Qualla: Siege of Julich (1621-1622)

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): Introduction

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. By January 1622 the soldiers in the fortress had already eaten the horses. The officers had, anyway. The rank and file were down to dog meat, cat meat, and rat meat, and there was no firewood left worth speaking of. Outside the walls the Spanish guns continued to drop shells day and night, while inside, the Dutch governor Frederik Pithan - seventy-two years old, a veteran of Nieuwpoort - tried to keep his garrison from melting away in the cold. He had been holding Julich since September. On 17 January 1622 he opened negotiations.

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): How the Truce Ended

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jusepe Leonardo, Public domain. The Twelve Years' Truce between the Spanish Monarchy and the Dutch Republic expired on 9 April 1621. Both sides had spent the previous months arguing internally about whether to renew it. In Madrid the new sixteen-year-old king Philip IV sided with the war faction led by Baltasar...

Image: Jusepe Leonardo | Public domain

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): Spinola's Feint

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Spanish Army of Flanders was commanded by Ambrogio Spinola, the Genoese nobleman who had taken Ostend in 1604 and reshaped the war ever since. The Brussels Council of State had decided Julich must be taken. The town, far from the Dutch frontier and held by a Dutch garrison si...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): Pasqualini's Star

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ziegelbrenner, CC BY-SA 3.0. Julich was small but exceptionally fortified. Its defenses, completed in 1580, had been designed by the Bolognese architect Alessandro Pasqualini in the mid-1500s. A large citadel with four bastions covered the north side of town, housing the ducal residence as a palazzo in forte...

Image: Ziegelbrenner | CC BY-SA 3.0

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): A Long Wet Autumn

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Grundkarte TUBS, Relief Alexrk2, CC BY-SA 3.0. Spinola decided to take Julich by hunger rather than assault. Van den Bergh built a line of circumvallation, reinforced with forts and redoubts, around the entire town. The Spanish diverted the Roer to drain the moats. Pithan launched sorties - one in mid-September with 700 infan...

Image: Grundkarte TUBS, Relief Alexrk2 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): Surrender Day

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frederik de Wit, Public domain. Inside Julich the cold was killing as many men as the bombardment. On 17 January 1622 Pithan opened negotiations through a commission of three captains, one each German, French, and English. Terms were agreed on 20 January and signed by Pithan and Van den Bergh two days later. A ...

Image: Frederik de Wit | Public domain

Siege of Julich (1621-1622): The Picture Spinola Wanted

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The triumph at Julich was the first major Spanish victory in the Netherlands after the Truce, and Madrid put it to work. In 1634 Philip IV commissioned Jusepe Leonardo to paint the surrender as part of the cycle for the Salon de Reinos in the Buen Retiro Palace. Spinola stands in...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain