History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

destroying host the words of the prophet,
descriptive of the ravages of another army -- before
them was a garden, clothed in the rich blossoms of
the Gothic genius and art, behind them was a
wilderness strewn over with ruins.
These iconoclasts appeared first in the district
of St. Omer, in Flanders, where they sacked the
convent of the Nuns of Wolverghen. Emboldened
by their success, the cry was raised, "To Ypres, to
Ypres!"[4] "On their way thither," says Strada,
"their number increased, like a snowball rolling
from a mountain-top into the valley."[5] They
purged the roads as they advanced, they ravaged
the churches around Ypres, and entering the town
they inflicted unsparing demolition upon all the
images in its sanctuaries. "Some set ladders to the
walls, with hammers and staves battering the
pictures. Others broke asunder the iron-work, seats,
and pulpit. Others casting ropes about the great
statues of Our Savior Christ, and the saints, pulled
them down to the ground."[6] The day following
there gathered "another flock of the like birds of
prey," which directed their flight towards Courtray
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