The Battle of Turnhout, 1597 occurred during the Eighty Years' War where Turnhout was in the border area between the Northern and Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

. Though the town had not been walled, Turnhout was an important strategic town. On January 24, 1597 on the Tielenheide (this battle is also called 'The battle on Tielenheide') in a neighbouring village (Tielen

Tielen

Tielen is a village in the province of Antwerp in Flanders, Belgium. It is part of the municipality of Kasterlee. The nearest town is the neighbouring town of Turnhout. Other neighbouring villages are Vosselaar, Lichtaart, Poederlee, Lille and Gierle....

), Dutch cavalry under command of Prince Maurice met and defeated 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...

 cavalry detachment under Varax. The Spanish cavalry was driven off, after which the Dutch troops burnt parts of the local castle. The ever prudent Maurice failed to follow up and turn the tactical victory into a strategic one.

Cultural

Music composer Kevin Houben commemorated the battle in his concert work, Thyellene, battle on the heath. In September 2008, Brassband Kempenzonen Tielen played this work on the site where once the battle took place.

The defeat of Varax inspired the writing of the hymn We Gather Together

We Gather Together

"We Gather Together" is a Christian hymn of Dutch origin written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as "Wilt Heden Nu Treden" to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. It was originally set to a Dutch folk tune...

.