By Pike and Dyke: a Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIV
THE FALL OF HAARLEM
After the terrible repulse inflicted upon the storming party,Don Frederick perceived that the task before him was not to beaccomplished with the ease and rapidity he had anticipated, and thatthese hitherto despised Dutch heretics had at last been driven bydespair to fight with desperate determination that was altogethernew to the Spaniards. He therefore abandoned the idea of carryingthe place by assault, and determined to take it by the slower andsurer process of a regular siege. In a week his pioneers would beable to drive mines beneath the walls; an explosion would then opena way for his troops. Accordingly the work began, but the besiegedno sooner perceived what was being done than the thousand men whohad devoted themselves to this work at once began to drive countermines.
Both parties worked with energy, and it was not long before thegalleries met, and a desperate struggle commenced under ground.Here the drill and discipline of the Spaniards availed them butlittle. It was a conflict of man to man in narrow passages, withsuch light only as a few torches could give. Here the strength andfearlessness of death of the sturdy Dutch burghers and fishermenmore than compensated for any superiority of the Spaniards in themanagement of their weapons. The air was so heavy and thick withpowder that the torches gave but a feeble light, and the combatantswere well nigh stifled by the fumes of sulphur, yet in the gallerieswhich met men fought night and day without intermission. The placesof those who retired exhausted, or fell dead, were filled by othersimpatiently waiting their turn to take part in the struggle. Whilethe fighting continued the work went on also. Fresh galleries werecontinually being driven on both sides, and occasionally tremendousexplosions took place as one party or the other sprung their mines;the shock sometimes bringing down the earth in passages far removedfrom the explosions, and burying the combatants beneath them;while yawning pits were formed where the explosions took place,and fragments of bodies cast high in the air. Many of the gallerieswere so narrow and low that no arms save daggers could be used, andmen fought like wild beasts, grappling and rolling on the ground,while comrades with lanterns or torches stood behind waiting tospring upon each other as soon as the struggle terminated one wayor the other.
For a fortnight this underground struggle continued, and then DonFrederick--finding that no ground was gained, and that the losswas so great that even his bravest soldiers were beginning todread their turn to enter upon a conflict in which their militarytraining went for nothing, and where so many hundreds of theircomrades had perished--abandoned all hopes of springing a mineunder the walls, and drew off his troops. A month had alreadyelapsed since the repulse of the attack on the breach; and whilethe fight had been going on underground a steady fire had beenkept up against a work called a ravelin, protecting the gate of theCross. During this time letters had from time to time been broughtinto the town by carrier pigeons, the prince urging the citizensto persevere, and holding out hope of relief.
These promises were to some extent fulfilled on the 28th of January,when 400 veteran soldiers, bringing with them 170 sledges laden withpowder and bread, crossed the frozen lake and succeeded in makingtheir way into the city. The time was now at hand when the besiegedforesaw that the ravelin of the Cross gate could not much longer bedefended. But they had been making preparations for this contingency.All through the long nights of January the noncombatants, old men,women, and children, aided by such of the fighting men as were notworn out by their work on the walls or underground, laboured toconstruct a wall in the form of a half moon on the inside of thethreatened point. None who were able to work were exempt, and nonewished to be exempted, for the heroic spirit burned brightly inevery heart in Haarlem.
Nightly Ned went down with his aunt and cousins and worked side byside with them. The houses near the new work were all levelled inorder that the materials should be utilized for the construction ofthe wall, which was built of solid masonry. The small stones werecarried by the children and younger girls in baskets, the heavierones dragged on hand sledges by the men and women. Althoughconstitutionally adverse to exertion, Frau Plomaert worked sturdily,and Ned was often surprised at her strength; for she dragged alongwithout difficulty loaded sledges, which he was unable to move,throwing her weight on to the ropes that passed over her shoulders,and toiling backwards and forwards to and from the wall for hours,slowly but unflinchingly.
It seemed to Ned that under these exertions she visibly decreasedin weight from day to day, and indeed the scanty supply of foodupon which the work had to be done was ill calculated to support thestrength of those engaged upon such fatiguing labour. For from thecommencement of the siege the whole population had been rationed, allthe provisions in the town had been handed over to the authoritiesfor equal division, and every house, rich and poor, had beenrigorously searched to see that none were holding back supplies fortheir private consumption. Many of the cattle and horses had beenkilled and salted down, and a daily distribution of food was madeto each household according to the number of mouths it contained.
Furious at the successful manner in which the party had entered thetown on the 28th of January, Don Frederick kept up for the nextfew days a terrible cannonade against the gates of the Cross andof St. John, and the wall connecting them. At the end of that timethe wall was greatly shattered, part of St. John's gate was inruins, and an assault was ordered to take place at midnight. Socertain was he of success that Don Frederick ordered the whole ofhis forces to be under arms opposite all the gates of the city, toprevent the population making their escape. A chosen body of troopswere to lead the assault, and at midnight these advanced silentlyagainst the breach. The besieged had no suspicion that an attackwas intended, and there were but some forty men, posted rather assentries than guards, at the breach.
These, however, when the Spaniards advanced, gave the alarm, thewatchers in the churches sounded the tocsins, and the sleepingcitizens sprang from their beds, seized their arms, and ran towardsthe threatened point. Unawed by the overwhelming force advancingagainst them the sentries took their places at the top of thebreach, and defended it with such desperation that they kept theirassailants at bay until assistance arrived, when the struggleassumed a more equal character. The citizens defended themselvesby the same means that had before proved successful, boiling oiland pitch, stones, flaming hoops, torches, and missiles of all kindswere hurled down by them upon the Spaniards, while the garrisondefended the breach with sword and pike.
Until daylight the struggle continued, and Philip then ordered thewhole of his force to advance to the assistance of the stormingparty. A tremendous attack was made upon the ravelin in front ofthe gate of the Cross. It was successful, and the Spaniards rushedexulting into the work, believing that the city was now at theirmercy. Then, to their astonishment, they saw that they were confrontedby the new wall, whose existence they had not even suspected.While they were hesitating a tremendous explosion took place. Thecitizens had undermined the ravelin and placed a store of powderthere; and this was now fired, and the work flew into the air, withall the soldiers who had entered.
The retreat was sounded at once, and the Spaniards fell back totheir camp, and thus a second time the burghers of Haarlem repulsedan assault by an overwhelming force under the best generals ofSpain. The effect of these failures was so great that Don Frederickresolved not to risk another defeat, but to abandon his efforts tocapture the city by sap or assault, and to resort to the slow butsure process of famine. He was well aware that the stock of food inthe city was but small and the inhabitants were already sufferingseverely, and he thought that they could not hold out much longer.
But greatly as the inhabitants suffered, the misery of the armybesieging them more than equalled their own. The intense coldrendered it next to impossible to supply so large a force withfood; and small as were the rations of the inhabitants, they wereat least as large and more regularly delivered than those of thetroops. Moreover, the citizens who were not on duty could retireto their comfortable houses; while the besiegers had but
The cessation of the assaults tried the besieged even more than theirdaily conflicts had done, for it is much harder to await death ina slow and tedious form than to face it fighting. They could notfully realize the almost hopeless prospect. Ere long the frostwould break up, and with it the chance of obtaining supplies orreinforcements across the frozen lake would be at an end.
It was here alone that they could expect succour, for they knewwell enough that the prince could raise no army capable of cuttingits way through the great beleaguering force. In vain did theyattempt to provoke or anger the Spaniards into renewing their attacks.Sorties were constantly made. The citizens gathered on the walls,and with shouts and taunts of cowardice challenged the Spaniardsto come on; they even went to the length of dressing themselvesin the vestments of the churches, and contemptuously carrying thesacred vessels in procession, in hopes of infuriating the Spaniardsinto an attack. But Don Frederick and his generals were not to bemoved from their purpose.
The soldiers, suffering as much as the besiegers, would gladly havebrought matters to an issue one way or the other by again assaultingthe walls; but their officers restrained them, assuring them thatthe city could not hold out long, and that they would have an amplerevenge when the time came. Life in the city was most monotonousnow. There was no stir of life or business; no one bought or sold;and except the men who went to take their turn as sentries on thewall, or the women who fetched the daily ration for the familyfrom the magazines, there was no occasion to go abroad. Fuel wasgetting very scarce, and families clubbed together and gathered ateach others houses by turns, so that one fire did for all.
But at the end of February their sufferings from cold came toan end, for the frost suddenly broke up; in a few days the ice onthe lake disappeared, and spring set in. The remaining cattle werenow driven out into the fields under the walls to gather food forthemselves. Strong guards went with them, and whenever the Spaniardsendeavoured to come down and drive them off, the citizens flockedout and fought so desperately that the Spaniards ceased to molestthem; for as one of those present wrote, each captured bullock costthe lives of at least a dozen soldiers.
Don Frederick himself had long since become heartily weary of thesiege, in which there was no honour to be gained, and which hadalready cost the lives of so large a number of his best soldiers.It did not seem to him that the capture of a weak city was worththe price that had to be paid for it, and he wrote to his fatherurging his views, and asking permission to raise the siege. Butthe duke thought differently, and despatched an officer to his sonwith this message: "Tell Don Frederick that if he be not decidedto continue the siege until the town be taken, I shall no longerconsider him my son. Should he fall in the siege I will myselftake the field to maintain it, and when we have both perished, theduchess, my wife, shall come from Spain to do the same."
Inflamed by this reply Don Frederick recommenced active operations,to the great satisfaction of the besieged. The batteries werereopened, and daily contests took place. One night under cover ofa fog, a party of the besieged marched up to the principal Spanishbattery, and attempted to spike the guns. Every one of them waskilled round the battery, not one turning to fly. "The citizens,"wrote Don Frederick, "do as much as the best soldiers in the worldcould do."
As soon as the frost broke up Count Bossu, who had been building afleet of small vessels in Amsterdam, cut a breach through the dykeand entered the lake, thus entirely cutting off communications. ThePrince of Orange on his part was building ships at the other endof the lake, and was doing all in his power for the relief of thecity. He was anxiously waiting the arrival of troops from Germanyor France, and doing his best with such volunteers as he couldraise. These, however, were not numerous; for the Dutch, althoughready to fight to the death for the defence of their own citiesand families, had not yet acquired a national spirit, and all theefforts of the prince failed to induce them to combine for anygeneral object.
His principal aim now was to cut the road along the dyke whichconnected Amsterdam with the country round it. Could he succeed indoing this, Amsterdam would be as completely cut off as was Haarlem,and that city, as well as the Spanish army, would speedily bestarved out. Alva himself was fully aware of this danger, and wroteto the king: "Since I came into this world I have never been insuch anxiety. If they should succeed in cutting off communicationalong the dykes we should have to raise the siege of Haarlem, tosurrender, hands crossed, or to starve."
The prince, unable to gather sufficient men for this attempt,sent orders to Sonoy, who commanded the small army in the north ofHolland, to attack the dyke between the Diemar Lake and the Y, toopen the sluices, and break through the dyke, by which means muchof the country round Haarlem would be flooded. Sonoy crossed the Yin boats, seized the dyke, opened the sluices, and began the workof cutting it through. Leaving his men so engaged, Sonoy went toEdam to fetch up reinforcements. While he was away a large forcefrom Amsterdam came up, some marching along the causeway and somein boats.
A fierce contest took place, the contending parties fighting partlyin boats, partly on the slippery causeway, that was wide enough butfor two men to stand abreast, partly in the water. But the numberof the assailants was too great, and the Dutch, after fightinggallantly, lost heart and retired just as Sonoy, whose volunteersfrom Edam had refused to follow him, arrived alone in a little boat.He tried in vain to rally them, but was swept away by the rush offugitives, many of whom were, however, able to gain their boats andmake their retreat, thanks to the valour of John Haring of Horn,who took his station on the dyke, and, armed with sword and shield,actually kept in check a thousand of the enemy for a time longenough to have enabled the Dutch to rally had they been disposedto do so. But it was too late; and they had enough of fighting.However, he held his post until many had made good their retreat,and then, plunging into the sea, swam off to the boats and effectedhis escape. A braver feat of arms was never accomplished.
Some hundreds of the Dutch were killed or captured. All the prisonerswere taken to the gibbets in the front of Haarlem, and hung, someby the neck and some by the heels, in view of their countrymen,while the head of one of their officers was thrown into the city.As usual this act of ferocity excited the citizens to similar acts.Two of the old board of magistrates belonging to the Spanish party,with several other persons, were hung, and the wife and daughterof one of them hunted into the water and drowned.
In the words of an historian, "Every man within and without Haarlemseemed inspired by a spirit of special and personal vengeance."Many, however, of the more gentle spirits were filled with horrorat these barbarities and the perpetual carnage going on. CaptainCurey, for example, one of the bravest officers of the garrison, whohad been driven to take up arms by the sufferings of his countrymen,although he had naturally a horror of bloodshed, was subject to fitsof melancholy at the contemplation of these horrors. Brave in theextreme, he led his men in every sortie, in every desperate struggle.Fighting without defensive armour he was always in the thick ofthe battle, and many of the Spaniards fell before his sword. Onhis return he invariably took to his bed, and lay ill from remorseand compunction till a fresh summons for action arrived, when, seizedby a sort of frenzy, he rose and led his men to fresh conflicts.
On the 25th of March a sally was made by a thousand of the besieged.They drove in all the Spanish outposts, killed eight hundred ofthe enemy, burnt three hundred tents, and captured seven cannons,nine standards, and many wagon loads of provisions, all of whichthey succeeded in bringing into the city.
The Duke of Alva, who had gone through nearly sixty years of warfare,wrote to the king that "never was a place defended with such skilland bravery as Haarlem," and that "it was a war such as never beforewas seen or heard of in any land on earth." Three veteran Spanishregiments now reinforced the besiegers, having been sent fromItaly to aid in overcoming the obstinate r
On the 28th of May the two fleets met in desperate fight. AdmiralBossu had a hundred ships, most of considerable size. Martin Brand,who commanded the Dutch, had a hundred and fifty, but of muchsmaller size. The ships grappled with each other, and for hours afurious contest raged. Several thousands of men were killed on bothsides, but at length weight prevailed and the victory was decidedin favour of the Spaniards. Twenty-two of the Dutch vessels werecaptured and the rest routed. The Spanish fleet now sailed towardsHaarlem, landed their crews, and joined by a force from the army,captured the forts the Dutch had erected and had hitherto held onthe shore of the lake, and through which their scanty supplies hadhitherto been received.
From the walls of the city the inhabitants watched the conflict,and a wail of despair rose from them as they saw its issue. Theywere now entirely cut off from all hope of succour, and their fateappeared to be sealed. Nevertheless they managed to send a messageto the prince that they would hold out for three weeks longer inhopes that he might devise some plan for their relief, and carrierpigeons brought back word that another effort should be madeto save them. But by this time the magazines were empty. Hithertoone pound of bread had been served out daily to each man and halfa pound to each woman, and on this alone they had for many weekssubsisted; but the flour was now exhausted, and henceforth it wasa battle with starvation.
Every living creature that could be used as food was slain and eaten.Grass and herbage of all kinds were gathered and cooked for food,and under cover of darkness parties sallied out from the gates togather grass in the fields. The sufferings of the besieged wereterrible. So much were they reduced by weakness that they couldscarce drag themselves along the streets, and numbers died fromfamine.
During the time that the supply of bread was served out Ned hadpersuaded his aunt and the girls to put by a morsel of their foodeach day.
"It will be the only resource when the city surrenders," he said."For four or five days at least the girls must remain concealed,and during that time they must be fed. If they take in with them ajar of water and a supply of those crusts which they can eat soakedin the water, they can maintain life."
And so each day, as long as the bread lasted, a small piece wasput aside until a sufficient store was accumulated to last the twogirls for a week. Soon after the daily issue ceased. Frau Plomaertplaced the bag of crusts into Ned's hands.
"Take it away and hide it somewhere," she said; "and do not letme know where you have put it, or we shall assuredly break into itand use it before the time comes. I do not think now that, howevergreat the pressure, we would touch those crusts; but there is nosaying what we may do when we are gnawed by hunger. It is better,anyhow, to put ourselves out of the way of temptation."
During the long weeks of June Ned found it hard to keep the preciousstore untouched. His aunt's figure had shrunk to a shadow of herformer self, and she was scarce able to cross the room. The girls'cheeks were hollow and bloodless with famine, and although none ofthem ever asked him to break in upon the store, their faces pleadedmore powerfully than any words could have done; and yet they werebetter off than many, for every night Ned either went out from thegates or let himself down by a rope from the wall and returned witha supply of grass and herbage.
It was fortunate for the girls that there was no necessity to goout of doors, for the sights there would have shaken the strongest.Men, women, and children fell dead by scores in the streets, andthe survivors had neither strength nor heart to carry them awayand bury them. On the 1st of July the burghers hung out a flagof truce, and deputies went out to confer with Don Frederick. Thelatter, however, would grant no terms whatever, and they returnedto the city. Two days later a tremendous cannonade was opened uponthe town, and the walls broken down in several places, but theSpaniards did not advance to the assault, knowing that the towncould not hold out many days longer.
Two more parleys were held, but without result, and the black flagwas hoisted upon the cathedral tower as a signal of despair; butsoon afterwards a pigeon flew into the town with a letter from theprince, begging them to hold out for two days longer, as succourwas approaching. The prince had indeed done all that was possible.He assembled the citizens of Delft in the marketplace, and saidthat if any troops could be gathered he would march in person attheir head to the relief of the city. There were no soldiers to beobtained; but 4000 armed volunteers from the various Dutch citiesassembled, and 600 mounted troops. The prince placed himself attheir head, but the magistrates and burghers of the towns wouldnot allow him to hazard a life so indispensable to the existenceof Holland, and the troops themselves refused to march unlesshe abandoned his intention. He at last reluctantly consented, andhanded over the command of the expedition to Baron Batenburg.
On the 8th of July at dusk the expedition set out from Sassenheim,taking with them four hundred wagon loads of provisions and sevencannon. They halted in the woods, and remained till midnight.Then they again marched forward, hoping to be able to surprise theSpaniards and make their way through before these could assemblein force. The agreement had been made that signal fires shouldbe lighted, and that the citizens should sally out to assist therelieving force as it approached. Unfortunately two pigeons withletters giving the details of the intended expedition had beenshot while passing over the Spanish camp, and the besiegers wereperfectly aware of what was going to be done. Opposite the pointat which the besieged were to sally out the Spaniards collecteda great mass of green branches, pitch, and straw. Five thousandtroops were stationed behind it, while an overwhelming force wasstationed to attack the relieving army.
When night fell the pile of combustibles was lighted, and gave outso dense a smoke that the signal fires lighted by Batenburg werehidden from the townspeople. As soon as the column advanced fromthe wood they were attacked by an overwhelming force of the enemy.Batenburg was killed and his troops utterly routed, with the loss,according to the Dutch accounts, of from five to six hundred, butof many more according to Spanish statements. The besieged, rangedunder arms, heard the sound of the distant conflict, but as theyhad seen no signal fires believed that it was only a device of theSpaniards to tempt them into making a sally, and it was not untilmorning, when Don Frederick sent in a prisoner with his nose andears cut off to announce the news, that they knew that the lasteffort to save them had failed.
The blow was a terrible one, and there was great commotion in thetown. After consultation the garrison and the able bodied citizensresolved to issue out in a solid column, and to cut their waythrough the enemy or perish. It was thought that if the women, thehelpless, and infirm alone remained in the city they would be treatedwith greater mercy after all the fighting men had been slain. Butas soon as this resolution became known the women and childrenissued from the houses with loud cries and tears. The burghers wereunable to withstand their entreaties that all should die together,and it was then resolved that the fighting men should be formedinto a hollow square, in which the women, children, sick, andaged should be gathered, and so to sally out, and either win a waythrough the camp or die together.
But the news of this resolve reached the ears of Don Frederick. Heknew now what the burghers of Haarlem were capable of, and thoughtthat they would probably fire the city before they left, and thusleaving nothing but a heap of ashes as a trophy of his victory. Hetherefore sent a letter to the magistrates, in the name of CountOverstein, commander of the German forces in the besieging army,giving a solemn assurance that if they surrendered at discretionno punishment should be inflicted except upon those who, in thejudgment of the citizens themselves, had deserved it.
At the moment of sending the letter Don Frederick was in possessionof strict orders from his father not to leave a man alive of thegarrison, with the exception of the Germans, and to execute a
No time was lost in commencing the massacre. All the officers wereat once put to death. The garrison had been reduced during the siegefrom 4000 to 1800. Of these the Germans--600 in number--wereallowed to depart. The remaining 1200 were immediately butchered,with at least as many of the citizens. Almost every citizendistinguished by service, station, or wealth was slaughtered, andfrom day to day five executioners were kept constantly at work.The city was not sacked, the inhabitants agreeing to raise a greatsum of money as a ransom.
As soon as the surrender was determined upon, Ned helped his cousinsinto the refuge prepared for them, passed in the bread and water,walled up the hole and whitewashed it, his aunt being too weak torender any assistance. Before they entered he opened the bag andtook out a few crusts.
"You must eat something now, aunt," he said. "It may be a day ortwo before any food is distributed, and it is no use holding on solong to die of hunger when food is almost in sight. There is plentyin the bag to last the girls for a week. You must eat sparingly,girls,--not because there is not enough food, but because afterfasting so long it is necessary for you at first to take food invery small quantities."
The bread taken out was soaked, and it swelled so much in the waterthat it made much more than he had expected. He therefore dividedit in half, and a portion made an excellent meal for Ned and hisaunt, the remaining being carefully put by for the following day.
An hour or two after eating the meal Frau Plomaert felt somuch stronger that she was able to obey the order to go up to thecathedral. Ned went with the able bodied men to the cloisters. TheSpaniards soon came among them, and dragged off numbers of thosewhom they thought most likely to have taken a prominent part inthe fighting, to execution. As they did not wish others from whommoney could be wrung to escape from their hands, they presentlyissued some food to the remainder. The women, after remaining forsome hours in the cathedral, were suffered to depart to their homes,for their starving condition excited the compassion even of theSpaniards; and the atrocities which had taken place at the sacksof Mechlin, Zutphen and Naarden, were not repeated in Haarlem.
The next day the men were also released; not from any ideas ofmercy, but in order that when they returned to their homes the workof picking out the better class for execution could be the moreeasily carried on. For three days longer the girls remained intheir hiding, and were then allowed to come out, as Ned felt nowthat the danger of general massacre was averted.
"Now, Ned," his aunt said, "you must stay here no longer. Everyday we hear proclamations read in the streets that all shelteringrefugees and others not belonging to the town will be punished withdeath; and, as you know, every stranger caught has been murdered."
This they had heard from some of the neighbours. Ned himself hadnot stirred out since he returned from the cloisters; for his aunthad implored him not to do so, as it would only be running uselessrisk.
"I hear," she went on, "that they have searched many houses forfugitives, and it is probable the hunt may become even more strict;therefore I think, Ned, that for our sake as well as your own youhad better try to escape."
"I quite agree with you, aunt. Now that the worst is over, andI know that you and the girls are safe, no good purpose could beserved by my staying; and being both a stranger and one who hasfought here, I should certainly be killed if they laid hands on me.As to escaping, I do not think there can be any difficulty aboutthat. I have often let myself down from the walls, and can doso again; and although there is a strict watch kept at the gatesto prevent any leaving until the Spaniards' thirst for blood issatisfied, there can be no longer any vigilant watch kept up bythe troops encamped outside, and I ought certainly to be able toget through them at night. It will be dark in a couple of hours,and as soon as it is so I will be off."
The girls burst into tears at the thought of Ned's departure.During the seven long months the siege had lasted he had been asa brother to them--keeping up their spirits by his cheerfulness,looking after their safety, and as far as possible after theircomfort, and acting as the adviser and almost as the head of thehouse. His aunt was almost equally affected, for she had come tolean entirely upon him and to regard him as a son.
"It is best that it should be so, Ned; but we shall all miss yousorely. It may be that I shall follow your advice and come over toEngland on a long visit. Now that I know you so well it will notseem like going among strangers, as it did before; for althoughI met your father and mother whenever they came over to Vordwyk,I had not got to know them as I know you. I shall talk the matterover with my father. Of course everything depends upon what isgoing to happen in Holland."
Ned did not tell his aunt that her father had been one of the firstdragged out from the cloisters for execution, and that her sister,who kept house for him, had died three days previous to the surrender.His going away was grief enough for her for one day, and he turnedthe conversation to other matters until night fell, when, after asad parting, he made his way to the walls, having wound round hiswaist the rope by which he had been accustomed to lower himself.
The executions in Haarlem continued for two days after he had left,and then the five executioners were so weary of slaying that thethree hundred prisoners who still remained for execution were tiedback to back and thrown into the lake.