History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

turned one's eye there was a gibbet; wherever one
planted one's foot there was blood. The cities were
becoming silent; the air was thick with terror and
despair. But if 1568 closed in gloom, 1569 rose in
a gloom yet deeper.
In the beginning of this year the sword of
persecution was still further sharpened. There came
a new edict, addressed to the Stadtholders of the
Provinces, enjoining that "when the Host or the
holy oil for extreme unction was carried to sick
people, strict notice should be taken of the
behavior, countenance, and words of every person,
and that all those in whom any signs of irreverence
were discovered should be punished; that all such
dead bodies to which the clergy thought fit to deny
Christian burial and the consecrated ground, should
be thrown out on the gallows-field; that notice of it
should be given to him (Alva), and their estates
registered; and that all midwives should report
every birth within twenty-four hours after the child
had come into the world, to the end that it might be
known whether the children were baptised after the
Roman manner."[2]
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