page_title: Siege of Zaltbommel
section_title: Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Zaltbommel / Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Beleg van Zaltbommel, 1599, Jacobus Buys,
context_page_description: The Siege of Zaltbommel was a campaign that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War from May 15 to July 22, 1599. The Spanish led by Francisco López de Mendoza y Mendoza launched an offensive campaign around Bommelerwaard, which was defended by an Anglo-Dutch force under the command of Maurice of Orange. A siege on the town of Zaltbommel by Spanish troops was attempted but they had to lift the siege and were defeated in subsequent attempts to regain the initiative. Mendoza retreated and the Spanish army then found itself in chaos: mutinies took effect and as a result further operations were suspended for a number of years. As a result, the Dutch and English followed with a counter-offensive in the Spanish Netherlands.
context_section_description: On 4 May, after the failure of the attack on Schenkenschanz, the Spanish moved around the fort and thus crossed the Maas between Kessel and Theren, and invaded the island of Bommelerwaard. Upon the arrival of more troops at Tieler and Bommelerwaard, Spanish troops focused first on Fort Crèvecoeur which barred the way; this was taken quickly and the siege of Zaltbommel began. Maurice rapidly concentrated his forces in and around the city of Zaltbommel, throwing up entrenchments, while he sent a detached force to hold the town of Alst. Two days later the Spanish under Mendoza delivered a furious assault along the lines around Zaltbommel, which was repulsed with heavy losses. Despite this Mendoza continued his approaches, and planted guns and dug trenches, while skirmishes were a daily occurrence. The Anglo-Dutch force was fully prepared however using the river to its maximum potential. They sent 280 vessels, several mounted with guns; meanwhile on land 379 wagons were dispatched with provisions, and 356 horses were collected for dragging the guns.
  On June 13 Maurice was able to open a tremendous fire on the Spanish camp, which obliged the Spanish to raise the siege which Mendoza hoped would only be temporary. Mendoza retreated across the island and began the construction of a formidable fortress at the eastern end, facing the isle of Voorn to the west of Heerewaarden. This fort was named San Andres in honour of Mendoza's colleague, the Cardinal Margrave Andrew of Burgau. Maurice exerted himself to hinder the progress of Fort San Andres with a bombardment; the Spanish though constructed two bastions towards the Waal, two towards the Maas, and a fifth inland, with connecting curtains with the rivers serving as a ditch. Maurice planted guns on the opposite bank, and there was a heavy cannonade, but for many days the two armies were comparatively inactive.
  On June 24 a force under Count William Louis of Nassau and Sir Horace Vere crossed the river, and by break of day they had thrown up a crescent formation at Heerewaarden a short distance from San Andres. The next day, 3,000 Spaniards and Italians encouraged by several monks, launched a furious assault on the half-moon, forced their way through the palisades, and fought hand-to-hand and at push of pike. Vere, aided by the Scottish Colonel Edmunds, defended the position and the Spaniards were eventually repulsed with heavy losses. A Scottish colonel Murray, an ageing veteran of the Dutch revolt by this time, was killed when the English and Scots launched successful a counter-attack after the Spanish had fled from their camp.
  Maurice meanwhile then decided the only way to save the critical situation was to supply the defenders of Zaltbommel by connecting Heerewaarden with Voorn by a bridge. Maurice's engineers took fourteen flat bottomed ships that had supplied the army, stripped them of their rigging, then anchored them to a line crossing the Waal from a point east of Tuil to the harbour at Zaltbommel. They then constructed a plank roadway across the ships which was wide enough to allow two wagons to pass in opposite directions. Soon after a fortified position was constructed for its protection at Lithoijen, on the Brabant side and soon afterwards supplies came into the city. The military advantage gained here was incalculable 
  To prevent the Spanish from reaching the ship bridge and encircling from the West, Maurice then ordered the piercing of the dikes near Gameren thus flooding the countryside there. Soon after Sir Francis Vere crossed the river with 6,000 men, and after doing so then made a successful attack on a Spanish position which they called Durango. The position was stormed and as a result the Spanish were on the verge of being totally cut off. This was too much for the dejected Spanish; morale slumped and Mendoza and his second in command openly clashed over the leadership of the army. Soldiers went unpaid and underfed and many were poorly armed. Desertion rates increased daily and there were rumours of potential mutiny. Mendoza's problems were adding and he saw t
caption: Siege of Zaltbommel, 1599, engraving by Jacobus Buys
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