Battle of Amerongen
| date | June 23, 1585 |
|---|---|
| place | at Amerongen |
| output | Victory for Spain |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| losses | |
|
1600 |
900 |
The Battle of Amerongen in the province of Utrecht took place on June 23, 1585 and was part of the Eighty Years War .
prehistory
In 1585 the governor of Zutphen, Colonel Johann Baptista von Taxis , moved from Het Gooi across the Veluwe west towards Holland with the intention of taking the southern part of the province of Utrecht . The troop of mercenaries and Spanish soldiers spread fear and horror among the population because they murdered, raped, robbed and pillaged during the campaign . The States General saw the danger for the big cities and gave the governor of Gelderland and Overijssel , Count Adolf von Neuenahr, the command to counter Taxis' intentions. Supported by Martin Schenk von Nideggen , Joost de Soete and the brothers Oswald and Hermann von dem Bergh , von Neuenahr took taxis to meet with a group of Dutch people and three pennons of German mercenaries. On June 23, 1585, the two armies clashed at Amerongen and a battle broke out.
The battle
At first it seemed as if Adolf von Neuenahr would triumph as Taxis' troops were pushed back. But during the battle Oswald and Hermann von dem Bergh ran over to the enemy and with their cavalry fell in the rear of the state. The Spanish cavalry, which had been kept in reserve until then, was deployed and the rebels got caught between two fronts. A terrible massacre of the infantry took place especially along the dike of the Lek . On that day there were 1,600 men of state soldiers alone. The rest with the cavalry fled towards Wijk bij Duurstede and Amersfoort . Von Neuenahr and Schenk were able to escape, Marshal de Soete , governor of Utrecht, was captured by the Spanish. He was released days later for a large ransom. A few days after the battle, Taxis' troops returned, buried their own fallen and robbed the dead state soldiers, but left them on the battlefield.