It was Charles's intention to overawe the turbulent city by an imposing display of armed force. On the 14th of February, 1540, he entered Ghent--"that great, rich, and beautiful city," writes the city chronicler, "with its broad streets, fair rivers, noble churches, houses, and hospitals, the finest in the Netherlands"--at the head of a stately procession. The Queen rode on his right hand, the Duchess of Milan on his left, followed by the Princess of Macedonia and other ladies in litters, the officers of the household, and a long train of foreign Ambassadors, Princes, and Knights of the Golden Fleece. Cardinal Farnese, Don Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, the Prince of Orange, the Dukes of Alva and Aerschot, Count Egmont, Büren, De Praet, Lalaing, and Granvelle, were all present. In their rear came the troops--4,000 horse, 1,000 crossbowmen, 5,000 _Landsknechten_, and a strong body of artillery, numbering in all 60,000 persons and 15,000 horses. Their entry lasted six hours, and it was dusk before the last guns and baggage defiled through the streets. Charles, with his sister and niece, alighted at the Prinzenhof, the house where he had been born just forty years before, and the Archers' Guard took up their station at the gates.[280] A strong body of infantry was encamped in the neighbouring market-place, pickets of cavalry occupied the chief squares, and the rest of the troops were quartered in other parts of the city. But there was not the least show of resistance on the part of the citizens. Absolute tranquillity reigned everywhere while the stricken city awaited the Emperor's sentence. It was, as might be expected, a severe one. Twenty-three of the ringleaders were arrested, and after a prolonged trial were found guilty. On the 17th of March, nine of these were put to death in the market-place, while the others were banished and heavily fined. On the 29th of April the Emperor convened the chief officers of State and magistrates in the great hall of the Prinzenhof, and, in the presence of the Queen and her Court, delivered his sentence on the guilty city. The charters and privileges of Ghent were annulled, the property of the Corporation was confiscated, and heavy additional fines were imposed, beside the payment of the 400,000 florins which had been the cause of the quarrel. In their consternation, the burghers turned to Mary and implored her to intercede on their behalf; but she could only advise them to throw themselves on the Emperor's mercy. On the 3rd of May a memorable and historic scene took place in the court of the Prinzenhof. Here the Emperor, seated on a tribunal, with his crown on his head and sceptre in his hand, and surrounded by the Archers' Guard, received the senators and chief burghers, as, robed in black, with bare heads and feet, and halters round their necks, they knelt in the dust at his feet. The sentence of condemnation was read aloud in the presence of