Battle of Ane

Battle of Ane
Otto II of Lippe goes down fighting in the battle of Ane (Frederik Zürcher, 1825-1876)
Date July 28, 1227 Location Ane, (Overijssel, Netherlands) Result Victory for Drenthe Death of Otto II of Lippe
Belligerents
Bishopric of Utrecht	Drenthe
Commanders and leaders
Otto II of Lippe  †	Rudolph van Coevorden
Casualties and losses
Over 400 deaths	Unknown

The Battle of Ane (Dutch Low Saxon:Slag bi'j Aone), (Dutch:Slag bij Ane), was fought in 1227 between Otto II of Lippe, Bishop of Utrecht, and Rudolf II van Coevorden with his army of Drenths.

Background

From the middle of the 11th century the Bishops of Utrecht were given the lands of Groningen, Overijssel and Drenthe as a fief by the Holy Roman Emperor. The inhabitants of Drenthe were unhappy about their rights and taxation of the Bishop of Utrecht. The local lords of the Drenthe city of Coevorden, though nominally under the authority of the Bishop, began to oppose him.

The battle

On 28 July 1227 the armies of the Bishop of Utrecht Otto II of Lippe and a large group of rebellious Drenths led by Rudolph van Coevorden met on a field near the present-day village of Ane. The Bishop had traveled to this area to call the rebellious province of Drenthe to order, and he had called up many of his warlords to support him together with a couple of warbands supplied by the Bishops of Munster and Cologne.

The Drenths knew that they did not stand a chance if they faced this army in the field, and they managed to lure the Bishopric army into an area with soft and swampy ground called the Mommenriete. The horses of the Bishop’s army sank into the ground, and the knights with their heavy armour were unable to fight effectively because of this. The Drenthe rebel army was light, and was used to fighting on this kind of ground. This kind of fighting where armoured knights were beaten by light forces because of the soft ground bears many resemblances to the Battle of the Golden Spurs in Flanders in 1302.

The Drenthe rebels managed to beat the Bishop's forces, and killed most of it including the Bishop Otto II of Lippe, and many of his supporting warlords. Otto’s successor, Wilbrand van Oldenburg, roused the Frisian people into supporting him against the rebellious Drenths which led to the Friso-Drentic War in 1231-1233 that was initially won by the Drenths. In 1233, Wilbrand's successor Otto III van Holland succeeded in suppressing the rebellion by mustering a large army.^[1]

As a penance the Drenths had to build and maintain a monastery, Sancta Maria de Campe (Mariënkamp) near Coevorden. The location proved to be unsuitable and the monastery was moved to a place near Rolde around 1258. The monastery later grew out to become the city of Assen, the present day capital of the province of Drenthe.^[2]

In 1967 a monument was erected near Ane to commemorate this battle. It has an inscription in Zuud-Drèents: "Slag bi'j Aone, 28 juli 1227, zie vocht'n ok veur oenze vri'jheid." ("Battle of Ane, 28 july 1227, they also fought for our freedom".)

Noble casualties

• Gerard III, Count of Guelders (wounded)
• Lord Gijselbert of Amstel
• Otto II of Lippe, Bishop of Utrecht
• Diderick van der Lippe, Bishop of Münster
• Gerhard II. of Lippe, Bishop of Bremen (wounded)
• The lord of Arkel, and his cousin
• Berend van Horstmar, Crusader knight
• Gerhart, Count of Goor
• Dietrich V, Count of Cleves (wounded)
• Baldwin, Count of Bentheim
• Engelbert, Lord of Groningen
• Lambertus van Nettelhorst, Knight (died)

References

Citations

1. Magnin 1852, pp. 41–44
2. Magnin 1852, pp. 44–45

Sources

• Magnin, Jean Samuel (1851). Geschiedkundig schoolboek van Drenthe [Textbook for history lessons on Drenthe] (in Dutch). Groningen: J. Oomkens J. Zoon.

External links

Media related to Battle of Ane at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 52°36′50″N 6°39′04″E / 52.614°N 6.651°E