The Battle of Oosterweel took place on March 13, 1567, and is traditionally seen as the beginning of the Eighty Years' War. The battle was fought near the village of Oosterweel, north of Antwerp. A Spanish professional army under General Beauvoir defeated an army of radical Calvinists rebels under Jan de Marnix.

The prisoners were considered rebels and all were killed. 700-800 Protestants died.

William the Silent, the Burggraaf of Antwerp, did not allow the Protestants of the city to come to their aid, because he, as lord of the city of Antwerpen, was bounded to an oath of supporting the spanish king.

Notes

1. The Dutch people typically view Louis of Nassau's surprise victory at Heiligerlee in 1568 as the first true battle of the Eighty Years' War.

External links

• Dutch Revolt, (1566) 1579-1648