The most significant medal, from an historical point of view, which was ever struck in Holland is the so-called ” Beggar’s Medal.”
Adopted March 30th, 1887
It is the memorial of the very first steps of that march towards civil and religious liberty in which the men of The Netherlands, after heroic struggles, finally led the world. And, therefore, it is a most appropriate token for us to wear, who have received in largest measure, in this New Republic, the benefits of the noble conflict of our Dutch forefathers In Bizot’s “Medallic History of the Republic of Holland,” published at Amsterdam in 1690, the place of honor is given to this famous ” Geuzenpenning.” The following description of its origin is translated from that work, with a few additions from the accounts given by Prof. J. W. Kitchin, of Oxford : “
In the year 1565, immediately after the decrees of the Council of Trent were promulgated, Philip II. determined to put them in force throughout his dominions. Accordingly he now made a more vehement attack upon the reformers ; and then it was, in 1566, that the Netherland nobles, led by Count Brederode, signed the famous ‘ Compromise,’ with which the open rebellion of the provinces begins. Margaret of Parma was PhiliiD’s Eegeut in the Low Countries. Before her Brederode appeared with the Protest against the Inquisition and other innovations which the King proposed to introduce into Holland. He was accompanied by three hundred noblemen, who had bound themselves together for the preservation of the Liberties of the Provinces. The Duchess of Parma appeared to be much disturbed at the sight of such a multitude of noble remonstrants, but the Count of Barlemont, who stood beside her, begged her not to be alarmed, ‘ For,’ said he, in French, * they are only beggars.’
” The next day, the 6th of April, 1566, as the confederates were sitting together at dinner, and talking of a name for their new Party, they remembered Barlemont’s sneer, and cried out, ‘ Vivent les Grueux ‘ (‘Hurrah for the Beggars! ‘). When dinner was over, Brederode, having hung a beggar’s wallet around his neck, filled a wooden bowl with wine and drank the health of the company, declaring that, for his part, he was ready to sacrifice life, property, everything, in defence of his country’s freedom. The room rang with applause,— ‘ Hiu-rah for the Beggars ! ‘ The cup was passed from hand to hand. Every man drank the same toast and made the same pledge of devotion. And thus it was that the name of the Gueux, or Beggars, which has become famous throughout Europe, had its origin at a social feast ; for it often happens that the most important and serious affairs begin amid jests and laughter.
“Soon afterward the men of the new party appeared at Brussels, dressed in coarse gray cloth, with wooden cups attached to their belts, and with this MEDAL HANGING ABOUT THEIR NECKS.”
One of these medals was worn by William of Orange at the time of his assassination.
The following is the description, translated by the Secretary, Mr. Greo. W. van Siclen, from van Loon’s ” Nederlandsche Penningen ” :
” The nobles assembled several times in different places to find methods to protect the liberties of their country from the perils which menaced them from all sides. Those who showed themselves most zealous and most ardent upon these occasions were Henri de Brederode ; Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange ; Florent de Pallant, Count of Culembourg ; and William, Count of Bergen. They pushed the affair so far that meetings were held, first in Breda, and afterward at Hoogstraten. ”
At the latter place several discontented nobles projected an alliance, which, going from hand to hand, was in a short time accepted and signed by more than four hundred persons, all of whom promised to be in Brussels on a certain day. To give gi-eater eclat to this league, Henri de Brederode, as chief of the confedei’ates, found it convenient to make his entry into that city on the 3d of April, a. d. 1566, accompanied by Count Louis of Nassau and many nobles, followed by a gi’eat number of servants. The fourth day of that month was employed in preparations and in awaiting the Counts of Bergen and of Culembourg. Although the following day these lordshad not yet arrived, the confederates did not delay indemanding an audience. It was granted to them, and the Princess Regent appointed the hour of noon to avoid the tumultuous concourse of the populace.
” The time named being near, Brederode and Count Louis were seen to leave the residence of Culembourg and to walk with a decent gravity toward the court, preceded by more than three huntb’ed gentlemen, of whom they themselves formed the last rank. When they arrived before the Duchess, Brederode spoke for all, and, having finished his harangue, he presented to Her Highness a petition signed in the name of all that illustrious troop. In this petition, after having represented their obedience and their fidelity to the King, they declared that, notwithstanding the hatred that their procedure would very likely draw upon them, they would risk, in the service of the King, showing to Her Highness the dangerous condition of affaii’s, and warning her, if the protection of the Inquisition were continued, of the tenible consequences which they foresaw would shake the state to its foundations. They demanded, secondly, that the edict of the King relating to the Inquisition, and relating to religion in general, be reformed by the Assembly of the States-General, and that, while awaiting this, the execution of this edict should be suspended, as a proteetion against the sad evils of which they were already, and of which they would be more and more the fertile source.
” The Regent, hiding as well as possible the uneasiness and indignation which this affair caused her, received the petition, and replied to the supplicants that she would examine into their demands with the Lords of the Council, and that in a short time she would let them know her decision. With this response the confederate lords retm-ned to Culembourg’s residence in the same order and with the same gravity with which they had left it.
” After the Regent had deliberated on the petition of the nobles, that Princess replied the following day in writing that she would represent to the King their first demand in the most favorable manner possible, but that she was obhged to refuse absolutely the second, because the matter was not in her power. ” While this affair was thus treated at the palace of the Princess, the populace insulted the confederate nobles by the opprobrious epithet of gueux, which those who understood French badly changed into geuzen, which afterward became very common as the name of a party or sect. Others say that the author of this soubriquet was the Baron of Barlemont, who, seeing the Regent sui’prised at the sight of so many nobles, tried to encourage her by saying, ‘ Ce ne sont que des gueux.” However that may be, this name was received by the nobles as a precious epithet, and soon became the most honorable title of that illustrious league.
“The 6th of April, Brederode, being at dinner with other lords of his party at Culembourg’s, put around his neck a wallet, and filling with wine a wooden cup, like that worn by the beggars, made all the guests follow his example. He declared to them at the same time that, while always remaining faithful to his King, not only would he risk everything in defense of the liberties of the country, although he might be reduced to carrying a waUet, but he was even ready to give up his life in so good a cause. All those who were at the feast, having in turn taken the wallet and the cup, made the same declaration one after the other, in the midst of a continual cry of ‘ Vivent les guenx ! ‘
” Several of these nobles appeared the next day in the streets dressed in gray frieze, and carrying at the girdle, as a badge of honor, a small wallet and a little wooden cup or calabash.
” Then (a. d. 1566) as now (a. d. 1732) the wooden bowl was in Brabant, like the wallet, a distinctive mark, and, so to speak, a livery of beggars. Furnished with this necessary utensil of their profession they went certain days of the week to the cloisters, where, after having taken part in the catechizing, they each received, according as he had answered well or badly, a portion of soup left over by the monks.
” It was by this low and despised method that the Professor, Thomas Stapleton, was able to reach the highest degree of erudition, notwithstanding his poverty and low birth. Sure, thanks to his porringer, of victuals which were absolutely necessary to him, he applied himself first to the languages, and afterwards to the higher sciences, with such success that he was honored with the most distinguished professorship in the University of Louvain. He never forgot his porringer. In the feasts which they gave when lie was elevated to this important charge, not only did he then cause the first toast to be drunk in that cup, then ornamented with a foot of silver, but he desired that after his death it should be added to the rich ornaments of his marble tomb, as an example and as a beacon for other distinguished men of genius, the meanness of whose extraction might seem to condemn them to darkness. ”
The reader must pardon me this digression, which I would not have made but from the same motive which caused this great man to parade his beggar’s bowl. ” The gourd or bottle had its origin from the usage made of it by the pilgrims—that class of people who, to perform a penance or to fulfill certain vows, undertake a journey to the distant shrine of some saint, like that of St. James in Spain or of Loretto in Italy. They are obliged to go there begging by the way, and they carry this bottle-gourd, or calabash, attached to the girdle for the purpose of carrying water for their use when they have to traverse dry and arid parts of the country. For this reason these allied nobles made use of both the porringer and the wallet as an emblem of poverty and to turn into pleasantry the name of beggars which had been given to them with so much indignity. This is not all. These lords, wishing to engrave on each other’s memory the vow which each had made to defend the privileges of the country, even to carrying the wallet, took pride in wearing on the breast certain medals attached to ribbons, and very often joined with a porringer and a gourd.”
The form adopted by The Holland Society is a facsimile of an original Beggar’s Medal in the collection of Mr. Daniel Parish, of New York City, which was kindly placed at the disposal of the Committee. It shows on its face the armed bust of Philip II. of Spain, with the first half of the motto, “EN TOUT FIDELLES AU ROY,” and on the reverse two wallets, between the straps of which are two hands joined, with the remainder of the motto, ” JUSQUES A PORTER LA BESACE,” together with the date, 1566, the figui’es of which are, however, separated, one in each corner formed by the crossed hands and wallets. Two porringers and a gourd are attached as pendants to the medal.
Plaster casts of originals of various sizes, in the Museum of Antiquities in Amsterdam, were kindly presented to the Society by Dr. T. H. Blom Coster, physician to the Queen of The Netherlands.
The die, which has been cut by Tiffany and Co., is the property of the Society. The badges can only be obtained through Mr. Abraham van Santvoord, Treasurer, 55 Broadway, New-York.
HENRY VAN DYKE
H, S. VAN DUZER
WILLIAM M. HOES
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This article is copied and reformated from the 1887-88 Holland Society Year Book, pages 88-95