In all the difficult circumstances, Robert’s shortcomings as a commander have been overplayed but there is no doubting his inability to delegate and work with others. He failed to recognise the abilities of his subordinates or to cooperate with them. The experience of Sir John Norreys should have made him invaluable. He had fought with William of Orange and was remarkably able. Robert fell foul of him at once, likening him to the Earl of Sussex: ‘He will so dissemble, so crouch, so cunningly carry his doings as no man living would imagine there were half the malice of vindictive mind that doth plainly in his deeds prove to be.’43 Unfortunately for Robert, Norreys had the Queen’s ear, and she valued him highly. Robert recognised that such men were too powerful to challenge and later came to respect his abilities.
Robert was also vindictive in dealing with the Commissioners of the States General. He complained that it was ‘a monstrous government where so many heads do rule’, branding them as ‘churls and tinkers’ who refused to meet their financial obligations. In Holland, it was the towns that controlled the purse strings. They appealed behind his back to Elizabeth, thereby undermining his authority.44 He found himself needing to depend on every level within the United Provinces to support the military struggle. His natural allies and advisers were the Calvinists, who sought the exclusion of all those not ‘zealous in the Reformed faith’. They wanted a national government formed to dominate the town oligarchies. As a Calvinist stronghold, Utrecht became Robert’s powerbase, and other Calvinist centres also backed him. These were opposed by ‘libertinists’ (men who were anti-confessional, secularist and latitudinarian) from their main centre in Leyden. With Holland and Zeeland deriving their wealth from trade, much of it with Spain, they opposed extremist policies. The Calvinists criticised them on both moral and tactical grounds for conducting trade with the enemy, arguing that an embargo would cripple the Spanish, while the libertinists claimed that income from trade deals helped to finance the war effort and the Spanish could easily source goods elsewhere. In April 1586, when Robert embargoed all commerce with Spain, merchants made vociferous complaints and ignored his ban. He set up an audit office to seek out smugglers and imprisoned his former ally, Paul Buis, the foremost of the libertinists and Deputy of Utrecht.45 With a coterie of powerful enemies now lined up against him, both Burghley and Walsingham concluded that Elizabeth should sue openly for peace, but they wanted the negotiations placed in Robert’s hands.
Despite its shortage of funds, the English army rapidly gained Parma’s respect and enjoyed striking initial success. By sending English forces into Zeeland and Holland, Robert prevented Parma from overrunning the north after the fall of Antwerp. By garrisoning Brill and Flushing, he prevented his access to a deep-water harbour, thus disabling the use of his fleet to provision his men. Parma showed his respect for the English by carefully counting their numbers in garrisons at each town. Norreys and Count Hohenlohe forced their way with a strong detachment into Grave, which was being heavily besieged by the Spanish. This well-fortified citadel on the Maas defended one of the principal routes into the United Provinces. It was cut off by a series of forts built by the Spanish along the riverbank. On 6 April 1586, English and Dutch troops showed great bravery in routing a much larger enemy force, leaving 500 Spanish dead. Parma’s fortifications were dismantled, and Grave was reinforced with fresh troops provisioned for nine months.46 Despite this boost to morale, Parma reacted quickly. He forced Robert to divide his forces by sending military detachments in different directions. In May, he suddenly drew together his entire army of 12,000 foot and 4,000 cavalry with artillery to renew his assault on Grave, which had been infiltrated with his agents. When Baron Hemart, the Governor, confirmed to Robert that Grave was fully equipped to continue its resistance, Robert focused on diversionary attacks at Nijmegen and other neighbouring forts. With Parma’s artillery battering Grave’s walls, his agents unnerved its defenders and Hemart surrendered. This caused a huge loss of heart among both soldiers and civilians. Robert accused Hemart of treachery, but he was of a well-connected noble house. Not even William of Orange had dared to challenge such Dutch aristocrats. Hemart was condemned and, despite Norreys’s pleas for clemency, Robert approved his execution on 18 June.
Parma was expected to head north, which would have enabled Robert to undertake a flanking attack as he moved, but instead he consolidated his position round Grave. He deployed his troops and artillery to play ‘on the timidity of the burgher-dominated towns’, resulting in Venlo and Nuys falling in swift succession. With Robert forced into a campaign of siege warfare for which he was ill-equipped, he appealed urgently for sappers and engineers, apparently to little effect. The English had their own successes. In July, Sidney led an attack on Axel. ‘At dead of night, he swam the moat with forty men, scaled the wall, and opened the gate to his forces.’47 This resulted in the capitulation of four other nearby cities. He then breached the dykes to make the surrounding country impassable. People realised that if the English army were properly provisioned, it could challenge the Spanish on equal terms.
Sidney’s success strengthened Elizabeth’s resolve. On 9 July, Walsingham reported to Robert that she now considered ‘the only salve to cure this sore is to make herself proprietary of that country and to put such an army into the same as may be able to make head to the enemy’s.’ Nevertheless, increasing costs caused her to ‘repent that she ever entered into the action’.48 On 19 July, she wrote to Robert and ‘in a burst of tenderness thanked him warmly for what he had done’.49 She understood the problems, saying: ‘It frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather reward.’50 At last, in August, she sent more money and men, but could not resist taunting Robert to spend his time more constructively and stop his grumbling and accusations.51
Elizabeth’s optimism was not shared by the Dutch, and the English no longer commanded their respect. When Killigrew was sent to garrison Deventer, the burghers refused his troops entry. They feared that an English presence would commit them to an uncomfortably stiff resistance. Killigrew adopted subterfuge. He kept its council occupied in protracted discussions while sending Edward Stanley into the town with his men disguised as citizens. When Robert sent Sir William Pelham to make a final demand for the garrison’s installation, the burghers made ready to resist. At 7.00 am the following morning, Pelham burst into the council chamber while Stanley assembled his men in the marketplace. When one of the councillors tried to raise the alarm, Pelham unleashed his fury at their betrayal. He disbanded the guard on the gates, imprisoned the councillors and appointed new officers to establish English control.
In August, Parma advanced northwards along the line of the Rhine and the Ijssel, hoping to neutralise Overijssel and Groningen, where support for the United Provinces was less secure. He then planned to turn westward into United Provinces’ heartland. He began by besieging Rheinsberg; the town’s Dutch commander, Sir Martin Schenck, had already shown he was both shrewd and ruthlessly brave and had been knighted by Robert.52 Rheinsberg held out valiantly for several weeks, buying time for Robert to launch an attack with his entire force on Doesburg, an important outpost for Parma. Robert demonstrated all his father’s bravery. He moved among his men regardless of personal safety, inspiring them to greater effort. Pelham, who was standing in front of him, was shot in the stomach, but the wound did not prove fatal and he left the field praising God that he had protected his commander. This show of strength resulted in Doesburg’s surrender, forcing Parma to lift his siege of Rheinsberg.53
Buoyed up by this success, Robert now moved on to attack Zutphen, protected by two forts on each side of the Ijssel. Although they were considered almost impregnable, Parma was taking no chances. On 22 September, he sent a relief column to support them with supplies, but Robert sent a force of 500 men under Norreys and Sir William Stanley to cut it off. They were supported by fifty volunteers, including Essex and Sidney. After approaching in heavy fog, they only located
the baggage trains after they came within earshot. When the fog lifted, it was realised that the column was supported by 3,000 Spanish troops, and the English force was within range of Parma’s arquebuses. The English cavalry under Essex was given orders to charge the Spanish lines. Although it performed with conspicuous gallantry despite facing a fusillade of shots, the baggage train managed to enter the town. Nevertheless, the Spanish troops were routed, leaving their ordnance behind. Although English losses were few, Sidney showed reckless bravery in riding deep into enemy ranks, where his horse was shot from under him. As he remounted another, he was shot in the thigh by a musket ball. Although he should have been protected by his armour, he had given his cuisses to Pelham, only recently recovered from his injury. Sidney was able to ride back to camp, but he had lost a lot of blood and called for a drink. He then, famously, offered it to a dying soldier, saying: ‘Thy necessity is yet greater than mine!’54 Robert arranged for him to be taken in his barge to Arnhem, where he was nursed by his wife, Frances, who was six months pregnant. The wound was not thought to be fatal, and he seemed to have overcome the danger of blood poisoning.
On 30 September, Sidney made a will as a precaution. By this time, both Sir Henry and Mary Sidney were dead, but he was Robert’s heir. After providing for his wife, he made bequests for all his Dudley relations. Two days later, Robert wrote to Walsingham: ‘He amends as well as is possible at this time … he sleeps and rests well and hath a good stomach to eat.’55 Despite this the wound would not heal; by 8 October, gangrene had set in and he died nine days later. Robert was distraught, writing to Walsingham:
The grief I have taken for the loss of my dear son and yours would not suffer me to write sooner of those ill news unto you, especially being in so good hope so very little time before of his good recovery. But he is with the Lord and his will must be done. If he had lived, I doubt not that he would have been a comfort to us both, and an ornament to his house. What perfection he has grown unto and how able to serve her majesty and his country all men here almost wondered at. For mine own part, I have lost beside the comfort of my life, a most principal stay and help in my service here and, if I may say it, I think none of all hath a greater loss than the Queen’s majesty herself.56
This great tragedy was made worse when Frances gave birth to a still-born child. Nevertheless, it had been a famous victory in which Robert had personally acted with great gallantry and without heeding the advice of his officers to achieve a result against all the odds. Edward Stanley was knighted for his conspicuous part played at the breach of one of the forts, and Essex had also excelled.
Despite Robert’s military successes, Elizabeth remained exasperated at the lack of proper accounts. In October, she sent £30,000, demanding that Robert should provide answers to the utilisation of funding that had so far not been forthcoming. With the political divide between the allies widening, Robert renewed his request for a temporary recall to discuss his difficulties in England. He was now being opposed by Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, a Dutch advocate who was uniting burghers and aristocrats in a plan to seek recovery from Spanish domination without outside assistance. Elizabeth also wanted Robert home. She had never felt more alone. She missed his company and needed his advice on how to deal with Mary Queen of Scots. With Lord Grey de Wilton arriving to relieve him, Robert set out for England on 23 November 1586.
Without Robert’s presence in the Netherlands, the situation went from bad to worse. In January, all his military gains were wiped out. Sir William Stanley, who had been left in control of Deventer, conspired with Sir Rowland Yorke, the Captain in charge of a small fortress outside Zutphen, to yield their positions to the Spanish. To the consternation of both English and Dutch, they opened their gates to Parma and took most of their men into Philip II’s service. Stanley was a Catholic and held a grievance that he had not been properly recompensed for his services in Ireland. He argued that ‘he could no longer act for a heretic Queen against the King of Spain’.57 As the Spanish quickly realised, their treachery sowed great uncertainty into the relationship between Dutch and English forces. It also enabled Oldenbarneveldt to gain support for Robert’s replacement as military leader by Maurice of Nassau. When Elizabeth sent Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, to voice a strong protest, Oldenbarneveldt confirmed that Maurice’s appointment was only temporary and did not ‘touch the honour either of the Earl of Leicester or the English nation, or prejudice the authority of his lordship, whose speedy return they so earnestly desired.’58 Buckhurst had also been asked to assess Robert’s achievement in command. He was no ally of Robert and reported that it ‘had better been bestowed upon a meaner man of more skill’.59 Oldenbarneveldt missed no opportunity in seeking a limitation of Robert’s powers. Buckhurst reported nothing of this, but Calvinist preachers in the Netherlands thundered against the duplicity of their politicians.
There was never any real doubt that Robert would resume his position as Governor General in the Netherlands. Despite his criticisms, even Buckhurst saw the advantage of retaining the continuity that Robert provided. Burghley and Walsingham also supported his reappointment. If Robert were in command, Elizabeth was more likely to hold her nerve and confirm her wholehearted support for the campaign. Buckhurst was an efficient administrator but no great leader, and he soon found himself calling for more money to pay the English troops still stationed there and for more aid for the States General. Although both Robert and the Queen realised that the Dutch were in a dire situation, they were not going to put up with any more of their lukewarm support shown in the previous year. They insisted that the United Provinces should put together an army of 14,000 men and pay for it themselves. For his part, Robert refused to return until all arrears of army pay had been settled and a royal loan of £10,000 was guaranteed to cover his personal expenses.
Meanwhile, Philip II was considering another line of attack, which had been triggered by the execution of Mary Queen of Scots on 8 February 1587. Despite having recovered control of Deventer and Zutphen, Parma was instructed to curtail his advance over the northern part of Holland and to establish control of the Netherlands’ coastal ports in preparation for an attack on England. The much discussed ‘enterprise’ had now become an ‘armada’. To launch an attack on the English coast, the Spanish needed access to Sluis, a fortified harbour at the mouth of the Scheldt and to Ostend, both of which were garrisoned by allied troops. Parma began by besieging Sluis, which was protected by a system of defensive waterways. He was hampered by a great shortage of provisions and the siege went slowly. Sir Roger Williams led a detachment of allied troops, which fought its way into the town. With the garrison now strengthened, Sluis’s courageous resistance drew even Parma’s admiration.
Elizabeth continued her efforts to negotiate peace, and Parma continued in dialogue with her. She still hoped to gain restoration of the States’ charters and a withdrawal of Spanish troops. Philip II made clear to Parma that he would grant no concessions and was making ‘abundant provision’ for his invasion of England. On 14 April 1587, he wrote to him:
The peace commissioners may meet. But to you only I declare that my intention is that this shall never lead to any result, whatever conditions may be offered to them … this is done to cool them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that such preparations will not be necessary.60
Elizabeth could not make up her mind how to handle the Netherlands campaign and to Walsingham’s consternation, she sat on her hands. She believed that she had lost financial control and ‘in a burst of unseasoned fury’,61 held back the money to fund Robert’s return. Robert retired to take the waters at Bath although these provided him with no benefit. On 17 April, Walsingham wrote to him that affairs in the Netherlands were becoming critical and he had asked Elizabeth to summon him back. Robert knew that the allies were having a hard time of it. On 7 June, he wrote to Christopher Blount, his young Gentleman of the Horse, to commiserate with him after being wounded in the hand, but confirming that troops wer
e being mustered for his return. As always, Elizabeth was concerned for Robert’s health and did not want him hurriedly recalled from Bath. It was midsummer when she agreed to make an advance, conditional on it being repaid within one year. On 4 July 1587, Robert set out from Margate with 4,000 fresh troops and 400 horse backed by £30,000 in funding. Although Essex set out for the coast to rejoin his stepfather, Elizabeth recalled her new favourite to her side. While the troops were landed at Ostend under Pelham’s command, Robert was transported to Flushing in warships commanded by Howard of Effingham. (It must have been an embarrassment that Effingham was Douglas Howard’s brother.)
Elizabeth I's Secret Lover Page 31
