A Spanish relief force successfully delivered supplies to besieged Zutphen, securing the town for Spain during the Eighty Years' War.
Key Facts
- Date
- 22 September 1586
- Conflict
- Eighty Years' War / Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
- Location
- Near Warnsveld and Zutphen, Gelderland, Netherlands
- Spanish convoy commander
- Alfonso Félix de Ávalos Aquino y Gonzaga, Marquis del Vasto
- Anglo-Dutch commander
- Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
- Outcome
- Spanish convoy delivered; Zutphen secured for Spain
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
England entered the Eighty Years' War via the 1585 Treaty of Nonsuch and sent the Earl of Leicester to support Dutch rebels. Leicester besieged Zutphen to counter Spanish operations, while Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, moved to relieve the town after intercepted communications revealed an Anglo-Dutch ambush plan targeting a Spanish supply convoy.
On 22 September 1586, Anglo-Dutch forces attempted to intercept a large Spanish supply convoy bound for Zutphen. The English cavalry under the Earl of Essex defeated the Spanish horse, but the Spanish infantry held firm and successfully delivered the convoy into the town. Reinforced by Francisco Verdugo's garrison, Spanish troops then forced the English forces to retreat.
Zutphen remained under Spanish control. Although the English subsequently captured Zutphen's sconce on the IJssel, most gains were soon reversed when the English governors of Deventer and the sconce defected to Spain and surrendered both positions to Farnese, effectively eliminating the Anglo-Dutch foothold in the area.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.
Side B
1 belligerent
Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, Alfonso Félix de Ávalos Aquino y Gonzaga, Marquis del Vasto, Francisco Verdugo.