History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

fighting with the inhabitants about "the tenth
penny." The consequences of enforcing so ruinous
a tax, of which he had been warned, had now been
realised: all buying and selling was suspended: the
shops were shut, and the citizens found it
impossible to purchase even the most common
necessaries.
Thousands were thrown out of employment,
and the towns swarmed with idlers and beggars.
Enraged at being thus foiled, Alva resolved to read
the shopkeepers of Brussels a lesson which they
should not soon forget. He made arrangements that
when they awoke next morning they should see
eighteen of the leading members of their fraternity
hanged at the doors of their own shops. The
hangman had the ropes and ladders prepared
overnight. But morning brought with it other things
to occupy Alva's attention. A messenger arrived
with the news that the great Sea Beggar, De la
Marek, had made himself master of the town of
Brill, and that the standard of William was floating
on its walls. Alva was thunderstruck.[6]
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