Note 88 — Chapter IX · THE REIGN OF PHILIP II

[Army after army of Christians were hurled upon them with the openly avowed object of massacre—not war. Women and children, as well as men, were slaughtered in cold blood. How many thousands fell in the attacks and inevitable reprisals it is impossible now to say. Six thousand helpless women and children fugitives were sacrificed in one day by the marquis de los Velez, but still the churchmen were not satisfied. In the council chamber and the cathedral they cried for blood, and ever more blood—just as the same men did for the blood of Flemish heretics at the hands of their chief Alva. In vain the civil governors, and even soldiers, advocated some moderation, some mercy. Deza the inquisitor and Espinosa the cardinal in their purple robes knew no mercy for those who denied their sacred right to impose a doctrine upon other men.j]