16th Century FORUM
Battle of Sittard, 24 March 1543
cold0
Hi folks, I’m looking for a description about the “Battle of Sittard”, fought between duke Willem II van Gulik and the Spanish king Charles V From March 24 to March 28, 1543. I found the first reference about this battle on Hans Delbruck “Dawn of Modern Warfare”: “A clear example of this was seen in the battle that the heavy horsemen of the Netherlands fought against those of Cleves in 1543 at Sittard...” Then the only reference that I have found is on Wikipedia under the Broeksittard entry: “From March 24 to March 28, 1543 Broeksittard was almost completely destroyed during the battle for the Kemperkoul. This battle was fought between duke Willem II van Gulik and the Spanish king Charles V. The battle was won by Willem II and left over 4000 soldiers and 900 horses dead. After the battle, Charles gave permission to all his remaining soldiers to plunder resulting in rapings, murder, theft and the devastation of many surrounding villages and the city of Sittard.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broeksittard).
I’m particulary interestend in the clash between the two heavy cavalry formation cited by Dalbruck, so even a brief description (on english) of the battle can help me
Report offensive material
RESPONSES
| kgw |
1
Never heard of it. Anyway, there was never a "Spanish king Charles V". "Karl V" was the tittle of the HRE and "Carlos I" (of Castle, Aragon....) the Spanish Ttitle. And probably he wasn't fighting in Sittard as Spanish King, but as Emperor.
Posted: 30-Jul-2008 23:14
Report offensive material
|
| kgw |
2
Oh, besides: the "Willem II van Gulik" who was supossed to fight that battle... died in 1393
(http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_II_van_Gulik)
The only "Willem" who fought against Charles V was "Willem V van Kleef" (Willem of Cleves). And there is not even a trace of "Kemperkoul" over the Net.
And, strangely enough, nor the Netherlanders or Limburg version of Wikipedia talk about that battle.
Posted: 30-Jul-2008 23:34
Report offensive material
|
| cold0 |
3
Thank for the reply hgw,
It seems that Broeksittard entry on Wiki is full of errors. Sadly it doesn't give the source of the battle description. The heavy horsemen of the Netherlands are probably the "burgudian" men-at-arms that fought for Charles V during his reign. Again with over 4.000 deads on the battlefield it doesn't seem a "minor" episode.
Posted: 31-Jul-2008 10:11
Report offensive material
|
| GreenMan |
4
The more common name of the battle is the "Battle at the Kemperkoul" or, less common, the "Battle on the Kollenberg". And, yes, it did indeed happen ;-)
An army of Charles V, commanded by Phillip II of Croy, was defeated by a smaller army of William “the Rich” (William V of Gulik, Cleve and Berg; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm%2C_Duke_of_J%C3%BClich-Cleves-Berg).
Here's the source + some battlemaps:
http://www.egs-schuetzen.com/Flash/Sprachauswahl/Deutsch/Regionen/Region_3/Schuttersbrief/044_3012.05.pdf (p.3-5)
Hope this helps :-)
Posted: 03-Aug-2008 15:34
Report offensive material
|
| GreenMan |
5
For better sources + maps I recommend to contact the town militia of Sittard: http://www.schutterij-stlambertus.nl/Startpagina.htm
Posted: 03-Aug-2008 15:45
Report offensive material
|
| cold0 |
6
many thanks GreenMan!! The pdf is really useful. Now I'm working with an online traslator on it. Thankx again.
Posted: 04-Aug-2008 11:33
Report offensive material
|
| GreenMan |
7
You may send me an email to knugruen(AT)gmx.de and I can translate the article for you until weekend.
I also recommend to join the RenWars forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RenWars/) and to ask there for more infos about the battle. Many, many good people there with much knowledge about 16th century warfare ;-)
Posted: 04-Aug-2008 18:22
Report offensive material
|
| cold0 |
8
Hi Greenman, thankx but I have traslate the test yesterday. BTW the RenWar group seems interesting, I will register soon.
Posted: 05-Aug-2008 08:56
Report offensive material
|