On this day in 1582, Jan de Jaureguy (born 1562) was killed by halberdier wielding guards while attempting to escape Het Steen (Antwerp Castle). Jaureguy had infiltrated William the Silent's ( William of Orange ) court as a trusted agent petitioning the good Prince for redress. When the Prince called him forward into the castle's dining room to look at the petition, no sooner did the Prince look down at the document when Jan de Jaureguy pulled out a concealed loaded and wound wheellock pistol (called a dag) and fired it at the Prince at close range. The Prince fell to the floor unconscious with the dag's ball entering his neck below the left ear and exiting his jaw.
Jaureguy fled and was immediately pursued and killed by William's guards. Amazingly William lived – and after months of healing was able to take the reigns of government (and the rebellion against Spain) once again. However, the attempt sent shock-waves throughout the courts of Europe. This event marked the first use of a hand-gun in the attempted assassination of a ruling head of state.
Two things caused this path to occur. An immense reward offered for the death of the Prince and new technology that could bring it about.
William had somewhat reluctantly become the leader of the Dutch. The people did not want Spanish rule, or occupation of their lands and were trying to find a legitimate sovereign. William even invited a Frenchman of the correct bloodline to take over, but it didn't work out. Finally William accepted the title of Prince of the Netherlands himself. He actually did have a legitimate claim. The House of Nassau had many estates and lands within the Netherlands and Germany, however all of these lands were dominions of higher sovereigns or kings. Prince William's legitimacy came from a small family holding in the south of France called “Orange”. This Principality had the distinction of being completely independent of any higher king or sovereign, thus William truly WAS the Prince of Orange and by rules of royalty and conventions of nobility on an equal footing with kings and emperors despite the small size of the place.
Reward: Phillip II of Spain was so angry about the recognition of William's claims to the Netherlands by other nation's courts - and his successes in leading the rebellion against Spain, that he issued an immense reward of 80,000 Ducats to anyone that could kill Prince William. This was unprecedented in that a Royal Sovereign would stoop so low as to offer blood money for the death of a royal “cousin”. This bolstered the Protestant cause and William's legitimacy while casting doubts on King Phillip's own true christian faith. “Would-be” assassins began to come out of the wood work.
Technology: The matchlock had been around since the late 1400's and in its final evolution came in pistol form. However, it required a lit and smoldering soaked saltpeter cord (or “match”) to work. The end of the hot cord would ignite the powder when the flash-pan was opened and the trigger depressed lowering the apparatus holding the cord (“dog”) into the powder charge. Obviously this wasn't a weapon you could hide and it usually required the operator to blow on the match before he depressed the trigger handle.
This all changed with the invention of the wheellock. The whellock no longer required a lit match, but functioned using a winding spring lock mechanism requiring a key - much like an old clock. A piece of iron pyrite was clamped into the lock at the end of the “dog”, and struck the rotating wheel mechanism when released producing white hot sparks into the flash-pan, causing ignition.
The wheellock had been around since the first decades of the 16th century, but by the 1580s they were being made in all shapes and sizes – to include small enough to be easily concealed. Also by 1580 they were affordable to the middle class as well and were no longer just the playthings of the nobility or wealthy hunters and military officers.
With news spreading of the assassination attempt, royal courts throughout Europe were terrified. Security was bolstered in dozens of towns, cities, courts and palaces. Guards would now “pat down” anyone coming into events attended by the gentry, or to the residences of the nobility. Assassination had just become both easier and much more difficult at the same time.
Laws were passed forbidding “dags” or “puffers” into cities or palace grounds. Penalties were stiff – sometimes even death if one was caught not freely giving up their hidden firearm.
William the Silent's security became impenetrable. Only the most trusted of persons could come into the presence of the Prince after the failed attempt. Guards were assigned from the lesser nobility – only from houses very loyal to William. These body guards were trained to a high degree of competence in defense and martial accomplishments.
Sadly in spite of all of the heavy security another assassin infiltrated the House of Orange-Nassau. Balthasar Gérard (born 1557) was a Catholic fanatic and staunch supporter of King Phillip. He also very much needed the reward. He insured that a legal notice was drawn up prior to his attempt promising the reward to his family if he should succeed but be killed in the act. Gerard took his time and waited until he had been accepted and trusted by those closest to William.
On July 10th 1584 he acted. Prince William of Orange-Nassau was murdered in his home in Delft (the Prinsenhof) by Balthasar Gerard using a concealed wheellock dag. The first successful assassination of a head of state by a hand-gun.
Gerard was immediately seized and severely beaten and tortured before his trial, but he was alive. He was put on trial three days later on July 13th. His sentence was brutally severe even by 16th century standards. I think this was not just out of the anger of the Dutch people who loved their competent leader, but also to send a message to those that might try to do so again.
“The magistrates decreed that the right hand of Gérard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled alive, that his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be cut off.”
Gerard's family was granted the reward by King Phillip II of Spain. Two years later in 1586 another similar attempt was made on Queen Elizabeth's life.
A new age of terror had emerged – truly another reason this period of history is known as the early modern era. With all of the recent hype from the Assassin's Creed IV game, I figured I would offer a fresh and authentic historical perspective on the subject. Something their devs I think have failed to do.
For further reading on this subject, I highly recommend Lisa Jardine's excellent book: The Awful End of Prince William the Silent ISBN-13: 978-0-06-083835-5
Jardine is one of my favorite authors. Her book Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory, is another great read.
Aaron R. Shields a.k.a. MK
