1567 - Under the Blood Campaign Lyrics

Charles V was old and weak when he abdicated his throne
Philip II was impopular but his only son
He was no statesman but a crusader of the Roman Church
A grave and somber man resolved to a heretic purge
The hunt on the heretics brought the Dutch in state of war

200 nobles petitioned Philip to not institute the feared Inquisition Court
Philip refused the petition and burned more heretics at the stake
A mass revolt broke out feeded with unanimous hate

"Yea we pull down the images of the false church
We pillage the temples of the popery
Defacing the paintings and tapestries of ancient Rome
With a fierce contempt we destroy the symbols of the dishonest"

The Dutch stubborn as always started to provoke Philip II
Mass revolts in the Netherlands start with anti-Catholic looting
The Iconoclasm Fury broke out and idolatry burnt
Philip was outraged and condemned the Netherlands to the Bloodcampaign

The ravagings of the churches filled Philip with great disgust
"Strangle, burn, behead them!" He ordered punishment with iron fist
He sent duke Alva to the Netherlands with 20.000 Spanish troops
Arrived in Brussels he immediately instituted the feared Council of Blood
Cruel religious terror swept over the land with a relentless full force
His Counter Reformation sentenced countless people to be burned upon the stake
Heretic corpses everywhere, columns and stakes await in every single street
The Duke punished with an art of torture beyond Saddams wildest fantasies

Silhouettes of butcheries and martyrdoms - A new skyline was born
To terrify the Dutch he killed Count Egmond and Lord Hoorne
A shockwave went through Holland because they had always been faithful to the King of Spain

The Dutch stubborn as always started to provoke Philip II
Mass revolts in the Netherlands start with anti-Catholic looting
The Iconoclasm Fury broke out and idolatry burnt
Philip was outraged and condemned the Netherlands to the Bloodcampaign

"Yea we pull down the images of the false church
We pillage the temples of the popery
Defacing the paintings and tapestries of ancient Rome
With a fierce contempt we destroy the symbols of the dishonest"

Philip II felt betrayed and ordered:"The Silent must be slain"
The Stadholder of Orange died in Delft lying in a pool of blood
The Dutchman may have lost their Chief but their National Spirit reinforced