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[12] Edel Prince Cardinael

Een Victorie Liedeken
Tot Lof van den Prins Cardinael
op de wyse:
Van 't Melck-meysken

Edel Prince Cardinael,
Nederland mag u wel prysen
Want gy zyt den principael
Die men moet veel eer bewyzen.
Door uw Edelheyd en deugd
Zyn de menschen al verheugt.

Gy komt hier uyt liefden zoet
Om ons Nederland te beschermen,
Hoog geboren Edel bloed.
Ik hoop Godt zal ons ontfermen.
Vervolgt u victorie vry
Tegen onze weer party.

Loven op kloek ontzet
Al moet Thienen dat besueren
want ten korte niet zyn belet
Daer was al te groote furie,
En men zag aen elken kant
Thienen in den vollen brand.

Maer doen ons secours aenquam
Moesten sy haest op gaen spelen,
Godt was op de schenders gram.
Door hun branden, moorden, stelen,
Kregen sy zoo grooten slag,
Duyzend wel op eenen dag.

Maer hoe wirden sy onthaelt
Doen sy quamen 't huys gedoken
Gelyk een die niet betaelt
En met syn gelag gaet loopen
Daer veel lieden daer wat schand
Bleven voor 't gelag te pand.

Edel Prinz nemt dit in dank,
Myn kleyn jonst met eenen iver.
Al ben ik in dichten krank
Nochtans doen ik 't langs hoe liever
En ik rust vast op den schoof
Van het Heilig Roomsch Geloof.
[12] Edel Prince Cardinael (Noble Prince Cardinal, 1635)

Shortly afterwards, Ferdinand had to defend the country against a dangerous attack by the Dutch, who had made an alliance with the French. Their plan was to conquer the Southern Netherlands together and then divide it between them. The Dutch stadtholder Frederick Henry started the campaign from the city of Maastricht (which was in Dutch hands), and went westwards in the direction of Leuven and Brussels, which he eventually wanted to win. On their way to Leuven the combined Dutch and French armies first captured the weakly defended city of Tienen and burnt it down, killing and raping many innocent citizens. Today we would call this a war crime, and also in 1635 it was regarded as violating basic rules, for which some soldiers were punished by death. But it was also a military mistake, because during the fire the whole corn supply of the city was burnt, which caused a shortage of bread in the French army. Eventually the mission failed. In this song the withdrawal of the Dutch and the French is explained as a victory for Ferdinand.

A Victory Song
In praise of the Prince Cardinal
To the tune of:
About the Milkmaid

Noble Prince Cardinal,
The Netherlands should indeed praise you
For you are the sovereign
To whom men should pay great honor.
Your nobility and virtue
Have made the people glad.

You have come here out of dear love
To protect our Netherlands,
You of highborn noble blood.
I hope that God will have mercy on us.
Follow your great victory
Against our opponents.

The siege of Leuven is broken,
Although to Tienen's regret,
For that could not be avoided -
The fury there was all too great,
And so on all sides we saw
Tienen go up in flames.

But when our rescue troops arrived
They quickly had to retreat;
God was angry with the transgressors.
Because of their burning, murder, and stealing
They were struck down by a thousand blows
In a single day.

But how they were received
When they came to hide in the house
Like someone who hasn't paid
And runs off with the bill
To some place full of people,
But in shame still owes the debt.

Noble Prince, accept with thanks
This my small gift, given with intense devotion.
I may be a poor poet
But I do this with ever more pleasure,
Held as I am, secure in the sheaf
Of Holy Roman Faith.


From a 19th-century handwritten copy in the Broadside Collection Wouters (Royal Library, The Hague), no. 04008. Melody by Tiburtius van Brussel from Den Boeck der gheestelijcke sanghen (Antwerp, 1631).

Camerata Trajectina (artiest), The Imperial Trumpets (artiest), Music for the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria
2013
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