By being a compassionate Calvinist leader, Lord Karl was able to keep his people united. He tried not to antagonize those with a different religious viewpoint. In fact, he vigorously protected the rights of those citizens who choose to retain their Catholic faith after the majority converted to Calvinism. He demanded that his people respect and tolerate all religions and banished members of both religions who disagreed. Those moderate positions allowed him to offer sanctuary to those who suffered early religious persecution at the hands of Spanish, primarily Flemish Protestants from Flanders and fellow Calvinists from the conquered South without opposition from local Catholics. They accepted his action as a merciful act and it helped that those expatriates had not arrived empty handed. Many brought special talents or personal wealth to invest into the local economy, igniting a wave of prosperity for everyone. Having suffered from tyrannical rule, the newcomers became extremely loyal to the ruling family. Lord Karl also fostered the idea of self-government by allowing each wave of refugees to select leaders to govern their villages. He gave them some of the family’s land on the mainland shore of Lake Derick. Those villages were now ideally located to check the enemy advance against the southern shoreline.
The first group of refugees, the Flemish Protestants arrived first, after Flanders became a battleground for the earlier ongoing border conflict between them and the French and Spanish kings. These immigrants included skilled craftsmen who developed a local textile industry and established a local market for the materials produced by farmers. They settled within a stone’s throw of the old entrance way to the canal built by the great Lord Derick. Karl prudently required these Flemish settlers to surround their village with an earthen wall, which they built higher and with greater mass than requested. Lord Karl knew that their wall would not only defend the villages but, when embedded with cannons, would challenge access to the canal. The wall and the cannons could block a waterborne advance into the interior.
The other village was built near the boathouse by a very different group. These people were primarily well-to-do Dutch families and their servants who had fled the initial activities of the Blood Court in Brussels. Their ranks included a number of Jewish families driven off by the intolerant climate created by the Spanish occupiers. The heads of these families, both Christians and Jews, were mainly wealthy entrepreneurs, involved in trade and finance. Many had acquired great wealth and wanted to make the Droger Land their permanent home. The community later attracted a sprinkling of refugee artists and intellectuals, mainly from Antwerp and Ghent. These men of the arts considered the Droger Land a temporary haven from oppression. Lord Karl placed two preconditions on these new residents. They were told to build a formidable stone wall around their entire settlement. He also asked them to fund the construction of a number of redoubts along the shoreline of Lake Derick. Having lived through the horrors of Spanish occupation they readily complied. The walls and small fortifications were completed with little delay.
Yet Lord Karl’s greatest contribution to the coming conflict was that he prepared the people militarily for the struggle ahead. For the previous ten years, he stringently enforced the requirement that all male residents develop a skill with an individual weapon, and Karl’s preference was firearms. The men in the town and villages were well armed with pistols and muskets. He formed these men into militia units capable of defending their homes. Farmers and others with access to horses were formed into mounted units. They became detachments of cavalrymen or mounted musketeers, depending on the quality of their mounts and weaponry of their riders. There was no class or religious distinctions in these units; the wealthiest Calvinist merchant might very well ride beside a lowly Catholic bargeman who owned a good horse. Karl knew his older brother Clifford could turn these separate militias and mounted units into an army. Karl also built powder magazines throughout the realm and filled each to capacity with ball and shot. He wanted his brother to have sufficient munitions on hand if his army went to war. While Karl prepared the land and the people for war, the most difficult task would fall to his brother. He must now lead them to victory for nothing less than the survival of the Duchy was at stake.
The Baron and his son arrived in darkness, leaving the barge near the Keep and making their way on horseback to the castle. Long hooded cloaks hid their uniforms and their identities; giving the few residents they met little anxiety over the return of the Great Lord and his son. Of course, there would have been no ambivalence in welcoming home Jon van Weir, for even the newer residents remembered the brave and personable young man, who the citizens believed a protégé of his enlightened uncle rather than his aloof father. Even most Calvinists liked the idea that Jon had demonstrated an independent spirit by choosing his own wife and all took pride in his heroic voyage to Italy. They would have given the young lord a warm reception, but by sunrise, Jon, accompanied by Gypsy guides was already on his way to reconnoiter the activities of the enemy in the Great Swamp.
The Baron secluded himself in the castle scanning maps and meeting privately with local leaders. The embargo on Dutch ports had reduced the supply of available Baltic grain which made the pending domestic grain crop more important, for it might be needed to feed the army he assembled. The Lord of the Droger Land issued a proclamation announcing his return. Attached were two commands to his people. The first ordered all citizens to put aside other duties and assist the farmers in collecting the grain harvest; the second set the second Monday in November as the date for “Gathering” on the common green. That part of the proclamation required every able bodied man or boy to congregate at first light, with whatever weapons they possessed, for the defense of the homeland.
He shared with his magistrates and the leaders of different military units a part of his plan to defend the homeland. The strategy called for guerrilla tactics to delay the enemy’s early advance in the swamp. He hoped to maul the invaders as they built their roadways by battering the enemy columns before they reached Lake Derick, where a surprise would await them. The Baron told his leaders that he planned to attack the invaders with two fleets of gunboats. The old fleet would be refitted and rearmed with more powerful swivels while a new and larger fleet, armed with cannons, was already being constructed in Rotterdam. He hoped the gunboats would decimate the enemy as they reached the shores of the lake, but was careful to emphasize that such tactics by themselves would not bring an ultimate victory. The invaders were numerous and might be able to ignore such causalities. However he hoped the tactics would split the enemy’s forces, allowing the main army to deal with the different parts separately. He told them it would take a series of battles to defeat such a formidable enemy. He reminded them that when (not if) the enemy reached the shores of the mainland, they must be pushed back into the lake.
A few days later, the Baron Clifford Van Weir, riding an innocuous bay mare and wearing a cloak to hide his identity, began a tour of the Droger Land’s defenses. His first stop was an obscure fortification known as the First Fort. It was one of the original stone Roman watchtowers built by the first patriarch and later enclosed by a stone wall. It had once stood on the most eastern tip of the Droger Land where the salt water marsh and the fresh water swamp met and blended into each other. It was now situated more than a mile inland as land was reclaimed from the wetlands. The ground was a dark rich soil that was collected from the bottom of Lake Derick when it was swampland. The area was an important agricultural region and grew the hardiest cool weather crop: turnips.
The Baron was met at the fort by an old friend who commanded the mere sergeant’s guard that garrisoned the place. “Old Andries” was the second son of a tenant farmer and became one of the Duchy’s bravest men-at-arms. He had first gone to war against the French with Lord Willem and had fought at the Baron’s side opposing the Spanish until an injury made mounting a horse impossible. The Baron knew him as a man of limited words with contempt for exaggeration. He was surprised when his old comrade began to babble, “Lo
rd Clifford, I knew you would come! I knew you knew! It’s made for cavalry and will bear the weight of cannons. They will come this way my Lord. They will come this way!” The Baron put a finger to his lips to quiet Old Andries, and placed an arm on the old soldier’s shoulder, nudging him toward the stairway that led up the ancient tower. Once on top, Old Andries pointed toward the mile of turnip fields and told the Baron to glimpse at what divided those fields. Excitedly he muttered, “It’s not a swale; it’s a Roman road.” They were looking at a slight indenture in the reclaimed landscape. It was built naturally by excessive rain from the adjacent fields draining back to the wetlands. Over time the soil had washed away leaving a bed of gravel. The Baron saw farmers harvesting the latest crop of turnips and noticed they parked their heavy farm wagons three abreast on the solid gravel of the swale. Old Andries reminded the Baron that the surrounding wetlands were the first to freeze in winter, long before the areas around the lake became ice. He also reminded the Baron that this part of the swamp had hidden footpaths that sometimes allowed men fleeing sheriffs to escape to Germany. The Baron didn’t need to be told that such men would show the Spanish engineers the best route to bridge a return. A little later, with a local youth as a guide, the Baron did what his son had done three days earlier; he too faded into the swamp. In five day he emerged and immediately rode to the Keep before returning to the castle. He ordered its commander to see to it personally that all but one of the Keep’s cannons was moved to the First Fortification. Upon reaching the castle, he conferred with his brother. Karl ordered the castle’s cannons dismantled and sent to the Flemish village. He also had the few pieces of field artillery, stored in the armory, moved to the other village. After some food and more sober conversation with his brother, the Baron retired for some needed rest.
Jon returned a few days later and the atmosphere within the castle’s walls became tenser. He had spied upon some of the Germanic forces approaching, and estimated their numbers at over four thousand infantrymen under two separate commanders. A captured prisoner told him that each column was ordered to bridge the swampland by mid-November. The Baron relentlessly questioned his son about what he had specifically witnessed. He repeatedly asked Jon about the presence of cavalry or siege guns until it became annoying. He had Jon repeat exactly what the captive told him about the commanders. Prince Otto Von Werner commanded one force. He was a Catholic prince from Thuringia with strong family ties to the Spanish king. His forces consisted of inexperienced but loyal Catholic conscripts. They were well armed and led in the field by seasoned mercenary officers. The prisoner said that Von Werner, his noble staff and common soldiers had never been to war; their only combat experience was skirmishing against rebellious peasants in Thuringia. According to the captive, the second column and its commander were more formidable. He was he Count Victor Alschultz of Bavaria, who fought for both France and Spain in Italy and was now in the pay of King Philip. He became a mercenary commander because his ancestors foolishly sold the municipal taxing rights within his principality. He used Parma’s money to recruit his soldiers. Though less equipped than Werner’s men, his troops were more disciplined and making better progress on their roadway. Jon saw long columns of carts and wagons carrying food, supplies, and small boats parked on the finished sections of Alschultz’s road. He had also observed a few batteries of light field artillery.
Jon’s observations and the captive’s account confirmed the Baron’s own reconnaissance. He thought the greatest threat would come from the column he discovered. That force was building a much more substantial roadway toward the eastern tip of the mainland. The Baron wondered who Count Parma had entrusted to command this force which he suspected included the missing siege guns and cavalry.
Now aware of the more imminent threat, the Baron limited his son’s raiders to only fifty men drawn from the Gypsy’s camp and men from the new settlements who understood the conditions they would encounter in the swamp. The Baron knew this small force would have little chance to delay either column’s advance but wanted Jon to try. The Baron affectionately thanked his son for trusting his judgment but further complicated Jon’s mission by ordering him to leave the gunboat crews with their boats. The Baron wanted Jon’s fleet fully crewed when the enemy columns reached Lake Derick.
Early the next morning, the Baron ordered the lake settlements evacuated following the harvest and offered their Gypsy allies sanctuary on the mainland. The Gypsies were the only group of interlopers ever allowed to permanently settle in the swamp. Originally, these caravan dwellers from the east were welcomed in Western Europe in the fifteenth century. That changed in the sixteenth century as these “heathens” were accused of spying for the Ottoman Turks. The tendency of Gypsies to beg, steal, and commit fraud had slowly outraged the people of Western Europe. Gypsies became unwelcomed and uninvited guests wherever they went. Ten years earlier, when the Gypsies arrived in the swamp, Lord Karl had led the gunboat fleet against their encampment. They had come to the swamp, with little more than the clothes on their back, after being set upon by German mobs that burned their wagons. After weeks of wandering through the water, they came upon a small patch of drier ground near the settlements where they found temporary safety until they were discovered. Karl had intended to destroy the site but delayed the attack when he noticed the camp contained few able-bodied men. In fact, the band consisted of mostly starving old men and women and many terrified young children. After a parley, Karl took pity on the community and allowed them to remain. He warned them that he demanded proper behavior and would monitor their conduct. The band prospered by foraging, fishing, hunting, and growing vegetables in the wet soil. The band carefully avoided conflict with the settlers. The Gypsies became skilled at hunting a new breed of gigantic hog that arose over the centuries when escaped domestic pigs mated with wild boars. Those hunting skills sustained the band during the cruel winters and provided a surplus of pork which they smoked and sold on the mainland. They remained loyal subjects who informed Lord Karl whenever danger arose in the swamp. The Gypsies were the first to recognize the buildup of German forces on the border. The young boys, once spared, now grown, had become the Duchy’s eyes and ears in the swamp. Many would soon repay Lord Karl’s kindness by laying down their lives in the family’s service.
Gustoff and Teewes finally arrived with the first two barges of the new fleet. Teewes found the original gunboat fleet aging but in good condition, though the oak hulls had lost much of their majestic strength with age. With help from local craftsmen, Teewes Roulfs reinforced the frames and installed the heavier swivel guns to both the bow and stern of each boat and added extra plating to each hull. While Teewes was working on the boats, Gustoff began recruiting crews for the new fleet. When Jon and Gustoff met, they had little time to celebrate any reunion. Jon left for the swamp after distributing some of the small arms Gustoff had purchased to his raiders. He also took along two of the discarded swivels which he felt could be manhandled through the swamp. He hoped to make good use of Gustoff’s arms and the two old swivel guns.
As Jon re-entered the swampland from the west, he had no way of knowing that his father had sent a few of his most trusted men into the eastern section of the same swamp. They were sent not to harass, but to monitor the third column that had a diagonal starting point two German kingdoms to the east. His soldiers had orders to uncover the exact strength of the approaching force and the name of their commander. Their first report told him about five thousand enemy soldiers were approaching, many of them cavalry. A second message informed him this column was commanded by Prince Herman Lutwaff, an experienced cavalry commander from Lower Saxony.
The Baron and all Holland knew this man. Lutwaff had commanded a mounted detachment of Spanish Calvary during the initial stages of the invasion of the Netherlands. It was Lutwaff’s horsemen that had laid waste to many rural parts of the Netherlands and Lutwaff had allowed his cavalrymen to rape and plunder the Dutch countryside. Lutwaff’s famil
y, once Catholic, became Lutheran and then reconciled with the Catholic faith to please Charles V. It was during that reconciliation that the Baron’s late wife were held captive at his family’s estate. The Baron knew this man and his family. It came as no surprise that Parma would employ such a ruthless person to lead the main force. His column was the prime threat and the Baron had no intention of letting the others distract him. The raiders and the fleets would have to hold those other forces in-check while he built a force capable of dealing with Lutwaff. The Baron’s decision was only confirmed when one of his men left the swamp to personally report, “More than a thousand cavalry and siege guns in the vanguard.”
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