[Pierre Sterlinckx:  Eene come Waerachtige Beschryvinghe van alle Geschiedinissen, Anschlagen, Stormen, Schermutsingen oude Schieten voor de vroome Stadt Haerlem in Holland gheschicht, etc., etc.—­ Delft, 1574.—­This is by far the best contemporary account of the famous siege.  The author was a citizen of Antwerp, who kept a daily journal of the events as they occurred at Harlem.  It is a dry, curt register of horrors, jotted down without passion or comment.—­ Compare Bor, vi. 422, 423; Meteren, iv. 79; Mendoza, viii. 174, 175; Wagenaer, vad.  Hist., vi. 413, 414.]

On the edge of the mere the Prince of Orange had already ordered a cluster of forts to be erected, by which the command of its frozen surface was at first secured for Harlem.  In the course of the siege, however, other forts were erected by Don Frederic, so that the aspect of things suffered a change.

Against this immense force, nearly equal in number to that of the whole population of the city, the garrison within the walls never amounted to more than four thousand men.  In the beginning it was much less numerous.  The same circumstances, however, which assisted the initiatory operations of Don Frederic, were of advantage to the Harlemers.  A dense frozen fog hung continually over the surface of the lake.  Covered by this curtain, large supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition were daily introduced into the city, notwithstanding all the efforts of the besieging force.  Sledges skimming over the ice, men, women, and even children, moving on their skates as swiftly as the wind, all brought their contributions in the course of the short dark days and long nights of December, in which the wintry siege was opened.

The garrison at last numbered about one thousand pioneers or delvers, three thousand fighting men, and about three hundred fighting women.  The last was a most efficient corps, all females of respectable character, armed with sword, musket, and dagger.  Their chief, Kenau Hasselaer, was a widow of distinguished family and unblemished reputation, about forty-seven years of age, who, at the head of her amazons, participated in many of the most fiercely contested actions of the siege, both within and without the walls.  When such a spirit animated the maids and matrons of the city, it might be expected that the men would hardly surrender the place without a struggle.  The Prince had assembled a force of three or four thousand men at Leyden, which he sent before the middle of December towards the city under the command of De la Marck.  These troops were, however, attacked on the way by a strong detachment under Bossu, Noircarmes, and Romero.  After a sharp, action in a heavy snow-storm, De la Marek was completely routed.  One thousand of his soldiers were cut to pieces, and a large number carried off as prisoners to the gibbets, which were already conspicuously erected in the Spanish camp, and which from the commencement to the close of the