said Claes, 'you speak with little respect of the Holy Father. But he, surely, is ignorant of the cruel punishments which are meted out to poor Reformers.' 'Not at all,' answered the stranger, 'and far from it, for it is he who initiates the decrees and causes them to be put into force by the Emperor, now by the King. The latter enjoys all the benefits of confiscation, inherits the property of the dead, and finds it easy to bring charges of heresy against those who have any wealth.' Claes said: 'Indeed I know that such things are freely spoken of in the land of Flanders, and one may well believe them, for the flesh of man is weak, even though the flesh be royal flesh. O my poor Josse!' And by this did Claes give to understand that heretics are punished because of a vile desire on the part of His Majesty for filthy lucre. The stranger wished to argue the matter further, but Claes said: 'Please, sir, do not let us continue this conversation, for if it were overheard I might easily find myself involved in some awkward inquiry.' Then Claes got up to go to the cellar, whence he presently returned with a pot of beer. 'I am going to shut the door,'

said he, and after that the informer heard nothing more, for he had to make his way out of the house as quickly as he could. Not till it was night was the door again opened, and then the stranger came forth. But he soon returned, knocking at the door and calling to Claes: 'It is very cold, and I know not where I am to lodge this night. Give me shelter, pray. No one has seen me. The town is deserted.' Claes welcomed him in, lit a lantern, and last of all he was seen to be leading the heretic up the staircase into a little attic room with a window that looked out on to the country."

At this Claes cried out: "And who could have reported all this but you, you wicked fishmonger! I saw you on Sunday, standing at your door, as straight as a post, gazing up, like the hypocrite you are, at the swallows in their flight!"

And as he spoke, he pointed with his finger at Josse Grypstuiver, the Dean of the Fishmongers, who showed his ugly phiz in the crowd of people. And the fishmonger gave an evil smile when he saw Claes betraying himself in this way. And the people in the crowd, men, women, and maids, looked one at the other and said: "Poor good man, his words will be the death of him without a doubt."

But the clerk continued his depositions.

"Claes and the heretic stayed talking together for a long time that night, and so for six other nights, during which time the stranger was seen to make many gestures of menace or of benediction, and to lift up his hands to heaven as do his fellow-heretics. And Claes appeared to approve of what he said. And there is no doubt that throughout these days and nights they were speaking together opprobriously of the Ma.s.s, of the confessional, of indulgences, and of the Royal Majesty...."

"No one heard it," said Claes, "and I cannot be accused in this way without any evidence."

The clerk answered:

"There is something else that was overheard. The evening that the stranger left your roof, seven days after he had first come to you, you went with him as far as the end of Katheline's field. There he asked you what you had done with the wicked idols"--here the bailiff crossed himself--"of Madame the Virgin, and of St. Nicholas and St. Martin. You replied that you had broken them all up and thrown them into the well. They were, in fact, found in the well last night, and the pieces are now in the torture-chamber."

At these words Claes appeared to be quite overcome. The bailiff asked if he had nothing to answer. Claes made a sign with his head in the negative.

The bailiff asked him if he would not recant the accursed thoughts which had led him to break the images, and the impious delusion whereby he had spoken such evil words against Pope and Emperor, who were both divine personages.

Claes replied that his body was the Emperor's, but that his soul was Christ's, whose law he desired to obey. The bailiff asked him if this law were the same as that of Holy Mother Church. Claes answered:

"The law of Christ is written in the Holy Gospel."

When ordered to answer the question as to whether the Pope is the representative of G.o.d on earth, he answered, "No."

When asked if he believed that it was forbidden to adore images of Our Lady and of the saints, he replied that such was idolatry. Questioned as to whether the practice of auricular confession was a good and salutary thing, he answered: "Christ said, confess your sins one to another."

He spoke out bravely, though at the same time it was evident that he was ill at ease and in his heart afraid.

At length, eight o'clock having sounded and evening coming on, the members of the tribunal retired, deferring their judgment until the morrow.

XL

The next day the great bell, Borgstorm, clanged out its summons to the judges of the tribunal. When they were all a.s.sembled at the Vierschare, seated upon the four benches that were set around the lime-tree, Claes was cross-examined afresh, and asked if he was willing to recant his errors.

But Claes lifted his hand towards heaven:

"The Lord Christ beholdeth me from on high," he said, "and when my son Ulenspiegel was born I also gazed upon His Sun. Where is Ulenspiegel now? Where is he now, the vagabond? O Soetkin, sweet wife, will you be brave in the day of trouble?"

Then looking at the lime-tree he cursed it, saying: "South wind and drouth, I adjure you to make the trees of our fathers perish one and all where they stand, rather than that beneath their shade freedom of conscience shall be judged to death! O Ulenspiegel, my son, where are you? Harsh was I unto you in days gone by. But now, good sirs, take pity on me, and be merciful to me in your judgment, even as Our Lord would be merciful."

And all that heard him wept, save only the judges.

Then Claes asked them a second time if they would not pardon him, saying:

"Truly I was always a hard-working man, and one that gained little for all his toil. I was good to the poor and kind to every one. And if I have left the Roman Church it is only in obedience to the spirit of G.o.d that spake to me. I ask for no grace except that the pain of fire may be commuted to a sentence of perpetual banishment from the land of Flanders. Banishment for life! A sufficient punishment that, surely!"

And all they that were present cried aloud:

"Have pity upon him! Have mercy!"

But Josse Grypstuiver held his peace.

Now the bailiff made a sign to the company that they should keep silence, adding that the placards contained a clause which expressly forbade the pet.i.tioning of mercy for heretics. But he said that if Claes would abjure his heresy he should be executed by hanging instead of by burning. And the people murmured:

"What matters burning or hanging, they both mean death!"

And the women wept and the men murmured under their breath.

Claes said:

"I will abjure nothing. Do to my body whatsoever is pleasing to your mercy."

Then spoke the Dean of Renaix, t.i.telman by name:

"It is intolerable that these vermin of heretics should raise up their heads in this way before their judges. After all, the burning of the body is but a pa.s.sing pain, and torture is necessary for the saving of souls, and for the recantation of error, lest the people be given the dangerous spectacle of heretics dying in a state of final impenitence."

At these words the women wept still more, and the men said: "In those cases where the crime is confessed punishment may be rightly inflicted, but torture is illegal!"

The tribunal decided that since indeed it was a fact that the ordinances did not order torture to be applied in such cases, there was no occasion to insist that Claes should suffer it. He was asked once more if he would not recant.

"I cannot," he answered.

Then, in accordance with the ordinances, sentence was pa.s.sed upon him. He was declared guilty of simony in that he had taken part in the sale of indulgences, and he was also declared to be a heretic and a harbourer of heretics, and as such he was condemned to be burned alive before the h.o.a.rdings of the Town Hall. His body was to be left hanging on the stake for the s.p.a.ce of two days as a warning to others, and afterwards it was to be interred in the place set apart for the bodies of executed criminals. To the informer, Josse Grypstuiver (whose name had never been mentioned throughout the whole trial), the tribunal ordered to be paid the sum of fifty florins calculated on the first hundred florins of the inheritance of the deceased, and a tenth part of the remainder.

When he heard the sentence that had been pa.s.sed upon him, Claes turned to the Dean of the Fishmongers.

"You will come to a bad end," he said, "you wicked man that for a paltry sum of money have turned a happy wife into a widow, and a joyous son into a grieving orphan."

The judges suffered Claes to speak in this way for they also, all except t.i.telman, could not help despising from the bottom of their hearts the Dean of the Fishmongers for the information he had given. Grypstuiver himself went pale with shame and anger.

And Claes was led back to his prison.

XLI

On the morrow (which was the day before the execution of Claes) the decision of the court was made known to Nele, to Ulenspiegel, and Soetkin. They asked the judges for leave to visit Claes in prison, which permission was granted in the case of the wife and the son only.