The Sea Beggars_图书大全
The Sea Beggars
ISBN: 9780394504063
定价: 140.00
内容简介
THE NETHERLANDS in the sixteenth century:
a region of bustling cities and prosperous farms,
fertile plains claimed from the sea and crisscrossed with
ingenious canals, a sophisticated society in which Prot-
estants and Catholics live peaceably side by side
Until late in the century, the Spanish army is ordered by
King Philip 11 to purge the Lowlands of heretics by
extending the shroud of the Inquisition. Rioting breaks
out in Antwerp and normal life comes to a halt as the
army, attacking unarmed men and women, makes a
battlefield of the city.
Caught in the terror are Jan and Hanneke van Cleef, a
young brother and sister who are the children of a pros
perous merchant family, Protestants raised under the
strict Calvinist hand of their father. Neither Jan s "sin-
ful" interest in guns and fighting nor Hanneke s "heart
for truth" has prepared them for the tragedies that are to
occur under the new laws of persecution. Their father
executed, their mother driven mad, Jan and Hanneke are
suddenly set adrift, alone, in a violent and hostile world.
Hanneke remains in Antwerp to care for her mother.
Driven out of their house, destitute, Hanneke earns what
little money she can from sympathetic neighbors while
helplessly watching her mother slip further and further
into the tormented world of her mind. Her own will to
live tested again and again, she at last is compelled to
leave Antwerp, joining the growing number of exiles
making their way toward the German Empire; and it is
only her unfaltering faith that fuels her resolve to go on
living even though there is "nothing left in her at all."
Jan has fled Antwerp already, seeking refuge with a
seaman uncle and casting his lot with the Sea Beggars--
Dutch pirates who plunder the North Sea coast, foiling
the powerful Spanish navy with their breathtaking dar-
ing. Manning his uncle s ship in this illegal fleet, Jan
quickly suits himself to the ways of piracy, becoming an
expert gunner and seaman, thrilling to the danger and
excitement.
