History of the United Netherlands, 1586cMotley, John Lothrop
History
History of the United Netherlands, 1586c
Motley, John Lothrop
Netherlands -- History -- Eighty Years' War, 1568-1648
that persons and goods should be respected, but his commands were dis
obeyed. Sir William Stanley's men committed frightful disorders, and
thoroughly, rifled the town."
"And because," said Norris, "I found fault herewith, Sir William began to
quarrel with me, hath braved me extremely, refuseth to take any direction
from me, and although I have sought for redress, yet it is proceeded in
so coldly, that he taketh encouragement rather to increase the quarrel
than to leave it."
Notwithstanding therefore the decree of Leicester, the expostulations and
anger of Norris, and the energetic efforts of Lord Essex and other
generals, who went about smiting the marauders on the head, the soldiers
sacked the city, and committed various disorders, in spite of the
capitulation.
Doesburg having been thus reduced, the Earl now proceeded toward the more
important city which he had determined to besiege. Zutphen, or South-
Fen, an antique town of wealth and elegance, was the capital of the old
Landgraves of Zutphen. It is situate on the right bank of the Yssel,
that branch of the Rhine which flows between Gelderland and Overyssel
into the Zuyder-Zee.
The ancient river, broad, deep, and languid, glides through a plain of
almost boundless extent, till it loses itself in the flat and misty
horizon. On the other side of the stream, in the district called the
Veluwe, or bad meadow, were three sconces, one of them of remarkable
strength. An island between the city and the shore was likewise well
fortified. On the landward side the town was protected by a wall and
moat sufficiently strong in those infant days of artillery. Near the
hospital-gate, on the east, was an external fortress guarding the road to
Warnsfeld. This was a small village, with a solitary slender church-
spire, shooting up above a cluster of neat one-storied houses. It was
about an English mile from Zutphen, in the midst of a wide, low, somewhat
fenny plain, which, in winter, became so completely a lake, that peasants
were not unfrequently drowned in attempting to pass from the city to the
village. In summer, the vague expanse of country was fertile and
cheerful of aspect. Long rows of poplars marking the straight highways,
clumps of pollard willows scattered around the little meres, snug farm-
houses, with kitchen-gardens and brilliant flower-patches dotting the
level plain, verdant pastures sweeping off into seemingly infinite
distance, where the innumerable cattle seemed to swarm like insects,
wind-mills swinging their arms in all directions, like protective giants,
to save the country from inundation, the lagging sail of market-boats
shining through rows of orchard trees--all gave to the environs of
Zutphen a tranquil and domestic charm.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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