CHAPTER VI.

SECRET EXECUTION OF MONTIGNY.

Bergen and Montigny.--Their Situation in Spain.--Death of
Bergen.--Arrest of Montigny.--Plot for his Escape.--His
Process.--Removal to Simancas.--Closer Confinement.--Midnight Execution.

1567-1570.

Before bidding a long adieu to the Netherlands, it will be well to lay
before the reader an account of a transaction which has proved a
fruitful theme of speculation to the historian, but which, until the
present time, has been shrouded in impenetrable mystery.

It may be remembered that, in the year 1566, two noble Flemings, the
marquis of Bergen and the baron of Montigny, were sent on a mission to
the court of Madrid, to lay before the king the critical state of
affairs, imperatively demanding some change in the policy of the
government. The two lords went on the mission; but they never returned.
Many conjectures were made respecting their fate; and historians have
concluded that Bergen possibly,[1217] and certainly Montigny, came to
their end by violence.[1218] But, in the want of evidence, it was only
conjecture, while the greatest discrepancy has prevailed in regard to
details. It is not till very recently that the veil has been withdrawn
through the access that has been given to the Archives of Simancas, that
dread repository, in which the secrets of the Castilian kings have been
buried for ages. Independently of the interest attaching to the
circumstances of the present narrative, it is of great importance for
the light it throws on the dark, unscrupulous policy of Philip the
Second. It has, moreover, the merit of resting on the most authentic
grounds of the correspondence of the king and his ministers.

[Sidenote: BERGEN AND MONTIGNY.]

Both envoys were men of the highest consideration. The marquis of
Bergen, by his rank and fortune, was in the first class of the Flemish
aristocracy.[1219] Montigny was of the ancient house of the
Montmorencys, being a younger brother of the unfortunate Count Hoorne.
At the time of Charles the Fifth's abdication he had the honor of being
selected by the emperor as one of those Flemish nobles who were to
escort him to his monastic residence in Spain. He occupied several
important posts,--among others, that of governor of Tournay,--and, like
Bergen, was a knight of the Golden Fleece. In the political disturbances
of the time, although not placed in the front of disaffection, the two
lords had taken part with the discontented facti