poken of
Erasmus' efforts to bring back peace from her exile, of the
experiences of his youth when Holland had wept for her children. In
1517, when he wrote his 'Complaint of Peace cast forth from all
lands', he was a man and one of Charles' councillors; but Holland was
still weeping and refusing comfort. She had good reason. The provinces
of the Netherlands were disunited, no sway imposed upon them with
strength enough first to restrain and then to knit together. On either
side of the Zuider Zee lay two bitter enemies: Holland, which had
accepted the Burgundian yoke, and Friesland, which after a long
struggle against foreign domination, had been reduced by the rule of
Saxon governors, Duke Albert and Duke George. To the south was
Gueldres, which, under its Duke, Charles of Egmont, had thrown in its
lot with France against Burgundy, and was continually instigating the
subjugated Frieslanders to rebellion. Then was war in the gates.

This was the kind of thing that happened. In 1516, after a fresh
outbreak of the ceaseless struggle, Henry of Nassau, Stadhouder of
Holland and Zeeland, ordered that all Gueldrians or Frieslanders who
showed their faces in his dominions should be put to death; and some
who were resident at the Hague were executed on the charge of sending
aid to their compatriots. A raid by the Gueldrians ended in the
massacre of Nieuwpoort. Nassau replied by ravaging the country up to
the walls of Arnhem, the Gueldres capital.

Duke Charles had terrible forces at command. A body of mercenary
troops, known as the Black Band, had been used by George of Saxony for
the repression of Friesland in 1514, and since then had been seeking
employment wherever they could find it. At the same time, one of the
conquered Frieslanders, known as Long Peter, had turned to piracy as
an effective way of revenging himself on Holland. Proclaiming himself
'King of the Sea', he seized every ship that came in his way, showing
no mercy to Hollanders and holding all others to ransom.

In May 1517, the Duke, violating a truce not yet expired, renewed
hostilities. The Black Band, some of whom had strayed as far as Rouen
in quest of fighting, flocked back. At the end of June 3000 of them
crossed the Zuider Zee in Long Peter's ships and disembarked suddenly
at Medemblik, in North Holland. The town was quickly set on fire, and
everything destroyed except the citadel; the fleet carrying back the
first spoils. Then they marched southwards