PAYEN (Pontus). De la guerre civile des Pays bas [followed by] Discours véritable de ce qui s'est passé en la ville d'Arras, depuis l'union et confédération des Estatz d'Artois avecq aultres provinces du Pays bas. In French, manuscript on paper. S.l.n.d. [17th century]. 138]-[63] ff. Bound in contemporary marbled calf, smooth spine decorated, boards framed with a double gilt fillet. Hinges a little split, corners dull, first board stained and rubbed. Manuscript containing two memoirs on the "War of Eighty Years" or "Revolt of the Netherlands" or "Revolt of the Beggars" which opposed part of the provinces of the Spanish Netherlands to the Spanish crown from 1568 to 1648 and resulted in the independence of the seven northern United Provinces. The first book deals with the beginnings of the war until the Duke of Alba entered Brussels and was appointed viceroy of the Netherlands by Philip II. The second work focuses on the troubles that shook Arras from 1577 onwards and the events that followed the Union of Arras, the confederation pact of the southern provinces loyal to Spain. These texts were published in part by A. Henne (Brussels, 1860). The author of the memoirs is Pontus Payen, who died in 1609: he was a lawyer, lord of Essars and lived in Arras.