Verse accompanying a satirical print on Napoleon, 1813

This Dutch poem in Roman type celebrates Napoleon's defeat during the Wars of Liberation. Written in heroic couplets, it personifies abstract forces—De Pruisische Adlaar (the Prussian Eagle), De Lyken (the Corpses), De Kraag (the Collar)—as agents of divine retribution against the Emperor. The text belongs to a long European tradition of political verse paired with engravings and etchings, where satirists attacked rulers through allegorical combat and supernatural imagery. Such prints, distributed as broadsheets across the German and Low Countries, educated popular audiences in resistance ideology. This example reflects how the satirical print—forerunner of the political cartoon—merged visual and textual propaganda to mock tyranny and celebrate national liberation.