The Isabelline Age - Chapter 6.3
In September 1586, Willem Lodewijk of Nassau-Dillenburg and Counts Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein marched towards Zutphen with a Dutch army, taking positions on the left bank of the IJssel river and then, by means of a pontoon bridge, also on the right bank of the river, thus encircling the city. Zutphen was strategically important to Farnese, who, on receiving the news of the siege, has sent the Marquis of Vasto [6] and has dispatched Francisco Verdugo to come in aid from his provinces in the north: after a first match among the same Willem Lodewijk, Verdugo and his lieutenant Johann Baptista von Taxis in Deventer, because the Dutch, having intercepted the Farnese's courier to Francisco Verdugo, have prepared an ambush. In the end, Verdugo succeeded in going safely to Zutphen, by sending Taxis to guard a fort nearby. To preserve Zutphen's garrison, Farnese assembled a large convoy of food to feed its for three months put under a good escort, whose delivery to the town he entrusted to the Marquis of Vasto. The Dutch besiegers attempted to block the convoy, but he Spanish cavalry opened the way followed by the battalions of foot and the troops put to flank the wagons and close the way, and when the convoy approached to Zutphen, Francisco Verdugo sent a wagon loaded with powder and bullets to the Spanish led by the Marquis del Vasto, who threatened to kill by a battleaxe of a Dutch soldier. Verdugo, thus, made a sortie from Zutphen with several troops, met Del Vasto and Johann Baptista von Taxis, and joined the battle. An unsuccessfully attacked of the Dutch troops on the other side of Zutphen has made believe to Verdugo that the burghers had risen in arms against the few Spanish troops inside the town, and Willem Lodewijk of Nassau-Dillenburg committed the same mistake. After a moment of confusion, the good order has been restored into the Spanish ranks of Verdugo and Del Vasto's troops. The Dutch commanders did not renew the action and began to retire back to their camp. The town and the Zutphen's fort, on the opposite bank of the IJssel river, were secured for the Spanish on 22 September 1586, and in the following weeks Farnese sent back Verdugo to Friesland and appointed Johann Baptista von Taxis in charge of Zutphen. Before that the Spanish army took its winter quarters, on 12 October also Deventer has been captured, and then Del Vasto moved to Brussels to spend the winter there.
Alexander Farnese, with the aim of taking Bergen op Zoom before the winter, sent a regiment under the Marquis of Burgau [7], supported by troops under the Prince of Ascoli [8] and a English company under Thomas Morgan (c.1542–1595), attacking the town also through the Tholen isle. Bergen op Zoom capitulated on 13 November.
On 10 April 1587 Farnese himself captured Geertruidenberg with the help of Robert Dudley, Viscount Lisle [9], followed by the siege of Zaltbommel by the Marquis of Burgau and Rodrigo de Silva y Mendoza (1562–1596), 2nd Duke of Pastrana, and the siege of Buren, possession of the House of Orange, by the English troops of Sir John Wingfield and Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby [10].
[6] Alfonso Felice d'Avalos (1564–1593), son of Fracesco Ferdinando d'Avalos, governor of the Duchy of Milan and Viceroy of Sicily, and his wife Isabella Gonzaga, daughter of Federico II Gonzaga, the first Duke of Mantua and Monferrato, and Margherita Paleologa of Monferrato, was 5th Marquis of Vasto, 5th Marquis of Pescara, Grandee of Spain, Prince Assistant at the Papal Throne, knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece...
[7] Charles of Austria (22 November 1560 – 30 October 1618), Margrave of Burgau, was the son of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria and his first morganatic marriage to Philippine Welser.
[8] Luigi Antonio de Leyva, 4th Prince of Ascoli, was the first paternal cousin of Sister Virginia Maria, born Marianna de Leyva (4 December 1575 – 17 January 1650), became widely known for the sex scandal and murder in which she was involved, inspiring the character of "The Nun of Monza" in Alessandro Manzoni's novel «The Betrothed».
[9] In OTL the Earl of Leicester.
[10] Called to bring aid to the English allies in the siege of Buren, while he was on way, Claudius van Barlaymont, Lord of Haultpenne and military commander in Spain's Army of Flanders, was assaulted by a sortie an enemy army led by Philip of Hohenlohe at Engelen and mortally wounded, dying at 's-Hertogenbosch on 14 July 1587. Alexander Farnese, who had great confidence in Barlaymont's abilities, has sent him at the Cologne War to help the Catholics in the conflict against the Calvinists Gebhard von Waldburg-Trauchburg.
In September 1586, Willem Lodewijk of Nassau-Dillenburg and Counts Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein marched towards Zutphen with a Dutch army, taking positions on the left bank of the IJssel river and then, by means of a pontoon bridge, also on the right bank of the river, thus encircling the city. Zutphen was strategically important to Farnese, who, on receiving the news of the siege, has sent the Marquis of Vasto [6] and has dispatched Francisco Verdugo to come in aid from his provinces in the north: after a first match among the same Willem Lodewijk, Verdugo and his lieutenant Johann Baptista von Taxis in Deventer, because the Dutch, having intercepted the Farnese's courier to Francisco Verdugo, have prepared an ambush. In the end, Verdugo succeeded in going safely to Zutphen, by sending Taxis to guard a fort nearby. To preserve Zutphen's garrison, Farnese assembled a large convoy of food to feed its for three months put under a good escort, whose delivery to the town he entrusted to the Marquis of Vasto. The Dutch besiegers attempted to block the convoy, but he Spanish cavalry opened the way followed by the battalions of foot and the troops put to flank the wagons and close the way, and when the convoy approached to Zutphen, Francisco Verdugo sent a wagon loaded with powder and bullets to the Spanish led by the Marquis del Vasto, who threatened to kill by a battleaxe of a Dutch soldier. Verdugo, thus, made a sortie from Zutphen with several troops, met Del Vasto and Johann Baptista von Taxis, and joined the battle. An unsuccessfully attacked of the Dutch troops on the other side of Zutphen has made believe to Verdugo that the burghers had risen in arms against the few Spanish troops inside the town, and Willem Lodewijk of Nassau-Dillenburg committed the same mistake. After a moment of confusion, the good order has been restored into the Spanish ranks of Verdugo and Del Vasto's troops. The Dutch commanders did not renew the action and began to retire back to their camp. The town and the Zutphen's fort, on the opposite bank of the IJssel river, were secured for the Spanish on 22 September 1586, and in the following weeks Farnese sent back Verdugo to Friesland and appointed Johann Baptista von Taxis in charge of Zutphen. Before that the Spanish army took its winter quarters, on 12 October also Deventer has been captured, and then Del Vasto moved to Brussels to spend the winter there.
Alexander Farnese, with the aim of taking Bergen op Zoom before the winter, sent a regiment under the Marquis of Burgau [7], supported by troops under the Prince of Ascoli [8] and a English company under Thomas Morgan (c.1542–1595), attacking the town also through the Tholen isle. Bergen op Zoom capitulated on 13 November.
On 10 April 1587 Farnese himself captured Geertruidenberg with the help of Robert Dudley, Viscount Lisle [9], followed by the siege of Zaltbommel by the Marquis of Burgau and Rodrigo de Silva y Mendoza (1562–1596), 2nd Duke of Pastrana, and the siege of Buren, possession of the House of Orange, by the English troops of Sir John Wingfield and Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby [10].
[6] Alfonso Felice d'Avalos (1564–1593), son of Fracesco Ferdinando d'Avalos, governor of the Duchy of Milan and Viceroy of Sicily, and his wife Isabella Gonzaga, daughter of Federico II Gonzaga, the first Duke of Mantua and Monferrato, and Margherita Paleologa of Monferrato, was 5th Marquis of Vasto, 5th Marquis of Pescara, Grandee of Spain, Prince Assistant at the Papal Throne, knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece...
[7] Charles of Austria (22 November 1560 – 30 October 1618), Margrave of Burgau, was the son of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria and his first morganatic marriage to Philippine Welser.
[8] Luigi Antonio de Leyva, 4th Prince of Ascoli, was the first paternal cousin of Sister Virginia Maria, born Marianna de Leyva (4 December 1575 – 17 January 1650), became widely known for the sex scandal and murder in which she was involved, inspiring the character of "The Nun of Monza" in Alessandro Manzoni's novel «The Betrothed».
[9] In OTL the Earl of Leicester.
[10] Called to bring aid to the English allies in the siege of Buren, while he was on way, Claudius van Barlaymont, Lord of Haultpenne and military commander in Spain's Army of Flanders, was assaulted by a sortie an enemy army led by Philip of Hohenlohe at Engelen and mortally wounded, dying at 's-Hertogenbosch on 14 July 1587. Alexander Farnese, who had great confidence in Barlaymont's abilities, has sent him at the Cologne War to help the Catholics in the conflict against the Calvinists Gebhard von Waldburg-Trauchburg.