Battle of Borgerhout
Battle of Borgerhout | |||||||
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Part of the Eighty Years' War | |||||||
Engraving of the Battle of Borgerhout by Frans Hogenberg, 1579–81. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Spain |
For the Union of Utrecht: | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma |
François de la Noue John Norreys | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,000 infantry and cavalry, 2 or 3 cannons | 3,000–4,000 infantry, 100 cavalry, unknown artillery | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Max. 500 killed | Max. 1,000 killed |
The Battle of Borgerhout was a battle during the Eighty Years' War, of the
Despite the rebel victory at the
On 2 March Farnese deployed elements of his army in a plain stretching between his position at the village of
The battle meant the destruction of the villages of Borgerhout and Deurne and saw up to 1,500 men killed between both armies. Farnese then proceeded to besiege Maastricht, which the Spanish Army invested less than a week after the battle and was taken by assault on 29 June of the same year. Farnese's successful campaign opened the way to a nine-year period of Spanish reconquest of much of the Netherlands.
Background
In 1566 the Burgundian Netherlands,
Orange invaded the Netherlands twice, in 1568 and 1572, but in both occasions Alba defeated him. The second time, however, the revolt spread into the provinces of Holland and Zealand, and Alba was unable to quell it.[4] In 1576, the lack of an authority due to the death of Alba's successor Luis de Requesens, together with a Spanish general bankruptcy, led the Spanish mutinous soldiers to sack several towns, including Antwerp. In reaction, the loyal and rebel provinces united to expel the foreign troops under the Pacification of Ghent.[5][6]
John of Austria, the victor of
The Catholic nobility and southern provinces' defections, already started in the autumn 1578, expanded further when the provinces of
Campaign
For the 1579 campaign, Farnese planned two different movements. A portion of his army, under
In the meantime, Farnese entrusted to Count
Order of battle
The Dutch States' troops quartered in the village of Borgerhout numbered 25 or 40 infantry companies which comprised from 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers,[26][27] plus 100 additional mounted troops. They were the backbone of the rebel army and William of Orange referred to them as "his braves".[28] Moreover, they were led by officers of renown such as François de la Noue and John Norreys. To confront the Spanish Army, they were detached along the village of Borgerhout, which they had fortified by digging a moat and building an earth rampart around the village, from the bridge of Deurne over the Groot Schijn stream, which flowed into the Scheldt, to the road of Voetweg, which ran parallel to the canal of Herentals.[27]
Orange deployed four additional French infantry regiments and Walloon troops from the nearby garrisons of
Each formation was supported by a sleeve of 100
In reserve, Farnese deployed a large battalion made up by the German regiments of Hannibal d'Altemps and Georg von Frundsberg, flanked on its right by troops of reiters under Duke
Battle
The fight started with the three battalions of the Spanish first line advancing upon the Dutch camp, each one trying to be the first to lay its bridge over the moat.[36] Haultpenne's Walloons, headed by Sergeant-Major Camille Sacchino, moved up to Deurne, crossing the Schijn river at the small village of Immerseel. Valdés' Germans advanced frontally to Borgerhout across the Borsbeek road, and Figueroa's Spaniards took the Voetweg road to assault the Dutch camp from the south. While the sleeves of musketeers from the Spanish and German units exchanged fire with the Dutch troops covered by the rampart, Sacchino's Walloons drove the defenders of Deurne behind the Groot Schijn stream and took its bridge.[37]
De la Noue sent reinforcements there to contest the assault, but they arrived too late to prevent the Walloons from laying their bridge over the moat and began to climb the rampart, starting a close combat with the Dutch troops.[37] In the meantime, the Spanish and German troops, supported by two or three artillery pieces, breached the rampart, crossed the moat, and also started to come inside Borgerhout, where De la Noue and Norreys' men reorganized and stood on the barricaded streets.[28] Farnese, seeing that his attack was going well, ordered Olivera to advance with his cavalry to support the infantry's push. While the light horsemen penetrated into Borgerhout across the breach opened by Figueroa's men, Farnese himself took the command of Taxis' lancers and did the same across Valdés' path.[38] The French and English soldiers offered a strong resistance, but after two hours of battle inside the quarters, De la Noue began to withdraw his forces to Antwerp to avoid destruction.[39]
The retreating troops set fire to their lodgements and looked for shelter under the coverage of Antwerp's artillery. Many of the Spanish soldiers went in pursuit, despite their officers orders for them to stay together, and chased the rebels until Antwerp's moat.[40] At William of Orange's orders, the artillery of the city walls fired shrapnel over the Spanish troops with different results, depending on the sources. The Spanish soldier Alonso Vázquez claimed that the shots were ineffective because the battlefield was covered by the smoke produced by the fire of Borgerhout.[41] On the other hand, the Flemish official Guillaume Baudart claimed that it was precise and made "arms and legs fly on the air".[35]
By then, Farnese, unwilling of having for a longer time his troops close to Antwerp's cannons, made drums and trumpets to call for withdrawal and gathered his men at Borgerhout. Meanwhile, people from Antwerp sallied to carry the wounded French, British, and Walloon officers and soldiers into the city to receive treatment.[42] The Spanish soldiery, once the fire of Borgerhout was finished, looted the basements of the burned buildings and had a meal before praying to thank God. After that, the Spanish army marched across the roads of Lier and Herentals to Turnhout, where Farnese wanted to arrive the next day.[29] Fearing a new attack, Antwerp's civic guards spent the night at their posts.[39]
Aftermath
The number of casualties endured by both armies differs according to the authors. The
Farnese's attack achieved his goal of distracting the Dutch States forces from Maastricht.
Farnese besieged Maastricht in command of 15,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 20 cannons, and 4,000
Notes
- ^ Limm 2014, pp. 22–29.
- ^ Van Geldern 2002, pp. 30–40.
- ^ Limm 2014, pp. 30–32.
- ^ Van Geldern 2002, pp. 40–45.
- ^ Limm 2014, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Darby 2003, p. 123.
- ^ Limm 2014, p. 47.
- ^ Darby 2003, p. 21.
- ^ a b Wilson 1976, p. 161.
- ^ Van Geldern 1993, pp. XXII.
- ^ a b Doran 2002, p. 37.
- ^ Limm 2014, pp. 50–52.
- ^ a b Limm 2014, p. 52.
- ^ Limm 2014, p. 51.
- ^ Verstraete 1865, p. 814.
- ^ a b c Verstraete 1865, p. 850.
- ^ Verstraete 1865, pp. 816–817.
- ^ Verstraete 1865, p. 817.
- ^ a b Vázquez 1879, p. 168.
- ^ a b Vázquez 1879, p. 170.
- ^ a b Vandewiele 1990, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Vázquez 1879, p. 169.
- ^ Strada 1681, p. 25.
- ^ Strada 1681, p. 26.
- ^ Strada 1681, p. 27.
- ^ Merkes 1827, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Verstraete 1865, p. 845.
- ^ a b Strada 1681, p. 28.
- ^ a b Vázquez 1879, p. 177.
- ^ Richemont 1833, p. 259.
- ^ a b c Verstraete 1865, p. 846.
- ^ Vázquez 1879, p. 174.
- ^ Verstraete 1865, pp. 846–847.
- ^ Vázquez 1879, p. 175.
- ^ a b c Baudart 1616, p. 318.
- ^ Strada 1681, p. 30.
- ^ a b Verstraete 1865, p. 847.
- ^ Verstraete 1865, pp. 847–848.
- ^ a b Verstraete 1865, p. 848.
- ^ Strada 1681, pp. 30–21.
- ^ Vázquez 1879, p. 176.
- ^ Baudart 1616, p. 319.
- ^ Strada 1681, p. 31.
- ^ a b Verstraete 1865, p. 851.
- ^ a b Baudart 1616, p. 320.
- ^ Strada 1681, pp. 31–32.
- ^ a b Darby 2003, p. 100.
- ^ Darby 2003, p. 101.
References
- Baudart, Guilleaume (1616). Les guerres de Nassau (in French). Amsterdam: M. Colin. OCLC 63273522.
- Darby, Graham (2003). The Origins and Development of the Dutch Revolt. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781134524822.
- Doran, Susan (2002). Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy, 1558–1603. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781134741205.
- Limm, Peter (2014). The Dutch Revolt 1559–1648. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781317880585.
- Merkes, Johannes G. (1827). Het beleg van Maastricht in 1579: Met geschied- en Krygskundige aanteekeningen (in Dutch). Arnhem: Thieme. OCLC 165687371.
- Richemont, Chevalier de (1833). Siége de la citadelle d'Anvers par l'armée française: sous les ordres du maréchal comte Gérard (in French). Decourchant: Paris. OCLC 62611223.
- Strada, Famiano (1681). Segunda decada de las Guerras de Flandes: desde el principio del govierno de Alexandro Farnese (in Spanish). Cologne. OCLC 25496894.
- Van Geldern, Martin (1993). The Dutch Revolt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521398091.
- Van Geldern, Martin (2002). The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt 1555–1590. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521891639.
- Vandewiele, L. J. (1990). "De teleurgang van de beroemde botanische tuin van Peeter van Coudenberghe". Scientiarum Historia: Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis van de Wetenschappen en de Geneeskunde (in Dutch). 16 (1): 11–14.
- Vázquez, Alonso (1879). Guerras de Flandes y Francia en tiempo de Alejandro Farnese (in Spanish). Madrid: Ginesta. OCLC 42661016.
- Verstraete, Emile (1865). Histoire militaire de la Belgique (in French). Vol. III. Brussels, Ghent and Leipzig: Chez Ch. Mucquardt. OCLC 162399533.
- Wilson, Charles (1976). The Transformation of Europe, 1558–1648. Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520030756.