Badge of The Holland Society of New York

GENEALOGIES, DIRECTORIES and HISTORIES

Badge of

The Holland Society of New York

ADOPTED MARCH 20th, 1887

The most significant medal, from an historical point of view, which was ever struck in Holland, is the so-called "Beggars' Medal." It is the memorial of the very first steps of that march towards civil and religious liberty in which the men of the Netherlands, after heroic struggles, finally led the world. And, therefore, it is a most apropriate token for us to wear, who have received in largest measure, in this New Repulic, the benefits of the noble conflict of our Dutch forefathers.

In Bizot's Medallic History of the Republic of Holland, published at Amsterdam in 1690, the place of honor is given to this famous "Geuzenpenning." The following description of its origin is translated from that work, with a few additions from the accounts given by Prof. J. W. Kitchin, of Oxford.

"In the year 1565, immediately after the decrees of the Council of Trent were promulgated, Philip II determined to put them in force throughout his dominions. Accordingly, he now made a more vehement attack upon the reformers, and then it was, in 1566, that the Netherland nobles, led by Count Brederode, signed the famous 'Compromise,' with which the open rebellion of the provinces begins. Margaret of Parma was Philip's regent in the Low Countries. Before her Brederode appeared with the Protest against the Inquisition and other innovations which the King proposed to introduce into Holland. He was accompanied by three hundred noblemen, who had bound themselves together for the preservation of the Liberties of the Province. The Duchess of Parma appeared to be much disturbed at the sight of such a multitude of noble remonstrants, but the Count of Barlemont, who stood beside her, begged her not to be alarmed, 'For,' said he, in French, 'they are only beggars.'

"The next day, the 6th of April, 1566, as the confederates were sitting together at dinner, and talking of a name for their new Party, they remembered Barlemont's sneer, and cried out, 'Vivent les Gueux!' -- 'Hurrah for the Beggers!' When dinner was over, Brederode, having hung a beggar's wallet around his neck, filled a wooden bowl with wine and drank the health of the company, declaring that, for his part, he was ready to sacrifice his life, property, everything, in defence of his country's freedom. The room rang with applause-- 'Hurrah for the Beggars!' The cup was passed from hand to hand. Every man drank the same toast and made the same pledge of devotion. And thus it was that the name of the Gueux, or Beggars, which has become famous throughout Europe, had its origin at a social feast, for it often happens that the most important and serious affairs begin amid jests and laughter.

"Soon afterward the men of the new Party appeared at Brussels, dressed in coarse gray cloth, with wooden cups attached to their belts, AND WITH THIS MEDAL HANGING ABOUT THEIR NECKS."

One of these medals was worn by William of Orange at the time of his assassination.

The following is the description, translated by the first Secretary of the Society, Mr. Geo. W. Van Siclen, from Van Loon's Nederlandsche Penningen

"The nobles assembled several times in different places to find methods to protect the liberties of their country from the perils which menaced them from all sides. Those who showed themselves most zealous and most ardent upon these occasions were Henry of Brederode; Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange; Florent of Pallant, Count of Culemburg; and William, Count of Bergen. They pushed the affair so far that meetings were held, first at Breda, and afterward at Hoogstraten.

At the latter place several discontented nobles projected an alliance, which, going from hand to hand, was in a short time accepted and signed by more than four hundred persons, all of whom promised to be in Brussels on a certain day. To give greater éclat to this league, Henry of Brederode, as chief of the confederated, found it conventient to make his entry into that city on the 3d of April, A.D. 1566, accompanied by Count Louis of Nassau and many nobles, followed by a great number of servants. The fourth day of that month was employed in preparations and in awaiting the Counts of Bergen and of Culemburg. Although on the following day these lords had not yet arrived, the confederates did not delay in demanding an audience. It was granted to them, and the Princess-Regent appointed the hour of noon to avoid the tumultuous concourse of the populace.

"The time named being near, Brederode and Count Louis were seen to leave the residence of Culemburg and to walk with a decent gravity toward the court, preceded by more than three hundred gentlemen, of whom they themselves formed the last rank. When they arrived before the Duchess, Brederode spoke for all, and, having finished his harangue, he presented to Her Highness a petition signed in the name of all that illustrious troop. In this petition, after having represented their obedience and their fidelity to the King, they declared that, notwithstanding the hatred that their procedure would very likely draw upon them, they would risk, in the service of the King, showing to Her Highness the dangerous condition of affairs, and warning her, if the protection of the Inquisition were continued, of the terrible consequences which they foresaw would shake the State to its foundations. They demanded, secondly, that the edict of the King relating to the Inquisition, and relating to religion in general, be reformed by the Assembly of the States-General, and that, while awaiting this, the execution of this edict should be suspended, as a protection against the sad evils of which it was already, and of which it would be more and more, the fertile source.

"The Regent, hiding as well as possible the uneasiness and indignation which this affair caused her, received the petition, and replied to the supplicants that she would examine into their demands with the lords of the Council, and that in a short time she would let them know her decision. With this response, the confederate lords returned to Culemburg's residence in the same order and with the same gravity with which they had left it.

"After the Regent had deliberated on the petition of the nobles, that princess replied the following day in writing that she would represent to the King their first demand in the most favorable manner possible, but that she was obliged to refuse absolutely the second, because the matter was not in her power.

"While this affair was thus treated at the palace of the Princess, the populace insulted the confederate nobles by the opprobrious epithet of Gueux, which those who understood French badly changed into Geuzen, which afterward became very common as the name of a party or sect. Other say that the author of the sobriquet was the Baron of Baflemont, who, seeing the Regent surprised at the sight of so many nobles, tried to encourage her by saying, 'Ce ne sont que des gueux.' However that may be, the name was receceived by the nobles as a precious epithet and soon became the most honorable title of that illustrious league.

"The 6th of April, Brederode, being at dinner with other lords of his party at Culemburg's, put around his neck a wallet, and filling with wine a wooden cup, like that worn by the beggars, made all the guests follow his example. He declared to them at the same time that, while always remaining faithful to his King, not only would he risk everything in defence of the liberties of the country, although he might be reduced to carrying a wallet, but he was even ready to give up his life in so good a couse. All those who were at the feast, having in turn taken the wallet and the cup, made the same declaration one after the other, in the midst of a continual cry of 'Vivent le Gueux!'

"Several of these nobles appeared the next day in the streets dressed in gray frieze and carrying at the girdle, as a badge of honor, a small wallet and a little wooden cup or calabash.

"Then (A.D. 1566), as now (A.D. 1732), the wooden bowl was in Brabant, like the wallet, a distinctive mark, and so to speak, a livery of beggars. Furnished with this necessary utensil of their profession, they went certain days of the week to the cloisters, where, after having taken part in the catechising, they each received, according as he had answered well or badly, a portion of soup left over by the monks.

"It was by this low and despised method that the Profesor, Thomas Stapleton, was able to reach the highest degree of erudition, notwithstanding his poverty and low birth. Sure, thanks to his porringer, of victuals which were absolutely necessary to him, he applied himself first to the languages, and afterwards to the higher sciences, with such success that he was honored with the most distinguished professorship in the University of Louvain. He never forgot his porringer. In the feasts which they gave when he was elevated to this important charge, not only did he then cause the first toast to be drunk in that cup, then ornamented with a foot of silver, but he desired that after his death it should be added to the rich ornaments of his marble tomb, as an example and as a beacon for other distinguished men of genius, the meanness of whose extraction might seem to condemn them to darkness.

"The reader must pardon me this digression, which I would not have made but from the same motive which caused this great man to parade his beggar's bowl.

"The gourd or bottle had its origin from the usage made of it by the pilgrims--that class of people who, to perform a penance or to fulfil certain vows, undertake a jorney to the distant shrine of some saint, like that of St. James in Spain or of Loretto in Italy. They are obliged to go there begging by the way, and they carry this bottle-gourd, or calabash, attached to the girdle, for the purpose of carrying water for their use when they have to traverse dry and arid parts of the country. For this reason these allied nobles made use both of the porringer and the wallet as an emblem of poverty, and to turn into pleasantry the name of beggars, which had been given to them with so much indignity. This is not all. These lords, wishing to engrave on each other's memory the vow which each had made to defend the privileges of the country, even to carry the wallet, took pride in wearing on the breast certain medals attached to ribbons, and very often joined with a porringer and a gourd."

The form adopted by the Holland Society is a facsimile of the one to which are attached two such porringers and a gourd or bottle, and shows on its face the armed bust of Philip II of Spain, with the first half of the motto, "EN TOUT FIDELLES AU ROY," and on the reverse two wallets, between the straps of which are two hands joined with the remainder of the motto, "JUSQUES A PORTER LA BESACE," together with the date, 1566, the figures of which are, however, separated, one in each corner formed by the crossed hands and wallets.

Plaster casts of originals of various sizes, in the Museum of Antiquities in Amsterdam, were kindly presented to the Society by Dr. T. H. Blom Coster, physician to the Queen of the Netherlands.

The die, which has been cut by Tiffany & Co., is the propertty of the Society. The medals, including the cups, the flagon, the orange ribbon and the pin, can be furnished in silver for six dollars ($6) each. They can also be supplied in gold for twenty-eight dollars ($28) each. Members can obtain orders from the Secretary and therewith be furnished with the Badge by addressing Tiffany & Co.

At the annual meeting of the society, April 6, 1897, the society adopted a rosette or button, to be worn on occasions when the wearing of the other insignia might be deemed inappropriate.

This consists of a shield of gold bearing the Lion of Holland in red enamel. Members can obtain them of the Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co., corner of Chestnut and 12th Streets, Philadelphia, Pa., in silver gilt at one dollar each, or in 14 k. gold at two dollars and seventy-five cents each.

From the yearbook of The Holland Society of New York, 1904, p. 287-293

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