This success was immediately followed by the insurrection of Rotterdam and Flushing.

The war was conducted with combined {261} heroism and frightfulness.

Receiving no quarter the Beggars gave none, and to avenge themselves on the unspeakable wrongs committed by Alva they themselves at times massacred the innocent.

But their success spread like wildfire.

The coast towns "fell away like beads from a rosary when one is gone." Fortifications in all of them were strengthened and, where necessary, dykes were opened.