Battle of Brouwershaven
The Battle of Brouwershaven took place on January 13, 1426 in Brouwershaven in Zeeland . The battle was part of the Hook and Cod War that raged for power in the Netherlands between 1350 and 1490. The battle ended with a clear victory for the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good .
The opponents
The cause of the conflict lay in the succession dispute between Jakobäa von Bayern and Johann III. from Bavaria to rule in Hainaut , Holland and Zeeland after the death of Count Wilhelm VI. in 1417. Jakobäa had originally been married to Duke John IV of Brabant , but had separated from him and in 1422 married Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester , the brother of the English king Henry V. Jacobäa's new marriage left Hainaut in the hands of John von Brabants, who had come to an understanding with Johann von Bayern. Philip the Good was also intended to be the heir to Hainaut, which resulted in him being drawn into this dispute.
In 1424 Jacobea and Humphrey had conquered Hainaut with English troops. The death of Johann von Bayern in January 1425 led to a short campaign by the Burgundians to enforce Philip's claims, which forced the English to withdraw. Jacobea ended the war in Philip's captivity, but was able to flee to Gouda in September 1425 , where she again declared her claims. As the leader of the "Haken", she relied primarily on the small towns and the lower nobility, while the "Codfish" were largely recruited from the citizens of cities such as Rotterdam and Dordrecht .
Before the battle
Jacobea called in Humphrey for support, who raised 1,500 soldiers in England who were to join her under the leadership of Walter Fitzwalter, 7th Baron Fitzwalter . In the meantime, on October 22, 1425, Jacobea had defeated a Burgundian militia in the Battle of Alphen. Duke Philipp was informed of the British reinforcements and set up a fleet with which he wanted to intercept them while at sea. But he only succeeded in preventing a small part of the English, about 300 men, from going ashore in Brouwershaven and uniting with their Zeeland allies.
Philip the Good led his armed force, consisting of his followers and soldiers from Dordrecht, The Hague and Delft , to Brouwershaven himself. The army consisted of about 4,000 men, including gunners from Dordrecht and more than 1,000 crossbowmen . On the other hand, there were 3,000 Zeeland nationals under Floris van Heemstede, who were reinforced by the 1,200 Englishmen who remained.
The battle
The Zeelanders allowed the enemy to land, presumably because they trusted in the longbows of their English allies and hoped for an effect like the one at the Battle of Azincourt a good ten years ago. During the landing operation, the archers began the attack, which soon brought the crossbowmen to their knees. However, the well-armed and disciplined Burgundian knights succeeded in pushing the English back onto a dike and defeating them here. The Chronyk en Historie van Zeeland by Janus Reygersberg reports that 3000 men of the Zeeland army were killed afterwards, many more were taken prisoner, Philip the Good himself noted a number of 200 prisoners. Floris van Heemstede died in battle, Lord Fitzwalter managed to escape.
Effects
The devastating defeat marked the end of Jacobea's struggle. Duke Humphrey was more and more indispensable in England, and he also got into a relationship with Eleanor Cobham , one of the ladies-in- waiting of Jacobea. In 1428 he had his marriage dissolved and married Eleanor. Without support, Jacobea was no longer able to withstand the Burgundians, so that they were forced to leave the administration of their counties to Philip.
literature
- Richard Vaughan: Philip the Good (1970, new edition 2002) ISBN 0-85115-917-6 .
- Robert Douglas Smith, Kelly DeVries: The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy (2005) ISBN 1-84383-162-7 .