Capture of de Briel 1572

[aukepalmhof]

This collectible 24-carat gold stamp from the Dutch Post shows us the Capture of Den Briel in1572. It is a very expensive issue, she is given on the internet with a price of 50 Euro.
The sheet is designed after a painting van Jan Luyken made in 1677-1679.

The capture of Den Briel took place on April 1, 1572, in which the water beggars captured the town of Den Briel, now Brielle, from the royal Spanish garrison stationed there. It is one of the most famous events of the Eighty Years' War and thus in the national history of the Netherlands.

Cause
The Geuzen , who had gone out to sea since the arrival of Alva in the Netherlands, stayed with some ships in the harbor of Dover, where they could get food and/or trade until Queen Elizabeth ordered them to leave in the spring of 1572.
The original plan was an attack on Enkhuizen , but due to storms and navigation errors, the Geuzen fleet ended up more southerly at the Dutch coast, near the town of Den Briel. The Spanish garrison that normally resided there was absent at the time and only a small group of Spanish soldiers remained. A ferryman, Jan Koppelstock , saw the beggar fleet and rowed towards the ships. When asked by the beggars whether there were many Spaniards in the town, he replied that they could easily be handled.
The Capture of Den Briel
The Beggar leaders decided on April 1 to attack the city and claim it for the refugee William of Orange , who had been the stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht until 1567. The mayor and the city council refused at first because the beggars were notorious for their looting and other misdeeds. The beggars then stormed the North Gate and broke it open. They quickly dealt with the Spaniards and took control of the city. Thus Den Briel became the first city where the insurgents ruled.

The consequences
Alva heard of this, but he didn't think it was significant to have lost Den Briel. However, the revolt would soon spread across the Netherlands, showing that he had seriously underestimated the significance of the capture. It is also sometimes said: On April 1, Alva lost his Glasses (ie Den Briel). Shortly after the capture, the Catholic martyrs of Gorcum were put to death in Den Briel by the Protestant water beggars and local collaborators.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inname_van_Den_Briel

The capture of Brielle by the Watergeuzen on 1 April 1572 marked a turning point in the Dutch uprising against Spain in the Eighty Years' War. Militarily the success was slight, as the port of Brielle was undefended, but it did offer the rebels their first foothold on land at a time when the rebellion was all but crushed, and offered the sign of a new revolt in the Netherlands, which led to the founding of the Dutch Republic.
The Watergeuzen were led by William van der Marck, Lord of Lumey, and by two of his captains, Willem Bloys van Treslong and Lenaert Jansz de Graeff. Driven out of England by Elizabeth I, they needed a place to shelter their 25 ships. As they sailed to Brielle, they found to their surprise that the Spanish garrison had left to deal with the riots in Utrecht. On the evening of April 1, the 600 men plundered the undefended harbor. As they prepared to leave, one of the men said there was no reason they should leave where they were.

https://de.wikibrief.org/wiki/Capture_of_Brielle

With the Battle of Heiligerlee in 1568, the first military clash between the two sides, the Eighty Years' War began, in which Adolf von Nassau, the brother of William of Orange, fell.
During this time, many noblemen and merchants who had fled Holland fitted out privateers who were chasing Spanish ships and shared the profits with the crews. The Wadden Islands Terschelling and Rottumeroog as well as English, French, and East Frisian North Sea ports (especially Emden) served as bases. However, without an appointment, these privateers were treated as outlaws until William of Orange allied themselves with them. He gave the skippers letters of marque and appointed Wilhelm II von der Mark admiral of what was now known as the water beasts of the resistance movement. On April 1, 1572, in the name of William of Orange, who was then living in exile in London, the water geuzes conquered the town of Brielle (Den Briel) at the mouth of the Meuse, and other conquered towns soon followed. The Latin inscription on Brielle's coat of arms recalls this: 'Libertatis Primitiae' (The First Liberated).
In 1572 the Geuzen achieved their greatest success when they conquered the provinces of Zeeland and Holland. William I of Orange was elected governor of the liberated provinces, which effectively put him in charge of the resistance against Spain.
In 1573 Alva was replaced by Don Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens. Even if the new governor was initially more successful than his predecessor, the insurgents again achieved a great victory: the "bush geues" operating on land broke the dikes and flooded the country. This enabled the water geuzen to effectively support the liberation of the city of Leiden with their ships.
https://www.wikiwand.com/de/Geusen