"Lysbeth: A Tale of the Dutch"
This novel is dedicated to "William, called the silent, of Nassau".
The year is 1544, in the reign of the Emperor Charles V. Lysbeth is the 22 or 23 year old daughter of recently deceased shipowner and merchant Carolus van Hout, of Leyden, Spanish Netherlands. She lives with her aunt Clara van Ziel in the mansion she has inherited. A regular visitor to the house is her 24 or 25 year old cousin Dirk van Goorl, second son of a brass founder from Alkmaar, a village near Leyden.
For several years Lysbeth has expected Dirk to propose to her, but he hasn’t done so. Ostensibly this is due to his natural reticence, but the real reason is that Dirk is an adherent of the "New Religion" – Lutheranism – and this prevents him, since Lysbeth is a good Catholic. It is dangerous to be a dissenter, as the Inquisition is in full flight, under the Duke of Alva and the Blood Council.
It is winter festival, and the townspeople are skating on the frozen mere. Dirk is supposed to meet her, but he is delayed, watching a cooling bell casting, and Lysbeth is accompanied only by her servant, Greta. Lysbeth is approached by a strange women in her mid-30s, who declares that she knew Lysbeth’s father, and who prophesises famine for the city, on account of the Spaniards. This is Martha the Mare (so called on account of her horse-like visage), aka Martha van Muyden, or Mother Martha – once known as the Lily of Brussels, until she fell into the hands of the Inquisition. She is now a fugitive, having been condemned by the Inquisition 2 years ago, when her husband and son were burnt for heresy and witchcraft. Martha flees when she sees she is overheard by Black Meg, an informer for the Inquisition.
Lysbeth is now joined by here cousin Pieter van de Werff, who is to take part in the sledge race which ends the day’s festivities. There have been heats during the day, and the finalists will compete for a trophy. Another contestant is the 30 year old acting garrison commander, Captain Count Don Juan de Montalvo. He is but recently arrived from Spain, via The Hague, but is already heartily disliked, as a representative of the Spanish power. Lysbeth met the Count an a dinner party in The Hague. Dirk now arrives, somewhat late.
Each contestant is entitled to ask a lady to be their passenger, and this honour is usually bestowed on someone the contestant wishes to show favour. To her horror, the Count asks Lysbeth – after seeking Dirk’s permission. Dirk is too flustered to say no, so Lysbeth has to join the Count in his sledge, which is shaped like a black Spanish wolf. van de Werff mount his own sledge, accompanied by his 9 year old sister – chosen because of her light weight. His sledge is made to resemble a grey Netherlands badger.
The wolf and the badger are neck and neck, the other contestants being left well behind. The count tries to overthrow van de Werff’s sledge – or so it seems – but eventually looses, much to his chagrin, and the delight of the crowd.
While Lysbeth is still in the sledge a soldier approaches the Count with a message. He tells Lysbeth that he has a small matter of official business to attend to, which will only take a quarter of an hour, and rides off, without allowing Lysbeth to disembark.
They come to a quiet street near the mere, where the find Martha the Mare, Black Meg, and a couple of soldiers. Meg has informed on Martha, as a condemned heretic, and on account of what she told Lysbeth. The soldiers have prepared a hole in the ice for Martha to "accidentally" fall into, since there is little room in the prison for another heretic, and Martha has already been condemned. But for reasons of his own Montalvo declines to allow them to drown Martha, at least not immediately. Instead, he asks Lysbeth to confirm whether Martha had spoken as Meg alleged. Knowing that if she says yes, Martha will be drowned, Lysbeth reluctantly decides to lie on oath, and deny the charge. Martha is released, but Montalvo makes it known that in return for releasing Martha, and for turning a blind eye to Lysbeth’s lie, she will have to pay.
The payment starts when the Count expects Lysbeth to accompany him on his rounds of the sentries, which takes a number of hours. He then invites himself home to Lysbeth’s house for dinner. The Count’s manner impresses Clara, and even Dirk, who is also a guest, concludes he is not such a bad person – for a Spaniard. But they don’t know that Lysbeth is under bondage to him.
Montalvo’s primary aim is to secure money. He comes from an ancient but dissolute family, whose fortune has long since departed. Furthermore, Montalvo himself is a gambler, and has expensive tasks. So he aims to marry Lysbeth to get her money, since she is one of the richest heiresses in the Netherlands. But first he must remove his rival, Dirk van Goorl.
The count entertained Dirk to dinner, where Dirk now meets his cousin Hendrik Brant, son of the Burgomaster of The Hague, a rich goldsmith. Montalvo had met Brant in The Hague, and since his father was rich, had cultivated his acquaintance. Dirk finds himself, somewhat against his will – for he dislikes anything Spanish – inviting Montalvo to dinner. They have a game of cards, which sees the Count heavily in debt to Dirk, but required to borrow from Dirk nonetheless.
Brant, who is also at the dinner, reveals to Dirk – after Montalvo has gone – that he too is a Lutheran. Dirk takes his Bible from its secret hiding place, and they read from it and pray together – principally with the aim of seeking guidance for Dirk in his relations with Lysbeth. They conclude that it is proper for Dirk to propose to Lysbeth, but that he must tell her that he is a Lutheran.
Black Meg, sent by Montalvo to spy on Dirk, sees the Bible and praying, and passes this on the Montalvo.
The Count, again imposing his present upon Lysbeth, tells her that her would-be betrothed is a heretic, and that he will pass this information on to the papal inquisitor, Ruard Tapper. As the Count observed, it would mean the stake for him, but as he has the freedom of the city, he might get off with hanging. He give her the choice of seeing Dirk condemned as a heretic, or agreeing to marry him. She reluctantly chooses the latter course, however first cursing Montalvo, calling upon God to "blast the mind and the soul of this monster".
Within a month they are married by the bishop in the Groote Kerk, Lysbeth in the meantime having dismissed Greta and sent Clara away, as they had supported Montalvo. Montalvo fears lest Lysbeth murder him, and they agree that, in return for a suitable daily payment, he will keep his distance. He soon gets through Lysbeth’s fortune.
Meg, who is spying on Montalvo as well as for him, tells Brant that Montalvo is already married, having deserted a wife and children in Spain – once he had gone through her fortune. This information – of which Meg has stolen the proof – is taken to Pieter van de Werff, who takes it to Brussels (the capital). The authorities are interested because they want to improve relations with the natives, and because the Count has used the Church for his fraud. Montalvo is arrested for bigamy. Lysbeth, who is now pregnant, doesn’t have anyone to turn to, since the locals all though she got what she deserved, having run after (or so it seemed to them) the Spaniard. She flees to the Haarlemer Mere.
She is taken in by Martha, who lives in a hut on one of the numerous islets in the mere. A son is born, whom Lysbeth names Adrian. Lysbeth stays on the mere for some time, until Martha fetches Dirk. They then marry, taking Adrian with them. A son is born, Foy. Meanwhile Don Juan de Montalvo has been sentenced to 14 years as a galley slave – the sentenced influenced by the fact that at that time all thought that Lysbeth had drowned herself in the mere.
Some 25 years later, Dirk van Goorl, Lysbeth van Goorl (nee van Hout), Foy van Goorl, and Adrian called van Goorl, are living in the old house of Lysbeth’s, which Dirk had redeemed from the moneylenders – it was entailed, or Montalvo would have sold it. Lysbeth is now a Lutheran, and Adrian has been brought up as a Lutheran, though he is more inclined to Catholicism. The family now includes Martin Roos, or Red Martin, a Frisian of about 40, who has been Dirk’s servant for 10 years. He is the son of a Friesian boor and an Englishwoman from Yarmouth. After he inherited his father’s farm he took to liquor, and lost it all, becoming a prize fighter. He was sentenced to die in Friesland – for what was not revealed – but escaped, killing the executioner with his own sword ("Silentium" – Silence), which he took. He killed a Spanish boxer in Leyden, and condemned to death, but was saved by Dirk, then Burgomaster.
Black Meg is busier than ever as an informer, and faggots burn cheerfully. She is assisted in her efforts by her husband Hague Simon, or the Butcher. They are working closely with one Ramiro ("Oarsman"), a Spaniard with vague connections with the Inquisition – and who Meg knows is actually the Count de Monatalvo. He has had to serve almost all his allotted time in the galleys – and an attempt at escape has lost him his eye. After getting out he became Ramiro, and practised for a while as a notary in Spain, until an ingenious fraud enabled him to acquire a fortune – which he has now largely spent. Few would recognise him now, but that suits his plans, which are still focused on gaining treasure.
The Inquisition is busy in the Netherlands, continuing "the sacred work of Christianising unbelievers by means of massacre and the rack".
Adrian is closer in nature to his father than to his mother – and he looks and behaves like a vain Spanish hidalgo. He is commonly dismissed as a "vain sybarite, a weak and passionate self-seeker". He is out hunting with his peregrine falcon, when he came upon Hague Simon and Black Meg waylaying a party of merchants. He intervenes, and they flee. The party includes the 19 year old Elsa Brant, only child of Hendrik Brant, whom he has sent to Leyden for safety. He himself is suspected as a heretic, and only safe so far because the authorities want to wrest from him the secret of his treasure – reputed to be worth more than any other in the Netherlands.
Meg is of course acting on orders from Ramiro/Montalvo, who also wants the treasure, and were ordered to search the party for any secret letters. They pass on to the van Goorl residence, where they knock at the front door, since Adrian is bringing guests. This unsettles the inhabitants, since, in these unsettled times, knocking "might be the trump of doom to every soul within the house, signifying the approach of the familiars of the Inquisition and of a martyr’s crown".
Thanks to Adrian’s intervention, the letter, which Elsa had hidden in the lining of her saddle, is safely delivered to Dirk, to whom it is addressed. This asks Dirk to send Foy and Martin to The Hague, where they will be contacted, and shown the treasure, which they are to take to England, if possible. It is to be used for the national benefit – ridding the country of Spaniards, and protecting the New Religion, subject to suitable provision for Elsa. On no account must it fall into the hands of the Spaniards.
Adrian is offended that no one takes his role in rescuing Elsa seriously. He insults his mother and is ordered from the house, but in his excitement bursts a blood vessel, and is put to bed.
Lysbeth gives Foy an eastern chain mail shirt to wear – one which her father, the ship owner, had acquired on his distant travels. He travels to The Hague, where he meets Hendrik Brant in hiding, expecting to be taken at any time. A guide takes Foy and Martin to he wharves, where a small vessel, the "Swallow", is moored – one among hundreds. They take this out to sea, narrowly avoiding being stopped by the guard ship, which they ram and sink. The treasure is in five barrels, four with gold coin, the fifth with jewels. The "Swallow" also carries barrels of gunpowder, to destroy the treasure rather than have it fall into the hands of the enemy.
They are unable to make open sea, as they are pursued, so the head into the Haarlemer Mere, where they meet Martha the Mare. She helps them hide the treasure on one of the hundreds of islets. As she alone would remember which islet, as a precaution she draws a map, which is hidden in the hilt of the sword "Silence". The boat is blown up, killing many Spaniards, but Ramiro, who has been tracking them, escapes.
Adrian has been nursed by Elsa, and falls madly in love with her. But she is interested only in Foy. Adrian, when he recovers fully, proposes and is rejected, which offends him because he feels he is infinitely superior to Foy. He consults Black Meg, with whom he has had various shady dealings in the past. She gets him to consult "The Master", none other than Montalvo/Ramiro, and Adrian’s own father.
Adrian, thinking only to win Elsa, tells the Master, whom he takes to be an astrologer, all his family circumstances. As he is doing so he hears what he thinks are young mice in the walls of the room. But when Adrian finishes, the Master calls forth a scribe from a hidden compartment in the wall. Ramiro is newly appointed Governor of the Gevangenhuis, the town prison, and as such an officer of the Inquisition, so this evidence will be useful leverage.
Elsa and Lysbeth are shopping in the town, and observe Ramiro reading the warrant appointing him Governor of the Gevangenhuis. Elsa recognises him as the man principally hounding her father for his treasure, and Lysbeth recognises him as her husband. On their way home Lysbeth visits the Vrouw Jansen, widow of a martyr. She has the plague, so Lysbeth goes in alone to see her.
Dirk tells Lysbeth that he has realised most of his assets, and sent the money to the firm of Munt and Brown, in Norwich, with whom he has done business – he is now head of the brass foundry of which he was once apprentice. They have been instructed to invest the money.
Adrian consults the Master again, though he doesn’t trust him. He asks him for a love philtre to win Elsa. Ramiro secretly laughs at Adrian, who he dismisses as an "empty-headed popinjay of a man, intoxicated with the fumes of his own vanity". He gets the philtre from Meg – it is merely water – and administers it. But before he can get a chance to again declare his love for Elsa, Foy gets in, and is accepted.
Adrian returns to the Master, complaining that the drug did not work – or rather that it worked for the wrong person’s benefit. The Master mysteriously appears in the room – obviously through the secret door, of which Adrian is as yet unaware. Adrian asks how he came in, without using the door, and the Master, keeping in character as an astrologer, replied: "The door – what have I to do with doors?". Adrian answers "I am sure I don’t know, but most people find them useful".
Again Adrian blabs more than is good for himself or his family. The Master now calls the official from the secret compartment, and he lays before Adrian a verbatim manuscript, and reveals that he is the Governor of the Gevangenhuis. He invites Adrian to sign it, but is refused, on the grounds that it would be treachery. Ramiro remarked that using a love philtre was also treacherous, and Adrian replied, "because love blinded me". Ramiro responds, "And has it not struck you, you vain puppy, that other things may blind you also – hot irons, for instance?"
He gives Adrian the choice of signing or going to the torture chamber. Adrian signs, and flees. He runs to the factory where Foy and Martin are working late, calling out at the door "the officers of the Inquisition are after you", before running to their home to warn his parents and Elsa. Before they can escape, Foy and Martin are cut off by the advance of 50 Spanish troops. They take refuge in a shot tower, from which they pour molten lead into the heads of the soldiers. Eventually, after a forlorn hope, they are overpowered, and taken to the Gevangenhuis. However, the mob follows, and besieges the Gevangenhuis, cutting off and killing the soldiers following up the rear with their many wounded.
Ramiro interviews Foy and Martin, asking them to reveal the location of the treasure – little does he know that the answer is hanging literally on the wall next to him, where the sword "Silence" is hanging as evidence. They decline, and he orders "Professor" Baptiste, the executioner, to question them, beginning with Martin. Foy is wounded in the leg and cannot stand. He has already got a blank certificate from the district Inquisitor, which can be used to justify any action.
Martin pretends he is a coward, and cringes from the rack. He tells the executioner that he will tell all. Baptiste is disappointed, but happy to be free of them so soon, and goes to fetch Ramiro. Martin now bursts free, kills Baptiste, and locks the guards in the torture chamber. He flees, carrying Foy across his shoulders.
Lysbeth has now got the plague from Vrouw Jansen – who died the day after Lysbeth saw her. She discovers that it was Adrian who informed on his brother and father – for Dirk is missing, presumed taken by the Inquisition. She sends Adrian out of the house, leaving a note on the door announcing that Adrian was not known there. She gets a message from Ramiro, asking her to come to the prison, where her husband is being kept. Ramiro offers to release him if one or other will tell him where the treasure is. They decline – though neither knew where it was in any case, Foy and Martin having kept if from them. Lysbeth, who keeps from Ramiro the fact that she has the plague, is allowed to see Dirk, who will be starved to death.
Word reaches Leyden of the massacre of the town of Mechlin. This encourages the mob to raise up, and seize the Gevangenhuis – Ramiro flees. But it is too late to save Dirk, who has died of the plague, which Lysbeth had deliberately sought to pass on to him, as an easier end than starvation or the stake. The Spaniards have now lost control of Leyden.
Adrian is recognised in the street, and a mob pursue him. He manages to escape them, and flees to Black Meg’s house. He finds Ramiro, "the Master", there and fights him, as he wants revenge for being used and for being made to inform on his family. Ramiro is outmatched – or Adrian is lucky – but saves himself from being run through by telling Adrian that he is his father. Adrian cannot now kill him, though he doesn’t forgive him. They now go into alliance, for there is no where else to turn.
Adrian is baptised into the Roman Catholic Church, but during the service the mob attack the Groote Kerke. The party (Adrian, Ramiro, the priests, Meg and the Butcher) are led by a verger to the crypt, where they hide in the family vault of Count van Valkenburg, who has recently died. The Abbe Dominic is separated from the others during flight, and is caught by the mob. At the instigation of Martha, who is among them, Dominic (who had been involved in the trial of her husband) is hung in the cathedral. The cathedral is sacked, but the fugitives aren’t found. They later creep away, and flee to the Red Mill, a ruined windmill at Velsen, 9-10 Dutch miles north-west of Haarlem.
Martin, who with Foy is being hidden by Martha, sees Elsa and tells her where the clew to the treasure is hidden – since it’s her property, and they might be killed.
Lysbeth has recovered from the plague, and Elsa has gone for a walk to get some fresh air – she didn’t get it because she had had the plague as a child. But she is kidnapped by Meg and the Butcher, and carried to the Red Mill.
Ramiro offers her the choice of marrying him or Adrian – which it didn’t greatly mattered, since he only wanted the money. If she married him it would go to him as husband. If she married Adrian it would still go to him, as he had made sure than Adrian had huge card debts, which mounted up as they waited at the mill. Since it is only the money he wants, she asks if he will let her go if she tells him where the clew is. He swears that he will, thereupon Elsa tells him of Silence. However, he decides to marry her anyway, to be on the safe side.
Adrian didn’t want to co-operate, but recognised that it would be better for Elsa to marry him. A priest, suitably bribed, is fetched. Father Thomas is unwilling to marry Elsa if she openly states her opposition, but is content to proceed once she is gagged. As soon as the marriage is concluded, and Elsa has returned to her room in the top of the mill, warning reaches them that the dyke has burst and that the mill will be swept away. Ramiro makes Adrian go out to the boat, and return ostensibly to bring Elsa. Actually he locks her inside the mill – with Black Meg and her husband – since she is no longer of any use to him (the marriage being carefully documented).
The waters reach the mill, which begins to collapse. Father Thomas is drowned, as are Meg and the Butcher (after fighting for the steadily diminishing dry space on the mill). Elsa climbs onto the sail.
Meanwhile, Martin and Foy have learnt that Elsa is missing, and Martha gets word that she has been kidnapped and is being help at the Red Mill. They arrive in a boat just in time to rescue Elsa. They sail to Haarlem, just in time to be besieged by a 30,000 strong Spanish army (1572). The town, which had only 20,000 inhabitants, had 4,000 Hollander and German defenders, including a few English and Scottish troops.
The siege lasts 7 months, after which the defenders capitulated due to having run out of food. "Men perished in hecatombs". The Spaniards had lost 12,000 men, and the garrison 2,200. Payment of 240,000 florins would suffice upon surrender. Foy, Martin, Elsa, and Martha (who have all taken active parts in the defence, except Elsa) are captured by Ramiro, who with Adrian are officers of the Spanish army.
Adrian is entrusted with their safely while Ramiro sees to his share of the plunder. He lets them escape, and is persuaded to accompany them. Ramiro has the sword, so as soon as he realises they are gone he head to the mere to recover the treasure. Elsa confesses that she has told him the secret, and they race to the site.
They get their first, and dig up the five barrels and carry the treasure to their boat. But Ramiro, with 20 Spanish soldiers, comes up before they can get away. Martha swims beneath the Spanish boat, and sinks it. She is then killed fighting the soldiers. There is a little battle while their struggle to get away. Foy manages to get their boat afloat, and the sail away, with the insensible Ramiro aboard, leaving the surviving Spaniards on the islet.
Ramiro wakens, and fatally stabs Adrian – they forgot to search him for a knife. He is however aware that they are taking him to his doom, since Leyden is in the hands of William of Orange. He remembers the dream he had once had of "the pitiful little man falling, falling through endless space, and at the bottom of the gulf two great hands, hands hideous and suggestive, reaching through the shadows to receive him".
They get to Leyden. Lysbeth forgives Adrian before he dies. Martin gives Ramiro to Lysbeth to judge – but she declines, giving him to the people. Martin dangles Ramiro from their balcony, while the crowd gathered. Then he "hurled the thing that writhed between his hands far out into the centre of the street". "The crowd below gathered themselves into a heap like water above a boat sinking in the heart of a whirlpool. For a minute or so they snarled and surged and twisted. Then they broke up and went away, talking in short, eager sentences. And there, small and dreadful on the stones, lay something that had once been a man".
We now move on some months – I think about a year. Leyden itself, under William the Silent, is besieged. A proclamation is issued calling for funds to build ships, buy powder, and raise more men (and to bribe political leaders where necessary). There is no more money in the city, or indeed, it is feared, in the Netherlands. Foy and Martin see the notices. They arrive at the prince’s headquarters, carrying five heavy barrels on herring cart. They ask to see the prince, to deliver their contribution to raising the siege. Reluctantly this permission is granted. William thinks they are joking until the barrel containing the jewels is opened, and these cascade onto the floor. As they explained, Elsa had agreed to surrender any interest she might have in the treasure. Foy, as the eldest son of Dirk, to whom responsibility had been passed by Hendrik Brant, observed that the proclamation was the "summons and clear command for which we waited".
Elsa and Lysbeth have been in England since the siege of Leyden began (1573). Foy and Martin now join them there.
This is a fairly long (496 pages) and complex story. As Haggard’s notes in his forward, the two principle types of historical fiction are based on real people, or real events. The story is of the second, with few if anyone mentioned (apart from William the Silent, the Duke of Alva, Philip II, and the Emperor Charles V, who are not really characters at all) being real people. The historical events are merely the background to the story, which is more a character study.
As with "Montezuma's Daughter", the Spaniards, the Inquisition and the Catholic priesthood are the villains of the piece. The treasure set aside for national emergency – like in "Montezuma's Daughter", "Cleopatra", and "Heart of the World" is the device which is used to show the consequences of good and ill motives. Montalvo/Ramiro (like Cortez in "Montezuma's Daughter") is simply motivated by a desire for gold. But he is also superstitious and ambitious.
Most of the Hollanders are rather dull characters – deliberately so – though Lysbeth has a little more fire. The more interesting characters would be Red Martin and Martha the Mare, and Black Meg and Hague Simon (who are rather Dickensian in them exaggerated natures).
In a sense the work is political, warning of the need to guard against tyranny – though I think Haggard exaggerates when he describes the times as being perhaps the most fearful tyranny that the western world has known. After all, he credits the Duke of Alva with killing only 60,000 people.