Here the right hand with which he had committed the offence was cut off, and he was then fastened to the stake and burned to death over a slow fire.

He was fortunately not more than a quarter of an hour in torment, but he persisted in his opinions, and called on God for support to his last breath.
This homely tragedy was enacted at Oudenarde, the birth place of Duchess Margaret.

She was the daughter of the puissant Charles the Fifth, but her mother was only the daughter of a citizen of Oudenarde; of a "quidam" like the nameless weaver who had thus been burned by her express order.
It was not to be supposed, however, that the circumstance could operate in so great a malefactor's favor.

Moreover, at the same moment, she sent orders that a like punishment should be inflicted upon another person then in a Flemish prison, for the crime of anabaptism.
The privy council, assisted by thirteen knights of the Fleece, had been hard at work, and the result of their wisdom was at last revealed in a "moderation" consisting of fifty-three articles.
What now was the substance of those fifty-three articles, so painfully elaborated by Viglius, so handsomely drawn up into shape by Councillor d'Assonleville?
Simply to substitute the halter for the fagot.

After elimination of all verbiage, this fact was the only residuum.