.

1566.
Ecclesiastical architecture in the Netherlands--The image-breaking-- Description of Antwerp Cathedral--Ceremony of the Ommegang-- Precursory disturbances--Iconoclasts at Antwerp--Incidents of the image--breaking in various cities--Events at Tournay--Preaching of Wille--Disturbance by a little boy--Churches sacked at Tournay-- Disinterment of Duke Adolphus of Gueldres--Iconoclasts defeated and massacred at Anchin--Bartholomew's Day at Valenciennes--General characteristics of the image-breaking--Testimony of contemporaries as to the honesty of the rioters--Consternation of the Duchess-- Projected flight to Mons--Advice of Horn and other seigniors-- Accord of 25th August.
The Netherlands possessed an extraordinary number of churches and monasteries.

Their exquisite architecture and elaborate decoration had been the earliest indication of intellectual culture displayed in the country.

In the vast number of cities, towns, and villages which were crowded upon that narrow territory, there had been, from circumstances operating throughout Christendom, a great accumulation of ecclesiastical wealth.

The same causes can never exist again which at an early day covered the soil of Europe with those magnificent creations of Christian art.