page_title: Battle of Turnhout (1597)
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Turnhout (1597) / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Francis de Vere, General and Governor during the Siege of Ostend in 1601 to 1604.
context_page_description: The Battle of Turnhout also known as the Battle of Tielenheide was a military engagement which took place on 24 January 1597 in the border area between the Northern and Southern Netherlands at Turnhout during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War.
  After a small skirmish both armies confronted each other on an area of heathland. The Spanish cavalry was driven off, after which the English and Dutch cavalry fell upon the straggling Spanish infantry who were routed with heavy casualties.
context_section_description: Varax heard reports of Maurice's army having approached not far from Turnhout itself. He immediately ordered a retreat and by dawn the whole of the Spanish force were in the process of withdrawing to Herentals. Maurice soon discovered that the rear guard of the Spanish had just marched out of the village. The country was intersected in all directions by hedges and ditches and having reached the banks of the River Aa, Varax removed all but one plank from the wooden bridge that transversed it. Parties of Spanish musketeers were stationed on the other side to contest any crossing attempt by Maurice, although the English advance guard swiftly forced them off.
   English carabineers and musketeers were sent forward to engage the Spanish rearguard and a skirmish ensued which continued for five miles. Dutch musketeers crossed the bridge, while others, with the cavalry, traversed the river through a nearby ford. The Spanish were now in full retreat, while Maurice ordered the whole of the Anglo-Dutch cavalry to advance rapidly in pursuit, leaving his infantry well behind.
  Having come across a large wood further on from the river, Vere called up his detached musketeers and placed them along the edges to conceal them. These skirmishers kept up a constant harassing fire on the Spanish rearguard, while Vere along with sixteen horsemen followed them along the highway in full sight and at the same time sent back a report to Maurice to come up in support. Vere had his horse shot from under him which slightly wounded his leg, but continued to lead on foot, until he was remounted. This skirmish between the Anglo-Dutch scouting force and the Spanish rearguard lasted for over three hours until the main body of the former's cavalry arrived. The Spanish had by then emerged onto an open heath, suitable for cavalry action.
  Varax had his infantry formed in four solid squares of pikemen in the open space of the heath, with musketeers on the flanks as was standard practice for the Spanish tercios. His cavalry and wagons had entered an enclosed lane beyond. The first square consisted of Germans led by the Count of Sulz, then came the Walloons and Burgundian tercios. The Marquis of Treviso brought up the rear with a force of Italian and Spanish veteran tercios. Vere had followed them, until all of Maurice's cavalry had joined with him having emerged from the wood. The Anglo-Dutch then formed on the open heath in front of the Spanish.
  The Spaniards steadily continued their march but as they became aware of the allied movements on their left, their cavalry changed position and transferred from the right to the left of the line and rode between the infantry and the belt of woods. After the first volley by Vere's musketeers the Spanish harquebuisers on foot broke and fled. Varax ordered his cavalry to protect the retreat but Count Hohenlohe and his Dutch cavalry charged the Spanish right flank, as Vere followed suit upon their rear. Hohenlohe fell upon Sulz's regiment of Germans while the rearguard consisting of Treviso's tercios was assailed by Vere's English and Bacx's Dutch cavalry. The surprise was complete; the Spanish cavalry which included the famed squadrons of Guzman, Mondragon, and Mendoza were hit hard at the first onset and within moments retreated for the pass. Most of them escaped through the hollow into the boggy ground beyond. Several companies of Parker's cavalry galloped down the Herentals road, in pursuit of the Spanish cavalry and baggage.
  With the Spanish cavalry having been driven off, the Dutch and English cavalry fell upon the straggling Spanish infantry. The Walloon regiments tried to form a line with the flank protected by a copse, but their morale was already low after witnessing the flight of their cavalry.  When they saw in the distance the mass of Dutch infantry appearing to support their cavalry they broke into a rout and tried to swim across the Aa river to reach Herentals. The musketeers of Sultz's regiment fell back in confusion upon the pikemen behind them and the whole formation promptly surrendered en masse upon being 
caption: Sir Francis Vere
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