In the Battle of Mookerheyde, Spanish forces defeated Dutch forces composed of German mercenaries on 14 April 1574 during the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Ref ...

near the village Mook and the river

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...

not far from

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

. Two leaders of the Dutch forces, brothers of

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

, were killed: Louis of Nassau (born 1538) and

Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg Henry of Nassau, count of Nassau-Dillenburg, (15 October 1550 in Dillenburg – 14 April 1574 in Mook) was the youngest brother of William I of Orange-Nassau. He was the twelfth and last child of William the Rich and Juliana of Stolberg-Wern ...

(born 1550). During the winter of 1573/74, Louis and

Henry of Nassau Count Henry III of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz (January 12, 1483, Siegen – September 14, 1538, Breda), Lord (from 1530 Baron) of Breda, Lord of the Lek, of Dietz, etc. was a count of the House of Nassau. He was the son of Count John V of Nassa ...

raised a mercenary army in Germany of 6500 infantry and 3000 cavalry. They proceeded towards

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

to rendezvous with their elder brother

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The titl ...

, who led 6000 Dutchmen. They planned to march their combined forces toward Leiden, which was under siege by a large Spanish force since October 1573. The strength of Count Louis' forces diminished en route. More than a thousand men deserted and seven hundred were killed by the Spanish in a night attack. The remaining troops were mutinous because the Dutch had been unable to pay them. Louis crossed the Meuse with only 5,500 infantry and 2,600 cavalry. Before Louis could join forces with William,

Luis de Requesens Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

temporarily lifted the siege of Leiden so that 5,000 infantry and 800 cavalry could counter Louis' advance. The Spanish army was led by Sancho d'Avila and

Bernardino de Mendoza Bernardino de Mendoza (c. 1540 – 3 August 1604) was a Spanish military commander, diplomat and writer on military history and politics. Biography Bernardino de Mendoza was born in Guadalajara, Spain around 1540, as the son of Don Alonso Su ...

. The armies met near the village of Mook. Well timed attacks by the Spanish lancers destroyed the Dutch cavalry, and the Spanish proved victorious. The Dutch suffered a disastrous defeat, losing at least 3,000 men. The Dutch army of mercenaries, still not paid, soon dispersed. William long hoped that his brothers had been captured, but Louis and Henry were apparently killed and their bodies were never recovered. The Spanish then resumed the siege of Leiden, which failed when Dutch forces relieved the city in October. In the course of the battle, Spanish forces seized the command baton that William the Silent had given his brother Louis. The baton, long forgotten, was discovered at the Jesuit residence in San Cugat in Catalonia. In 2017, the General Superior of the Jesuits, Arturo Sosa, returned the baton to King

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess B ...

in a ceremony at the Vatican. The transfer was symbolic, in that ownership of the baton is retained by

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

as part of its cultural and historic patrimony. The baton had passed to the Jesuits as part of the estate of

, Governor General of the Spanish Netherlands in 1574. The Dutch plan to display it at the National Military Museum.

References

;Additional sources * Hans Delbrück, ''The Dawn of Modern Warfare: History of the Art of Warfare, Volume IV'' (University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 132ff. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Mookerheyde 1574 in the Dutch Republic 1574 in the Habsburg Netherlands 16th-century military history of Spain Eighty Years' War (1566–1609) Mookerheyde Mookerheyde Mookerheyde Mookerheyde Mook en Middelaar