His character had already been attacked, his property threatened with confiscation.  His closest ties of family were now to be severed by the hand of the tyrant.  His eldest child, the Count de Buren, torn from his protection, was to be carried into indefinite captivity in a foreign land.  It was a remarkable oversight, for a person of his sagacity, that, upon his own departure from the provinces, he should leave his son, then a boy of thirteen years, to pursue his studies at the college of Louvain.  Thus exposed to the power of the government, he was soon seized as a hostage for the good behavior of the father.  Granvelle appears to have been the first to recommend the step in a secret letter to Philip, but Alva scarcely needed prompting.  Accordingly, upon the 13th of February, 1568, the Duke sent the Seignior de Chassy to Louvain, attended by four officers and by twelve archers.  He was furnished with a letter to the Count de Buren, in which that young nobleman was requested to place implicit confidence in the bearer of the despatch, and was informed that the desire which his Majesty had to see him educated for his service, was the cause of the communication which the Seignior de Chassy was about to make.

That gentleman was, moreover, minutely instructed as to his method of proceeding in this memorable case of kidnapping.  He was to present the letter to the young Count in presence of his tutor.  He was to invite him to Spain in the name of his Majesty.  He was to assure him that his Majesty’s commands were solely with a view, to his own good, and that he was not commissioned to arrest, but only to escort him.  He was to allow the Count to be accompanied only by two valets, two pages, a cook, and a keeper of accounts.  He was, however, to induce his tutor to accompany him, at least to the Spanish frontier.  He was to arrange that the second day after his arrival at Louvain, the Count should set out for Antwerp, where he was to lodge with Count Lodron, after which they were to proceed to Flushing, whence they were to embark for Spain.  At that city he was to deliver the young Prince to the person whom he would find there, commissioned for that purpose by the Duke.  As soon as he had made the first proposition at Louvain to the Count, he was, with the assistance of his retinue, to keep the most strict watch over him day and night, but without allowing the supervision to be perceived.

The plan was carried out admirably, and in strict accordance with the program.  It was fortunate, however, for the kidnappers, that the young Prince proved favorably disposed to the plan.  He accepted the invitation of his captors with alacrity.  He even wrote to thank the governor for his friendly offices in his behalf.  He received with boyish gratification the festivities with which Lodron enlivened his brief sojourn at Antwerp, and he set forth without reluctance for that gloomy and terrible land of Spain, whence so rarely a Flemish traveller had returned.