Siege of Rheinberg (1597)
Part of theEighty Years' War and theAnglo–Spanish War
Siege of Rheinberg in 1597 byJan Janssonius
Date 9 up to 19 August 1597 Location Rheinberg (present-dayGermany) 51°32′48.01″N6°36′2.02″E / 51.5466694°N 6.6005611°E /51.5466694; 6.6005611 Result Dutch and English victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Dutch Republic England	Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Maurice of Nassau Horace Vere	Camillo Sachino
Strength
8,200[3]	850[3]
Casualties and losses
Light	All captured

Thesiege of Rheinberg took place from the 9 to 19 August 1597 during theEighty Years' War and theAnglo–Spanish War by a Dutch and English army led byMaurice of Orange. The siege ended with the capitulation and the withdrawal of the Spanish after much unrest in the garrison. The liberation of the city of Rheinberg was the commencement ofMaurice's campaign of 1597, a successful offensive against the Spaniards during the period known as theTen Glory Years.^[4][5]

The fortified town of Rheinberg, which had been in the possession of theElectorate of Cologne, had been garrisoned by the Spanish for seven years after the place wasfinally taken byPeter Ernst I von Mansfeld on 3 February 1590 after a four-year siege. In mid 1597, thegovernment atThe Hague with improved funding ordered a new campaign for Maurice of Orange, the commander of the Dutch and English troops, to oust the Spanish inTwente while they had been preoccupied with thesiege of Amiens.^[6] Maurice's objective was to march along theRhine and take the towns of Rheinberg andMeurs along the river, then head directly through the east of the Netherlands, whereGrol andOldenzaal being the strongest cities. The conquest of Rheinberg was important forGelderland as it would increase the isolation of Spanish bases in the rest ofOverijssel.^[2]

On the 4th of August Maurice along with his cousin (and brother-in-law)William Louis arrived atArnhem with a force of seven thousand infantry and twelve hundred cavalry.^[1] This included thirteen ensigns of English troops under ColonelHorace Vere and ten ensigns of Scots under Sir Henry Balfour.^[7] Horace's brotherFrancis Vere was at this time governor ofBrill and general ofElizabeth I's forces in the Netherlands and this meant Horace was temporarily in the field.^[8]

After reducing the town and castle ofAlphen, Maurice marched to Rheinberg arriving there on 10 August and immediately attacked. The Spanish garrison of Rheinberg consisted of 850 men under the command of Camilo Sachino who had held many governing positions in the region for many years. The garrison though was not in a fit state to fight having had many desertions through lack of pay and many were unwilling to fight.^[3]

The Dutch and English army had access to a large quantity of artillery, which had landed viabarges from the Rhine. On 11 August 1597 approaches were dug towards the city's walls as the siege commenced.^[3] William Louis of Nassau was wounded by a bullet in the thigh and Maurice not long after had a cannonball fly just over his head as it entered his tent while in repose. Once the batteries were placed, the city was intensively shelled which added to the misery of the garrison.^[2]

After ten days of shelling the Sachino afraid of a mutiny in the garrison called for negotiations and then surrendered on 20 August; the Archbishop of Rheinberg begged for the place and the populace to be spared from pillaging which Maurice agreed to.^[1] The Spanish garrison, who were allowed the honors of war but were not to fight for a long time, then marched out and the Dutch and English marched in.^[3] With the capture of Rheinberg Maurice knew that access over the Rhine was now an easy task and the East of the Netherlands was now open to him.^[6] Maurice's troops were thus able to take the offensive further and captureMeurs,Groenlo,Bredevoort,Enschede,Oldenzaal, and closed off the year and the campaign with thecapture of Lingen.^[4]

The following year a Spanish force underFrancisco de Mendoza, knowing how important Rheinberg was,retook the place, which the city garnered a new nicknameLa puta de la guerra (whore of war), a name that would stick for the next 35 years.^[4]

The Spanish occupation under Commander DonLuis Bernardo de Avila would last only till 1601 when Maurice againcaptured Rheinberg after a siege of more than a month.^[4]

Rheinberg was repeatably taken and retaken before in 1633 the place finallycame back into Dutch hands.^[9]

• List of stadtholders in the Low Countries
• List of governors of the Spanish Netherlands
• Siege of Rheinberg (1586–1590)
• Siege of Meurs (1597)

• Fissel, Mark Charles (2001).English warfare, 1511–1642; Warfare and history. London, UK: Routledge.ISBN 978-0-415-21481-0.
• Israel, Jonathan. (1997).Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585-1713. Continuum.ISBN 1-85285-161-9.
• Markham, C. R. (2007).The Fighting Veres: Lives Of Sir Francis Vere And Sir Horace Vere. Kessinger Publishing.ISBN 978-1432549053.
• Motley, John Lothrop.History of the United Netherlands: from the death of William the Silent to the Synod of Dort, with a full view of the English-Dutch struggle against Spain, and of the origin and destruction of the Spanish armada (Volume 3). New York, Harper.
• Naphy, William G. (2011).The Protestant Revolution: From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King Jr. Random House.ISBN 9781446416891.
• van Nimwegen, Olaf (2010).The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions, 1588-1688 Volume 31 of Warfare in History Series. Boydell & Brewer.ISBN 9781843835752.
• J.Wagenaar et al. (1753):Vaderlandsche Historie, Vervattende Geschiedenislessen der Vereenigde Nederlanden, in Zonderheid die van Holland, van de Vroegste Tyden af - Achtste Deel Amsterdam:Isaak Tirion (Dutch)

• Sieges involving Spain
• Sieges involving England
• Sieges involving the Dutch Republic
• 1597 in Europe
• Conflicts in 1597
• 1597 in the Dutch Republic

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