Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom (1588)

Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom
Part of the Eighty Years' War
Siege of Bergen op Zoom in 1588 by the Duke of Parma Print by Bartholomeus Dolendo
Date September 23 - November 13, 1588 Location Bergen op Zoom, Brabant (present-day the Netherlands) Result Anglo-Dutch victory
Belligerents
England United Provinces	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Peregrine Bertie Thomas Morgan Maurice of Orange	Duke of Parma Sancho Martínez de Leyva
Strength
5,000	20,000
Casualties and losses
low	1,000

The Siege of Bergen op Zoom was a siege that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War between September 23 - November 13, 1588. The siege was between a besieged Anglo Dutch force under Thomas Morgan and Peregrine Bertie and a Spanish besieging force under famed commander Alexander Farnese, the Duke of Parma. An English officer Grimstone claimed to be a disaffected Catholic had set up a trap during which a large Spanish assault was then bloodily repulsed. An Anglo Dutch relief column under the command Maurice of Orange soon after arrived and forced the Duke of Parma to retreat, thus ending the siege.

England had been freed from danger following the defeat of the Spanish armada during the summer of 1588. At the same time the Duke of Parma with his army which had been assembled for the invasion then stood his troops down.

Parma instead turned and then marched through Brabant with the aim of taking Bergen op Zoom before winter set in. Parma sent a regiment under the Marquis of Burgau, with troops numbering 8,000 men under Count Mansfelt, the Prince of Ascoli, and the Duke of Pastrana, in advance to attempt the capture of the island of Tholen. On it was an important town of the same name to the north of Bergen op Zoom, on the opposite side of the channel of the Scheldt separating the island from the mainland of Brabant. The governor of Bergen op Zoom was Thomas Morgan and the garrison was predominantly English - composed of twelve ensigns of English foot and three cornets of Dutch cavalry under the commands of Peregrine Bertie (Lord Willoughby) and Sir William Dury.

Morgan had been in England supervising the defence of the English coast. during the armada campaign leaving Lord Willoughby in charge. Willoughby in the meantime had worked hard to put Bergen op Zoom in a good form of defence. He constructed two blinds outside the Wouw Gate, to cover the drawbridges and protect sallying parties, and some other outworks, connected by covered ways. He had advice from Count Everard Solms, who came over from Tholen, where he commanded the Zeeland regiment.

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