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| Sack of Antwerp | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theEighty Years' War | |||||||
 Anonymous contemporary depiction of the "Spanish Fury" in Antwerp (Museum Aan de Stroom) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 MutinyingSpanish Tercios (Army of Flanders) | People of Antwerp German and Walloon troops | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sancho d'AvilaJulian RomeroJuan del Águila | Count Eberstein † Governor Compagny Marquis d’Havré | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,000 | 20,000 (civilians included) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 7,000–18,000[1][2] | ||||||
Thesack of Antwerp, often known as theSpanish Fury at Antwerp, was an episode of theEighty Years' War. It is the greatest massacre in the history of the Low Countries.[citation needed]
On 4 November 1576, mutinyingSpanishtercios of theArmy of Flanders began the sack ofAntwerp, leading to three days of horror among the population of the city, which was the cultural, economic and financial center of theLow Countries. The savagery of the sack led the provinces of the Low Countries tounite against the Spanish crown. The devastation also caused Antwerp's decline as the leading city in the region and paved the way forAmsterdam's rise.
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The principal cause of the sack was the delay in payment due to the soldiers byPhilip II of Spain, who had recently declared bankruptcy. Bankers refused to perform the transactions the king of Spain asked of them until they had reached a compromise. Case in point, the transfer of the troops' salary from Spain could not be performed by letter of exchange (the 16th-century equivalent of a money order). So, the Spanish government had to transfer the actual cash by sea, which was a much more expensive, slow, and dangerous operation: for instance, in 1568, 400,000florins intended as payment to the troops had been seized by the government ofElizabeth I when ships containing the florins sought shelter from a storm in English ports.
Spanish soldiers, angry at fighting without rest or pay against rebels, had already sackedZierikzee andAalst, causing the fifteen loyal provinces (Holland andZeeland were in the hands of the rebels) to come together inStates-General to remove themercenaries from the Netherlands. It was an ordinary procedure with the soldiery then, and their procedure was invariable. Without breaking their celebrated discipline, they would choose a new leader, orEletto, from their number and march in perfect order under him to whatever their target was. In this instance, the Spanish soldiers decided to find their belated pay for themselves by looting Antwerp.
The Spanish commander of theCitadel of Antwerp,Sancho d'Avila, had the idea to sack Antwerp. He tried to convince the commander of the German troops in the city, Count Otto IV van Eberstein, son ofWilliam IV of Eberstein, to deliver the city to the Spanish.
However, Eberstein warned Governor Compagny (or Champagny) of Antwerp, and together, they improvised defences against the Spanish. On 3 November, Compagny let a force of 6,000 Walloon troops underCharles Philippe de Croÿ into the city. That was a risk because these troops were not very trustworthy.[clarification needed][citation needed] Some 10,000 civilians also helped to raise improvised defences against the Citadel. D'Avila had also prepared his attack and contacted other Spanish mutinous troops inAalst,Lier,Breda andMaastricht, which converged on the city.
On 4 November at 11:00, the Spanish attacked. The civilian defenses were useless against the battle-hardenedSpaniards, who swarmed into the city. As had been feared, the Walloons did not fight but fled or even participated in the looting, according to different sources.[citation needed] The Germans and civilians tried to resist but were no match for the Spaniards. Eberstein drowned in theScheldt when he tried to escape.
At least 7,000 lives and a great deal of property were lost.[3] The deaths were assessed at 17,000 byGeorge Gascoigne, an English writer who was a witness.[4] The cruelty and the destruction of the three days of pillage became known as theSpanish Fury.
This shocking event stiffened many in the Netherlands, even many Catholics, against the SpanishHabsburg monarchy and further tarnished Philip's declining reputation. The States General, influenced by the sack, signed thePacification of Ghent only four days later, unifying the rebellious provinces with the loyal provinces to remove all Spanish soldiers from the Netherlands, as well as stop the persecution ofheretics. This effectively destroyed every accomplishment the Spanish had made in the past 10 years since theDutch Revolt started.
Furthermore, it brought about the ruin of the Antwerp Cloth Market. English traders, not wishing to risk visiting a town that now resembled a war zone, sought out new commercial links. By 1582, all English trade to Antwerp had ceased. The city's large Jewish population was especially hard hit. Antwerp subsequently lost its status as one of Europe's most prosperous, influential cities; it recovered but was never to recapture its former glory.
The sack led to Antwerp's decline from the Netherlands' economic, financial, and cultural center and paved the way forAmsterdam's rise.
This event also added toSpain's Black Legend.[5]