Bergen op Zoom, the Invincible

Bergen op Zoom lay so favourably on the Scheldt and the creeks that an army could indeed hem the town in on the land side, but could not cut it off from the water. As long as the ships of the Republic could bring supplies and reinforcements, the town kept breathing. The fortifications were strong and again and again renewed, and the defenders knew that time worked in their favour: a besieger outside the walls often suffered more than the besieged within.

In 1622 the famous Spanish general Spinola appeared before the town, a man who had made many a fortress fall. For months he tried Bergen op Zoom with trenches, assaults and hunger. But the town held out; by water it stayed supplied, and when a relief army drew near, Spinola had to break off the siege and withdraw with loss. That failed siege sealed the town’s fame. From then on Bergen op Zoom was called the Invincible, a name it bore with pride on its gates and in its history.