Siege of Niezijl | |||||||
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Part of the Eighty Years' War & the Anglo-Spanish War (1585) | |||||||
Commemorative coin of the siege of Niezijl in 1581 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
England United Provinces | Spain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Norreys William Louis | Francisco Verdugo |
The siege of Niezijl was a siege of the town of Niezijl that took place between 3 and 24 October 1581 in the Dutch States, during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The Spanish under Colonel Francisco Verdugo laid siege to the place after his victory at the battle of Noordhorn but the siege failed and Verdrugo retreated leaving the English and Dutch under John Norreys and William Louis respectively the victors.
Count Rennenberg, Stadtholder of Friesland, had betrayed the cities of Groningen, Oldenzaal, Coevorden, and Delfzijl to Spanish control and himself became a turncoat. As a result Catholics would no longer be trusted with high posts in the States army. The Spanish Army of Flanders led by Francisco Verdugo, was succeeded as governor of the Northern Provinces, advanced south of the Lauwerszee to invade Friesland and to force the Republic into signing a negotiation. [3] After their defeat at Noordhorn on 30 September the Dutch and English retreated to Niezijl where they established themselves behind the defensive fortifications. Verdugo's army, although delayed by mutinies, were in pursuit and then began to besiege Niezijl. [2]
Niezijl was the only place barring Friesland and its capture would be important to the Catholic and Spanish cause. The Dutch and English resistance was much tougher than expected, repelling assaults and withstanding a heavy bombardment. [3] After three weeks, Verdugo who was also dealing with mutinies in his ranks decided to give up the siege. [4] The autumnal floods made the Frisian land impassable for the armies, and thus Verdugo moved with his troops to the dry land of Drenthe, [2] while Norreys kept the remains of his army behind the IJssel river. [1]
Niezijl remained the only place in the Ommelanden that the Dutch kept, thus giving the States forces a base to use. As a consequence from 1589 William Louis and Maurice of Nassau began a laborious reconquest of the Spanish territories which only ended with the capture of Groningen on 22 July 1594. [3]
The Battle of Zutphen was fought on 22 September 1586, near the village of Warnsveld and the town of Zutphen, the Netherlands, during the Eighty Years' War. It was fought between the forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided by the English, against the Spanish. In 1585, England signed the Treaty of Nonsuch with the States-General of the Netherlands and formally entered the war against Spain. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was appointed as the Governor-General of the Netherlands and sent there in command of an English army to support the Dutch rebels. When Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and commander of the Spanish Army of Flanders, besieged the town of Rheinberg during the Cologne War, Leicester, in turn, besieged the town of Zutphen, in the province of Gelderland and on the eastern bank of the river IJssel.
Francisco Verdugo (1537–1595), Spanish military commander in the Dutch Revolt, became Maestre de Campo General, in the Spanish Netherlands. He was also the last Spanish Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel between 1581 and 1594.
The English Fury at Mechelen or the Capture of Mechelen was an event in the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War on April 9, 1580. The city of Mechelen was conquered by Calvinist rebel forces from Brussels, which included a large contingent of English mercenaries. The city was sacked and many of its religious treasures destroyed or plundered.
The Battle of Noordhorn, fought on 30 September 1581, was a pitched battle of the Dutch Revolt, fought between a Spanish army commanded by Colonel Francisco Verdugo – consisting of Walloon, German, Spanish, and Albanian soldiers – and a Dutch States rebel army under the Englishman John Norreys – comprising English, Scottish, Dutch, and Walloon troops – in the province of Groningen. In 1580, the Dutch stadtholder of Groningen, George van Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg, had shifted its allegiance from the Dutch to the Spanish side. This opened a new front at the back door of the Dutch Republic, forcing the States-General to dispatch forces to the north. That year the Dutch, under the leadership of John Norreys, succeeded in relieving the town of Steenwijk. In July 1581, Rennenberg died and was replaced by the Spaniard Francisco Verdugo, whose arrival in Groningen with reinforcements changed the situation. On 30 September Verdugo forced Norreys to give battle using a strategy of attrition.
The siege of IJsseloord or the capture of Arnhem was a siege that took place between the 6 and 15 October 1585 at Arnhem during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The Dutch and English were victorious when the sconce of IJsseloord after seven days capitulated and Arnhem fell into their hands.
The Battle of Steenbergen, also known as the Capture of Steenbergen of 1583, took place on 17 June 1583 at Steenbergen, Duchy of Brabant, Spanish Netherlands. This was an important victory for the Spanish Army of Flanders led by Don Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, over the French, English, and Dutch forces led by the French Marshal Armand de Gontaut, Baron de Biron, and the English commander Sir John Norreys, during the Eighty Years' War, the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), and in the context of the French Wars of Religion. The victory of the Spaniards ended the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours, and Francis, Duke of Anjou (French: François de France), left the Netherlands in late June.
The siege of Steenwijk took place from October 18, 1580 – February 23, 1581 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War, between a besieging Spanish force under turncoat George van Lalaing against a Dutch rebel garrison at Steenwijk under Johan van den Kornput. An English and Dutch rebel force under John Norreys successfully relieved the town on January 24, and the Spanish in addition to ill-health and lack of supplies subsequently lifted the siege in February.
The Battle of Borgerhout was a battle during the Eighty Years' War, of the Spanish Army of Flanders led by Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, upon a fortified camp at the village of Borgerhout, near Antwerp, where several thousand French, English, Scottish, and Walloon soldiers in service of the recently created Union of Utrecht were stationed. It took place during the reconquest by the armies of Philip II of Spain of the Burgundian Netherlands, whose different provinces had united in 1576 under the Pacification of Ghent to drive out the foreign troops and to grant religious liberty to Protestants.
The Battle of Kollum was a military engagement that took place on 16 July 1581 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. The battle was fought between an allied English and Dutch force under John Norreys and Diederik Sonoy, respectively, and a Spanish force under George van Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg. The Dutch and English were victorious, and as a result of the defeat Rennenberg, already ill, died two days later.
The siege of Lochem also known as the Relief of Lochem was a siege that took place in the Dutch city of Lochem during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. The city was relieved by a States army composing of English and French Huguenot troops under Count Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein and William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg and John Norreys on September 24, 1582. This marked the end of the Spanish siege of the city by the Spanish general Francisco Verdugo.
The siege of Steenwijk was a siege that took place between 30 May and 5 July 1592 as part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War by a Dutch and English force under Maurice of Orange. By taking Steenwijk the Republic's army would take out one of the two main transport routes overland to the Drenthe capital of Groningen, the other lay at Coevorden. After a failed bombardment, an assault was made in conjunction with the detonation of mines under important bastions, and with two out of three successfully assaulted, the Spanish troops surrendered on 5 July 1592 and handed over the city to the Dutch and English army. This siege was one of the first in history to make use of pioneers as a separate military unit although they were still at the time regarded as soldiers.
The siege of Knodsenburg, Relief of Knodzenburg or also known as Battle of the Betuwe was a military action that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War at a sconce known as Knodsenburg in the district of Nijmegen. A siege by a Spanish army under the command of the Duke of Parma took place from 15 to 25 July 1591. The fort was defended by the Dutch Republic's commander Gerrit de Jong and his company which was then subsequently relieved through the intervention of a Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange and Francis Vere, respectively, on 25 July. As a result, the Spanish army was defeated and Parma managed to retreat by getting his army across the River Waal.
The siege of Morlaix took place from 6 September to 17 September 1594 during the French Wars of Religion and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The siege was fought between the French Royal army under Marshal D'Aumont reinforced by an English contingent under Sir John Norreys who besieged the town of Morlaix, which was held by the combined forces of Spain and the Catholic League of France. A relief force of Spanish troops under the Juan del Águila and another of Leaguers under the Duke of Mercœur were turned back by an English force under John Norreys. With the arrival of a fleet of English ships under Martin Frobisher the garrison swiftly surrendered.
The siege of Coevorden was a siege that took place between 26 July and 2 September 1592 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War at the city of Coevorden by a Dutch and English force under overall command of Maurice of Nassau. The city was defended by Frederik van den Bergh who had been commissioned for the defence by King Philip II of Spain.
The Capture of Delfzijl took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War by a Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange. The siege commenced on 26 June and lasted until the Spanish troops surrendered the city of Delfzijl on 2 July 1591.
The siege of Geertruidenberg was a siege of the city of Geertruidenberg that took place between 27 March and 24 June 1593 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. Anglo-Dutch troops under the commands of Maurice of Nassau and Francis Vere laid siege to the Spanish garrisoned city. The siege was unique in that the besiegers used a hundred ships, forming a semicircle in a chain on the Mass river to form a blockade. A Spanish force under the command of the Count of Mansfeld attempted to relieve the city in May, but they were defeated and later forced to withdraw. Three Governors of the city were killed – after the last fatality and as a result of the failed relief, the Spanish surrendered the city on 24 June 1593. The victory earned Maurice much fame and had thus become a steadfast strategist in the art of war.
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.
The siege of Groningen was a two-month siege which commenced on 19 May 1594, and which took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War. The Spanish-held city of Groningen was besieged by a Dutch and English army led by Prince Maurice of Orange. The Spanish surrendered the city on 22 July, after a failed relief attempt by the Count of Fuentes.
The Luxembourg campaigns were two military campaigns by the Dutch Republic and the Duchy of Bouillon against the Spanish Southern Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War in 1593 and 1595. The first was undertaken by a Dutch States Army commanded by Philip of Nassau to the Duchy of Luxembourg in early 1593, with the aim of distracting the Spanish Army of Flanders to a different part of the Habsburg Netherlands, create confusion and block the importation of new pro-Spanish troops to the Low Countries via the Spanish Road. Other goals were dealing economic damage to Spain, and supporting the Protestant claimant to the French throne Henry of Navarre and the Protestant prince of Sedan and duke of Bouillon, Henry de La Tour d'Auvergne.
The Ten Years were a period in the Eighty Years' War spanning the years 1588 to 1598. In this period of ten years, stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, the future prince of Orange and son of William "the Silent" of Orange, and his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and stadtholder of Friesland as well as the English general Francis Vere, were able to turn the tide of the war against the Spanish Empire in favour of the Dutch Republic. They achieved many victories over the Spanish Army of Flanders, conquering large swathes of land in the north and east of the Habsburg Netherlands that were incorporated into the Republic and remained part of the Netherlands into the present. Starting with the important fortification of Bergen op Zoom (1588), Maurice and William Louis subsequently took Breda (1590), Zutphen, Deventer, Delfzijl, and Nijmegen (1591), Steenwijk, Coevorden (1592) Geertruidenberg (1593), Groningen (1594), Grol, Enschede, Ootmarsum, and Oldenzaal (1597)., recovering territories lost in 1580 through the treachery of George de Lalaing. Maurice's most successful years were 1591 and 1597, in which his campaigns resulted in the capture of numerous vital fortified cities, some of which were regarded as "impregnable". His novel military tactics earned him fame amongst the courts of Europe, and the borders of the present-day Netherlands were largely defined by the campaigns of Maurice of Orange during the Ten Years.