Battle of Gembloux (1578)
The Battle of Gembloux took place at Gembloux, near Namur, Low Countries, between the Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria (Spanish: Don Juan de Austria),[4] Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, and a rebel army composed of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French, and Walloon soldiers under Antoine de Goignies,[5] during the Eighty Years' War.[1][2] On 31 January 1578 the Spanish cavalry commanded by John's nephew, Don Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma (Italian: Alessandro Farnese, Spanish: Alejandro Farnesio), after pushing back the Netherlandish cavalry, attacked the Netherlandish army, causing an enormous panic amongst the rebel troops.[3] The result was a crushing victory for the Spanish forces.[1][2] The battle hastened the disintegration of the unity of the rebel provinces, and meant the end of the Union of Brussels.[6][7]
For the World War II battle, see Battle of Gembloux (1940)Prelude[edit]
After the Sack of Antwerp[8] by Spanish mutineers on 4 November 1576, Catholics and Protestants of the Low Countries concluded the Pacification of Ghent, to remove all Spanish troops.[9] The Spanish tercios were in fact withdrawn to Italy in April 1577, after the new Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, the famous Christian knight, and half-brother of Philip II of Spain, Don John of Austria (victor of Lepanto), had signed the Perpetual Edict.[10]
However, in the summer of 1577, Don John (brandishing the motto In hoc signo vici Turcos, in hoc vincam haereticos—"in this sign I conquered the Turks, in this I shall conquer the heretics")[11] began planning for a new campaign against the Netherlandish rebels, and in July 1577 he took the Citadel of Namur by surprise without a fight. This action further destabilized the uneasy alliance between Catholics and Protestants. From December 1577, John of Austria, still based in Luxembourg, received reinforcements from Spanish Lombardy: some 9,000 battle-hardened Spanish troops under Don Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma (Duke after the death of his father, Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma, in September 1586), complemented by 4,000 troops from Lorraine under Peter Ernst, Count of Mansfeld, and local Walloon troops from Luxembourg and Namur.[12] By January 1578, he had between 17,000 and 20,000 men at his disposal.[12][13]
The Union of Brussels had 25,000 fighting men, but these troops were badly equipped and led, and above all very diverse: Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, Walloon, German, and French, and religiously ranging from staunch Catholics to zealous Calvinists.[3]