Today we received the shocking news that, after last week’s massacre in which 18 nobles from the Netherlands were killed in the market in Brussels, the Counts of Egmont and Horne have been beheaded.
We received this news from our dear friend, Sister Maria Luyten. She says she will incorporate these significant events into her chronicle. What is remarkable is that the immunity of the two gentlemen, granted by their status as Knights of the Golden Fleece, was ignored.
Since the establishment of the Council of Troubles by the Duke of Alva, unrest in the country has grown. Both Catholics and the new Lutheran Christians resist the brutal way in which Alva is dividing our land. The consequences are not only social; we are also suffering financially. There is a great divide among the provinces. The resistance is growing, and we hear more and more about William of Orange, who, along with his brothers, won the Battle of Heiligerlee last month. The Spaniards seem to be responding harshly to this.
The fact that this event took place on the eve of Pentecost, the feast of deliverance by the Holy Spirit, is both shocking and reassuring. May the Counts find deliverance, and may the Netherlands find it soon as well.