Battle of Gembloux (1578)

Battle of Gembloux
	Part of the Eighty Years' War
	; Engraving of the Battle of Gembloux by Frans Hogenberg
Date	31 January 1578
Location	Gembloux, Brabant, Spanish Netherlands; (present-day Belgium)
Result	Spanish victory
Belligerents
States-General	Spain
Commanders and leaders
De Goignies (POW); Count of Boussu; William de La Marck; Martin Schenck; Emanuel Philibert de Lalaing; Count of Egmont; Marquis d’Havré; Henry Balfour	John of Austria; Alexander Farnese; Cristóbal de Mondragón; Ottavio Gonzaga; Count of Mansfeld; Francisco Verdugo
Strength
20,000 men	17,000–20,000; (Only engaged 1,200 cavalry in the first phase of the battle)
Casualties and losses
6,000 killed ; Hundreds of prisoners	20 dead or wounded; (12 dead in action)

The Battle of Gembloux took place at Gembloux, near Namur, Low Countries, between the Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria (Spanish: Don Juan de Austria),^[4] Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, and a rebel army composed of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French, and Walloon soldiers under Antoine de Goignies,^[5] during the Eighty Years' War.^[1]^[2] On 31 January 1578 the Spanish cavalry commanded by John's nephew, Don Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma (Italian: Alessandro Farnese, Spanish: Alejandro Farnesio), after pushing back the Netherlandish cavalry, attacked the Netherlandish army, causing an enormous panic amongst the rebel troops.^[3] The result was a crushing victory for the Spanish forces.^[1]^[2] The battle hastened the disintegration of the unity of the rebel provinces, and meant the end of the Union of Brussels.^[6]^[7]

^ ^a ^b ^c Tony Jaques p. 368
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Colley Grattan p. 157
^ ^a ^b ^c Colley Grattan. Holland p. 113
^ Morris p. 268
^ It was commanded by Antoine de Goignies, a gentleman of Hainault, and an old soldier of the school of Charles V. Holland. Grattan p. 113
^ Tracy pp. 140–141
^ Morris p. 274