Assault on Nijmegen ( 1589 ) The Assault on Nijmegen occurred on the night of 10 August 1589 , involving troops of the mercenary Martin Schenck von Nydeggen against the small garrison and some citizens at the city of Nijmegen . Located at the confluence of the Waal and Rhine rivers , Nijmegen was strategically important to the defense of the Dutch provinces and the Electorate of Cologne . Planning to take the city by surprise , Schenck and his troops would then reinforce the city , provision it and prepare it for siege by troops of Alexander Farnese , Duke of Parma . In the attack , Schenck and his soldiers tried to enter the city from barges on the Waal river . Some of the barges floated past the rendezvous point , and landed further down river . Others deposited Schenck and his men at a house where a wedding party meant the residence was packed with people . In the abortive battle , Schenck and many of his men drown in the river . It was the second to last action of the Cologne War . Context . The Cologne War was the first major test of the 1555 religious Peace of Augsburg ' s and the principle of ecclesiastical reservation . It was triggered by the 1582 conversion of the Archbishop - Prince Elector of Cologne , Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg , to Calvinism , his subsequent marriage to Agnes von Mansfeld - Eisleben in 1583 , and his declaration of religious parity for Protestants and Catholics in the electorate . When Gebhard refused to relinquish the ecclesiastical see , the Cathedral chapter elected a competing archbishop , Ernst of Bavaria . For the first two years , the competing archbishops fought to a standstill . Both had external help : Ernst ' s oldest brother , Wilhelm V , Duke of Bavaria provided soldiers and funds , and his second eldest brother , Ferdinand , commanded the small army in his name , and Gebhard ' s brother , Karl Truchsess von Waldburg and several Protestant supporters within the Electorate provided both soldiers and funds . In the immediate months of the war ' s outbreak , the Oberstift campaign resulted in Gebhard ' s loss of several important cities and citadels , which eventually changed hands several times in the course of the war . In the 1585 – 86 campaigns , Dutch , Flemish and English mercenaries had augmented his force , but he never attracted significant support from the other German princes , principally because he was a Calvinist and they were Lutherans . The Dutch had offered moderate help , recognizing the linkage between his cause and their own independence from Catholic Spain . Conversely , Alexander Farnese , Duke of Parma and commander of Philip I of Spain ' s army in Flanders also recognized the linkage between Ernst ' s cause and his own . A series of Catholic bridgeheads on the Rhine would enable him to move his troops more easily around several of the strongholds opposing the re - establishment of Spanish control in the Netherlands . In 1585 and 1587 , Ernst won several important victories , principally through the efforts of the Duke of Parma ' s army , and several of the German - Catholic counts , such as Karl von Mansfeld . By 1588 , only Rheinberg remained outside the Spanish grasp , and in an effort to salvage the a strategic major garrison in the electorate of Cologne for Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg , Martin Schenck intercepted and defeated seven companies of foot marching to Friesland , to reinforce Francisco Verdugo . Assault on Nijmegen . Despite the defeat of Verdugo , however , the rebellious Dutch provinces remained in jeopardy from Spain ' s Army of Flanders , which could attack from the relatively open border on the east . Holding Nijmegen , with its strategic access to the Waal and the Rhine rivers , would be a key point in securing the border between the Dutch provinces and Friesland . Strategically , it was important to seize , fortify and provision the city , to prepare it for a potential Spanish siege . Plan . Hoping to accomplish this , Martin Schenck devised a scheme through which he would take Nijmegen and enhance his own treasury . On the evening of 10 August 1589 , Schenck and 20 barges of men — approximately 200 soldiers — made their way down the Waal to Nijmegen . Schenck ' s plan was simple : they would find a house with open windows . Using scaling hooks and ropes , they would climb into the house and overpower the inhabitants , who should be sleeping at that hour . Once the house was secured , they would quietly find the city gate , and open it to the rest of the force , which would be waiting on the river landing . They could then overpower the small local garrison and any citizens who felt resistance was necessary . Not only would they reinforce the city , but there would be opportunity for plunder as well . Plan goes awry . Schenck encountered several unforeseen problems . First , heavy summer rains had swelled the river well past the normal stage for August . The Waal was racing closer to its spring flood stage than the norm of late summer . Consequently , maneuvering the barges was far more difficult than Schenck anticipated . Barges carrying more than half his men were so unmanageable in the current that they swept past both the chosen entry point and the landing point outside the city gate . Second , everyone was awake at the house Schenck chose to enter . Not only were they awake , but the owner was celebrating a wedding , and the house was filled with party - goers , many of whom were armed . Once the house ' s residents and their guests realized that strangers had made their way inside , they raised the alarm . The party - goers put up a stout defense . Schenck and his men were driven back through the house to their entry windows . One by one , they climbed back to the barges which , in the rough river , had drifted away from the walls , making it necessary for many of the men to swim . Many of the soldiers missed the barges , the current sweeping them away . In the meantime , the men on the barges that had been pushed past the entry point by the river ' s current had struggled to bring them back to a landing . More citizens rushed out to defend the city against the new group of marauders . Schenck ' s force , divided and beset at all sides , was pushed back to the river . Several of the soldiers managed to push the barges into the river , and pull some of their comrades to safety , but it was difficult work : the darkness and the swiftness of the current made steadying the barges difficult , and the angry citizens of Nijmegen were firing arrows and small arms at the marauders . Eventually the soldiers forwent the ropes and scaling hooks , and simply jumped into the river , hoping to swim to the barges . In an effort to escape , Schenck jumped into the river but his heavy armor weighed him down , and , although he tried to swim to a nearby vessel , the weight was too great . Most of the soldiers who could not get into a barge either drowned in the river , or were pulled downstream ; the few who did not drown were hunted down in the next couple of days and summarily executed . Schenck ' s body also was found a few days later ; the body was decapitated , his head placed on a pike , and his body quartered . The pieces were exhibited at four gates . Consequences . Schenck was a known and feared mercenary who had shown little regard for the towns belonging to his friends , much less those of his enemies . His arrival to " reinforce " a local garrison was already a mixed blessing ; although his military acumen had helped him accumulate multiple honors , his strategies were brutal and merciless , even in this age of warfare . While his death was a military blow , it was a public relations blessing . In Westphalia , Neuss , Bonn , and Godesburg , Schenck had made himself and his men feared , and had done great damage to the personal appeal of the Calvinist Elector of Cologne ' s reputation and cause .