Battle of Wattrelos

The Battle of Wattrelos (also called Watrelois or Waterloo) at the Flemish (now French) town of Wattrelos on 27 December 1566 between an army of beggars and an Imperial Spanish army; it was one of the first battles of the Dutch Revolt.

Battle of Wattrelos
Part of the Eighty Years’ War
Date 27 December 1566 Location Wattrelos, Flanders, Spanish Netherlands Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Geuzen	Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Jan Denys	Maximilian Vilain
Strength
200 infantry	50 cavalry 150 infantry
Casualties and losses
Almost 200[1]	?

Battle

Maximilian Vilain, stadtholder of Walloon Flanders, heard that the Beggars advanced to Doornik and sent 50 cavalry and 150 infantry in response. On 27 December the Spanish defeated the Beggars, who fled into a church which was set on fire by the Spanish.[2]

Two days after the defeat the Beggars lost another battle at Lannoy and lost Doornik. Jan Denys was hanged in Brussels on 22 April 1567.[1]

References

1. Geuzenproject.org
2. John Lothrop Motley, De Opkomst van de nederlandsche Republiek, Volume 2 (1860) blz. 188-189. (oorspr. titel The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856) vertaald door Reinier Cornelis Bakhuizen van den Brink). 's-Gravenhage: W.P. van Stockum.