A congregation of separatists all men. They attempted to em- was formed by inhabitants of bark at Boston, but were seized, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and thrown into prison, and their goods Lincolnshire, near the tri-junction confiscated. Another attempt to of the boundaries of those coun- escape was also prevented, but at ties, in 1606. They met in the length the magistrates became house of William Brewster, the ashamed of persisting in the per- postmaster of Scrooby, near Baw- secution of these helpless people, try, their pastor being John Robin- and they were allowed to go. son, a Cambridge graduate who They reached Amsterdam in Au- had been ordained, but threw up gust, 1608. 388 THE FIGHTING VERES. friendly treatment at the hands of warrior country, men, from the general downwards. Some of those who had served under the Veres even joined its ranks. The period during which the pilgrims of Robinson's congregation abode at Leyden coincides with the truce of twelve years 1609 to 1620. Wil- liam Bradford, the second governor of the Plymouth colony, belonged to the original Scrooby congrega- tion. But other leading pilgrims were of those who joined in Holland, attracted to the Leyden church by that love of civil and religious liberty which they had imbibed under the Veres, and which was so sturdily represented by those fugitives for conscience' sake. Miles Standish had been educated in the school of the Veres. A trained soldier of freedom, he settled at Leyden when the truce was proclaimed, and formed friendly relations with the pilgrims. He was the military adviser of the infant colony. 1 Young Edward Winslow, scion of an old Worcestershire family, was in Holland during the truce, but he had not actually served against the Spaniards. He also joined the Leyden congregation, and eventually be- came, next to Bradford, the chief leader of the colony. 2 So that when the pilgrim fathers sailed 1 He came of an old Lanca- Scrooby congregation. He went shire family, and was born in 1584. to America in the "Mayflower," After serving the colony faithfully and was governor of the Plymouth for many years, both as a soldier colony for many years. He wrote and a councillor, he died at Dux- a History of the Plymouth Colony bury, in Massachusetts, in 1656. and People, 1609-46. He died 3 William Bradford was a York- in May, 1657, and his descendants shireman, a native of Austerfield, still flourish in the United States, of humble birth. He was born Edward Winslow was the scion in 1588, and formed one of the of a good family at Kempsey, in THE PILGRL\f FATHERS. 389 from Delftshaven in July, 1620, to lay the first foun- dation of the great republic across the Atlantic, they had amongst them at least one, if not more com- panions who were pupils of the Veres. There were other warriors of that school who took a leading part in founding the American settlements : such as Sir Ferdinando Gorges in Maine, Lion Gardiner in Con- necticut, and Edward Maria Wingfield in Virginia. 1 The deplorable events in Holland which preceded the termination of the truce were not connected with the English contingent further than that Sir Horace Vere served, in the ordinary course of duty, under the orders of the Prince of Orange. Throughout the war Maurice and Olden Barne veldt had acted together with cordiality, both actuated by the one great object of securing the independence of their common country. Barneveldt was the ablest and most patriotic statesman of the age in which he lived. Maurice was one of the greatest military commanders ; but in civil affairs he was guided by the old friend and councillor of his father. The Worcestershire. The Winslows chas. The Protector appointed were long established on a small him chief commissioner in the estate in that parish, called Clerk- Jamaica expedition, and he died enleap. Edward was born at Droit- at sea, near the Jamaica coast, on wich, on Oct. 19, 1595. He joined May 8, 1655. His descendants himself to the Leyden church still form a distinguished New when only twenty-two, and went England family, out in the " Mayflower." He con- l Wingfield was the first presi- ducted the negotiations with the dent of the colony of Virginia, native chief Massasoit, went on He wrote a " Discourse of Vir- missions to England as agent for ginia," first printed in Archceo- the colony, and was twice gov- hia Americana, iv. 67, from the ernor. He wrote Good News from manuscript in the Lambeth Li- New England, an account of the brary, and edited by Mr. Charles colony which is abridged in Pur- Deane. 390 THE FIGHTING VERES. truce was, however, most distasteful to Maurice, who cared for nothing but the movements of armies, the strategic plans for a campaign, and the game of chess. Barneveldt felt that the country required breathing time, and that the truce was practically an acknowledgment of Dutch independence, and as such a great and important triumph. From that time the feelings of Maurice towards the old states- man were embittered, and he came to look upon Barneveldt as his enemy, and as one that must be cleared from his path, although he concealed his feelings, which continued to grow in intensity for several years. Yet it is difficult to reconcile the crime which the Prince committed, and which has tarnished his fame beyond recall, with the tenor of his life history. As a military commander, he was surrounded by stead- fast personal friends, and he acquired the respect and faithful service of officers and men. In his family relations he was generous and affectionate to a remarkable degree. He treated his stepmother, Louise de Coligny, not only with kindness and re- spect, but as a trusted friend and adviser. He adopted his half-brother Frederick Henry, looked upon him as a son, and never married, in order that he might succeed as his heir. He forgave his sister for marrying the Portuguese Pretender, and liberally supported her and her children. He received the fugitive King and Queen of Bohemia and their large family, made them a home at the Hague, and treated them with untiring kindness. It is hard to under- stand how this man can have been guilty of such an atrocious crime as was involved in the execution of DEATH OF BARNE 'VELDT. 391 his father's old friend, the patriot statesman who had guided his country safely through many dangers, the virtuous Olden Barneveldt. The only explanation is that Maurice was embittered by the opposition to his wishes involved in the truce, that he nursed his anger until it turned to unreasoning hatred, and that, in this frame of mind, he really believed the absurd calumnies that were whispered into his ear. Under the mask of outward calm and formal friendliness he watched an opportunity for ven- geance. It came in the heated religious controversy of the time. The Calvinistic followers of Gomer commenced a violent persecution of the disciples of Arminius. Neither Barneveldt nor Maurice were partisans of either side in their hearts. The dog- matic hair-splittings were distasteful alike to the statesman and the soldier. But Barneveldt desired to stop persecution and to maintain religious liberty. For that reason alone Maurice adopted the other side. Barneveldt had promoted the raising of local levies in the different States, to preserve order and prevent persecution. Consequently Maurice deter- mined to put down the new levies with his army, and to seize this excuse for bringing about the de- struction of Barneveldt and his friends. Sir Dudley Carleton was instructed to take the side of Maurice against Barneveldt, because the French envoy had been told to adopt the opposite course. Sir Horace Vere, as a military commander, simply obeyed his orders. But his brother's old friend, Sir John Ogle, could not be equally indiffer- ent. He was in command at Utrecht when the fanatical tumults were at their height. Barneveldt 392 THE FIGHTING VERES. had ever been the admirer and warm supporter of his great chief, Sir Francis Vere. Ogle did not con- ceal his feelings in the matter, and he was removed from his command. The Prince of Orange pro- ceeded to disarm the new levies, and first he marched to Utrecht with Sir Horace Vere, and met with no opposition. He then made a progress through Hol- land, accompanied by Sir Horace, who received the governorship of Utrecht in July, I6I8. 1 He was there joined by Lady Vere. The execution of Barneveldt took place at the Hague on the I3th of May, 1619. There is no indi- cation that Prince Maurice ever felt contrition or regret for having committed this crime. Years afterwards, when the sons of Barneveldt were con- demned to death for conspiring against him, their mother petitioned for mercy. The Prince asked her why she prayed for the life of her sons, when she had never done so for her husband. She replied that her husband was innocent, her sons were guilty. If Maurice had felt any regret for his past con- duct, he would surely have seized this opportunity of showing mercy. But he showed none. If he was a good friend, he was certainly a bitter and relent- less foe. It is to be regretted that Sir Horace Vere should have had any concern in this business, however slight. But he simply obeyed orders as a soldier, and he was absent at Utrecht when Barneveldt was arrested and put to death at the Hague. The affairs of the Palatinate, and the interest taken in them by the English people, not only be- 1 Carleton Letters, pp. 272, 283, 310. DEATH OF BARNEVELDT. 393 cause they represented the cause of Protestantism, but also because they involved the welfare of an English Princess, led to the employment of Sir Horace Vere on a distant and most difficult military expedition. Early in 1620 he was busily engaged in preparations ; his youngest child Susan having been born in the previous year, and baptized on March 20, 1619, in the church of St. Bartholomew the Great. She was his Palatinate child, having been born just before he set out, and dying a few months after his return. For various reasons there had been differences between Sir Horace Vere, Sir Edward Cecil, and Sir John Ogle. Cecil never lost anything for want of asking, and was not easily satisfied. Ogle saw the conduct of Maurice with regard to the religious troubles in a different light from Vere. There had been estrangements. But through the mediation of Sir Dudley Carleton, the three commanders were reconciled and became good friends before Sir Horace Vere departed for the Palatinate. CHAPTER III. THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. THE expedition to the Palatinate was undertaken for a cause which was very dear to the people of England. The defence of a Protestant country and of the rights of an English princess went to the very hearts of Englishmen. But these reasons for under- taking a chivalrous enterprise did not recommend themselves to 'James I. and his son. They cared nothing for the wishes of the people, less if possible for the cause of Protestantism, and were heartlessly indifferent to the dangers and distress of a daughter and sister. By the Peace of Augsburg, in 1555, the German princes who favored the Reformation were allowed to introduce Protestantism into their dominions; but there was a strong Catholic reaction towards the end of the century, and the Protestant cause was threat- ened. This led to the formation, by German princes of the reformed religions, of the Protestant Union in defence of their creed, in 1608. The head of the Union was Frederick IV., the Elector Palatine, whose wife was Louisa Juliana, sister of Prince Maurice. On the Elector's death he was succeeded by his son, Frederick V., and soon afterwards proposals were made for a marriage between this young prince and Elizabeth, daughter of James I. It is not easy to THE IV A R IN THE PALATINATE. 395 make out what induced James to consent to this union. Possibly he wished to spite his wife, 1 who detested it, for the reasons which actuated him were generally as base as they were foolish. His consent was given. Elizabeth was married to the Elector Frederick on February 14, 1613, and she proceeded to Heidelberg, the capital of her husband's dominions, attended by a gay train of English courtiers. The Palatinate was then one of the most flourishing states in Ger- many, and Frederick was made chief of the Protes- tant Union, which included the Elector of Branden- burg, the Duke of Wurtemberg, the Margraves of Anspach and Baden Durlach, and the Duke of Neu- burg. For the first five years of their married life Fred- erick and Elizabeth passed a time of happy prosperity at Heidelberg. Frederick made a garden for his wife, by cutting terraces in the steep cliffs below the castle, planting orange and mulberry trees, and lead- ing cascades to fall over the cliffs. 2 He strove to convert the castle of Heidelberg and its grounds into a place of all earthly delights, and for a time he suc- ceeded. But unwisdom and ambition shattered all this happiness for ever. The Bohemians, dissatisfied with their Hapsburg rulers, declared their monarchy to be elective, deposed their king, Ferdinand II., and offered the crown to the Elector Palatine. The decree of deposition was dated August 16, and Fer- dinand was chosen Emperor of Germany on August 1 8, 1619. Frederick hesitated for a time, but at last 1 Anne of Denmark was a 2 Benger's Life of the Queen of Roman Catholic, had no influ- Bohemia, i. p. 215. ence with her husband, and lived apart from him. 396 THE FIGHTING VERES. he accepted the offer. He and his wife set out from Heidelberg, and in October they reached Prague, and were crowned King and Queen of Bohemia. By this fatal act the whole of Catholic Germany, led by the Duke of Bavaria, was roused against Fred- erick. The Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse maintained an unfriendly neutrality ; and the princes of the Protestant Union, although they de- clared that they were willing to defend the hereditary dominions of the Elector Palatine, refused altogether to meddle in the affairs of Bohemia. 1 Frederick only had an inefficient force under the Prince of Anhalt, and a mercenary army raised and commanded by Count Ernest Mansfelt. From the first his cause in Bohemia was hopeless. But this was not the worst. The Emperor resolved that Frederick's hereditary dominions should be taken from him. As all the Catholic forces of Germany were engaged in the destruction of Frederick's hopes in Bohemia, it was arranged between the Emperor and the Archdukes, that a Spanish army under Spi- nola should march from Brussels and overrun the Palatinate. All eyes were turned to England, but, alas ! the great Queen was dead. James would send embas- sies, would give advice, but would not help. The States General ordered their envoy, Noel Caron, to press the King of England to comply with the wishes of his people, and to take up arms in defence of his son-in-law and of religion. Frederick himself sent 1 By the treaty of Ulm, on June and the Catholic League not to 23. 1620, the Protestant princes interfere in the Bohemian question, agreed with the Duke of Bavaria THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 397 Count Dohna as an envoy to James, to entreat him to interfere on his behalf. The English people were indignant at the contemptible conduct of their rulers. James was daily urged to take action, but he cared as little for the great cause as he did for his unfortu- nate daughter. In fact, he was at that very time coquetting with Spain, and hoping to get a large dowry through a Spanish marriage. He had the meanness to ask the Dutch to defend his own daugh- ter's rights. At last he consented to allow Count Dohna to raise a body of volunteers in England for the defence of the Palatinate. The enthusiasm was great throughout the country when the news of even this small concession spread abroad. There could be no doubt to whom Count Dohna would offer the command of this forlorn hope. Sir Horace Vere was, since his brother's death, the ablest English military officer then living. He was too modest to seek the appointment, but he accepted it without hesitation when it was offered to him. 1 Sir Edward Cecil had used all the interest he possessed to get the command for himself, and was very angry at being disappointed. 2 Never was service more popular. The flower of the young nobility pressed forward for the honor of serving under Sir Horace Vere, and volunteers crowded to the standard in the city of London by 1 On October i, 1619, he wrote have the command ; and if it had to Sir Dudley Carleton " that there been in the gift of James, Buck- is much seeking for the command ingham's wish would have been of such troops as his Majesty shall law. As it was, Cecil was furious, employ for Bohemia." abusing and insulting Count 2 The Duke of Buckingham, to Dohna. As for Buckingham, he whom Cecil paid humble court, treated Cecil's rejection as a per- intended that his flatterer should sonal insult to himself. 398 THE FIGHTING VERES. beat of drum. 1 James had only sanctioned the rais- ing of one regiment, but it was a large one, consisting of 2,200 men complete. The historian of the expe- dition says: "This regiment was the gallantest for the persons and outward presence of men that in many ages (I think) hath appeared either at home or abroad." The Earls of Oxford and Essex raised 250 men apiece, and Arthur Wilson, the historian, accom- panied Essex. The gallant John Burrough 2 was sergeant-major general. Among the other officers were Sir Gerard Herbert, Sir Robert Knolles, Sir Edward Sackville, Sir Charles Rich, Sir John Went- worth; Captains William and John Fairfax, Greatorex, Pointer, Buck, Stafford, Wilmot, Knightley, and Robert Markham. The chaplain was Dr. Burgess. On the Qth of July, 1620, Sir Horace Vere went to Theobalds to take leave of the King, and on the 22d the well-equipped little expedition sailed from Gravesend. 1 Camden's Annals. Lord Burgh. He was knighted by 2 The family of Burgh, or Bur- Leicester, and also by Henry IV. rough, descended from Hubert in France, and was killed in a de Burgh, Earl of Kent, who died duel on March 7, 1594, aged thirty- in 1243. Sir Thomas de Burgh two. The Sir John Burrough who fought for Edward IV. at Barnet, served in the Palatinate was of and married Elizabeth, daughter course much younger, and of a dif- of Sir Henry Percy, the heiress of ferent family, although, no doubt, Gainsborough. Sir Thomas, his descended from the same ances- son, was created Baron Burgh of tors. He was a son of Richard Gainsborough, in 1487, by Henry Burrough of Stow, near Lincoln, VII. The sixth Lord Burgh was who died in 1616, and to whose governor of the Brill, and died in memory there is a brass monu- 1594. There were two Sir John ment in Stow church. His mother Burroughs who distinguished was Amy, daughter of A. Dilling- themselves in the Low Countries, ton, Esq., of the Isle of Wight, One was a brother of the sixth who died in 1631. THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 399 The service on which Vere was now engaged ap- peared to those acquainted with the state of affairs to be one of great risk. Sir Dudley Carleton, in August, 1620, wrote: " We cannot yet conceive with what safety they can make into the Palatinate ; Spi- nola being before them with one army, Don Luis de Velasco in the way with another. Spinola has 30,000 men, and departed from Brussels towards Maastricht. The Prince of Orange has left the Hague for Arn- hem." : In fact, Spinola had already marched to the Rhine with upwards of 24,000 men, 2 leaving Velasco in the Netherlands with an army 18,000 strong to watch Prince Maurice. Spinola crossed the Rhine below Coblentz, feigning a march to Bohemia, but suddenly wheeled, recrossed the river, and entered the city of Mayence on the igth of August. The Princes of the Union had assembled a force under the Margrave of Anspach, in compliance with their engagement to defend the Palatinate, and were en- camped at Oppenheim, on the left bank of the Rhine, between Mayence and Worms. The English envoys, Sir Edward Conway and Sir Richard Weston, 3 hur- ried to Oppenheim to confer with the Princes, and found that the Margrave had with him a force of 22,550 men. 4 But the leaders were lukewarm and 1 Carleton to Naunton, Aug. 8, urer and K. G., and in 1633 Earl 1620. Carleton Letters, p. 485. of Portland. He died in 1634, and 3 He left Brussels on August 9. the peerage became extinct on the 8 Son of Sir Jerome Weston of death of his son, the fourth Earl, Roxwell, co. Essex. Sir Richard in 1688. was born in 1577, was ambassador * Consisting of 13,600 foot and to Bohemia and Brussels, and 8,950 horse, under the Margraves Chancellor of the Exchequer. In of Anspach and Baden, the Duke 1628 he was created Baron Weston of Wiirtemberg, the Landgrave of of Neyland, became Lord Treas- Hesse, and Count of Solms. 40O THE FIGHTING VERES. apathetic. They were no match for Spinola, who was watching them from Mayence, where he had established his base of operations. On the 3<Dth of August the active Genoese made a rapid march up the valley of the Nahe, and captured Kreuznach. The Princes of the Union then retreated, in some confusion, to Worms, and Spinola entered Oppen- heim on the 4th of September. The Duke of Deux Fonts was conducting the civil administration of the Palatinate, in the absence of the Elector. The object of Sir Horace Vere was to form a junction with the army of the Margrave of Anspach, but the distance was very great, and the long march had to be made with a watchful enemy of vastly superior force ever on the alert. It was indeed a forlorn hope. It was arranged that the little English force should be accompanied by a body of Dutch cavalry under Count Henry of Nassau, until they were within touch of their German allies. Vere marched from Arnhem to Wesel, where preparations were made to cross the Rhine. The expedition reached Wesel on the 25th of August, 1620. The progress of this truly national enterprise was watched in England with the deepest interest and anxiety. Many a family, through the length and breadth of the land, had a dear one in the regiment of Sir Horace. Letters doubtless passed to and fro, full of fond hopes and cheering news. Few have been preserved. But we have the correspondence of the two gallant young sons of Sir Thomas Fairfax, 1 1 Sir Thomas Fairfax of Den- brough in 1560. He served with ton, Nunappleton, and Bilbrough, Sir Francis Vere, with whom he in Yorkshire, was born at Bil- formed a close friendship, and was THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 401 the old friend and comrade of Sir Francis Vere in years gone by. He was now settled quietly down as a country gentleman at Denton, in Yorkshire, writing political pamphlets and breeding horses. But the departure of his boys aroused in him all the feelings of youth. They were no sooner gone than he longed to gladden his eyes with the sight of them once more, before they were face to face with Spinola and the horrors of war. " The report of Spinola's inten- tion to oppose the march," wrote William Fairfax to one of his brothers, "has brought my gray-headed old father into the Low Countries." Old Sir Thomas marched with his boys as far as Wesel, whence Wil- liam wrote : " My father lodges with his sons in the field before Wesel." 1 Here he bade them a last fare- well. He was destined never to see them again. Sir Horace Vere crossed the Rhine by a bridge of boats provided by Prince Maurice, a little below Wesel, and marched through the territory of Jiilich, Count Henry of Nassau, with 2,000 horse, clearing the road before him and acting as a guide. When they approached Coblentz they intended to cross the Rhine again into the Nassau territory. But know- ing that Spinola would have spies out in all direc- knighted before Rouen in 1594. Parliament general. Henry was He was created Baron Fairfax of in holy orders, Rector of Bolton Cameron on May 4, 1627, and Percy, ancestor of the present died on May 2, 1640. He lies Lord Fairfax. Charles was an buried under an altar tomb in Ot- accomplished writer and lawyer as ley church. He married Ellen, well as a soldier. William was born daughter of Robert Aske of Augh- in 1593, John in 1597, at Nunap- ton, and had twelve children, pleton. There were also Thomas The eldest, Ferdinando, second and Peregrine. Lord Fairfax, was father of Sir 1 Fairfax Corr., \. p. xxxi. and Thomas (third Lord) Fairfax, the p. xxxv. 402 THE FIGHTING VERES. tions to bring him news, Count Henry made a feint towards the Moselle in sight of the walls of Coblentz. They were so near that a bullet from the town passed between Sir Horace Vere and Lord Essex, striking a gentleman named Flood on the elbow. That night there was a skirmish between some English and the country people, for Captain Fairfax being sent to ask for provisions, he was fired upon, and some of his men were hurt. But he continued to advance, and the people took to their boats and hurried down to Coblentz. The town of Bacherach, higher up the Rhine, was still held for the Elector. Sir Horace, therefore, sent Captains Row and Baxter, with ninety- four sick and wounded, to that town by water. A few days afterwards Bacherach was summoned by Spinola, and yielded without any resistance. The English were treated civilly and allowed to return home. After remaining a day before Coblentz, Sir Horace and Count Henry drew back about two miles, and crossed the whole force over the Rhine, in punts that had been collected for the purpose, on the i6th of September. They advanced three miles on the other side, to the village of Hembach, the same night. They then made long marches over the hilly coun- try of the Taunus towards Frankfort. Spinola was apprised of their movements. He passed over the Main with all his cavalry and 4,000 foot, to inter- cept the English ; but the stream was full and strong, and he lost some of his wagons and fieldpieces, which induced him to retreat. Meanwhile Sir Horace Vere and Count Henry led their troops across the Main by a ford near Frankfort, on the 24th of Sep- THE FIELD OF THE PALATINATE. THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 403 tember. The infantry were up to their middles, and that night the men were sorely in need of rest. But they had to stand to their arms, there being two alarms of Spinola's approach. Next day there was a long march to Darmstadt. As Sir Horace Vere was now close to the forces of the Union, Count Henry of Nassau took his leave, and returned to Holland with his cavalry. Next day Vere was joined by 1,500 German horse, sent by the Margrave of Anspach, and on the 2jth of September he reached the town of Bensheim. Sir Horace Vere was leading an enterprise of knight-errantry, and he had penetrated into the very heart of the German Fatherland. The Rhine flows through the centre of this famed region, with flourishing cities along its course. On its left bank are Speyer, Frankenthal, Worms, Oppenheim, and Mayence; and on its right bank is the important city of Manheim. The Lower Palatinate extended over the country on both banks. To the west a flat plain borders the river, and further inland there are bare undulating hills and dales, backed by the Don- nerberg and other peaks of the Hardt range, which, on the banks of the Nahe, near Kreuznach, forms grand porphyritic cliffs. Here is the famous Rhein- grafenberg precipice. To the east of the Rhine there is also a plain near the river, but a few miles inland the forest-clad hills of the Odenwald rise to nearly 2,000 feet. To the south is the beautiful gorge of the Neckar, with the city of Heidelberg lining the riverside, and its famous castle crowning the hill. To the north is the line of the river Main, with the imperial town of Frankfort seated on its banks. 404 THE FIGHTING VERES. This region is the centre of the romantic legends of the Nibelungen-lied ; but they are equalled in interest by the exploit undertaken by the Puritans of Eng- land in defence of their religion and their Princess. For it was the people, and especially the Puritan party, not the royalist courtiers, who displayed this true spirit of chivalry. Bensheim was then a little walled town, nestling at the foot of the Odenwald, with vine-clad slopes backed by wooded uplands. Here the English rested ; the troops exercising by divisions every day, in motions and postures. 1 Sir Horace divided his little force into four divisions of 500 men each. The Earls of Oxford and Essex led the first. The former had sown his wild oats, and was serving steadily under his illustrious kinsman. The latter had gone through agonies of sorrow and mortification, due to the infamy and profligacy of the Stuart court. 2 After long retirement he had adopted the profession of arms. The second division was under Sir Charles Rich and Sir John Wentworth. The third was com- manded by Colonel Pointer, with Captains Greatorex and Fairfax; and the fourth by Sir Gerard Herbert, Sir Stafford Wilmot, who died soon afterwards, and Captain Buck. The English were to have the van of all the field, and Vere was to be general of the whole force for the King of Bohemia. On leaving Bensheim Sir Horace Vere marched over the plain of the Rhine, and by Lorsch and the adjacent forests, to the island of Rosengarten, on the 1 Fairfax Corr., \. p. xl. some story, which occupies the 2 The careers of Carr and his foulest page in English history, mistress, Lady Essex, form a loath- THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 405 banks of the river. This was the scene of one of the most famous achievements in the Nibelungen- lied, where Siegfried slew the dragon, or worm, whence the city took its name, which was visible on the opposite shore. About a quarter of a mile from the river bank the eastern wall of Worms could be seen, built of sandstone of a warm red color, with high square towers at intervals. Behind rose the beautiful cathedral, with its exquisite arcaded domes and minaret-like towers. At Worms the English were to join the army of the Protestant Union, and they crossed the Rhine by a bridge of boats on the ist of October, 1620. The Margrave of Anspach and the other Princes received them on the opposite bank, and accompanied Sir Horace Vere into the city. They expressed admiration at the equipment and bearing of the English infantry ; " wondering at the gallantry of such foot, who were with them the meanest of the people." 1 In those days the episcopal palace to the northwest of the cathedral, where the famous Diet assembled to hear Luther's defence, was still standing, and was doubtless occupied by the Princes and the English general. But there was also an inn in the Andreas Strasse, with the sign of the " Romische Kaiser" which was opened in 1604. It is still flourishing as the " Alter Kaiser" hotel. Spinola had recrossed the Rhine at Mayence, and had taken the field on the left bank, but his exact position was unknown to the allies. It was, how- ever, resolved that the Protestant army should march with the object of bringing him to battle. The Princes had only reinforced Vere with 4,000 horse ! Wilson. 4 o6 THE FIGHTING VERES. and 6,000 foot. Marching westward over a succes- sion of bare undulating hills, Vere's army reached the town of Alzey, in a deep hollow, on the banks of the little river Selz, which falls into the Rhine between Mayence and Bingen. Here there was an important castle belonging to the Palatinate, of which there are still extensive ruins. Two days after his arrival at Alzey, Vere heard that Spinola with his whole army was in his rear and approaching the town. He at once sounded to arms, marching out in the direction of Worms, and in three hours the scouts were skirmishing. The cavalry of the Princes advanced, but were repulsed by Spinola's cannon. The fieldpieces of the allies were then got into position on a hill flanking the enemy's right; a wide bottom and vineyard-clad slopes being between the two armies. Vere resolved to make an attack with a picked body of English in- fantry. He selected 80 men from each division to lead, and while the chaplain, Dr. Burgess, was encour- aging them with a short discourse, he went to recon- noitre, accompanied by Oxford and Essex. To his great disappointment he found that Spinola was in full retreat, with the foot guarding a train of wagons, and the cavalry bringing up the rear. The Earl of Essex galloped off to the Margrave, and urged him to follow with his horse. Anspach replied that there was a fort a little further on, and that he would be obliged to pass within range of it. When he heard this excuse, Vere exclaimed, with some scorn, " When shall we fight, then, if we shun the cannon ! " This was the only time when Spinola showed any inclination to give battle. He began a succession of THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 407 marches and countermarches, with the apparent ob- ject of wearing out his antagonist. Wilson says that " he led them a dance, like children at hide-and-seek." Meanwhile, winter was approaching, and the nights passed on the bare and desolate hills were cold and miserable. One night the cold was so great and fuel so scarce that the commanders sacrificed several wagons wherewith to make fires and warm themselves and the men. Eventually, towards the middle of November, it became necessary to go into winter- quarters ; and Vere resolved to hold the three most important strongholds of the Palatinate, dividing his English among them. He occupied Manheim him- self, Sir Gerard Herbert became governor of Heidel- berg Castle, and the Sergeant-Major General John Burrough undertook to defend Frankenthal, an im- portant place near the Rhine, between Worms and Speyer. But the hope of success appeared more forlorn than ever. News arrived that on the 29th October a battle was fought outside Prague, in which the army of the Elector Palatine was totally defeated, while Count Mansfelt was sulking at Pilsen. Fred- erick and Elizabeth became homeless fugitives, and they took refuge at the Hague. This event would liberate the army of the Catholic League, which would be able to join the Spaniards in the conquest of the Palatinate. The news of the battle of Prague reached London on the 24th of November. The agitation was great; the people laid the blame on the King, who made promises of help which he had no intention of keeping. He betrayed his true feel- ing by his refusal to allow his daughter to come to 408 THE FIGHTING VERES. England. She and her husband were hospitably re- ceived by Prince Maurice at the Hague, and the States General granted them an allowance. Vere sent the Earls of Essex and Oxford home, to urge upon the English government the necessity for grant- ing help if he were to hold his position, and to explain the state of affairs. But their representations were useless. James was busy making court to Count Gondomar, and all his courtiers were expected to show their loyalty by following his example. The Spanish ambassador used to live at Ely House in Holborn, and went to court in a litter by way of Drury Lane and the Strand. He gave the courtiers many presents, and his daily journeys to court re- sembled triumphal processions, the royalist ladies saluting him from the balconies. Away, then, with England's interests and English honor! What cared James and his court whether Vere and his for- lorn hope were annihilated in the Palatinate, or whether an English princess became a homeless fugitive ! Public affairs looked gloomy enough, but the Eng- lish troops in the Palatinate were also saddened by a melancholy event of a private nature, before they went into garrison. A young man named Dun- combe, who was a soldier in the division of the Earl of Oxford, left a young lady in England to whom he had vowed his love ; but his father refused his con- sent, and sent him to the Palatinate. During the campaign he wrote a loving letter to the girl, and an- other to his father, in which he promised to renounce her. But unfortunately the directions of the letters were interchanged, so that the young lady received THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE, 409 the one intended for his father ; and that for the young lady fell into the father's hands. In course of time he received furious answers from both, which were incomprehensible to him. The grief at last overcame his reason, and he killed himself, to the great sorrow and regret of all his comrades. Wilson remarked on this sad event that " by Duncombe's example parents who are too rigid with their children may see what murderers they are ; for it was not the young man's hand, but the old man's hard heart that killed him." 1 The Spaniards and Imperialists held the open country, while the English protected the three last strongholds of the unfortunate Frederick ; and in the spring of 1621 the gallant followers of Sir Horace Vere were entirely deserted by their allies. The Princes dissolved the Protestant Union on the 2d of April, and they signed a treaty at Mayence on the 4th of May, by which they agreed to abandon the Palatinate and its English defenders to their fate. Vere received his commission to command in the Lower Palatinate from Frederick, but his men were now ill paid and badly provided, for the fund with which he left England had been exhausted. There came some prospect of help as the year rolled on. Ernest Mansfelt was one of the most remarkable mil- itary commanders of that age. It was indeed only in a very exceptional state of society that such a commander could have existed. He was at the head of a freebooting army of about 1 5,000 men, recruited 1 Wilson went home with Lord particularly described this expedi- Essex. Referring to this first tion because I was an eye-witness year, he said: "I have the more of what passed." (P. 723.) 410 THE FIGHTING VERES. by himself, and he served whom he chose. He, how- ever, continued faithful to the unhappy Elector, and though he received large bribes from the other side, he merely took them without in the least altering his course of action. Another friend in need was young Christian of Brunswick, who for love of his cousin Elizabeth l raised a small army in the north of Ger- many. Spinola left the Palatinate in 1621, for in that year the truce of twelve years with the States General came to an end, and it was necessary that he should take command of the army which was to oppose the Prince of Orange. 2 He had, in fact, arranged his plans for the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom. But he left a Spanish force under Gonzales de Cordova and Ver- dugo to cooperate with the Imperialist general, Count Tilly, against Sir Horace Vere. Mansfelt and Chris- tian of Brunswick, judging that they could do little good in the field against Tilly and Cordova, resolved to fight their way to the seat of war in the Nether- lands. In an encounter with Cordova's army near Namur, young Christian lost his bridle arm, and many English officers had the opportunity of fight- ing gallantly for their Princess, who was so shame- fully deserted by her kindred in England, but who was called " the Queen of Hearts " by all true Eng- lishmen, and " who in those days carried a great stream of affection towards her." ? Maurice was thus strongly reinforced, and Spinola was obliged to 1 His mother was a sister of time, until her death in 1632, his Anne of Denmark, Elizabeth's widow, the Archduchess Isabella, mother. ruled the Spanish Netherlands 2 The Archduke Albert died in alone. 1621, aged sixty-two ; from which 8 Wilson. THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 411 raise the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom. During the winter Mansfclt went to Hagenau and his recruiting ground in Alsace, while Christian raised a new army in the north ; both intending to return to the Palati- nate in the ensuing year. Meanwhile, Cordova had been pressing Sir Horace very closely by cutting off supplies, and in Septem- ber, 1620, he laid siege to Frankenthal. This town is in the flat plain of the Rhine, about a mile from the left bank of the river. It must have been an ancient place, for it contains the ruins of a romanesque cloister, but it first became commercially prosperous after the arrival of many skilled Dutch artisans in about 1550, fugitives from the cruelties of Alva. The romanesque church, with its richly ornamented portal, was given to these people, and was known as the " old Dutch church." It stood in the market- place near the centre of the town, and its style of architecture is indicated by the fa9ade of the cloister which survives. The town was within a parallelo- gram, 600 yards from north to south by 460 ; but the defences were antiquated, and not suited to resist siege operations in the seventeenth century. Cordo- va, however, was unprovided with a regular siege train. The old walls were built of the same warm red stone which so heightens the beauty of Worms cathedral. There were earth ramparts behind the walls, and cir- cular bastions at the angles, perforated by slits for shooting arrows. 1 A running stream entered the town near the centre of the south wall, and left it, flowing to the Rhine, on the east side, and the 1 The southeast bastion is still standing, and some bits of the walls. 412 THE FIGHTING VERES. means were thus supplied of filling a moat. There were four gates, one in the centre of each side. The main street led from north to south through the market-place, called the Wurmser Strasse on the north and the Speyerer Strasse on the south side ; and in the southwest angle of the town there was a large house, surrounded by a garden, called the Schafforet. It belonged to the Elector, and was orig- inally intended as the dower house for Elizabeth. Stout John Burrough did what was possible to strengthen the defences. Outside each gate he con. structed a ravelin, surrounded by water from the moat ; and where the stream flowed in, by the Speyer Gate, he added an additional outwork. The east ravelin, facing the Rhine, was entrusted to the Eng- lish, and was known as the English ravelin. In July, 1621, Dr. Burgess, the chaplain, left Frankenthal to go home, much regretted by the little garrison. 1 By September Frankenthal was closely besieged by Cor- dova, who pressed forward his approaches vigorously. Burrough had with him those gallant and accom- plished brothers William and John Fairfax, 2 and young Robert Markham, a nephew of Francis and Gervase Markham, who served under Sir Francis Vere, and wrote works on military subjects. Early in September there was a sortie, in which John Fair- fax was wounded in the arm. On Friday night, the 5th of October, John Fairfax was stationed in the 1 "Whom we greatly miss." responded with Selden. In one of (Fairfax Correspondence, \. p. xlii.) his last letters he expressed a wish 2 William had especially distin- that his old manuscripts and Ro- guished himself at Cambridge, man coins should be presented to Though so young, he was a good Selden. scholar and an antiquary. He cor- THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 413 Speyer outwork with eighty men. Just after dusk he was furiously assaulted, the work was carried by the enemy, and every soul in it was put to the sword. William Fairfax, then acting as sergeant-major, hur- ried to the rescue, but was too late. His gallant attempt to enter the work was fiercely met at push of pike and repulsed. He himself was wounded, but was rescued and carried into the adjoining ravelin by Foxcroft, his clerk, and a soldier named Carr. His wound was in the leg, but a week afterwards he could walk with the help of a stick, and went down into the English ravelin. There he was struck on the thigh by one of the enemy's shot, the bone being broken. " He died towards morning," says John Burrough in the letter announcing the news to the broken-hearted old father ; adding, " They both died with the general fame of honest men and valiant gentlemen." 1 Lord Clifford also wrote a letter of condolence to Sir Thomas Fairfax. The gallant bro- thers were buried with military honors, and a monu- ment was erected to their memory in the old church at Frankenthal. 2 Two or three days after the death of William Fairfax, Sir Horace Vere marched from Manheim, and Cordova was forced to raise the siege of Frankenthal. 3 1 Fairfax Correspondence, i. p. thai, but that to the brothers Fair- xlvi. fax does not appear to be among 2 The inscription was copied by them. Some of the inscriptions their nephew, Brian Fairfax. The are, however, quite obliterated, church was destroyed by the 8 There is a letter at Dropmore French in 1.689, an d the monu- (Mr. Fortescue's) from Sir Horace ment has disappeared. About Vere to the favorite Buckingham, eighteen old monuments have re- dated December 15, 1621, in which cently been collected and placed he describes the condition to which in the public garden at Franken- his troops had been reduced. 414 THE FIGHTING VERES. Early in 1622 Mansfelt had collected a considerable force at Germersheim on the Rhine, above Speyer; and the Margrave of Baden Durlach was prepared to cooperate with a small army, while Christian of Brunswick was advancing from the north. Mans- felt invited the Elector Palatine to join him, and after some hesitation the unlucky Frederick left the Hague, and travelling through France incognito, he arrived at Germersheim on the 2d of April. He was received with some enthusiasm, and Mansfelt took the field against the Imperialist army under Count Tilly. At first there was a gleam of success. Tilly was defeated at Wiesloch, south of Heidelberg. Frederick and Mansfelt then captured the town of Ladenburg, and the Elector once more visited his towns of Manheim and Heidelberg, with their trusty English garrisons. But this was his last glimpse of good-fortune. Cordova hastened to reinforce Tilly. The Mar- grave of Baden Durlach declined to unite his troops with those of Mansfelt. He preferred to act on his own account, and intrenched himself at Wimpfen, in the upper valley of the Neckar. There, on the 26th of April, he was attacked by Tilly and Cordova, who practically annihilated his force, capturing all his artil- lery. This left the road open to Alsace, and as all Mansfelt's plunder was stored at Hagenau he hur- ried off for its protection, leaving the Elector to his fate. Soon afterwards Christian of Brunswick was surprised in his camp at Hochst, on the Main, a few miles below Frankfort, and entirely defeated. 1 James 1 There are two large pictures Wimpfen and Hochst, by P. Snay- at Brussels of the battles of ers. They are well worthy of ex- THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 415 now sent Lord Chichester 1 as an envoy to negotiate an armistice between the Elector and Tilly. But it was too late. Chichester found Frederick at Man- heim when he arrived, and he attempted to open negotiations. Tilly, however, refused to treat, tell- ing Chichester that he did not consider him as an ambassador. Sir Arthur replied that if his master had sent him with brave men instead of useless mes- sages he would soon show Tilly that he was a soldier as well as an ambassador. He went to Frankenthal to help Burrough with his advice, and remained there from July until the beginning of September. Fred- erick, in despair, on the i3th of June, 1622, departed from Manheim, never to return. The little English band of heroes was now indeed left to its fate. It was divided between the three strongholds of Manheim, Heidelberg, and Franken- thal, under three glorious leaders, Sir Horace Vere, Sir Gerard Herbert, and Sergeant-major General Bur- rough. They were surrounded by an overwhelming amination, as they show the arms, son under Edward Morris, served accoutrements, and system of for- in France, and was at the Cadiz mation. The latter also shows action under the Earl of Essex, the way in which a field camp was He received knighthood in France formed in those days. from Henry IV. Going to Ireland 1 Arthur Chichester was the sec- with Lord Mountjoy, he was made ond son of Sir John Chichester sergeant-major general of the of Raleigh, in Devonshire, by Ger- army there. In 1604 he became trude, daughter of Sir William Lord Deputy of Ireland, holding Courtenay of Powderham Castle, the post for twelve years. In He was at Exeter College, Oxford, 1614 he was created Baron Chi- but early embraced a military ca- Chester of Belfast. He died child- reer. first going to Ireland with a less in 1624. His life was written young Fortescue as his compan- by Sir Faithful Fortescue, and an ion. He was in Lord Sheffield's elegy by A. Spicer. The Marquis ship at the repulse of the Spanish of Donegal is descended from his Armada, was in the Ostend garri- brother Edward. 41 6 THE FIGHTING VERES. force of Imperialists and Spaniards, under such gen- erals as Tilly, Cordova, and Verdugo. Vere knew that his military position was hopeless, but the three faithful governors resolved to hold out to the last. 1 Cordova ravaged the open country and burnt the villages. Tilly occupied the Heiligenberg, a height on the right bank of the Neckar, and threatened Heidelberg on the 2oth of June; and on the I5th of August he began the siege in earnest. The position of Heidelberg in the deep ravine of the Neckar, just at the point where the river issues from the mountains and enters the flat plain of the Rhine, has prevented any great change by an in- crease in the size of the town. All the positions can be clearly traced out. The beautiful castle still stands on its terrace, commanding the town, and in turn commanded by surrounding wooded heights. There are still the exquisite fa9ades of Otto Hein- rich and Friedrich IV., the terrace of the Altane, from which one looks down into the streets of the town, and the grand old octagon tower. In the town the tall tower of the " Heilig-Geist " still marks the position of the market-place and of the richly carved front of Belier's house ; the Marstall survives with its old walls and angle bastions, and there is even a 1 There are eight important let- They describe the bad condition ters from Lord Chichester to Lord of the troops and the movements Cranfield, written from the Palati- of Tilly. On September I4th Chi- nate in 1622, in the possession of Chester reports that he left Fran- Earl De la Warr. One, dated kenthal on the 4th, and came to June 2d, describes the state of the Frankfort. He also gives an ac- army. Another, of June 24th, al- count of the fall of Heidelberg, ludes to the want of money. Three On November I2th he reports the are from Frankenthal, dated July fall of Manheim. 9th and 22d, and August I3th. THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE. 417 tower of the old wall ; but the covered wooden bridge, with its towers of defence, has long since been re- placed by the present stone bridge. Sir Horace Vere had entrusted the defence of the town of Heidelberg to a Dutch officer named Van der Merven, while Herbert had command of the cas- tle. The town was divided into the Altstadt, between the castle-hill and the Neckar, and the Vorstadt, ex- tending westward to the plain of the Rhine. Both were surrounded by a strong wall with towers, and the bridge was well fortified. On the south side of the Vorstadt there was an outwork on the slope of the hill called the Trotz Kaiser, and two smaller forts. But the works were of great extent, while the garri- son was weak and insufficiently provided with sup- plies. The castle was still more difficult to defend. It is true that it was impregnable on the side of the Neckar, where the cliffs rise almost sheer from the town. But on the south the steep mountains con- tinue to rise abruptly, and completely command the castle. Towering above the others is the Konig- stuhl, and to the west of it there is another height called the Geisberg, at the foot of which is the Trotz Kaiser fort. A road led from the castle terraces eastward between the hills and the cliffs overhanging the Neckar, to the pretty valley of the Wolfsbrun- nen, a favorite resort of Frederick and Elizabeth in their happy days. Herbert did his best to put the castle in a posture of defence. Ravelins and half- moons were thrown up in the lovely terraced gardens, where Solomon de Caus 1 had exhausted all his art 1 Solomon de Caus was the Heidelberg Castle. He published artist employed by the Elector a description of them, entitled Palatine to design the gardens of Hortus Palatinus. 418 THE FIGHTING VERES. to combine the wealth of exotic vegetation with the beauties of nature. He also constructed forts on the road from the Wolfsbrunnen, with intrenched out- works across the space now occupied by the Schloss Hotel. On the 1 5th of August Count Tilly began the siege in earnest, investing both the castle and the town. He planted batteries on the Konigstuhl and the Geisberg, as well as along the right bank of the Neckar, and began approaches on the Wolfsbrunnen road, in front of the Trotz Kaiser, and against the western wall of the town. A heavy cannonade was commenced on the 22d, and continued for twenty days. An attempt to storm the town on the 5th of September was repulsed, but the Trotz Kaiser and other outworks were captured. A heavy fire of artil- lery was then kept up for several days, the gates were blown in, and on the i6th the town was taken by storm. Van der Merven and the soldiers retreated into the castle, but Tilly gave Heidelberg up to sack and pillage, and appalling atrocities were committed on the hapless people for three days. Forty houses were burnt to the ground. Sir Gerard Herbert defended the castle for some days longer. With heroic resolution he held the out- work in the garden, repulsing all the assaults of the enemy, until this gallant hero fell, mortally wounded. Van der Merven then surrendered the castle on the iQth, the troops being allowed to march out with all the honors of war. 1 1 Little injury was done to Hei- the Peace of Munster, he kept his delberg Castle during Tilly's siege, court there for thirty years, until After the Elector Charles Louis his death in 1680. The destruc- was restored to his dominions by tion of the castle took place dur- THE WAR IN THE PALATINATE, 419 Sir Horace Vere was now besieged in Manheim, with a garrison of 1,400 men, to defend very extensive fortifications. He had no money and no supplies. When he was reduced to extremities he retired into the citadel, and capitulated on honorable terms in the end of September. He and his brave garrison marched out with all the honors of war. Sir Horace went first to Frankfort, and thence to the Hague. The gallant Burrough still held out at Frankenthal. The defences were antiquated and feeble, his supplies exhausted. Yet he maintained the place against Tilly, and afterwards against Verdugo and the Span- iards all through the winter. He did not surrender until the i4th of April, 1623, and then he did so only by reason of orders from home. Moreover, the surrender was not made to the Imperialists, but to the Archduchess Isabella, with a promise that the place should be restored to the Queen of Bohemia as her dowry. The promise was broken. Burrough was knighted for his defence of Frankenthal. 1 ing the atrocious devastation of II. " Vera effigies urbis Heidel- the Palatinate by the French in bergae quo eadem modo, anno 1693 and 1694. Then it was that 1622 tempore obsessionis fortifi- the " Shattered Tower" (Ge- cata et extracta erat." sprengte Tliurnt) was blown up, 1 Sir John Burrough was sec- and the palace was gutted by or- ond in command in the expedition der of the French General Melac. to the Isle of Rlie*. Robert Mark- There are two plans of Heidel- ham remained with him at Fran- berg, showing the defences and kenthal to the last, and accompa- Tilly's siege works of 1622, in the nied him to Rhe', where both were museum at the castle slain. Markham, however, lived I. " Vahre contrafactur der long enough to write a poetical ele- Churfurstlichen Statt Heidelberg gy on his beloved commander Sir und wie dieselbige von General John Burrough, which was after- Tilly belagert und eingenomen wards published. Sir John was worden, anno 1622." (Matthaeus buried in Westminster Abbey. Merianus) 42O THE FIGHTING VERES. Sir Horace Vere returned to England in January, 1624, and was received by King James so gratefully and thankfully, that, forgetting himself, his Majesty stood bare-headed before his illustrious subject. The Palatinate was the most prosperous country in Germany before the Elector accepted the crown of Bohemia. From that time until the end of the Thirty Years' War it was devastated most ruthlessly by successive armies. Villages were burnt, crops destroyed, the inhabitants killed or hunted into the woods like wild beasts. At length, when Charles Louis, the son of the ill-fated Frederick, was restored to part of his dominions by the Peace of Westpha- lia, he returned to a scene of heart-rending desolation. For thirty years he devoted all his energies to the good of his people and to the restoration of their prosperity. His memory was justly revered. In England he took the side of the parliamentary party, which always advocated his mother's cause, against the brother who treated her with cold neglect. In Germany he was the father of his people. CHAPTER IV. DEATH OF JOHN VERE. SIEGE OF BREDA BY SPI- NOLA. CREATION OF LORD VERE OF TILBURY. THE conduct of the Palatinate enterprise by Sir Horace Vere added to his fame as a resolute and able general. The insurmountable difficulties of the undertaking, with the forces at his command, and the way in which he faced them and held his own against tremendous odds for upwards of two years, were fully recognized by his countrymen. On Feb- ruary 1 6, 1623, he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance for life, and on July 20, 1624, he be- came a member of the Council of War. Domestic sorrows, occurring at this time, cast a passing shadow over his public success. Little Susan, his youngest child, born just before he set out for the Palatinate, was taken from him soon after his return, at the age of four years. She was buried on May 24, 1623. John Vere died a year afterwards, on April 12, 1624. This eldest brother had always been very dear to the three soldiers, Francis, Horace, and Robert. His house at Kirby was their home whenever they came on brief visits to England. Here the aged mother lived in peaceful comfort with her eldest boy, while the others were exposed to the dangers and hardships of a soldier's life. John acted as an agent for his brothers, transacting their busi- 422 THE FIGHTING VERES. ness and looking after their interests in England. After his mother's death in 1617, he and- his wife continued to live quietly at Kirby, but they had no children who survived infancy. John had one ille- gitimate son. He became a distinguished soldier, yet he caused his father much remorse and anxiety. John Vere was for several years in dreadful appre- hension of God's wrath, " but at last, by God's good- ness and blessing on the ministry, he received com- fort and died triumphant." He made his will in 1612, but added no less than seven codicils between that year and his death. Tilbury and the other lands of Sir Francis Vere had reverted to his elder brother on the death of his widow. 1 John left Stone Lodge, near Greenhithe, in Kent, and a house in Aldgate, to his wife absolutely, as they were her prop- erty before marriage ; and he left Tilbury and Kirby Hall to his wife for her life, and then to his brother Horace. He left an annuity to his sister Frances, Lady Harcourt ; and another annuity of 40 a year to his nephew Vere Harcourt. He also left a house in Hedingham, and a small endowment in trust for the use of poor people of the parish. By a codicil in 1623, he cancelled the reversion of his estates to his brother Horace, and left them all to his illegitimate son John. But three weeks afterwards he again can- celled this codicil, and gave the reversion to his brother. His mind seems to have vacillated with regard to his duty to this son. 2 1 She died in 1623. in 1607. He died in the Low 2 John Vere's illegitimate son Countries in 1631, and his will, became Sir John Vere, and ser- dated Dec. 13, 1630, was adminis- geant-major in the regiment of his tered by Robert, nineteenth Earl uncle Horace. He was knighted of Oxford, on Nov. 14, 1631. Sir DEATH OF JOHN VERE. 423 John Vere had reached the age of sixty-six. He was buried in the church at Castle Hedingham, the funeral sermon being preached by Mr. Brewer, on the 1 5th of April, 1624. A monument was erected to his memory, with an inscription which has now disappeared. 1 As John Vere's widow survived Sir Horace, the reversion of Tilbury and Kirby was never enjoyed by the latter. In 1624 Spinola made great preparations for the siege of Breda, and Sir Horace Vere proceeded to the Hague, to join the army of Prince Maurice, and concert such measures as were practicable for its defence. His young kinsman, the Earl of Oxford, had got into trouble after his return from the Palati- nate. He was accused of having " spoken some words to the dishonor of the King and disparage- ment of his government," for which he was sent to the Tower, 2 and detained there over two years. 3 He had simply said what everybody else thought. He was, however, fortunate in his matrimonial affairs, for although he had little to offer but his ancient title, he won the heart of Lady Diana Cecil. This John had a son Edward, who was Vere is mentioned, in legal docu- probably the same Edward Vere ments, as of Netherwood. that became a lieutenant, and was 1 Holman, writing a century slain at the siege of Maestricht in ago, says that the reason why the 1632. He appears to have been inscription on John Vere's monu- illegitimate ; for by his wife Mercy, ment was so worn out, was because daughter of Sir James Pytts of a school was formerly kept in the Kyre Wyre, in Worcestershire, chancel of Hedingham church. Sir John had an only daughter, 2 Rapin, ii. p. 212. Mary, who died intestate and 8 He returned from the Palati- unmarried, administration being nate in January, 1621, was corn- granted to her uncle James Pytts, mitted to the Tower, examined on August 15, 1631. Sir John July 13, and enlarged Dec. 30, 1623. 424 THE FIGHTING VERES. was a love match, but the married life of the lovers, which commenced in 1623, was destined to endure for a few months only. 1 In 1624 the Earls of Ox- ford, Southampton, and Essex, and Lord Willoughby, raised four regiments for service in the Netherlands ; and a great dispute arose between the Earls of Oxford and Southampton on a question of precedence. The quarrel gave rise to much correspondence and to official arbitration, 2 but it was closed very summarily. Southampton and his son died of fever at Rosendaal, and not many months had passed before Oxford was also in his grave. In the brief remainder of his life, however, he again served under his great kinsman with distinguished gallantry, in attempting the relief of Breda. The siege of Breda was commenced by Spinola in August, 1624. The occasion was one of great im- portance, both as regards the strength of the place and the value attached to it, and with reference to the vast preparations that had been made for its re- duction. The eyes of all Europe were turned to the historical old Brabant city. In 1404 the heiress of Breda had married Count Engelbert of Nassau, whose splendid tomb still adorns the church, and whose de- 1 In a letter from Lord Con way 2 The Council of War made a to Buckingham, dated from White- report on this question to the hall, April 12, 1623, the story of King, on July 21, 1624. Oxford the love of Lord Oxford and Lady was to have precedence at court Diana is related, and his lord- and in all civil entertainments, ship's poverty is alluded to. Cham- Southampton as colonel. The berlain, in a letter to Sir Dudley report is signed by Lord Grandi- Carleton, dated April 19, 1623, son, Lord Chichester, Lord Con- says that Lord Oxford is to have way, and Sir John Ogle, with Lady Diana, ^4,000 in money and ^5,000 in land. SIEGE OF BREDA BY SPINOLA. 425 scendants made Breda their chief residence. Henry of Nassau built the castle, which was fortified with walls, bulwarks, and double ditches, and beautified with terraces and pleasant gardens. The turf ram- parts were set thick with a continuous row of old oak-trees. Above all rose the spire of the church- tower from the centre of the town, 262 feet high. When William the Taciturn fled to Germany in 1567, Breda was seized for the King of Spain by the Duke of Alva. In 1577 it was retaken by Count Hohenlohe. It was surprised by the Siceur de Haute- penne in 1581, and remained in the power of the Spaniards until, by his famous stratagem of the peat boat, Prince Maurice recovered it in 1590. The historian of the siege described the country round Breda as " pleasant, rich of corn and pasture, the meadows beset round with young sprouts of trees and separated by small brooks. Rows of trees shaded all the walks and houses round the town ; and not far from the walls there were four woods, one of fir and the other three of oak." The rivers Marke and Aa unite before the walls, and separate to fill the moat, both again joining to form the famous harbor into which the patriot-laden peat boat was piloted thirty-four years before. The walls round the town included fifteen bulwarks, with artillery, numerous ravelins, and five formidable horn works. Justin of Nassau, the half-brother of the Prince of Orange, was governor of Breda, with sixteen companies of infantry and five troops of horse, in all 1,600 men. In addition to the garrison, 1,800 townsmen bore arms under the command of Aertsen, Lord of Wer- mont, as town colonel. Supplies were sent into the 426 THE FIGHTING VERES. town, consisting of 8,200 measures of wheat, oats, cheese, and dried haberdine. On the 2ist of July, 1624, Spinola set out from Brussels with one division. Two others followed under Don Louis de Velasco, Conde de Salazar, the general of horse, and Juan Bravo, the governor of Antwerp. There were fifteen regiments, consisting of 198 companies of infantry and thirty-nine troops of horse, making a total force of 18,000 men. In five days Spinola reached the village near Breda, called Gilsen. A reconnoissance was made, and Spinola's council pronounced the place impregnable, and dis- suaded him from undertaking the siege. A month was wasted in discussion; but on the 26th of August Francisco Medina was sent to occupy Ginehen, the nearest village to Breda, while an Italian regiment was stationed at Terheyde, on the side opposite to Ginehen. Spinola also sent soldiers to the villages of Teteringen and Hage, and made a bridge over the Marke. Juan Nino de Tabara, afterwards Viceroy of the Philippine Islands, and Diego Luis de Olmeyra commanded in the lines which were drawn round the town, with redoubts of earth, ditches, counter- scarps, and palisades. Justin of Nassau had dismissed his cavalry. He entrusted the defence of the Ginehen Gate to the French Colonel Hauterine and his Walloons. Colo- nel Morgan held the Bois-le-Duc Gate, and Loque- rane, with the Scots and Dutch, were at the Antwerp Gate. The Prince of Orange advanced with an army from the Hague, and Spinola waited in battle array for two days to receive him. But this was the great warrior's last appearance in the field. Maurice was SIEGE OF BREDA BY SPlNOLA. 427 taken seriously ill, and returned to the Hague. He died on April 23, 1625, his last words being an in- quiry whether Breda was succored or lost. He had done hard and good service for his country during forty years. His patriotism and heroic fortitude may be placed in the balance against his want of magna- nimity. His half-brother, Frederick Henry, whom he had adopted as his son, quietly succeeded as Stadt- holder and general of the army, as well as to the family honors as Prince of Orange. Mean while, Spinola pushed forward his approaches. Having made a double line of circumvallation, with strong forts at intervals, he drowned all the lower lands by cutting the dikes at Terheyde, and he made a stockade over the drowned meadows to hinder relief by boats. The only ways to approach the siege works from outside were by the causeways of Ger- truydenburg and Sevenburg. But one was palisaded and cut through; the other was also cut, and fortified with a redoubt and breastwork. Notwithstanding these obstacles, the Prince of Orange resolved to send Sir Horace Vere to make a desperate attempt to force the causeways. The dikes were twenty or thirty feet wide. Vere had with him about 6,000 men, including 300 pikemen led on by his young kinsman the Earl of Oxford. An hour before dawn the English marched along the dikes with dauntless resolution, threw in fire-balls, and, after a sharp en- gagement, captured the redoubt and a half-moon. Then Spinola sent strong reinforcements, and, after a long and most gallant struggle, the English were forced to retreat, many being killed and wounded. The Earl of Oxford was wounded and received a 428 THE FIGHTING VERES. sunstroke, dying at the Hague a few months after- wards, aged thirty-six. 1 The gallant young English officer who strove to plant his colors on the Spanish fort was slain by push of pike. Sir Thomas Winne, Captain Dacres, and Lieutenant Cheyney were also killed. " They ended their days," said their generous enemy who wrote the history of the siege, " with wounds as honorable and fair as their gallant be- havior could deserve, and they were worthy to have had the victory." The brave Captain Skippon, Lieu- tenant Corbett, and others were wounded. Sir Horace Vere conducted the retreat in perfect order, under the eye of the Prince of Orange. From that time all hope of raising the siege was abandoned. The capitulation, on favorable condi- tions, was signed on the 2d of June, 1625. Justin of Nassau, a venerable old gentleman, with his wife and children, was received by Spinola in the space between the town and an inner ditch. The scene has been immortalized by Velasquez in his magnifi- cent picture of " Las Lanzas? at Madrid. The siege of Breda was also fortunate in its historians. The narrative of Herman Hugo 2 is admirably told, and 1 In a letter to his Countess, and I was shot in my left arm." dated May 15, 1625, at Gertruyden- (Letter in possession of Miss Con- burg, he wrote : " This letter is to way Griffith, Carreglwyd, Angle- show I am well lest reports might sea. Fifth Report of Comnfrs err. The vanguard attacked Ter- App.} heyde under the Lord General 2 The Siege of Breda : Written Vere and myself. Our nation lost in Latin by R. F. Herman Hugo, of no honour, but many brave gentle- the Society of Jesus, translated men their lives. My ensign T. into English by C. H. G., and Stanhope was killed upon the dedicated to the soldiers of our place. Captain J. Cromwell is nation in general. A. 0.1627 (pp. dangerously hurt. We fought as 152, with maps and plans), long as our ammunition lasted, SIEGE OF BREDA BY SPIN OLA. 429 he bestows praise impartially on friend and foe, although the work was intended as a eulogy on Spi- nola. The story, as told by honest Henry Hexham, 1 who began his military career as page to Sir Francis Vere at the siege of Ostend, is also clear, graphic, and impartial. After the surrender of Breda, Am- brosio Spinola took his leave of the Netherlands. 2 There was no more noble-minded and magnanimous commander engaged in the war from its commence- ment. Breda did not long remain in the hands of the Spaniards after his departure. It was recaptured in i637. 3 Sir Horace Vere felt the death of his kinsman, the head of his house, very deeply. He and his brother Francis had taken a warm interest in the welfare of their cousin from his early youth. He had now fallen gallantly and on the field of honor, but he was childless. 4 His remains were conveyed to England, 1 A true and brief relation of the One was a cardinal ; the other was famous siege of Breda : Besieged a statesman, and president of the and taken by the able and victori- Council of Flanders at Madrid, ous Prince of Orange. Composed 8 This siege, directed by Fred- by Henry Hexham, Quartermaster erick Henry, Prince of Orange, to the Regiment of Colonel Goring lasted from July 23 to October 10, (Delft, 1637). Sold by Hendricus 1637. Sir Jacob Astley was ser- Hondius, near the Gevangen Port geant-major of the English tercio. in the Hague. It opens with a The Elector Palatine, Princes narrative of the former siege by Rupert and Maurice, the Earls of Spinola. Warwick and Northampton, Lord 2 In 1628 Spinola went to Spain, Grandison, Colonel Goring, Ser- and on his way through France geant-major Skippon, and many he visited Louis XIII. at the siege other English officers, were at this of Rochelle. He was sent by the siege. King of Spain to conduct an attack 4 His widow (Lady Diana Cecil) on the Duke of Mantua, and died married secondly Thomas, Earl of in the castle of Castelanovo di Elgin. He erected a mausoleum Scrivia, on Sept. 25, 1630, aged of octagonal form, adjoining Man- sixty-one. By his wife, Juana den Church in Bedfordshire, to Bacciadonna, he had two sons, her memory, in 1656. 430 THE FIGHTING VERES. and Henry, eighteenth Earl of Oxford, found his last resting-place in Westminster Abbey. The title passed to his second cousin, Robert Vere, who succeeded as nineteenth Earl of Oxford. He was a grandson of Aubrey, the uncle of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere. His father was Hugh Vere, who had served in the first campaign under Leicester. A famous ques- tion arose on the accession of the nineteenth Earl. Hitherto the hereditary Lord Chamberlainship of England had gone with the title. But now Lord Willoughby claimed it by right of his mother, Lady Mary Vere, heiress of the sixteenth Earl of Oxford. It was a complicated and difficult case, and the judg- ment is a most learned and exhaustive discussion of the question, and contains a valuable history of the Oxford peerage. Finally, in 1627, the title of Earl of Oxford was adjudged to Robert Vere, the office of Lord Great Chamberlain to Lord Willoughby and his heirs, while the baronies of Bolebec, Sandford, Badlesmere, and Plaiz fell into abeyance. Robert had served for some years under his kins- man Sir Horace Vere before he succeeded to the earldom, and was looked upon as a brave and efficient officer. He had married in the country to Beatrix Hemmema, of a noble Frisian family. 1 On his return from Holland, after the gallant action before Breda, Sir Horace Vere found that Charles I. had succeeded his father, and that a new reign had commenced. The great general was at the summit of his fame, and was without question the most distinguished military officer among living 1 See note on page 443. CREATION OF LORD VERE OF TILBURY. 431 Englishmen. When a peerage was suggested for his brother Francis, Queen Elizabeth replied: "I consider that he is above it already." Times were changed. Sir Horace was created Baron Vere of o Tilbury on the 25th of July, I625. 1 No doubt he chose the title of Tilbury from affectionate remem- brance of his brother Francis, whose estate it was, and who lived there during the last years of his life. Horace had a reversionary interest only in the Til- bury estate ; for the widow of his brother John, who enjoyed it for her life, outlived him. Not only did Sir Horace's great services entitle him to a peerage, but his official position as Master General of Ord- nance for life and Councillor of War made it de- sirable that he should receive that rank. A further reason for the creation was that Sir Horace was heir presumptive of the most ancient earldom in Eng- land, 2 and consequently a personage of the first dis- tinction. If a consciousness of never having himself preferred a claim, and of having steadfastly and earnestly sought to perform his duty to his country without self-seeking, could give satisfaction to Lord Vere in assuming the title that had been conferred 1 Besides the Vere mullet, Lord granted to the peerage were dex- Vere of Tilbury bore a mullet to ter, a boar azure, with a shield of indicate a third son. His arms are the arms of Holland round its recorded with twenty-one quarter- neck, and sinister, a harpy with a ings (Vere, Bolebec, Sandford, shield of the arms of Zeeland. Badlesmere, Fitz Barnard, St. (Record in the HeralcFs College.) Hilary, Lisle, Fitz Hamon, Mare- 2 Lord Vere of Tilbury was heir schal, Clare, Delafield, Serjeaux, presumptive to the earldom of Archdeacon, Causton, Kilvington, Oxford until the birth of the nine- Milburne, Kentbury, Trussel, etc.), teenth Earl's son in 1627; and and his wife bore Tracy and Bald- again from the death of the nine- ington quarterly. The supporters teenth Earl to his own death. 432 THE FIGHTING VERES. on him, then, most assuredly, that nobleman had the right to indulge in such reflections to the fullest extent. His undoubted capacity as a general was not more remarkable than his modesty and the absence of selfish motives throughout his career. CHAPTER V. MARRIAGES OF DAUGHTERS. THE SIEGES OF BOIS- LE-DUC AND MAESTRICHT. NOTICE OF HENRY HEXHAM. LORD and Lady Vere removed from their lodgings in the city to a pleasant house at Clapton, near Hack- ney, where they lived with their five young daughters, in the intervals during which the general was able to be absent from his duties in Holland. He was, how- ever, obliged to be with his troops for the greater part of the years 1627 and 1628. A year after the creation of the peerage, a mar- riage was arranged between Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Lord Vere, and Lord Haughton, the son and heir of the Earl of Clare. The brothers of the Holies family were cousins of the Veres, 1 and had been companions in arms for many years. John Holies, the eldest, served as a volunteer under Sir Francis Vere, and was with him in the " Island Voy- age." In 1616 he purchased the barony of Haughton from James I. for ,10,000, and was created Earl of Clare in 1624. His son, born in 1595, was also a gallant soldier, and was thirty when he became 1 They were sons of Denzil Horace Vere. So that the Holies Holies, by Eleanor, daughter of brothers were first cousins once Edmund Lord Sheffield and of removed of Sir Francis and Sir Lady Anne Vere, sister of Geoffrey Horace, and aunt of Sir Francis and Sir 434 THE FIGHTING VERES. engaged to Elizabeth Vere. Sir George Holies, the next brother to the Earl of Clare, was sergeant- major general at the battle of Nieuport and siege of Ostend, and lost his left eye in action. Dying un- married in 1626, he was buried with great military pomp in Westminster Abbey on the 23d of May, the Earl of Clare and Lord Vere of Tilbury being the chief mourners. 1 The youngest brother, Thomas Holies, was lieutenant-colonel of Lord Vere's regi- ment. The marriage of Lord Haughton with Eliza- beth Vere was solemnized in Hackney church on the 24th of September, i626. 2 The second daughter, Mary, soon followed her sister to the altar. On May 17, 1627, she was mar- ried, at Hackney church, to Sir Roger Townshend, Baronet, of Raynham in Norfolk, who had been so created in i6i7. 3 1 The statue of Sir George Holies, attired as a Roman sol- dier, overlooks the tomb of Sir Francis Vere. 2 Hackney Parish Register. They had six daughters and one son, Gilbert Holies, third Earl of Clare, who, dying in 1689, left by his wife, Lady Grace Pierpoint, a son John, fourth Earl of Clare, created Duke of Newcastle. By his wife, Lady Margaret Caven- dish, the Duke had a daughter and heiress, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holies, who married Lord Harley. Their only child, Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, became Duch- ess of Portland. Through her a large number of families are di- rectly descended from Sir Horace Vere. Elizabeth (Vere), Countess of Clare, was buried at St. Mary's, Nottingham, on January 11, 1684. Her husband, the second Earl of Clare, had died in 1665. 3 Sir Roger Townshend died on the ist of January, 1638, aged forty- one. Their children were Roger, who died in 1640; Horace, who was created Viscount Townshend, and was the father of the second Vis- count Townshend, Secretary of State ; and four daughters. Mary (Vere), the widowed Lady Town- shend, was married secondly to Mildmay Fane, Earl of Westmore- land, on June 2ist, 1638, at Hack- ney, only five months after the death of her first husband. By him she had Vere Fane, fourth Earl of Westmoreland, and four daughters. Her second husband SIEGE OF BOIS-LE-DUC. 435 In 1628 the Dutch achieved a famous triumph at sea. Piet Heyne captured the Spanish plate fleet, and brought to Holland the vast treasure which was to have furnished the sinews of war for the Span- iards. Frederick Henry, on the strength of this great success, determined to undertake some impor- tant action. Lord Vere proceeded to the Hague to assist at the consultations which took place, and it was resolved that the next campaign should be sig- nalized by the siege and capture of the city of Bois- le-Duc (or Hertzogenbosch). The place was usually called 's Bosch by the Dutch, which Englishmen turned into Busse. Lord Vere missed his old and tried friend Sir Dudley Carleton l at the Hague. He had been superseded as British envoy by Sir Harry Vane. The Prince of Orange, having resolved to take the field, appointed the rendezvous at Schenken Schanz, on the 26th of April, 1629. On Tuesday, the 24th of April, General Lord Vere set out from the Hague, lodging that night at Utrecht, and next day he joined died in 1665. She herself died on sadors met with partial success, October 18, 1669, and was buried and on Carleton's return he was at Raynham. elected M. P. for Hastings. In Through the Townshends the 1626 he was made Vice-Chamber- name of Horace passed to the lain of the Household, and was Walpoles. created Baron Carleton of Imber- 1 In December, 1625, Carleton court. He returned to the Hague was recalled to take part in an from June, 1627, to April, 1628. He embassy to France, jointly with died in 1632, aged fifty-nine, and the Earl of Holland, to press was buried in Westminster Abbey. Louis XIII. to return ships which The volumes of his letters are had been lent to him, and which valuable depositories of informa- he was employing against the tion. His constant correspondent Rochellers, a proceeding which was Mr. John Chamberlain, of the raised a great clamor in England. Court of Wards. The representations of the ambas- 436 THE FIGHTING VERES. the Prince at Arnhem. Crowds of young gentlemen came over to serve in this campaign. With Lord Vere's own regiment were his nephew Simon Har- court, his son-in-law Lord Haughton, his cousin the Earl of Oxford, young Thomas Fairfax, the future general for the Parliament, gallant Philip Skippon; and with them occur the names of Luttrell, Byron, Hotham, Cave. A second English regiment was commanded by Edward Cecil, who, by paying assidu- ous court to the favorite Buckingham, had obtained a peerage, and was now Viscount Wimbledon. With him were thirty-nine volunteers, including Lords Doncaster, Fielding, and Craven ; Sir Thomas Glem- ham and Sir John Suckling. There were twenty-six volunteers attached to General Morgan's regiment, thirty-six to that of Colonel Harwood, and eight to that of Sir Edward Vere. Sir Harry Vane, the English ambassador, and many other persons of dis- tinction, followed the army. The Prince of Orange and his staff, accompanied by the English forces, marched from Arnhem across the Betuwe to Nymegen, and effected the passage of the Maas by a bridge of boats about a musket- shot from Grave. There were fifty-six troops of horse and 286 companies of foot. Three brigades of the army encamped on a heath on the left bank of the Maas. All that night the men were on the alert, with the butt ends of their pikes sticking in the ground. Thence the army advanced along the line of the Maas towards Bois-le-Duc, until, on the 3Oth, the Prince lodged in a house at the village of Vucht, with the Lord General Vere in a house next him; Count William of Nassau, the Lord of Brederode, Utrecht .Turnhout Venlol Eoermond/. Hawtrieht/ wu BOIS-LE-DUC AND MAASTRICHT. SIEGE OF BOIS-LE-DUC. 437 and Count Solms being stationed in a line between Vucht and the Maas. Solms guarded the Dutch shipping at Engelen. The city of Bois-le-Duc was one of the most im- portant military positions in Brabant, and had for years served as a base of operations whence the Spanish armies could invade the Bommel-waart and threaten the Betuwe. It was strongly fortified, and its moat was supplied with water from the rivers Aa and Dcmmel, which flow from the great Peel morass to the Maas. The Sieur de Grubbendonck was gov- ernor of the town, and Count Henry de Berghe was in the field with a force of 30,0x30 men. But there was no longer a Spinola to direct operations. The Prince of Orange gave orders that each com- pany should intrench with spades and pickaxes, the line of circumvallation, thirty English miles in cir- cuit, being strengthened with hornworks, sconces, half-moons, redoubts, and traverses, on the most im- proved principles of military art. This line was designed to resist any attack from the army of Count de Berghe, as well as sorties of the garrison. The Count kept the besiegers awake for three weeks with constant alarms, and then marched away. In August the besiegers began to push forward the approaches, and service in the trenches was severe and dangerous. Sir Edward Vere was mortally wounded on the night of Saturday the i8th of Au- gust. His regiment was given to the Earl of Oxford. Sir Jacob Astley, Sir Simon Harcourt, and Sir Ed- ward Harwood relieved each other in the trenches until the breach was ready for assault. Then, on the 1 7th of September, Bois-le-Duc was surrendered to 438 THE FIGHTING VERES. the Prince of Orange, and the garrison marched out. That day the Prince dined with the King and Queen of Bohemia, who had come to see the end of the siege. Afterwards the priests and Jesuits came out of the town in wagons, and the friars on foot. Next followed Governor Grobbendonk's wife in her coach, with her daughter and child on a nurse's lap in the forepart. The Prince came down to the coach and held some courteous discourse with the lady, who then went on ; and in the evening came the governor, marching out with the rest of his troops. The death of Sir Edward Vere was the most serious loss sustained by the besieged. Lord Vere and the Earl of Oxford attended his funeral at Bom- mel. He was a kinsman, but it is not clear to what branch of the family he belonged. Edward Vere had joined the army as a page when he was very young. It is said that Sir John Holies, afterwards Earl of Clare, was the first to put a pike into the hands of young Edward, and that Sir Francis Vere said, " You will make that scurvy boy but over- proud." He persevered in his profession, and rose to be not only a brave soldier, but an accomplished scholar. A manuscript folio is still preserved, con- taining Polybius translated into English by Sir Ed- ward Vere. 1 He rose to the command of a regiment under his kinsman, and met a glorious death in the trenches before.Bois-le-Duc. This siege is remarkable for the number of officers 1 Thick folio, 1010 pages, MS. occurs: "Sir Edward Vere had iii., in the possession of Lord this character: all summer in the Leconfield. field, all winter in his study ; in In a letter from John Hampden whose fall fame makes this king- to Sir John Eliot, this passage dom a great loser." SIEGE OF MAASTRICHT. 439 present who were afterwards distinguished in the civil war in England. There were Thomas Fairfax and Philip Skippon, the future organizers of the new model army, on one side ; Jacob Astley and Thomas Glemham, on the other. Henry Hexham, the dili- gent recorder of the events ; n which he took an active and honorable part, is again our interesting and trustworthy guide at the siege of Bois-le-Duc. 1 Lord Vere returned to the Hague with the rest of the illustrious company which had surrounded Prince Frederick Henry during the enactment of this great military achievement. He continued to divide his time, as duty required his presence, between London and Holland, until, in the year 1632, he was called by the Prince of Orange to join in another victorious campaign. This time he took the field with power to confer knighthood. The point of attack was the city of Maastricht on the Maas, and a rendezvous was appointed at Nymegen for the 22cl of May, 1632. The Maastricht campaign was a fitting close to the services of the Veres in the Netherlands. When young Francis first trailed a pike under the Earl of Leicester, nearly fifty years before, the line of the Maas was lost to the patriots. Maastricht, Venlo, Roermond, and Grave fell before the victorious arms of the Duke of Parma. The recovery of Grave was the last military service on which Sir Francis Vere 1 A historical relation of the master to my Lord General Vere famous siege of Busse, together his regiment. (Delft, 1630.) I2mo. with the articles and points of Dedicated to the company of mer- composition granted by H. E. the chant adventurers residing in Prince of Orange to those of the Delft, town : written by H. H., Quarter- 440 THE FIGHTING VERES. was engaged. The capture of the other strong places on the Maas was destined to be the closing service of his brother. The army of Prince Frederick Henry consisted of a Dutch, an English, and a French brigade, compris- ing 28 regiments of foot in 381 companies ; 28 troops of horse, 83 pieces of ordnance; 12 boats for bridges, carried on wagons; and 1,500 provision wagons with 100,000 pounds of biscuit. Lord Vere's regiment was divided into 23 companies, Howard's into 12, Morgan's and Packenham's into 1 1 each, Count Bre- derode's into 12, Count Solms's into n. On the ist of June the army came before Venlo, the town sur- rendering on the 4th. Roermond followed the ex- ample next day, and on the 7th the Prince of Orange left that place for Maastricht. The city of Maastricht, a name which means the passage of the Maas, is situated on that river just below the lofty height of Pietersburg. It is the cap- ital of the province of Limburg. The strongly forti- fied city itself is on the left, its suburb of Wijk on the right bank. When the troubles began it was gar- risoned by Spaniards, but in 1579 it was captured by the patriots. The Duke of Parma, after a siege of eight months, took the place by assault on the 2Qth of June, 1579, and there was a dreadful massacre. In 1632 it was well provided for a siege, with a strong garrison commanded by the Comte La Motterie. The enemy also had forces in the field on both banks of the river. The Marquis of Santa Cruz was ad- vancing with an army from Brussels, and Count Pap- penheim was at the head of another force on the right bank of the Maas. SIEGE OF MAASTRICHT. 441 The Prince of Orange sent Mr. Percival, the quar- termaster-general, to reconnoitre the ground, and a quartermaster and sergeant of each company accom- panied him, to have their stations in the camp al- lotted. A line of circumvallation, with suitable defensive works, was carefully planned, and Colonel Hanvood began to break ground on the I4th of June. But the garrison was not disposed to offer a passive resistance only. Many workmen were slain by the fire of heavy guns from the town, and at mid- night of the nth a large force sallied out to inter- rupt the labors of the besiegers. They were encoun- tered by Sergeant-major Skippon with eighty men in the open field, and driven back. On the 25th the Spanish army arrived at the village of Tongeren. The troops were encamped in the villages of Neer- haeren and Lanaekar, with the wood of Petersheim on their right flank, and the Marquis of Santa Cruz took up his quarters at a monastery called the Hoogt Kloster, 1 only a mile or two from the works of the besiegers. But he made no serious attempt to molest them. The Prince of Orange, with Lord Vere, fixed his headquarters near the centre of the line to the west of Maastricht, facing the Brussels Gate. On each side of him the regiments of Brederode, Henry of Nas- sau, and the English extended to the river. On the right bank, surrounding the suburb of Wijk, the lines were occupied by Dutch troops and by the reg- iment of the Due de Bouillon. Count de Sturm was on the river bank at Borghaven, Count William of 1 The ruins of this cloister may chateau of Petersheim, which be- still be seen in the garden of the longs to the Comte de Merode. 442 THE FIGHTING VERES. Nassau at the village of Ambrij, the Due de Bouil- lon at Heer, and the Prisons on the river at Heugen. The approaches were pushed rapidly forward towards the western walls of the town in two zigzag lines, called respectively the English and French ap- proaches. One day, in the early part of August, the breach was so enlarged that an assault seemed likely to suc- ceed. The Earl of Oxford, who was commanding in the trenches, gave the order, and a gallant rush was made. There was fierce resistance. Sir Simon Harcourt was shot through the cheeks and badly torn in the thigh by a grenade. Lieutenant Garth was slain. While the contest was at its height the sky had become overcast. A heavy fall of rain had the effect of slackening the fury of the combatants, and a retreat was sounded. That night the enemy sprung a mine under the English approaches, and in the following days the garrison made many desperate sorties. Every night Lord Vere himself took com- mand of the line which protected the English ad- vanced parties. The most desperate fighting was on the i yth of August. On that day the enemy came out in force and attacked the English trenches. The combatants were at fierce push of pike for some minutes round the corps du garde. Sergeant-major Williamson, who led on the defenders, fell mortally wounded. At this critical moment the chivalrous Lord Craven and brave Philip Skippon hurried up to the rescue, giving fresh vigor to the defence. The assailants were driven back, but they still kept up a galling fire from their works. Later in the even- ing the Earl of Oxford was bringing up fresh troops SIEGE OF MAASTRICHT. 443 to relieve the wearied men in the trenches, when he received a mortal wound in the head. 1 Hexham says : 1 Robert, nineteenth Earl of Ox- ford, married a Frisian lady of the Hemmema family. Hetto Hcmmema, living in 1438, had a fortified house at Berlikum, in Friesland, between Leeuwarden and the sea. His great-grandson Hetto (Hector) Hemmema did homage to Charles V. in 1515, and was buried at Berlikum in 1572, aged eighty-two. The son of Het- to, by his wife Barbara Grietma, was Sicco Hemmema, a learned mathematician and refuter of judi- cial astrology. His curious work, Astrologia refutata, was published at Antwerp in 1583, the year of his death. It is dedicated to Ber- nard, Baron de Merode, then gov- ernor of Friesland. The son of Sicco was Sjierck Hemmema, who died at Dordrecht in 1603, leaving several children. The eldest son, Doco Hemmema, was a captain in Prince Maurice's guard, and was buried at Berlikum, aged ninety- six, in 1698. His son Erasmus, a distinguished officer who was slain in a battle with the Swedes in Funen in 1659, died childless. The daughters were both married to Englishmen. Barbara was the wife of Captain John Spencer, and Banck (or Beatrice) married the nineteenth Earl of Oxford, and was mother of the twentieth and last Earl. She died at Bertelhal in 1657. The last of the Hem- memas married Du Tour of Bel- linckhaven, and there is only one representative of the Du Tour family now living. The church of Berlikum was founded in 1324, and in 1375 the towers were built. In 1432 a tiled roof replaced the old thatched one. It was the burial-place of the Hemmema family from time im- memorial, and also of the Boom- stras, Grietmas, Roordas, and An- dringas. In 1779 the old church was pulled down and replaced by an octagonal edifice with a dome. The old " slot " of the Hemmemas was at the end of the village far- thest from the church, and was surrounded by a wide moat. There are still some vestiges of it, a great archway and two smaller arched doorways, now parts of a modern house. On the gable of the same building there is a shield of arms and a helmet carved in stone. The arms are those of Hemmema (rubruin cum cane ve- natico assilicnte argcntcuiit). In the neighboring church of St. Anna in Bilt there is a richly carved pulpit, and oaken pew with the arms^ of Van Haren impaling Hemmema. A niece of the Coun- tess of Oxford married William van Haren, who died in 1708. The above details were kindly obtained for me by Mr. Arnold van Tets, from two manuscript genea- logical works respecting the Fris- ian nobility, by the Baron van Spaen, and Heemstra, and from a printed handbook of noble fami- lies of Friesland by Haan Hette- ma and van Halmael. I visited Berlikum and St. Anna in Bilt in 1879. 444 THE FIGHTING VERES. " What a sudden impression of grief it was to my Lord General the symptoms of his face did dis- cover. Nevertheless, his Lordship, suppressing it as well as he could, gave further instructions that the men should continue to fire on the enemy, and that the guard should be relieved." It was midnight be- *-> Q fore everything was restored to order, and the gen- eral could retire to indulge his grief. 1 Another kins- man, young Lieutenant Edward Vere, also fell on that night. The noble house of Vere had not spared its blood in the cause of freedom. Lord Vere's own brother Robert heads the list of slain ; next, the eighteenth Earl of Oxford fell at Breda, Sir Edward Vere at Bois-le-Duc, the nineteenth Earl and young Edward 1 Robert, nineteenth Earl of Oxford, left an only son Aubrey, by his Frisian wife Beatrice Hem- mema. Aubrey was born in 1627, and was brought up in Friesland with his mother's family. In 1632 he succeeded his father as twen- tieth Earl of Oxford. He was, in fact, the last of the Veres. Enter- ing the service of the States Gen- eral, he served in a regiment of English foot until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. His mother having died in 1657, he came to England after the Restoration, and was made a Knight of the Garter and Lord Lieutenant of Essex. He signed a petition to James II. to call a Parliament, and, heartily approving of the revolution, he joined the Prince of Orange, and was made a lieutenant-general in February, 1689. He carried the sword of state at the coronation of William and Mary, was colonel of the horse guards, and served at the battle of the Boyne. He died at his house in Downing Street, in his seventy-eighth year, on March 12, 1703, and with him the ancient earldom of Oxford became extinct. He had no children by his first wife Anne, daughter of Paul Vis- count Bayning. She died in 1659, and by his second wife Diana, daughter of George Kirk (groom of the bedchamber to Charles II.), he had a daughter Diana, married on April 10, 1694, to Charles Beau- clerc, first Duke of St. Albans. Earl Aubrey was buried in West- minster Abbey. The Duke of St. Albans, who quarters the Vere arms, is now the representative of that ancient family. His Grace bears the title of Baron Vere of Hanworth. All his children have De Vere for their second name. SIEGE OF MAASTRICHT. 445 at Maastricht, while Francis and Horace were rid- dled with wounds. The siege proceeded, hitherto with little molesta- tion from the enemy outside the lines of circumval- lation. But one day, while Lord Vere and other officers were dining with Lord Craven in the trenches, they heard a sudden cannonade from the hill beyond Wijk, whence Count Pappenheim had been threat- ening the lines on the other side of the river. That officer was firing on the Dutch quarters, and he fol- lowed up his cannonade by making a dash with 6,000 men through trees and orchards at a point where the line was not yet completed. In the little churchyard of Ambrij an Italian regiment came to push of pike with the Dutch. 1 But the guns of the besiegers raked through and through the ranks of Pappen- heim. At first he charged his own men in rear with cavalry, to force them to advance, but at length he allowed them to retreat. Santa Cruz remained inac- tive, and never attempted any diversion to further Pappenheim's plan of attack. By the 2Oth the trenches and gallery were well advanced. The mine being ready, Colonel Holies, with Lord Vere's regiment, had command in the trenches when the order was given for the assault. Lieutenants Kettleby and Holmes led the forlorn hope, with Quartermaster Watkins as engineer. Next came the companies of Manley, Sydenham, and Stanton, followed by Colonel Sir Thomas Holies, Lord Craven, and Sergeant-major Huncks. At nine 1 At Ambrij the ground begins high, round the suburb of Wijk. to rise, and further back there is Ambrij is a pretty little village, an amphitheatre of hills 1,600 feet surrounded by orchards. 446 THE FIGHTING VERES. o'clock in the forenoon the mine was sprung. A huge mass of the wall fell into the moat, and the gal- lant Englishmen climbed to the top of the breach, a height of eighty feet. Here they met the enemy at push of pike, while at the same time a heavy flanking fire was opened upon them. Then Captain Dudley, Lieutenant Wrangham, and young Garrett, who was Lord Vere's ensign for his Dort company, sallied along the moat, crossed the counterscarp, and carried the half-moon by the Brussels Gate. Lord Vere himself stood on the battery, where the bullets flew thick, to see the breach assaulted. Perceiving that the loss was becoming serious, he ordered a retreat into the works. Next day Maastricht was surren- dered to the Prince of Orange, articles of composition having been drawn up and signed on the 2ist of August. The garrison was allowed to join the army of Santa Cruz. That noble Spaniard was upbraided both by La Motterie and Pappenheim for never hav- ing lifted his little finger to help them during the whole siege. At the time of Pappenheim's assault Santa Cruz was playing at cards with some friends. The losses were heavy. Count Ernest of Nassau, Robert Earl of Oxford, Lieutenant Edward Vere, and Sergeant-major Williamson were slain. Sir Thomas Holies, Sir Simon Harcourt, 1 Captains Ed- 1 Simon Harcourt was Lord tary general. Many of her letters, Vere's nephew, son of his sister written when Lady Waller, are Frances, Lady Harcourt. He was preserved at Nuneham, and have slain in Ireland in 1642, and buried been privately printed. Her son at Dublin. He married Anne, Sir Philip married her stepdaugh- daughter of William Lord Paget, ter Anne, daughter of Sir W. Wal- and had a son, Sir Philip Harcourt. ler, and was father of Simon Vis- His widow married Sir William count Harcourt, the Lord Chancel- Waller, of Osterly, the parliamen- lor, whose great-grandson was Dr. HENRY HEXHAM. 447 mund Manley, Dudley, Wentworth, Martin, and many others were wounded. The total number of slain, of all nations, was 909. The historian of the siege of Maastricht was again Henry Hexham, 1 Lord Vere's diligent quartermaster. This military author deserves more than a passing notice. He entered the army as a boy, and early obtained the appointment of page to Sir Francis Vere, serving in that capacity during the siege of Ostend. There is some reason to think that he was a relation of Sir Christopher Heyden, 2 an officer who was a companion in arms of Sir Francis Vere dur- ing many years, and this would account for the boy having secured a post so near the great general's person. The lad's first attempt as an author was in the form of a narrative of his personal experiences during the siege of Ostend. It is by the unimpeach- William Vernon Harcourt, Arch- (Delft, 1633, pp. 40) Dedicated to bishop of York. Sir William Ver- his honourable kinsman Master non Harcourt, grandson of the Francis Morrice Clarke of His Archbishop, married Elizabeth, Majesty's Ordnance, daughter of John L. Motley, the Hexham says he was incited to historian. (See foot-note on Mot- write in praise of the Prince of ley's criticism of Vere p. 304 (.) Orange because Herman Hugo 1 A Journal of the taking of had written so well in praise of the Venlo, Roermont, the memorable Marquis Spinola. siege of Maastricht, the town and 2 Master Francis Clarke, to castle of Limburg, under the able whom Hexham dedicated his Siege and wise conduct of H. E. the of Maastricht, married the widow Prince of Orange, anno 1632 : with of his deceased uncle, Mr. Jerome an exact card drawn by Charles Heydon, a merchant of London. Floyd (now Ensign) and since les- Sir Christopher Heyden, knighted sened cut by cut, by Henricus and at Cadiz, was of Baconsthorpe, in Willhelminus Hondius dwelling by Norfolk. His daughter Frances the Gevangen Port in the Hagh : married Dr. Philip Vincent of compiled together by Henry Hex- Firsby, who wrote a copy of verses ham, Quarter Master to the Regi- in praise of H. Hexham. ment of the Lord General Vere. 448 THE FIGHTING VERES. able and undesigned evidence of Hexham that one of Mr. Motley's most damaging attacks on the fair fame of Sir Francis Vere is entirely refuted ; so that the boy was the means of doing useful service to the memory of his beloved master centuries after both had ceased to exist. Hexham continued to serve in the army with credit and diligence, and eventually attained to the responsible post of quartermaster in Lord Vere's own regiment. He appears to have made his home in Holland, and there he published his narratives of the sieges of Breda, Bois-le-Duc, and Maastricht. He also wrote a curious dialogue, in which the causes of the war are fairly argued both from a Spanish and a Dutch point of view, which was published in London in 1623, and dedicated to Sir George Holies. 1 Hexham 's " Principles of the Art Military practised in the Warres of the United Netherlands " is a folio volume, with numerous plates, which was long a standard work on the subject of which it treats. It describes the duties of officers in their several grades, the pike and musket drill of that period, the evolutions of companies, and has an ap- pendix giving the draconic articles of war ordained by the States General. 2 1 A tongue combat lately happen- Major to General Vere, by Henry ing between two English souldiers Hexham. The interlocutors are in the tilt boat of Gravesend, the " Red Scarfe," the author, and one going to serve the King of " Tawny Scarfe," the answerer, of Spain, the other to serve the States the tongue combat. General of the United Provinces, 2 The principles of the art mil- wherein the cause, course, and itarie practised in the warres of continuance of those warres is de- the United Netherlands, repre- bated and declared. (London, 1623, sented by figure, the words of pp. 104.) To the Hon ble Sir command, and demonstration : George Holies, Knight, Sergeant Composed by Henry Hexham, HENRY HEXHAM. 449 But his writings were not entirely confined to mil- itary subjects. The great work which entitles Hex- ham to be remembered as a geographer as well as the recorder of the deeds of soldiers was his splen- did English edition of the Atlas of Mercator and Hondius, in two folio volumes. This was not a mere translation. In his preface Hexham describes it as presenting "the laborious work of those two cos- mographers, Gerard Mercator and Judocus Hondius, with lively descriptions clad in new robes, by Mr. Henry Hondius, son to Judocus." He adds that "at the request of Henry Hondius, and according to my weak ability, I have undertaken the translation of their Atlas Major into English, and have enlarged and augmented it out of many authors of my own nation." He sets forth the importance of geography as a science, especially to a soldier or a student of history, and he gives elaborate descriptions of the different countries to which the maps refer, their people and government. 1 Before the preface there is a copy of verses addressed to Hexham by his friend Dr. Philip Vincent, of Firsby, 2 a Yorkshire- man. Hexham 's last work was a Dutch and Eng- Quarter Master to the regiment of to the regiment of Colonel Goring, the Hon bUj Colonel Goring. (Lon- (Amsterdam, 2 vols. folio, 1636.) don, 1637, folio, pp. 55.) Dedi- 2 He calls himself " Philippus cation to the Earl of Holland. Vincentius Firsbaeus, Anglobritan- 1 Gerardi Mercatoris et J. Hon- nus, Eboracensis, Theologize et dii : Atlas or a geographick de- Medicinae Doctor." Addressing scription of the regions, countries, Hexham, he says : and kill" domes of the world, " Ostend and many a siege beside through Europe, Asia, Africa, Have been thy school. Thou art a soldier and America, represented by new and exact maps. Translated by Dr. Philip Vincent married Henry Hexham, Quarter Master Frances, daughter of Sir Christo- pher Heyden 450 THE FIGHTING VERES. lish dictionary, the first, it seems, that ever was com- piled. It was published at Rotterdam in I648. 1 Many gallant soldiers, many able statesmen and earnest patriots, were reared in the school of the Veres. It was not alone the example of the gene- rals, but the cause for which they fought, the atmos- phere of freedom in which they lived, that tended to nourish noble thoughts, and to foster enlightened and liberal views. It was a nursery of good and useful men ; and not the least faithful soldier, not the least accomplished scholar among them, was he who began life as page to Sir Francis, and closed it as quartermaster to Horace Lord Vere, brave old Henry Hexham. The siege of Maastricht was the last important military operation in which Lord Vere was engaged. He still continued to give the aid of his knowledge and long experience to the States, but his active ser- vice in the field had come to an end. He was ap- proaching the close of a long and well-spent life. 1 A copious English and Nether this work to his honored friend Duytch Dictionarie^ composed out Sir Bartholomew van Waren, coun- of our best English authours, with seller at law. The dedication is an appendix of the names of all dated September 21, 1647, and in kind of beasts, fowles, birds,fishes, it he says that "never was any hunting and hawking, as also a such dictionary extant before ; " compendium for the instruction of andhe submits it to his friend as " a the learner : by Henry Hexham. token of that love and respect an (Rotterdam, 1648.) He dedicated old soldier bears you." CHAPTER VI. DEATH OF LORD VERE. CONCLUSION. THE last year of Lord Vere's life was passed at home, where he was engaged in performing the du- ties of his command and in transacting the business of the ordnance office ; while he enjoyed the society of a wife who sympathized in his pursuits and opin- ions, and of amiable and intelligent daughters. On the 3Oth of January, 1634, his third child, Katherine, was married, at Hackney church, to Oliver St. John, son and heir of Sir John St. John, Bart. 1 Another marriage had been proposed, previous to the death of Lord Vere, between his fourth daughter Anne and young Thomas Fairfax, who had served under him at the siege of Bois-le-Duc. The alliance had his cordial approval, although the marriage did not take place until after his death. The family of Fairfax, like that of Holies, was allied to the Veres through 1 The famous Henry St. John, Horace, and Vere, who died un- Lord Bolingbroke, was her great- married. grandson. Katherine Vere married, At Hinton St. George, the seat secondly, John Lord Poulett of of Earl Poulett, there were por- Hinton St. George. Lord Poulett traits of Mary, wife of Sir Horace was a royalist, but he obtained an (Lord) Vere, by Gibson ; of Lord easy composition from the Parlia- Vere himself; of their daughters, ment through the intervention of Lady Mary Townshend and Kath- his brother-in-law, Lord Fairfax, erine Lady Poulett ; of Lady Mary He died in 1665. By him she Vere, the wife of Lord Willough- had John Lord Poulett, whose son by; and of John, sixteenth Earl of was created Earl Poulett in 1706; Oxford. 452 THE FIGHTING VERES. the Sheffields ; 1 and several of its members had been companions in arms of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere. Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, who was created Baron Fairfax of Cameron, the grandfather of the intended bridegroom, was an old and intimate friend of Sir Francis Vere, and served with him in several of his earlier campaigns. His brother, Sir Charles Fairfax, was at the battle of Nieuport, the siege of Ostend, and the recovery of Sluys. His two gallant sons, William and John, were slain at Frankenthal. His grandson, Thomas, the future par- liamentary general, was in Lord Vere's regiment at Bois-le-Duc. Thomas Fairfax was married to Anne Vere, in Hackney church, on the 2dth of June, 1637? The youngest daughter, Dorothy, was the wife of John Wolstenholme, Esq., of Stanmore, 3 in Middle- sex. Lord Vere lived to see his three elder daughters happily married, and his fourth daughter Anne en- gaged to a kinsman of whom he heartily approved. He saw much of his old companions in arms, and had collected a series of portraits of his principal officers, which were afterwards at Raynham. His 1 Lady Anne Vere, daughter of 2 Hackney Parish Register, the fifteenth Earl of Oxford, mar- 8 Her husband died childless on ried Lord Sheffield. Her grand- September 12, 1669, and was buried son, Edmund Lord Sheffield, was at Stanmore. She died on May 15, created Earl of Mulgrave. His 1688. In the chancel at Stanmore daughter Frances married Sir Phi- there is a monument with a canopy lip Fairfax of Steeton, and his of white marble, decorated in front daughter Mary was the wife of with the arms of Wolstenholme of Ferdinando, second Lord Fairfax, Nostell impaling Vere. Under the and mother of Thomas (afterwards canopy is the figure of a lady rest- third Lord Fairfax), who married ing on her right arm, and weeping Anne Vere. over the remains of her husband. DEATH OF LORD VERE. 453 death was sudden, but, as old Fuller observed, 1 " no doubt but he was well prepared for death, seeing such was his vigilancy that never any enemy sur- prised him in his quarters." On the 2d of May, 1635, he was dining with Sir Harry Vane at White- hall. He called for fresh salmon, and reaching out his plate to take it from one that carved, he could not draw his arm back again, but sank down in a fit of apoplexy, dying two hours afterwards. 2 Lord Vere was in his seventieth year. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of his brother Francis, with much military pomp, on the 8th of May, and the same tomb serves for both. Minute-guns were fired from the tower during the funeral. His title became ex- tinct, and by his will (proved May 6, 1635) m ' s widow, Lady Vere, succeeded to all his personal and landed estates, and was made sole executrix. His daughters are not mentioned in the will, so that Lady Vere was left with power to bequeath portions to them accord- ing to her discretion. There appears to have been perfect trust and confidence between Lord and Lady Vere, who had lived happily together for more than a quarter of a century. There is a portrait of Lord Vere, half length, painted by Cornelius Jansen when the great general was advanced in years. It is now the property of the Marquis Townshend. It was engraved by Vertue, and is given in Collins's " House of Vere." There is a copy of this picture at Wentworth. Another por- trait, full length, attributed to Jansen, is the property of Sir H. St. John Mildmay. ' Lady Vere continued to live at Clapton until the 1 Worthies^ p. 331. 2 Sir afford Letters, i. p. 423. 454 THE FIGHTING VERES. death of the widow 1 of her brother-in-law, John Vere, in 1639, when she succeeded to Kirby, 2 Tilbury, 3 and other estates in Essex. From that time she resided chiefly at Kirby Hall, where she was often visited by her daughters and their young families. Her noble husband and his brother had devoted their lives to the defence of those rights and liberties which all free people hold dear. She was not likely to fall away from the principles of the Veres in her long widowhood. She was a firm friend of the Parliament, and was so trusted by the leading statesmen of the popular side that the King's children were entrusted to her care for some time. 4 Her correspondence was extensive, and she was a clear-headed and judicious adviser. She was strongly opposed to the trial and execution of the King; and her courageous daughter, Lady Fairfax, not only shared her views, but went so far as publicly to interrupt the trial. " A Vere of the fighting Veres," Carlyle called her. 5 1 The will of Thomasine, widow shend, sold it to Andrew Hackett, of John Vere of Kirby Hall, was a son of the Bishop. dated April i, 1639, an d proved on * Clarendon says of Lady Vere : November I4th following. The " An old lady much in. their " (the record of her burial is in the Castle Parliament's) " favor, but not at all Hedingham parish register, May ambitious of that charge, though 6, 1639. there was a competent allowance 2 After the death of Lady Vere, assigned for their support. She Kirby Hall was sold, in 1675, to received the children on the death Richard Sheffield, who again sold of the Countess of Dorset, and it in 1702 to Richard Springer. In shortly afterwards gave up the 1762 it became the property of Mr. charge to the Earl of Northumber- Peter Muilman, an antiquary and land." collector of materials for county 6 Letters and Speeches of Crom- history. well, ii. 156. 8 On Lady Vere's death Tilbury " Having been bred in Holland, went to her grandson, Sir Roger she had not that reverence for the Townshend. Horace, Lord Town- Church of England as she ought to have had." (Clarendon.) CONCLUSION. 455 Lady Vere lived to extreme old age. She died at Kirby Hall, on Christmas Eve of 1670, aged ninety years. Her funeral sermon was preached in Castle Hedingham Church, on February 10, 1671, by Mr. Gurnall, the Vicar of Lavenham. The history of the lives of the two Vere warriors is the military history of England during half a cen- tury. It extends from the time when Queen Eliza- beth undertook the defence of the rights of her neighbors, to within a few years of the time when the Parliament of England entered upon armed re- sistance to the unconstitutional tyranny of Charles I. It connects these two momentous events, and thus makes their history continuous. From a purely mili- tary point of view the period was one of great impor- tance. When the war began Spain was in the height of her power. The Spanish infantry had no equal. The soldiers of Holland and England were unable to face their enemies in the open field. They had, by slow and painful experience, to learn from those enemies. The Veres were at first diligent pupils. But in the course of time they became great masters in the art of war, and did for Englishmen what the Princes of Orange did for their Dutch compatriots. They created a school, and at last they habitually led their troops to assured victory. They and their companions in arms attended closely to drill and to constant practice in manoeuvring, their men were trained in all the work of intrenching and in siege operations, and their discipline was strictly main- tained. The Veres were alive to every new improve- ment, and studied the progress of invention and adaptation in every branch of their profession. They 456 THE FIGHTING VERES. watched over and defended the rights and interests of all who served under them, whether officers or men, and thus created a feeling of loyalty and of esprit de corps, which can be traced through the whole history of the English troops in the Low Countries. It did not signify whether they were volunteers, or soldiers of Queen Elizabeth, or com- panies in the pay of the States. They maintained the feeling and tradition of one corps throughout; they were soldiers of a free country, serving in the cause of freedom, soldiers of the school of the fighting Veres. It was from the school of the Veres that the best commanders came, who were afterwards distinguished in the civil war, whether on the side of the King or of the Parliament. Among the royalists was Sir Jacob Astley, the best officer on that side ; and Sir Thomas Glemham, who defended York, Carlisle, and Oxford. Lord Grandison, Sir Richard Grenville, Lord Byron, Sir Ralph Hopton, and Lord Goring, also served under Lord Vere. But by far the greatest amount of military talent which had been brought out and fostered by the Veres was enlisted on the side of the Parliament. The Earls of Warwick and Peterborough, of Bedford and Essex, had served campaigns in the Low Coun- tries. The Earl of Essex, who was one of Sir Horace Vere's diligent lieutenants in the expedition to the Palatinate, and had also served in the attempt on Cadiz, accepted the appointment of general of the troops raised by the Parliament. Sir Thomas Fair- fax, Lord Vere's son-in-law, who received his first lesson in war at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, did still CONCLUSION. 457 greater credit to the teachings of their master. After his skilful work in Yorkshire, Fairfax was selected as commander-in-chief of the new model army, by the unanimous vote of Parliament. By general consent this pupil of Lord Vere was judged to be the ablest officer in England; and he soon ended the war, and restored the blessings of peace to his country. As a regimental and staff officer, Sergeant-major Skippon was the best and most experienced organizer who had been brought up in the school of the Veres, and had survived the risks of war. His merits were so well known that great efforts were made by the royalists to secure his services. But honest Philip Skippon had fought too long in the good old cause to become a partisan of the feeble Stuart tyranny in his mature years. He was a stanch Parliament man. To him is due, under the general superin- tendence of Sir Thomas Fairfax, the credit of the organization of the new model army. He was the chief of the staff under Fairfax, and arranged every detail with careful exactness. 1 One more pupil of Lord Vere, who rose to distinction in the civil war, must be mentioned. George Monk gained his first knowledge and grounding in the military art in Lord Vere's regiment. 2 In later times he was Cromwell's ablest general. Fairfax and Monk restored the monarchy. 1 Popular histories of England organization, that he was not even will probably continue to make the present during the process, and erroneous statement that Oliver that he did not succeed in evading Cromwell created and organized the self-denying ordinance until the " new model " army. The after it had taken the field under facts remain that he had nothing Fairfax and Skippon. whatever to do with its military 2 Clarendon, xvi. 96. 458 THE FIGHTING VERES. The captains who gave their help in founding the American colonies were not less indebted to the training supplied by campaigns in the Low Coun- tries. Miles Standish had served under the Veres. Lion Gardner was another disciple of those great generals. Edward Winslow, though too young to have actually taken part in the war, came over to the Low Countries, where Sir Horace Vere was com- manding, as soon as he was old enough to travel. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whose name is so well known in connection with American colonization, fought side by side with Sir Francis Vere at the siege of Sluys. Edward Maria Wingfield, of Virginian fame, was a companion in arms of the Veres. In the open- ing page of American history the name of Vere should have an honorable place. The indirect influence which the Veres had on the opinions of three generations of their country- men was probably more important than the direct teaching of those masters in the art of war. As the ablest English military commanders of their day, they trained the men who settled the question between King and Parliament, and the men who founded the colonies of New England. But as the upholders of a great cause, their examples made a far deeper and more enduring impression on their con- temporaries. When Queen Elizabeth's noble decla- ration sent crowds of enthusiastic volunteers into Holland, it was felt that a great principle was at stake. The Queen announced that oppressed people had a right to defend their institutions and ancient privileges against the illegal encroachments of their rulers. It was to uphold this principle that English- CONCLUSION. 459 men entered upon the war. Their feelings are ex- pressed in the letters of Lord North and many others. It was seen that those constitutional rights, those parliamentary privileges, which Englishmen held so dear, would be endangered by the destruction of liberty in a neighboring country. In fact, the parliamentary cause which was fought out in Eng- land, until it triumphed, by Essex and Fairfax, had been contended for in the Low Countries by the previous generation under Francis and Horace Vere. This was the justification for calling it "the good old cause." The Veres had fought for it during nearly half a century in the Netherlands, until the triumph of their arms was complete. Their pupils fought for it in England, until the system of Charles and Laud was destroyed for ever on the battlefield of Naseby. Sir Francis Vere was sincerely attached to the cause of civil and religious liberty for which it was his duty to fight. His opinions were so well known, that, on more than one occasion, he was officially censured. It was suspected that he might be more anxious to further that cause than to obey orders which seemed to endanger it. As a diplomatist, as well as in his capacity as general of the English forces, Sir Francis was first and before all things the faithful and loyal servant of England and of the great Queen, but he was almost equally the champion of freedom. His brother fully shared his feelings in all respects, and Lady Vere, in her loyal adherence to the Parliament, indicated the form that those feel- ings would have taken, in the great constitutional question which arose after the Veres had passed awav. 460 THE FIGHTING VERES. It was the fashion for young Englishmen to serve a campaign under the Veres, even if they had no intention of embracing the military career. It was natural that a great number of them should catch some of the enthusiastic feeling which animated their chiefs and the veterans with whom they came in contact. There can be no doubt that in this way the upper and middle classes of Englishmen were leavened with a more jealous attachment to the con- stitutional liberties inherited from their ancestors than would have been the case if they had merely lived at home at ease. The lives of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere thus had an important indirect influence on the generation which succeeded them. For that reason their careers are worthy of attentive study. They displayed no extraordinary genius. They were simply officers of talent, energy, and perseverance, who with single- minded zeal devoted their lives to the duty they had undertaken, never turning aside until the work was done. They lived to see the triumph of the cause to which their whole lives had been devoted. This gives a completeness and a finish to their career, which increases the interest attaching to it as a prominent episode in the history of the English- speaking race. The cause for which they fought in the Netherlands had soon afterwards to be main- tained nearer home. The Veres were the military godfathers of the great Lord Fairfax. APPENDIX. A. NOTE RESPECTING THE STORY TOLD TO THE DISPARAGEMENT OF AN EARL OF OXFORD, IN FROISSART. SOME traditions and tales met with in history are based on facts, though incorrectly told. Others are baseless and without foundation in fact. It can be shown that the following story, reflecting upon a Vere, Earl of Oxford, which occurs in Froissart, belongs to the latter class. When the Dukes of York and Gloucester and other discontented nobles confederated against Richard II. and his favorite Robert de Vere, ninth Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland, Froissart 1 tells us that they disparaged the favorite, among other ways, by abusing his father. They said : " We are not ignorant who the Earl of Oxford was, and that in this country he had not one good quality, either of sense, honor, or gentility, allowed him. Sir John Chandos, added a knight, made him feel this very sharply once, at the palace of the Prince of Wales at St. Andrews, in Bordeaux. ' How so ? ' demanded another, who wished to know the particulars. ' I will tell you,' replied the knight, ' for I was present. Wine was serving round to the Prince of Wales and a large party of English lords, in an apartment of his palace ; and when the Prince had drunk, the cup was carried to Sir John Chandos, as Constable of Aquitaine, who took it and drank, without paying any attention to the Earl of Oxford, father of this Duke of Ireland, or desiring him to drink first. After Sir John Chandos had drunk, one of the squires presented the wine to the Earl of Oxford ; but, indignant that Chandos had drunk before him, he refused it, and said, by way of mockery, to the squire who 1 II. p. 263 (vol. iv., cap. 78). 462 APPENDIX. was holding the cup, "Go, carry it to thy master Chandos ; let him drink." " Why should I go to him ? for he has drunk. Drink yourself, since it is offered you ; for, by St. George, if you do not, I will throw it in your face." The Earl, afraid lest the squire should execute what he had said, for he was bold enough to do so, took the cup, and put it to his mouth and drank, or at least pretended to drink. Sir John Chandos was not far off, and heard and saw the whole ; and the squire, while the Prince was in conversation with others, came and told him what had passed. Sir John Chandos took no notice of it until the Prince had re- tired, when, stepping up to the Earl of Oxford, he said, " What, Sir Aubrey, are you displeased that I drink first, who am the Constable of this country ? I may well drink and take precedence before you, since my most renowned sovereign the King of Eng- land and my lords the Princes assent to it. True it is that you were at the battle of Poitiers, but all now present do not know the cause of it as well as I do. I will declare it, that they may remember it. When my lord the Prince had finished his journey to Languedoc, Carcassonne, and Narbonne, and was returned to this city of Bordeaux, you took it in your head that you would return to England. But what did the King say to you ? I know it well, though I was not present. He asked if you had accom- plished your service ; and afterward, what you had done with his son. You replied, ' Sir, I left him in good health at Bordeaux.' ' What ! ' said the King, ' and have you been bold enough to return hither without him ? Did I not strictly enjoin you, and the oth- ers who accompanied you, never to return without him, under the forfeiture of your lands ? And yet you have dared to disobey my commands. I now positively order you to quit my kingdom within four days, and return to the Prince ; for, if you be found on the fifth day, you shall lose your life and estates.' You were afraid to hazard disobedience, as was natural, and left England. You were so fortunate that you joined the Prince four days before the battle of Poitiers, and had, that day, the command of forty lances, while I had sixty. Now, consider if I, who am Constable of Aquitaine, have not the right to take precedence and drink before you do." The Earl of Oxford was much ashamed, and would willingly have been anywhere but there. He was forced, however, to bear with what Sir John Chandos said, who spoke aloud, that all might hear him.' " APPENDIX. 463 Assuredly this story is circumstantial enough. It is told of Sir Aubrey Vere, Earl of Oxford, who is alleged to have been father of the Duke of Ireland. But the name of the father of the Duke of Ireland was Thomas, not Aubrey. There were four Veres who were, or became, Earls of Oxford, contemporaries of Sir John Chandos, namely : John, the seventh earl, grandfather of the Duke of Ireland ; Thomas, the eighth earl, his father ; and Aubrey, the tenth earl, his uncle. Robert, the ninth earl, afterwards Duke of Ireland, was a child of seven when Sir John Chandos died, in 1370. The points of the story require that the earl to whom it applies should have been Earl of Oxford at the same time that Sir John Chandos was Constable of Aquitaine ; that he should have gone to Bordeaux with the Prince of Wales in August, 1355 ; and that he should have been at the battle of Poitiers on September i, 1357. This is not true of any Earl of Oxford. As regards John, the seventh Earl of Oxford, he was certainly at the battle of Poitiers. But he died in 1359, and Sir John Chandos was not made Constable of Aquitaine until 1363. The story, therefore, cannot be true as regards him. Thomas, eighth Earl of Oxford, father of the Duke of Ireland, and of whom the story is actually told, was not at the battle of Poitiers. He first bore arms with his father, at the early age of 18, in 1359, three years afterwards; when three sons of Edward III. Lionel, aged 21 ; John, aged 19 ; and Edmund, aged 18 also first bore arms. He was only 15 at the time of the battle of Poi- tiers, and 13 when the Prince of Wales went to Bordeaux, in 1355. F ne Prince was 2 S. and it is too much to believe that Edward III. ordered a boy of 13 to go out in charge of his grown- up son and not to come home without him. The eighth earl died in 1370, aged 28. So that the story cannot be true as re- gards the Duke of Ireland's father. Aubrey, tenth Earl of Oxford, did not succeed to the earldom until 1393, and Sir John Chandos was killed in 1370. Aubrey was 10 when the Prince of Wales went to Bordeaux, in 1355, and he certainly was not at Poitiers. He was then a lad of 12. The story is not true as regards him. The above facts prove that the story in Froissart, told to the disparagement of an Earl of Oxford, is without any foundation in fact, that Sir John Chandos never made the speech attributed to him, and that the statements it contains are false. 464 APPENDIX. B. NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES. IN this note on the authorities for the lives of the Veres I do not propose to enumerate every work that is quoted and referred to in the foot-notes, but only to give a detailed account of the principal .sources of information. I. Family of Vere. Besides well-known works, such as Dugdale's "Baronage," Collins's "Historical Collections of the Antient and Noble Family of Vere," and the " Biographia Britannica," there are numerous notices of the family, of more or less importance, in other books, in periodicals, and in manuscripts. In Morant's "Essex" (1768), and in the "History of Essex, by a Gentleman" (Muilman ?), there are details respecting Vere manors and other possessions. In vol. ii. of the latter work there is a plate of Kirby Hall. Leland's " Itinerary " also con- tains information ; and Weever's " Funeral Monuments " de- scribes the tombs of the Veres at Earl's Colne. In the " Vetusta Monumenta" (iii.) there is an article on the Castle of Hedingham, with plates, by Lewis Majendie. Mr. Ashurst Majendie, in the " Proceedings of the Essex Archaeologi- cal Society " (1852-54, Part I. vol. i. p. 75), contributed " Notes on Hedingham Castle and the Family of De Veres, Earls of Oxford." His paper contains information respecting the Veres in Normandy. In the " Archaeological Journal " (vol. ix.) there is a paper read at Oxford, by Mr. J. G. Nichols, on " The De- scent of the Earldom of Oxford," and another on " The Tombs at Earl's Colne," in vol. xi. The Norham manuscripts at Oxford contain numerous refer- ences to the Vere family, and similar material is to be found in the manuscript presented to the Society of Antiquaries by Peter Muilman in 1771. In the Harleian MSS. is Percival Golding's " Arms, honours, matches, and issues of the antient and illustri- ous family of Veer," written before 1625. The Holman MS. (in the Bodleian Library) consists of " An hysterical and genea- logical account of the ancient and noble family of De Veres, Earls of Oxford; their arms, wives, issues, and actions." At APPENDIX. 465 Castle Hedingham is preserved Richard Cough's MS. " Memoirs of the Veres, Earls of Oxford." At the Herald's College there are Vere records in Vincent's " Collections." At Earl's Colne there is a MS. volume belonging to H. H. Carwardine, Esq., en- titled " An account of the most ancient and noble family of the De Veres, Earls of Oxford, from original deeds, charters, parlia- mentary rolls, and registers." The Act of Parliament frustrating the design of the Protector Somerset with, regard to the Vere estates, is at the House of Lords. The " Inqtiisitio post mortem " of Sir Francis Vere is in the State Paper Office, and it recites his marriage settlement. There are also the wills of his brothers John and Horace, and numerous extracts from parish registers, in the collections of Colonel Chester, and in a manuscript volume belonging to Mr. Ashurst Majendie. II. Military Manuals. The works on military subjects which were in use during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were very numerous. Many were written by officers who had taken an active part in the Low Country wars. A great folio published at Paris in 1535, with numerous plates, was much studied. It contained : I. Flavii Vegetii Renati viri illustris de re militari, libri quatuor. II. Sexti Julii Frontini viri consularis de stratagematis, libri totidem. III. Eliani de instruen- dis aciebus, liber unus. IV. Modesti de vocabulis rei militaris, liber unus. And, V. Roberti Valturii de re militari. Valturius was born at Rimini in the middle of the fifteenth century. His work " De Re Militari " went through several editions at Paris. It is dedicated to Sigismond Malatesta, of Rimini, the inventor of bombs. Valturius is .the oldest of the modern writers on war. (Basle, 1472.) Another folio, by Herman Hugo the Jesuit, published at Antwerp a century later, was also in request, " De militia equestri antiqua et nova ad regem Philippum IV., libri quinque." One of the earliest military manuals published in England was written by Peter Whiteborne in 1562. It is entitled, " Certain waies for the ordering of souldiers in battelray and setting of bat- tails after divers fashions, with their manner of marching : and also figures of certain new plattes for fortification of townes, and 466 APPENDIX. moreover how to make saltpetre, gunpowder, and divers sortes of fireworkes and wild fyre, with other thynges apertaininge to the warres." It is in black letter. Another early writer on warlike subjects was Sir John Smythe. In 1578 he published a book entitled "Of the Knowledge and Conduct of Warres"; and in 1594 appeared his "Certain in- structions, observations, and orders militarie requisite for all chieftaines and captains." The latter work went through two editions ; but Smythe was a dull, pedantic writer. A more practical manual was Robert Barret's " Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres, discoursed in dialogue-wise," a small folio, published in 1589. It details the duties of officers, the formation of companies, the drill, and the system of fortification with classes of heavy guns. An equally complete manual was published in 1617, by John Waymouth, and entitled " Low countrie trayning, or certaine de- monstrations wherein is represented the order how a company should march, and also how the same should be exercised, trained and drilled, according to the method now perfected and practiced by the great and expert general of these times, Prince Maurice of Nassau." Waymouth was a brother of the arctic navigator. He had served under Sir Edward Cecil at the siege of Gullick, and dedicated his work to that general. The French manual of this period was entitled " L'Art Mili- tarie auquel est moustre. I. Le maniement du mousquet et de la pique. II. L'exercise d'une companie toute parfaite selon la pratique du tres illustre et tres excellent chef de guerre Maurice, Prince d'Orange. III. Nouvelles ordinances de bataille. IV. La discipline militaire. Par Jean Jacques de Walhausen." It is a small folio, published in 1630, and dedicated to Prince Freder- ick Henry. A book entitled " The exercise of arms for calivers, muskets, and pikes, after the order of his Excellence Mauritz, Prince of Orange, with written instructions for all captains," by Jacob de Gheyn, was published at the Hague in 1607. There are 42 plates showing the caliver exercise, and 42 words of command ; a similar number for musket drill; and 32 plates illustrating 32 words of command for pike drill. The two brothers Francis and Gervase Markham served un- der Sir Francis Vere. In 1622 Francis published his " Five APPENDIX. 467 Decades of Epistles of War," a folio, in which he describes the duties of all the officers of an army. Gervase, who was a prolific author on other subjects, from poetry to farriery, published " The Soldier's Accidence, or an Introduction into Military Discipline." The third edition appeared in 1643. The most popular manual of those days was the " Principles of the Art Military practised in the Warres of the United Nether- lands, under the command of his Highness the Prince of Orange, our Captain General ; for so much as concernes the duties of a souldier, and the officers of a companie of foote, as also of a troupe of horse, and the exercising of them through their several motions, represented by figures, the words of command, and demonstration. Composed by Captain Henry Hexham, quar- termaster to the honorable Colonel Goring." A folio. The sec- ond edition was published at Delft, in 1642. Captain Hexham, who began his career as page to Sir Francis Vere in the siege of Ostend, had served forty-two years in the Netherlands when he published this work. It is illustrated by plates, including a plan of the battle of Nieuport. The second part treats of the duties of officers, and the third is devoted to gunnery. Laws and arti- cles of war are given in an appendix. A nearly contemporaneous work by Captain William Barriffe is entitled " Military Discipline, or the Young Artilleryman, wherein is discoursed and shown the postures of musket and pike the exactest way, together with the exercise of the foot in their motions, with much variety, as also divers and several formes for the embatteling small or greater bodies, demonstrated by the number of a single company, with their reducements ; very neces- sary for all such as are studious in the art military ; whereunto is also added the postures and beneficial use of the half-pike joined with the musket, with the way to draw up the Swedish brigade." The fourth edition, dedicated to Algernon, Earl of Northumber- land, and General Philip Skippon, was published in 1643 (small 4to, pp. 261), with a portrait of the author. Longfellow, in his "Courtship of Miles Standish," mentions Bariffe's Artillery Guide as forming part of the library of the renowned " Captain of Plymouth." The drills introduced by Gustavus Adolphus are given in Monro's "Expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment levied in 1626 by Sir Donald MacKey, Lord Reay," a folio published in 1637. 468 APPENDIX. Sir Edward Cecil (Lord Wimbledon) wrote two military treatises: "The Duty of a Private Soldier," and "Demonstra- tions of Divers Parts of War, especially of Cavallerie." Sir Roger Williams, in 1590, wrote " Discourse of War, with his opinion concerning military discipline." In 1619 appeared "England's Training for a Private Soldier," by Davies. Several elaborate works on fortification and artillery, chiefly by Italian officers, were known in England. Aurelio de Pasino wrote " Discours de 1'Architecture de Guerre, concernant les forti- fications tant anciennes que modernes," which was published at Antwerp in 1579. In 1598 appeared " Modeles, Artifices de Feu, et Divers Instruments de Guerre," by Joseph de Boillot. Galee, an engineer to the Archduke Albert at the siege of Ostend, pub- lished a work on artillery in 1607. The " Manual of Artillery," by Luis Collado and Diego Ufano, went through several editions at Venice and Milan, between 1586 and 1606 ; and in 1642 appeared a great work on artillery in Holland, by Casimir Siemienowicz. As regards the ordering of a camp, two works appeared in London in 1642, by John Cruso. These were, " Castrametation, or the measuring out of the quarters for the encamping of an army" (small 4to, pp. 51), and "The Order of Military Watches, dedicated to his ever honoured friend, Philip Skippon " (pp. 17). A more modern work on this subject, which deserves notice, and which was published in 1786 (2 vols. 4to), is entitled " Mili- tary Antiquities respecting a History of the English Army from the Conquest to the Present Time, by Francis Grose." It contains a good deal of curious information, but is confused and badly ar- ranged. An interesting history of gun-locks will be found in vol. iii. of the " Journal U. S. Inst." III. General History. Famianus Strada wrote the standard work on the Netherland war of independence, from the Spanish point of view, " De Bello Belgico, Decas Prima," 1555-1590. It was continued in " Decas Secunda," 1590-1609, by Fathers Dondini and Galluzzi. Strada was born at Rome in 1572, was a Jesuit and professor of rhet- oric at the Gregorian College, and died in 1590. The work was undertaken at the request of the Farnese family. An Italian version appeared at Rome in 1638, and an English translation of APPENDIX. 469 the first part, by Sir Robert Stapleton, entitled " History of the Low Country Wars," was published in 1650; second edition, 1667. Strada's narrative is prejudiced and one-sided. Guido Bentivoglio was born at Ferrara in 1579. He was sent by Pope Paul V. as nuncio to Flanders at the age of 26, and during his residence there he wrote " Delia Guerra di Fiandra," in three parts, first published at Cologne in 1632. The narrative is brought clown to 1607. The work, though necessarily written with a strong Spanish bias, is more impartial than that of Strada. Bentivoglio became a cardinal in 1621, and died in 1654. A Spanish edition, translated by Padre Basilio Varen, appeared at Antwerp in 1687. I have used this Spanish version. Antonio Carnero is a most valuable authority. He served as accountant to the Spanish army in the Low Countries for twelve years, and was an eye-witness of many of the scenes he describes. His work, dedicated to the Archduchess Isabella, was published at Brussels in 1625, a folio in double columns. It is entitled " Historia de las guerres civiles que ha avido en los estados de Flandres desde el ano 1559 hasta el de 1609, y las causas de la rebelion de dichos estados." Antonio de Herrera wrote a history of the reign of Philip II., including the portion of the war from 1558 to 1598, which was published at Madrid in 1612. " Historia General del Mundo del tiempo de Senor Rey Don Felipe II. el prudente, desde el ano 1555 hasta el de 1598 que passo a mejor vida." Pompeo Guistiniano was a Corsican, born in 1569, maestre de campo in the Spanish service, and lost his right arm. After- wards he entered the Venetian service, and was killed in 1616. He wrote a work entitled " Delle Guerra di Fiandra," in six books, dedicated to Spinola, which was published at Antwerp in 1609. Bernardino de Mendoza was a colonel of cavalry. His work, entitled " Comentarios de Don Bernardino de Mendoza de lo sucedido en las guerras de los payses baxos desde el ano de 1567 hasta el de 1577," was published at Madrid in 1592. The modern history of Spain by La Fuente does not dwell at any great length on the subject of the Low Country war, although that portion of the narrative is not neglected. It is in the fif- teenth and sixteenth volumes of that history. The writers on the patriot side were numerous, but two princi- pal historians have sufficed to enable me to check the Spanish 470 APPENDIX. and Italian narratives, and to furnish additional details in writing the main story from the letters and reports of the Veres and other English officers. These are Meteren and Le Petit in Grimeston's version. Emanuel van Meteren was born at Antwerp in July, 1535. He was a relation and intimate friend of Ortelius, the great geogra- pher. His father, Jacob de Meteren, was a native of Breda, and his mother was a daughter of William Ortelius, of Augsburg, grandfather of the geographer. Meteren's parents, being Prot- estants, embarked for England. Their vessel was fired into and sunk by a French man-of-war, and both were drowned. Young Emanuel got employment under an Antwerp merchant, in Eng- land, from 1556 to 1562, and became a general agent. In 1563 he returned to Antwerp, where he usually lodged with his cousin, Abraham Ortelius. Returning to London, he continued to be an agent of the Flemish merchants there until his death in 1612, aged 77. He was buried in the church of St. Denis. The first edition of his " Historia Belgica " was published in Latin, at Am- sterdam, in 1597. A Flemish edition appeared at Delft in 1599. A continuation was written up to the date of Meteren's death, and a French version came out at the Hague in 1618. It is en- titled "L'Histoire des Pays Bas d'Emanuel de Meteren, ou Recueil des guerres et choses memorables advenues tant es dit Pays qu'es Pays voysins, depuis 1'an 1315 jusques a 1'an 1612; traduit de Flamand en Franc.oys par I. D. I. Haye." Meteren is the author whose evidence is most important for establishing the innocence of Anne Boleyn. The work of Grimeston is a translation of the history of Jean Francois le Petit, which was published at Dordrecht in 1601, and is mentioned by Meteren. 1 Grimeston made additions to his translation from a manuscript of Sir Roger Williams, and brought the narrative down to 1608. This Edward Grimeston descended from a branch, settled in Suffolk, of the ancient Yorkshire family of Grimeston, of Grimeston Grath. He was made prisoner at Calais in 1558; escaped from the Bastille; and, besides this translation, wrote a history of France. He is said to have lived to the age of 98, and was grandfather of Sir Harbottle Grime- ston, the Speaker in i66o. 2 His work is valuable for comparison 1 Meteren, p. 449. * From whom descends, through a female, the present Earl of Veru- lam. APPENDIX. 471 with accounts of the same events in Meteren's history. For English affairs, we have Camden's " Annals " and Stow's " Chronicle." IV. Memoirs and Letters. G. Groen van Prinsterer published two series of letters from members of the House of Orange, at Leyden in 1835, anc * Ut- recht, 1858. "Archives ou Correspondance ine'dite de la Maison d'Orange." It includes several letters containing accounts of actions in which the Veres were engaged. The Camden Society has placed within reach the letters of Cecil to Carew, Gardi- ner's " Relations with Germany," and the " Leicester Papers," edited by Bruce. Collins's " Sydney State Papers," the " Win- wood Memorials," the letters from and to Sir Dudley Carleton, and Birch's " Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth " contain a large store of information. I am also indebted to the admirable biog- raphy of Lord Willoughby, by Lady Georgina Bertie ; and to Mr. Dalton's excellent " Life of Sir Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimble- don," recently published. It contains a great number of original letters, with an interesting connecting narrative. Miss Benger's " Life of the Queen of Bohemia," and Arthur Wilson's " History of James I. in Kennet," have been useful as regards the war in the Palatinate. The authorities for the sieges in which Lord Vere was engaged towards the end of his life, are Henry Hex- ham on the English side, and Herman Hugo, as a fair and gen- erous adverse writer. V. Manuscripts. In the State Paper Office there is a series of many volumes of letters and other documents, under the heading " Holland." They include 189 letters from Sir Francis Vere, to Lord Wil- loughby, Walsingham. the Queen, the Lords of the Council, Bur- leigh, Essex, Robert Cecil, James L, and the States General, be- sides many from Sir Horace Vere. They also contain a series of letters and reports from news-writers at Antwerp, the Queen's agents at the Hague, Sir John Norris, Lords Leicester and Wil- loughby, Sir Philip and Sir Robert Sydney, Lord North, Sir J. Shirley, Sir J. Digges, and many other officers, as well as rolls of officers and men, pay-lists, and other official documents. At Hatfield there are thirty-five letters from Sir Francis Vere to Lord Cranborne and the Earl of Essex, and there are four among the Cotton MSS. in the British Museum. INDEX. Aa, river at Breda, 425. Aa, river falling into the Dieze near Bois-le- Duc, 272, 437. Aa, river between Turnhout and Heerenthal, 257 ; Sir Francis Vere's horse fell, in cross- ing, 258, 258, . Aa, Captain van der, led the troops across the Aa, 258 ; slain at the second siege of Sluys, 369- Abingdon, monks of Earl's Colne came from, 14- Abrincis, Lucia de, founded the nunnery at Hedingham, 6, 13. Admiral. See Aragon, Howard. Aertsen, Lord of Wermont, commanded the townsmen at Breda, 425. .flSthelred of England, his army defeated in the Cotentin, 3. Aguila, Don Juan de, Maestro de Campo, at the siege of Sluys, 109. Alan. See Brittany. Albert, Archduke, notice of, selected to rep- resent Spanish power in the Netherlands, 254 ; to marry the Infanta Isabella, and be with her joint sovereign of the Netherlands, 264 ; marriage with the Infanta Isabella, 270, 276; concentrated his army at Ghent, when he heard of the landing of Maurice at Philippine, 280; approach of his army to Nieuport, 288 ; advancing, 292 ; at the bat- tle of Nieuport, 297; his flight from Nieu- port to Bruges, 302 ; began the siege of Ost- end, 309; his treacherous use of a spy at Ostend, 317 ; prepared to storm the works at Ostend, 318; "hoist with his own petard," 323, . ; delivered his grand assault on Ost- end, 327 : entered the ruins of Ostend, 331 ; to be restrained from recruiting in England, 347 ; sent a Spanish army into the Palati- nate, 396 ; his death, 410, n. Albertus, Fort, near Ostend (see Si. Albert), 280 ; headquarters of the Archduke at the siege of Ostend, 310. Aldrich, Sir John, knighted at Cadiz, 234. Alkmaar, defence of, 29; position, 37. Allen, Sir Francis, his journey to Poland with Francis Vere, 26, 26, . ; with Vere at Ber- gen-op-Zoom, 98 ; at the siege of Sluys, 101 ; swam out of Sluys to communicate with Flushing, 106 ; Sir F. Vere obtained a com- pany for, 155. Allen, Lieut. William, his gallantry before De- venter, 174. Alpen, road from Wesel to, 152. Alst, in the Bommel-waart, 273. Alva, Duke of, his cruelty, 28; his vengeance, 29 ; superseded, 29 ; sent a garrison to Flush- ing, 42 ; his measures to relieve Goes, 46; brought the musket into use, 58; Breda seized by, 425. Alzey, in the Palatinate, Sir Horace Vere at, 406. Ambrij, near Maastricht, Count William of Nassau at, 442 ; hard fighting in the church- yard, 445 ; description of, 445, n. Ambrose, Mr., of Mistley Manor, acknow- ledgment of assistance, vi. Amersfoort, tower of, 39. Ames, Israel, bought Tilbury from the Earl of Oxford, his wife Thomasine Carew, 351. "Amity," ship in which the Earl of Leicester embarked at Harwich, 79. Amsterdam, occupied by Don Fadrique de To. ledo, 29; position, 37; permission to obtain tenders from merchants of, for gunpowder, 155- Andrew, Cardinal, of Austria, in joint com- mand, 270. Andrewes, Daniel (see Harlackendtn), his heiress, Mrs. Wale, left Earl's Colne to Mrs. Holgate, 16, . Anhalt, Prince of, commanding Frederick's troops in Bohemia, 306. Ann Boleyn. See Boleyn. Anspach, Margrave of, in the Protestant Union, 395 ; commanding the troops of the Union at Oppenheim, 399; object of Sir Horace Vere to form a junction with, 400; sent cavalry to join Sir Horace Vere, 403 ; received Sir Horace Vere at Worms, 405 ; 474 INDEX. declined to charge Spinola's retreating troops, 406. " Antelope," commanded by Sir Thomas Vavasour, for the " Island Voyage," 238. Antioch, Veres at, 5, 6. Antonio, Don Simon, sent into Ostend to parley, 321. Antwerp, Spanish massacre at, 30 ; taken by the DuUe of Parma, 32, 68 ; the governor of, sent to relieve Goes, 46 ; Mondragon, gov- ernor of, 162 ; Juan Bravo, governor of, 426. Aragon, Don Francisco de Mendoza, Admiral of, in command during Alberts absence, 270; ravaged the territory of Cleves and Westphalia, 270; captured Crevecoeur and besieged Bommel, 273 ; raised the siege, 274 ; picture of his surrender, at Nieuport, 283 ; commanding cavalry at Nieuport, 292 ; taken prisoner, 302. Archduke. See Albert, Ernest, Matthias. Archers, at the battle of Poitiers, led by the Earl of Oxford, 7. Arctic expedition, led by Barents, account of it, by Sir F. Vere, 207. Ardenburg, pilgrimage of Edward III. to, 102 ; surrendered to Prince Maurice, 367, 368. Arirazabal, Don Francisco, in command at Rroick, 372 ; routed by Marcellus Bacx, 373. " Ark Royal," ship of Admiral Lord Howard in the Cadiz voyage, 219, 224; council on board, in Cadiz Bay, 225. Armada, Spanish, defeat, 125. Armistice for twelve years, 378; Pilgrim Fa- thers at Leyden during, 388 ; cause of the difference between Maurice and Barneveldt, 389, 390. Armor, burgonet, 55, 56, 57 ; corselet, 55, 56, 67; morion, 57,58, 63; gorget, 57, 58, 63; cuirass, 57, 63 ; breastplate, 58 ; taces, 58 ; pouldrons, 58, 63 ; vantbraces, 58. Arms. See Arquebus, Dagger, Halberd, Partisan, Petronel, Pistol, Pike, Sword. Arrangement for supply of, 154. Arms of the Veres, 5, 8 ; of Serjeaux, 15, . ; captains of companies bore their arms on their colors, 55. Army, English, organized on the Spanish model, 53; duties of officers, 54; soldiers, and their arms and accoutrements, 57-62 ; cavalry, 63 ; rations, 63 ; artillery, 64. See titles of Officers, Armor, Arms, Artillery, Cavalry, Colors, Company, Pikemen, Shot- men. Report on pay and abuses, 119 ; num- bers of the English troops in the Nether- lands in 1589, 136; in 1590-91, 169; in 1592, 181 ; in 1593, 185; in 1594, 197. Arnemuiden, revolt against the Spaniards at, 42 : fleet assembled at, for the recovery of Sluys, 366. Arnhem, high land near, 34, 35 ; Leicester assembled his forces at, 90 ; death of Sir Philip Sidney at, 96 ; Francis Vere at, 117;- intrigues of Stanley, 117, . ; rendezvous for the army of Maurice, 171 ; departure of Frederick Henry from, 436. Arquebus, 58. Arschot, Don Juan, of Austria, advanced from, 50. Artajona, leader of Spanish infantry for relief of Zutphen, 93. Artillery, organization of companies, weight of guns and shot, 64 ; staff, 64 ; gunner's stores, 65 ; works on. See Barriffe, Pasino, Col- lado, Galee, Boillot, Siemieuerwifz. Arusma, Frisian general at Nieuport, under Sir F. Vere, 279. Asculi, Prince of, at siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, 126. Ashley, Sir Anthony, treasurer for the Cadiz expedition, 233. Ashurst, Mr., repaired Hedingham Castle, 12, n. See Majendie. Astley, Sir Jacob, in the trenches at Bois-le- Duc, 437, 439; trained under the Veres, 456. Audley, Lord, accompanied Leicester to the Netherlands, 78 ; commanded a troop of horse, 84, 91 ; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94- Audley, Captain, in the Bergen-op-Zoom garri- son, 120 ; kindness of Sir F. Vere to a brother of, 133. Audley, John, captain of a company under Sir F. Vere, 181. Augsburg, treaty of, secured the introduction of Protestantism into the dominions of the reformed German princes, 394. Aungiers, Milo, Duke of, alleged descent of the Veres from, 3. Austerfield. See Separatists'. Authorities for the family history of the Veres, 464; for military organization and tactics, 465 ; for the general history of the period, 468 ; memoirs, letters, manuscripts, 471. Auwerderzyl, Fort, near Groningen, 192 ; cap- tured by Count William of Nassau, 193. Avalos, Geronimo de, paid his ransom to Sir Francis Vere, at Cadiz, 234. Axel, in Dutch Flanders, 38 ; project for an attack on, capture, 89 ; description, 89, 90. Azores, position of the group, 243 : enumera- tion of the islands, 243, 244. Expedition to, called the "Island Voyage," 2^6 : Earl of Essex to command, 236 ; list of command- ers and ships, 237, 238 ; volunteers at Ply- mouth, 240; orders to cruise for Spanish galleons, 240, 242; sailed from Plymouth, 240 ; encountered a gale in the Bay of Bis- cay, 240, 241 ; returned disabled to Ply- IXDEX.

475 mouth, 241 ; volunteers deserted, from sea- sickness, 241, 242 ; expedition sailed again, 242 ; reached Klores, dispositions {or attack- ing the islands, 244 ; capture of Horta in Fayal, 245 : chase of the Spanish tleet, 246, 247 ; English tleet proceeded to St. Michael's and took Villafranca, 247 ; return home, 250 ; authorities for, 249, . Bacherach, Vere's sick and wounded sent to, 402. Bacon, Anthony, 26, . Bacon, Sir Francis, 26. Bacx, Sir Marcellus, Dutch cavalry officer at the defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, 124; daily raids by, 126; his sorties to Wouw, 12*; knighted by Lord Willonghby, 132 ; crossed the Lippe to attack Spanish force, 214; con- ducted the retreat over the Lippe, 215 ; at the battle of Turnhout, 255 ; advised a vig- orous pursuit, 257 ; at the battle of Nieu- port, 291 ; his charge at Nieuport, 301 ; at the recovery of Sluys, 367 ; with Prince Frederick Henry at Mulheim, 372; crossed the Ruhr, and captured Broick, 373 ; hard pressed by Trivulcio, 374 ; desperate fight at Broick, 376. Bacx, Sir Paul, at the defence of Bergen-op- Zoom, 124 ; knighted by Lord Willoughby, 132- Baden Durlach, Margrave of, in the Protes- tant Union, 395 ; defeated by Tilly at Wim- pfen, 414. Badlesmere, barony inherited by the Veres, 2 ; in abeyance, 430. Bagnall, ' Sir Samuel, knighted by Essex at Cadi/., 232, 233. Balen, Godart de, crossed the Lippe to attack Spanish force, 214. Ball, Captain, his cavalry on the seashore at Nieuport, 294 ; his charge. 301. Ballad of the Spanish lady, question as to the hero, 232, n. Bandoleers, 58; cartridge box took the place of, 5<). tt. Bannaster, Captain, in the Bergen-op-Zoom garrison, 120; his retirement, 120, . ; kind- ness of Sir F. Vere to, 156. Barents, Wiliinm, account of his Arctic expedi- tion sent home by Sir F. Vere, 207. P.arlaymont, Siceur de, commanded Walloons at Turnhout. 2^7, 259. Barnardiston, Major, of the Ryes, acknow- ledgment of assistance, vi. Barneve'dt, Olden, envoy from Holland, to seek aid of Queen Elizabeth, 68; on good terms with Sir F. Vere, 146 ; negotiation with Vere respertint; the Cadiz expedition, 218; Vere's hint to, led to the battle of Turnhout, 355; envoy to France, his views respecting a peace with Spain, 264 ; many conferences with Vere, 269 ; ratification of the new treaty with England, 261; ; advice to invade Flan- ders, 278; dunes in North Holland formed by order of, 284 ; sent news of the battle of Nieuport to England, 304 ; upheld Vere in his negotiations with the States, 340 ; in favor of the truce, 390 ; hated by Maurice for promoting the truce, 391; his execution, 392- Barret, Robert, on the use of daggers, 57 ; his theory and practice of war, 466. Barriffe, his "Artillery Guide," 467; in the library of Miles Standish, 18, . Bassett, Sir Arthur, accompanied Leicester to the Netherlands, 78. Battles, the Betuwe, 177, 178; Bommel-waart, 271-275; outside Flushing, 43 ; Gemblours, 30; Mulheim, 371-376; Nieuport, 288-302 ; relief of Rheinberg, 147, 154 ; relief of Reck- linghausen, 165, 167; Rymenant, 50; Sou- burg, 44; Tester-berge, 213,214; Turnhout, 255-261 ; Warnsfeld, 93. Bavaria, Duke of, led the Catholic League, 396. Bax. See Bacx. Baxter, Captain, sent to Bacherach with sick and wounded, 402. Bayeux, Odon, Bishop of. See Ver, William de. Bedford, Earl of, trained under the Veres, 456. Behaim, Martin, the cartographer, settled at Fayal, 244. Belchamp, St. Paul, 18 : John Golding, a na- tive of. See Golding. Property of Sir Fran- cis Vere in, 352, . Beliers, house of, at Heidelberg, 416. Benger, Miss, " Life of the Queen of Bohe- mia," 471. Bensheim, Sir Horace Vere's regiment at, 403 ; description, 404. Bentivoglio, Cardinal, notice of his history, 469. Bentley, Great, manor of the Veres at, 5, . , 16. Bergen-op-Zoom, position, 38 ; Spanish troops retired to, 42 ; Spanish force for the relief of Goes concentrated at, 46; Lord Wil- loughby, governor of, 8S ; Leicester at, 89 ; Francis Vere in garrison at, his comrades, 120; the key of Z-jeland, 121 ; description of the defences, 121, 122; the palace, 122; the town, 123 ; Colonel Morgan appointed governor, 123; the siege commenced, 127; Spanish attack on the water fort repulsed, 131 ; siege raised, 131 : Sir Thomas Morgan, governor, 144, 181 ; Sir John Pooley's com- pany disbanded at, 204; siege by Spinola, 410. Berghe, Adrian de, captain of the peat boat in 476 INDEX. which troops were concealed to surprise Breda, 158, 159 ; preparation of his boat, 159; reached Breda, 160; landed the men, 161. Berghe, Count Frederick de, governor of Coe- vorden, 184. Berghe, Count Henry de, in the field, threat- ening the siege works at Bois-le-Duc, 437. Berghe, Count Herman de, governor of De- venter, 173; asked for terms, 174; looking out for Vere at Maastricht, 197 ; nominally in command at Grolle, 212. Bergholt, East, birthplace of Constable the painter, 12. Berlikum, the home of the Hemmemas, 443, . See Hentmetna. Bertie, Mr. Richard, father of Lord Wil- loughby, 81. Bertie, Lady Georgina, her biography of Lord Willoughby, 142, 471. Betuwe, the, island formed by branches of the Rhine, 35 ; Prince Maurice and Sir F. Vere threatening Nymegen from, 163 : dike across the lower part, to protect land from inunda- tions, 164 ; army of the Duke of Parma in, 177; battle, 178; mirch of Prince Frederick Henry across, 436 ; threatened from Bois-le- Duc, 437. Beveland, North, 38. Beveland, South, 38; dikes broken through, 38, 39, 46; revolt of villages against the Spaniards, 42 ; passage of Mondragon across the channel to, 47. Bezonian, meanings of the word, 62, 62, . Bies-Bosch, formation, 33, 36. Bigods, intermarriage of Veres with, 2. Bingham, Sir Richard, at the battle of Ryme- nant, 50 ; master of the ordnance, 85 ; named by Lord Willoughby as a better man to com- mand, 118. "Biographia Britannica," lives of the Veres in, vii. 464. Birch, notice of his memoirs of Queen Eliza- beth, 359, ., 471. Bislich, army of Prince Maurice encamped at, 213 ; bodies of Philip of Nassau and Ernest Solms sent to, 215. Biston, Sir Hugh, treasurer of the " Island Voyage," but too seasick to go on, 241. Blankenburg, 102 ; garrisoned by the Duke of Parma, 100, 106 ; besieged by Leicester, 113. Blount, Sir Christopher, in the Bergen-op- Zoom garrison, 120 ; knighted by Lord Wil- loughby, 132; on the council of war in the Cadiz expedition, 219; his regiment landed, 228 ; sent to guard the approach to Cadiz from the land, 229 ; colnnel-general in the " Island Voyage,'' 237 ; ship disabled in the Bay of Biscay, 241 ; to attack St. Michael's, 244 ; sought to injure Raleigh, 245. Boar, crest of the Veres, 15, ., 361, Bodley, Sir Thomas, envoy at the Hague, his report on the Bergen-op-Zoom garrison, 121 ; adviser of Sir F. Vere, 146; notice of, 146, . ; his high opinion of Sir F. Vere, 147 ; his report on the capture of Nimegen, 179; rea- sons for his retirement, 208, 208, n. ; suc- ceeded by Mr. Gilpin, 208. Bohemia, Elector Palatine crowned king of, 396. See Frederick, Prague. Boillot, Joseph de, his work on explosives, 468. Bois-le-Duc, 35, 272 ; *iege determined on, 435; position and defences, 437; surren- dered to the Prince of Orange, 437, 438; history of the siege by Hexham, 439. Bolebec, barony inherited by the Veres, 2 ; title of the eldest son of the Earls of Oxford, 2, n. ; in abeyance, 430. Boleyn, Queen Anne, 8, 48 ; Meteren's evi- dence in her favor, 470. Bommel, 38, 164 ; Prince Maurice concentrated his forces at, 273 ; description of the town, 272, n, 273, . ; finious assault, 273; the siege raised, 274 ; Sir Edward Vere buried at, 438. ' Bommel-waart, 35 ; operations of Sir F. Vere in, 148; occupied by the troops of Maurice, 190; description of the country, 272 ; in- vaded by the Spaniards, 273 ; map of, sent home by Sir F. Vere, 275 ; evacuated by the Spaniards, 275; authorities for the cam- paign, 275, . ; threatened from Bois-le-Duc, 437- " Bonaventure," Sir William Harvey's ship for the " Island Voyage,'' 238. Borguelo, Duke of Parma's army at, 92. Borghaven, near Maastricht, Count Sturm en- camped at, 441. Borrough, Stephen and William, commanding the fleet to convey Leicester to Flushing, 78 ; notice of, 78, n. Borsselen, Adrian van, endowed monasteries at Flushing, 76; Francis van, husband of Jacoba of Holland, 45. Bosel, gate of Bergen-op-Zoom, 12 1. Bossu, Count, commanding volunteers against Don Juan of Austria, 49. Bouillon, Due de, at Sedan, Count Philip of Nassau to join him, 196 ; married to Eliza- beth of Nassau, mother of Turenne, 211; at Wijh during the siege of Maastricht, 441. Bourlotte, in command of the Spanish army in the Bommel-waart, 270. Bowles of Swineshead, hero of the ballad of the Spanish lady, 232, n. Braakman, description of, 279, 279, . Brabant, 38, 39. Bradford, William, a leader of the Pilgrim Fa- thers, 387, n., 388; notice of, 388, *. INDEX. 477 Brandenburg, Elector of, in the Protestant Union, 395. Bravo, Juan, in the assault at the siege of Sluys, 199; governor of Antwerp, at the siege of lirtda, 426. Breda, position, 36; plan of Maurice to sur- prise the town, 158; description of the town, 159 ; Spanish troops in, 160 ; peat boat arrived and men landed, 160, 161 ; Maurice entered the town, 161 ; flight of the Spanish garrison, 162; Heraugiere made governor, 162; description of the scene of the peat boat exploit, 163 ; tomb of Engel- bert of Nassau at, 163, 361 ; siege by Spi- nola, 423 ; vicissitudes, 425 ; description of defences and environs, 425, 426; attempt to relieve, 427 ; surrender to Spinola, 428 ; re- capture, 429. Brederode, Floris de, with the army of Prince Maurice, 181 ; encamped on east side at siege of Gertruydenburg, 188; at the battle of Turnhout, 255 ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436 ; and of Maastricht, 440, 441. Breskens, isle of, 38, 101 : the governor of Sluys to retire to, and thence to Flushing, no. Brett, Captain, took home despatches from Ostend, 316, . Brill, captured by the Sea Gueux, 29, 42 ; on the island of Voorn, 36 ; delivered up as a cautionary town, 69; Sir Thomas Cecil made governor, 73 ; description of the town, 73 ; Lord Burgh made governor, 113, 181 ; Sir F. Vere made governor, 253 ; yearly cost of Brill, 253, n. ; officers at Brill, under Vere, 253, . ; Sir F. Vere at,'i7i, 347, 350; James I. proclaimed at, 344; Sir F. Vere confirmed in the government, 345; Sir Horace Vere made governor, 381 ; restored to the States General, 386. Brittany, Alan of, ceded the Cotentin to Nor- mandy, 3 ; Sir F. Vere offered a command in, 171. Broadbent, master of the " Warspite " in the " Inland Voyage,'' 237. Brokk, castle of, on the Ruhr, description, 371 ; Don Francisco Arirazabal in coin- mand, 372 ; desperate fighting round, 376, 377- Brooke, Sir Callisthenes, a useless officer, 306; discharged by Sir F. Vere, 307. Brooke, Sir Edward, slain before Groningen, 194. Brooke, Sir William, in the "Dreadnought " for the "Island Voyage," 238; reached Flores with Raleigh, 143. Brouwershaven, 39. Brouwershaven Gat, 36. Browne, George, saved Morgan's ensign, out- side Flushing, 43. Browne, Sir William, taught the young Veres the military art, 25 ; knighted by the Earl of Essex at the Azores, 249; gossiping letter- writer, 339, ., 347, 353. Bruges, 44, 280 ; Parma assembled his army for the siege of Sluys at, 100 ; canal from, to Sluys, 115 ; old map of Sluys at, 116, it. ; old map of the country round Nieuport at, 283, 284 ; flight of the Archduke Albert to, 302. Brunswick, Prince Christian of, his defence of the Palatinate for love of his cousin Eliza- beth, 410; lost his bridle arm in an encoun- ter near Namur, 410; defeated at Hochst on the Main, 414. Brussels, Archduke Albert at, 254 ; court of the Archdukes, 277. Buccleuch, Earl of, at Mulheim with Sir Horace Vere, 377. Buck, Captain, in the Palatinate, 398, 404. Buck, Sir George, author of the life of Rich- ard III., at Cadiz, 234, a. Buck, John, commanding a company under Sir F. Vere, 181 ; wounded at Steenwyck, 184; knighted at Cadiz, 234. Bucquoy, Count, commanding a division at the siege of Ostend, 310, 224, 327. Buderich. See H^esel. Buren, marriage of Count Hohenlohe at, 211. Burgau, Marquis of, with a Tyrolese regiment, for the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, 126. Burgess, Dr. , chaplain to the Palatinate regi- ment, 398; his exhortation to the troops, 406 ; much regretted when he left Franken- thal, 412. Burgh, Lord, governor of Brill, 131, 181 ; be- grudged supplying Vere with soldiers for the field, 201, 201, . ; death, 252; notice of, 252, . Burgonet. See Armor. Burleigh, Lord, Sir F. Vere presented to, 133 ; expressions of loyalty from Sir F. Vere to, 171 ; complained of Vere's negligence in dispatching troops to France, 199, 200 j Vere's reply to the Queen's reprimand sent to, 205 ; sought to get the lease of Kirby for his grand - daughters, 210; feathered his grand-daughters' nests, 382 ; death, 269, 344. See Cecil. Burleigh, 2d Lord, conduct on the occasion of the insurrection of Essex, 308. See Cecil, Sir T. Burrough (or Burgh), Sir John, with the Eng- lish volunteers, had a company in Leices- ter's army, 84 : withdrawn from the Nether- lands, 142 ; death, 252, . Burrough, Sir John, sergeant-major general in the Palatinate regiment, 398 : notice of his family, 398, . ; governor of Frankenthal, 47> 4'5i hit defence of Frankenthal, 41 a, 478 INDEX. surrendered Frankenthal, 419; death at the Isle of kin-, 419, . Burton, Sir Henry, lord of the manor of Mitcham, 354. Byron, Lord, at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436; reared under the Veres, 456. Cabo de Camarado (or Lanspesado), pay, 56. Cabo de Escuadra. See Corporal. Cadiz, expedition resolved upon, 217; list of officers and ships, 219; proceeded to Ply- mouth, 220 ; sailed from Cawsand, 221; rounded Cape St. Vincent, 222 ; anchored off San Sebastian, 223 ; description of Cadiz Bay and its defences, 223 ; Spanish defen- sive measures, 224; the naval action, 226, 227; the land operations, 228,229; capture of the town, 231; courteous treatment of prisoners, 232 ; ballad of the Spanish lady, 332, 232, . ; terms made with the Spaniards, 333 ; merchant ships burnt, amount of loss, Z 33 i expedition left Cadiz, 234 ; Jesuits' library burnt, 235; authorities for the Cadiz expedition, 235. Cadzand, island of, 38, 101 ; attack by Sir Walter Manny, 102 ; occupied by the Duke of Parma, 106; battery at Hofstede, 106; proposal to land on, for relief of Sluys, no, 115; Maurice's army landed on, 366. Caesar, Sir Julius, married Mr. Dent's widow, 355; notice of, 355; marriage of stepdaugh- ters, 356 ; his death and monument, 357, . ; probably assisted his stepdaughter in the erection of the monument to Sir F. Vere, 361. Csesar, Lady, Mr. Dent's widow, 355 ; her death and funeral, 357, n. See Dent. Calais, the 7th Earl of Oxford defeated the French off, 7. Caldwell, Captain, repulsed an assault at Ost- end, 318. Camarado, subdivision of a squadron, 56; hutting of, 61. Cambridge, the i7th Earl of Oxford a student at, 24. Cambridgeshire, castle of Campes in, held by the Veres, 5, . Camclen Society, Leicester and Cecil letters edited for, 471. Camisado, a night attack, 44, 6r, 184. Camp, formation, hutting, 60, 61 ; work on, by John Cruso, 468. Campen, Sir John Norris at, 51. See Kant- pen. Campes, castle of, in Cambridgeshire, owned by the Veres, 5, ., 14. Cannon. See Artillery. Canteloupes, intermarriage with Veres, 2. Capelle, near Gertruydenburg, Count Mans- felt encamped at, 189. j Capizucca, Camillo, commanding an Italian regiment for the siege of Sluys, 100. Capra, Count Vicencio, his gallant advice at Breda, 162. Captain of a company, duties, dress, pay, 55. Carbines, 63. Carew, Sir George, master of the ordnance in the Cadiz expedition, on board the " Mary Rose," 219; in the naval action, 227; mas- ter of the ordnance for the " Island Voy- age," 237 ; on board the " San Mateo " prize, 237 ; ship disabled in a gale, 242 ; notice of, 243, n. Carew, Thomasine, wife of John Vere, 351, 352- Carleton, Sir Dudley, English envoy at the Hague, his gossip about Sir F. Vere and Sir C. Brookes, 306; notices of, 386, ., 435, .' friendship for Sir Horace Vere, 386 ; ordered to take the side of Maurice against Barneveldt, 391 ; opinion on the perils of the Palatinate undertaking, 399 ; retirement from the Hague, 435. Carnero, Antonio, notice of his history, 469. Caron, Noel, Dutch envoy in London, first to receive news of the battle of Nieuport, 304; joined with Vere in a negotiation, 333 ; reported the Earl of Northumberland's con- duct, in sending a challenge to Sir F. Vere, to the Queen, 335; his report on the Queen's illness, 341,342; pressed James I. to help his son-in-law, 396. Carpenter, Sergeant-M,jor, station in repel- ling the assault at Ostend, 325 ; ordered to open the west sluice, 329, . Carr, a soldier who rescued W. Fairfax at Frankenthal, 413. Cartridge box, took the place of bandoleers, 59) Carwardine, Mr., tombs of the Earl of Ox- ford in his house, 15, . ; inherited Earl's Colne from Mr. Holgate, 16, n. ; manu- script history of the Veres in possession of, 465. Gary, Sir Henry, taken prisoner at Mulheim, 378. Gary, Kate, cousin and friend of the Queen, 344- Gary, Robert, sent to prevent the Earl of Es- sex from going to the siege of Sluys, 112, n. Cassenberg Hill, near Mulheim, 373. Castilla, Juan de, at the siege of Sluys, 109. Catholic League, 407. Cautionary Towns, 69 ; difficulties about sup- ply of troops from garrisons for service in the field, 201. See Brill, Flushing, Ostend, Rammekens. Cavalry, formation and arms, 63 ; colors, 64. Cave, Captain, at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436. INDEX. 479 Cavendish, Henry, joined the English volun- teers in the Netherlands, 48; at Rymenant, 5- Cawsand Bay, the Cadiz expedition sailed from, 221; expedition to the Azores an- chored in, 240. Cecil, Lady Diana, married to the i8th Earl of Oxford, 423, 424. Cecil, Sir Edward, first service in the Bom- mel-waart, 271; commanding cavalry in the division of Sir F. Vere, for the invasion of Flanders, 279; his charge at Nieuport, 301; in command of English cavalry in the Neth- erlands, 338, 345 ; one of the four English colonels, 364; at the recovery of Sluys, 366; wished for the command in the Palatinate, 393 1 397 > w ith his regiment at Bois-le-Duc, 436; created Viscount Wimbledon, 436: his works on the duties of a soldier, 468 ; his life bv Mr. Dalton, 471. Cecil, Sir Robert, at Ostend, mention of Francis Vere by, 1 17 ; his opinion of Prince Maurice, 145; a warm friend of Sir Francis Vere, 253, 271, 276; created Earl of Salis- bury ; letter to, from Sir F. Vere, respact- ing dismissal of useless officers, 307 ; corre- spondence with Sir Francis Vere, 346; Vere reported the grant of a pension to, 347 ; let- ter to, from Vere, respecting his Portsmouth command, 353. Cecil, Sir Thomas, governor of Brill, 73; su- perseded by Lord Burgh, 113, 271. See Bur- letff/t. Lord. Cecil, Sir William, Arthur Golding lived in his hous?, 18; guardian of the i7th Earl of Oxford, 23; married his daughter Anne to the Earl of Oxford, 24 ; plan of Hedingham Castle made for, 13, . See Burleigh, Lord. Cerda, Don Luis de la, the 7th Earl of Ox- ford in the sea-fight with, off Guernsey, 7. Chamberlain, Lord Great, hereditary in the family of Vere, 5 ; question of succession to, 430- Chandos, Sir John, Constable of Aquitaine, story, in Froissart, about him and an Earl of Oxford, proved to be false, 461-463. Charlemagne, fictitious descent of Vere from a brother-in-law of, 3, . Charles I., accession, 430; Lady Fairfax inter- rupted his trial, 454. Charles the Bold of Burgundy, marriage with Margaret of York, 103. Charles Louis, Elector Palatine, 420; restored by the Treaty of Westphalia, 420. Chatillon, Sieur de, slain at the defence of Ostend, 316. Chester. See English Volunteers. Chester, Colonel, assistance acknowledged, vi., vii-, 354, 465- j Cheyney, Lieut., slain before Breda, 428. | Chichester, Sir Arthur, afterwards Lord Chi- chester of Belfast, services transferred to Ire-land, 271 ; sent as envoy to the Palati- nate, his message to Tilly, 415; notice of, 415; correspondence, 416, *. ; sat on a ques- tion of precedence, 424, . Christian of Brunswick. See Brunswick. Christmas, John, commanding a company under Vere, 181. " Christopher," ship, recaptured by Edward III. at Sluys, 102 Clapton, near Hackney, Lord Vere's house at, 433- Clare, Adeliza de, wife of Aubrey de Vere, 2, 5. Clare, Earl of, married Elizabeth Vere, 381; price of his peerage, 433. See Haughton, Holies. Clare Priory, 14. Clark, Captain, engineer at defence of Ostend, 322, 326. Cleves, its position, 34, 35 ; troops of the Duke of, besieging Reck inghausen, 165; territory ravaged by the Admiral of Aragon, 270. Clifford, Sir Conyers, sergeant-major general in the Cadiz expedition, on board the "Dreadnought,' 1 219; in the naval action, 227; his regiment landed, 228; sent to guard the approach to Cadiz from the land, 229. Clifton, Sir Gervase, accompanied Leicester to the Netherlands, 78. Clothing, arrangements for more regular sup- ply, 154. See Dress. Coblentz, Spinola crossed the Rhine at, 399; Sir Horace Vere's force before, 401, 402. Cocquille, Antoinede, governor of Steenwyck, 182. Coevorden, 37 ; in the hands of the Spaniards, 175; besieged by Prince Maurice, 184; sur- rendered to Maurice, 185; threatened by Spinola, 370. Colchester, 16; Leicester a,, on his way to embark, 78 ; Francis Vere joined the expe- dition at, 78. . Coligny, Admiral, Sir John Norris served under, 49; two sons of, with Maurice at the battle of Nieuport, 279. Coligny, Louise de. Princess of Onnge, her marriage and child, 31, n. ; letter of condo- lence to, from the Queen, 68; received Leicester at Middelburg, 80; affection of Maurice for, 390. Collado, Luis, and Diego Ufano, work on artillery, 468. Collins repeated Leland's version of the origin of the Veres, 3, ., 6, n. ; on the family of Hardekyn, 21 . ; his history of the Veres, 464; editor of the Sydney papers, 471. Colne, river and valley, n, 13, 14 ; country of the Veres, 17. INDEX. Colne Engaine, 16. Colue Priory. See Earl's Colne, Wake's Colne. Cologne, Archbishop of, troops besieging Recklinghausen, 165. See Rheinberg, Tntckses. Colonel, rank of, 54. Colonel-general, duties, 54. Colors of an infantry company, 55 ; of cavalry, 64. Commentaries of Sir Francis Vere, vi., 357; circumstances of their publication, contents, 3S8, Company of infantry, formation, 55, 56, 59; divided into squadrons, 56; officers, 55-57; pikemen and shotmen, 57 ; colors, 58. Conisby, a spy employed by the Archduke in Ostend, 317. Constable, the painter, born at East Bergholt, 1 1 ; his description of the scenery in the valley of the Stour, 12. Constable, Sir William, appointed to a com- pany by Sir F. Vere, 203 ; sent to capture grounded ships at Cadiz, 227 ; at Villafranca (Azores), 248. Conti, Apio, commanding Italian cavalry at the relief of Zutphen, 93. Conway, Sir Edward, afterwards Lord Con- way, in charge of guards on the walls of Cadiz, 232 ; lieutenant-governor of the Brill, *53> " 346; acting as agent for Sir F. Vere in England, 339; married to Mary Tracey, sister of Lady Vere, 253, n. , 380; envoy to the Protestant Union in Germany, 399; sit- ting on a question of precedence, 424, . ; notice of, 253, n. Conway, Sir John, master-general of ordnance in Leicester's army, 85 ; governor of Ostend, "3- Cooke, Sir Edward, discussion with Sir F. Vere on a question of rank, 220. Coopman, John, a boy at Ostend, whipped for being caught by the enemy, 201. Corbett, Lieut., wounded before Breda, 428. Corborant, Admiral of the Soudan of Perce, defeated by the Christians near Antioch, 5. Cordova, Gonzalez de, left in command of Spanish troops in the Palatinate, 410; press- ing Vere hard; laid siege to Frankenthal, 411, 412 ; raised the siege, 413. Cordova, Jean de, commanding cavalry at Turnhout, 257. Cornput, a captain of Breda, invented a tower on wheels at the siege of Steenwyck, 183. Cornwallis, Sir Thomas, deputy-keeper of East Beare forest, under Sir F. Vere, buried at Porchester, 350, n. Corporal, duties of; pay, 56. Corps du garde, 56, 60. Corral, Francisco de, commanding the Span- ish fleet in the Azores, 247. Corselet. See Armor. Coruna, troops and ships assembled at, to invade England, 276. Corvo, Isle of, sighted by the fleet of Essex, 243- Cotentin, Danish settlement in, 3 ; description of, 4 ; levies from, at the battle of Senlac, 5. Cotton, Edward, bought the Tilbury estate, 351 ; sold it, 352. Coucy, Philippa de, Countess of Oxford, tomb, 15, n. Courcy village, on the Soulles, 4. Courtenays, intermarriage with Veres, 2. Coutances, 3; on the Soulles, 4; Viscount of. See Neal de St. Saavettrs. Craven, Lord, at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 4.36; at Maastricht, 442; entertained Lord Vere at dinner in the trenches, 445. Crecis, Giovanni, commanding Italian cavalry at Zutphen, 93; unhorsed by Lord Wil- loughby, 94. Crepping Hall, manor of Geoffrey Vere, 20 ; Francis Vere born at, 22; restored to the Earl of Oxford, 25. Cressy, battle of, the Earl of Oxford at, 7. Crest of the Veres, 15, n., 361. Crevecceur, Fort, captured by Hohenlohe, 180, 272 ; taken by the Admiral of Aragon, 273 ; sold to Maurice by the Spanish garrison, 277. Cromwell, Oliver, a born general, like Spinola, 365; organization of the new model army improperly attributed to, 457, n. Cromwell, Captain F., wounded before Breda, 428, . Cross, Sir Robert, captain of the " Swift- sure," in the Cadiz expedition, 2.9; in the naval action, 227. Crudenburg on the Lipne, near Wesel, 213; English and Dutch cavalry cross the Lippe near, 214. Crusaders, the second Alberic de Vere, addi- tion to his paternal shield, 5 ; third Alberic de Vere with Robert of Normandy at Jeru- salem, 6. Crnso, John, his work on the ordering of a camp, 468. Crustwick manor settled on Geoffrey Vere, 20. Cuirass. See Armor. Cumberland, Earl of, arrived too late to take part in the defence of Sluys, 112, n. Dacres, Captain, slain before Breda, 427. Dagger, use of, 57. Dalton, Mr., Life of E. Cecil, Viscount Wim- bledon, 471. Damme, army of Velasco threatening Maurice INDEX. 481 from, 367; marriage of Margaret of York at, 103. Dampierre, Count Guy de, built lighthouses at Nieuport, 283. Danes settled in the Cotentin, 3. Danvers, Captain Sir Charles, in the Bergen- op-Zoom garrison, 120; knighted by Lord Willoughby, 132. Darcy, Lord, of Chiche, married to Elizabeth Vere, 19, 21. Darmstadt, march of Sir Horace Vere to, 403. Davalos, Alfonso, led the assault at Bommel, 273- Day, Captain, drove the Spaniards out of the " Half Moon" during the assault on Ostend, 328. Declaration by the Queen of her reasons for war with Spain, 70. *' Defiance," Lord Mountjoy's ship, in the Island Voyage, 237. Delft, position, 37; Leicester kept Christmas at, 80. Delfthaven, departure of the Pilgrim Fathers from, v., 389. Delfziel, a port on the Dollart, invested by Prince Maurice, 175, 192. Denmark, missions of Lord Willoughby to, 81. Dent, Mr. John, his house at Mitcham; re- ceived a visit from the Queen ; his wife and family; death, 354; widow married to Sir Julius Casear, 355. Dent, Elizabeth, 354; married to Sir Francis Vere, 356; secondly, to Sir Patrick Murray, 357, . ; erected a monument to her first husband in Westminster Abbey, 361 ; her death, 422, n. Dent, Mary, 354 ; married to Sir H. Saville, Derby, Earl of, at the attack on Cadzand, 102. Dethick, Windsor herald, on the staff of the Earl of Leicester, 85. Deventer, a strategic point on the Yssel, 35 : betrayed by Stanley, 98, 112, 172; Herman de Berghe, governor, 173; description of the town; siege commenced, 173; surrendered to Prince Maurice, 174. Dexter, Captain Ralph, engineer, at work on the defences of Ostend, 322, y.b. Dieze, river, at Bois-le-Duc, 272. Digges, Thomas, muster-master general, notice of , 85 ; his report on Flushing, 76; report on abuses and on payment of troops, 119; succeeded by Mr. Sparhawke, 204. Dikes for restraining floods and keeping back the sea, 33; in the Betuwe, 164. Dillintrham, Dr., published Vere's Commen- taries, 357, ., 358, . Docwra, Sir Henry, knighted by the Earl of Essex at the Azores, 249 ; his account of the battle of Turnhout, vii., 261, tt. Doesburg, a strategic point on the Yssel, 35; in the hands of the Duke of Parma, 87; besieged and taken by Leicester, 91 ; Sir Francis Vere at, 171, 184; battered by the Admiral of Aragon, 270. Dohna, Count, envoy of the king of Bohemia, allowed to raise a regiment in England, 397. Dollart. See Delfziel. Dommel, river, 272, 437. Dommerville, M., with the French contingent at Mulheim, slain, 277. Doncaster, Lord, at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436. Donge, river, supplied Gertruydenburg moat with water, 137, 188. Donnerberg, in the Palatinate, 403. Dordrecht, position, 36 ; pensionary of, deliv- ered an oration to Queen Elizabeth, 68, 69 ; Leicester arrived at, 80. Doria, Nicolas, taken prisoner at Mulheim, 378. Dorp, Van, governor of Ostend after Sir Fran- cis Vere, 331. Dragoons, formation and arms, 63. Drake, Sir Francis, 136. " Dreadnought," ship of Sir Conyers Clifford in the Cadiz expedition, 219; in the naval action, 227; commanded by Sir W. Brooke in the Island Voyage, 238; kept the " War- spite" company, when in distress, 243; at Fayal, 244, 246. Drenkelaar, tower at Groningen, 192, 193. Drenthe, peat deposits, 34; States General resolve on an attempt to free, 175. Dress, of pikemen, 58 ; of lancers, 63. Drury, Sir Robert, with Vere in the attack of Cadiz, 230; in Vere's division in the inva- sion of Flanders, 278 ; rescued Sir F. Vere at the battle of Nieuport, 299 ; returned to Ostend with Sir F. Vere, 315. Drury, Sir William, appointed by Lord Wil- loughby to be governor of Bergen-op-Zoom, but not confirmed, 123 ; his valor, 132 ; withdrawn from the Netherlands, 142. Dubois, commissary -general of cavalry at Nieuport, ordered to charge, 301. Dudley, Sir Robert, captain of the " Non- pareil " in the Cadiz expedition, 219. Dudley, Captain, his good service at Maas- tricht, 446; wounded, 447. " Due-repulse," flag-ship of Essex on the Island Voyage, 237. Dugdale, on the Vere family, 464. Duisburg, a strategic point on the Rhine, 35, 165 ', statue of Gerard M creator at, 371. Duiveland, 39. Duncombe, a young lover serving in the Pala- tinate, his end, 408. Dunes, description of, 32, 283 ; dunes of Nieu- 482 INDEX. port described by Sir Francis Vere, 285, 289. Dunkirk, Parma ready to embark at, 125; Parma broke up his camp at, 126 ; attacked by Prince Maurice; Vere wounded, 170; design against, 278. Durango, Fort, attacked by Sir Francis Vere, 275. Dutch republics founded, 31 ; character of the people, 34; gallantry of Dutch troops, in. See Bacx. Dyle, river, 50. Earl's Colne, priory founded by the first Al- beric de Vere, 5. . ; death of the fifteenth Earl of Oxford at, 9 ; burial - place of the Earls of Oxford, 14 ; description, 15, 16; monuments still preserved, 15, . Edmonds, Mr., took Sir F. Vere's despatches home, after Nieuport, 305. Edmunds, Scottish colonel, aided Horace Vere at Heerewaarden, 274. Edward I., the fifth and sixth Earls of Oxford served under, 6. Edward III., John, sixth Earl of Oxford, served in the wars of, 7; expedition to Cadzand, 101 ; battle of Sluys; went a pil- grimage to Ardenburg, 102. Edward IV. beheaded the twelfth Earl of Oxford, 8. Elector Palatine. See Frederick. Elegy on Sir Francis Vere, 363, . Elizabeth, Queen, 26 ; admired the seventeenth Earl of Oxford, 24; forced into the war with Spain, 32, 67; muster of volunteers before, 42 ; her interest in the Norris family, 48 ; friendship for Lady Norris, 49 ; helped the Prince of Orange with men and money, 52; her loans from Genoese bankers, 52; her army organized on the Spanish model, 53 ; her letters of condolence after the assas- sination of the Prince of Orange, 67 ; re- ceived envoys from the States, 68 ; treaty with the States General, 68; her declaration of war with Spain, iii., 69; Lord North's praise of her policy, 82 ; anxiety to retain Sluys, in ; Sir Francis Vere first brought to her notice, 133 ; her letters to Lord Wil- loughby, 136, 141 ; sagacity in selecting Vere for chief command, 142, 143; her gracious conceit of Vere, 145 ; gracious message to Vere through Sir J. Norris, 171 ; repri- manded Vere for escorting Count Philip of Nassau, 205 ; resolved to send an expedition to Cadiz, 217 ; interview with Vere, who de- fended the Earl of Essex, 251 ; made Sir F. Vere governor of Brill, 253; her letter to Vere after the battle of Turnhout, 262 ; her opinion of Sir Francis Vere, 262. 271 ; long interview with Sir Francis Vere, 276 ; com- mendation of Vere after the battle of Nieu- port, 304; reluctance to assent to the execu- tion of Essex, 308, n. ; steadfast in the defence of Ostend, 315; ordered the Earl of Northumberland to forbear any attempt on Vere, 335; her illness, 341, 342; death, 343 ; her patriotism and public spirit, 343; loss of her early friends ; her death a great calamity, 344, 396; her reasons for not creating Sir F. Vere a peer, 262, 362, 431 ; visited Mr. Dent and Sir Julius Cssar at Mitcham, 354, ., 355- Elizabeth, daughter of James I., married to the Elector Palatine, 395 ; her flight from Bohemia and refuge at the Hague, 407; devotion of Englishmen to her cause, 410; her dower house at Frankeuthal, 412 ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 438. Emmerick, a strategic point on the Rhine, 35,88. Emscher, river, in Westphalia, 165. See Reck- linghaiisen. Englebert, Count. See Nassau. English regiments in the Netherlands, their continuous tradition, 41 ; at first they fled before the Spaniards, 41 ; learnt the art of war from Spanish soldiers, 42; qualities, 42, 53; volunteers, 43, 44, 46, 48; at Rymenant, 50; tentative efforts of, 52; in the van at Nieuport, 290; great slaughter of, 302; negotiation respecting the legal status of, 340 ; at Bois-le-Duc, 436. Enkhuysen, 37. Ensign of a company, his duties, dress, pay, 55- Eric, Prince of Sweden, entertained by the sixteenth Earl of Oxford, 22. Ernest, Archduke, in command of Spanish army, 191 ; death, 255. Ernest, Count. See Nassau. Errington,. Captain, occupied Ostend for the Queen, 77; governor of Rammekens, 113; on Lord Willoughby's council of war, 118; retired, 181. Escalading a fort near Buderick, 168. Essex, estates of the Veres in. See Heding- ham, Kirby, Tilbury. Essex, Robert, Earl of, accompanied Leicester to the Netherlands, 78; commanded a troop of horse, 84; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; made a banneret on the field, 96 ; pall-bearer at Sir Philip Sidney's funeral, 96: his at- tempt to go to the sieee of Sluys, 112, . ; to command the land forces in the Cadiz expedition, 217; in the "Repulse''; con- ferred with Vere off Dover, 2 19 ; landed at Rye, and went to court with Vere, 220 ; settled a question of rank between Raleigh and Vere, 221 ; concurred with Raleigh as to going round to Cadiz bay, 224, 225 ; in INDEX. 433 the naval action, 227; landed with Vere, 228; took Vere's advice, 229; led the party which scaled the walls of Cadiz, 231: to command an expedition to the Azores, 237 ; interview with Vere at Sandwich, 23^; re- conciled Raleigh and Vere, 239 ; his ship in danger, 241 ; sailed a second lime, 242 ; reached Flores, 243 ; arrived at Fayal, and found Raleigh in possession, 244; held a court of inquiry on Raleigh, 245 ; missed the Spanish fleet, 246; landed at Villafranca off St. Michael's, 248 ; smoking tobacco at Villafranca, 240 ; superintended the embar- kation of troops, 249; conferred knighthood on several officers, 249; his character, 250; his conduct defended to the Queen by Vere, 252; his hostility to Vere, 271,308; insur- rection and death, 456. Essex, Robert, Earl of (son of the above), joined the Palatinate regiment, 398 ; led the first division, 404; witnessed Spinola's re- treat, 406 ; sent home by Vere to explain the position, 408 ; raised a regiment for ser- vice in the Netherlands, 424 ; trained in the school of the Veres, 456. Evans, lieut. of the Earl of Sussex regiment, first over the wall at Cadiz, 231. Ewers, Sir William, knighted by the Earl of Essex at the Azores, 249. Fairfax, Sir Charles, with Sir F. Vere in the invasion of Flanders, 279 ; rallied the men at the battle of Nietiport, 301, 308; a hostage in the Archduke's camp, 321,322; returned to Ostend, 323 ; station at the as- sault, 324, 326 ; fought gallantly in the breach, 329; notice of, 329, 330, . ; attacked Velasco near Sluys, 367, 452. Fairfax, John, in the Palatinate regiment, 398; at Wesel, 401; in Frankenthal, 412; slain in an outwork, 413, 452. Fairfax, Sir Thomns, ist Lord Fairfax, 452; serving in Leicester's army, 84 ; appointed to a company by Sir F. Vere, 203 ; notice of, 203, . , 400, n.; joined his sons in the camp before Wesel, 401 ; received news of the death of his sons, 413. Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 3d Lord Fairfax, mar- ried Anne Vere, 381, . ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 43;, 439, 452; trained under Lord Vere ; organized the new model army, 457. Fairfax, William, in the Palatinate regiment, 398 ; at Wesel, 401 ; fired upon, near Coblentz, 402, 404; in Frankenthal, 412; wounded, death, 413; monument, 413, ., 452- Falmouth, Philip II. intended to land an army at, 250. Farnese, Ranuccio, son of the Duke of Parma, conducted the retreat from the Betuwe, 178. Farnese, Count, in the assault on Ostend, 324. See Parinti, Duke of. Faroll in Algarve, Cadiz expedition touched at, 234. Fayal Island, 244; Horta the capital, 244. See Beliaim. Essex and Raleigh to attack, 244. Ferdinand II. elected Emperor, 395. Fenner, captain of the " Tremontaine " in the " Island Voyage," 238. Ferrol, Spanish fleet assembled at, for the invasion of Ireland, 237, 240, 242; project to attack, abandoned, 243. Flanders (Dutch), position, 38. See Axel, Sluys, Ternlteusen. Invasion ordered by the States General, 279 ; detail of invading force, 278. Fleming, auditor, at the siege of Ostend, 325, 328, ., 329. Flemings settled at the Azores, 244. Flood, Mr., hit on the elbow by a shot from Coblentz, 402. Floods in the Netherlands, 33. Flushing, seaport, position, 38; Pacheco hanged at, arrival of English volunteers, 42 ; Spaniards open fire on the walls, 43 ; fight of English volunteers outside the town, 43 ; one of the cautionary towns, 69 ; Sir Philip Sidney appointed governor, 73 ; importance of the position, 74; description, 75, 76; the Earl of Leicester landed at, 79 ; body of Sir Philip Sidney embarked at, 96; Sir William Russell made governor, 97; death of Sir William Pelham at, 113; Sir Robert Sidney made governor, 113, 184; Francis Vere at, on approach of Spanish Armada, 125 ; marriage of an English officer to a bur- gomaster's daughter, 156, 157 ; number of the garrison, 181 ; Sir F. Vere at, receiving re- cruits, 169; fleet for the recovery of Sluys assembled at, 366. Fontenai-le-Comte, Francois de la Noue lost his arm at the siege of, 49. Forage-master, duties, 65. " Foresight, r ' commanded by Sir Carew Rei- gnall, for the " Island Voyage," 238 ; then by Sir Alexander Ratcliffe, 241. Fortifications, 65. Foxcroft rescued W. Fairfax at Frankenthal, 413- Frankenthal, 403; Sergeant - Major General Burrough governor, 407 ; sie^e, 411 ; de- scription of the town and defences, 411 ; siege raised, 413 ; Sir Arthur Chichester at, 415; second siege, surrender, 419. Frankfort, Sir Horace Vere crossed the Main near, 402, 403. Frating, manor of the Veres at, 16. 4 8 4 INDEX. Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, birth, 32, . ; with his brother Maurice at the battle of Nieuport, 279; at the recovery of Sluys, 366; commanded the cavalry at Mulheim, 372, 373; his troops routed by Trivulcio, 374; gallantry at the fight round Broick, 376, 377; his brother's affection for him, 390; succeeded his brother Maurice, 427; resolved to capture Bois-le-Duc, 435; advanced with his army to Vucht, 436 ; his orders for the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 437 ; Bois-le-Duc surrendered, 437; his army for the siege of Maastricht, 440 ; headquarters west of Maastricht, 441; Maastricht sur- rendered, 446. Frederick IV., Elector Palatine, husband a Prince Maurice's sister, Louisa Juliana, 394- Frederick V., Elector Palatine, married to Elizabeth, daughter of James I., 394, 395 ; their home at Heidelberg, 395 ; accepted the crown of Bohemia, 305, 396 ; his critical position, 396 ; flight from Prague, 407 ; sent a commission to Sir Horace Vere, 409 ; joined Mansfelt in the Palatinate, 414; left the Palatinate never to return, 415; his son restored by the Peace of Westphalia, 420 ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 438. Friesland, representatives of, at the Union of Utrecht, 31; partly swallowed up by the sea, 33 ; character of the Frisians, 38 ; wars with Holland, 39; States General resolve on an attempt to free, 175. Frisians, patriotism, 38, 190; in Vere's divis- ion for the invasion of Flanders, 278 ; at the battle of Nieuport, 290, 296, 297, 300; at the defence of Ostend, 316 ; lady married the igth Earl of Oxford. See Hemmema. Froissart, disparaging story about an Earl of Oxford in, proved to be false, 461-463. Fuentes, Don Pedro Henriquez de Azevedo, Conde de, associated with Count Mansfelt in command of the Spanish army, 186, 255. Gainsborough, the painter, born in the valley of the Stour, n. Gainsford. See English Volunteers. Gatee, work on artillery, 468. Garcilasso de la Vega, in his " Royal Com- mentaries of Peru," utilized part of the work of Bias Valera, saved from the sack of Cadiz, 235. Gardiner, Lion, trained by the Veres, founder of a Connecticut settlement, 389, 458. Gariboy, Juan Gutierrez de, commanded the Spanish fleet in the Azores, 247. " Garland," the Earl of Southampton's ship for the " Island Voyage," 238, 246. Garrett, Lord Vere's ensi.zn, his good service at the siege of Maastricht, 446. Garth, Lieut., slain before Maastricht, 442. Gavray, village in the Cotentin, manor of Vere held of the superior manor of Gavray, 3, > 4- Gelderland, representatives at the Union of Utrecht, 31 ; position, 37, 39; Count Meurs governor of, 80; his death, 151; States of, request Sir F. Vere to relieve Rheinberg, 'Si- Gelleet, Jacques, of Flushing, daughter mar- ried to an English officer. See Randolph. Gemblours, battle of, 30, 49, 305. General of an army, 54. Genoese bankers, their loans to Queen Eliza- beth, 52. Gerard, Sir T., commanding a regiment and on the council of war in the Cadiz expedi- tion, 219; his regiment landed, 228; sent to guard the approach to Cadiz from the land, 229. Gerard, Marc, portrait of Frances Vere (Lady Harcourt) by, at Nuneham, 23. Germersheim, Mansfelt's army at, 414. Gertruydenburg, position, 36 ; description, 137; mutiny .of the garrison, 138; delivered up to the Spaniards, 139; governor of Breda absent at, 160; siege commenced, 187; extensive siege works, 188 ; town sur- rendered, 189 ; troops collected at, to march on Turnhout, 255 ; approach to Breda by causeway of, 429. Gerville, M. de, of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, his opinion as to the origin of the Veres, 3, . Gestingthorpe, 21, 25. See Hardekyn, Woot- ton. Geule, harbor of Ostend, 311, 312; Count Bucquoy's batteries on the, 314. Ghent, army of the Archduke concentrated at, 280. Gheyn, Jacob de, military manual, 466. Gieselles, Peter van, one of the governors of Ostend, 330, 331. Giethorn, village near Steenwyck, 182 ; cav- alry of the besiegers at, 182. Gifford, Sir George, captain of the " Quit- tance," in the Cadiz expedition, 219. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, arrived at Flushing with volunteers; 43 ; his plan to besiege Goes, 44, 45 ; led an attack, 46 ; returned to England, 48. Gilbert, Captain, with Sir F. Vere in the in- vasion of Flanders, 279 ; slain at Nieuport, 3<". Gilpin, Mr., envoy at the Hague, 206; suc- ceeded Mr. Bodley, 2c8 ; colleague of Sir F. Vere to negotiate the new treaty, 265; sudden death, 339. Gilsen, village near Breda, arrival of Spinola at, 426. INDEX. 485 Ginehen, near Breda, occupied by Spaniards, 426. Ginehen Gate, at Breda, defence of, 426. Gissant, Sieur de, governor of Gertruyden- burg, slain, 189. Giustiniano, Pompeo, notice of his history, 469. Gleig, Mr., his biography of Sir F. Vere, vii. Glemham, Sir Thomas, at the siege of Bois-le- Duc, 436, 439 ; reared in the school of the Veres, 456. Goedereede Island, 36. Goes, city of, in South Beveland, 38 ; plan of the siege, 44 ; description, 45 ; besieged by English volunteers, 46; measures of relief, 46 ; siege raised, 48. Golding, Arthur, a voluminous translator, un- cle of the i ?th Earl cf Oxford, 18 ; his trans- lation of Caesar in the library of Miles Standish, 18, . ; lived much with his nephew the i?th Earl, 23. Golding, Margaret, second wife of the i6th Earl of Oxford, 18. Golding, Percival, his pedigree of the Veres, 3, .,4fi4. Gomez, Antonio, in the assault at the siege of Sluys, 109. Gondomar, Count, Spanish ambassador, his influence with James I., 408. Gonzago, Annibal, commanded Italian cav- alry at the relief of Zutphen, 93 ; mortally wounded at Warnsfeld, 95. Goodyere, Captain, knighted at Warnsfeld, 06. Gorcum and Lowesteyn, men selected from garrisons of Count Philip of Nassau at, for service in the pest boat to surprise Breda, '59- Gorges, Sir Arthur, Raleigh's captain in the " Island Voyage,'' 237; his narrative of the expedition, 249, n, Gorges, Sir Ferdinand, at the siege of Sluys, 105; sergeant-major general for the " Island Voyage," 237 ; too seasick to proceed, 241 ; commanded a company at the Brill, 253, n. ; connection with Maine colonization, 389, 458. Goring, Lord, reared in the school of the Veres, 456. Gosfi-jld. See Hunt. Gosport, resorted to by sailors owing to the port regulations at Portsmouth, 353. Gouda, position, 37 ; stained glass, 39 ; defeat of English volunteers at, 48. Gough, Richard, manuscript history of the Veres, 465. Cover, master of the " Due-repulse " under Essex, 237; his fatal advice, 246. Graciosa, one of the Azores, Sir F. Vere and Lord Thomas Howard to attack, 244 ; peo- ple send provisions to English ships, 246. Grandison, Lord, sat on a question of prece- dence, 424, n. ; reared in the school of the Veres, 456. Grant, Christopher, of Manchester, father of the wife of John Dent and Sir Julius Ca:sar, 354- Grave, position on the Maas, 35; taken by the Duke of Parma, 87, 97 ; Verdugo en- camped at, 179; besieged by the army of Maurice, 338 ; description, 338, n. ; Prince Frederick Henry crossed the Maas at, 436. Greatorex, Captain, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 398, 404. " Greenway," at the battle of Nieuport, charges of cavalry on, 293; description of the ground, 294 ; charge of Cecil, 301 ; sec- ond charge, 302. Greenwich, muster of volunteers before the Queen at, 42. Grenville, Sir Richard, report by Sir Walter Raleigh on the fight of the 1; Revenge," 221. Grenville, Sir Richard, Jr., reared by the Veres, 456. Greville, Sir Fulk, his sayings, on the Queen's declaration of war with Spain, 72 ; his anec- dote of Sir Philip Sidney and the wounded soldier, 96, . ; helped Sir F. Vere with the Queen in the matter of the governorship of Brill, 253. Grey, Lord of Wilton, with Prince Maurice at the battle of Nieuport, 279; sent de- spatches to England, 303. Grimeston, William, in garrison at Bergen- op-Zoom, circumvented the Spanish spies, 128, 129; in the Spanish camp, 130. Grimeston, the historian, notice of, 470. Groenvelt, Arnold de, governor of Sluys, ap- plied for help, 100 ; defence of Sluys, 107; means of defence exhausted, surrender, no; in campaign of 1592 with Maurice, 181 ; at the siege of Gertruydenburg, 188. Groningen, 37; Verdugo in command of Span- iards, 175 ; account of the city, 191 ; de- fences, 192 ; old maps and plans, 192, >i. ; arrangements for the siege, 193 ; progress of the siege, 194; surrender, 195. Grooten-dorst, one of the Spanish batteries at the siege of Ostend, 314. Grose, Francis, his work on military antiqui- ties, 468. Grubbendonck, Sieur de, commanded the Flemings at Turnhout, 357; governor of Bois-le-Duc, 437; surrendered to the Prince of Orange, 438. Guernsey. See Cerda, Don Luis de la. Gueux, the sea, attack on Brill, 28, 73. Guisnes, heiress, married to Alberic de Vere, 6. Gunner (master), 64, 65 ; stores, 65. See Ar- tillery. 486 INDEX. Gustavus Adolphus, drills for his army, given in Monro's book, 467. Gutteridge. See Crustwick. Guzman, Juan de, commanded cavalry at Turnhout, 257. Haarlem, siege, 29 ; lofty dunes near, 52 ; posi- tion, 37; sea of, 37. Hachiucourt, Comte de, commanded Walloons at Turnhout, 257, 259. Hackney (see Clapton), marriages of Lord Vere's daughters at, 434. Hage, village near Breda, occupied by Span- iards, 426. Hagenau, Mansfelt's plunder at, 414. Hague, States General pioclaimed indepen- dence at, 31 ; position, 37; Earl of Leices- ter at, 80; Lord Willoughby arrived at, 81 ; Sir F. Vere at, 154; Vere recovering from his wound at, 171 ; Vere negotiating as to the Cadiz expedition at, 218; and the new treaty, 268; Sir F. Vere at, after the Bom- mel-waart campaign, 275 ; Frederick and Elizabeth took refuge at, 407 ; execution of Barneveldt at, 392 ; last visit of Sir F. Vere to, 347 ; envoys at. See Bodley, Gilpin, Carleton, Winwood, Vane. Halberds, 56. Halloughton, home of the Dents in Leicester- shire, 354. Hall Place, seat of the Earls of Oxford at Earl's Colne, 15, 16. Hamlye Abbey, on the Syenne, 4. Handwriting of Sir Francis Vere, 2^9. Harald Blaatand, kine of Denmark, his fol- lowers remained in the Cotentin, 3. Harbinger, 56. Harcourt, Lady (Frances Vere), wife of Sir Robert, of Nuneharr., 23, 216, . Harrourt, Michael, serving in a cavalry troop under the Earl of Leicester, 84. Harcourt, Sir Robert, of Nuneham, married Frances Vere, 23, 216, . ; his " Voyage to Guiana," 3*5. Harcourt, Sir Simon, 385 ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 43* ; in the trenches, 437 ; wounded before Maastricht, 442 ; notice of, 446, . Harcourt, Rev. Vere, clergyman, 385; legacy from his uncle John Vere, 385, 422. Hardekyn family, 21 ; property of Thomas Hardekyn, 21. Hardekyn, Elizabeth, married to Geoffrey Vere, 21, 22. Hardt, range of mountains in the Palatinate, 403. Haren, village near Groninjren, 192, 193. Harinston, Isabel, an early friend of the Queen, 344. Harington, Sir John, 27. Haring-vliet channel, 36. Harlackenden, Roger, Earl's Colne sold to, >5>- Hart, Captain, at the siege of Slurs, 101 ; swam out to communicate, 106; murdered by the Spaniards at Kayal, 245. Hartaing, Daniel de, Loid of Marquette, the last Dutch governor of Osiend, 331. Harvey, Sir William, in the " Buuaventure" for the Island Voy.ige, 238. Harwich, 1 i ; Prince Eric of Sweden landed at, 22 ; Earl of Leicester embarked at, 79. Harwood, Sir Edward, one of the colonels ir> the Netherlands, 364 ; at the siege of Bois- le-Duc, 436 ; in the trenches, 437 ; at Maas- tricht, 441. Hastings, battle of. See Senlac. Hatfield, letters from Sir F. Vere at, 471. Hatfield, Broad Oak, priory founded by the Earl of Oxford, 6. Haughton, Lord, afterwards Earl of Clare (sje Clare); at the siege of liois-le-Duc, 436. Haughton, Captain, station for repelling the assault at Ostend, 325 ; slain, 330. Hautepenne, Sieur de, sent to make a diver- sion at Bois-le-Duc ; slain, 100 ; captured Breda, 425. Hauterine, Colonel, defending Ginehen Gate at Breda with Walloons, 426. Hawkins, Sir Richard, on board the Spanish fleet when chased by the English at the Azores, 247. Hawksworth, Sir John, born at Sybil Heding- ham, 13. Hedingham Castle, nunnery founded by Lucia de Abrincis, 6 ; chief seat of the Veres ; description, 12, 13; Edward, I7th Earl of Oxford, at, 23 ; repaired by Mr. Ashurst, 12, . ; plan of, 13, . ; bequest of John Vere to poor, 422 ; John Vere buried at, 433 ; Lady Vere buried at, 455 ; account of, by Mr. Ashurst Majendie, 464. Heerenthals, retreat of Count de Varras to, 257- Heerewaarden, work thrown up at, by Sir Horace Vere, 274. Heidelberg, happiness of Frederick and Eliza- beth at, 395 ; city of, 403 ; Sir Gerard Her- bert, governor of the castle, 407 ; description of the castle and town, 416; strategic posi- tion described, 417; siege and surrender, 4.8. Helmund, a bastion in the defences of Ostend, 3". 323, 324, 325 ! repaired, 331. Kelt, Matthew, the officer who nearly coughed in the peat boat at Breda, 160. Hembach, Sir Horace Vere at, 402. Hemmema, Beatrix, a Frisian .ady, mam'-d to the iqth Earl of Oxford, 430 ; account of her family, 443, . INDEX. 487 Henry I., created Alberic de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain, 5. Henry 1 1 , confirmed the earldom of Oxford granted by his mother, 6. Henry V., the E.irl of Oxford served under, 7. Henry VI 11., the isth Earl of Oxford god- father to, 8 ; title of colonel came into use, 54- Henry IV., of France, received aid from and, 180; appointed the Due de i ion as general in the country round Sed.in, i>/>; made a separate treaty with Spain, 264. Herald. See Dethick. Herald's College, Vere records at, among the Vincent MSS, 465. Hernugiere, Charles de, commanding Dutch troops at the siege of Sluys, 101 ; persuaded the captain of a peat boat to take soldiers on board, to surprise Breda, 159; selected the men as a forlorn hope, 159 ; led the men from the boat into Breda, 161 ; made gov- ernor of Breda, 162 ; commanded Dutch at battle of Turnhout, 255. Herbert, Sir Gerard, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 398 ; led the fourth division, 404 ; governor of Heidelberg Castle, 407, 415 ; mortally wounded, 418. Hereford, Bishop of. See Vere, William. Heronniere, turf boat moored off, preparatory 10 the surprise of Breda, 160. Herrera, Antonio de, notice of his history, 469. Herrera, Juan de, leader of Spanish infantry, for the relief of Zutphen, 93. Herrera, -Pedro de, paid a ransom at Cadiz to Sir F. Vere, 234. Hettinga, Taco, Frisian general in the Nieu- port campaign, 279. Hexhnm, Henry, page to Sir F. Vere at Ost- end, 318: his narrative refutes an accusa- tion of Motley against Sir F. Vere, 320, n. ; his evidence respecting the opening of the west sluice, 329, . ; received the last wishes of Master Tedcastle, 330: his narrative of the siege of Ostend, 358, .; his account of the siege of Breda, 429, . ; history of the sie-re of Bois-le-Duc, 439 ; his notice of the death of the igth Earl of Oxford, 443 ; his account of the siege of Maastricht, 447; notice of his life and works, 447, 448, 449; liis " Principles of the Art Military," 467 ; his histories of sieges, 471. Heyne, Piet, captured the Spanish plate fleet, 435- Heyson, Sir Christopher, appointed to a com- pany by Sir F. Vere, 203 ; notice of, 203, . . with Vere in the attack on Cadiz, 230; knijrhted at Cadiz, 333; connected with H. Hexham, 447. Hinchford Hundred in Essex, Vere estates in, n. Hingham, Thomas, came to the rescue of Sir F. Vere at Nieuport, 299. Hoby, Philip, Lady Vere's son, his death, 381- Hoby, William, first husband of Lady Vere, 380. Hochst, Christian of Brunswick defeated at, 414; picture of the battle, by Snayers, 414, H. Hoeksche waard, island of, 36. Hofstede, battery on Cadzand, surrender to Maurice, 366. Hohenloho, Count Philip of, recaptured Schouwen, 30 ; lieut.-general in the army of the Earl of Leicester, 83 ; joined Leicester at Arnhem.gi ; wounded at Warnsfeld, anxi- ety for the state of Sir Philip Sidney, 96; defeated the Sieur de Hautepenne and cap- tured the fort of Crevecoeur, 100; unpopu- lar as governor of Gertruydenburg, 137; in the Bommel-waart with Prince Maurice, 148; entered Breda, 161, 162; with the army of Maurice, 181 ; encamped on the east side, at the siege of Gertruydenburg, 188 ; married to Mary of Orange, sister of Prince Mau- rice, 211 ; commanding the Dutch cavalry at Turnhout, 255 ; charged the enemy's right flank, 260 ; recaptured Breda, 425. Holcroft, Captain, slain at the defence of Ostend, 316, . Holgate, Mrs. See Andrewes, Canvardine. Holland, representatives at the Union of Utrecht, 31 ; physical geography, 32, 37, 39- Hollandsche Diep, 36. Holies, Sir George, sergeant-major general at the battle of Nieuport, 279, 434 ; monu- ment in Westminster Abbey, near that of Sir Francis Vere, 360, 434; Hexham's "Tongue Combat " dedicated to, 448. Holies, Sir Thomas, lieut.-colonel of Lord Vere's regiment, 434; at the siege of Maas- tricht, 445 ; wounded, 446. See Clare, Earl of ; Haughton, Lord. Holman manuscript at Oxford, history of the Veres, 464. Holmes, Lieut., led the forlorn hope at Maas- tricht, 445. Hondius, English version of his atlas pub- lished by H xham, 449. Honta, the, or West Scheldt, 38. Hoorn, position of, 37. Hopton, Sir Ralph, trained in the school of the Veres, 456. Horta, capital of Fa^al, Martin Behaim set- tled at, 244 ; town burnt by Essex as a re- prisal, 245. Hostages. See Fairfax, OgU. INDEX. Hothatn, Captain, at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436- Howard, intermarriage with Vere, 2. See Surrey, Earl of. Howard, Lord of Effingham, to command the fleet in the Cadiz expedition, 217; in the "Ark Royal," 219; agreed to adopt the views of Sir Walter Raleigh as to the attack, 225 ; on board the " Nonpareil " in the naval action, 226; his conduct when Essex rebelled, 308 ; created Earl of Nottingham, 252. Howard, Lord Thomas, 26 ; vice-admiral in the Cadiz expedition, on board the " Mere- honor," 219; shifted his flag to the " Non- pareil,'' 216 ; vice-admiral in the " Island Voyage," on board the "Lion," 237; his ship disabled in the Bay of Biscay, 241 ; to attack Graciosa, 244 ; his friendly mediation between Essex and Raleigh, 245. Howard, Colonel, regiment at the siege of Maastricht, 440. Howard, Sir William, the admiral's son knight- ed at Cadiz, 233. Huddleston, Richard, treasurer of Leicester's army, 85. Hugo, Herman, historian of the siege of Breda, 428, 471. Hulst, in Dutch Flanders, 38; captured by the Spaniards, 254. Huncks, Sergeant-Major, in the breach at Maastricht, 445. Hunsdon, Lord, cousin and friend of the Queen, 344. Hunt, Henry, of Gosfield, married to Jane Vere, 19. Hunt, John, son of Henry, led the young Earl of Oxford into bad habits, 383 ; de- scendants in Ireland assumed the name of De Vere, 383. Huntingdon, Earl of, pall-bearer at Sir Philip Sidney's funeral, 96. Huntley, Captain, at the siege of Sluys, 101. Hurwenen, Spanish camp at, 274. Idiaquez, Alonzo de, led an assault at the siege of Sluys, 109. Idiaquez, Domingo de, in the attack on the water fort at Bergen-op-Zoom, 130. Independence of the United Provinces pro- claimed at the Hague, 31. Infantry, Spanish, their superiority, 30, 53; mounted, 63; use of intrenching tools by, 62. See Company. Innocent III. excommunicated the 3d Earl of Oxford, 6. Ireland, Duke of, 7; his funeral, 15; inva- sion of, contemplated by Philip II. ,237; troops sent to, by Sir F. Vere, a/i. Isabella of Portugal married Philip of Bur- gundy, 103. Isabella, daughter of Philip II., to marry the Archduke Albert, and become joint sovereign of the Netherlands, 363 ; marriage, 270, 276; disappointed in her expectation of entering Ostend, 323 ; her death, 410, . Isendike submitted to Prince Maurice, 367, 368. " Island Voyage,'' expedition to the Azores so called, which see, 238-250. Italian troops, cavalry at Warnsfeld, 93 ; troops at Sluys, 100 ; defeated at Rheinberg, 153; at Turnhout, 257 ; at Terheyde during siege of Breda, 426; at siege of Maastricht, 445. Ivry, chancellor to the States of Gelderland, requested Sir F. Vere to undertake the re- lief of Rheinberg, 151. Jacoba, or Jacqueline, heiress of Holland, her palace at Goes, 45. James I., proclaimed by Sir F. Vere at Brill, 343 ; accession and disgraceful peace with Spain, 344 ; sent Sir F. Vere on a mission to the Hague, 346, 347; marriage of his daughter to the Elector Palatine, 395 ; contemptible conduct, 396 ; sanctioned the raising of the Palatinate regiment, 398; blamed by the people after the battle of Prague, 407 ; truckling to the Spanish ambassador, 408. Jansen, Commodore, of the Hague, acknowl- edgment of assistance, vii. Jarnac, battle of, Francois de la Noue at, 49. John, Count. See Nassau. John, King, Robert, 3d Earl of Oxford, op- posed to, 6. Jonghe, Gerart de, governor of Knodsenburg, 164. Juan, Don, of Austria, succeeded Requesens in tlie government of the Netherlands, 30 ; won the battle of Gemblours, 30, 49; his army, 49; retreated from Rymenant, 50; death, 30. Judge Marshal. See Dr. Sutclijf. Justin, Count. See Nassau. Kampen, on the Zuyder Zee, 35. Katwyk, encroachment of the sea at, 284. Kenilworth, the 5th Earl of Oxford captured at, 6 ; Sir Thomas Cecil knighted at, 73. Kensington held by the first Alberic de Vere, 5, * Kettleby, Lieut., led the forlorn hope at Maas- tricht, 445. King, Captain, of the " Tremontaine," in the Cadiz expedition, 219. Kinski, Count Buchert de, crossed the Lippe to attack a Spanish force, slain in the charge, 114. INDEX. 489 Kirby Hall, manor, 14 ; John Vere made his mother a home at, 23, 157, 351 ; description of, 25 ; Francis Vere at, 134 ; lease of, 209 ; news of Roberts death brought home to, 216; John Vere brought a wife home to, 353 ; disposition of, in John Vere's will, 422 ; Lady Vere succeeded to, 454 ; subsequent history, 454, n. ; plate of, in Muilman's Essex, 464. Knightley, Captain, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 398. Knodsenburg, Fort, built by Sir F. Vere to threaten Nyni'^in, r>4; Gerart de Jonghe made governor, 164 ; besieged by the Duke of Parma, 170; siege raised, 178; damage to Nym^gen by fire from, 179; traces of, near the village of Lent, 180. Knolles, Sir Robert, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 398. Knowles, Sir Thomas, in the Bergen-op-Zoom garrison, 1 20 ; knighted by Lord Willoughby, 132- Kreuznach captured by Spinola, 400. Ladenburg taken by Count Mansfelt, 414. Lalain, George, Stadtholder of Groningen, a traitor, 191. Lambart, Sir Oliver, gallantry in the march to Rheinberg, 153, 307; notice of, 153, n. ; commanding a company, 181; wounded at Steenwyck, 184; in the Cadiz expedition, 222 ; knighted at Cadiz, 234 : share of ran- som at Cadiz, 234, n. ; guarding the ap- proaches to Horta, in Fayal, 245. La Motherie. See Motherie. Lanacher, near Maastricht, Spaniards en- camped at, 441. Lancaster, House of, Veres adhered to the cause of, 7, 8. Lancers, dress and arms, 63. Lankana, governor of Groningen, 192 ; sur- render, 195. Lanspesado. See Cabo dc Camarado. Lanzavecchia, Ednardo, governor of Breda, mutineers of Gertruydenburc; surrender to, '38) 139; absent when Breda was surprised and taken, 160. Lanzavecchia, Paulo Antonio, in charge of Breda, 160 ; wounded in defence of Breda, 161, 162. Lavenham, largely owned by the Veres, 14; Aubrey de Vere married to a native of, 19. See Springs. Lees of Coldrey, jewels which belonged to the Spanish Lady of the Ballad in possession of, 212, a. Leffinghe, Maurice's army crossed the Yper- leet at, 282; Archduke's army crossed at, 287, 296. Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 26; se- lected by the Queen to command in the Netherlands, 72; his qualifications, 72, 73 ; his detractors, 77, 78, 114; entered Colches- ter on the way to embark, 78 ; officers who accompanied him, 78 ; arrival at Flushing, 79; enthusiastic reception, 79; dinner at Middelburg, 80 ; in a fog between Middel- burg and Dordrecht, 80 ; declared governor and captain-general, 80; officers of his army, 83-85 ; his military position, 86 ; movements, 87 ; inspected the Schenken-Schanz, 88 ; assembled his army at Arnhem, took Does- burg, 91 ; invested Zutphen, 92 ; battle of Warnsfeld, 94 : return to England, 97 ; pall- bearer at Sir Philip Sidney's funeral, 96 j on bad terms with the States, failure to relieve Sluys, 112, 113; death, 113, ., 344; his let- ters edited for the Camden Society, 471. Lek, river, course, 35. Leland, his fictitious origin of the Veres, 3, . ; his mistake as to the surname of the " Grimme," given to Aubrey de Vere, 6, n. ; on the Veres, 464. Lensen, Cornelius, brought news of the Queen's death to Holland, 341. Leon, Isle of, 227. Le Petit, Francois, Grimeston's translation of his history, 470. Leveson, Sir Richard, commanded the " Non- pareil" for the " Island Voyage," 238; no- tice of, 238, n. ; said to have been the hero of the ballad of the Spanish Lady, 232, . Lewis Gunther, Count. See Nassau. Leyden, defence, 30; position, 37; Pilgrim Fathers at, 388. Leyva, Don Antonio Martinez de, his noble company in the army of Don Juan of Aus- tria, 49 ; repulsed by the English volunteers at Rymenant, 50. Leyva, Don Sancho de, led the attack on the water fort at Bergen-op-Zoom, 130. Lier, in Brabant, 51. Lier, village near Breda, 159. Lier, van der, Captain Nicholas, slain at Ost- end, 330. Lieutenant of a company, duties, pay, 53. Lieutenant-colonel, 54, 55. Lieutenant-general of horse, duties, 54. Light-horse, dress and arms, 63. " Lion," Sir R. Southwell's ship, in the Cadiz expedition, 219; in the naval action, 226. " Lion's Whelp," a fast sailer in the Cadiz expedition, 223. Lippe, river, its course, 165, 113; chivalry of England and Holland swim their horses across, 214. Litkenhoven Castle, at Recklinghausen, 165. " Litness,' 1 a fast sailer in the Cadiz expedi- tion, 223. Locks, history of, in the U. S. Institution's 490 1XDEX. Journal, 468. See Match Lock, Wheel Lock, Snaphammer. Lockem, village near Zutphen, Parma's army at, 93. Lombaertzyde, village near Nieuport, 282, 285. Long, Mr. Charles, on the Ballad of the Span- ish Lady, 232, . Loo, a country house on the way to Rhein- berg, 152. Loquerane, Colonel, with the Dutch and Scotch, defending Breda, 426. Lorsch, march of Sir Horace Vere by, 404. Louisa Juliana, of Orange, sister of Prince Maurice, 31, . ; visited the siege works at Gertruydenburg, 189, 394. See Frederick VI. Lovett, Thomas, his gallantry before Flush- ing, 44- Lowell, Captain, with Sir F. Vere in the Nieu- port campaign, 279; rallied the English at Nieuport, 301. Lower, Captain, a creature of the Earl of Northumberland, dismissed, 307. Lowesteyn. See Gorcum. Lucas, Sir Thomas, entertained the Earl of Leicester at Colchester, 78. Lucia, Countess of Oxford. See Abrincis. Luco, Pedro de, prisoner at Bergen-op-Zoom, 128. Luttrell, Captain, at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436. Maas (Meuse), river, Holland partly formed by delta of, 32 ; great flood caused by, 33 ; course deflected by hills, 34; turns west- ward, 35 ; unites with the Waal, 36; resumes its old name, 36: islands forming its delta, mouth, 36; fishing - villages at the mouth, 37; passage by Prince Frederick Henry, 436 ; capture of strongholds on, 440. Maastricht, hills near, 34, 440; position, 35, 399 ; its vicissitudes, 440 ; forces assembled for the siege, 440, 441 : sortie of the garrison, 442; invested, 442-445; surrender, 446; his- torian of the siege. See Hexham. Madison, Captain, wounded at the defence of Ostend, 316, K. ; slain, 330. Maestro de Campo, Spanish equivalent for colonel, 53, 54. Main, the, crossed by Sir Horace Vere, near Frankfort,' 402, 403. Majendie, Mr. Ashurst, of Castle Hedingham, vi ; his papers on the Veres, 3, ., 464. Majendie, Mr. Lewis, account of Hedingham Castle by, in the "Vetusta Monumenta," 464. Manheim, 403 ; occupied by Sir Horace Vere, 407; surrender, 419. Maniple, 60. Manley, Captain, in the breach at Maastricht, 445 ; wounded, 447. Mamiingtree, the Earl of Leicester at, on his way to Harwich, 79. Manny, Sir Walter, at the attack on Cadzand, 102. Mansfelt, Count Charles, marshal to the army of Don Juan of Austria, 49; in charge of the trenches attlie siege of Sluys, badly wounded, 108 ; threatening the Bommel-waart, 148 ; at the siege of Bergen- op-Zoom, 126; assem- bled troops to press the siege of Rheinberjr, 151, 154: advance towards Breda, 163; his fire on Knodsenburg from Xymegen, 164; in command during Parma's absence in France, 182. Mansfelt, Count Peter Ernest, succeeded the Duke of Parma in command of the Spanish army, 186; approached Gertruydenburg to raise the siege, 189; superseded by the Arch- duke Ernest, 191 ; death, 370. Mansfelt, Count, natural son of Count Peter Ernest Mansfelt, 370 ; with a mercenary army in Bohemia, 396; at Pilsen during the battle of Prague, 407 ; true to Frederick, his army, 409; wintering at Hagenau, 411; his force at Germersheim joined by the Elector Palatine, success at Wieslock, capture of Ladenburg, 414. Maplestead, Templars' church at, 14. Marck, or Marke, river on which Breda is built, 159, 160, 425 ; bridge over, made by Spinola, 426. Marck, William de la, his attack on Brill, 29, 74- Margaret of York, her marriage at Damme, 103. Markham, Francis, volunteer with Sir W. Pelham, notice of, 112, n. ; his "Epistles of War," 112, 466; his evidence as to the skill of Sir F. Vere as a French master, 164. Markham, Gervase, on the word " Bezon- ian," 62; notice of, 112, n., 412; his book entitled " The Soldier's Accidence," 467. Markham, Sir Griffin, at the siege of Gronin- gen, applied for Sir John Pooley's com- pany, 195, n. Markham, Jerome, in Leicester's army, 84 ; slain in a duel, 84, K. Markham, Robert, in the Palatinate regiment, 398; at the siege of Frankenthal, 412; his elegy on Sir John Burrough, 419, . Markham, William, his gallantry at the battle of Rymenar.t, 50. Marriages of English officers and soldiers in the Netherlands, 156. 200. Marshal, the Lord, duties, 54. Martin, Captain, wounded at the siege of Maastricht, 447. " Mary Rose," Sir George Carew's ship, in the INDEX. 491 Cadiz expedition, 219; in the naval action, 227; Sir Francis Vere's ship in the "Is- land Voyage," 237; her mainmast sprung, 241, 246; nearly ran into the " Warspite," 247 ; sprung a leak, but reached Plymouth, 250. Master of the ordnance, duties, 64. Master gunner, 65. Match lock, use of, 59. Matthias, Archduke, assembled an army to oppose Don Juan of Austria, 49. Maud, Empress, created the earldom of Ox- ford, 6. Maud, Queen of Stephen, died at Hedingham Castle, 12. Maurice, Prince of Orange, birth, 31, . ; suc- ceeded his father, 68; received Leicester on landing at Flushing, 79; at Middelburg with Leicester, 80 ; made governor of Holland and Zeeland, 80 ; general of the army of the States, 114, 118; project for an attack on Axel, 88 ; collected shipping for the relief of Sluys, 113 ; unsuccessful attack on Gertruy- denburg, 138 ; opinions of, by Cecil, Wil- loughby, and Vere, 145 ; visited quarters of Sir F. Vere in the Bommel-waart, 148; his plan to surprise Breda, 158; entered Breda, 161, 162; advanced into the Betuwe, 163; army along the line of the Waal, 164; his attack on Dunkirk, 1 70 ; took the field, with rendezvous at Arnhem, 171 ; capture of Zutphen, 172; and Deventer, 173, 175: march into Groningen, Delfziel taken, 175 ; battle of the Betuwe, 177; siege of Steen- wyck, 182; and Coevorden, 184; Coevorden surrendered to, 185; planned the siege of Gertruydenburg, 188 ; Gertruydenburg sur- rendered to, 189 ; siege of Groningen, 193, 195 ; letter to the Queen praying for rein- forcements, 200 ; marriage of his sisters, 211 ; laid siege to Grolle, 212; generous praise of, by Sir F. Vere, 215: battle of Turnhout, 255-260; disapproved of the in- vasion of Flanders, 279; commander -in- chief in the Nieuport campaign, 279; coun- cil of war at Nieuport, 286 ; dispositions for the battle of Nieuport, 291, 293; his ap- proval of Vere's arrangements at Nieuport, 294 ; took his stand on the West Hill, 300 ; exclamation at seeing the English rally, 301 ; ordered Sir E. Cecil to charge, 301 ; gave Vere full credit for the battle, 303, ., 304; gave the use of his house at Ryswick to Vere, 305 ; his succ ^ss ;s in the field during the siege of Ostend, 308 ; took the field and besieged Grave, 338; his increasing power, 340 ; took final leave of Sir F. Vere, 347 ; his recovery of Sluys, 366-369; at Wesel watching Spinola, 370 ; battle of Mulheim, 372-378; friendship for Sir Trlorace Vere, 378 ; his dislike of the truce, 390 ; hatred of Barneveldt, 391 ; his conduct in causing the death of Barneveldt, 392 ; hospitality to the King and Queen of Bohemia, 390, 408; ill- ness and death, 426, 427. Mayence, 403 ; occupied by Spinola, 399 ; treaty signed by the Princes of the Protes- tant Union at, 409. Medina Sidonia, Duke of, ordered the mer- chant ships to be burnt at Puerto Real, 233 ; entered Cadiz on the departure of the Eng- lish, 234. Medina, Don Francisco, sent to occupy Gine- hen, near Breda, 426. Meetkerk, Adolf, at the siege of Sluys, 101 ; at the attack on Dunkirk, 170; slain before Deventer, 174. Meetkerk, Nicolas, at the siege of Sluys, rot ; succeeded to his brother's company, 174, 181 ; knighted at Cadiz, 234; station to repel the assault at Ostend, 325. Melford, Long, 14. Mendoza, Don Juan de, in the attempt on the water port at Bergen-op-Zoom, 130. Mendoza, Don Alonzo de, commanding cav- alry at Turnhout, 257. Mendoza, Bernardino, notice of his history, 469. See A rafon, Admiral of. Mercator, Gerard, his atlas published by Hex- ham, 449. See Duisburg. "Mere-honour," vice-admiral's ship in the Cadiz expedition, 219; unfit for sea, 237. Merrick, Sir Gilly, in the " Swiftsure' 1 for the " Island Voyage." 238 ; sought to injure Sir Walter Raleigh, 245. M erven, Van der, governor of Heidelberg, 417 ; surrender of Heidelberg by, 418. Merwode, Maas and Waal, when united, so called, 36. Meteren, Emanuel van, notice of his history, 470. Metz, Sir F. Vere escorted Philip of Nassau to, 197. Meurs, Count, governor of Gelderland, 80; death owing to an explosion, 149, 150. Meuse. See Maas. Michelborne, Sir Edward, captain of the " Moone '' in the " Island Voyage," 237. Middelburg, capital of Zeeland, surrendered by Mondragon, 29; great abbey at, 39; be- sieged by the patriots, 42 ; Spanish garrison of, attacked Flushing, 43, 44 ; trade, 75, 76 ; Sir F. Vere at, 218, 315. Middleton, captain of the " Due-repulse" un- der Essex, 237. Military, the art, 53. Military manuals and drill books, 465. Mitcham.on the roarlto Nonsuch Palace, 354; pleasant houses at, house of Mr. Dent, 354 ; the Queen's visit to Mr. Dent at, 354 ; Sir 492 INDEX. Julius Caesar lived at, 355; Sir Francis Vere's marriage, 356. Moncoutour, battle of, Francois de la Noue at, 49- Mondragon, Don Cristoval, surrendered Mid- delburg, 29; captured Schouwen, 30; his passage across the channel to S. Beveland, 46, 47 ; relieved the garrisons of Goes and Middelburg, 48 ; his regiment called the " Tercio Viejo," 53 ; advised against the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, 126; governor of Antwerp, unable to save Breda, 162, 186; raised the siege of Grolle, encamped at Orsoy, 212 ; routed the attack of Count Philip of Nassau, 214; retired into Brabant, 215 ; death, 215, . Mondragon, Alonzo de, commanded cavalry at Turnhout, 257. Monk, General George, trained under Lord Vere, 457. Monro, drills of Gustavus Adolphus in work of, 467. Monson, Sir William, captain of the " Re- pulse " in the Cadiz expedition, 219 ; sent to capture the grounded ships, 227, 233 ; captain of the " Rainbow " in the " Island Voyage," 237; ordered to cruise off Gra- ciosa, 246 ; chased the Spanish fleet, 246 ; consultation with Sir F. Vere, 247. Montesquieu de Roques, Captain, stationed in " Moses Table " to repel the assault on Ostend, 325. Montfort, Simon de, sth Earl of Oxford and supporter of, 6. Monuments. See Frankenthal, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's. " Moone," Sir Edward Michelborne's ship in the " Island Voyage," 237. Morant, history of Essex, description of Hedingham, 13, . ; accounts of Vere manors, 464. Morgan, Sir Thomas, landed the English volunteers, 42, 51 ; fight with the Spaniards outside Flushing. 43 ; land in S. Beveland to attack Goes, 46 ; had a company in Leices- ter's army, 84 ; made governor of Bergen- op-Zoom, 123 : on good terms with Sir F. Vere, 144, 181; signed Vere's statement of soldiers' grievances, 204; retirement and death, 211. Morgan, Captain, in the Nieuport campaign, 279 ; rallied the English at Nieuport, 301 ; at the defence of Breda, 426 ; with his regi- ment at Bois-le-Duc, 436; at the siege of Maastricht, 440. Morgan, Sir Matthew, commanded reserves in the attack on Cadiz, 230. Morion. See Armor. Moses Table, a fort in the defences of Ostend, 312, 325. Motley, Mr. John L. (historian), his attacks upon the character of Sir Francis Vere re- futed in detail, 281, . ; that Vere gave the time during which the army was before Nieuport incorrectly, 282, . ; that Vere gave monstrous advice at Nieuport, on the approach of the enemy, 286, n. ; that Vere gave an unreliable account of the time of crossing Nieuport Haven, 289, . ; that Vere gave absurd advice before the battle of Nieuport, 292, . ; that Vere gave a false account of the conduct of Count Louis Gunther on the seashore, 293, . ; that Vere unjustly complained that the reserves were not brought up rapidly enough, 299, . ; his attack on Vere's Commentaries, and other accusations, 359, ., 302, 303, 304; that Vere was guilty of perfidy and gross treachery at Ostend, 320, . ; that Vere had no right to the credit of opening the west- ern sluice, 328, . ; that Vere was not on Cordial terms with Maurice and the States General, 349, . Motterie, Count La, governor of Maastricht, 440 ; surrender, 446. Mountjoy, Lord, 27; lieut. -general in the "Island Voyage/' 237; displeasure of Sir F. Vere at his appointment, 239; his ship disabled in the Bay of Biscay, 241 ; ordered to attack St. Michael's, 244 ; created Earl of Devonshire, death, 350, . Muilman, history of Essex, account of the Veres, 464. Mulheim, on the Ruhr, 371 ; Count Trivulcio in command, 372 ; description, 373; present appearance, 375. Mullet in the arms of the Veres, 5, 16. Murray, Sir Alexander, with a Scotch regiment at Turnhout, 255, 256. Murray, Sir Patrick, married to the widow of Sir Francis Vere, 357. Musket brought into use by the Duke of Alva, 58 ; description, wheel-lock, rest, 59. Muster-master general, 54. Naarden, massacre at, by Spaniards, 29. Nahe, valley, 400 ; cliffs on the banks, 403. Namur, Prince Christian of Brunswick lost her arm in an encounter near, 410. Nassau, Count Engelbert of, tomb at Breda, 163 ; monument of Sir Francis Vere imi- tated from, 361 ; married the heiress of Breda, 424. Nassau, Count Ernest Casimir of, crossed the Lippe to attack the Spaniards, 214 ; led the rear in the Nieuport campaign, 278; occu- pied Fort Philippine, 279 ; detached to attack the Archduke at Lefrmghe, 28"*, 294 : com- manded troops for the recovery of Sluys, 366 ; forced to fall back before Velasco, 367 ; INDEX. 493 encamped on the other side of the Zwin, 368 ; slain at the siege of Maastricht, 446. Nassau, Count John of (the elder), presided at the Union of Utrecht, ji ; stadtholder of Friesland, 175 ; holding his own against Verdugo, tgo. Nassau, Count John (the younger), his praise of Sir F. Vere for his conduct before Coe- vorden, 185. Nassau, Count Justin of, natural son of Wil- liam, Prince of Orange, collected ships for the relief of Sluys, 113; with Prince Mau- rice in the Nieuport campaign, 279 ; gov- ernor of Breda, 425, 426 ; surrendered Breda to Spinola, 428. Nassau, Count Henry of, built the castle of Breda, 425. Nassau, Count Henry of (the younger), es- corted Sir Horace Vere to the Palatinate with Dutch cavalry, 400 ; acting as a guide, 401 ; left Sir H. Vere at Darmstadt, 403; at the siege of Maastricht, 441. Nassau, Count Louis Gunther, 214; in the Cadiz expedition, 218, 219, 222 ; captured the argosies in Cadiz Bay, 228 ; with Sir F. Vere in the attack on Cadiz, 230; general of cavalry in the Nieuport campaign, 278 ; misunderstood his orders, 292 ; at the recov- ery of Sluys, 366; died of fever before Sluys, 369. Nassau, Count Philip of, in the attack on the mutineers of Gertruydenburg, 139 ; arranged with the captain of a peat boat for the sur- prise of Breda, 158 ; men from his garrisons sent on board the peat boat, 159; entered Breda with Prince Maurice, 161 ; in 1592 took the field with Maurice, 181 ; escorted by Sir F. Vere to join the Due de Bouillon at Sedan, 196; crossed the Lippe to attack a Spanish force, 214; slain, 215. Nassau, Count William of, son of Count John, Delfziel delivered over to, 175; in 1592 took the field with Maurice, 181 ; led one of the assaults at Steenwyck, 183 ; at the siege of Groningen, 193 ; with Sir Horace Vere at Heerewaarden, 274; at the recovery of Sluys, 366, 368; stationed be- tween Vucht and the Maas at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436 ; at Ambrij during the siege of Maastricht, 442. Naunton, Sir Robert, panegyric on the Veres in his " Fragmenta Regalia," 2, ., 358, . Neal of St. Sauveur, Viscount of the Coten- tin, his revolt against Duke William, 5. Neapolitans, defeated by Sir F. Vere on his march to Rheinberg, 153 ; at Turnhout, 257. See Italians. Neckar, 403 ; Heidelberg on the banks of, 416. Neerhaeren, near Maastricht, Spaniards en- Camped at, 441. Netherlands, physical geography, 33, 34, 35 ; eastern part, 34 ; line of hills, 34 ; influence of hills on course of rivers, 34 ; considered as a fortress, with rivers as lines of defence> 34) 35 ; Bommel-waart said to be the key f 35 i physical features of free and Span- ish Netherlands, 36, 37 ; joy of the people on Queen Elizabeth's declaration of war with Spain, 72; great advances in pros- perity, 187, 206, 207; Arctic and East India voyages sent out from, 207, 208 ; armistice with Spain, 378. Neuburg, Duke of, in the Protestant Union, 395- Neuss, a strategic point on the Rhine, 35 ; taken by storm, 87. Neville, Lady Dorothy, first wife of the i6th Earl of Oxford, 18. Newington, the i7th Earl of Oxford lived at, 382 ; buried at, 383. Nicolas, his opinion regarding the barony of San ford, 2, n. Nieuport, horsemen from, captured an Ost- end boy catching fowl, 202, 280; arrival of the division of Count Solms, 281 ; of the rest of Maurice's army, 281 ; history and de- scription of the town, 282, 283 ; the dunes, 285 ; description of the battlefield, 289, 290; disposition of forces, 290, 291, 294 ; des- perate struggle for the East Hill, 296, 297 ; failure of the reserves to come up, 299 ; i- pan- ish advance, 300; rally of the English, 301 ; charge of cavalry, 301 ; total defeat of the Spaniards, 302. Node, or Nood, Van der, governor of Ostend when the siege began, 309; received Sir Francis Vere, 310, 317, . ; governor of Ost- end after Van Dorp, 33 1 ; at the recovery of Sluys, 368. " Nonpareil," Sir Robert Dudley's ship in the Cadiz expedition, 219 ; Lord Thomas Howard shifted his flag to, at Cadiz, 226 ; Sir Richard Leveson in command of, for the " Island Voyage," 238. Nonsuch Palace. See Mitckam. Norham manuscripts at Oxford, notices of the Vere family in, 464. Normandy, the Cotentin ceded to the Duke of, by Alan of Brittany, 3 ; Society of Antiqua- ries of, mention of Veres in transactions, 3> *> Norris, Lord, of Rvcote, the Queen's friend- ship for his wife (Margery Williams), 49, 344- Norris, Edward, with the English volunteers, 51 ; lieutenant (o Sir Philip Sidney at Flush- ing, 88 ; serving in Leicester's army, 84, 91 \ with Schenk at the construction of Schenken- Schanz. 88; povrnor of Ostenri. 181, 202. Norris, Henry, suffered death owing to false 494 INDEX. accusations against Queen Anne Boleyn, 48. Norris, Henry, 88 ; knighted at Warnsfeld, 96. Norris, Sir John, with the English volunteers, 48, 31 ; family of, 48, 49 ; commanded volun- teers at Rymenant, 50; colonel-general in Leicester's army, 84; relief of Grore, 87; knighted, 88 ; at Arnhem with Leicester, 91 ; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; named by Lord Willooghby as a better man than him- self to command the forces, 118; came to the Netherlands to recruit for the Portugal action, 136; withdrawn from the Nether- lands, 142 ; brought a gracious message to Sir F. Vere from the Queen, 17: ; death, 253 ; monument in Westminster Abbey, near that of Sir F. Vere, 360. North, Lord, joined the English volunteers in the Netherlands, 48 ; accompanied Leicester to Flushing, 78 ; letter from, in praise of the Queen's policy, 82; commanded a troop of horse, 84, 91 ; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; made a banneret on the field, 96 ; pall- bearer at the funeral of Sir Philip Sidney, 96 ; named by Lord Willoughby as a better man than himself to command the forces, 118. Northumberland, Earl of, delivered the Queen's letter to Sir F. Vere at Ostend, 305 ; an incumbrance in the army, 306 ; his creature dismissed, 307 ; took offence and left Ostend, 317, 317, . ; challenged Sir F. Vere, 334, 335. 336; notices of, 334, 337, n. Norwich, Bishop of, capture of Nieuport by, 283. Nottingham, Countess of, the Queen's grief at her death, 341. Nottingham, Earl of. See Howard. Noue, Francois de la, commanded volunteers against Don Juan of Austria, former ser- vices, 49; selected a position near Rymenant, 50; lost his arm, called " Bras de Fer/' 49 ; aided Sir Horace Vere at Heerewaarden, 274. Nuneham, portrait of Lady Harcourt (Fran- ces Vere) at, 23. See Harctrurt. Oakley, manor of the Veres at, 16. Oberhausen, in the Ruhr valley, 374, Ogle, Sir John, lieut. -colonel of the division of Sir F. Vere in the Nieuport campaign, 279 ; rescued Sir F. Vere in the battle, 299; rallied the men, 301 ; remark on the battle, 302 ; declaration of Sir F. Vere to, at Ost- end, that he would never yield, 319; parley with the Spaniards at Ostend, 320; sent as a hostage to the Archduke's camp, 321 ; re- turned, 323; acted as friend of Sir F. Vere in the matter of the Earl of Northum- berland's challenge, 334, 335; his narrative of the last charge at Nieuport and the parley at Ostend, 358; one of the four English colonels serving the States, 364 ; at the re- covery of Sluys, 366, 367 ; in command at Utrecht, resigned, rather than act against Barneveldt, 391 ; reconciliation with Sir Horace Vere, 393 ; sat, in the council of war, on a question of precedence, 424, . Olden Barneveldt. See Barneveldt. Olmeyra, Diego Luis de, commanded in the lines round Breda, 426. Oppenheim, 403 ; army of the Protestant Union at, 399 ; taken by Spinola, 400. Orange, Prince of. See William Maurice, Frederick Henry, Nassau. Ordnance. See Master of. Orsoy, on the Rhine, Mondragon encamped at, 212. Ortiz, an officer in charge of the English spies, at the attack on the water fort at Bergen-op- Zoom, 130, 131. Osorio, Don Antonio, enters Cadiz on the evacuation by the English, 234. Ostend, a cautionary town, 69; masked dur- ing the siege of Sluys, by the garrison at Blankenburg, 106 ; Earl of Leicester at, 113; Sir John Conway made governor, 113; Sir Edward Norris governor, 181 ; alarms at, treatment of the boy Coopman, 201 ; Mau- rice's army advanced to neighborhood of, 280; description of the defences, 311, 312, 313 ; progress of the siege, 313-316; strata- gem, 317-323; arrival of supplies and rein- forcements, 322 ; preparations for the great assault, 323-326 ; the great assault, 326, 327; repulsed, 328 : Sir Francis Vere left Ostend, 330; sequel of the siege, 331; surrender, 33* Oudenburg, Fort, near Ostend, taken by Mau- rice, 280; enemy before, 286. Overflakkee Island, 36. Overstein, Count, went to the relief of Rhein- berg with Sir Francis Vere, 149, 151, 153; killed before Zutphen, 172. Overyssel, Deventer the capital of, 172 ; peas- ant proprietors, 182. Oxford, Earls of, hereditary Grand Chamber- lains, baronies inherited by, 2; creation, 6. Alberic or Aubrey de Vere, ist Earl, 6; founded a priory at Hatfield Broad Oak, 6. 2d Earl, buried at Hatfield Broad Oak, 6. Robert, 30 Earl, opposed to King John, 6. 5th Earl, supported Simon de Montfort, 6 ; his tomb at Earl's Colne, 15, . 6th Earl, served under Edward I., 6. John, ?th Earl, at Cressy and Poitiers, 7. 8th Earl, proof of the falsehood of a story told of him in Froissart, 461. gth Earl, the favorite of Richard II. 7, 15. nth Earl, served in the wars of Henry V., 7; his tomb at Earl' INDEX. 495 Colne, 15, n. i2th Earl, beheaded by Ed- ward IV., 8; histombat Earl's Colne, 15, . 1 3th Earl, at battles of Barnet and Bos- worth, 8. John, 151)1 Earl, the first Prot- estant Earl, X ; his tomb at Castle Heding- ham, 9. John, i6th Earl, at the siege of Boulogne, 18 ; his character, 22; his be- quests to John and Francis Vere, 23. Ed- ward, 1 7th Earl, 18, 22 ; sold Earl's Colne, 15, n. ; his guardian, 23; rules for his studies, his accomplishments, married to Anne Cecil, 24 ; dissipated the wealth and estates of the family, 25, 209, 382 ; death, 349, ., 383 ; second marriage, 383. Henry, i8th Earl, reversion of Sir Francis Vere's pension granted to, 349, 384 ; his mother's anxiety about his evil companion John Hunt, 383 ; went to Italy, returned to serve under Vere, 384; raised men for the Pala- tinate regiment, 398; led the first divi- sion, 404 ; witnessed the retreat of Spinola, 406 ; sent home by Sir Horace Vere, to ex- plain the position in the Palatinate, 408; imprisoned in the Tower, 423 ; marriage with Lady Diana Cecil, 423, 424; raised a regi- ment for service in the Netherlands, dis- pute with the Earl of Southampton as to precedence, 424 ; led the attempt to relieve Breda, 427; his death, 428, 429, ., 444. Robert, iqth Earl, son of Hugh Vere by a daughter of Wm. Walsh, 383, . ; succeeded to the title, 430; married to Beatrix Hem- mema (see Hemmema) ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 435 , succeeded to Sir Edward Vere's regiment, 437 ; repulsed a sortie at Maastricht, 442 ; mortally wounded, 442, 443, 444, 446. Aubrey, 2oth Earl, the last Earl, notice of, 444. Pacheco, Don Isidro, in command at Goes, 44; repulsed assault of the English, 44, 46 ; signal to, from the relieving force, 47. Pacheco, Don Juan, hanged at Flushing, 42, 76. Packenham, Colonel, his regiment at the siege of Maastricht, 440. Paganells in the Cotentin, 4. Palatinate, English regiment raised to defend, 398 ; officers, 398 ; Sir Horace Vere entered, 403 ; garrisons, 408 ; deserted by the princes of the Protestant Union, 409; deso- lation, returning prosperity under Charles Louis, 420. See Frederick. Pallavicino, Genoese banker, the Queen bor- rowed money from, 52. Pappenheim, Count, at the siege of Maas- tricht, 440 : attacked the Dutch quarters, 445; upbraided Santa Cruz for inaction, 4^46. Parker, Sir Nicholas, commanded a troop of horse under Leicester, 84; in the Bergen- op-Zoom garrison, 120; knighted by Lord Willoughby, 132; commanding cavalry un- der Sir F. Vere, 181 ; his company had many married men, 200; crossed the Lippe with Robert Vere, 214; conducted the re- treat over the Lippe, 214, 215 ; brought the news of Robert Vere's death, 215, 222 ; or- der to cruise between St. George and Grnci- osa, 246 ; chasing the Spanish fleet, 246 ; consultation with Sir F. Vere, 247; at Turn- hout, 260, 307. Parma, Margaret of, her cruel speech, 28. Parma, Alexander Farnese, Duke of, governor of the Netherlands, took Antwerp, 32, 68; serving at Rymenant, 49 ; broke up the " Ter- cio Viejo," 53 ; nearly surprised in his tent at Venlo, 60 ; besieged and took Grave, 87 ; besieged Rheinberg, 87, 90 ; marched to the relief of Zutphen, 92; reconnoitred Leices- ter's position from Zutphen, 92 ; resolved on the siege of Sluys, 100; his preparations for the siege of Sluys, 106, 112; granted honor- able terms to the Sluys garrison, no, in; plan for invading England, 1 12, 125 ; re- solved to besiege Bergen-op-Zoom, 126; be- gan the Bergen-op-Zoom siege, 127 ; two pages killed by his side, 128; scheme for capturing the water forts, 129; raised the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, 131; beheaded the officers of Breda garrison, 162; absent in France, 171, 175, 182; besieged Knodsen- burg, 176; retreated from the Betuwe, at Spa, 178; death at Arras, character, 185. Partisan. See Halberd. Pasino, Aurelio de, his work on fortification, 468. Paston letters, i2th Earl of Oxford mentioned in, 8. Pastrana, Duke of, at siege of Bergen-op- Zoom, 126. Pay, of officers, 55, 56, 57 ; of soldiers, 58, 59, 62 ; money sent to Lord Willoughby to pay troops, 1 19 ; arrangements for more regular- ity in paying troops, 1 54. Peat, deposits in Drenthe, 34; barges laden with, in the Vssel,92 - , plan to surprise Breda by means of a peat boat, 158, 425; prepara- tion of the boat, 159 : in the Peel, 272. Peel, the, in Brabant, 272, 437. Pekell, a bastion in the Ostend defences, 312 ; underground quarters dug, near, 315. Pelham, Sir William, lord marshal of Leices- ter's army, notice of. 83; joined the army, 90; wounded at Doesburg, 91 ; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; left England for the relief of Sluys, 112 ; died at Flushing, 113, n8. Pembroke, Earl of, Roger Williams served as paee to, 52 ; pall-bearer at Sir Philip Sid- ney's funeral, 96. Perce. See Corborant. 496 INDEX. Percival, Mr., quartermaster-general, sent by the Prince of Orange to allot stations in the camp before Maastricht, 441. Percy, family of, 4. Percy, village of, in the Cotentin, 4. Percy, Sir Charles, commanding the outlying picket at Villafranca (Azores), 249. Percy, Thomas, in the Gunpowder Plot, 337, . See Northumbtrland, Earl of. Peterborough, Earl of, trained under the Veres, 456. Petersheim, woods of, near Maastricht, 441 ; chateau, with ruins of the Hoogt Kloster, where the Spanish general had his head- quarters during the siege of Maastricht, 441. Philip II. of Spain, invoked the aid of the assassin, 31 ; prepared an expedition against England, 112; never recovered from the sack of Cadiz, 237 ; plans thwarted by the elements, 250 ; anxious for peace, 264 ; death, 270. Philip III., marriage with Margaret of Aus- tria, 276. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, built the walls of Flushing, 75 ; married Isabella of Portugal, and instituted Golden Fleece, 103. Philippine, point selected for the landing of the army of Maurice in Flanders, occupied by Count Ernest of Nassau, 279, 280 ; descrip- tion, 279, n. ; army landed, 280. Picard's, another name for Kirby Hall, 25. Pico, one of the Azores, 244. Pietersberg, height near Maastricht, 34, 440. Pigott, Captain, taken prisoner at Mulheim, 378. Pike, description of the weapon, 44, 57 ; ceased to be used, 57, . Pikemen, 57; dress and armor, 57,58, 62; pay, 58. Pilgrim Fathers, principles of liberty imbibed by, 388; departure from Delftshaven, 389. See Bradford, Robinson^ Separatists, Standish, Winslow. Pilsen, Count Mansfelt sulking at, 378. Pistoliers, dress and arms, 63. Pistols, 63. Plaiz, barony of, inherited by the Veres, 2, 16 ; in abeyance, 430. Plumart, guided the Spanish troops across the channel to South Beveland, 47. Plymouth, Cadiz expedition proceeded to, 220 ; return of the Cadiz expedition to, 234 ; ex- pedition to the Azores sailed from, 240; re- turned disabled, 241 ; return of the ships from the Azores, 350. Pointer, Captain, in the Palatinate regiment, 3oS ; led the third division, 404. Poitiers, battle of, Earl of Oxford at, 7. Poland, journey of Francis Vere to, 26. Polder, an outwork in the defences of Ostend, 312, 313; strengthened by works called Quarriers, 313; finally taken by the Span- iards, 331 . Polders, description of, 33, 46. Pooley, Sir John, in garrison at Bergen-op- Zoom, IZQ; notice of his family, 120, n. ; knighted by Lord Willpughby, 132 ; with Schenk at the relief of Rheinberg, 147 ; commanded cavalry under Sir F. Vere, 181 ; death before Groningen, 195 ; so many men of his company were married in the country that the order for its removal was cancelled, 200 ; his company ordered to be disbanded, 204. Pooley, Sir William, knighted at Cadiz, 234. Poore, Sir John, knighted at Bergen-op-Zoom, '32. Popham of Littlecote supposed to be the hero of the ballad of the Spanish Lady, 232. Porc-espic, ravelin at Ostend, key of the de- fences, 311, 323 ; Sergeant-Major Carpenter and Captain Meetkerk in, at the assault, 325 ; assault, 326, 331. Porchester Castle, Sir F. Vere constable of, 35- Portland, Raleigh and Vere reconciled while at, 239. Portocarrero, Don Juan, commander of the galleys at Cadiz, 224. Portsmouth and Portsea, Sir Francis Vere ap- pointed governor, 350, 353. " Portugal action," troops for, 136. Pothey, captain of a ship in the relief of Ost- end, recognized by the Sp-nish officer who came to parley, 322. See Serrano. Potlitz, Count, at the relief of Rheinberg, 149. Pouldrons. See Armor. Poulett, Lord, married to Katherine Vere, 45'. Powell, Captain, in garrison at Bergen-op- Zoom, 1 20. Prague, battle of, 407. Precedence, question of, between the Earls of Oxford and Southampton, 424, Preston, Sir Ames, captain of the " Ark Royal "in the Cadiz expedition, 219; cap- tain of the " Defiance " in the " Island Voyage," 237. Prinsterer, notice of his edition of letters from members of the House of Orange, 471. Protestant Union, formed by German princes, 394 ; refused to meddle with Bohemia, 396 ; troops of the Union at Oppenheim, 399 ; re- treat to Worms, 400; princes of, received Vere at Worms, 405 ; leave Sir Horace Vere to his fate, 409. Pfovost marshal, 54; duties, 66. Puerto Real, in Cadiz Bay, 223 ; merchant INDEX. 497 ships take refuge at, 224; merchant ships burnt at, 233. Puntales, castle in Cadiz Bay, 223, 228. Putten Island, 36. Quarriers, works to strengthen the Podler in the Ostend defences, 313 ; council of war to consider withdrawal from, 319, 320. Quartermaster, 60; duties, 65. Quartermaster-general, 54. See Percival. Quesada, Dr., made terms with Essex respect- ing Cadiz, 232. Quincey, De, intermarriage with Veres, 2. Quiriel, Sir Hugh, French commander at the battle of Sluys, too. " Quittance," Sir G. GifEord's ship in the Cadiz expedition, 219. Raamsdonk, village east of Gertruydenburg, Hohenlohe and Brederode encamped at, dur- ing the siege, 188. " Rainbow," ship of Sir F. Vere in the Cadiz expedition, 219 ; first in action, 226 ; com- manded by Sir William Monson in the " Is- land Voyage, 1 ' 237, 246. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 26 ; rear-admiral in the Cadiz expedition, 219 ; on board the " War- spite," 219 ; question with Sir F. Vere as to rank, 220 ; question of rank settled by Essex, 221 ; his renown, 221, 222; protested against landing at the Caleta, 224 ; to lead the attack, 225 ; proceeding during the naval action, 227 ; severely wounded, 228; opinion as regards ships versus forts, 228, . ; rear- admiral in the " Island Voyage," 239; re- conciliation with Vere, 239 ; ship disabled in the Bay of Biscay, 241 ; reached Flores, 243 ; anchored at Fayal and took Horta, 244 ; court of inquiry on, at Fayal, 245 ; sent to St. Michael's, 247 ; captured a large ship, 248; his house at Mitcham, 354. Rammekens, Fort, near Flushing, English vol- unteers helped at its capture, 48, 76 ; de- livered up to Queen Elizabeth, 69 ; descrip- tion, 76; Sir Philip Sidney landed at, 77; inspected by the Earl of Leicester, 80 ; Cap- tain Errington appointed governor, 113 ; Sir T. Baskerville governor, 181. Randolph, Arthur, his marriage at Flushing, 156. Rassart, Captain Charles, his station for re- pelling the assault on Ostend, 325. Ratcliffe, Sir Alexander, succeeded Sir C. Reignall in command of the " Foresight," 241. Ratcliffe, Captain, taken prisoner at Mulheim, 378. Rations, scale for the English army, 61, 62. Ravel, near Turnhout, army of Maurice at, 356. Raynham, portraits of Lord Vere's officers at, 45*- Read, Sir William, on Lord WUloughby't council of war, 1 18. Recklinghausen, in Westphalia, besieged, 164, 165 ; description, 165 ; fort captured by Sir Francis Vere, 166, 167. Recruits, 62 ; excellent condition of, sent from England to defend Osiend, 315, 316. Redhead in charge of Spanish prisoners at Bergen-op-Zoom, 128, 129. Rees, Sir F. Vere crossed the Rhine at, 151 ; fort opposite, 151 ; return of Sir F. Vere to, '54- Regiments. See English Army, Soldier, Company. Regneville, Havre de, 4. Reichswald, woods near Cleves, 34. Reignall, Sir Carew, commanded the " Fore- sight " for the " Island Voyage," 238; too seasick to go on, 241. Renty, Marquis de, in charge of the trenches before Sluys until wounded, 108 ; repulsed in an attack on Tholen, 127. " Repulse," ship of the Earl of Essex and Sir William Monson in the Cadiz expedition, 219, 224 ; in the naval action, 227. Requesens, Don Luis de, succeeded Alva in the government of the Netherlands, 29 ; cap- ture of Schouwen, death, 30. Rest. See Musket Rest. " Revenge." See Grenville. Rheims, death of the 7th Earl of Oxford in the English camp before, 7. Rheinberg, a strategic point on the Rhine, 35 ; besieged by the Duke of Parma, 87; de- fended by Schenk, 90 ; relieved by Schenk, 147 ; besieged by the Marquis of Warren- bon, 148 ; description, 149 ; present appear- ance, 149, . ; first relief by Sir Francis Vere, 151; force detailed for the second re- lief, 151 ; second relief, 153, 168. Rheingrafenberg, precipice, 403. Rhine, river, Holland partly formed by the delta, 32; course deflected by the hills, 34; strategic points on, 35 ; islands forming the delta, 36 ; crossed by Sir F. Vere at Rees, 151; crossed by Spinola at Coblentz, 399 ; crossed by Sir Horace Vere near Coblentz, 402 ; towns on its banks, where it flows through the Palatinate, 403 ; crossed by Sir Horace Vere opposite Worms, 405. Rich, Lord, volunteer in the " Island Voy- age," deserted owing to seasickness, 242. Rich, Sir Charles, in the Palatinate regiment, 398 : led the second division, 404. Richard II. at the funeral of his favorite, the Earl of Oxford, at Earl's Colne, 7, 15. Ripperda, Frisian general in the Nieuport campaign, 279. 498 INDEX. Rittem, village outside Flushing, 75. Kivas, Spanish officer in command of troops when the army of Maurice landed at Philip- pine, 280, 286. Robert of Normandy, Alberic de Vere in the crusade with, 6. Robinson, John, arrival of his congregation at Leyden, 387. Roermond, position of the Maas, 35 ; taken by the Prince of Orange, 440. Romero, Julian, Spanish infantry colonel, 51, 53 ; his interview with Roger Williams, 51. Room Pot, 39. Rosendaal, death of the Earl of Southampton at, 424. Rosengarten, island on the Rhine, 404 ; scene ol the legend of Siegfried and the dragon, 405 ; Sir Horace Vere crossed the Rhine at, 405. Rotterdam, 36, 37. Rounders, duties of, 60. Row, Captain, sent to Bacherach with sick and wounded, 402. Ruhr, river, 370 ; description of its course, 371; changes in the valley of, 374; forded by Sir Horace Vere, 376. Ruhrort, Spinola encamped at, 370. Russell, Sir William, accompanied Leicester to the Netherlands, 78 ; lieut.-general of the army, 84, 91 ; led the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; governor of Flushing, 97 ; applied to, for reinforcements for Sluys, 100 ; resigned the government of Flushing, 113; on Lord Willoughby's council of war, 118; met Sir F. Vere in Marylebone Park, 251 ; notice of, 251, n. Rutland, Earl of, went up the Cerro de Car- neiro at Fayal with Sir F. Vere, 245 ; knighted by the Earl of Essex, 249. Rye, Essex and Vere landed at, 220. Rymenant, battle of, 30, 50. Ryswick, Sir F. Vere in a house of the Prince of Orange at, when wounded, after the bat- tle of Nieuport, 305 ; also after the siege of Grave, 339 ; Vere received the news of the Queen's illness at, 341. Sackville, Sir Edward, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 398. St. Albans, Duke of, representative of the Veres, 444, . St. Albert, Fort, near Ostend, taken by Mau- rice's army, 280; surrendered to Count Solms, 281. St. Ana land, 39. St. George, one of the Azores, 244, 246. St. John, Oliver, married to Katherine Vere, 451- St. Mary's, one of the Azores, 244. St. Michael's, one of the Azores, 244 ; Mount- joy and Blount to attack, 244 ; English fleet proceeded to, 247. See Villa/ranca. St. Osyth, 19, 20. St. Paul's Cathedral, funeral of Sir Philip Sidney, 96; Sir Roger Williams buried at, 212 ; Sir Thomas Baskerville buried at, in, . St. Philip land, 39. St. Vincent, cape, rounded by the Cadiz expe- dition, 222. St. Willebrord, his battle at Flushing, 76. Salazar, Count of. See Velasco. Salisbury, Earl of. See Cecil, Robert. Salisbury, Marquis of, acknowledgment of as- sistance, vii. Sallandt, Prevost de, crossed the Lippe to at- tack a Spanish force, 214. San Andres, a fort facing the island of Voorn, constructed by the Spaniards, 274; sold to Maurice by the Spanish garrison, 277. Santa Cruz, Marquis of, his army encamped near the besieging lines before Maastricht, 440 ; headquarters at the Hoogt Kloster at Petersheim, 441 ; his inactivity, 445, 446. " San Felipe," Spanish ship at Cadiz, 224 ; burnt, 228. San Felipe, fort at Cadiz, 223 ; Spaniards driven into, 231. Santa Maria, a seaport in Cadiz Bay, 223. " San Mateo," 125 ; Spanish ship at Cadiz, 224 ; captured, 228, 234 ; Sir George Carew in command of, for the " Island Voyage," 237 ; disabled, 242. San Sebastian, Cadiz expedition anchored off, 223. "San Tomas," Spanish ship at Cadiz, 224; burnt, 228. Sand Hill, a fort in the defences of Ostend, 311, 312; sown thick with enemy's shot, 316,323; Horace Vere and Charles Fairfax stationed on, during the assault, 324; prep- arations to receive the enemy, 326, 327 ; re- paired, 331 ; captured by Spaniards, 331. Sandhooft, ancient name of Nieuport, 28. Sandwich, 112, n. ; interview between Essex and Vere at, 238. Sara. See fZereets. Savage, Arthur, second man over the walls of Cadiz, 231. Saville, Sir Henry, marriage with Mary Dent, 35 6 3S6, . Saxon thane Wulfwine, Veres succeeded to estates of, 5. Scales, barony of, inherited by the Veres, 2. Scheldt River, Zealand formed by the delta, 32 ; islands enclosed by, 38. Schenk. Sir Martin, constructed the Schen- ken Schanz, 88 : defended Rheinberg, 90 ; constructed a fort near Rees, 151; death, 147. Schenken Schanz, description, 88, 164; ren- INDEX. 499 dezvous for the army of Maurice, 338 ; ren- dezvous before the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 435- Scheveningen, encroachment of the sea at, 284. Schiedam, 36. Schottenburgh, a fort in the defences of Ost- end, 312; Sir F. Vere took his stand at, 325 ; repulse of the enemy, 327. Schouwen, isle of, 30, 36, 39. Schwarzenstein, ruined castle on the Lippe, Scott, Sir John, at the siege of Sluys, 105 ; in the Bergen-<>p-Zoom garrison, 120; knighted by Lord Willoughby, 132. Scout-master, duties, 66. Scrooby. See Separatists. Scropes, intermarriage with Veres, 2. Seals of Sir Francis Vere, 209, n. Sedan, 196. Selby, Sir John, of Twizell, his men stand firm at Mulheim, 374. Selz River, 406. Senlac, baule of, Alberic de Vere at, 5. Separatists, congregation at Austerfield and Scrooby, notice of, 387, . Sergeant, duties, pay, dress, 56, 60. Sergeant-major, duties, 55. Sergeant-major general, duties, 54. Serjeaux arms on a tomb at Earl's Colne, 15, n. Serrano, Don Mateo, sent into Ostend to parley with Sir V. Vere, 320; his fool's errand, 321, 322. Serug, great-grandfather of Abraham, descent of Veres from, 3, . Sevenburg, approach to Breda by causeway of, 427. Seymour. See Somerset, Duke of. Shakespeare, William, 26. Sheffield, Lord, married Lady Anne Vere, 19; Fairfax and Holies families related to the Veres through, 451, 452. Shields of arms. See Arms. Ships (see Cadiz, Azores), unseaworthiness of, 240. Shirley, Sir Anthony, 85, . ; succeeded Sir F. Gorges as sergeant-major general of the " Island Voyage," 241 ; sought to injure Sir W. Raleigh, 145 ; letter from Sir F. Vere to, when in Persia, 276, . Shirley, Sir Thomas, accompanied Leicester to the Netherlands, 78 ; commanded a troop of horse, 84 ; treasurer of the army, 85 ; in trouble about his accounts, 85, n. Shotmen of a company, arms, 58. Sidney, Sir Philip, 26 ; governor of Flushing, 73 ; notice of, 74 ; arrival at Flushing, 77 ; his defence of the Earl of Leicester, 77, ., 78 ; gave up the government of Bergen-op- Zoom to Lord Willoughby, 85, 123; project for attacking Axel, US; capture of Axel, 89; joined Leicester at Arnhem, 90; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; wounded, 95, 96 ; death at Arnhem, funeral at St. Paul's, 96. Sidney, Sir Robert, served with the English volunteers, 51 ; in command of a troop of horse under Leicester, 84 ; made governor of Flushing, 113, 181 ; commanding cavalry in the field, 181 ; wounded at Steenwyck, 184 ; returned to Flushing, 184 ; came with part of the Flushing garrison to Turnhout, 255; restless night before the battle, 256; mischief made between him and Sir F. Vere, 261 ; his conduct in leaving Nieuport before the battle, 304, . Sidney State Papers edited by Collins, 471. Sieges, Alkmaar, 29 ; Antwerp, 32 ; Axel, 89, 90; Bergen-op-Zoom, 126-131 ; Bommel, 2 73. 274 : taking of Breda, 159, 163 ; Spino- la's siege, 424 ; Cadiz, 223, 224 ; Coevorden, 184; Deventer, 173; Doesburg, 92; Ger- truydenburg, 187, 189; Goes, 44, 46; Grave, 87, 338; Grolle, 212; Groningen, 191-195; Haarlem, 29; Leyden, 30; Middelburg, 29; Nymegen, 179; Ostend, 310-330; Sluys, 101 - 113, 366-369 ; Steenwyck, 182; Zutphen, 92, 172; Zutphen Sconces, 171, 172; Frankenthal, 411, 419; Heidelberg, 416; Manheim, 419; Bois-le-Duc, 437; Maastricht, 441-446. Siegfried, legend of, 405. Siemienowicz, Casimir, work on artillery, 468. Skeyes, a manor in Tilbury, belonging to Sir F. Vere, 352. Skippon, Philip, wounded before Breda, 428 ; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 436, 439 ; re- pulsed a sortie at Maastricht, 441 ; gallantry before Maastricht, 442 ; organized the new model army, 457; military works dedicated to, 467, 468. Sloe Channel, between Walcheren and S. Beveland, 76. Sluys, town of, on the Zwin, 38 ; Parma re- solved on the siege of, 100, reinforcements arrive, 101 ; description of the town and ap- proaches, 101, 103 ; battle of, and landing of Edward III., 102; trade, in the days of the Dukes of Burgundy, 103 ; defences, 104 ; besieging force, 106 ; communications with Flushing cut off, 106 ; castle abandoned, 107 ; approached by the West Gate. 107 ; great fusillade, breach, assault, 108 : des- perate gallantry of the defence, 109 ; Parma resolved to proceed by sap, 1 10 ; surrender, no, MI ; authorities for the siege, in, n. ; subsequent history, 114; materials for the history of, 114, . ; present appearance, 115; maps, 116, . ; advance of Rivas from, 286 ; assembly of Maurice's army for re- 500 INDEX. covery of, 366; siege works of Maurice, 368 ; surrender to Maurice, 369 ; compara- tive difficulties of the two sieges, 369. Smith, Sir Thomas, tutor to the i7th Earl of Oxford, 24. Smyth, Captain, murdered in the Betuwe, 156. Smyth, Roger, commanding a company under Sir F. Vere, 181. Smythe, Sir John, his work on the conduct of wars, 466. Snaphaunce, 59, . Snayer, pictures of the battles of Wimpfen and Hochst by, at Brussels, 414, . Soldiers, dress, 58; pay, 58, 59; hutting and encamping, 61 ; rations, 61, 62 ; cost of equipment, 62 ; grievances, 204. See A rtil- lery, Cavalry, Company, Pikeman, Shot- man. Solms, Count Everard, assisted Lord Wil- loughby in fortifying Bergen-op-Zoom, 127 ; repulsed the Spanish attack on Tholen, 127 ; attacked the mutineers at Gertruydenburg, 139 ; entered Breda, 161 ; in the attack on Dunkirk, 170 ; provisioned Knodsenburg, 172; in 1592 took the field with Maurice, 181 ; at the siege of Gertruydenburg, 188; at the battle of Turnhout, 255 ; led the centre in the Nieuport campaign, 278 ; detached to capture Fort St. Albert, 281; advanced to Nieuport, 281 ; at the battle of Nieuport, 287, 291, 294; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 437 ; at the siege of Maas- tricht, 440. Solms, Count Ernest, crossed the Lippe to attack a Spanish force, 214 ; slain, 215. Solms, Count Frederick, with Maurice in the Nieuport campaign, 279. Solst, Count, commanded the Germans at Turnhout, 257, 259. Somerset, Duke of, Protector, Arthur Golding in his service, 18; act of Parliament settling all the Vere estates on his son's marriage, i 19; fresh act to frustrate this arrangement, 20; the act preserved in the House of Lords, 465. Souburg, village near Flushing, English vol- unteers encamped at, 44, 51. Soulles river and valley, in the C&tentin, 4, n. Southampton, Earl of, in the "Garland 7 ' for the " Island Voyage," 238 ; notice of, 238, . ; ordered to cruise off Graciosa, 246 ; captured a Spanish frigate, 246 ; consultation with Sir F. Vere, 247 ; knighted by the Earl of Essex, 249 ; dispute with Lord Oxford as to precedence, death at Rosendaal, 424. Southwell. Sir Robert, captain of the " Lion '* in the Cadiz expedition, 219; in the naval cction, 226. Spa, Duke of Parma drinking the waters, 178; Sir Horace Vere drinking the waters, 386, 387. Spanish Armada, defeat, 125 ; capture of the " San Mateo " by Sir F. Vere, 125. Spanish fleet in the Azores escaped to Terceira, 246. Spanish governors of the Netherlands. See Alva, Pannii, Requesens, Don Juan, A rchdukes A Ibert or Isabella. Spanish infantry, 30, 33, 43, 52 ; English companies organized on the model of, 53 ; discontent, 275, 277. Spanish Half-moon in the Ostend defences, 312 ; Sir F. Vere's stratagem at, 328. Sparhawke, Mr., muster-master, 204. Speldorf Plateau, Spaniards routed by Bacx and Prince Frederick Henry on the, 376. Spellener Heide, a great moor east of Wesel, 213. Spencer, James, provost-marshal in Leicester's army, 85. Spenser, Edmund, 26. Spinelli, Carlos, commanding Italians at the siege of Sluys, 100. Spinola, Genoese banker, Queen Elizabeth borrowed money from, 52. Spinola, Marquis Ambrosio, assumed the con- duct of the siege of Ostend, 331 ; notice of, 365 ; his character, 366 ; attempt to relieve S.uys, 369; his campaign of 1605,370; his ride up the valley of the Ruhr, 374 ; his ap- preciation of Sir Horace Vere, 377 ; invaded the Palatinate, 396, 399; seized Mayence and Kreuznach, 399, 400 ; took the field in the Palatinate, 405 : avoided battle with Vere, 406 ; left the Palatinate to besiege Bergen-op-Zoom, 410; siege raised, 411; siege of Breda, 423-428 ; left the Nether- lands, 429 ; subsequent career, 429, . Spring family at Lavenham, 19. Spring, Margaret, married to Aubrey Vere, 17, 33, Spring, Robert, a volunteer with Lord Wil- loughby, 84. Squadrons of companies, 56. Stafford, Captain, in the Palatinate regiment, 39. Stafford, Sir Edward, proposed by Sir F. Vere as arbitrator in the quarrel of the Earl of Northumberland, 334. Standish, Miles, Gelding's translation of Cassar in his library, 18, . ; trained in the school of the Veres, 388, 458; joined the Pilgrim Fathers, 388; notice of, 388, n. ; Barriffe's " Artillery Guide *' in his library, 467. Stanhope, Ensign J., slain before Breda, 428, n. Stanley, Sir William, in the charge at Warns- feld, 94 ; made governor of Deventer, 97 ; INDEX. 501 treacherously betrayed his trust, 98, 112, 170, 172, 174; his intrigues at Amhem, 117, w. ; his spies detected at Bergen-op-Zoom, 128, 129; his plan frustrated, 130, 131. Stanmore, tomb of the Wolstenholmes at, 452, . Stanton, Captain, in the breach at Maastricht, 445- Star of five points in the shield of the Veres, 5. States General, independence declared at the Hague, 31 ; envoys to Queen Elizabeth to ask for aid, 68 ; terms of the first treaty, 69 ; discontented with the English alliance, 118; unjust accusations against English officers, 139; resolve to free Friesland and Gronin- gen, 175; alarm at the advance of Parma, 176 ; resolve lo send aid to Groningen, 190 ; appoint Sir F. Vere general of all the Eng- lish troops in their pay, 191, 202, 203 ; Sir F. Vere's negotiation as to the Cadiz expe- dition, 218; the second treaty, negotiations, 265-269 ; strained every nerve to defend Bommel, 273, 275; resolve to invade Flan- ders, 278 ; entrust the defence of Ostend to Sir F. Vere, 308-315 ; employ Sir F. Vere to represent them in England, 333 ; negotiation as to status of English troops, 340 ; wel- come the return of Sir F. Vere, 347 ; grant a pension to Sir F. Vere, 348, 349 ; truce of twelve years, 378. Steenberg, gate of Bergen-op-Zoom, 121 ; sally from, 128. Steenwyck, 37; in the hands of the Spaniards, 175; siege resolved upon, 182; description, 182 ; tower on wheels invented for the siege, 1.83; mines exploded, 183; surrender, 184; losses, 184. Stone Castle, near Greenhithe, William Carew of, father of Thomasine, wife of John Vere, 351 ; left by John Vere to his widow, 422. Stour, river and valley, n ; country of the Veres, 17. Strada, Famianus, notice of his history " De Bello Belgico," 468. Stratagems of Sir Francis Vere, at Bergen-op- Zoom, 131 ; at the Zutphen Sconces, 171, 172; in the Betuwe, 177; at Cadiz, 230; at Ostend, 314, 320-323, 328. Of Prince Mau- rice, capture of Breda, 160. Sturm, Count, at the siege of Maastricht, 441. Suckling, Sir John, at the siege of Bois-le- Duc, 456. Sudbury, birthplace of Gainsborough, n. Suffolk, estates of Veres in, 5, 5, , 10, 14, 17, 19. Suffolk, Dowager Duchess of, mother of Lord Willoughby, 81. Surrey, Earl of, married to Lady Frances Vere, '9- Sussex, Earl of, in the Cadiz expedition, 219 ; with Vere in the attack on Cadiz, 230; a candidate for the governorship of Brill, 253. Sutcliff, Dr., Judge Marshal in Leicester's army, 85. Sutton, Captain, in the division of Sir F. Vere during the Nieuport campaign, 279; rallied the English at Nieuport, 301. Sweden, Prince Eric of, landed at Harwich, entertained by the i6th Earl of Oxford, 22. Swegoe, Thomas, prisoner at Bergen-op-Zoom, attempted to bribe some of the garrison, 128. " Swiftsure,'' Sir Robert Cross on board, in the Cadiz expedition, 219; in the naval ac- tion, 227 ; Sir Gilly Merrick on board, for the " Island Voyage," 238; at Fayal, 244. Sword worn by pikemen, 57. Sybil Hedingham, birthplace of Sir John Hawksworth, 13. Sydenham, Captain, in the breach at Maas- tricht, 445. Sydney. See Sidney. Syennes, valley of, in the Cotentin, 4, n. Tabara, Juan Nino de, commanding in the lines round Breda, 426. Taces. See A rtnor. Tarlatini, Lieut., in command of cavalry when Breda was surprised, 160. Taxis, Juan Baptista, governor of Zutphen, 92. Tedcastle, Master, on the staff of Sir F. Vere, his last message to his sister, 330. Tempel, Olivier de, commanded the rear in the Nieuport campaign, 278, 291, 294. Temple, William, friend of Sir Philip Sidney, who died in his arms, 96. Tendring Hundred, manors of the Veres in, n, 1 6, 20. Terceira, one of the Azores, 244; Spanish fleet escaped into, 246. " Tercio Viejo," a famous Spanish regiment, 53 ; at the siege of Sluys, 109. Terheyde, village near Breda, occupied by an Italian regiment, 426 ; Spinola cut the dikes at, 427. Terneuzen, Sir Philip Sidney landed at, for the attack on Axel, 89. Tester-berge, hills near Wesel, 213; occupied by the cavalry of Mondragon, 213. Teteringen, village near Breda, 159, .; occu- pied by Spinola, 426. Tets, Arnold van M., acknowledgment of as- si-tance, vii. Tholen, 39; attempt of the Spaniards to cap- ture, 126, 127; threatened, 255. Throckmorton, Captain, kindness of Sir F. Vere to, 155. Throckmorton, Arthur, his insolence to Sir F. Vere at Plymouth, 234. Throckmorton , Sir Marcel! us, commanded the 502 INDEX. "San Andres" for the "Island Voyage," 238. Tilbury (on Thames), army assembling at, to resist the Spanish invasion, 125. Tilbury (juxia Clare), parish of, 14; Sir F. Vere retired to, 346, 350 ; history of the es- tate, 351 ; disposition of, by John Vere's will, 422; gave the title to Sir Horace Vere's barony, 431 ; Lady Vere succeeded to, 454. Tilly, Count, Imperialist general in the Palati- nate, 410; his victory at Wimpfen, 414; re- fused to recognize Sir Arthur Chichester, 415; besieged Heidelberg, 418. Tobacco, Earl of Essex and his friends smok- ing, at Villafranca, 249. Todington. See Tracey. Toledo, Don Fadrique de, siege of Haarlem by, 29. Tombs, Alberic de Vere at Earl's Colne, 5, . ; 2 d Earl of Oxford at Hatfield Bioad Oak, 6; iSth Earl of Oxford at Hedingham, 9 ; Earls of Oxford at Earl's Colne, 14, 15, 15. n. See St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Stanmore, Frankenthal, Breda. Tongeren, near Maastricht, Spanish army at, 441- Torralva, Don Bartolom^ de, in charge of trenches before Sluys, 108. Tourneur, Cyril, his elegy on Sir F. Vere, 3 6 3, Townshend, Sir Roger, married Mary Vere, 381, ., 434. Tracey, Mary, daughter of Sir John Tracey of Todington, widow of W. Hoby, married Sir Horace Vere, 379 ; her relations, 380. Treasurer of war, duties, 54. Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the States General, 69; new treaty negotiated by Sir F. Vere, 265-269. Trentham, Elizabeth, second wife of the iyth Earl of Oxford, 382 ; her anxiety about her son's evil companions, 383. " Tremontaine,'' Captain King's ship in the Cadiz expedition, 219; Captain Fenners ship in the " Island Voyage," 238. Treviso, Marquis of, commanded the Neapoli- tans at Turnhout, 257 ; formed the rear, 259- Trench - master, duties, 65; skill of Sir F. Vere as, 164. Trivulcio, Count Teodoro, at Mulheim in com- mand of cavalry, 372, 373; attacked the Dutch cavalry at Broick, 374, 376; slain, 378. Truce. See Armistice. Truchses, Protestant Archbishop of Cologne, supported by the States, 149, 165. " Truelove," fast sailer in the Cadiz expedi- tion, 223. Trussell, Elizabeth, Countess of Oxford, lady of the household to Queen Anne Boleyn, 8. Tucker, Mr. Stephen (Somerset Herald), ac- knowledgment of assistance, vi. Turenne, Marshal, son of Prince Maurice's sister, 211. Turnhout, Spanish force under the Count de Varras at, 255 ; enumeration of the Span- ish force, 257 ; retreat ordered, 257 j army of Prince Orange arrived 31,257; battle, 260; description of the modern town, 261, . ; authorities for the battle, 261, n. ; rejoicings in England, dramatic representation, 262. t'Zereets, sent by the Prince of Orange to or- ganize a force in Walcheren, 42; concerts an expedition with English volunteers, 43 ; plan to besiege Goes, 45 ; led an attack on Goes, 46. Uchtenbroek, in command of Dutch companies at the siege of Ostend, 310, 316. Ufano. See Collado. Uffords, intermarriage with Veres, 2. Ugarte, Juan de, led Spanish infantry at Warnsfeld, 94. Union of Utrecht, 31. Upsher, a countryman of Sir F. Vere, scaled the east end of the wall at Cadiz, 231. Utenhoven, Captain, his station to repulse the assault on Ostend, 325. Utrecht, position, 37 ; representatives at the Union of, 31 ; tower, 39 ; headquarters of Sir F. Vere, 154 ; Vere's scheme for a central depot of arms and clothing at, 155; Sir J. Ogle in command, 391 ; Sir Horace Vere made governor, 392, 435. Uvedale, Sir Edmund, served with the Eng- lish volunteers, 51 ; his statement of a sol- dier's pay, 58, . ; had a company in Leices- ter's army, 84 ; superintended the counter- mines at Sluys, no; in the Bergen-op-Zoom garrison, 120 ; notice of, 120, n. ; his recep- tion of Morgan as rovernor of Bergen-op- Zoom, 124; knighted by Lord Willoughby, 132; Sidney's deputy at Flushing, joi. Uytenhoove, Col., governor of Ostend, 331. Valera, Bias, loss of his manuscripts on Peru at the sack of Cadiz, 235. Val-es-Dunes, battle of, 5. Valkenburg, surrendered by English volun- teers, 48. Valturius, oldest modern writer on war, 465. Vane, Sir Harry, envoy at the Hague, 435; sudden death of Lord Vere when dining with, 453. " Vanguard," Sir John Wingfield's ship in the Cadiz expedition, 219; captured galleys in Cadiz Bay, 227. Vantbraces. See Armor. Varras, Count of, advanced to Turnhout, 255 ; detail of his force, 256 ; ordered a retreat to INDEX. 503 Heerenthals, 259; slain in the battle of Tumhout, 260. Vasto, Marquis of, commanded the convoy to relieve Zutphen, notice of, 93 ; in danger at Warnsfeld, 94; in the army at the siege of Sluys, 100; his cavalry regiment surprised at Breda, 160. Vavasour, Sir Thomas, in Leicester's army, 84; commanded the "Antelope" for the " Island Voyage, 1 ' 238. Veer, town in Zeeland, 3, ., 38, 42, 45. Vega, Garcilasso de la, used the mutilated manuscripts of Bias Valera, saved from the sack of Cadiz, 235. Vega, Juan de, reinforced the besiegers at Sluys, no. Veira, Manuel de, commanded infantry at Warnsfeld, 1 10. Vegetius, his work on war, 465. Velasco, General Don Luis, Conde de Salazar, his army at Damme, threatening Maurice, 367; defeated near Damme, 368; at Mul- heim, 374 ; at the siege of Breda, 426. Velasco, engineer, designed the fort of San Andres, 274. Velasquez, his picture of " Las Lanzas," 366, 428. Veluwe, 34, 37. Venero, Pedro, led infantry at Warnsfeld, 95. Venlo, position on the Maas, 35 ; Spanish camp at, surprised by Roger Williams, 60 ; taken by the Duke of Parma, 87; retaken by the Prince of Orange, 440. Ver, Bernoulf de, his sale of the manor of St. Sauveur, 3, . Ver, William de, letter confirming a grant, 3, Verdugo, Don Francisco, advised the construc- tion of the Zutphen Sconces, 92 ; in com- mand at Groningen, 175, 186, 190, 191 ; com- manding in chief, in absence of Parma, 178; in Friesland, 182; in the field near Coevor- den, 184; his night attack on Maurice at Coevorden, 185; death, 212. Veres, number that served in the wars, 2; number slain in the Low Countries, 444; fictitious origins, 3, . ; grants to, in Essex and Suffolk, arms, 5; histories of the family, 464. See Oxford, Earls of. Vere, Alberic de, at the battle of Senlac, 5 ; founder of Earl's Colne, 14. Vere, Alberic de, Lord Great Chamberlain, 5 ; chief seat at Hedingham, ti, 12. Vere, Anne, daughter of the I5th Earl of Ox- ford. See Sheffield. Vere, Anne, daughter of Sir Horace Vere, married to Lord Fairfax, 381, 431, 452 ; in- terfered at the trial of Charles t., 454. Vere, Aubrey, son of the ijth Earl of Oxford, married to Margaret Spring of Lavenham, 19; grandfather of the igth Earl of Oxford, 43- Vere, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Horace Vere, married to John Wolstenholme, 452. Vere, Edward, 385; at the siege of Boi?-le- Duc, 436; mortally wounded, 437, 444; buried at Bommel, 438. Vere, Edward, slain at Maastricht, 385, 423, > 444. 446- Vere, Elizabeth, married to Lord Darcy of Chiche, 19. Vere, Elizabeth (Hardekyn), wife of Geoffrey Vere, 21, 22; children, 22; lived with her son John Vere at Kirby, 23, 25, 157 ; death, 381. Vere, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Horace Vere, 381 ; married to the Earl of Clare, 381, ., 433- Vere, Frances, married to the Earl of Surrey, 19. Vere, Frances, daughter of Geoffrey Vere, married to Sir Robert Harcourt of Nune- ham, 23; date of her marriage, 216, n , legacy from the brother John, 422. Vere, Sir Francis, son of Geoffrey Vere, birth at Cropping Hall, 22 ; notes on the date -of his birth, 22, . ; bequest of the i6th Earl of Oxford to, 23; brought up with the i7th Earl of Oxford, 23 ; initiated in the military art by Sir W. Browne, 25 ; his journey to Poland, 26 ; portrait, 26, 363 ; personal ap- pearance, 26, 262 ; contemporaries, 26; re- solved to embrace the profession of arms, 26, 32; joined the Earl of Leicester as a volunteer, 78; hoping to serve under Lord Willoughby, 81 ; a volunteer in Lord Wil- loughby's troop, 84; at Bergen -op -Zoom, first brush with the enemy, 86; in the ex- pedition to Axel, ?9 ; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; obtained a company at Bergen-op-Zoom, 98; at the siege of Sluys, 101 ; gallantry in the defence of Sluys, 109; made famous by his service at Shiys, 117; in the Bergen-op-Zoom garri<;on, his com- rades, 120 : his appointment as sergeant-ma- jor not confirmed, 123 ; letter to Walsingham as to reception of Governor Morgan, 124 ; letter to Walsingham as to service against the Armada, 125; capture of the "San Mateo," 125; wounded in the leg in a sor- tie, 128; in command of the water forts at Bergen-op-Zoom, 129; repulsed the Spanish attack, 130, 131; knighted by Lord Wil- loughby, 132 ; his character, kindness to brother officers, 133; brought to the Queen's notice by Walsingham, 133 ; home on leave, presented to the Queen, 134; appointed ser- geant-major general, 135 ; efforts to pacify the mutineers at Gertrtiydenburg, 138 ; charge against him withdrawn by the States, 139, 504 INDEX. 140; selected for chief command in the Netherlands, 142, 143; title and pay, 144; difficulty of his position, 145 ; his opinion of Prince Maurice, 145 j on good terms with Maurice and Barneveldt, 146; Sir T. Bodley his adviser, 146', Bodley 's high opinion of Sir F. Vere, 147 ; in the Bommel-waart, 148; requested to relieve Rheinberg, 151 ; his strategy in advancing to the second relief, 152 ; his horse killed and himself in immi- nent danger, 153; presented a horse to Secre- tary Walsingham, 154 ; arrangements for supplying troops, 154 ; kindness to brother officers, 155, 156, 157 ; entered Breda with Prince Maurice, 161 ; his praise of Prince Maurice, 158, 162, 215 ; erecting Knodsen- burg Fort, 163, 164 ; march to Reckling- hausen, 165 ; capture of forts by escalade, 166, 167, 168 ; receiving recruits at Flushing, 169 ; anxiety to recover Deventer and Zut- phen Sconces, 170, 173; kind message from the Queen, 171; recapture of Zutphen Sconces, 171 ; horse killed Under him before Zutphen, 172 ; his plans for taking Deventer, 174 ; battle of the Betuwe, 177 ; reported the surrender of Nymegen, 179 ; harassed by orders to send troops to France, 180, 198, 199 ; at the siege of Steenwyck, 183 ; came to the rescue at Coevorden, 184 ; at the siege of Gertruydenburg, 188 ; repulsed Count Mansfelt, 189; manoeuvring round Gronin- gen, iqo; appointed general of English troops in the pay of the States General, 191; at the siege of Groningen, 193, 194; escorted Count Philip of Nassau to Sedan, 196, 197; required to report fully on civil and political events, 207 ; salary granted by the States, 202 ; stated the grievances of the soldiers, 204 ; reprimand by the Queen, re- ply, 205, 206; his account of the Barents Arctic expedition, 207; handwriting, seal, 209, 200, . ; ready to give up his lease of Kirby to Lord Burleieh, 210; negotiations at the Hague for the Cadiz expedition, 216, 217; lieut.-general of the Cadiz expedition, 219; went to court with Essex, 220; ques- tion of rank with Sir W. Raleigh, 220 ; his renown, 222; in the naval actirn at Cadiz, 225, 22?; plan for the capture of Cadiz town, 229; broke down the gates and en- tered, 231; received ransoms from Span- iards, 234; passed the winter of 1596-97 at court, 235: at the Hague negotiating, 237; lord marshal in the " Island Voyage," 237; interview with Lord Essex at Sandwich, 238 ; reconciliation with Raleigh, 239 ; his ship disabled in the Bay of Biscay, 241; befriended Raleigh at Fayal, 245; march up the Cerro de Carneiro, 245 ! chased the Spanish fleet, 246; landed at Villafranca, in St. Michael's, 248; last man to leave the shore, 249 ; paying off the men at Plymouth, 250; met Sir W. Russell in Marylebone Park, 251 j defended Kssex to the Queen, 251 ; made governor of Brill, 253 ; battle of Turnhout, 255-261 ; personated on the stage, 262 ; special envoy to negotiate the second treaty at the Hague, 265 ; his instructions, 266-268 ; audience with the States General, 269 ; service in the Bommel-waart, 275 ; ill- ness on the Isle of Voorn, 275 ; Lord Marshal in England, 276; opposed to the invasion of Flanders, 278 j his division in the Nieuport campaign, 279; advice at Nieuport, 286, 287 ; crossed the haven, 288, 289 ; selection of positions in the dunes, 289, 290, 291; repulsed enemy's cavalry on the shore, 293 ; plan for the battle of Nieuport, 296 ; his valor at Nieuport, 298 ; wounded and res- cued by his officers, 299 ; conveyed to Rys- wick to be healed, 305 ; encumbered with useless officers, 307, 317; appointed to de- fend Ostend, 309; his declaration to Ogle that he would never yield, 319; called a council of war, 319 ; his stratagem, 320-323 preparing to repulse the assault, 323-326 j repulsed the assault, 327 ; left Ostend, 330 ; his generalship in the defence, 330, 331 ; sent on a special mission to the Queen by the States, 333 ; challenged by the Earl of Northumberland, 334,335,336; Vere's con- duct in the matter of the challenge, 337 ; wounded before Grave, 338 ; negotiations as to legal status of English troops, 339 ; news of the Queen's illness and death, 341-343; proclaimed James I. at Brill, 3^4; confirmed in the government of Brill, 345 ; resignation of his command, 345 ; went to live at Til- bury, 346, 351, 352 ; sent on a mission to the Hague, 346, 347 ; granted a pension by the States General, 348 ; final departure from Holland, 350; made governor of Ports- mouth, 350; eneaged to be married, 353; marriage with Elizabeth Dent, 356 ; mar- riage settlements, 357; Vere's Commentaries, 357> 35^> **> 359! death, 360, 381; monu- ment in Westminster Abbey, 163, 361 ; the Queen's reason for not making him a peer, 262, 362, 431 ; his letters in the State Paper Office and at Hatfield, 471. See Motley. Vere, Geoffrey, son of the ijth Earl of Ox- ford, father of Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere, 9; manors settled on him, 20; mar- riage with Elizabeth Hardekyn, 21 ; married life and children, 22; death, 23. Vere, Sir Horace (Lord Vere of Tilbury), birth, 23 ; bepan his military career with his brother, 157; commanding a company under Sir Francis, 181 ; wounded at Steenwyck, 184 ; application for a company, 194 1 in the INDEX. 505 Cadiz expedition, 222 ; knighted at Cadiz, 233) 3^4 ; Sir R. Cecil spoke to the council in his favor, 271 ; serving in the Bommel- waart, 271, 274 ; in the Nieuport campaign, 278; rallied his men, 300, 301 ; at the siege of Ostend, 310 ; reported his brother's wound, 315; in favor of abandoning the Quarrier, 320; station to repulse the assault, 324, 326; wounded in the leg, 329; sent by his brother with a letter to James I., 343; retrospect of his service, 364 ; his character, 365 i at the siege of Sluys under Maurice, 366 ; routed Velasco near Damme, 367 ; at Mulheim, 372 ; proposal to cross the Ruhr, 376 ; desperate fight at Broick, 377 ; Prince Maurice's friendship for him, 379; mar- riage, 379, 380; succeeded his brother as governor of Brill, 381 ; at Spa, to drink the waters, 386, 387 ; effect of long residence in Holland on his opinions and principles, 387, 388 ; governor of Utrecht, 392 ; com- manded the Palatinate regiment, 393, 397 ; reconciliation with Cecil and Ogle, 393 ; set out for the Palatinate, 398, 399 ; crossed the Rhine at Wesel, 400 : before Coblentz, 401, 402; march to the Palatinate, 402, 403; general for the King of Bohemia, 405 ; entered Worms, failed to bring Spinola to battle, 405, 406 ; occupied Manheim, 407, 415; hard pressed by Cordova, 410,411; surrendered Manheim, 416, 419; return to England, 420; mister-general of ordnance, 421 ; bequest, under brother John's will, 422, 423 ; operations to relieve Breda, 423, 427, 428; created Baron Vere of Tilbury, 431; removed to a house at Clapton, 433; at the siege of Bois-le-Duc, 435, 436; power to confer knighthood, 439 ; siege of Maastricht, 439-445 : sudden death at Whitehall, 453; portraits, 453; military qualities of the brothers, 455 ; commanders in the civil war reared by, 456; influence of the Veres on opinion, 458, 459, 460. Vere, Hugh, a diplomatist under Edward I., 6. Vere, Hugh, a volunteer in Lord Willough- by's troop, 84; father of the igth Earl of Oxford, 430. Vere, Jane, married to Henry Hunt of Gos- field, i<). Vere, John, of Kirby Hall, eldest son of Geoffrey Vere, birth, 22 ; bequest of the Earl of Oxford to, 23 ; made his mother a home at Kirby, 23, 25, 157; his lease of Kirbv coveted by Lord Burleigh, 210; bought Tilbury for his brother Francis, and married the widow Ames, 352; death, 421: will and codicils, 422 ; buried at Hedingham, 423- Vere, Sir John, natural ion of John Vere, sergeant-major in the regiment of Sir Horace Vere, 384 ; notice of, 422, 422, n. ; monument to, 423. Vere, Katherine, married to Lord Windsor, 18, 22 ; intended marriage with young Sey- mour, 19. Vere, Katherine, daughter of Sir Horace Vere, 381 ; married to Oliver St. John, sec- ondly to Lord Poulett, 381, ft., 451. Vere, Mary, married to Lord Willoughby, 18, 22, 81 ; Lord Chamberlainship claimed by her son, 430. Vere, Mary, Lady Vere, wife of Sir Horace Vere (see Tracey) ; marriage, 379, 380 ; death of her sons by a first marriage, 381 ; succeeded to Kirby and Tilbury, 454; a firm friend of the Parliament, 454 ; buried at Hedingham, 455. Vere, Mary, daughter of Sir Horace Vere, 381 ; married to Sir Roger Townshend, 381, n., 434 ; act for her naturalization, 381, . ; her family, 434, n. Vere, Robert, son of the isth Earl of Oxford, 9, 19. Vere, Robert, son of Geoffrey Vere, birth, 23 ; initiated in the military art, 25 ; joined his brother Francis in the cavalry, 134; went home to fetch Horace, 157 ; march to Reck- linghausen, 165 : commanding cavalry at Biiderick, 167 ; a troop of cavalry under Sir F. Vere, 181 ; crossed the Lippe to attack the Spaniards, and slain, 214, 444. Vere, Susan, daughter of Sir Horace Vere, 393 ; her death, 421. Vere, Ursula, died unmarried, 19. Vere, William, Bishop of Hereford, a great builder, 6. Victual-master, 54; duties, 55. Viedma led Spanish infantry at Wamsfeld, 93- Villafranca, in St. Michael's (Azores), the English under Essex and Vere land at, 247, 248. Vincent MSS., in the Herald's College, Vere entries, 465. Vlissingen. See Flushing. Volunteers. See English, Cavendish, Gil- tert, Morgan, Norrii, North, WUliamt. Voorn, island, 36. Voorn, isle, facing the Bommel-waart, 171, 174 ; Sir F. Vere confined to his tent by illness at, 275. Vterboede, Nieuport lighthouses at, 283. Waal, river, 34 ; course, 35 ; unites with the Maas, 36 ; army of Maurice stationed along the line of, 163. Waalwyck, near Gertruydenburg, Count Mans- felt encamped at, 189. Wagon-master, duties, 65. 506 INDEX. Wake's Colne, 16 ; Cropping Hall in the par- ish of, 20; note as to the registers, 22, . Walcheren, island, 3, . ; dike of West Kappel >n, 33 ; position, 38 ; revolt against Spaniards, 42 ; trade, 74. Wales, Mrs. See Andrewes, Daniel. Wales, Prince of (Black Prince), Earl of Ox- ford serving with, in France, 7. Walhausen, military manual in French, 466. Walloons at the defence of Breda, 426. Walsingham, Secretary, reports to, 121; letter to Sir F. Vere as to the reception of Gov- ernor Morgan, 124 ; letter to, from F. Vere, asking for service against the Spanish Armada, 125; grateful letter to, from Sir F. Vere, 133 ; firm friend to Sir F. Vere, 134, 144 ; Sir F. Vere presented a horse to, 153. Warnsfeld, near Zutphen, battle, 94, 95. Warrenbon, Marquis of, besieging Rheinberg, 148 ; defeated, horse captured by Sir F. Vere, 153. " Warspite," Raleigh's ship in the Cadiz ex- pedition, 219; and in the " Island Voyage," 237; engaged with Spanish ships, 226; car- ried away her mainyard, 243 ; given the rendezvous at Flores, 243 ; at Fayal, 244; nearly run into by the " Mary Rose," 249. Warwick, Earl of, trained under the Veres, 456. Watkins, Philip, his gallantry, 44. Watkins, quartermaster at the siege of Maas- tricht, 445. Waymouth, John, his military manual, 466. Weeley, manor of the Veres, 16 ; Crustwick, in the parish of, 20 ; note as to the registers, 22, . Weever, his account of the Vere monuments, 15, ., 464. Wentworth, Sir John, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 398; led the second division, 404. Wentworth, Captain, wounded at the siege of Maastricht, 447. Wermont, Lord of. See Aertsen. Wesel, a strategic point on the Rhine, 35, 152, 165 ; fort opposite to, taken by Sir F. Vere, 167, 168 ; neighborhood described, 213 ; march of Maurice to Mulheim from, 370, 372 ; Sir Horace Vere's force at, 400. Westende, village near Nieuport, 285. West Kappel, dike of, 59. Westminster Abbey, monument of Sir Francis Vere, 163, 308; described, 361; monument to Sir John Burrough, 252, .; to Sir George Holies, and to the Norrises, 360, 434; Sir Oliver Lambart buried in, 153, . ; the i8th Earl of Oxford buried in, 430; Lord Vere buried with his brother Francis, 453. Weston, Sir Richard, envoy to the Princes of the Protestant Union at Oppenheim, 399; notice of, 399, . Westphalia, territory ravaged by the Admiral of Aragon,273; peace of, Palatinate restored to Charles Louis by, 420. See Reckling- hnusen. Wheel-lock, description of, 59. White, Mr., servant of Sir F. Vere, 337. Whiteborne, Peter, his military manual, 463. Whitehall, death of Lord Vere at, 453. Whitlock, Captain, sent by the Earl of Northumberland to challenge Sir F. Vere, 334, 336. Whyte, Rowland, his report on the reception of Sir F. Vere by the Queen, 276. Wiesloch, battle of, 414. Wijk, suburb of Maastricht, 440, 441. Wilford, Sir Thomas, sergeant-major general in Leicester's army, 85, 91 ; on Lord Wil- loughby's council of war, 118; in the Ber- gen-op-Zoom garrison, 120 ; his good service, 123, 132; withdrawn from the Netherlands, 142. Willebrord, St., left his bottle at Flushing, 76. Willemstad, position, 36 ; Leicester landed at, 80 ; Sir F. Vere and Sir R. Sidney at, 261. William, Count. See Nassau. William the Good, Count of Holland, made Flushing a seaport, 75. William Longsword, Duke of Normandy, ad- mitted a Danish colony into the Cotentin, 3. William I., the Conqueror, his grants to Al- beric de Vere, 5. William the Taciturn, Prince of Orange, 28; government of the States offered to, 29; wives and children, 31, . ; assassination, 31; news of his murder, 67; Breda seized when he fled to Germany, 425. Williams, Lord (of Thame), his daughter Mar- gery, Lady Norris, the Queen's early friend, 49. Williams, Sir Roger, page to the Earl of Pem- broke, 52 ; account of, 43 ; with the volun- teers at Flushing, 43 ; his comment on the siege of Goes, 48; served in the Spanish army, 51, 52, 53; surprised the Spanish camp at Venlo, 60: at Arnhem, wounded at Doesburg, 91 ; led the English at Sluys, IOT ; foremost in the defence of Sluys, 109 ; his report on the siege of Sluys, in ; mes- sage to Leicester, 113; withdrawn from the Netherlands, 142; death, 211, 212; his works, 212, ., 468; buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, 212. Williams, Thomas, commanding a company under Sir F. Vere, 181. Williamson, Sergeant-Major, slain at the siege of Maastricht, 442. Willoughby, Peregrine, Lord, married to Lady Mary Vere, 18; notice of, 8t ; arrival at the Hague, 81 ; commanded a troop of horse, 84; governor of Bergen-op-Zoom, INDEX. 507 85 ; attacked a Spanish convoy, 86 ; joined Leicester's army at Arnhem, 90 ; in the charge at Warnsfeld, 94 ; unhorsed Giovanni Cre- c.ia, 94 ; made a banneret on the field, 96 ; pall-bearer at Sir Philip Sidney's funeral, 96; general of the English forces, 114, 117; desired to be excused, 118, 127, . ; received money to pay the troops, 1 19 ; his appoint- ments not confirmed, 123; expended his private fortune on the public service, 124, 137; his wife living on board a yacht, 124 ; working at the defences of Bergen-op-Zoom, 127; frustrated plot of the Duke of Parma, 129, 130 ; conferred knighthood on the de- fenders of Bergen-op-Zoom, 132; urgent re- quest to be recalled, 136; letters from the Queen, 136, 141 ; resignation accepted, 141 ; service in France and at Berwick, 141 ; death, 142; life by Lady Georgina Bertie, 142, ft. ; his opinion of Prince Maurice, 145. Willoughby, Lord (son of Peregrine Lord Wil- loughby), raised a regiment for service in the Netherlands, 424; claimed the Lord Chamberlainship, 430. Willoughby, Margaret (Lady Arundell), with the Queen to the last, 344. Wilmot, Sir Stafford, in the Palatinate regi- ment, 378, 404. Wilson, Arthur, historian of the Palatinate expedition, 398, 471 ; his reflection on young Duncombe's death, 409. Wimbledon, Viscount. See Cecil, Sir Ed- ward. Wimpfen, battle of, 414; picture by Snayer, 414, . Windsor, Lord, married to Lady Katherine Vere, 18. Wingfield, Sir John, knighted at Warnsfeld, 96; in the garrison at Bergen-op-Zoom, 120; governor of Gertruydenburg, 138 ; notice of, 138, n. ; accusations against, by the States General, 138, 139, 140; camp-master in the Cadiz expedition on board the" Vanguard," 219, 222 ; captured galleys in Cadiz Bay, 227 ; movement in advance under Vere's orders, 230; mortally wounded in the moment of victory, 232. Wingfield, Thomas Maria, with the English volunteers. 51 ; had a company in Leicester's army, 84 ; in the charge of Warnsfeld, 94 ; his conduct as regards a prisoner ; deprived of his company, 133, n. Wingfield, Edward Maria, settled in Virginia, 389, ., 45*- Winne, Sir Thomas, slain before Breda, 428. Winslow, Edward, joined the Pilgrim Fathers, 388, 389, -, 458- Winter, Captain John, Sir F. Vere's captain in the "Mary Rose," 237; wanted to cut away the mainmast, 241. Winwood, Sir Ralph, British envoy at the Hague, 339; his memorials, 471. Wivenhoe, house of the Earls of Oxford at, 16. Wolstenholme, John, married to Dorothy Vere, 452, 452, . Worms, Princes of the Protestant Union at, 400, 403 ; appearance from the Rhine, 405 ; Sir Horace Vere at, 405. Wotton House, in the parish of Gestingthorpe, the residence of T. Hardekyn, 21, 25. Wounds, received by Sir Francis Vere, 445 ; wounded twice at Sluys, 109; pike wound in the leg at Bergen-op-Zoom, 128; horse killed and fell on him near Rheinberg, 152 ; wounded in the leg at Dunkirk, 170; horse killed under him at Zutphen, 172 ; wounded slightly at Steenwyck, 183 ; hurled to the ground under a buckler at Groningen, 194; bullets in thigh and leg at Nieuport, 298; wounded in the head at Ostend, 314; wounded in the face at Grave, 338. Received by Sir Horace Vere, 445 ; wounded at Steen- wyck, 183 ; in the leg at Ostend, 329; horse killed under him at Mulheim, 377. Wouw, sallies of the Bergen-op-Zoom garri- son to, 128 ; description of, 128, . Wouw gate of Bergen-op-Zoom, 121, 127. Wrangham, Lieut., his good service at the siege of Maastricht, 446. Wrey, Captain, slain at the siege of Groningen, 194. Wulfwine, Saxon thane, whose estates were granted to Alberic de Vere, 5. Wurtemberg, Duke of, in the Protestant Union, 395. Xanten, town of, Sir F. Vere marched through on his way to Rheinberg, 152. Y, river, 37. Yeldham, Great, property of Sir F. Vere in, 352- Yerseken-dam in S. Beveland, passage of Spanish troops from Bergen-op-Zoom across the channel to, 47. York, Duke of, the i2th Earl of Oxford served under, 8. Yorke, Rowland, at the siege of Goes, 46; had a company in Leicester's army, 84 ; in charge of the Zutphen Sconces, 97 : treacherously betrayed his trust, 98, 170, 174. Yper-leet, river, falling into the sea at Ostend, crossed by Maurice's army, 281 ; crossed by the Archduke, 287; at Ostend, 311. Yssel, river, course deflected by hills, 34; strategic points on, 35 ; towns on, held bythe Spaniards, 91 ; its appearance at Zutphen, 92 ; attack on Deventer from bridge, 174. Ysselmonde, island, 36. 508 INDEX. Zamdnm, 37. Zapena, Jasper, assaulted Heerewaarden, 274 ; marshal of the Spanish army at Nieuport, 292 ; taken prisoner, 302. Zeeland, representatives at the Utrecht Union, 31 ; physical geography, 32; position, 38, 39; regiment under Count Solms, defended Tholen, 127. See Walcheren, Beveland, Flushing, Goes, Middelburg. Zierikzee, capital of Schouwen, 39 ; taken by Mondragon, 30. Zittan, Captain, his station to resist the as- sault on Ostend, 325. Zutphen, representatives at the Utrecht Union, 31; massacre at, by the Spaniards, 29; a strategic point on the Yssel, 35 ; in the hands of the Duke of Parma, 87 ; invested by Leicester, description, 92 ; relieved by a Spanish convoy, 95 ; taken by Prince Mau- rice, 172. Zutphen Sconces, constructed by the advice of Verdugo, 92 ; captured by Leicester, Row- land Yorke in command, 97 ; Yorke be- trayed his trust, 98 ; recapture by Sir F. Vere, 171. Zuyder Zee, formation of, 33 ; hills cause the Yssel to flow northward to, 34 ; bounds the province of Utrecht, 37; ports on, 37. Zwin, town of Sluys on the, 38 ; alterations in its course, 101 ; fleet of Edward III. sailed up, 102 ; Duke of Parma's measures to stop the approach to Sluys by, 106 ; filling up, 114; crossed by Colonel van der Node, 368.