Alkmaar

“ In history Alkmaar played its solemn [139] rôle by making a stubborn and ultimately successful resistance against the besieging Spaniards in 1573. Five to one were the odds against which the burghers fought and, as at Leyden, the water of the ocean was the all-powerful lever that rewarded the besieged and routed the besiegers.
As early as daybreak the Friday visitor—for Friday is cheese day in Alkmaar—will find plenty of activity in the vicinity of the town weigh-house. ”

“ With the milk of these animals is made that exquisite cheese called Edam, after the town of that name in North Holland. On market days, all the towns in this province are overflowing with these handsome reddish forms piled up like cannon-balls in the streets and piazzas, and pointed out to the stranger with a sentiment of national pride. Alkmaar sells more than four millions of kilogrammes per year, Horn three millions, Purmerende two, Medenblick and
Enkhuysen from seven to eight hundred thousand, the whole of North Holland more than fifteen millions of francs worth. ”

“ If the weather is fine one should certainly go to Alkmaar by canal. The journey by water, on a steamer, is always interesting and intensely invigorating. It is only one remove from the open sea, so flat is the country, so free the air.
Cheese Market, Alkmaar
Alkmaar’s magnet is its cheese market, which draws little companies of travellers thither every Friday in the season. ”

“ After the canal had made several turnings, the tall steeples of Alkmaar, quaint and ancient, appeared in sight, but it was some time before the steamer reached the quay of that picturesque town.
Leaving the steamboat, the Count and the Baron at once going to an hotel, ordered dinner to be prepared, having invited their new friend to join them.
“Though Alkmaar is a place of no great importance at present,” observed their friend, “it can boast of three things—its heroic defence against the Spaniards, of which I will give you an account by-and-by as we walk round the ramparts ”

“ ALKMAAR, a town in the province of North Holland, kingdom of Holland, 24 1/2 m. by rail N.N.W. of Amsterdam, connected by steam-tramway with Haarlem and Amsterdam, and on the North Holland canal. Pop. (1900) 18,373. Alkmaar is a typical North Holland town, with tree-lined canals and brightly coloured 17th-century houses. The old city walls have been replaced by pleasant gardens and walks, and there is a park in which stands a fine monument (1876) by J. T. Stracke (1817- 1891) , symbolizing Alcmaria victrix, to commemorate the siege by the Spaniards in 1573. ”

“ The result of the battle of the 2d October compelled the enemy to abandon his positions, and evacuate the town of Alkmaar, which was his head quarters, and fall back nearer to Amsterdam.—Alkmaar was occupied by our troops on the 3d, and as our brigade had been much reduced in number, we were ordered to go there to form a part of its intended garrison. The peninsula is here of considerable breadth, and the country much superior to that on the north side of the long dyke, but it is still intersected with deep broad ditches and canals, which greatly impede military operations. ”

“ Thus, every human being in the city that could walk had become a soldier. At last darkness fell upon the scene. The trumpet of recal was sounded, and the Spaniards, utterly discomfited, retired from the walls, leaving at least one thousand dead in the trenches, while only thirteen burghers and twenty-four of the garrison lost their lives. Thus was Alkmaar preserved for a little longer—thus a large and well-appointed army signally defeated by a handful of men fighting for their firesides and altars. ”

“ By his decision and the spirit which he diffused through the country, the people were lifted to a pitch of heroism by which Alkmaar was saved. Yet, during all this harassing period, he had no one to lean upon but himself. "Our affairs are in pretty good; condition in Holland and Zealand," he wrote, "if I only had some aid. 'Tis impossible for me to support alone so many labors, and the weight of such great affairs as come upon me hourly—financial, military, political. I have no one to help me, not a single man, wherefore I leave you to suppose in what trouble I find myself." ”

“ Through the sea of blood, the Hollanders felt that they were passing to the promised land. More royal soldiers fell during the seven months' siege of Harlem than the rebels had lost in the defeat of Jemmingen, and in the famous campaign of Brabant. At Alkmaar the rolling waves of insolent conquest were stayed, and the tide then ebbed for ever.
The accomplished soldier struggled hopelessly, with the wild and passionate hatred which his tyranny had provoked. Neither his legions nor his consummate strategy availed him against an entirely desperate people. ”

“ The army retired from all its positions early in the morning, and the rear guard left Alkmaar early in the day.—The enemy, after being repulsed on the 6th, was apprehensive that we might attack him, and was prepared, in that case, to retire to Haarlem; our retreating was not expected by him, and it was about 10 o'clock in the forenoon before his advanced cavalry picquets discerned that Alkmaar was evacuated, when they entered and found a few drunken women and soldiers, whose intoxication prevented them from knowing that the army had retreated. ”

“ I mentioned the nation’s equability to the young Dutchman in the canal boat between Rotterdam and Delft. “Ah!” he said, “you should go to Brabant. They fight enough there!” I did go to Brabant, but I saw no anger or quarrelsomeness; yet I suppose he had his reasons.
The steam-tram to Monnickendam runs on to Edam, whence one may command both Volegdam and Purmerend. Edam is famous for its cheese, but the traveller in Holland as a rule reserves for Alkmaar cheese market his interest in this industry; and we will do the same. Broadly speaking Edam sends forth the red cheeses, Alkmaar the yellow ”

“ To see it rightly one must reach Alkmaar on the preceding afternoon, to watch the arrival of the boats from the neighbouring farms, and see them unload their yellow freight on the market quay. The men who catch the cheeses are exceedingly adroit—it is the nearest thing to an English game that is played in Holland. ”

“ On one of the walls was a marble tablet, placed there by the Emperor Alexander to commemorate a visit he paid to the hut, which showed to the Count and Baron that another great person had been there before them.
Chapter Nine.
On returning to the town of windmills, they encountered the gentleman who had advised them to pay a visit to the place.
“I am going on to Alkmaar,” he observed, “and should be rejoiced to have your company; it is a place well worth seeing, and you will have further experience of Dutch scenery on the way.” ”

“ Then the army under Alva’s son, Don Frederick of Toledo, marched northwards, and the sack of Zutphen and the inhuman butchery of Naarden are among the blackest records of history. But the very horrors of Don Frederick’s advance roused a spirit of indomitable resistance in Holland.
The famous defence of Haarlem, lasting through the winter of 1572 to July 1573, cost the besiegers 12,000 lives, and gave the insurgent provinces time to breathe. The example of Haarlem was followed by Alkmaar, and with better and success. The assault of the Spaniards was repulsed, Siege of Haarlem and Alkmaar. ”

“ Not far from Alkmaar, between the two villages of Kamp and Petten, in the direction of the North Sea, and over a long tract where one of the mouths of the Rhine anciently existed, the chain of downs is interrupted, and the coast is furiously beaten by the sea, which, in spite of the strong defensive works which oppose it, continually gnaws into the bosom of the land. ”

“ Both Alkmaar and Haarlem are interesting because they are intensely Dutch. Their principal occupations, cheesemaking and flower-raising, have been their principal occupations for centuries. They had nothing to start with and had to fight for that. Now they are loaning money to the world. If the people of Kansas worked as hard as do the Dutch and were as economical and saving, in one generation they would have all the money in the world. ”

“ The next point of attack was the city of Alkmaar, situate quite at the termination of the Peninsula, among the lagunes and redeemed prairies of North Holland. The Prince of Orange had already provided it with a small garrison. The city had been summoned to surrender by the middle of July, and had returned a bold refusal.—Meantime, the Spaniards had retired from before the walls, while the surrender and chastisement of Harlem occupied them during the next succeeding weeks. ”

“ Harlem, after a desperate defence, was captured in the summer of 1573. But the siege of Alkmaar, after an heroic defence of seven weeks, was raised. Then there was a breathing time for the Hollanders. ”

“ The example at Alkmaar possesses not only an imposing front with gable in three storeys, but a lofty tower with belfry. At Deventer the main building is late Gothic (1528) , in brick and stone, with an external double flight of steps and balustrades added in 1643.
The Fleesch Halle (meat-market) at Haarlem, also in brick and stone, is of a very rococo style, but notwithstanding all its vagaries presents a most picturesque appearance.
The domestic architecture of Holland and the shop fronts retain more of their original dispositions than will be found in any other country. ”

“ The market is held every Friday; but in order to observe all of its features, a visitor should go to Alkmaar the day before, and see the preliminary preparations. The market-place is a large stone-paved space in the open air, with business houses on three sides, a canal on the fourth side, and a weigh-house at one end. During Thursday the dairymen from the surrounding country arrive with their families and their cheeses, coming in carts, wagons, and canal-boats ”

“ The terrible loss of life entailed by the capture of Haarlem had struck a profound blow at the haughty confidence of the Spaniards, and had vastly encouraged the people of Holland. The successful defence of Alkmaar did even more. It showed the people that resistance did not necessarily lead to calamity, that the risk was greater in surrender than in defiance, and, above all, that in their dykes they possessed means of defence that, if properly used, would fight for them even more effectually than they could do for themselves. ”

“ Throughout the night bands of young peasants, both men and women, parade the streets of Alkmaar, singing and skylarking; and cheese-carts continue to arrive and clatter along the stony streets, so that little sleep is possible for the residents and visitors.
164 An essential part of the cheese-market is the official weigh-house, which was built more than three centuries ago, out of an already existing church. Its shapely clock-tower has moving figures of horsemen in a tourney, and a beautiful set of chimes, one of whose airs is the well-known wedding march from Wagner's "Lohengrin." ”

“ He will like the job," grunted Gaspar. And so it was done; we sent Vermeil and we went to bed.
Late in the next day came great news: a courier came to the town with letters for the burgomaster and St. Trond telling how Alkmaar had closed its gates and declared for Orange. These were the first-fruits of the long siege of Breuthe. If a little town could hold out so long, a larger might hold out longer; so they thought in Alkmaar ere they heard of the raising of Breuthe's siege. Tidings of that would scarce make them more disposed to surrender. ”

“ Such ravings, if invented by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, authentically, from his own, —they still appear almost too exaggerated for belief. "If I take Alkmaar," he wrote to Philip, "I am resolved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every throat. Since the example of Harlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to their senses." ”

“ In the Museum, which is not too interesting, is a picture Page 209of the siege of Alkmaar, an episode of which the town has every right to be proud. It was the point of attack by the Duke of Alva and his son after the conquest of Haarlem—that hollow victory for Spain which was more costly than many defeats. Philip had issued a decree threatening the total depopulation of Holland unless its cities submitted to the charms of his attractive religion. ”

“ Gentleness had produced nothing, so far; violence alone could succeed in future. ‘Let your Majesty,’ he said, ‘be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can be done with these people. Already have matters reached such a point that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge their mistake. They are of opinion that not a living soul should be left in Alkmaar, but that every individual should be put to the sword.’... ”

“ Other considerable towns are Dordrecht, Maastricht, Leeuwarden, Zwolle, Delft, ’s Hertogenbosch, Schiedam, Deventer, Breda, Apeldoorn, Helder, Enschedé, Gouda, Zaandam, Kampen, Hilversum, Flushing, Amersfoort, Middelburg, Zutphen and Alkmaar. Many of the smaller towns, such as Assen, Enschedé, Helmond, Hengelo, Tiel, Venlo, Vlaardingen, Zaandam, Yerseke, show a great development, and it is a noteworthy fact that the rural districts, taken as a whole, have borne an equal share in the general increase of population. ”