Battle of Noordhorn

The Battle of Noordhorn, fought on 30 September 1581, was a pitched battle of the Dutch Revolt, fought between a Spanish army commanded by Colonel Francisco Verdugo – consisting of Walloon, German, Spanish, and Albanian soldiers – and a Dutch States rebel army under the Englishman John Norreys – comprising English, Scottish, Dutch, and Walloon troops – in the province of Groningen. In 1580, the Dutch stadtholder of Groningen, George van Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg, had shifted its allegiance from the Dutch to the Spanish side. This opened a new front at the back door of the Dutch Republic, forcing the States-General to dispatch forces to the north. That year the Dutch, under the leadership of John Norreys, succeeded in relieving the town of Steenwijk. In July 1581, Rennenberg died and was replaced by the Spaniard Francisco Verdugo, whose arrival in Groningen with reinforcements changed the situation. On 30 September Verdugo forced Norreys to give battle using a strategy of attrition.

The battle was fought on a rough, marshy ground very favorable to the Spanish army. Norrey's initial assault on the Spanish right wing was successful, but the Spanish cavalry, led by Verdugo, routed the Dutch cavalry under William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and broke the States' infantry. The English left was then cut off from the rest of the States' army and destroyed. During the pursuit of the States' troops Verdugo was nearly captured, but left unharmed in the end. Both Norreys and Count William Louis were wounded, and their army suffered a heavy death toll, losing many flags and all five of its guns. Verdugo could not capitalize on his victory because of a mutiny the following day by his German regiments and heavy flooding. The military situation in Friesland, however, had reached a turning point, and in 1582 the Spanish made great advances, even taking Steenwijk on 17 November 1582.

Background

In 1580, during the Eighty Years' War, the Dutch stadtholder of Groningen, George van Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg, though having been appointed by the rebellious States-General, shifted his allegiance to the Spanish government, held at that time by Don Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma.Nolan, p. 43 In July 1581 after being defeated by John Norreys and Diederik Sonoy at Kollum, Lalaing fell ill and died in the city of Groningen. Parma sent one of his most accomplished officers, the Spaniard Francisco Verdugo, to take the place of the deceased stadtholder. Verdugo, born in Talavera but raised amongst the Flemish and married to a daughter of the later governor-general of the Netherlands, Peter Ernst von Mansfeld, began his career as a simple soldier, but rose through the ranks to become a colonel. He was considered by the historian Charles Maurice Davies "''a leader of eminent skill and ability''", and was promoted to the post over other candidates such as Colonel Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen, whom Farnese had earlier sent to relieve Rennenberg and had dealt a serious defeat to a Dutch army at the Battle of Hardenberg, on 17 June 1580.

Verdugo, having been forced by the Union of Arras – formed by the Dutch provinces loyal to Spanish King Philip II, who wanted the foreign troops out of the Netherlands – to hand over his regiment to his brother-in-law Charles von Mansfeld, recruited a regiment of 2,000 Walloon arquebusiers and made his way to Friesland. While mustering his infantry in the village of Kerpen, Verdugo learned that the Dutch rebels were leaving a company of German reiters – a type of armoured cavalry armed with pistols – in Cologne under a rittmeister called Adam von Langen. As he lacked cavalry or pikemen and it was reported by Spanish agents that von Langen was angry because he had been paid by the Dutch with false coins, Verdugo managed to convince the rittmeister to escort his arquebusiers to Groningen. Passing through Bredevoort and Coevorden, Verdugo and his regiment reached Groningen. There, Verdugo was met with a mutiny, which he ended by distributing 40,000 escudos amongst the mutineers, disbanding an undisciplined German regiment, and giving license to two companies of men-at-arms to join Farnese's army in Hainault.Vázquez, p. 297 With the loyal troops, meanwhile, he took two Dutch forts, one at the mouth of the Emden and another near Groningen.

Verdugo's arrival quickly altered the situation in Friesland, which had until then been favourable to the Dutch. During 1580, the Dutch forces fighting Rennenberg in Friesland had failed to prevent him from taking the towns of Oldenzaal and Coevorden, but in December, under the leadership of the English Colonel John Norreys, a veteran soldier with experience in the Netherlands and Ireland, they had succeeded in relieving Steenwijk from a Spanish siege. Norreys, appointed "Master of the Camp" by the Dutch States-General, harassed the Spanish army during the winter of 1580–1581, forcing Rennenberg to lift the siege and withdrew in February. The most effective force of the Dutch army in Friesland was Norreys' English regiment. Though England was not officially at war against Spain, Queen Elizabeth I was playing a complex diplomatic role to keep the Dutch revolt alive,Nolan, p. 45 and this included sending troops to the Netherlands under the guise of "volunteers", but factually maintained by the English crown.

In June 1581, the States-General appointed Norreys General of all the States' troops beyond the Meuse. In August, the Dutch local council, assembled in Leeuwarden, tasked Norreys with preventing Verdugo from penetrating further into the country, for which his 30 companies of infantry were reinforced by five cavalry companies under William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He was expected to besiege the Spanish forts around Groningen, but he lacked the artillery to do so, having been given only four small guns.Nolan, p. 47 Moreover, Norreys' Dutch and Walloon soldiers were unhappy with being under the command of a foreigner. Norreys spent the summer months attempting in vain to blockade Groningen, while Verdugo, who was aware of the dissent amongst the Dutch army, patiently waited in his fortified posts despite being urged by the local authorities to confront Norreys. In early September, after a failed raid on his camp, Verdugo was sure of Norreys' intentions of giving battle, and thus he advanced his army to near Norreys' camp near the village of Noordhorn. Shortly thereafter, determined to fight, Norreys' Anglo-Dutch army was deployed over the dike of Niezijl.Vázquez, p. 302

Order of battle

The Spanish army, led by Francisco Verdugo, with Lieutenant-Colonel Johann Baptista von Taxis as second in command, was deployed before the village of Noordhorn and behind broken ground with only one access point that was covered by a wide ravine

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