In Enkhuisen, the main naval base of the Spanish fleet and one of the most important trading towns on the Zuiderzee, as in Vlissingen, there was unrest among the unemployed fishermen and sailors. The burgomasters wanted to introduce a Spanish garrison, but the townspeople, taking up arms, prevented this attempt. After several weeks of hesitation, the city switched sides to William of Orange. At the first news of the unrest, a crowd of emigrants poured into Enkhuisen. In sight of the city, Guez ships appeared on the sea. At the end of May, with their help, the magistrate was arrested. They turned to Bril and Vlissingen for help. A few days later, Saunois, appointed by William as ruler of northern Holland, arrived in the city.
In Leiden, an armed crowd of citizens returning from exile prevented the city council from calling up the Spanish garrison, and a few days later several hundred Gueuze were allowed into the city.
In southern Holland, Lord Swieten, who owned lands near Leiden, captured Udewater on June 18 with a small detachment of Gueuzes who arrived from Bril, and at the end of June, by agreement with the townspeople, he occupied the city of Guda, where unrest had long been going on. When, as Sweeten approached, the burgomasters, wanting to test the mood of the townspeople, asked if they were ready to defend the city against the Guezes, they all answered: “No, for a tenth of money we won’t raise a finger.”
In Haarlem, under pressure from Enkhuisen and Leiden, the burgomaster and the guilds, at the insistence of some of the townspeople who had returned from emigration, entered into an agreement with Wilhelm’s representatives. Thus, during the summer almost all of Zealand and Holland fell away from the Spanish government. But the Spaniards held such important points as Middelburg, the main city of Zealand, and Amsterdam.
The soul of the movement and its main military force were the sea gueuzes. Now it was necessary to maintain the newly won independence, to repel the onslaught of the Spanish hordes moved into the fallen provinces. In this unequal struggle, gyozas were also in the forefront. With their help, any attempts to capitulate to the Spaniards where they took place were first of all suppressed. A striking example of this heroic struggle is the famous siege of Haarlem.
Haarlem, famous for its staunch defense, almost surrendered to the Spaniards without a fight in December 1572.
When the Spanish army, relying on Amsterdam, was preparing to pacify Holland, it was not difficult to foresee that the first blow would be dealt to Haarlem, due to its extremely important strategic position. The siege, capture, destruction of the city, massacre of the population seemed inevitable. To prevent this danger, the city council sent three delegates to Amsterdam in December 1572 to negotiate with Alba about the terms of the city's surrender. The city was ready to capitulate. The gyozas saved the situation. The commander of the Guez detachment stationed there, Wigbold fan Ripperda, managed to inspire the townspeople to fight. Referring to the example of Mecheln and other cities destroyed by Alba, it was not difficult to convince the townspeople and the city militia, whom Wigbold convened in the city square, that an agreement with enemies as bloodthirsty as treacherous was impossible, that cowardly capitulation would not save either their lives or property. And everyone took an oath to defend the city to the last drop of blood. The city council delegates who negotiated with Alba were handed over to William upon their return and executed. Soon, William's commissioner, Marnix de Saint-Aldegonde, replaced the members of the city council who showed cowardice.
The siege of Haarlem began. It did not last seven days, as the commander of the Spanish army, Alba’s son Ferdinand, boastfully declared, but dragged on for seven months. “It was a war,” wrote the old Duke of Alba to the king, “never seen or unheard of in any country on earth.” No fortress, he said, was defended with such skill and courage as Haarlem. The garrison of Haarlem numbered about 4 thousand people, there were 30 thousand Spaniards. The defenders skillfully used natural conditions. Through the ice of the frozen Lake Haarlem, communication with the outside world was established. People rushed to the besieged city on skates to help the garrison. Skaters carried food and equipment on their backs and in sleds. Letters were always sent using carrier pigeons.
All attacks of the Spaniards, prepared by a crushing bombardment, were repulsed with huge losses for the attackers. In the city, under the leadership of the widow Kenau Haseler, a detachment of 300 women was formed, which fought bravely in the most dangerous places. Both the defenders and the defenders dug into the ground, and on both sides they tirelessly dug and blew up trenches. The besieged city was eventually starved out; Haarlem could not stand the hunger and surrendered on July 12, 1573 to the mercy of the winner. The Spaniards took 240 thousand guilders as ransom, but the garrison was completely destroyed. One of the first to be executed was the brave Ripperda, and several hundred townspeople were also executed. The heads of the Gozas were cut off, they were hanged, and the last 300 people were drowned in the lake, tied up in pairs. The siege cost the Spaniards over 12 thousand soldiers killed and died from the epidemic. This costly victory was the last for the Spaniards.
The next city that was besieged by the Spaniards shortly after the surrender of Haarlem was Alkmaar, where Alba wanted to set an example of cruelty and edification to other resisting cities. “If I take Alkmaar,” he wrote to Philip, “I will not leave a single person alive. A knife will be put to every throat. Since the example of Haarlem turned out to be useless, then perhaps an example of cruelty will bring other cities to their senses.” The fate of Alkmaar literally hung in the balance when, at the same time, a detachment of Spaniards approached one gate of the city, and a detachment of Guez led by Jacob Cabello, Senier Mulgem from the Ghent district, appointed by William as commandant of the city, approached the other. A heated debate broke out in the city council about which side to take. “They were so frightened,” writes a modern historian of events, “that they could not decide anything, and a large crowd of townspeople gathered in front of the town hall, awaiting the decision of the magistrate. When the meeting dragged on for a long time, Ruichaver (one of the commanders of the Guez) said with anger: “ Now is not the time to continue the discussion, tell us briefly what you want to do and what you don’t want.” To this, one of the burgomasters, Floris van Teilingen, said: “With the prince and the townspeople I will live and die.” And immediately he left with Captain Ruihaver from the town hall. Many citizens gathered in a crowd, armed with axes and hammers, they cut open the Friesland Gate and let in the men of the Prince of Orange, and the next moment the Kenemer Gate was opened, so that these soldiers were able to make an attack against the Spaniards."
The Spaniards were repulsed, and a garrison of Guez settled in the city. There were only about 800 soldiers. Together with 1,300 townspeople capable of bearing arms, this was the entire force that a few weeks later had to defend the city against 16,000 Spaniards. The siege began on August 21, 1573. The city was surrounded in such a way that, according to Alba, it was impossible for a sparrow to fly in or fly out. The first assault took place on September 18. It lasted from 3 o'clock in the afternoon until dark and was repulsed with such losses for the Spaniards that the next day the Spanish soldiers could not be thrown into the attack either by threats or promises. On October 8, the Spaniards lifted the siege of Alkmaar, having learned about the breaking of the dams and the impending flooding of the surrounding city, undertaken to save Alkmaar.
“Victory came from Alkmaar,” says folk tradition. In fact, the turning point of the war was the unsuccessful siege of Leiden for the Spaniards (from May 26 to October 3, 1574). The saviors of the city and all of Holland again turned out to be geuzes.
When Leiden was besieged by an 8,000-strong Spanish army, entrenched in 62 redoubts, the city found itself in a desperate situation. The improvident city administration did not make sufficient food supplies, although only two months ago the almost 6-month siege of the city was lifted. The garrison was withdrawn from Leiden, and by the time the second siege began, there was only a small detachment of Guez and five companies of civilian militia in the city. The Spaniards, having besieged the city, did not attack its fortifications; they now began to adhere to a new tactic - to starve the city out. And indeed, some time later, a terrible famine began in Leiden and a plague epidemic broke out. The salvation of the city and the entire campaign depended on whether the defenders of Leiden could hold out until outside help arrived. The idea of capitulation arose more than once in the city council, which did not show enough firmness. The Catholic part of the population was also inclined to surrender the city, hoping to take advantage of the amnesty recently announced by the Spanish government. “Great treachery,” wrote one of Oransky’s friends, “is shown by some city councilors who are trying every day more and more to induce disobedience to the needy and hungry population of the city through empty and false promises, borrowed from the enemy’s letters, contrary to the oath that they gave to your Lordship and the States." Negotiations about surrender were even started with one of the Spanish commanders, but the whole matter was spoiled by the intervention of the commander of the Spanish siege army, Valdez, who was counting on a thorough plunder of the city upon its capture.
Unyielding determination and firmness were shown by a small group of people dedicated to the cause of national liberation and relying on the Guez who were in the city: the secretary of the council, fan der Werft, who had recently returned from exile, the poet and scientist Jan van der Des, appointed commander of the troops by Wilhelm, his brother and cousin, etc. They acted with persuasion and intimidation.
Was the last major success of the Spanish Duke of Alba in the Netherlands. Soon the “Iron Duke” left the Netherlands, taking with him his son Don Fadrique, whose actions in Haarlem he was very dissatisfied with. In October 1573, the siege of the Dutch city of Leiden was led by the experienced commander Don Francisco de Valdez. However, he was destined to become famous not for the triumphant capture of the city, but for refusing a decisive attack in exchange for the consent of his beloved Magdalena Mons to become his wife. Her story is as much a legend as the story of Kenau Hasseler, but it is based on real events.
Siege of Leiden
The territory of the northern part of the province of Holland, ending with the sea, was considered unsuitable even by the Spaniards themselves for siege warfare and the actions of large armies, since it was swampy and did not have the required number of wide roads. Don Fadrique, however, was not at all embarrassed by this. On August 21, 1573, he began the siege of the city of Alkmaar.
Siege of Alkmaar in 1573. Unknown artist, 1603
However, the Guez soon broke the dams and flooded the entire area adjacent to the city, which forced the Spaniards to close the siege camp on October 8. Three days later, the Royal Navy lost a naval battle to the rebels in the Zuiderzee, and this greatly complicated the position of the Spaniards in the north of the province. The army of Philip II was forced to stop operations in the north and marched to the south of the province of Holland, where it besieged the city of Leiden. The Spanish commander, Don Francisco de Valdez, perfectly remembered the experience of his colleague near Haarlem, so he chose to tightly surround the city and starve the defenders, instead of throwing his soldiers into the assault.
Leiden was one of the centers of the textile industry. The city, like Haarlem, did not immediately choose which side to take in the flared conflict. Back in 1572, Leiden closed its gates to the royal soldiers, but its authorities were in no hurry to openly join the uprising. In June 1573, a small detachment of 160 Gueuzes burst into the city and, having plundered the houses of many wealthy burghers, forced the local authorities to cooperate with the rebels. In particular, they were obliged to host a garrison from among the supporters of the Prince of Orange. When the townspeople were required to provide large loans for the needs of the uprising, many Leiden residents, mostly Catholics, left the city.
Francisco de Valdez
In July 1573, the city's population numbered just under 15,000. It also housed a rebel garrison of 800 soldiers. The city authorities understood that Oransky and his supporters largely depended on their subsidies, so they allowed themselves to put forward counter conditions. For example, the mercenaries who made up the garrison were obliged to observe the strictest discipline and not harm the property of the townspeople, and their girls had to get out of Leiden.
After the unsuccessful siege of Alkmaar, Francisco de Valdez returned to Haarlem. At the head of an army of 10,000 men, he crossed the Haarlemmermeer Bay and besieged Leiden from October 31, 1573 to March 21, 1574. Spanish troops occupied the entire area around the city and blocked food supplies for the besieged. Since Valdez did not seek to take the city by storm, but hoped to starve the Leiden people, the siege was rather monotonous and devoid of bright episodes. Leiden was a rich city, with enough provisions to withstand the first few months of the siege. In addition, many local peasants, having learned about the approach of the Spaniards, took refuge behind the city walls with their livestock, which also eased the fate of the besieged.
In the spring of 1574, luck smiled on the city: Louis of Nassau and his army invaded the Southern Netherlands, so Valdez was forced to temporarily lift the siege. On March 21, he hurried to join other Spanish troops that opposed the Dutch.
The Leiden people recklessly decided that Don Francisco had left for good, and did not have time to stock up on supplies by the time of his return. In July, the city began to experience an acute shortage of grain, and by August the reserves of cheese, bread and vegetables were completely exhausted. After this, the cattle inside the city walls went under the knife. The mercenaries from the garrison, clearly not eager to die of hunger, went to the town hall, where they demanded permission from the city authorities to freely leave the city.
By September the situation had become dire. Burgomaster van der Werf, in despair, turned to the residents, offering them to kill and eat him himself, if this would somehow help the city hold out a little longer. The townspeople began to eat cats and dogs. Poor people searched manure heaps in the hope of finding bones there, from which they could later cook soup.
Self-sacrifice of Burgomaster van der Werf. Artist Matthaus Ignatius van Bree, 1816–1817
Some townspeople attempted to escape. In July, two women and about a dozen of their children tried to get through the Spanish barriers. They were caught, forced to strip naked and sent back to the city in this form. This case was not an isolated one. When the second siege of Leiden began, the authorities invited women and children, who were of little use during the defense, to leave the city. In this way they hoped to get rid of extra mouths. Don Francisco saw through this idea and ordered everyone leaving the city to be stopped and sent back to Leiden. On September 13, a large group of local women gathered in front of the town hall and began to demand that the authorities surrender the city. They, in turn, said that residents who had not previously helped the city in any way and did not participate in civil patrols should be ashamed, and if they did not immediately go to the walls, they would be seriously fined.
Magdalena Mons and the lifting of the siege
Seeing the plight of Leiden, Don Francisco de Valdez decided to launch a general assault at the end of September 1574. As legend has it, his mistress Magdalena Mons persuaded the Spaniard not to do this, promising that she would marry him.
Magdalena was born on January 25, 1541 in The Hague. She was the youngest daughter of the lawyer Peter Mons and the daughter of the head of the municipality of Antwerp, Johanna van Sombecke. We do not know for certain when 33-year-old Magdalena met Francisco de Valdez, but there is information that shortly before the first siege of Leiden he visited The Hague, where one of her brothers was burgomaster.
Francisco de Valdez was an experienced military man who enjoyed the full confidence of the governor of the Netherlands, Don Luis de Requesens, who replaced the “Iron Duke” in this post. In addition, Valdez gained fame by publishing a treatise on military discipline - an amusing fact, given that shortly before the siege of Leiden, his own troops mutinied in Utrecht.
Magdalena Mons and Francisco de Valdez. Fragment of the painting “The Surrender of Weinsberg” by Jan Korelis van Woudt.
historiek.net
At the beginning of September 1574, Don Francisco wrote a letter to the authorities of Leiden, in which he promised to pardon all residents if the gates of the city were opened to Spanish troops. But shortly before Valdez's message was delivered to the city, another letter arrived there - from his immediate commander, Don La Rocha from Utrecht, who ordered the city to immediately surrender, threatening plunder and massacre. The city authorities discussed the proposals received, but were unable to come to any decision: some proposed sending a deputation to Utrecht to negotiate with La Rocha, others advocated sending envoys to the Prince of Orange for help.
On September 9, La Rocha complained to Requesens that Valdez was entering into negotiations with Leiden without permission. In a reply letter dated September 14, the Viceroy of the Netherlands confirmed La Rocha's authority. He wrote to King Philip II in Spain: he claimed that the Leiden authorities wanted to come to an agreement with him. He also wrote to Requesens that Valdez allegedly planned to sack the city.
On September 17, La Rocha, intending to take all the glory of the conqueror of Leiden for himself, sent envoys to the city to propose terms of surrender. However, Valdez ordered the envoy to be detained and did not allow him to return to the commander. Along the way, he stated that if La Rocha sent another one, he, Valdez, would simply shoot him.
Liberation of Leiden by the Gueuze, October 3, 1574. Artist Otto van Veen
On September 22, the townspeople sent a parliamentarian to Valdez, who declared that the city would not surrender. Don Francisco decided that in the current conditions it would be easier for him to take the city, and requested heavy siege guns from Amsterdam. However, on October 3, a strong storm broke out and water flooded the area around Leiden. The Spaniards were forced to lift the siege and retreat, saving their own property. The Guez, who carefully observed the siege, were soon able to deliver troops and provisions to the city in light flat-bottomed boats. This was the effective end of the siege - there was nothing more Valdez could do.
Commander's Wife
After the liberation of Leiden, Francisco Valdez first went to The Hague, and then appeared in Haarlem. Throughout October, he traveled around the Netherlands, trying to calm down the Spanish troops who were rioting due to delays in pay. Subsequently, he took part in several more operations in the Netherlands, and then left to serve in Italy.
Liberation of Leiden
We do not have any significant documents confirming the role of Magdalena Mons in the fateful delay of the decisive assault for Leiden. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Valdez visited The Hague at the end of September and at one of the dinners discussed the issue of delaying the assault on the city. We do not know where Magdalena was at that time - we only know that her mother was in The Hague in those days. Perhaps her daughter was with her.
We also know that Valdez was in Antwerp in August 1576, and according to records from the Mons family archive, it was in this city that the Spanish commander was going to marry his chosen one. There are no marriage registration certificates in the Antwerp archives, but there is an inheritance file in which Magdalena Mons appeared as the widow of Francisco de Valdez. In addition, there is evidence of the Spanish ambassador in Lisbon, who in May 1578 mentioned the upcoming marriage of Mons and Valdez.
Magdalena Mons begs her fiancé Francisco de Valdez to postpone the assault on Leiden for one more night. Artist Simon Opzumer, 1845.
absolutefacts.nl
Most likely, they got married at the end of the same 1578, and in February Don Francisco again left for the active army. Magdalena, as the commander's wife, may have been present at his side during the siege of Maastricht in 1579 and then traveled to Italy. Francisco de Valdez died in 1580 or 1581. Magdalena returned to the Netherlands, where she subsequently married a high-ranking Dutch officer. She died in 1613.
In subsequent decades, historians have debated the role of Magdalena Mons in the Siege of Leiden. On the one hand, contemporaries of the events considered the sudden storm that broke out as divine providence, which forced the Spaniards to lift the siege; on the other hand, Magdalena Mons was called the savior of the city. As in the case of Kenau Hasseler, only indirect evidence speaks in favor of the authenticity of the legend. At the same time, these data do not allow us to unequivocally doubt the story of Magdalena. As for the Dutch themselves, in their memory she will forever remain the woman who saved Leiden. Grateful descendants even named one of the city streets in her honor.
Literature:
- Geoffrey Parker. The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries" Wars.
- Geoffrey Parker. The Dutch Revolt.
- P. Limm. Dutch Revolt 1559–1648.
- G. Darby. The Origins and Development of the Dutch Revolt.
- Israel, Jonathan I. The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall 1477–1806. - Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Siege of Leiden.
The film tells about the heroic defense of Leiden during the Dutch Revolution.
On May 26, 1574, Leiden was besieged for the second time. The eight-thousandth Spanish army surrounded the city in a dense ring. Almost its entire population rose to defend the city. Women and children tirelessly built embankments, creating 62 fortifications.
On behalf of Philip II, the Spanish commander Valdetz promised to spare the inhabitants who were ready to surrender their weapons and renounce the Protestant “heresy.” But the townspeople refused all the enemy’s proposals, sending a short note: “The pipe sings sweetly when it deceives the brainless bird.”
Spanish troops rushed to attack many times and were repulsed each time.
There was no army in the entire country that could come to the rescue of the besieged, hungry city. The only fighting force that was terrible for the enemy was the naval fleet, from which it was difficult to expect help for a city separated from the sea coast by several tens of kilometers. The fields, meadows and gardens stretching from Leiden to the coast were once the seabed, transformed into dry land by the labor of many generations of workers.
The fate of Leiden worried the whole country. His fall would be the hour of triumph of the conquerors, the collapse of the hopes of the patriots. And the Estates General of the Netherlands made a short decision: “It is better to drown the land than to lose the land!” And diggers dug into the mighty mass of the dam to make way for sea waters.
Pigeons brought news of the progress of work to Leiden, and the population of the besieged city, daily burying fellow citizens killed in battle and struck down by hunger, repeatedly passed from despair to hope. The Sea Guezes received a letter that said: “We have already lasted 2 months with food and another month without food...”
When the Spaniards sent a note to the city in which the heroes of Leiden were called dog-eaters and cat-eaters, Burgomaster Van der Werch responded to this:
“As long as you hear dogs barking and cats meowing within these walls, know that the city holds on. Know that each of us will eat our left hand in order to defend our freedom, our women and children with our right hand. When the last hour comes, we will set the city on fire with our own hands and we will all perish in the flames: men, women and children, but we will not tolerate our homes and our liberties being destroyed by you...”
To raise the spirit of his fellow citizens, the burgomaster ordered the musicians to walk the streets of the city and perform folk melodies. The music coming from behind the walls of the starving city frightened its enemies... Meanwhile, the sailors and volunteer navvies had to do a gigantic job - punching holes in the double row of dams encircling Leiden in concentric circles.
A canal led to Lake Leiden, along which 3,000 Spanish soldiers were stationed. A naval column of Guez moved along the canal. The concentrated fire of the ship's cannons confused the enemy. The Spanish infantry, experienced in conventional land battles, were unable to fight on the water. Thus the road to Leiden was opened for the Gueuze.
The strength of the exhausted defenders of the city was melting every day, the sailors knew about this. And when it was necessary to furl the sails, in order to win at least a few hours in a cruel dispute with nature and with the enemy, they moved along the shore, dragging the ships through the shallow water on chains and ropes. A change in the wind brought the liberators closer to the city.
On the last night of the siege, the stone wall of Leiden, pierced in many places by cannonballs, collapsed with a roar. The sound of the fall caused panic in the Spaniards' camp. They did not dare to enter Leiden through the gap that had opened in the wall and began to hastily retreat. The waves of the advancing sea caused superstitious horror among the Spanish soldiers... And a few hours later, the menacing roar of the Guez naval artillery announced their arrival at the walls of Leiden.
The struggle for Leiden is a glorious heroic page in the history of the Netherlands. It is inscribed into it by the hand of a people who accomplished a feat in a battle with a strong, cruel and treacherous enemy.
When, after the expulsion of the Spaniards, the question of where to build a new university was decided, preference was given to Leiden as a reward for the courage shown by its illustrious sons.
Background
After the capture of Haarlem by the Spaniards as a result of a seven-month siege, the County of Holland was divided into two parts. Alba attempted to conquer Alkmaar in the north, but the city withstood the Spanish attack. Alba then sent his officer Francisco de Valdez south to attack Leiden. But very soon Alba realized that he was unable to suppress the uprising as quickly as he had planned, and asked the king for his resignation. In December, the resignation was accepted, and the less odious Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens was appointed as the new governor-general.
First siege
Second siege
Valdez's army returned to continue the siege on May 26, 1574. The city seemed about to fall: supplies were running low, the rebel army was defeated, and the rebel territory was very small compared to the vast Spanish empire.
Only on October 1, the wind changed to the west, the water began to remain, and the rebel fleet raised the sails again. Now only two forts blocked the Dutch's path to the city - Zoeterwoude and Lammen - both had strong garrisons. The garrison of Zoeterwoude, however, abandoned the fort as soon as they saw the Dutch fleet. On the night of October 2-3, the Spaniards also abandoned Fort Lammen, thereby lifting the siege of Leiden. Ironically, that same night, part of Leiden's wall, washed away by seawater, collapsed, leaving the city defenseless. The next day, the rebel train entered the city, distributing herring and white bread to the residents.
Consequences
In 1575, the Spanish treasury ran dry, the soldiers stopped receiving salaries and rebelled. After the sack of Antwerp, the entire Netherlands rebelled against Spain. Leiden was safe again.
On October 3, Leiden hosts an annual festival to commemorate the lifting of the siege in 1574. The municipality traditionally distributes free herring and white bread to city residents on this day.
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Notes
Literature
- Fissel Mark Charles. English warfare, 1511–1642; Warfare and history. - London, UK: Routledge, 2001. - ISBN 978-0-415-21481-0.
- Henty G. A. By Pike and Dyke. - Robinson Books, 2002. - ISBN 978-1-59087-041-9.
- Motley John Lothrop. .
- Trim David. The Huguenots: History and Memory in Transnational Context:. - Brill Academic Publishers, 2011. - ISBN 978-90-04-20775-2.
- Van Dorsten J. A. Poets, Patrons and Professors: Sir Philip Sidney, Daniel Rogers and the Leiden Humanists.. - BRILL: Architecture, 1962. - ISBN 978-90-04-06605-2.
Excerpt describing the Siege of Leiden
Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart except his prayer. When he gave his speeches, he, starting them, seemed not to know how he would end them.When Pierre, sometimes amazed at the meaning of his speech, asked him to repeat what he had said, Plato could not remember what he had said a minute ago - just as he could not tell Pierre his favorite song in words. It said: “darling, little birch and I feel sick,” but the words didn’t make any sense. He did not understand and could not understand the meaning of words taken separately from speech. His every word and every action was a manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life. She made sense only as a part of the whole, which he constantly felt. His words and actions poured out of him as uniformly, necessarily, and directly as a scent is released from a flower. He could not understand either the price or the meaning of a single action or word.
Having received news from Nicholas that her brother was with the Rostovs in Yaroslavl, Princess Marya, despite her aunt’s dissuasions, immediately got ready to go, and not only alone, but with her nephew. Whether it was difficult, not difficult, possible or impossible, she did not ask and did not want to know: her duty was not only to be near her perhaps dying brother, but also to do everything possible to bring him her son, and she stood up drive. If Prince Andrei himself did not notify her, then Princess Marya explained it either by the fact that he was too weak to write, or by the fact that he considered this long journey too difficult and dangerous for her and for his son.
Within a few days, Princess Marya got ready to travel. Her crews consisted of a huge princely carriage, in which she arrived in Voronezh, a britzka and a cart. Traveling with her were M lle Bourienne, Nikolushka and her tutor, an old nanny, three girls, Tikhon, a young footman and a haiduk, whom her aunt had sent with her.
It was impossible to even think about going the usual route to Moscow, and therefore the roundabout route that Princess Marya had to take: to Lipetsk, Ryazan, Vladimir, Shuyu, was very long, due to the lack of post horses everywhere, very difficult and near Ryazan, where, as they said the French were showing up, even dangerous.
During this difficult journey, M lle Bourienne, Desalles and Princess Mary's servants were surprised by her fortitude and activity. She went to bed later than everyone else, got up earlier than everyone else, and no difficulties could stop her. Thanks to her activity and energy, which excited her companions, by the end of the second week they were approaching Yaroslavl.
During her recent stay in Voronezh, Princess Marya experienced the best happiness of her life. Her love for Rostov no longer tormented or worried her. This love filled her entire soul, became an inseparable part of herself, and she no longer fought against it. Lately, Princess Marya became convinced—although she never clearly told herself this in words—she became convinced that she was loved and loved. She was convinced of this during her last meeting with Nikolai, when he came to announce to her that her brother was with the Rostovs. Nicholas did not hint in a single word that now (if Prince Andrei recovered) the previous relationship between him and Natasha could be resumed, but Princess Marya saw from his face that he knew and thought this. And, despite the fact that his attitude towards her - cautious, tender and loving - not only did not change, but he seemed to rejoice in the fact that now the kinship between him and Princess Marya allowed him to more freely express his friendship and love to her, as he sometimes thought Princess Marya. Princess Marya knew that she loved for the first and last time in her life, and felt that she was loved, and was happy and calm in this regard.
But this happiness on one side of her soul not only did not prevent her from feeling grief for her brother with all her might, but, on the contrary, this peace of mind in one respect gave her a greater opportunity to fully surrender to her feelings for her brother. This feeling was so strong in the first minute of leaving Voronezh that those accompanying her were sure, looking at her exhausted, desperate face, that she would certainly get sick on the way; but it was precisely the difficulties and worries of the journey, which Princess Marya took on with such activity, that saved her for a while from her grief and gave her strength.
As always happens during a trip, Princess Marya thought only about one journey, forgetting what was its goal. But, approaching Yaroslavl, when what could lie ahead of her was revealed again, and not many days later, but this evening, Princess Marya’s excitement reached its extreme limits.
When the guide sent ahead to find out in Yaroslavl where the Rostovs were standing and in what position Prince Andrei was, met a large carriage entering at the gate, he was horrified when he saw the terribly pale face of the princess, which leaned out of the window.
“I found out everything, your Excellency: the Rostov men are standing on the square, in the house of the merchant Bronnikov.” “Not far away, just above the Volga,” said the hayduk.
Princess Marya looked fearfully and questioningly at his face, not understanding what he was telling her, not understanding why he did not answer the main question: what about brother? M lle Bourienne asked this question for Princess Marya.
- What about the prince? – she asked.
“Their Lordships are standing with them in the same house.”
“So he is alive,” thought the princess and quietly asked: what is he?
“People said they were all in the same situation.”
What did “everything in the same position” mean, the princess did not ask and only briefly, glancing imperceptibly at the seven-year-old Nikolushka, who was sitting in front of her and rejoicing at the city, lowered her head and did not raise it until the heavy carriage, rattling, shaking and swaying, did not stop somewhere. The folding steps rattled.
The doors opened. On the left there was water - a large river, on the right there was a porch; on the porch there were people, servants and some kind of ruddy girl with a large black braid who was smiling unpleasantly, as it seemed to Princess Marya (it was Sonya). The princess ran up the stairs, the girl feigning a smile said: “Here, here!” - and the princess found herself in the hallway in front of an old woman with an oriental face, who quickly walked towards her with a touched expression. It was the Countess. She hugged Princess Marya and began to kiss her.
- Mon enfant! - she said, “je vous aime et vous connais depuis longtemps.” [My child! I love you and have known you for a long time.]
Despite all her excitement, Princess Marya realized that it was the countess and that she had to say something. She, without knowing how, uttered some polite French words, in the same tone as those spoken to her, and asked: what is he?
“The doctor says there is no danger,” said the countess, but while she was saying this, she raised her eyes upward with a sigh, and in this gesture there was an expression that contradicted her words.
The first university in Holland was built in the city of Leiden in 1578 - this was a reward from William of Orange for the fortitude shown by the city's residents during the siege by the Spanish conquerors. How did this happen and what was the price for this opportunity? All this can be learned from the history of the emergence of Leiden University.
At that terrible time for the Dutch people, the viceroys of the Spanish king ravaged the Dutch provinces, and the cruel Duke of Alba drowned the once prosperous region in blood. Several cities were wiped off the face of the earth; after a six-month siege, besieged Haarlem surrendered, and it was Leiden’s turn.
Starting the second siege of Leiden in 1574, the Spaniards had no doubt that now rich booty would definitely be in their hands. But the calculations of the conquerors did not come true.
The enemy of the Spaniards, William of Orange, collected mercenary troops abroad to repel the enemy. To besieged Leiden, Orange sent a carrier pigeon with a letter in which he wrote that as soon as the wind catches up with water, his ships will come to the aid of the besieged. But there was still no wind, and the city ran out of bread supplies. People began to die of hunger, but still decided not to surrender to the mercy of the Spaniards. Moreover, as they knew from the example of other cities, there would be no mercy: the surviving Leiden residents would be sent to the gallows or the stake.
But finally the long-awaited storm began at sea, water flowed through the destroyed dams, and William of Orange sent his ships to help the besieged Leiden. Frightened by the approaching flotilla, the Spaniards left to avoid battle. The liberators entered the harbor on October 3. Bread and herring were brought for the besieged - for the first time in several weeks the Leiden people were able to eat.
But what does this have to do with the history of the creation of Leiden University? The fact is that after his liberation, William of Orange asked how to thank the city residents - by reducing taxes or building a university - the city residents unanimously chose the latter. We can say that they earned this right at the cost of six thousand lives.
Since then, every year on October 3, Leiden celebrates the liberation holiday. Free bread and herring are given to everyone who wants it. An inscription was created on the city hall, the meaning of which is: “When 6 thousand died of hunger, God gave bread in abundance.” This inscription contains 131 letters - that is how many days the siege of Leiden lasted.
The mood of the exhausted residents of this city is surprising and delightful: having survived the siege and having lost people close to them, they thought not about material wealth, but about the future of their city and children. It is not for nothing that the Bible says that man cannot live by bread alone. This is clearly illustrated by the emergence of Leiden University.