Battle of Ane | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Otto II of Lippe goes down fighting in the battle of Ane (Antonie Frederik Zürcher, 1825-1876) | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Bishopric of Utrecht | Drenthe | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Otto II of Lippe † | Rudolph van Coevorden | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Over 400 deaths | Unknown |
The Battle of Ane (Dutch Low Saxon:Slag bi'j Aone, Dutch:Slag bij Ane), was fought in 1227 between Otto II of Lippe, Bishop of Utrecht, and Rudolf II van Coevorden with his army of Drenths. [1] The account of the battle comes from Quedam narracio de Groninghe de Trentis de Covordia et diversis aliis sub episcopis traiectensibus ("A narrative of Groningen and Drenthe and various other things under the Bishops of Utrecht"), a manuscript from the early 13th century. [2]
From the middle of the 11th century the Bishops of Utrecht were given the lands of Groningen, Overijssel and Drenthe as a fief by the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1141 Hartbert van Bierum, the Bishop of Utrecht gave Groningen and Drenthe as fiefdoms to the brothers Leffard and Ludolf, his vassals. [1] Rivalry amongst the respective heirs, prefect Egbert of Groningen and burgrave Rudolf II of Coevorden [3] led to conflicts between Drenthe and Groningen in which the Drenths fought both with and against the troops of the bishop. This came to a head in the Battle of Ane. [1] [3]
On 28 July 1227 the armies of the Bishop of Utrecht Otto II of Lippe and a large group of rebellious Drenths led by Rudolph van Coevorden met on a field near the present-day village of Ane.
The Bishop had traveled to the valley of the Overijsselse Vecht to call the rebellious province of Drenthe to order and teach the local peasants a lesson. He was accompanied by many nobles, famous knights [3] and troops supplied by the Bishops of Munster and Cologne. The bishop and his troops met in Ommen and travelled via Hardenberg (then Nienstede) and Gramsbergen to "that disastrous and cursed place" [4] [5] Ane. [2] Rudolf positioned his troops, mainly peasants, behind the Mommeriete, [2] [3] a quagmire approximately half a mile wide, without bushes or trees, with vegetation covering the treacherous peat. [2] [3] As soon as the heavily armoured knights charged, they sank into the quagmire and were easy prey for the lightly armed, but mobile troops of Rudolf, accustomed to the local terrain.
The Drenths managed to beat the Bishop's forces, and killed most of it including the Bishop Otto II of Lippe, and many of his supporting knights. Otto’s successor, Wilbrand van Oldenburg, roused the Frisian people into supporting him against the rebellious Drenths which led to the Friso-Drentic War in 1231-1233 that was initially won by the Drenths. In 1233, Wilbrand's successor Otto III van Holland succeeded in suppressing the rebellion by mustering a large army. [6]
As a penance the Drenths had to build and maintain a monastery, Sancta Maria de Campe (Mariënkamp) near Coevorden. The location proved to be unsuitable and the monastery was moved to a place near Rolde around 1258. The monastery later grew out to become the city of Assen, the present day capital of the province of Drenthe. [7]
In 1967 a monument was erected near Ane to commemorate this battle. It has an inscription in Zuud-Drèents: "Slag bi'j Aone, 28 juli 1227, zie vocht'n ok veur oenze vri'jheid." ("Battle of Ane, 28 july 1227, they also fought for our freedom".)
Year 1227 (MCCXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of January 2023, Drenthe had a population of about 502,000, and a total area of 2,680 km2 (1,030 sq mi).
The Bishopric of Utrecht was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it was ruled by the bishops of Utrecht.
Otto of Lippe was a son of Bernhard II, Lord of Lippe. He was bishop of Utrecht as Otto II from 1216 to 1227. Several of his brothers also held high ecclesiastical offices in the Rhineland. He likely participated in the foundation of the Teutonic Order.
Gramsbergen is a small Dutch city on the Vechte, located in the municipality of Hardenberg and the province of Overijssel. The town is located on corridors of different transportation modes: The N34, the Zwolle - Emmen railway and the Almelo - de Haandrik canal.
Floris IV was the count of Holland from 1222 to 1234. He was born in The Hague, a son of William I of Holland and his first wife, Adelaide of Guelders.
Jipsinghuizen is a hamlet in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is a part of the municipality of Westerwolde, and lies about 28 km northeast of Emmen. The statistical area "Jipsinghuizen", which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 150. Jipsinghuizen used to be part of the municipality of Vlagtwedde, but merged into Westerwolde in 2017. In 1665, the Battle of Jipsinghuizen was fought between Münster and the Dutch Republic.
The Drenther Crusade was a military campaign launched against the inhabitants of Drenthe with the approval of the Papacy in 1228 and lasting until 1232. It was led by Willibrand, Bishop of Utrecht, commanding an army composed mostly of Frisian crusaders.
Gerard III of Guelders was the Count of Guelders and Zutphen from 1207 until his death in 1229. He was a son of Count Otto I of Guelders, and is sometimes called Gerard IV or Gerard V. Gerard married Margaretha of Brabant, the daughter of Duke Hendrik I of Brabant and Matilda of Flanders, Duchess of Brabant, in 1206.
Ane is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality Hardenberg, about 5 km northeast of the centre of Hardenberg.
Bernard II was Lord of Lippe from 1167 until 1196. He founded the towns of Lippstadt and Lemgo.
Herman II, Lord of Lippe was a ruling Lord of Lippe.
Baldwin van Holland was a bishop of Utrecht from 1178 to 1196
Wilbrand of Oldenburg was a bishop of Paderborn and of Utrecht.
The historic Diocese of Utrecht was a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church from 695 to 1580, and from 1559 archdiocese in the Low Countries before and during the Protestant Reformation.
Rudolph van Coevorden was a feudal lord of the Drenthe who led a rebellion against Otto II, Bishop of Utrecht. He defeated and killed Otto at the Battle of Ane in 1228. Otto's successor, Wilbrand, initiated a crusade against the Drenthers. During a truce in 1230, Rudolph was arrested at a meeting in Hardenberg and executed.
The siege of Coevorden was a thirty-one-week siege of the city of Coevorden in the province of Drenthe by the Spanish general Francisco Verdugo during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. The siege first commenced in October 1593, but winter and shortages of food and supplies forced the Spanish into winter quarters. The siege however recommenced in March 1594, but on May 6 Maurice of Orange arrived with an Anglo-Dutch army to relieve Coevorden, forcing the Spanish army under Francisco Verdugo to retreat.
Quaedam narracio de Groninghe, de Thrente, de Covordia et de diversis aliis sub diversis episcopis Traiectensibus, usually just Quaedam narracio for short, is an anonymous Latin prose chronicle written in 1232–33 by a Frisian clergyman attached to Bishop Willibrand of Utrecht. It was written during the Drenther uprising of 1227–1232.
Media related to Battle of Ane at Wikimedia Commons