Battle of Straelen

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Battle of Straelen
date June 23, 1468
place Straelen / ( Lower Rhine )
output Victory on the Geldern side
Parties to the conflict

Adolf von Egmond , Duke of Geldern (and allies)

Johann I , Duke of Cleves

Troop strength
approx. 600 own riders
approx. 200 allied riders
approx. 6000 foot servants 		approx. 2400 riders
approx. 5000 foot servants
losses

slightly

heavy losses

The winner - Adolf von Egmond (Geldern) - donated a monastery, an order of knights and the knight monument Sterk Helmes at the site of the battle .
Territories of the duchies of Kleve and Geldern with the cities of Kleve, Geldern, Straelen and Wachtendonk
Adolf von Egmond , Duke of Geldern from 1465 to 1471, opponent in the Battle of Straelen
Arnold von Egmond , father of Adolf von Egmont; temporarily taken captive by his son
Johann I Duke of Kleve , opponent in the battle of Straelen
Sterk Helmes knight figure
Zandt Monastery - tile on the gable of the current building

The battle of Straelen took place on June 23, 1468 near today's Zand district of the city of Straelen ( Lower Rhine ) between the armies of Adolf von Egmond , Duke of Geldern since 1465, and Johann I von Kleve , since 1448 Duke of Kleve, Count of the Mark and Herr von Ravenstein, instead.

The immediate trigger of the dispute was the occupation of the city ​​of Wachtendonk, which belongs to the Duchy of Geldern, by the Duke of Kleve, who referred to agreements with the former Geldern Duke Arnold von Egmond , the father of the current opponent, Adolf von Egmond. This had removed his father from office and imprisoned. He did not recognize the pledge of Wachtendonk to the Klevian side and wanted to recapture the city occupied by the armed forces of the Duchy of Cleves by force of arms.

The battles, which lasted all day, ended with a victory for the Geldern side - without being able to significantly shift the balance of power between the two duchies in the long run.

Battle site

The battle took place near Straelen , which in the Middle Ages, like the conflict-inducing city of Wachtendonk, belonged to the so-called upper quarter . It was one of the four quarters (provinces) of the Duchy of Geldern, which stretched beyond today's borders from Germany to far into the Netherlands. The fighting took place at a Landwehr near today's district of Zand. After the battle, the district became the location of the Zandt Monastery (also called Mariensande Monastery), which the Duke of Geldern had donated as the winner of the battle.

prehistory

The battle was preceded by a series of clashes between the dukes of Geldern and Kleve that went back to 1433. On March 31, 1433, Wilhelm von Wachtendonk had transferred the previously independent castle and glory of Wachtendonk to his relative Arnold von Egmond , then Duke of Geldern. This granted him a number of tithe and feudal rights in the Veluwe . Years later, the Duke of Geldern - father of Duke Adolf, who was involved in the Battle of Straelen - pledged Wachtendonk to the Duchy of Kleve, which subsequently led to the Battle of Straelen.

The rulers of the two neighboring duchies Kleve and Geldern were enemies with each other, but also related:

The former Duke Arnold von Egmond , who had ruled Gelderland since 1423 , and father of the young Duke Adolf , had run a lavish household, was heavily in debt and, due to lack of money, a. the fortified town of Wachtendonk pledged to the then Duke Adolph II of Cleves in 1440 . In doing so, he had not only turned a large part of the Geldrian estates against him, but also his own wife, which was not changed by his two-year pilgrimage from 1440 to 1442 to Rome and Jerusalem . His wife Katharina von Kleve , daughter of Duke Adolph II of Kleve , forged plans to overthrow her husband and in favor of her son Adolf in his absence. But it wasn't until 1465 that the overturning plans were successful:

  • On the evening of January 9, 1465, Duke Arnold held a festival at his castle in Grave, which his wife and his then 27-year-old son Adolf also attended. After Duke Arnold had withdrawn into his apartments, armed men broke in on his son's appointment and set the Duke prisoner. Then they took him to Bühren Castle, where the son had his father thrown into dungeon.
  • On January 21st, 1465 the citizens of Geldern swore allegiance to their new master.

Adolf von Egmond , now the new Duke of Geldern, immediately set about returning old pledges, including the town of Wachtendonk, which had fallen to Kleve, back to his duchy. In doing so, he opposed Johann I , who had ruled the Duchy of Cleves since 1448 , and was now also Mr. von Wachtendonk, brother of the mother of the Duke of Geldern and thus his uncle. He had allied himself with Wilhelm von Egmond, the brother of the former Duke of Geldern, who was imprisoned in prison.

The battle

Both parties initially began to fight each other in numerous smaller skirmishes and raids on villages and farms in the respective ruled areas. The Geldrian side had a siege ring drawn around Wachtendonk, and erected bulwarks and artillery. On June 22nd, 1468, the day before the decisive battle, the Duke of Kleve managed to secretly penetrate the Landwehr near Straelen and to supply the town of Wachtendonk, which he had occupied, with fresh men and women. Duke Adolf von Geldern, who had found an ally in the Cologne Elector and Archbishop Ruprecht von der Pfalz , knew that the Klever supply troops were dependent on the elevated road that ran past Straelen. The Duke of Geldrian had the trenches of the Landwehr deepened and the ramparts reinforced to cut off the Clevish retreat. The Geldrische armed force consisted of

  • 600 riders and
  • 6000 foot servants

mostly from the heartland of the duchy, the upper quarter with Roermond, Venlo and the city of Geldern. No support had appeared from the distant sub-quarters around Arnhem , Zutphen and the Veluwe , with the exception of the cavalry von Wageningen .

Archbishop Ruprecht of Cologne also had support for the Geldrian side

  • 200 riders sent from nearby Kempen .

On the morning of June 23, 1468, Duke Adolf relocated his Clever adversary Johann. Whose force was

  • 2400 riders and
  • 5000 foot servants.

Both armies were in battle; Both dukes did nothing to motivate their followers and encourage them to be brave. According to the custom of the time, they granted many of their loyal friends the accolade. The Duke of Geldern also vowed to found a monastery after his victory (which also happened) and to release his captive father again (which he did not adhere to).

Immediately the struggle broke out on all sides. The Klevische attacked three times with all violence - each time they were successfully repulsed. Some of the Gelders had hidden themselves in the trenches and in the nearby bushes in ambush, from which they fired on the opposite side, killing, wounding and taking many prisoners.

There were also dead and wounded on the Geldern side. Her standard-bearer, Sheiffard von Merode, was shot through the head on the second impact. Thereupon Matthias von Eyell, ducal court master and lord of Ostrum, took over the Geldrian banner; but the fate hit him too: a bullet smashed both legs. So he died a heroic death. Duke Adolf himself was also wounded by arrows.

The battle lasts all day. In the end the Klevi could no longer withstand and fled in all directions from the Zandt scene (which is why they were later mockingly called "sand bunnies").

After all, the victory was with the Duke of Geldern. His uncle, the Duke of Cleves, had to admit defeat at the point where the Zandt monastery was to rise a few years after the battle - as the foundation of the winner of this battle. Then the Archbishop of Cologne arrived to reinforce the Geldrian troops with a further 800 horsemen and participated in the pursuit of the refugees who turned in the direction of Gladbach , Brüggen and Jülich . Here, a large number of nobles fell into the hands of the winners. The Klever Bannerträger, 50 knights and squires and many foot servants were taken prisoner; captured the ducal banner , as well as the flags of the cities of Wesel, Soest and other places. Many of the Klevian followers had died, including Count Gumpert von Neuenahr and Alpen, Count von Ronkelen, the commanders of Uedem, Gennep and Kranenburg.

The Duke of Kleve escaped captivity only with luck; he was rescued by troops from Wesel and brought to Cologne, from where he placed himself under the protection of Duchess Sophia von Jülich-Berg .

Some of the Geldrian troops, whose duke had always held the battlefield, were killed and many wounded, but no one was taken prisoner.

After the battle

This won an important battle for Geldern, but that did not mean the end of the feuds between Geldern and Kleve: In February 1471, Duke Adolf von Geldern was imprisoned in Namur by Charles the Bold of Burgundy. His father Arnold, who was released from the dungeon, temporarily re-headed the duchy, but in December 1471 he finally had to pledge it to Burgundy. After the death of Charles the Bold, Adolf von Egmond was once again Duke of Geldern for a few months in 1477, but in the same year he fell in a battle outside Tournai , where he was buried. His Clever adversary Johann I had supported Charles the Bold of Burgundy in the acquisition of the Duchy of Geldern, won Wachtendonk again for Cleve and thus the former loser of the Battle of Straelen became the eventual winner.

In 1539 a successor to Duke Johann I of Kleve , Wilhelm the Rich , united the Gelderland with Kleve and Jülich / Berg, but only for a short time. In the Treaty of Venlo in 1543, the Habsburg and Emperor Charles V took over the Duchy of Geldern.

The effects

The battle had repercussions for the town of Straelen that lasted into modern times. In the event that he emerged victorious from the battle, Duke Adolf had made a vow to found a monastery. A document was drawn up that the Augustinian Canons of the Bethlehem Monastery near Venray (on the Maas) were moving to Straelen. In 1470 the monastery brothers entered the monastery of Mariensande or Zandt. The canons established a religious and culturally significant place of activity at the site of the battle.

In a further foundation act, Duke Adolf created a Geldrian knightly order in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, into which the most loyal knights of the battle were accepted.

Duke Adolf had a monument erected to one of these “most loyal knights”, a kneeling knight figure carved in stone, which was added to the list of Straelen monuments under the name “ Sterk Helmes ” (Strong Wilhelm) . This figure is at its historical location opposite the former Zandt monastery .

literature

  • Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk, first volume, external history / printing and publishing house Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910
  • Bernhard Keuck: Zandt steeped in history / house font , Stadtarchiv Straelen / 1980
  • Bernhard Keuck: Historical Zandt / Geldrischer Heimatkalender 2016
  • Heinrich Schroers: The battle near the monastery Zandt near Straelen / in: The Lower Rhine / 1878
  • Bernhard Keuck: Fragments of a story of Straelen / Verlag Peter Keuck, Straelen 1980
  • Landschaftsverband Rheinland: Architectural and art monuments of the city of Straelen ( Ritterdenkmal pp. 114–117) / Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-7861-1450-1
  • Irmgard Hantsche: Atlas for the history of the Lower Rhine, Volume 4 (Kleve p. 36, Geldern p. 70) / Niederrhein Akademie / Verlag Peter Pomp, Essen 2004, ISBN 3-89355-200-6
  • Fritz Meyers : The most beautiful sagas from the Lower Rhine ( strength of Helmes von der Maas , p. 12-18) / Verlag Peter Pomp, Essen 1985, ISBN 3-89355-026-7
  • Erich Bockemühl: The golden spinning wheel ( The strong helmet , p. 117) / Mercator Verlag, Duisburg 1979, ISBN 3-87463-075-7
  • Luise Schorn-Schütte: Karl V. Kaiser between Middle Ages and Modern Times / Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-44730-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Irmgard Hantsche: Atlas zur Geschichte des Niederrheins, Volume 4 / Verlag Peter Pomp, Essen 2004, ISBN 3-89355-200-6 / p. 70
  2. ^ Heinrich Schroers: The battle near the monastery Zandt near Straelen / in: Der Niederrhein / 1878 / p. 134
  3. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, pp. 64–74.
  4. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, p. 77.
  5. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, p. 82.
  6. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, pp. 78–79.
  7. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, p. 79.
  8. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, p. 86.
  9. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country of Wachtendonk. Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld 1910, p. 87.
  10. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk / Verlag Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld / 1910 / p. 88
  11. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk / Verlag Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld / 1910 / p. 88
  12. ^ Heinrich Schroers: The battle near the monastery Zandt near Straelen / in: Der Niederrhein / 1878 / p. 130
  13. ^ Heinrich Schroers: The battle near the monastery Zandt near Straelen / in: Der Niederrhein / 1878 / p. 132
  14. ^ Heinrich Schroers: The battle near the monastery Zandt near Straelen / in: Der Niederrhein / 1878 / p. 135
  15. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: Historically important Zandt / Stadtarchiv Straelen / 1980 / p. 134
  16. ↑ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk / Verlag Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld / 1910 / p. 94-100
  17. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk / Verlag Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld / 1910 / pp. 121–125
  18. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk / Verlag Mayer & Kaltenmeier, Hüls-Crefeld / 1910 / Chapter X, p. 127 following
  19. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: Historically important Zandt / Stadtarchiv Straelen / 1980 / p. 6
  20. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: run traditional Zandt / City Archives Straelen / 1980 / pp 6-8
  21. ↑ Bernhard Keuck: run traditional Zandt / City Archives Straelen / 1980 / pp 6-8
  22. ^ Landschaftsverband Rheinland: Architectural and art monuments of the city of Straelen / Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-7861-1450-1 / p. 117