Anonymous: The Relief of Leiden on 3 October 1574 (1623-1625)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

An engraving made by an unknown Dutch artist. This plate shows an important event during the Dutch war of independence, the eighty years war (1568-1648). When the war broke out, Dutch rebels took up arms against the king of Spain, whose family had inherited the Netherlands (modern Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands). Most of the Western part of the Netherlands was occupied by Dutch rebels in 1572. The Spanish governor-general of the Netherlands, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba, launched a counter offensive to crush the rebellion. The Spanish campaign at first started good with the cities of Naarden en Haarlem eventually retaken by the Spanish army. Spanish atrocities however in both cities stiffened the Dutch resistance who learned that no mercy was shown there and were determined to hold out as long as possible. After the successful siege of Haarlem, the Spanish army at first tried to take the city of Alkmaar but that siege failed when the Dutch flooded the surrounding land. The army then turned its attention to the important city of Leiden. A long siege broke out in October 1573 with Spanish and Dutch forces fighting each other. The city was eventually relieved when Dutch forces broke the dikes, allow the sea to flood the low-lying land so that the siege could be lifted using the Dutch fleet. This print shows the fighting taking place after the dikes were broken. Leiden is the city on the left, on the right are the Dutch cities of Delft, Rotterdam, Schiedam etc. The Spanish army lifted the siege on October 3, 1574 - never to return to the Western part of the Netherlands.