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who, by reason of the controversie they had with the territories thereabouts, were so blinded, as Jacob Hildebrand, bourgomaster, who was chicfe commander of the king’s chamber in Groningen, and the chicfe man in the city, and he, on whom they of the Reformed religion did chiefly relic, the evening before the city revolted to the [Spanish | king, supped with him | the Count of Renneberg. The bourgomaster told him very plainly of the report that men made of him, saying, that he hoped he had no such bad intention in him.
Whereupon the count wrung him by the hand, and said : What, my good father, whom I trust so well,have you such an opinion of me ? and withsuch like faire speeches smoothed the matter so well that the same evening the said bourgomaster, being in company with certain of the magistrates and those of the Reformed religion, assured them of the Count of Renncberi^’s s/ood meaning and intention towards them, and yet caused them of the Reformed religion to keep good watch in their owne houses, whereby they thought to be sufficiently assured.
But the Count of Renneberg’s practices being more and more suspected, he beo-an to feare that the Prince of Orange would enter Groningen with his guard, and therefore durst not protract his design any longer, although as then he was not sure of any reliefe.
For which cause, upon the second of March, he assembled his household servants and divers bourghers affected to the Spaniards, and certaine soldiers that he had kept secretly, and, in the morning (when by his espials he understood that the watch held by those of the Reformed religion were asleep), at five of the clock, being armed at all points, he rode from his house, followed by his adherents (every man having a white scarfe upon his left arm), into the market-place, and having his sword drawne in his hand, he said : Stand aside, stand aside, good bourgers, this day amIright governour of this city. Let us now accomplish and affect that Avhich is requisite for the king’s service and our owne defence ; and thereupon caused divers trumpets and drums to be sounded, and a oreat noise to be made.
The aforesaid bourgomaster Hildebrand, putting himselfe presently into armes with some of the Reformed religion, marched thither, and said unto him: How now, sire, is this done as a good governour ought to do unto the peo’
ple ? But then one of Count Renneberg’s boyes shot at him and slew him presently. Whereupon the rest [of the bourgomaster’s party] began to flic, whereof some were taken prisoners, and some fled into their houses ;but there were no more killed but only a bourger’s sonne of Breame.
After that they ran through the streets shooting at all who looked out at the windows. That done, they went and made search throughout all the city, and tooke all those prisoners who were not well thought of by the SpanishH
26 THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
affected bourgers, being at the least two hundred of the best citizens, whereof some were very hardly used, who notwithstanding-afterwards by divers meanes were set at liberty. Allthe preachers and divers other good bourgers got secretly away.”
Among those named as having been imprisoned were Albert Horenken, Harmen Koenink, Siger Sijghers, Joost van Cleve, Luilof Roelofs, and Roelof Battink of the Raadshcercii ;and Remmert Entens, Egbert Koenink, Hano Wijnge, Luitzen Hiddinge, Jan Bruins, Barend Hondebeke, and Johan Clood of the” Gezzvorcne Meente.
All these were immured in filthy, badly-ventilated cells by the count’s railing followers, bearing the name of the Smaller or Nearer Union. This having been done, he called before him the guilds, one by one, which, at his suggestion, bestowed upon him the transformed authority, or that thought reformed, to reconstruct the government, and consequently to install in power the good Romanist-inclined. Thereupon he allowed the reconciliation of the king to be confirmed and proclaimed.” 2
The intelligence of the Count of Renneberg’s secession and violence caused the city to be besieged immediately by the Count of Hohenlohe. A considerable portion of the royalist army having been sent by the Prince of Parma to its relief, under Martin Schenk (a deserter from the States^General’s party), he broke up his camp before the city, and marched to meet Schenk’s forces, near Hardenberg. He was somewhat superior in -numbers, yet his troops, being exhausted by a long march under a burning sun, were unable to sustain the vigorous onslaught of the royalists. Hohenlohe was defeated with considerable loss, and forced to retire within the walls of Olden” zaal.
The siege of Groningen being thus raised, the Count of Renneberg marched upon Delfzijl [eighteen miles northwest of the city), which, after a resistance of only three weeks, was disgracefully surrendered by a party of mutinous soldiers in the garrison. Lingen, Oldenzaal, and some other small places likewise fell into his hands; and having made a fruitless attempt upon Zwolle, he sat down before the small town of Steenwijk, in the province of Overijsel [about thirty-five English miles southwest of Groningen]. (See map, page 2.)
“Though strong by its natural situation, the fortifications of this town were in an incomplete condition, and many of the burgers were secretly inclined to the Spanish party ; yet the resistance offered by the garrison (of
1 A gcncrall historic of the Netherlands, pp. 732-734. Ed. Grimeston. Tegenwoordige staat der
Vercenigde Nederlanden. Stad en Landc. Twuitigste dccL pp. 489-493.
a Tegenwoordige stat der Yerecnidge Nedeilanden. Stad en Landc. Tzuintigste dccl. p. 492.
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THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES. 27
six hundred infantry and a few horse), under Theodore Cornputtc, their commander, was no less gallant than that which the Prince of Parma had encountered at Maastricht [in the province of Limburg, in 1579]. Such was the firmness of the besieged, and so inefficient the condition of the artillery at this period, that a fortress, comparatively so insignificant, was enabled to hold out against the whole force of the Count of Renneberg, consisting of six thousand foot and twelve troops of cavalry, for a period of nineteen weeks.” 1
One of the most memorable incidents giving historical importance to the siege of Steenwijk, in 1580, was a courageous act of Arent Swartwolt, whose father, in 1581, was elected a courtier by the Bromvcrsgildc of Groningen. The fact that this loyal young soldier was then a member of the infantry company commanded by Captain Cornput undoubtedly justifies the assertion that not only was Arent Swartwolt’s father, but all his kinsmen in Groningen, including Johan Swartwolt, the Sworn Commoner, were patriotic supporters of the States-General, and consequently in personal disfavor with the Count of Renneberof.
It happened that the Count of Renneberg’s soldiers, occupying an earthwork opposite one of the gates of Steenwijk, having failed in preventing a sortie of a small body of the defenders of the place, who thereupon burned a
windmill standing dangerously near the gateway, were greatly exasperated, and, in a spirit of emulation, determined to burn a fence of heavy palisades protecting that particular gate. Having, on a dark night, in the month of October, compelled the sentinels guarding it to retire from an advantageous point of observation by keeping a constant fire of musketry upon it, they carried to the line of palisades a quantity of straw and a barrel of tar and brimstone, to which they set fire in order to ignite and consume the wooden barrier. Having accomplished the ignition of the protecting palisades, they hastily fled behind their earthworks with the loss of one man killed.
When the flames illumined the sky and the intention of the incendiaries was discovered, the extinguishment of the fire became a matter of immediate consideration and importance to the defenders of Steenwijk. Seeing the threatening character of the fierce flames, Arent Swartwolt solicited the privilege of making an attempt to quench them. It being granted him, he descended by a rope to the moat, and swam across it with the bail of a leathern bucket in his mouth. Unmindful of the blistering heat and the jeop ardy to which he was exposed, he rolled the barrel of burning tar and brimstone away from the palisades into the moat, and with water taken in the bucket from it, he extinguished the flames and saved the defensive barricade.
1 History of Holland. By C. M. Davics. London, 1842, vol. ii.,pp. 99, 100.
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An inviting target as he was for the bullets of the enemy’s muskets, he escaped without being hit by them, and was safely drawn to the top of the town-wall. His delighted comrades greeted his return with lusty cheers, and his proud captain honored him with a reward of no mean value. 1
The Count of Renneberg, disheartened by the adversities he had encountered while beleaguering Steenwijk, abruptly marched his forces, on February 23, 158 1, to Ommen, a small town in the province of Overijsel. Having in the early part of the summer of that year been defeated at Gripskerk by Sir John Norris, he was forced to retire to Groningen with the remnant of his army. In consequence of the hardships he was forced to endure while besieging Steenwijk, and the disappointment of his hopes of aggrandizement by the Spanish Government, he suddenly sickened, and died on July 23, 1581. Dur”
ing his sickness, it is said, he did often grieve and lament that he had quit the States-General’s party, whereby he had drawne himself into such a laba’
rynth, crying out often : O Groningen, Groningen, whereunto hast thou brought me!’ cursing the day he had ever scene it.’ As stadtholder of Groningen he was succeeded by Francis Verdugo, a Spaniard, whose lieutenant, Captain Lankama, was forced by Prince Maurice to surrender the city, on July 22, 1594. “The first care of the prince on entering Groningen was to clear the churches of images, and to cause the Reformed service to be celebrated in them.” 2
During the continuation of hostilities ending with the surrender of the city to the States-General, several members of the Swartwout family, residing there, were elected Sworn Commoners, and as such took part in electing the chief officers of the city. As disclosed by the municipal records “Herman Swart”
“wolt was a member of the Gczioorene Mceute in 1582, and again in 1583, and Johan Swartwolt “in 1587, 1559, and 1592. In the following century, the name of Herman Swartwolt is found enrolled among the members of that body, in the years 1631, 1632, and 1634.
1A general historie of the Netherlands. ByEd. Gihncston, p. 754.
IJ Ibid., pp. 776, 10S7-1094. History of Holland. By C. M. Davies, pp. 272, 273.
DIAGRAM OF THE CENTRAL PART OF THE CITY OF GRONINGEN, 1793.