Note 686 — Chapter IX

Historians have usually referred the origin of the "Union" to a meeting of nine nobles at Breda, as reported by Strada. (De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 208.) But we have the testimony of Junius himself to the fact, as stated in the text; and this testimony is accepted by Groen, who treads with a caution that secures him a good footing even in the slippery places of history. (See Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. p. 2.) Brandt also adopts the report of Junius. (Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 162.)