Battle of Empel

1585 CE.

Shown on the map at 51.731°, 5.327°.

The Miracle of Empel (Milagro de Empel in Spanish) was a Spanish victory on December 8, 1585, near Empel, in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War. A Dutch force under Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein had trapped several thousand Spanish soldiers of the Army of Flanders under Francisco Arias de Bobadilla on an island between the Meuse and Waal rivers by breaching dikes and using naval patrols. The waters around the island unexpectedly froze one night after a Spanish soldier digging a trench found a painting of Mary, mother of Jesus, allowing the Spanish to drive the Dutch ships away before defeating the Dutch army. Remembered as an unexpected victory, In 1892, the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Christina of Austria, proclaimed Mary of the Immaculate Conception the patron of Spanish infantry.

Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Empel, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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