The English garrison's surrender of Aalst to Parma for payment accelerated Spanish reconquest of Flemish cities during the Eighty Years' War.
Key Facts
- Date
- Early February 1584
- Payment to garrison
- 128,250 florins florins
- Garrison nationality
- English troops
- Governor of Aalst
- Olivier van den Tympel
- River location
- Dender river, County of Aalst
- Conflict
- Eighty Years' War
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following Spain's successful military campaign of 1583, Governor-General Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, pursued a strategy of starving cities along the Scheldt and its tributaries into submission. Aalst, situated on the Dender river, was blockaded from January 1584, leaving its English garrison without adequate supplies or pay.
In early February 1584, the English troops of the Aalst garrison, exhausted by the lack of provisions and unpaid wages, surrendered the city to Parma's Spanish forces. In exchange for 128,250 florins, the soldiers capitulated and subsequently entered Spanish military service, giving the city up without prolonged armed resistance.
The fall of Aalst furthered Parma's steady advance through Flanders. Within months, Ypres surrendered on April 7 after a three-month siege, and Bruges capitulated without a shot fired on May 24, demonstrating the collapse of organized resistance to Spanish reconquest in the southern Low Countries.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma.
Side B
1 belligerent
Olivier van den Tympel.