Battle of Oosterweel [SEP] end time
Battle of Oosterweel
The Battle of Oosterweel took place on 13 March 1567 near the village of Oosterweel, north of Antwerp, and is traditionally seen as the beginning of the Eighty Years' War. A Spanish infantry division under General Beauvoir defeated an army of radical Calvinists rebels under Jan de Marnix. The prisoners were considered rebels and executed. William the Silent, the Burggraaf of Antwerp, did not allow the Protestants of the city to participate in the battle because he was, as lord of the city, bound by oath
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Calvinists were an important component of the iconoclastic fury () across the Netherlands. Margaret feared insurrection and made further concessions to the Calvinists, such as designating certain churches for Calvinist worship. Some provincial governors took decisive action to quell the disturbances. In March 1567 at the Battle of Oosterweel Calvinists under John of St. Aldegonde were defeated by a royalist army and all rebels summarily executed. In April 1567, Margaret reported to Philip that order had been restored. However, by the time this news reached Philip in Madrid the