Battle of Lekkerbeetje
Battle of Lekkerbeetje | |||||||
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Part of the Eighty Years' War | |||||||
![]() Battle of Bréauté and Lekkerbeetje, by Sebastian Vrancx | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
22 cavalrymen | 22 cavalrymen | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
14 | 5 |
- v
- t
- e
Western Europe
- Beeldenstorm
- Valenciennes
- Wattrelos
- Lannoy
- Oosterweel
- Dahlen
- Heiligerlee
- Jemmingen
- Jodoigne
- Le Quesnoy
Western Europe
- Brielle
- Mons
- 1st Mechelen
- Goes
- Naarden
- Middelburg
- Haarlem
- IJsselmeer
- Alkmaar
- 1st Geertruidenberg
- Leiden
- Delft
- Valkenburg
- Mookerheyde
- Oudewater
- Schoonhoven
- Zierikzee
- European waters
- Flushing
- Borsele
- Haarlemmermeer
- Zuiderzee
- Reimerswaal
- Lillo
Western Europe
- 1st Antwerp
- Gembloux
- Rijmenam
- 1st Deventer
- Borgerhout
Western Europe
- 1st Maastricht
- 2nd Mechelen
- Diest
- 1st Steenwijk
- Kollum
- 1st Breda
- Noordhorn
- Niezijl
- Lochem
- 1st Lier
- 2nd Antwerp
- Eindhoven
- Steenbergen
- Ghent
- Aalst
- 3rd Antwerp
- Arnhem
- Empel
- Boksum
- 1st Grave
- 1st Venlo
- Axel
- Neuss
- 1st Rheinberg
- 1st Zutphen
- 1st Sluis
- European waters
- Ten Years, 1588–1598
Western Europe
- 1st Bergen op Zoom
- 2nd Geertruidenberg
- 2nd Breda
- 2nd Zutphen
- 2nd Deventer
- Delfzijl
- Knodsenburg
- 1st Hulst
- Nijmegen
- Rouen
- Caudebec
- 2nd Steenwijk
- 1st Coevorden
- 1st Luxemburg
- 3rd Geertruidenberg
- 2nd Coevorden
- Groningen
- 2nd Luxemburg
- Huy
- 1st Groenlo
- Lippe
- 2nd Lier
- Calais
- 2nd Hulst
- Turnhout
- 2nd Rheinberg
- 1st Meurs
- 2nd Groenlo
- Bredevoort
- Enschede
- Ootmarsum
- 1st Oldenzaal
- 1st Lingen
- European waters
Western Europe
- 1st Schenckenschans
- Zaltbommel
- Rees
- San Andreas
- Lekkerbeetje
- Nieuwpoort
- 3rd Rheinberg
- Ostend
- 1st 's-Hertogenbosch
- 2nd Grave
- Hoogstraaten
- 3rd Sluis
- 2nd Lingen
- 4th Rheinberg
- 3rd Groenlo
- European waters
- Dover Strait
- 2nd Sluis
- 1st Cape St. Vincent
- 1st Gibraltar
- Twelve Years' Truce, 1609–1621
Western Europe
- Aachen
East Indies
Western Europe
- Jülich
- 2nd Bergen op Zoom
- Fleurus
- 3rd Breda
- 2nd Oldenzaal
- 4th Groenlo
- 2nd 's-Hertogenbosch
- Meuse (2nd Maastricht, 2nd Venlo, 1st Roermond)
- 5th Rheinberg
- Leuven
- 2nd Schenkenschans
- 4th Breda
- 3rd Venlo
- 2nd Roermond
- Kallo
- 3rd Hulst
- 4th Hulst
European waters
- 2nd Gibraltar
- 2nd Cádiz
- Slaak
- Lizard Point
- Dunkirk
- 2nd English Channel
- The Downs
- 2nd Cape St. Vincent
Americas
- 1st Salvador
- Puerto Rico
- Bay of Matanzas
- Abrolhos
- Trujillo · Campeche
- 1st Saint Martin
- 2nd Salvador
- Itamaracá
- Southern Chile
- 2nd Saint Martin
East Indies
The Battle of Lekkerbeetje or Lekkerbeetken (5 February 1600) was a cavalry duel fought by pre-arrangement on Vughterheide near 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant, between 22 Brabantine cavalrymen loyal to Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, garrisoned in 's-Hertogenbosch, and 22 French cavalrymen serving in the army of the Dutch Republic.[1]
Event
In the winter of 1599-1600, a lull in the campaigning season, soldiers of the Army of Flanders garrisoned in 's-Hertogenbosch, commanded by Anthonie II Schetz, Baron of Grobbendonk, brought in a French prisoner, a cavalry lieutenant in the service of the Republic. When the prisoner wrote to his captain, Pierre de Bréauté, asking that money be sent to ransom him, Bréauté replied that he should be ashamed at having been captured, since any one of his men should be worth two of the enemy. Gerard Abrahams, a lieutenant of cuirassiers serving under Grobbendonk, heard of the letter's content. He challenged Bréauté to meet him on Vught Heath with equal numbers to put his boast to the test.
The two officers obtained permission from their commanders, and the combat took place on 5 February 1600. Each brought twenty-one cavalrymen and two heralds in support. The battle began at a trumpet signal from the heralds. Abrahams was the first casualty, being shot through the neck in the first charge.[2] His brother also died in the engagement. Bréauté had his horse shot from under him twice, was wounded and made prisoner. He was killed in cold blood, three quarters of an hour after having been captured, in revenge for the death of the Abrahams brothers.
Commemoration
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Lekkerbeetje.jpg/220px-Lekkerbeetje.jpg)
The fighting of a mass cavalry duel was a practice more familiar from chivalric romances than from the warfare of the time, and the small engagement made a great impression on contemporaries. A pamphlet account of the encounter was put out almost immediately as Histoire du combat du 5 février 1600, aux environs de Bois-le-Duc, entre le seigneur de Breauté, avec 21 soldats au service des hollandois, & Gerard Abrahams avec aussi 21 soldats au service de Leurs Altezes (Brussels, Rutger Velpius, 1600).[3] The event was commemorated in songs, poems, histories, paintings and prints.[4]
There are paintings of the battle by Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, Sebastian Vrancx, Simon Johannes van Douw and Gerrit van Santen,[5] and one attributed to Esaias van de Velde.
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ Meteren, Emanuel Van (1755). Historie van de oorlogen en geschiedenissen der Nederlanden, en derzelven naburen 1315-1611 (in Dutch). Gorinchem: Goetzee. pp. 319–323. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ Gerard Abrahams, in A.J. van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden, vol. 1 (Haarlem, 1852), p. 31.
- ^ Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu monsieur Gaspar-Joseph de Servais (Mechelen, 1808), pp. 269-270.
- ^ P. Th. J. Kuyer, Rondom en in het Gouvernement: Schets van de militaire en burgerlijke ambtsdragers onder de titel van Gouverneur in 's-Hertogenbosch en Noord-Brabant ('s-Hertoghenbosch, 1973), p. 23.
- ^ Het gevecht tussen Bréauté en Lekkerbeetjen op 5 februari 1600, Centraal Museum, Utrecht. Accessed 27 November 2015.