When, however, he arrived at Mook, a village on the
Meuse a few miles south of Nimwegen, he found himself intercepted by the
Spaniards under Davila, who, having outmarched him on the opposite bank,
had crossed the river at a lower point on a bridge of boats, and placed
himself directly in his path. There was now no alternative but to fight,
and battle was delivered on the following day on the heath of Mook, when
fortune declared against the patriots. The gallant Louis, seeing that
the day was lost, put himself at the head of a little band of troopers,
and, accompanied by his brother Henry, and Duke Christopher, son of the
Elector Palatine Frederick III, made a desperate charge in which they
all perished, and were never heard of more. The only effect of Louis'
invasion was to cause the Spaniards to raise the siege of Leyden; before
which place, however, they afterward again sat down (May 26th).
The defence of Leyden formed a worthy parallel to that of Haarlem and
Alkmaar, and acquired for the garrison and the inhabitants the respect
and admiration of all Europe. A modern historian has aptly observed that
this was the heroic age of Protestantism. Never have the virtues which
spring from true patriotism and sincere religious conviction been more
strikingly developed and displayed.
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