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skin was torn off. After his feet were damaged, his armpits were branded. He was then dressed in a shirt soaked in alcohol. Lastly, burning bacon fat was poured over him and sharp nails were stuck between the flesh and the nails of his hands and feet. On 14 July, four days after the assassination, the sentence declared at the trial was carried out and Gérard was tortured and executed in the market square of Delft. His severed head was then displayed on a pike behind the
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lord?", they asked. "Of my lord and master, the king of Spain". At the same time more pages and halberdiers of the prince appeared and dragged him back to the house under a rain of fists and beatings with the butt of a sword. Hearing his assailants chatter and convinced he heard the prince was still alive, he cried "Cursed be the hand that missed!"
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Subsequently, Gérard was fitted with shoes made of well-oiled, uncured dog skin; the shoes were two fingers shorter than his feet. In this state, he was put before a fire. When the shoes warmed up, they contracted, crushing the feet inside them to stumps. When the shoes were removed, his half-broiled
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around his waist was intended to help keep him afloat. However, he stumbled over a heap of rubbish. A servant and a halberdier of the prince who had raced after him caught him. When called a traitor by his captors, he is said to have replied, "I am no traitor; I am a loyal servant of my lord." "Which
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asked him why he was waiting there. He excused himself by saying that in his present shabby clothing and without new shoes he was unfit to join the congregation in the church opposite. The halberdier unsuspectingly arranged from the Prince of Orange himself a gift of 50 crowns for Gérard, who the
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For his first expenses he begged for 50 crowns, which were refused. "I will provide myself out of my own purse", Gérard told
Assonleville, "and within six weeks you will hear of me." Assonleville responded: "Go forth, my son ... and if you succeed in your enterprise, the King will fulfill all his
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At first the prince thought him unfit but after consulting
Haultepenne and others with the letter he was assigned to Christoffel d'Assonleville, who spoke with Gérard, and asked him to put this in writing, which he did on 11 April 1584. He requested absolution from the prince of Parma "as he was
396:. William the Silent collapsed. His sister knelt beside him, but it was too late. The exact story surrounding the last moments before his death are lost to history, but according to legend he was asked whether he commended his soul to Christ, he answered in the affirmative. His last words were,
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At his trial, Gérard was sentenced to be tortured and then executed, in a manner considered brutal even by the standards at the time. The magistrates decreed that the right hand of Gérard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six
402:("My God, have mercy on me and on my poor people"). The contemporary consensus among Dutch historians is that William the Silent could not have said this, as he was most likely dead at the instant he was shot. However, his legendary final words remain a part of the Dutch historical canon.
477:. Next, his wounds were smeared with honey and a goat was brought to lick the honey off his skin with its rough tongue. The goat, however, refused to touch his body. After several other forms of torture, he was left to pass the night with his hands and feet
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591:, Orange's son and the next Prince of Orange, provided the prince continue to pay a fixed portion of the rents to the family of his father's murderer; the insulting offer was rejected. The estates remained with the Gérard family. The
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Gérard fled through a side door and ran across a narrow lane, pursued by Roger
Williams. Gérard had almost reached the ramparts, from which he intended to jump into the moat. On the other side a saddled horse stood ready. A
284:. On 15 March 1580, King Philip had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, peerage and an inheritable estate to anyone who killed or captured William the Silent, to whom he referred in his decree as a "pest on the whole of
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392:, who knelt before him. William put his hand on the bowed head of the old captain, at which moment Gérard jumped out of a dark corner. He drew his weapons and fired two shots at the
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following morning purchased a pair of pistols from a soldier, haggling the price for a long time because the soldier could not supply the particular chopped bullets or
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Malheurs aux peuples qui ont besoin de héros : Étude de la construction et de la représentation des «martyrs» Balthazar Gérard et
Jacques Clément
438:. Upon being interrogated by the magistrates, he reportedly showed neither despair nor contrition, but rather a quiet exultation, stating: "Like
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on 10 July 1584, by shooting him twice with a pair of pistols, and was afterwards tried, convicted, tortured, and executed. Gérard was born in
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Philip II gave Gérard's parents, instead of the reward of 25,000 crowns, three country estates in
Lievremont, Hostal, and Dampmartin in the
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with a firearm. After
William the Silent's murder, more than 200 years would pass until another head of state was killed by a firearm, when
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promises, and you will gain an immortal name besides." On Sunday, 8 July 1584, Gérard loitered in the courtyard of the
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about to keep company for some time with heretics and atheists, and in some sort to conform himself to their customs".
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had already been preparing to attempt the assassination, but this attempt did not succeed. In March 1584 he went to
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256:(William the Silent, and later known as the "Father of the Fatherland"). He killed William the Silent in
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On 10 July 1584, as
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was extraordinarily brutal. On the first night of his imprisonment, Gérard was hung on a pole and
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alive, his heart torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be
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Harvey, A. D. (1 June 1991). "The pistol as assassination weapon: A case of technological lag".
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The Awful End of
William the Silent: The First Assassination of A Head of State with a Handgun
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The shooting is notable for being the first recorded political assassination of a
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Reward letter of King Philip II of Spain to the family of
Balthasar Gerards, 1590
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At the house he immediately underwent a preliminary examination before the city
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ought always to prefer justice and the will of the king to his own life."
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renamed the street where Gérard was born "Rue Gérard" in his memory.
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After the reward offered by Philip was published, Gérard left for
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Murderer of Dutch independence leader
William the Silent in 1584
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Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences, lettres et arts d'Arras
280:, king of Spain and the Netherlands. He studied law at the
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Academy of sciences, letters and arts of Arras (1881).
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Portrait of Gérard, c. 16th century. Author unknown.
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Mon Dieu, ayez pitié de moi et de mon pauvre peuple
276:family with 11 children and was a great admirer of
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60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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587:. Philip II would later offer the estates to
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764:"Vonnis van Balthasar Gerards – Wikisource"
539:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
748:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
373:The bullet holes are still visible at the
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559:Learn how and when to remove this message
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
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813:, University of Liège (BE), 2019, 213p.
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799:: London: HarperCollins: 2005:
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645:(1856).
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