As soon as the words had been all spoken by the pensionary, the Emperor, whose cue was now to appear struggling with mingled emotions of reasonable wrath and of natural benignity, performed his part with much dramatic effect.  “He held himself coyly for a little time,” says the eye-witness, “without saying a word; deporting himself as though he were considering whether or not he would grant the pardon for which the culprits had prayed.”  Then the Queen Regent enacted her share in the show.  Turning to his Majesty “with all reverence, honor and humility, she begged that he would concede forgiveness, in honor of his nativity, which had occurred in that city.”

Upon this the Emperor “made a fine show of benignity,” and replied “very sweetly” that in consequence of his “fraternal love for her, by reason of his being a gentle and virtuous prince, who preferred mercy to the rigor of justice, and in view of their repentance, he would accord his pardon to the citizens.”

The Netherlands, after this issue to the struggle of Ghent, were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition.  The form of local self-government remained, but its spirit, when invoked, only arose to be derided.  The supreme court of Mechlin, as in the days of Charles the Bold, was again placed in despotic authority above the ancient charters.  Was it probable that the lethargy of provinces, which had reached so high a point of freedom only to be deprived of it at last, could endure forever?  Was it to be hoped that the stern spirit of religious enthusiasm, allying itself with the—­keen instinct of civil liberty, would endue the provinces with strength to throw off the Spanish yoke?

XII.

It is impossible to comprehend the character of the great Netherland revolt in the sixteenth century without taking a rapid retrospective survey of the religious phenomena exhibited in the provinces.  The introduction of Christianity has been already indicated.  From the earliest times, neither prince, people, nor even prelates were very dutiful to the pope.  As the papal authority made progress, strong resistance was often made to its decrees.  The bishops of Utrecht were dependent for their wealth and territory upon the good will of the Emperor.  They were the determined opponents of Hildebrand, warm adherents of the Hohenstaufers-Ghibelline rather than Guelph.  Heresy was a plant of early growth in the Netherlands.  As early as the beginning of the 12th century, the notorious Tanchelyn preached at Antwerp, attacking the authority of the pope and of all other ecclesiastics; scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the Church.  Unless his character and career have been grossly misrepresented, he was the most infamous of the many impostors who have so often disgraced the cause of religious reformation.  By more than four centuries, he anticipated the licentiousness and greediness manifested by a series of false prophets, and was the first to turn both the stupidity of a populace and the viciousness of a priesthood to his own advancement; an ambition which afterwards reached its most signal expression in the celebrated John of Leyden.