fence: fufficiently proving themselves to be fhameless Lyars, moft impudent Slanderers, and moft fond Falfifiers, which ferveth more and more to juftify (as I have faid) mine Innocency, and to give Approbation to all my Áctions. For feeing that all Men know, that this fhould be the beft News that they could receive or hear of, that I would for fake the Country, and leave it to them; I offer'd them (my Lords) and you under my Honour do promise them to accomplish it, if they be able to prove in your Prefence, that I have at any time written, or commanded to be written, or fent fuch à Letter, that prefently I will depart the Country, and withdraw my felf from it, without ever fetting my felf againft them: And I promise them, even upon a fimple or bare Requeft, to fend them fuch Paffports and Safe-conducts, and they alfo pen'd in fuch order, as either they can or will demand. But yet this fhall be with this Condition, that if they will not accept this fo reafonable an Offer, all they who have been the Authors of fuch a Writing, or who have publifh'd it, or who have fent it into the Towns amongst us, or to foreign Princes and ftrange Countrys, fhall be held for Lyars, Slanderers, and wicked Speakers, as indeed fuch they are.

Given at Delft the 25th of January 1581.

:

of

A Copy of the Letter which my Lord the Prince Orange fent unto the Kings and Potentates of Christendom.

SIR,

Doubt not, but that your Majefty hath been advertis'd of. a certain Profcription, which the King of Spain hath appointed to be publish'd againft me, because he hath caused the fame to be fpread abroad in all Languages, and hath fent it also into divers quarters of Chriftendom. I and all my very good Friends have thought, that I could not fufficiently de fend mine Honour (which I am advis'd and purpos'd not to hazard or indanger for any thing) but by fetting a juft Defence against this unjuft Profcription. In regard whereof, I have presented unto my Lords, the Eftates of thefe Countries, my Answer: which Anfwer alfo (for the maintenance of my Honour and Reputation amongst the Princes and Potentates of Europe, who in respect of their Preheminences and Digni ties are the Succours of poor Princes and diftreffed Noblemen). I have been bold to fend unto them, and to you, Sir, particularly; moft humbly befeeching your Majefty, that after you have feen it, you would yield like Judgment thereof, as it hath pleas'd my Lords the Eftates, who have been moft faithful Witneffes of all my Actions, to do, and to efteem and judg thereof alfo (as it fhall please your Majefty to take knowledg of it) by their Advice and Counfel, which alfo is annex'd to my faid Defence. And becaufe, Sir, your Majefty may think it ftrange, that the King of Spain having heretofore violently taken from me all my Goods, after that I had put my Governments into the hands of the Dutchefs of Par ma, then the Governess of this Eftate, and had withdrawn my felf into the Country of Germany, the Place of my Nati vity, where I kept my felf peaceably among my Brethren, Kinsfolks, and Friends, as alfo I had fully purpos'd fo to continue and that having at the fame time convey'd or carry'd. away from the Schools my Son the Count of Bueren, and both contrary to the Privileges of the Country, and againft his own Oath, caufing him to be carry'd Prifoner into Spain, where he is as yet cruelly kept captive and befides, having procur'd me to be condemn'd to death, by the Duke of Alva his own Officer, Because, I fay, your Majefty may think it

frange,

ftrange, that for all thefe Reasons (which were nevertheless very great and weighty) I have not hitherto publifh'd any Defence, which was directed to the faid King, or might di rectly concern him: which thing notwithstanding I do at this prefent, and declare thereby, that the Faults wherewith the King of Spain mindeth to charge me, belong unto himself. I do therefore moft humbly befeech your Majefty, Sir, that before you judg of this my Writing, you would confider the Quality both of the Crimes and Faults, wherewith I am charg'd by this Profcription, and alfo the Quality of mine own Perfon. For if the King of Spain was content to withhold from me my Son and my Goods, which he hath in his poffeffion, and further to offer (as at this prefent he doth) five and twenty thoufand Crowns for my Head, and to promife to make fuch noble as fhould murder me, and to pardon them all the Faults whatsoever that they could have committed before that time: no man fhould think it evil in me, that I have attempted by all the means I could (as indeed heretofore I have done) to preferve my felf and mine, and to enable my felf what I could, to enter again into that which is mine own; and that I have follow'd that Order and Course of Life that I have done. But further, the King of Spain having all the world thorow publifh'd, that I am a publick Plague, an Enemy of the World, thankful, Unfaithful, a Traitor, and a wicked Perfon; these are fuch Injuries, Sir, that no Gentleman, no tho he were of the baseft of the King of Spain's natural Subjects, can or ought to endure: Infomuck, Sir, that tho I were one of his fimple and abfolute Vaffals, who oweth Homage unto him by Honour, yet so it is, that by fuch a Sentence, and fo unjuft in all and every part thereof (I alfo having been by him fpoil'd of my Lands and Lordships, in refpect of which I fhould heretofore have taken an Oath unto him) I might have held my felf abfolv'd and free from all my Bonds towards him, and have affay'd alfo (which thing even Nature hath taught every one) by all the means I could to maintain mine Honour, which ought to be to me and to all Noblemen more dear than Life and Goods. Notwithftanding, feeing it hath pleas'd God to fhew me this great Grace, that I am born a free Lord, not holding of any other but of the Empire, as do the Princes and other free Lords of Germany and Italy: and further, feeing that I bear the Title, and have the name of an abfolute and free Prince, tho indeed my Princedom be not very great: yea whatsoever it be, I not being his natural Subject, neither having held any thing of him, but by reafon of my Signiories and Lordships, of which notwithstanding he hath wholly difpoffefs'd me; it hath

feem'd

feem'd unto me, that I could not defend mine Honour, and 54 Latisfy or content my near Kinsfolks, fundry Princes (to whom this is my Honour that I am link'd) and my whole Pofterity, but in answering by publick Writing to this Accufation, which in the prefence of all Christendom, is publifh'd and fet out a gainft me. And tho I have not been able to do it, without touching his Honour, I hope notwithstanding (Sir) that your Majefty will impute it, rather to the Inforcement that the Quality and Heinousness of this Profcription hath laid upon me, than to my Nature or Will. For as concerning this point, that fome Men may think it ftrange, that I do after this fort defend my felf, feeing that I have fometimes heretofore held of him fundry Lands and Lordfhips; for anfwer thereto, I will moft humbly befeech your Majefty, to confider the Heinousness of the Injury that is done me, which a right Nobleman will never indeed abide: also that I am not his natural Subject, and as concerning my Fees and Penfions, that he hath spoil'd me of them. But fuppofe that I had always enjoy'd them, yet so it is, that the fame Law which he ufeth towards others, fhould not be deny'd to me. He holdeth of the French King in Loyalty and Homage, and even as the Vaffal doth of his Lord, the County or Earldom of Charolois: and yet for all that he ceaseth not to make war againft the Crown of France, yea he never leave h off continually to practife and devife fomewhat againft the fame. He taketh this as a fure Foundation or Rule, that being a Sovereign Governor in fome other place, it is lawful for him to revenge himself of the wrong which he pretended was done unto him by the late French King Henry of moft noble Memory. When he made war againft the Pope Caraffa, because as a Vaffal he held of him the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples, he publifh'd his Defence, by which he maintain'd that he was abfolv'd from his Oath, because that the Pope kept not himfelf within the terms or points that the Lord oweth to his Vaffal, according to the feodal Laws which are mutual, and refpect as well the one as the other. Now, Sir, there is nothing fo natural or kindly, as that every one fhould in his own cause, receive the very felf-fame Rule and Order, that he would have another Man to receive or allow of. Wherefore he should not think it ftrange, that I being fo many ways revil'd and injur'd by him, and not being his Subject, that I, I fay, do aid my felf with the means that God hath given me, and with which he hath been willing to help himself againft his Lords, who have not offended him in any thing

In the Letter fent to the French King, it is written, He holdeth of your Ma jefty.

what

whatsoever, that draweth nigh to the Wrong which I have fuffer'd at his hand: yea, he should not think it strange, that I ufe againft him that reproachful Note, by which he affayeth to mark as it were in the Forehead both me and my Race.

And because my Lords the Eftates (who have more nearly known the truth of all that is contain'd in this my D fence, and have approv'd the fame) have yielded unto me fuficient Teftimony touching my Life paft; I do moft humbly also befeech your Majefty (Sir) in approving this fame mine Anfwer, to believe that I am not either a Traitor or wicked Perfon, but that I am (thanks be to God for it) a Nobleman, of a very good and moft antient Houfe, yea a good Man, and true in every thing that I promife; not unthankful, nor unfaithful, nor having committed any thing, whereby a Lord or Knight of my State and Countenance may receive any Reproach or Shame: moft humbly befeeching you to hold and account me in the number of your moft humble Servants. And thus having moft humbly fubmitted my felf unto your Majefty, I will pray God, Sir, to give you, together with a perfec Health, a moft bleffed and moft long Life.

At Delft in Holland,

Febr. 4. 1581.

Your Majefty's moft Humble

and Obedient Servant,

William of Naffans

Phenit