1672 - The Franco-Dutch War - from Quincy's Histoire Militaire
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| Map of French Conquests, 1672. |
The following is a section from Volume 1 of the Marquis de Quincy's Histoire Militaire du Regne de Louis le Grand, from pages 310-345, detailing the first year of the Franco-Dutch War, the second of Louis XIV's Wars in his personal reign. It was translated using Google, with some common-sense adjustments by myself.
1672 – The Holland Campaign
[310] The dispositions which the King made during the last year, either for the re-establishment or the increase of his troops, or by the alliances which he contracted with several princes of Europe, announced for the latter the war against Holland. This Republic, which in the last century had been only a handful of people who inhabited a very cramped, marshy country, since then had become so rich by its commerce that it had extended to all parts of the world. So celebrated by the victories she had won over the Spaniards, to escape their domination, and so formidable in her forces and in her policy, that she was admired and feared throughout Europe. All this had so blinded her that she had drawn the indignation of her neighbors. She had minted and distributed public medals which were insulting to crowned heads, such as the one in which Holland was represented leaning on trophies with this elogy, that she had restored the laws, reformed religion, protected, defended, and reconciled kings, cleansed the seas, and brought about public peace by force of arms. She had given several dissatisfactions to the King of England in particular whom she had represented as a lazy and voluptuous King, and to several other princes of Europe, which was the reason why France found no great difficulty in attracting many of them into her alliance, or in getting the others to consent to remain neutral.
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| One of the hateful medals mentioned by Quincy. |
Motives of the Dutch War
After the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), the Dutch boasted of having saved the Spanish Netherlands, and limited the conquests of the King. They never ceased to negotiate in all the courts of Europe, sparing nothing to make leagues against him; they were the authors of the Triple Alliance that the King had the ability to break as we saw last year. They had struck a medal [311] offensive to his glory, on which [Coenraad] van Beuningen was represented, one of the ministers who had been employed in the treaty of the Triple Alliance, and who was called Joshua. He had a Sun above his head and for the motto these Latin words: conspectu meo stetit sol, meaning by this that Holland had stopped the course of the King whose device was the Sun.
The Dutch had completely forgotten the obligations they had to the Kings of France, and particularly to His Majesty, who had protected them against England, and against the Bishop of Munster. None can ignore that without the help of money and troops this Republic received from Kings Henry IV and Louis XIII, who, by the consent of the Dutch, had maintained a body of troops in their service for more than thirty years, which had the greatest part in all her victories. She would have succumbed under the efforts of her enemies. The King being informed of the Treaty that this Republic had made with the Elector of Brandenburg, and shocked at the proud conduct it had shown towards him, at the very time that it saw itself threatened, believing itself to be protected by the Spanish Netherlands which served as a barrier against France: all this induced this Prince, infinitely jealous of his glory, to take advantage of a Republic which spared him so little, by the war which he declared against them on the 6th of April.
The Declaration of War
The King did not condescend to send a herald to Holland, as is customary to do with equal enemies; he did so by a Manifesto which contained the reasons we have just explained. This enterprise seemed difficult; the Dutch had a great treasury, a large naval army, and an army on foot, which in truth was much diminished by the garrisons they were obliged to lodge in their fortified places. The Rhine, the Meuse, and the Ijssel covered the rest of their country, the frontier of which was, so to speak, bristling with well-fortified and well-furnished places. All these difficulties were not able to divert this Prince from an enterprise which gave great luster to his reign.
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| French Soldiers from the time of the Dutch War. |
Before entering into the detail of the great actions that took place during the course of this year, we will mark here the state of the foot troops that the King had at the time. They consisted of forty-six regiments of French infantry, including the six [312] old corps[1], and the regiments of du Roi, The Kingal, Anjou, Dauphin and la Reine were composed of 70 companies of 53 men each, including the officers; the others had 33, 24, 20, 18, 17, or 16 companies, making a total of 83,157 men. As well as:
· 13 foreign infantry regiments: 26,256 men.
· 52 regiments of cavalry (6 companies each): 6,848 men.
· 22 other cavalry regiments (in 3 companies, 54 per company): 3,564 men.
· 6 cavalry regiments (in 3 companies, 54 per company): 3,196 men.
· 2 regiments of dragoons (in 6 companies, 54 men each): 985 men.
And the Maison du Roi:
· Gardes Françoises (30 companies, 100 men each): 3,000 men.
· Gardes Suisses (10 companies, 200 men each): 2,000 men.
· Gardes du Corps (4 companies): 1034 men.
· Company of Gendarmes du Roi: 200 men.
· Company of Chevaux-legers du Roi: 200 men.
· Mousquetaires de la Garde (2 companies, 227 men each): 454 men.
· 50 free companies of all nations (200 men each): 10,000 men.
In addition to these troops, the King had commissions delivered in the month of February of this year for 300 infantry companies of 80 men each which amounted to 15,000 men to be incorporated into the old regiments, and 125 companies of cavalry amounting to 6,000 men. In total the troops of the King were 176,687 men.
The King put to sea this year a naval armada of 50 ships of the line and several frigates, and fireships commanded by the Comte d’Etrees, Vice-Admiral of France, who had for his lieutenant General Duquesne, this fleet was destined to join that of the King of England.
[313] The Republic of Holland on its part worked to put itself into a condition to resist the storm which was to rage on it; she levied a great number of troops, equipped a powerful fleet, and provided all the threatened places with men and ammunition. This state, from its origin, had almost always been divided into two parties, the animosity of which, although apparently slumbering for several years, was only the livelier in secret at the time when this war began. The first was the party of the Republic composed of those who preferred the good of the Fatherland to any particular interest, ready to maintain the execution of the Edicts and the oaths which all the members had taken never to give to the Prince of Orange the almost absolute power and the great offices which his Fathers had had. And as the leader of this party; it was he who by a great foresight had induced the States to make the Edict which they call perpetual, and the oaths which were to be the buttresses of their liberty. He was a man of great breadth of mind, of profound judgment, modest and popular, but proud and courageous when it was a question of the interest of the Fatherland.
The other party was that of the Prince of Orange; it was composed of people who had long been attached to his house, and of those who had conceived jealousy of the too-great authority which the virtue and merit of the Grand Pensionary [Johan] de Witt had acquired for himself in the States General. Those of this party were convinced that they would find their account better in a government nearly monarchical, and since they could only hope for the change they desired, thanks to a conjuncture which war could bring about, it was they who had fomented insolence among the people and used the pride of the government to animate King Louis against their own country; they had flattered themselves that with their allies and the great treasures they had, the war could only be advantageous to the Fatherland, and saw no doubt that the Republic was obliged, as it happened, to put the Prince of Orange at the head of their troops to have a General whose name would impress respect on the Soldiers, and give consideration to the arms of the State. This party succeeded in its project, since the States of the Province [314] of Holland elected in the month of January of this year this young Prince as Captain-General of their troops, and the States General followed immediately after the example of this province.
The Treaty which the King had made with the Elector of Cologne and the Bishop of Munster facilitated the means of carrying stores into the countries of Liege and Cologne, where he caused to be assembled with great diligence all that was necessary for the subsistence of his troops, while they acted far from the frontiers of his Kingdom; without which he could not have sought to penetrate so far into Holland as he did. And it was after all the measures were taken that he declared war on the States General in the month of April.
His Majesty left St. Germain on the 25th of this month and arrived on the 5th of May at Charleroi where he found his army encamped near this city on the other side and along the Sambre. He set out the first day, still marching at the head of his army. In his march he detached the Comte de Chamilly with a corps of infantry and cavalry to seize Maaseik on the Meuse, with orders to remain there and to fortify this post, which he did.
Marshal Turenne had taken the lead with twenty-five thousand men, artillery and nearly four thousand carts taking the road to Liege and Maastricht. The King with the rest of the army marched on the 11th, the baggage marching behind. He encamped at Tongrenelle, and on the 12th at Rosieres. He left a body of five thousand men between Ath and Cambrai to watch over the movements of the Spaniards. The King's army in five days' march encamped at Viset on the Meuse on the 17th. He remained there for some time, riding every day on horseback. There he held a great council of war on the projects of this campaign. He built a bridge of boats over the Meuse, over which he sent his army on the 24th, which numbered forty thousand men. King Louis was Generalissimo, and Monsieur Turenne was General. The Lieutenant-Generals were the Marquis de Gadagne, the Duc de la Feuillade, the Counts of Soissons, de Lorges, du Lude was Grand Master of the Artillery, and the Marquis de Rochefort. There were four Marechaux de camp, who were the Chevalier de Lorraine, MM. du Martinet, de Montal, and de Fourille; the last commanded the cavalry [315] being Mestre de camp general of this corps, M. du Mets, commanded the artillery, and M. de St. Sandoux was Major general of this army.
Prince Conde commanded another army, having under his command the Comte de Guiche, the Marquis de St. Abre, and M. Foucaut as Lieutenant-Generals, and for the Marechaux de camp the Comtes du Plessis, de Nogent, de Magalotti, de Choiseuil, and de la Cardonniere as Commissary General of the Cavalry, who also commanded it. M. de Trala-Sarlot commanded as Major-General. The Comte de Chamilli had command of a separate corps. He had as Lieutenant-General M. de Nancre, and as Marechaux de camp the Marquis de Vaubrun, and the Chevalier Duplessis. M. de la Marcilliere made there the detail of the infantry.
Capture of Orsoy by the King
On the 24th of May, King went to reconnoiter Orsoy, where he left the Duc de Orleans, to whom he gave orders to put things in order, in order to make an attack on this place that very evening. His Majesty then went to Rheinberg to post the cavalry with which he had intended to invest it, and returned with diligence to Orsoy. This place was not covered, but its ramparts were built of tree trunks and earth so mixed together that they could not be mined, and it was very difficult to make openings there with cannon. The King had four different attacks made there in the evening, two true and two false. M. de la Feuillade as Lieutenant General by day, M. le Chevalier de Lorraine Maréchal de Camp, M. de Boquemar Brigadier, and M. de Beringhen Colonel, were at the two true attacks with a detachment of the Gardes Suisses, and the regiments of Picardie and Dauphin: the counterscarp on which they lodged was taken that same evening, and the communication [trench] was advanced during the night of the two attacks.
The next day at noon, the King having received notice that small frigates, armed with eight cannon each, were leaving from Orsoy, taking the governor’s wife and much baggage, sent 50 men from his Gardes, 150 men of Regiment du Roy and six cannon under the orders of M. de Montal to cut them off below the river. These frigates after having suffered [316] the fire of the infantry, and having responded to it with their cannon and musketry, were terrified by ours, and those who were inside, having thrown themselves to the ground on the other bank of the Rhine, abandoned the frigates, which M. de Montal seized without resistance. On the evening of the 30th, the batteries which had been started on the counterscarp being completed, began to fire with such liveliness on the town, and continued in the same way the next day, the 1st of June, that the Governor asked to surrender on the 2nd at six o'clock in the evening, and was constrained to surrender at discretion with his garrison, which consisted of 700 men. Very few people were lost there: the Chevalier d'Arquian was killed near the King, along with the Comte de Valin, M. de Saint Hilaire, Lieutenant of Artillery, and M. de Beauvisé, the Commander of Pézenas, while MM. de Saint Remy, Voisin and de Chanoise, officers of the Gardes, were wounded there.
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| Fortifications of Burick and Orsoy. |
While the King marched to Orsoy, the Prince of Condé having left this town and Rheinberg behind him, went to Wesel on the Rhine which he invested on the 1st of June. This largest and strongest place in the country of Cleves, had 1,500 infantry for its garrison and 200 cavalry. As soon as this Prince arrived there, he ordered a battery to be made on the banks of the Rhine to break communication, and attacked the fort on the Lippe River, which he carried. The capture of this post put the besiegers in such great consternation that they demanded a suspension of arms until noon the following day. Prince Condé having granted it to them, they sent deputies to represent to him that they were surprised that they were attacked as subjects of the Elector of Brandenburg, that the Dutch had no jurisdiction in their city, having only the ramparts which belonged to them. This Prince, not having listened to them, continued the attacks, and took the covered way. The Governor sought to capitulate, and could not obtain any other conditions than that of being a prisoner-of-war with his garrison. The government of this place was given to the Comte d’Estrades.
Capture of Burick by Marshal Turenne
At the same time, the King had detached Marshal Turenne to lay siege to Burick, a place fortified with six bastions and as many half-moons of milled and palisaded earth, the Governor of this place was so astonished at the prompt surrender of Orsoy and Wesel, that he did not wait for the trench to be opened, and [317] surrendered himself prisoner-of-war with his garrison.
Capture of Rheinberg by the King
After the capture of Orsoy, the King marched to Rheinberg, a place of the best fortified which the Count of Ossory[2], an Irishman, defended very badly, who surrendered almost without being attacked. It was the first garrison to leave, all the others having been made prisoners-of-war. He was taken to Maastricht, where the Count of Ossory was arrested. The Prince of Orange had his head cut off.
Capture of Emmerich, Rees, and Doetinchem
Prince Condé, after taking Wesel, went to present himself before Emmerich while Marshal Turenne went to Rees. These two places made no resistance and submitted to their approaches. While M. de Beauvisé, Brigadier of cavalry was on the march by order of the Prince to Doetinchem, whose garrison abandoned it on the news of the march.
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| Fortifications of Rheinberg and Rees. |
The King had sent the Duc de Luxembourg to the Bishop of Munster, his ally, to confer together on how they would attack some places in Holland, and to command the troops of this prince, while the King was busy with the conquests of which we have just spoken. Luxembourg laid siege to the town of Groenlo with the troops of Munster, and made himself master of it in a few days, while the Comte de Choiseul reduced the Castle of Ulm. It was at this time that the King learned of the victory which the French Navy, together with the English, had won over that of Holland.
Battle of Solebay
From the month of March, the King of England declared war on the States General, and towards the end of May he put to sea a fleet of 40 warships, along with several frigates and fireships commanded by the Duke of York, his only brother (who has since been King of England under the name of James II). This fleet was joined at the Isle of Wight by the Comte d'Estrées, Vice-Admiral of France with 30 large vessels, along with several frigates and fireships. As soon as these two fleets were joined together, they set sail to seek the Dutch navy commanded by Admiral de Ruyter, with 72 strong warships, 40 frigates, fireships, yachts, barques, and other ships. These fleets met face to face for a few days without fighting, and separated.
The [318] English and French fleets went to Solebay on the coast of England to take on water. Admiral de Ruyter, having the weather gage, wanted to take advantage of it; he sailed there with the design of surprising them. M. de Haugolin, who was on guard, gave the signals to warn that the Dutch Navy was coming with full sail. The conjuncture was disadvantageous for the navies of the two kings, because it was at anchor when the signals were given, and pressed by the coast, the squadrons separated from each other. The Duke of York gave the battle signals: the Comte d’Estrées commanded the vanguard with the white flag; he had in mind Lt-Admiral Banckert. The Duke of York placed himself at the head of the battleline with the red flag, and was opposite to Admiral de Ruyter. The Earl of Sandwich had the blue flag rearguard against Lt-Admiral van Ghent.
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| The Battle of Solebay, May 28th, 1672. |
The two navies worked all night to get their vessels in order; the Dutch had received a powerful reinforcement which enabled them to begin again the next day. However, as the navy of the two Kings sailed to fight them [319], the Comte d'Eftrées had no sooner approached the Dutch than their fleet retreated to their own coasts and went to anchor at the harbor of Schoneveld in Zeeland. The English and the French withdrew towards the Thames, where the Sieur de la Robiniere, Rear Admiral of France, died of a serious wound which he had received. The Dutch lost two vessels of 70 cannon each, besides Vice-Admiral Sandwich who was drowned with the vessel he commanded. During the fight, the English also suffered killed Captain Digby and the Earl of Ossory [wounded]. The French suffered wounded MM. des Ardans and du Maignon, and the Dutch, Lt-Admiral van Ghent. The Duke of York gave on this occasion marks of great intrepidity and a great presence [of mind], as well as the Comte d’Estrées, who always held the Zeeland squadron in check, and prevented it from falling on the English fleet, and when the battle was over, having taken the wind from the Dutch, he forced them to turn and withdraw.
Crossing the Rhine
Here we have arrived at the most brilliant action that ever happened during the reign of the King; it is the passage of the Rhine, an action which has contributed to making this beautiful kingdom so famous, and the result of which was to lead to the conquest of all Holland. After the rapid capture of the places of which we have just spoken, the King, who wanted to carry his arms into the bosom of the Holland, found himself very embarrassed. The Dutch had rushed to defend the Ijssel which covered the rest of these Provinces, the regular troops joined with the militias of the country had entrenched themselves on the edge of this river. It is an arm of the Rhine, and one begins to give it the name of Ijssel near Rosxwelt [sic], where Drusus once had made a canal to fortify his camp; but the water of the Rhine having entered it, succession of time has made a bed of it, and then it flows through Doesburg, Arnhem and several other towns, then it continues its course into the river Lek which goes into the sea; its bed is not as wide as that of the Rhine, but it is deeper and the edges are difficult.
The King, who intended to pass near the Isle de Betw [sic], went to camp on the banks of the Rhine near Tolhuis, and having learned that the enemy was bringing cannon to fortify this place by which one could pass the Rhine over this isle, he [320] resolved to warn them, and for that he marched a body of troops with 12 cannon to facilitate the passage over a bridge of copper pontoons, to whom he committed the work. But the next day, having only six pontoons left there, with no hope of being able to complete the bridge for the whole day, he formed the project of crossing this river by fording; but before undertaking this he wanted to know the feelings of Prince Condé to whom he wrote about it on the spot; this Prince, although accustomed to great undertakings, found this one very perilous, and Marshal Turenne, who had joined the King, was of the same opinion. The King instructed Prince Condé to find out if an easier passage could not be found at a point which was not guarded by the enemy. A gentleman of the country discovered one for him, and the Prince commissioned the Comte de Guiche to sound it out. He passed there guided by this gentleman with his esquire, and having found the water quite low at the entrance and at the exit, so that there were not more than two hundred paces to swim; he reported it to the Prince of Condé who sent it to the King. It is difficult to express the joy that the King conceived at this news, since by passing the Rhine here one could also enter Holland just as in passing the Ijssel, and here one could even take the enemy from behind. The King set out at the same time from his camp with his household, and having left the command of his army to Marshal Turenne, he went to that of Prince Condé at ten o'clock in the evening and after having conferred for some time and eaten a morsel, he remounted his horse accompanied by Prince Condé, the Duc de Enghien, the Duc de Longueville and a number of Lords of the Court who sought to signal themselves to the sight of this great Prince.
All these arrangements could not be made so secretly that the enemies were not informed of them; the Prince of Orange ordered M. de Monbas[3] to march there with a body of troops; but this Prince not having given him the reinforcements he had promised him, and being born a subject of the King, he begged the deputies of the States to send him to Nijmegen and to give his command to another; which caused the Prince of Orange to send General Würtz [4] thither, who went there in haste, counter-attacking them and causing the enemy to lose the opportunity of intrenching themselves. No sooner had the King [321] arrived on the banks of the Rhine, although it was not day, than he ordered cannon to be placed in battery at daybreak; this cannon began to cause much disorder in the Dutch cavalry, which had retired under the trees. We saw their Infantry working with great diligence to entrench themselves. The King gave to the Comte de Guiche, who had reconnoitered the ford, two thousand horses at the head of which was the Regiment of Cuirassiers commanded by the Comte de Revel. the Comte de Guiche, followed by twelve Cuirassiers, showing them the example, they first entered the Rhine one by one and about twenty were drowned. This caused us to move a little more to the left. The Comte de Nogent, Maréchal de Camp, with a page who followed him, drowned having received a musket shot while passing it.
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| Crossing the Rhine, June 12th, 1672 |
The troops to defend this passage having been defeated, the King had a bridge thrown over the Rhine which was built with pontoons which he had transported, and over which he made the rest of the troops who were with him pass. His Majesty having arrived on the other side, testified to the Prince of Condé the regret he had for his wound and the loss he had suffered of the Duc de Longueville, his nephew. The King also gave great honor to the Prince de Marsillac and the Duc de Coaslin who had been [323] wounded, and gave the Regiment de Longueville to M. de Langallerie to reward him for the fine action he had just done. The King wrote to Marshal Turenne to inform him of this event. He gave the Charge of M. de Guitry to the Prince de Marsillac, and said several obliging things to the Comte de Guiche who had passed the first, as well as to the Comte de Saulx and to all the Lords who had swum past, whom we mark here in order to transmit their names to posterity. The Chevalier de Vendome, the Ducs de Boüillon, Longueville, Vivonne, Coaslin and Soubise. Messieurs de Theaubon, Nogent, Aubeterre, Cavigny, Lyonne, Guitry, Nesle, Cavois, Barbezieres, Langallerie, Boury, Brouilly, Menil-Montauban, Beaumont, St. Arnoult, Beauveau, Beaufort, Montreau, Salart, Nantoüillet, Aubusson, de Beringhen. In addition to the Duc de Longueville, the Marquis de Guitry and the Comte de Nogent were killed, also the Chevalier de Salart, the Comtes de Theaubon, d'Aubusson, the Marquis de la Force, M. de Boury; and among the wounded besides the Prince of Condé, the Marquis of Beringhen, the Comte de Brouilly, the Prince de Marsillac, the Duc de Vivonne, the Comte de Revel, the Marquis de Montreuil, Thermes, de la Salle and du Menil-Montauban. In this action four thousand prisoners were taken from the enemy. The Chevalier de Vendome[5], who was only seventeen, took a Standard and a Flag which he carried to the King.
As soon as the Prince of Orange learned that part of the King's troops had taken the Rhine, he marched to Utrecht with his army after having withdrawn the troops who were guarding their intrenchments on the Ijssel, which were intended to be surprised from behind, which caused the King to recross the Rhine and return to his army. He sent Marshal Turenne at the head of the [division] of Prince Conde, whose wound rendered him incapable of acting.
Capture of Arnhem
The Prince of Orange withdrew towards Utrecht, threw troops into Nijmegen whence he brought out M. de Monbas, whom he had arrested, and put in his place M. de Welderen[6]. The King, knowing the confusion which was in the country, marched with his army towards Ijssel, which he did not find so difficult to bear as he had been made to believe; he passed it with great ease and went to camp [324] before Doesburg. He sent orders to Marshal Turenne to march to Arnhem, a place situated on the Rhine, to subjugate that place, which he did in a very few days, the consternation being so great that the Governor made but a very feeble resistance; the Comte du Plessis was lost there and killed by a cannon shot.
Capture of the Fort of Nijmegen
Marshal Turenne, who had orders to take Fort Knotzemburg, otherwise called Fort Nijmegen, marched there with diligence. He had the trench opened there on his arrival; it was postponed so soon the day after and the following night that the Governor was obliged to surrender himself prisoner of war with his garrison. M. de Magalotti was wounded in the attack on the covered way, which he won after a feeble resistance. One finds there forty cannon, and a great number of other munitions of war.
Capture of Schenken
After taking Fort Nijmegen, M. de Turenne laid siege to the fort of Schenken[7] situated between two rivers and which was considered impregnable; he made this important conquest in two days of attack, and made the garrison of two thousand men prisoners of war, the government of which was given to M. de Gayac.
Capture of Doesburg by the King
The King arrived on the 1st of June before Doesburg with Turenne, a place situated on the Ijssel, which he caused to be surrounded on arriving from the side of the river; the next day he had two trenches opened in two different places by four battalions of the Gardes Françoises commanded by the Duc de Rouanez, at the rank of colonel. The besieged began a massive bombardment to delay the work; but he was not able to slow them down. The next day a battery of 12 cannon was established, which made a great fire that diminished theirs considerably. Finally, the Governor, after defending himself until the 21st of June, asked to capitulate; but he was granted no other capitulation than that of being a prisoner-of-war with his garrison.
M. de Martinet, Maréchal de camp and Mestre de camp of the Régiment du Roi was killed in the trench by a cannonball fired from one of our batteries which was on the other side of the river; he was an officer of great reputation, and whom the King had entrusted with the detail of the infantry he had commanded. The King gave his regiment to the Marquis de Montbrun, [325] whom he made Brigadier, and who left the command of the second company of the Musketeers, a more considerable position than the one he had taken, with the aim of pleasing the King, which subsequently succeeded. We also lost M. de la Rainer and M. de Soury, Captains of the Gardes Suisses who were killed there. The King placed there M. de Villechauve to command this place.
Capture of Devanter
While the King, Marshal Turenne, and other General officers were penetrating into the enemy country, M. de Luxembourg, general of the Munster troops was making great progress on his side. After the capture of Groenlo, as we have already marked, he besieged Deventer, the capital of the country of Overijssel, of which he made himself master in a few days, in addition to the towns of Zwolle, Kampen, Elburg, Harderwijk, Hattem, Hasselt, and Ommen.
The King had news at the same time that the General officers whom he had detached from his army, or that Marshal Turenne had sent from that which he commanded had made themselves masters of the towns of Viset, Tongres, Frankemont [sic], Woerden, Rhenem, Harderwijk, Amersfoort, Vianen, Elborg, Wijk on the Rhine all by attack, and the towns of Culemborg, Wageningen, Varsseveld, Token [sic], Hattem, and Vaals without defending themselves.
Capture of Zutphen
The King, wanting to be entirely master of the Ijssel, detached Turenne with a large number of troops and artillery commanded by M. le Marquis de la Freselliere to lay the liege of Zutphen, which is the capital city of the County of Zutphen, which was fortified with nine bastions covered with four demilunes and two hornworks with an advanced ditch. His Highness had as General officers the Marquis de Gadagne, the Comte de Lorges, the Chevalier de Lorraine and the Chevalier de Hautefeuille who commanded the cavalry of this corps. The place having been invested on the 21st of June, the trench was opened there the next day by Regiment Normandie; it was pushed to three hundred fathoms. On the 23rd, the Marquis de la Freselliere had a cannon battery built which, being ready the next day, began to make a great fire in the square; on that day they took control of a lock which they destroyed to fill the ditch, which obliged the Governor to ask to capitulate the next day which was the fourth day of trenching; they wanted to make no [326] other arrangement for him than to surrender himself prisoner-of-war with the garrison which was 2,500 men of infantry and four companies of cavalry, which he was obliged to accept. Turenne entered it the next day and sent the King 29 flags and 4 standards; M. de Monfranc was left there to command.
The Prince of Orange seeing that the King was master of Lille, of Beltaw [sic], of all the countries contiguous between the Rhine and Ijssel, as well as of the Province of Overijssel by the troops of Munster and Cologne commanded by Monsieur Luxembourg, he only thought of defending the Province of Utrecht which was the most open and the least able to defend itself. His army was reduced to 13,000 men by the necessity in which he found himself of reinforcing the garrisons of a great number of places. This army having been augmented by some Spanish regiments which the Count of Monterrey, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, had sent to him, he marched on the 15th of June near the city of Utrecht. The whole city was in general confusion, the people had risen against the magistrates and the principal inhabitants; this disorder was the reason that the Prince of Orange could not enter; even the Burghers refused to furnish him with provisions. He finally obtained permission to enter there alone the next day, and offered to defend this place, provided that they would quarter his men and begin by knocking down the suburbs. But not having been able to oblige the inhabitants to do so, he left it and divided his army into four corps to employ them to guard the country. He put one under the command of Prince Maurice[8], another under those of the Count of Horn[9], the third under the leadership of General Würtz, and went to post himself with the fourth near Bodegraven on the Rhine.
The King enters Utrecht
As soon as the Prince of Orange withdrew with his troops from the surroundings of Utrecht, the inhabitants of this city, after having held a council, sent deputies who came to offer the King to yield this place to him, and to beg him to grant them safeguard. The King received them very well, and having accepted their offers, he detached the Marquis de Rochefort to go and take possession of it, and gave him his Musketeers with some other elite troops. The King left his camp at Amerongen, followed him closely, and made his entry into Utrecht on the 30th [327] of June; he re-established the Catholic Religion there, and gave the government of the City to the Marquis de Rochefort; M. de Stoup commanded there under him.
Capture of Nijmegen
The King had left behind Marshal Turenne, who continued to make himself master of the towns and the posts which the Dutch still held. By his orders, the Marquis d'Apremont took the fort of Sint Andries on June 27, the fort of Voorne, and the town of Tiel on the 28th. The Comte de Chamilly besieged and took Gennep. Marshal Turenne marched afterwards to Nijmegen, which he caused to be invested on the 3rd of July; this place was strong and had a garrison of 4,000 infantry and 400 horse. This general had blockaded it with some troops which he had left there since he had made himself master of Fort Knotzemburg. After having invested it, he summoned M. de Welderen, who ordered him to surrender. On his refusal, he took measures to lay formal siege to the place. On the night of the 4th to the s he had a trench opened there which was pushed forward, despite the great fire of cannon and musketry by the besieged. On the night of the 5th to the 6th Marshal Turenne had several batteries of cannon and mortars built which made a great fire as soon as they were ready. A large number of bombs were thrown to intimidate the burghers who had taken up arms; but they had taken such good precautions, that they did not produce the effect that Marshal Turenne had promised himself. M. de Welderen having a large garrison had several sorties made to delay the work; but Marshal Turenne, who had prepared for it, rendered them all useless. They did not prevent the trenches from being pushed within reach of the covered way, which was attacked and carried on the 7th. The Governor made several attempts to retake it, but in vain. The lodgment being assured, batteries were set up there to make a breach. We worked there during the night of the 7th to the 8th; the [walls] began to break down on the 9th, and M. de Welderen asked to capitulate. He left his place the next day at the head of the garrison and with some of the honors he had requested. The Comte de Larmant, Colonel of Regiment Navarre, was lost at this siege. The Marquis d'Estrades and M. Foucault were injured there. The Count de Saulx, who still had plasters on his face and his arm in a sling from the wounds he had received when crossing the Rhine, wanted [328] to come to this siege in spite of the representations made to him by Marshal Turenne, and took part in the actions that took place there. Forty-five cannon were found in this place. The King gave the government to the Comte de Lorges, Maréchal de camp, nephew of Marshal Turenne.
Capture of Grave and Naarden
The capture of this place completed the terror among the Dutch. Marshal Turenne being occupied around Nijmegen, detached the Comte de Chamilly to besiege Grave. This place was located on the Meuse; it was fortified with earth, well milled, and palisaded with large exteriors, a good covered way, and a wide ditch full of water; it was, however, obliged to surrender after a few days of attack, when the Marquis de Joyeuse had defeated twenty-four companies of infantry, which the Prince of Orange had sent to throw themselves in there. This put the Governor in no position to sustain a formal siege by weakness of the garrison; M. de Betou was placed there to command.
It was during this expedition that the King detached the Marquis de Rochefort who left Utrecht with a body of troops to advance into the country; he found most of the towns abandoned; he marched without opposition as far as Naarden, which he attacked and took after a weak resistance, without counting a few other less important towns. If this General had pushed further without wasting time, he would have taken possession of Muiden, which might be considered as one of the keys of Amsterdam: at that time there was only a weak garrison; but the Prince of Orange promptly sent there troops which had arrived there when the Marquis de Rochefort took it into his head to march there; which prevented attacking this City.
These prodigious successes caused the King's allies, not content with having sent him to congratulate him, to come there also in person. The Count [Palatine] of Neuburg[10] arrived in the King's army with a considerable retinue, and the King, after making him eat with him, made him serve alone with the officers of the Maison du Roi, which is only done to Sovereign Princes; he did the same honors to the Elector of Cologne and to the Bishop of Munster. The Duke of Mecklenburg[11] also came to congratulate the King with two squadrons that he offered him.
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| Map of 1672 Campaign through the end of August. |
After Marshal Turenne had made himself master of Nijmegen, he marched before Crevecoeur, which he took in two days' attack; [329] the garrison, which numbered 800 men, was taken prisoner-of-war. So many losses having struck terror into the heart of the Republic, the Pensionary de Witt, who still had a great deal of credit there, showed the States that the only means they had of preserving the small territory which remained to the Dutch was to make peace. But as they were in the minority, the Republic sent deputies to the King, who was encamped near Utrecht, and at the same time, they sent some to England. The King appointed M. de Pompone, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to hear their proposals; but they replied that they had only come to know what conditions the King would like to impose on them; they were told that the King had nothing to propose until the Republic had sent him deputies with sufficient powers to treat with His Majesty. M. de Louvois then had an interview with them, and made them aware of the King's intentions. The Republic deputed one of them to carry the answer: but the Spaniards, being afraid that the States would yield Dutch Brabant to the King, which was appropriate, offered to declare themselves for the Dutch against France, if they wished to postpone such a disadvantageous peace.
The King of England after having heard the deputies of Holland sent them back to the King, and at the same time sent the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington to his camp to agree in concert with the Duke of Monmouth, his natural son who served in the army of Flanders, on the conditions by which peace could be granted. As soon as they had been drawn up by the Ministers of the two Kings in the camp near Utrecht, they were placed in the hands of the deputies of the States General, who carried them to the Hague.
Those of the King were that the States General would allow in the future the free and public exercise of the Catholic Religion in all the places under their control, and would restore to the Order of [the Knights of] Malta the commanderies which would be found to belong to them in the United Provinces. Also, that they would cede to the King all the provinces and places that they possessed in Flanders and in Brabant, except Sluys and the island [330] of Cadzand: item, that they would cede the towns of:
· Nijmegen
· Fort Knotzemburg
· Fort Schecken and all that part of Guelders situated on this side of the Rhine
· The island of Bommel
· The island and the fort of Voorne
· Fort Sint Andries
· Fort Crevecoeur
· Loevestein Castle
· Grave
· The county and the town of Moers
If the States did not prefer to leave the King in possession of the conquests he had already made, adding to them the towns of:
· Maastricht
· Wijk
· 's-Hertogenbosch
As well as all that they possess in the countries beyond the Meuse.
That the States General would pay the King twenty millions for the expenses of the war, in which would be included the three millions that they owed to France for the loan made to them in 1624, and that in recognition of the peace that the King was very willing to grant them at a time when he could have extended his conquests further, the States General would present to him every year by an extraordinary embassy a gold medal weighing one marc, which was to contain that they owed from the King the preservation of the same freedom that the Kings his Predecessors had acquired for them.
The King of England asked for his part that the States General cede to England without contradiction the honor of the flag, as well as a million pounds sterling for war expenses, and a hundred thousand pounds sterling a year in perpetuity for the herring fishery. That the Prince of Orange and his descendants would possess the Sovereignty of the United Provinces, or at least the dignities of Governor and Admiral General in perpetuity; and for surety of these conditions that they would place in the hands of the English the Islands of Walcheren and Cadzand, the towns of Sluys and Goes, and the Isle of Voorne.
The deputies of the States could not reply to these demands until they had received the orders of their masters. They dispatched the famous Grotius[12] who was one of the deputies who went to The Hague. As soon as the States saw the conditions under which they were granted peace, they seemed very indignant; the States of Zeeland wrote on this to the United Provinces in a strong manner to encourage them to defend their religion, and their liberty, and to imitate the valor of their fathers who had shed [331] so much blood to establish one and the other; on the other hand, the Spaniards who feared that the States would give the King what they possessed in Brabant made every effort to dissuade them from peace. They had remained until then in a kind of neutrality, having contented themselves with giving a few troops to the States by virtue of the defensive league which they had made with them; but they offered to declare themselves [openly], and at the same time raised hopes that several other Princes would espouse their quarrel, in which they were very well seconded by the Baron de Lisola[13], Minister of the Emperor; all this served to raise the courage of the Dutch and disposed most of them to prefer a harsh war to a happy peace.
However, when the States were occupied in deliberating on what they would answer to the King, those of Amsterdam assembled in particular to seek the means of preserving their City and their Commerce, and all concluded unanimously to take measures to defend themselves to the last extremity.
The States sent Grotius back to the King with a power which they dispatched to their ambassadors, to treat according to the secret instructions which they gave him; he arrived on June 27 at the camp of the King, and went to stay with M. de Louvois, where they got together the following days. The Deputies offered to place Maastricht in the hands of the King and to give him ten millions; they insisted on having Dutch Brabant, and all the places which belonged to the Elector of Brandenburg, or to that of Cologne; but as these pretensions appeared excessive, and as, moreover, changes occurred in Holland which gave affairs an entirely new face, the negotiation was absolutely broken off.
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| Prince William of Orange inspecting the Waterlinie. |
The City of Amsterdam, which continued to take measures for its defense, not finding that the works were sufficient, the dykes were immediately pierced and the locks released; it was resolved to put it under water with its territory, all the bridges were demolished, the roads cut up, and the countryside was soon nothing more than a sea. The other cities of Holland did the same as well as those of Flanders and Brabant.
The King’s Departure from Holland
It was believed that the King, in spite of all these precautions, would continue to sneer at the conquests, when we saw with some [332] surprise that he left the command of his armies to Prince Condé and to Marshal Turenne, and returned to France on the 16th of July. A departure so unforeseen astonished all Europe no less than it caused joy to the Dutch. It was difficult to understand the reasons which compelled the King to interrupt the course of his victories at the height of his prosperity; but as the most hidden efforts of political intrigues remain in secret only as long as necessary for the success of business, the true cause was soon discovered.
By the secret treaty that the Kings of France and England had made to make war on Holland, it was stipulated that the King of France would endeavor to take Maastricht while the naval army of the two Kings was attacking Vlissingen, and that immediately after the capture of these two places peace would be made on condition that the Dutch would be obliged to cede Vlissingen to the English, and from the Spaniards to France, Cambrai, Aire, and St. Omer for equivalent places in Brabant, which the Dutch would give to the Spaniards in exchange for Maastricht, which would be restored to them by peace.
The great facility which the King had found in subjugating all the country through which he had passed, and in penetrating almost as far as Amsterdam, had prevented him from stopping at the exact execution of the articles of this treaty; but his enemies having given shade to the King of England, this Prince had the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington tell the King that his conquests did not correspond to the treaty which had been made between them, so that it was no longer in the King's power to push them further without manifestly contravening the alliance he had with the English; and the jealousy that Europe, already alarmed, had conceived of [his] power began to attract too many enemies to risk making England another one.
The King's departure giving the States General time to breathe, the fear which had made them have recourse to his clemency began to dissipate; and as the conditions on which we had wanted to buy peace were too hard to hope that they would accept them unless they were reduced to the last extremity, they had no other effect than to engage more promptly the Princes of Germany and of the North to whom the Dutch communicated them to join their forces with those [333] of this tottering Republic to oppose a torrent whose impetuosity seemed to threaten all Europe, if it did not unite to stop it.
But while the States-General urged their allies to arm themselves for their defense, they afforded the faction of the Prince of Orange the most favorable opportunity it could ever have for raising the fortune of that Prince, to begin to encroach upon the liberty of his country.
The City of Dordrecht, excited by the emissaries of the Prince of Orange, had risen in the month of June against his magistrates, and the People had obliged them to declare the Prince of Orange their perpetual Stadtholder and Captain-General of their army both on land and at sea; this sedition was communicated in a short time in the other cities of Zeeland and Holland; all followed the example of Dordrecht, and the States-General, either the faction of the Prince already prevailing in their assembly, or thinking they could not resist the peoples raised in his favor, on July 10 declared him Stadtholder and Admiral-General perpetual of the whole State.
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| The grisly end of Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt. |
The Pensionary de Witt foreseeing that the same blow which had just attacked the freedom of his country would fall very soon on the one who had worked so courageously to deliver it, asked the States General for permission to resign his duties and to live henceforth in private; but the faction of the Prince of Orange, convinced that it would always find obstacles to its designs as long as this zealot for the public good remained alive, incited the people so strongly against him that they massacred him in the public square of The Hague on the 20th of August, and did to his body all the indignities and all the outrages of which the rabble is capable when it is animated by the spirit of sedition.
As the Prince of Orange needed the continuation of the war to ensure his still-nascent power during the troubles of the State, his partisans only thought of delaying peace and bringing their allies into new engagements which favoring their particular interests, could also subsequently render the condition of the States General better than it was then.
From the month of May, the Emperor, the King of Spain, the Elector [334] of Saxony and that of Brandenburg had signed a league with the States-General; and the Princes of the house of Lunenburg entered there in the following month of September by a treaty which was signed between them in Brunswick. All these Princes were engaged by this league to send troops to Holland. Those of the Emperor and the Elector of Brandenburg having been the first ready, advanced first on the Rhine; but before showing their movements, let us finish speaking of what passed in Holland since the departure of the King.
The King having left, as has been noted, on the 16th of July, left the Duc de Luxemburg at Utrecht to command there as well as throughout the country. He went to see Prince Condé, who was very sick of the gout. The Maison du Roi escorted him to St. Quentin, whence he sent him back on the orders of the Marquis de Rochefort, who went to camp near Maastricht. Prince Condé followed the King closely with 3,000 men, and the rest of the army remained under the orders of Marshal Turenne, who entered the Island of Bommel and besieged the town of this name, of which he made himself master in two days, he made the garrison prisoners-of-war and put M. d’Espagne to command there.
Lifting of the Siege of Woerden
The army of the Prince of Orange was then at Bodegraven, where it was fortified every day by the new levies which the States caused to be made. The Duc de Luxembourg having made himself by surprise master of Woerden, the Prince of Orange made the project of resuming this place; he pretended to come to the end of it more easily to march to Naarden, and then fell on Woerden. The Duc de Luxembourg having been warned by a signal which he had agreed with the Comte de Mark, Colonel of Regiment Picardie who commanded there, marched there with 3,000 men to help this place. He attacked General Zuilestem's quarters with such valor that he took a fort which was at the head of a causeway, then forced the passage and obliged the Prince of Orange to raise the siege of this place of which he was on the eve of seeing himself master. The Count Zuylestein[14] was killed there after receiving eighteen wounds and giving marks of great value. The enemies lost 7-800 men there, and the French had the Marquis de Bois-Dauphin, M. de Milly, colonel of Regiment Normandie, the Marquis de la [335] Meilleraye, colonel of Regiment Piedmont, and the Chevalier de Boufflers[15], colonel of dragoons wounded there.
It has been noted that the troops with which the Emperor and the Elector of Brandenburg had intended to succor Holland had been more ready than those of the other Princes who had entered the league, and they advanced on the Rhine. Marshal Turenne, whose army was reduced to 8,000 men, on account of the large number of places in which garrisons had been placed, after having kept him for some time in Brabant, sent orders to M. de Chaseron to come and join him with the body of troops which he commanded, which included the Maison du Roi, which increased his army to 12,000 men. After having made it subsist in Brabant; he went to encamp between Cologne and Bonn, and took measures to make a bridge at Andernach in order to cross the Rhine there, if the Germans were to approach Mainz. As soon as his bridge was established, he sent some troops over it to reconnoiter the march of the enemy and it was there that the declaration of war with the Imperials began with a fight between a party commanded by M. de la Fitte and German troops near Nassau.
As soon as Marshal Turenne could no longer doubt that the enemies were taking their march towards Mainz, he had the head of his bridge fortified on the other side of the Rhine and left a body of troops there under the orders of the Marquis de Monbrun, and went with the rest of his army to take up quarters in the country of Trier, without however crossing the Moselle.
The King, who had foreseen that the Germans might perhaps pass into Alsace and fall on Lorraine, had sent Prince Condé to Metz with a body of troops to watch over the enemy in that quarter. The first precaution which this Prince took to prevent their entry into Alsace was to burn, by batteries charged with fireworks, part of the bridge of Strasbourg, on which the magistrates, notwithstanding their neutrality, wished to give passage to the Germans. This enterprise was carried out by M. de Ricousse, first aide-de-camp to the Prince. These two Generals guarded in this way the upper and lower Rhine to prevent the Imperials from crossing this river and to make some enterprises, while the Duc de Duras, who [336] commanded on the Meuse, saw to everything that the Dutch could undertake on the places that the troops of the King occupied.
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| Map of 1672 Campaign through the end of the year. |
The Prince of Orange, on his side, having been obliged to raise the siege of Woerden, as it has been marked, the Duc de Luxembourg returned to Utrecht, and having placed the troops which were under orders in quarters, he made preparations to carry out some undertakings during the winter under cover of the ice. He proposed his plans to the Court, which sent him new occupied troops drawn from the fortresses of Flanders. The Spaniards seeing most of the troops occupied in Germany, and the other with M. de Luxembourg, gave what forces they had to the Prince of Orange; they agreed to besiege Charleroi. This Prince, who was looking for the means of repairing so many unfortunate successes by a few undertakings, took measures with the Count of Monterrey, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, for the success of this project; he sent off the troops that were assembled. On the advice of the King, he sent Marshal d'Humieres to Flanders, where he was Governor, with orders to observe the movements of the Spaniards. The Prince of Orange, to hide his project, marched with his troops near Maastricht, spreading the rumor that he intended to free this place, which was blockaded on all sides; and the better to make people believe it, he had a number of tools made, which caused the Duc de Duras to think only of throwing reeinforcements into Tongres and Maaseik. He sent orders to M. de Montal, who was Governor of Charleroi, to mingle with the enemies, and to throw himself into the place they would like to occupy. The Prince of Orange, being angry that M. de Montal had left Charleroi, was very happy; but as it was important to him always to conceal his intention, he marched on the side of Maaseik; Wishing afterwards to make believe that he would not lay siege to it on account of the aid which had been thrown there, he went to the vicinity of Maastricht, whence he detached the Count of Waldeck[16] to go and seize Fauguemont, which he caused to be demolished.
The Prince of Orange lifts the Siege of Charleroi
During this time the Spaniards took the road to Liege with the intention of enclosing the Duc de Duras between them and the Prince of Orange, who was encamped a league from Tongres. The Duc de Duras, having suspected this design, threw reinforcements into Tongres, and diligently crossed the Meuse over a bridge of [337] boats which he had kept for a long time, and retired into the country of Cologne, all the other passages being closed by the Spaniards. As soon as the Prince of Orange heard of it, he followed him. The Duc de Duras, who only had 4-5,000 men left, and who had to deal with an army of 25,000, immediately crossed the Roer and camped on the other side; he kept a bridge over it to pass parties over, in order to have news of the enemy. Two days after the Prince of Orange marched on him, he broke his bridge, and started to retire. The Prince of Orange, who had been joined by the Spaniards, had bridges built over the Roer and crossed it, but not wanting to engage further, he recrossed this river and then the Meuse, then he marched towards Maastricht, as if he still intended to besiege Tongres. Monsieur de Montal, having followed him on his return, marched towards Tongres, which he believed to be more and more threatened. At this, the Prince of Orange detached 3,000 horse to invest this place, in order to maintain it in this idea. Monsieur de Montal, seeing the road taken by this detachment, hastened to enter the town; but this Prince, suddenly taking the road to Charleroi, proceeded there by long marches, and having arrived, he made the troops return from Tongeren.
Monsieur de Montal set out from there immediately during the night with 100 picked horsemen, and marched without stopping until he had arrived within a league of Charleroi. He then entered the wood and remained there until one hour before daybreak. He then left to continue his march. As his design was to come within sight of the enemy when they descended from the bivouac, he took his measures so well that he mingled among them as if he had been one of their troops. The better to deceive them, he spoke German from time to time, and he was answered in the same way; he thus entered the camp of the enemy; but it was a question of going further; the officer who was on guard between the camp and the town, seeing him arrive, commanded his troop to mount his horse, either because he mistrusted something, or because he was not very glad to be found dismounted; but M. de Montal, without examining his reason, chuckled straight at him, and having charged him before his people were on horseback, he opened the way to the town accompanied by M. de S. Silvestre and some other officers. He was [338] received there with inconceivable joy. He immediately mounted the rampart and fired the cannon himself with great effect. He made a vigorous sortie the same day; which made the enemy judge that this enterprise would not be as easy as they had thought.
However, the King, having had notice of this siege, sent orders to assemble as quickly as possible the troops of the garrisons of Flanders, and prepared himself to march there, as if to a place of extreme importance, and the loss of which would have entailed great consequences, since he would have been obliged to lift the blockade of Maastricht, and to abandon all the places which had been conquered, since this city was the only passage through which convoys could be brought in; but it was not necessary for the King to set out on this subject since the Prince of Orange, who had intended to take this place from the start, had lost hope of it, since M. de Montal had thrown himself into it; seeing, moreover, the preparations being made to succor her, he decided to raise the siege. He began to send away his heavy luggage and his cannon. He plundered the town of Binche in passing, and then resumed the road to Holland while the Spaniards returned to their garrisons.
The King, no longer able to doubt the evil designs of the Spanish, resolved to make war on them. At the same time he ordered the Marquis de Villars[17], his Ambassador in Madrid, to complain of the open infraction which the Count de Monterrey had just committed against the peace which was between the two Crowns; but the Queen Regent having replied that the King of Spain could give help to his allies without contravening the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, this reply completed the persuasion of the King that the Spaniards were only waiting for the moment when the leagues which were dragging on in Germany against France were more strengthened than they were yet, to openly enter into war against him; so that to respond with a few acts of hostility to the process of the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and to the response of the Queen of Spain, the King had all the property within his lands confiscated of every Spanish subject who had been at the Siege of Charleroi.
Capture of Bodegraven
The winter having come before all the movements of which [339] we have just spoken were terminated, the Dutch had fresh reasons for apprehension; they knew that the Duc de Luxemburg, who was in their neighborhood, increased his troops every day; and not doubting that he intended to enter the heart of their country, they sent all the better troops that they had to that quarter with orders to guard the posts of Bodegraven, Nieuwerbrug, and Zwammerdam. Forts were erected there at the head of the dykes, which placed them in considerable safety, added to the difficulty of the roads and the inundation which was then on the surface of the earth. But the frost having set in, the Duc de Luxembourg set out in the field, accompanied by Monsieur, the Comte de Saulx and the Marquis de Moussi, Lieutenant-Generals, the Marquis de Genlis, Marechal de Camp, and the Marquis de la Freselliere, Lieutenant-General of Artillery. He had a few bridges built over canals which he met on his way, and where the ice had not yet taken hold, and then dispersed his troops to attack the enemies in all their posts. The Duc de Luxembourg began by forcing the village of Weles [sic] where the Dutch had entrenched themselves at the head of a dyke, and pushed further after having driven them out. The officer who commanded in Nieuwerbrug abandoned them, as well as the Count of Königsmarck[18] who should have supported him. The Duc de Luxembourg then marched to Bodegraven which surrendered after little resistance as well as Zwammerdam and which were afterwards pillaged; for M. de Luxembourg could not restrain the soldiers' fury. This news having reached the Hague, most of the inhabitants fled to the neighboring towns with what they could carry.
The Duc de Luxembourg was preparing to push his conquests further when the thaw suddenly came. The Marquis de Coeuvres, de la Meilleraye and de Sourches paid with their lives on these occasions; in the capture of Bodegraven, the latter took a flag fighting with great valor. During these expeditions the Comte de Saulx, who had marched with a detachment, attacked the fort of Arnhem, of which he made himself master and where he was killed. The Marquis de Castelnau, colonel of infantry, who had been a volunteer there, and the Marquis de Moussi, who had marched on the other side, captured a quarter [340] of the enemy. After these expeditions, M. de Luxembourg, seeing that the thaw was continuing, sent his troops back to their quarters, and learning so much from different couriers that the King had sent him, that from Cologne, where the French Ambassadors were, they were preparing for a bloody war in Germany, he took great precautions to secure the head of our conquests on which all the others depended.
Recapitulation
It was by these last advances that the campaign of 1672 ended in Holland, and we will see the continuation of it in the account of the year which we are about to enter, after we have recalled by a short recapitulation what has just been detailed. We began with the motives that the King had for carrying the war into Holland; they were followed by the measures which he took with all the Powers of Europe, so as not to be disturbed while he was occupied with the conquests which he had projected to make. We have then detailed the great forces he employed there, the measures he took for the subsistence of the troops, and to assemble all the munitions of war which he needed for a large number of enterprises. All things being in order, he joined his army at Charleroi, whence he detached the Comte de Chamilli with a body of troops to seize Maaseik, which this General fortified; the King marched at the head of his army, and arrived after five days' march at Viset on the Meuse. Having crossed this river, he personally besieged Orsoy, a well-fortified place which he took in six days of attack, while the Prince of Condé attacked Wesel, a large place and the strongest in the country of Cleves, and of which he made himself master on the fourth day, in spite of the strong garrison which was there, and whom he made a prisoner-of-war. M. de Turenne subjugated Burick in the same time in two days, and the garrison suffered the same fate.
Rheinberg, besieged by King after Orsoy, defended itself only feebly; but the Count of Ossory, who was Governor, left it by capitulation: it cost him his life, for the Prince of Orange had his head cut off. Prince Conde then attacked Emmerich, while Marshal Turenne attacked Rees, and M. de Beauvisé Doetinchem; these three places were only defended for a few days.
M. de Luxembourg, who had been named General of the troops of the Bishop of Munster, an ally of France, penetrated on the side of the [341] States of this Prince in Holland, and took the town of Groenlo, the Castle of Ulm, and several other places. The King of England who on his side had declared war on the Hollanders for the reasons that have been reported; and to satisfy the treaty he had made with the King, had put to sea in the month of May a fleet of 40 warships commanded by the Duke of York; as soon as it had been joined by 30 vessels and a few frigates and fireships from the King, under the orders of the Comte d'Etrées, they charged the fleet of Holland commanded by Admiral de Ruyter, whom they fought; they obliged him, after a very lively action, to relinquish the battlefield to them after the Dutch had lost two large ships there. It cost England the Earl of Sandwich, Vice-Admiral, who perished there with his vessel.
We then saw that the King was suddenly stopped at the river Ijssel, the banks of which were guarded by a large number of troops, which would have prevented him from pushing his conquests further, if he had not found the means of crossing the Rhine by swimming. We have given the details of this great action which did so much honor to Louis XIV, and in which all the General Officers and troops of France gave such great marks of intrepidity. This great obstacle being surmounted, the Prince of Orange retired with all his troops towards Utrecht. The King, who had repassed the Rhine to rejoin his army, went to cross the Ijssel and lay siege to Doesburg, which he took in a few days, while Marshal Turenne marched by his orders to Arnhem, which he forced to surrender after a weak resistance as well as Fort Knotzemburg; he made the garrisons of these three places prisoners-of-war. Fort Schenken, although regarded as impregnable by its location and its fortifications, was subjugated by the same in two days and 2,000 men were taken prisoner there.
The different officers whom the King and M. de Turenne had detached from their armies, during this time took the towns - of Zwolle, of Kampem, of Elburg, of Harderwijk, of Hattem, of Hasselt, and of Ommen, of Viset, of Tongres, of Frankemont, of Woerden, of Rhenem, of Amersfoort, of Vianen, of Elborg, of Wijk, of Culemborg, of Wageningen, of Varsseveld, of Token, of Hattem, of Vaals, some by arms and [342] others simply by approaching.
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| Broadsheet listing the French conquests of 1672. |
The King, who wanted to become master of Ijssel, detached Turenne with a corps which besieged Zutphen, a large well-fortified place, and which had a garrison of 2,500 men; His Highness attacked this place with such vigor that he forced the Governor to surrender himself prisoner-of-war with his garrison. The Prince of Orange was obliged by the loss of all these places to abandon Utrecht with his own forces and divided his troops into four corps to watch over the rest of the country. The inhabitants of this town, who were in no condition to defend it, sent deputies to the King to offer him to hand it over; which obliged him to send the Marquis de Rochefort there to take possession; the King then made his entry there and re-established the Catholic Religion there.
Marshal Turenne during this time succeeded in making himself master of the cities and castles that the Dutch still held, such as the forts of Sint Andries, Voorne and the town of Tiel which were taken by M. d'Apremont, and Gennep taken by the Comte de Chamilly.
Marshal Turenne then besieged Nijmegen, a fortified town which had a large extent and a garrison of 4,000 infantry and 400 horses. He was obliged to besiege this place with great precaution; several actions took place there in the sorties that the Governor ordered to be made, and in the attack on the covered way, in which several persons of quality and the troops gave great proof of their valor. Notwithstanding this defense, M. de Welderen, who commanded there, surrendered by capitulation on the fifth day of the attack.
While M. de Turenne was busy with this enterprise, the Comte de Chamilly, whom he had detached, besieged Grave, a town situated on the Meuse, and very well fortified. He made himself master of it in a few days, because the Marquis de Joyeuse defeated 24 companies of infantry which the Prince of Orange had sent to throw themselves within. He then took Crevecoeur.
The King on his side detached the Marquis de Rochefort who left Utrecht with a large body of troops to penetrate the enemy country; he found all the places through which he passed abandoned, he pushed on as far as Naarden, which he took in a few days after a feeble resistance, as well as some other less important towns. [343] If he had been more diligent, he would have been dubbed the master of Muiden, which was one of the keys of Amsterdam, which had at that time a weak garrison. But he gave time for the Prince of Orange to send troops there, which saved this place and even Amsterdam. These happy successes brought many compliments to the King from the Princes of Germany. The Elector of Cologne, the Duke of Neuburg, the Bishop of Munster and the Duke de Mecklenburg came to his camp to see him and congratulate him.
The Republic of Holland was so appalled at so many losses, that at the persuasion of the Pensionary de Witt it resolved to send deputies to the King to sue him for peace. The Spaniards wanted to go through this negotiation, offering to declare themselves against France; the Republic likewise deputed to the King of England, who sent Ambassadors to the King's camp to agree on the conditions; but after Grotius, one of the deputies, had given an account of them to the States, they found them so hard that the negotiations were broken off. The Dutch then decided to flood the surroundings of Amsterdam, to save this great city whose inhabitants were ready to take the keys to the King, and they would have done so without the representations of a few. It was at this time that the King decided to return to France after having left the command of his troops to Marshal Turenne. We have reported the reasons that this Prince had for hastening a departure which astonished all Europe, but which no longer surprised us as soon as we knew them.
Monsieur de Turenne, after the departure of the King, entered the Island of Bommel, besieged the town of this name, which he took after two days of attack, and then made himself master of all the towns and places on this island, while Monsieur de Luxembourg, who was in Utrecht, seized Woerden by surprise. The Prince of Orange, who had fortified the army of the States at Bodegraven, where he was encamped, made the project of retaking that place. He attacked it formally, and was ready to master it, when M. de Luxembourg marched there with a body of 3,000 men, attacked a fort which was at the head of the causeway, forced the passage, and obliged the Prince of Orange to raise the siege.
While M. de Luxembourg was occupying the troops of Holland in this manner, [344] Marshal Turenne was obliged to quit that province to march against the Elector of Brandenburg, who was advancing towards the Rhine, with the design of assisting Holland. He could muster only 12,000 men with whom he encamped between Cologne and Bonn; he caused a bridge to be made at Andernach to cross, where the Elector of Brandenburg marched towards Mainz. As soon as he learned that the Germans had taken this route, he entered the territory of Trier, while Prince Condé was advancing with a body of troops towards Alsace. This Prince took the precaution of burning the Strasbourg bridge to prevent its passage to the Imperials. The Prince of Orange, wishing to take advantage of the remoteness of Marshal Turenne, made the plan with the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands to lay siege to Charleroi, in order to cut off the communication of France with all the places which his troops occupied. This Prince made several maneuvers to hide this project, knowing that M. de Montal who commanded in this place had come out of it on purpose to throw himself into one of the threatened places, he marched diligently to Charleroi which he invested, and of which he formed the siege; but M. de Montal found the means of returning there. The King having taken measures to assemble a corps of troops from the garrisons of Flanders, with the intention of assisting this place, the Prince of Orange, who learned moreover that the King was preparing to come to Flanders, decided to raise the siege and abandon this enterprise. The frost having fallen towards the end of the month of December, he set out with a large body of troops; he began by forcing the village of Weles where the Dutch had entrenched themselves at the head of a dike; he then seized Nieuwbrug; whereupon he attacked Bodegraven, which surrendered after much resistance, as well as Zwammerdam, which the soldiers plundered without their being able to prevent them, which filled the whole country with such terror, that the inhabitants fled with what they could carry into the neighboring towns.
M. de Luxembourg intended to penetrate further, and even as far as the Hague; but he was prevented from doing so by the thaw which [345] suddenly set in, which obliged him to retire, and to send the troops back to their quarters. During these expeditions, the Comte de Saulx, whom he had detached, took the fort of Arnhem, which cost him his life, and the Marquis de Moussi captured a quarter of the enemy. The Duc de Luxembourg thought only of taking precautions to secure the places occupied by the troops of France, especially when he had received news from the Court informing him that they were preparing in Germany to succor the Dutch and to wage a violent war against France. A part of the Princes of Europe being alarmed at the rapidity of the conquests that the King had just made, took measures to stop them and to help the Dutchmen.
[1] Perhaps Picardie, Champagne, Navarre, Piémont, Normandie, and La Marine, the most senior six French regiments?
[2] Alias Daniel d’Ossory (d. 1672), about whom nothing more is known.
[3] Jean Barthon, Baron de Montbas (d. 1696), who later defected to the French.
[4] Baron Paul Würtz (d. 1676), Swedish nobleman and soldier in Dutch service.
[5] Philippe de Bourbon (d. 1727), later Duc de Vendome, younger brother of the famous marshal.
[6] Johan van Welderen (d. 1672), Lieutenant-General.
[7] Modern-day Schenkenschanz, a suburb of Kleves, Germany.
[8] Johan Mauritz van Nassau-Siegen (d. 1679), a cousin of the Prince William III of Orange.
[9] Count Willem Adriaan van Hornes (d. 1694).
[10] Philip William, Count Palatine of Neuburg (d. 1690), who later became Elector Palatine.
[11] Christian Louis I, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1692), who converted to Catholicism.
[12] Pieter de Groot (d. 1678), diplomat and son of philosopher Hugo Grotius.
[13] Baron François-Paul de Lisola (d. 1674), diplomat and opponent of French expansion under Louis XIV.
[14] Willem Frederik van Nassau, Lord of Zuylestein (d. 1672), a natural son of Frederick Henry, the present Prince of Orange’s grandfather.
[15] The future Marshal Boufflers (d. 1711), victor of Eckeren and defender of Lille.
[16] Prince Georg Frederick von Waldeck (d. 1692), loser of Fleurus.
[17] Pierre de Villars, Marquis de Villars (d. 1698), father of the famous Marshal.
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