tribunal before which they were summoned--the Blood-Council being a
private institution of Alva's without pretext or commission--these nobles
acknowledged the jurisdiction of but three courts. As Knights of the
Golden Fleece, both claimed the privilege of that Order to be tried by
its statutes. As a citizen and noble of Brabant, Egmont claimed the
protection of the "Joyeuse Entree," a constitution which had been sworn
to by Philip and his ancestors, and by Philip more amply, than by all his
ancestors. As a member and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, the Admiral
claimed to be tried by his peers, the electors and princes of the realm.

The Countess Egmont, since her husband's arrest, and the confiscation of
his estates before judgment, had been reduced to a life of poverty as
well as agony. With her eleven children, all of tender age, she had
taken refuge in a convent. Frantic with despair, more utterly desolate,
and more deeply wronged than high-born lady had often been before, she
left no stone unturned to save her husband from his fate, or at least to
obtain for him an impartial and competent tribunal. She addressed the
Duke of Alva, the King, the Emperor, her brother the Elector Palatine,
and many leading Knights of the Fleece. The Countess Dowager of Horn,
both whose sons now lay in the jaws of death, occupied herself also with
the most moving appeals to the same high personages. No pains were
spared to make the triple plea to the jurisdiction valid. The leading
Knights of the Fleece, Mansfeld, whose loyalty was unquestioned, and
Hoogstraaten, although himself an outlaw; called upon the King of Spain
to protect the statutes of the illustrious order of which he was the
chief. The estates of Brabant, upon the petition of Sabina, Countess
Egmont, that they would take to heart the privileges of the province,
so that her husband might enjoy that protection of which the meanest
citizen in the land could not be justly deprived, addressed a feeble
and trembling protest to Alva, and enclosed to him the lady's petition.