om the humblest plaintiff. The
following gruesome incident is an illustration of the summary methods
attributed to him.[1]

Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the governor, a man
of noble birth, a knight, fell in love with a married woman who
indignantly repudiated his advances. In revenge the governor had the
husband arrested on a charge of high treason. The wife, left without a
protector, continued obdurate to the knight until the alternative of
her husband's release or his death was offered her as the reward for
accepting the governor's base suit or as the penalty of her refusal.
She chose to redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she went to
the prison and was led to her husband truly, but he lay dead and in
his coffin!

When the Duke of Burgundy was once within the Zealand capital, this
injured woman hastened to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner
for justice. He heard her complaint and straightway summoned the
ex-governor to his presence. The accused confessed that he had been
carried away by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles of
his long and faithful devotion to the late duke and to himself, and
offered any possible reparation for his crime. The duke ordered him to
marry his victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion, but was
forced by her family to accept it. After the nuptial benediction, the
knight again appeared before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff
was satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly, "but not I." He
remanded the bridegroom to prison, had him shriven and executed all
within an hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown her second
husband in his coffin as she had seen her first, and on the same spot.
"It was a penalty that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the
plaintiff died from the double shock."

The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to Holland. Everywhere he
evinced himself equally uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable and
considerate towards the lower classes and humble folk. Various other
stories related about him at this epoch are difficult to accept as
authentic, for the main detail has appeared at other times under
different guises. Wandering tales seem to alight, like birds of
passage, on successive people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.

The Hague was the duke's headquarters during two months, and there
also he held open court and gave audience to many e