His triumphs were but few, his fall ignominious.  His father’s treasure was squandered, the curse of a standing army fixed upon his people, the trade and manufactures of the country paralyzed by his extortions, and he accomplished nothing.  He lost his life in the forty-fourth year of his age (1477), leaving all the provinces, duchies, and lordships, which formed the miscellaneous realm of Burgundy, to his only child, the Lady Mary.  Thus already the countries which Philip had wrested from the feeble hand of Jacqueline, had fallen to another female.  Philip’s own granddaughter, as young, fair, and unprotected as Jacqueline, was now sole mistress of those broad domains.

VIII.

A crisis, both for Burgundy and the Netherlands, succeeds.  Within the provinces there is an elastic rebound, as soon as the pressure is removed from them by the tyrant’s death.  A sudden spasm of liberty gives the whole people gigantic strength.  In an instant they recover all, and more than all, the rights which they had lost.  The cities of Holland, Flanders, and other provinces call a convention at Ghent.  Laying aside their musty feuds, men of all parties-Hooks and Kabbeljaws, patricians and people, move forward in phalanx to recover their national constitutions.  On the other hand, Louis the Eleventh seizes Burgundy, claiming the territory for his crown, the heiress for his son.  The situation is critical for the Lady Mary.  As usual in such cases, appeals are made to the faithful commons.  A prodigality of oaths and pledges is showered upon the people, that their loyalty may be refreshed and grow green.  The congress meets at Ghent.  The Lady Mary professes much, but she will keep her vow.  The deputies are called upon to rally the country around the duchess, and to resist the fraud and force of Louis.  The congress is willing to maintain the cause of its young mistress.  The members declare, at the same time, very roundly, “that the provinces have been much impoverished and oppressed by the enormous taxation imposed upon them by the ruinous wars waged by Duke Charles from the beginning to the end of his life.”  They rather require “to be relieved than additionally encumbered.”  They add that, “for many years past, there has been a constant violation of the provincial and municipal charters, and that they should be happy to see them restored.”

The result of the deliberations is the formal grant by Duchess Mary of the “Groot Privilegie,” or Great Privilege, the Magna Charta of Holland.  Although this instrument was afterwards violated, and indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic.  It was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights, not an acquisition of new privileges.  It was a restoration, not a revolution.  Its principal points deserve attention from those interested in the political progress of mankind.