iscreant, and offered a heavy bribe to anyone who would take the life
of "this pest" or deliver him dead or alive.

William's defence, known to the authorities as his {98} Apology, was
issued in every court of Europe. In it he dwelt on the different
actions of his long career, and pointed out Philip's crimes and
misdemeanours. His own Imperial descent was contrasted with the King
of Spain's less illustrious ancestry, and an eloquent appeal to the
people for whom he had made heroic sacrifices was signed by the motto
_Je le maintiendrai_. ("I will maintain.")

The Duke of Anjou accepted the proffered sovereignty of the United
Netherlands in September 1580, but Holland and Zealand refused to
acknowledge any other ruler than William of Orange, who received the
title of Count, and joined with the other States in casting off their
allegiance to Philip. The French Prince was invested with the ducal
mantle by Orange when he entered Antwerp as Duke of Brabant, and was,
in reality, subject to the idol of the Netherlands. The French
protectorate came to an end with the disgraceful scenes of the French
Fury, when the Duke's followers attempted to seize the chief towns,
crying at Antwerp, "Long live the Mass! Long live the Duke of Anjou!
Kill! Kill!"

Orange would still have held to the French in preference to the
Spanish, but the people did not share his views, and were suspicious of
his motives when he married a daughter of that famous Huguenot leader,
Admiral de Coligny.

Orange retired to Delft, sorely troubled by the distrust of the nation,
and the Catholic nobles were gradually lured back by Parma to the
Spanish party. In 1584 a young Burgundian managed to elude the
vigilance of William's retainers; he made his way into the _Prinsenhof_
and fired at the Prince as he came from dinner with his family.

{99}

The Prince of Orange fell, crying "My God, have pity on my soul and on
this poor people." He had now forfeited his life as well as his
worldly fortunes, but the struggle he had waged for nearly twenty years
had a truly glorious ending. The genius of one man had given freedom
to the far-famed Dutch Republic, founded on the States acknowledging
William their Father.

{100}

Chapter IX

Henry of Navarre

Throughout France the followers of John Calvin of Geneva organized
themselves into a powerful Protestant party. The Reformation in
Germany had been aristocratic in tendency, since it was mainly up