Battle of Werl ( 1586 ) The Battle of Werl occurred between 3 – 8 March 1586 , during a month - long campaign in the Duchy of Westphalia by mercenaries fighting for the Protestant ( Calvinist ) Archbishop - Prince Elector of Cologne , Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg . The action at Werl had been preceded by a general plundering of Vest and Recklinghausen by troops of Hermann Friedrich Cloedt and Martin Schenck which alienated the farmers and merchants of Westphalia from Gebhard ' s cause , although not specifically from Protestantism . Schenck used trickery to take the fortress at Werl , but was not able to completely overpower the guard . The arrival of a superior force outnumbering his by about 10 to 1 , under the command of Claude de Berlaymont , cornered him in within the city ' s walls . In his subsequent withdrawal , he took a couple dozen civilian hostages , and escaped with his booty across the Rhine river . Context . When Gebhard converted to Calvinism , married Agnes von Mansfeld - Eisleben in 1583 , and declared religious parity for Protestants and Catholics in the electorate , the Cathedral chapter elected a competing archbishop , Ernst of Bavaria . Gebhardt refused to give up the ecclesiastical see , holding it with armed force where necessary ; Ernst called in his brother , Ferdinand , for military assistance . Initially , the conflict was limited to troops of Waldburg , and the competing archbishop , Ernst of Bavaria . By 1585 , these forces were stalemated , and each sought outside support , Waldburg from the Dutch and Ernst of Bavaria from the Alexander Farnese , Duke of Parma . The Sack of Westphalia . In March 1586 , Martin Schenck von Nydeggen took 500 foot and 500 horse to Westphalia , accompanied by Hermann Friedrich Cloedt , the commander of the fortified town of Neuss . Their goal was to secure two primary fortifications at Recklinghausen and Werl for Gebhard , and leave them fortified against attack by either Ernst ' s forces or those of the Duke of Parma . They crossed the Rhine river , and plundered several towns in Westphalia , including Hamm , Soest , Unna , Vest and Waltrop , as well as the farmsteads and villages between them . In the course of their campaign , they also desecrated several churches , removing all the icons , tapestries and furnishings , and , in Soest , harassing the clergyman . Cornered in Werl . After plundering Vest Recklinghausen , on 1 March Schenck captured Werl through trickery . He loaded a train of wagons with his soldiers and covered them with salt , a valuable commodity . When the wagons of salt were seen outside the city , the guards opened the gates they were admitted at once . The " salted soldiers " then over - powered the guards and captured the town . Some of the defenders escaped to the Werl citadel . Schenck and his troops stormed it several times , but were turned away . When they could not capture the well - fortified citadel , they thoroughly sacked the city , theoretically to discourage any citizens from helping the guards in the citadel . Count Claude von Berlaymount , also known as Haultpenne , collected his force of 4000 and besieged Schenck in Werl , surrounding the city with heavy artillery and horse . Although he had a seemingly overwhelming force against Schenck ' s mere 500 or so soldiers , he was reluctant to shell the town . Although Schenck and Cloedt were surrounded outside , and attacked inside from the several hundred guards in the Werl citadel . They tried to break out once , but were forced back into the city , leaving some 50 of their own soldiers outside the gates when they were shut ; these soldiers then escaped into the forest , and attacked several nearby farmsteads , waiting for their commanders to break out again . Inside the fortress Cloedt and Schenck loaded their wagons once again , this time with all their booty , took 30 magistrates as hostages , and attacked Haultpenne ' s force , killing about 500 of them , and losing 200 of their own . After fighting their way through Haultpenne ' s force , they made their way to Kettwick , and crossed the Rhine above Dortmund . Cloedt returned to his command at Neuss , which in a short time was surrounded and destroyed by Alexander Farnese , Duke of Parma . Schenck to Venlo on the Neuss river . Result . For Schenck , the battle , and the campaign in Westphalia , was a success . He entered Westphalia as a soldier of fortune , and he left as a soldier with a fortune . Once he crossed the Rhine , he deposited his fortune and his wife in Venlo , and went to Delft to report to the Philip William , Prince of Orange . While there , Robert Dudley , Earl of Leicester , the English Governor - General of the Dutch , knighted him by order of Elizabeth I , and presented him with a chain valued at a thousand gold pieces . For Gebhard , the 1586 Battle of Werl specifically , and the sack of Westphalia generally , provided him with no specific gains and with some very concrete losses . Schenck failed to secure any reasonable fortresses for the long - term , which isolated Gebhardt ' s territories , and his forces , from any possible assistance from the Protestant princes in the east ; they would have to fight through the Spanish army to send him any aid . The assets Schenck did acquire were largely plundered from farmers and merchants . Although they enhanced his and his soldiers ' resources , they did little for Gebhard ' s declining financial situation , which , by this point , was in dire straits . Furthermore , little more than a paid brigand , Schenck alienated the population of Westphalia , if not from Protestantism at least from Gebhard ' s cause . In the larger picture of the Cologne War , the failure of the Westphalia campaign and Schenck ' s retreat from Werl marked the beginning of the end for Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg ' s tenure as archbishop and prince - elector of Cologne . Once the Spanish threw their army into the fray , the balance of military force shifted rapidly to the Catholic side . The loss of the archbishopric of Cologne to the Catholic contender , Ernst of Bavaria , resulted in the consolidation of Wittelsbach authority in northwestern German territories , the Jesuit - run establishment of a Catholic Counter - Reformation stronghold on the lower Rhine , and the consolidation of Spanish bridgeheads on the Rhine river , via which Philip of Spain could assault the Protestant Dutch provinces .