Battle of Nieuwpoort
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Nieuwpoort, between a Dutch
army under Maurice of Nassau and Francis Vere
and a Spanish
army under Albert of Austria, took place on 2 July 1600 near the present-day Belgian
city Nieuwpoort
.
of Dunkirk. The divergence of opinion on this matter between Maurice and Van Oldenbarneveldt were the first signs that the two de facto leaders of the Dutch Republic
were beginning to drift apart. This rivalry would eventually lead to the arrest and execution of Van Oldenbarneveldt in 1619.
It was thought that the vicious and long-continued mutiny of a great part of the Spanish troops would make it impossible for the Archduke to collect an army for the relief of Nieuwpoort.
By 21 June Maurice had collected an army for the operation of 12 infantry regiments and 25 cavalry cornets: some 12,000 Foot and 2,000 Horse. On the 22nd, he crossed the Scheldt
Estuary in a multitude of small vessels and moved to Ostend
; his base of operations. He left there half a regiment and four cornets to reinforce the garrison and on the 30th started for Nieuwpoort.
When Maurice arrived in front of the place on 1 July, he sent 2/3 of his force across the Yser
River to blockade it from the West. That night, while he was making preparations for a regular siege, he received news that the Archduke was close at hand with a field army. He knew he was cut off from his base; so he ordered his cousin Ernst Casimir
(Ernst Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz) with a force to delay the advancing Spanish while he was bringing the best part of the army to cross again the Yser and rejoin the rest of the army to face the Archduke. He had no option left but to present battle or risk a potentially disastrous retreat by sea.
Ernst Casimir was ordered to seize the Leffinghen bridge, he commanded the Edmonds regiment (Scottish) and the Van der Noot regiment (Dutch) together with four cornets of cavalry and 2 guns, but when he arrived he found that the enemy was already in possession of it. Ernst deployed his force behind a ditch, hoping to fight a delaying action, but the Spaniards were already in great strength across the bridge and charged right home, piercing his centre. The infantry was routed at once and the cavalry fled in panic: the Scots were killed almost to a man and the Dutch fared only slightly better, taking refuge in Ostend. For all purposes, Ernst's command had ceased to exist.
After that cheap victory, the Archduke held a conference with his captains. Most urged to entrench the army across the road to Ostend, forcing Maurice to attack along a narrow front where the Dutch cavalry, mostly heavy, would not be effective against the lighter Spanish cavalry. However, the mutineers, who had been rallied by the Archduke on the promise of free plunder, were eager for a fight and out-argued the rest. The army therefore advanced in battle order along the coast. It was mid-day and the tide was coming in; so that in the end they were forced to abandon the shrinking beach and climb slowly up the slippery sanddunes.
Maurice had just time to assemble his whole army to face the Archduke.
, who ruled out sending any advance party, awaiting for the Spanish army to arrive.
The Spanish sent a screen of 500 harquebusiers to cover their advance; but soon the two unruly mutineer regiments in the vanguard started the attack with a rash charge up the hill. They were repulsed in disorder, while the light cavalry, counter-charged by the Dutch cuirassiers, were routed. It was then time for the second line of the Spanish infantry to advance. The Sapena and Ávila Tercios in the Dutch right made quick progress against the Frisian regiment, and Maurice sent his entire second line to protect that sector, stabilizing the front.
Maurice then sent his entire cavalry against the Spanish flank, except for the small body of cavalry in the second line that he kept in reserve behind the infantry. The Dutch cuirassiers easily routed the lighter Spanish cavalry, and the mutineer cornets, that had just rallied, fled the battlefield never to return. However, the Dutch were checked by the Spanish third line of infantry, supported by some guns, and retreated with heavy losses.
Meanwhile on the Dutch left, the English regiments faced the veteran tercio
s of Monroy and Villar; the elite of the Spanish infantry. The English, well drilled in Maurice's new tactics, kept a rolling fire on the Spaniards and advanced up the slope at a steady pace, covered by a screen of skirmisher harquebusiers. The fight was even for a time, until it came to the push of pike, the Spaniards finally dislodging the English from the top of the hill. Francis Vere
, seeing the risk, asked for reinforcements, but they did not arrive in time and the English were finally routed. However, the Spaniards, exhausted after a day of fighting and marching on difficult terrain, pressed their advantage very slowly. Even more dangerously, they were disordered, with musket and pike units mixed. Maurice sent his reserve cavalry against them, only 3 cornets strong. Their well-timed charge was unexpectedly very successful. The Spaniards were thrown into confusion and started a slow retreat. Vere, who had been able to rally some English companies behind a battery, joined the fight, and he was reinforced by the regiments in the third line that had finally arrived. The Spaniards, heavily assailed, retreated in disorder.
On the Dutch right, the Archduke had committed his third line into the assault. Maurice saw his chance and asked his tired cavalry for one last effort. Under the command of his cousin Louis, another charge was delivered and the Spanish cavalry was finally driven from the field. The Spanish infantry, already engaged at the front, was this time unable to repulse the attack on their flank and started to give ground. After a while, the front crumbled and, one after another, all units were running in confusion, leaving behind their guns. The survivors scattered in all directions, but the inactivity of the Dutch garrison in Ostend allowed the Spanish army to avoid total destruction.
Spanish losses were high; about 2.500 casualties, including many officers. The artillery train was also lost. Most of the casualties were suffered by the elite units of the second line, veteran soldiers who were very hard to replace.
Dutch losses were also high. With the casualties at Leffinghen included, they amounted to around 2,000. Again, it was the best regiments, Scottish and English veterans, who suffered most.
", would continue to prey on Dutch and English trade.
On the tactical side, the battle was paradoxical. Maurice's army had beaten a Spanish army. However, his reformed infantry had been dislodged from a strong defensive position by the Spanish infantry using its traditional methods and it was only his cavalry that had saved the Dutch from defeat.
Strategically, the lesson was that it was more advantageous to besiege and capture towns than to win battles. This fact would continue to characterize operations in the Eighty Years' War.
2nd Line
3rd Line
2nd Line
3rd Line
South flank:
Center:
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
army under Maurice of Nassau and Francis Vere
Francis Vere
Sir Francis Vere was an English soldier, famous for his career in Dutch service.He was the son of Geoffrey Vere of Crepping Hall, Essex, and nephew of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford.-Military career:...
and a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
army under Albert of Austria, took place on 2 July 1600 near the present-day Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
city Nieuwpoort
Nieuwpoort, Belgium
Nieuwpoort is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Nieuwpoort proper and the towns of Ramskapelle and Sint-Joris. On January 1, 2008 Nieuwpoort had a total population of 11,062....
.
Campaign
Against Maurice's complaints, the States General under Johan van Oldenbarneveldt had ordered Maurice to take the army, march south along the coast and take the pirate nestDunkirkers
During the Dutch Revolt the Dunkirkers or Dunkirk Privateers, were commerce raiders in the service of the Spanish Monarchy. They were also part of the Dunkirk fleet, which consequently was a part of the Spanish Monarchy's Flemish fleet ...
of Dunkirk. The divergence of opinion on this matter between Maurice and Van Oldenbarneveldt were the first signs that the two de facto leaders of the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
were beginning to drift apart. This rivalry would eventually lead to the arrest and execution of Van Oldenbarneveldt in 1619.
It was thought that the vicious and long-continued mutiny of a great part of the Spanish troops would make it impossible for the Archduke to collect an army for the relief of Nieuwpoort.
By 21 June Maurice had collected an army for the operation of 12 infantry regiments and 25 cavalry cornets: some 12,000 Foot and 2,000 Horse. On the 22nd, he crossed the Scheldt
Scheldt
The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
Estuary in a multitude of small vessels and moved to Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
; his base of operations. He left there half a regiment and four cornets to reinforce the garrison and on the 30th started for Nieuwpoort.
When Maurice arrived in front of the place on 1 July, he sent 2/3 of his force across the Yser
Yser
The Yser is a river that finds its origin in the north of France, enters Belgium and flows into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort.-In France:The source of the Yser is in Buysscheure, in the Nord département of northern France...
River to blockade it from the West. That night, while he was making preparations for a regular siege, he received news that the Archduke was close at hand with a field army. He knew he was cut off from his base; so he ordered his cousin Ernst Casimir
Ernst Casimir
Ernst Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz was count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe.-Biography:...
(Ernst Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz) with a force to delay the advancing Spanish while he was bringing the best part of the army to cross again the Yser and rejoin the rest of the army to face the Archduke. He had no option left but to present battle or risk a potentially disastrous retreat by sea.
Ernst Casimir was ordered to seize the Leffinghen bridge, he commanded the Edmonds regiment (Scottish) and the Van der Noot regiment (Dutch) together with four cornets of cavalry and 2 guns, but when he arrived he found that the enemy was already in possession of it. Ernst deployed his force behind a ditch, hoping to fight a delaying action, but the Spaniards were already in great strength across the bridge and charged right home, piercing his centre. The infantry was routed at once and the cavalry fled in panic: the Scots were killed almost to a man and the Dutch fared only slightly better, taking refuge in Ostend. For all purposes, Ernst's command had ceased to exist.
After that cheap victory, the Archduke held a conference with his captains. Most urged to entrench the army across the road to Ostend, forcing Maurice to attack along a narrow front where the Dutch cavalry, mostly heavy, would not be effective against the lighter Spanish cavalry. However, the mutineers, who had been rallied by the Archduke on the promise of free plunder, were eager for a fight and out-argued the rest. The army therefore advanced in battle order along the coast. It was mid-day and the tide was coming in; so that in the end they were forced to abandon the shrinking beach and climb slowly up the slippery sanddunes.
Maurice had just time to assemble his whole army to face the Archduke.
Battle
The Dutch first line of infantry was placed in a strong defensive position, on top of a stretch of dunes, with guns covering both flanks with enfilade fire. Maurice had posted his best regiments there, under the command of the experienced Francis VereFrancis Vere
Sir Francis Vere was an English soldier, famous for his career in Dutch service.He was the son of Geoffrey Vere of Crepping Hall, Essex, and nephew of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford.-Military career:...
, who ruled out sending any advance party, awaiting for the Spanish army to arrive.
The Spanish sent a screen of 500 harquebusiers to cover their advance; but soon the two unruly mutineer regiments in the vanguard started the attack with a rash charge up the hill. They were repulsed in disorder, while the light cavalry, counter-charged by the Dutch cuirassiers, were routed. It was then time for the second line of the Spanish infantry to advance. The Sapena and Ávila Tercios in the Dutch right made quick progress against the Frisian regiment, and Maurice sent his entire second line to protect that sector, stabilizing the front.
Maurice then sent his entire cavalry against the Spanish flank, except for the small body of cavalry in the second line that he kept in reserve behind the infantry. The Dutch cuirassiers easily routed the lighter Spanish cavalry, and the mutineer cornets, that had just rallied, fled the battlefield never to return. However, the Dutch were checked by the Spanish third line of infantry, supported by some guns, and retreated with heavy losses.
Meanwhile on the Dutch left, the English regiments faced the veteran tercio
Tercio
The tercio was a Renaissance era military formation made up of a mixed infantry formation of about 3,000 pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers or musketeers in a mutually supportive formation. It was also sometimes referred to as the Spanish Square...
s of Monroy and Villar; the elite of the Spanish infantry. The English, well drilled in Maurice's new tactics, kept a rolling fire on the Spaniards and advanced up the slope at a steady pace, covered by a screen of skirmisher harquebusiers. The fight was even for a time, until it came to the push of pike, the Spaniards finally dislodging the English from the top of the hill. Francis Vere
Francis Vere
Sir Francis Vere was an English soldier, famous for his career in Dutch service.He was the son of Geoffrey Vere of Crepping Hall, Essex, and nephew of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford.-Military career:...
, seeing the risk, asked for reinforcements, but they did not arrive in time and the English were finally routed. However, the Spaniards, exhausted after a day of fighting and marching on difficult terrain, pressed their advantage very slowly. Even more dangerously, they were disordered, with musket and pike units mixed. Maurice sent his reserve cavalry against them, only 3 cornets strong. Their well-timed charge was unexpectedly very successful. The Spaniards were thrown into confusion and started a slow retreat. Vere, who had been able to rally some English companies behind a battery, joined the fight, and he was reinforced by the regiments in the third line that had finally arrived. The Spaniards, heavily assailed, retreated in disorder.
On the Dutch right, the Archduke had committed his third line into the assault. Maurice saw his chance and asked his tired cavalry for one last effort. Under the command of his cousin Louis, another charge was delivered and the Spanish cavalry was finally driven from the field. The Spanish infantry, already engaged at the front, was this time unable to repulse the attack on their flank and started to give ground. After a while, the front crumbled and, one after another, all units were running in confusion, leaving behind their guns. The survivors scattered in all directions, but the inactivity of the Dutch garrison in Ostend allowed the Spanish army to avoid total destruction.
Spanish losses were high; about 2.500 casualties, including many officers. The artillery train was also lost. Most of the casualties were suffered by the elite units of the second line, veteran soldiers who were very hard to replace.
Dutch losses were also high. With the casualties at Leffinghen included, they amounted to around 2,000. Again, it was the best regiments, Scottish and English veterans, who suffered most.
Conclusion
Although Maurice had driven a Spanish army from the field, a rare feat in the 16th century, the battle achieved nothing. The Dutch lines of communication had already been stretched to the limit and Maurice was soon forced to withdraw as well. The Flemish, which Maurice had hoped to rally to his revolt, remained loyal to the Spanish monarchy. Moreover, the great port of Dunkirk, which had been the principal objective of Maurice's campaign, lay out of reach and in Spanish hands. "The DunkirkersDunkirkers
During the Dutch Revolt the Dunkirkers or Dunkirk Privateers, were commerce raiders in the service of the Spanish Monarchy. They were also part of the Dunkirk fleet, which consequently was a part of the Spanish Monarchy's Flemish fleet ...
", would continue to prey on Dutch and English trade.
On the tactical side, the battle was paradoxical. Maurice's army had beaten a Spanish army. However, his reformed infantry had been dislodged from a strong defensive position by the Spanish infantry using its traditional methods and it was only his cavalry that had saved the Dutch from defeat.
Strategically, the lesson was that it was more advantageous to besiege and capture towns than to win battles. This fact would continue to characterize operations in the Eighty Years' War.
Order of battle
Dutch Army
1st Line- Horace Vere Regiment (English)
- Francis Vere Regiment (English)
- Hertinga Regiment (FrisianFrisiansThe Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
, it was double-sized regiment, with 19 companies, including two companies of Maurice's own Foot Guards) - 6 Cornets of Cuirassiers
- 3 Cornets of Light Cavalry
2nd Line
- Domerville Regiment (French HuguenotHuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
) - Swiss Battalion (4 companies)
- Marquette Regiment (WalloonWalloonsWalloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
regiment composed entirely of deserters from the Spanish colours) - 6 Cornets of Cuirassiers
3rd Line
- Ernst Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz Ernst CasimirErnst Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz was count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe.-Biography:...
Regiment (German, lieutenant-colonel Huysmann in command) - Hurchtenburch (Dutch)
- Ghistelles (Dutch, 6 companies strong, as the others had been left in Ostend to reinforce the Garrison)
- 3 Cornets of Cuirassiers
Spanish Army
1st Line- 1st Provisional TercioTercioThe tercio was a Renaissance era military formation made up of a mixed infantry formation of about 3,000 pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers or musketeers in a mutually supportive formation. It was also sometimes referred to as the Spanish Square...
(Spanish mutineers) - 2nd Provisional Tercio (Walloon mutineers)
- 7 cornets of light cavalry (mutineers)
2nd Line
- Monroy Tercio (Spanish)
- Villar Tercio (Spanish)
- Sapena Tercio (Spanish)
- Avila Tercio (Italian)
- 1 Cornet of Light Lancers
- 5 Cornets of Cuirassiers
3rd Line
- La Barlotte Tercio (Walloon)
- Bucquoy Tercio (Walloon)
- BostockBostockright|200px|thumb|Map of civil parish of Bostock in the former borough of Vale RoyalBostock is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 229. The village is...
Regiment (English, raised from the deserting garrison of DeventerDeventerDeventer is a municipality and city in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. Deventer is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, but also has a small part of its territory on the west bank. In 2005 the municipality of Bathmen Deventer is a municipality and city in...
and reinforced by English Catholic refugees) - 6 Cornets of Light Cavalry
Early Deployment
North flank:- Dutch : 14 guns, 650 English musketeers.
- Spanish : 9 guns, 50 cavalry, 400 infantry.
South flank:
- Dutch: 1,200 riders
- Spanish: 1,000 riders
Center:
- Dutch: 9,350 infantry
- Spanish: 7,300 infantry