Francis Vere - Military Career

Military Career

The young Francis Vere first went on active service under Leicester in 1585, and was soon in the thick of the war raging in the Low Countries. At the siege of Sluys he greatly distinguished himself under Sir Roger Williams and Sir Thomas Baskerville.

In 1588 he was in the garrison of Bergen op Zoom, which delivered itself from the besiegers by its own good fighting, and was knighted by Lord Willoughby on the field of battle.

In the next year Sir Francis became sergeant major-general of the English troops in the Low Countries, and soon afterwards the chief command devolved upon him. This position he retained during fifteen campaigns, with almost unbroken success. Working in close cooperation with the Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau, he helped to step by step secure the country for the cause of independence. The future prominent dramatist and poet Ben Jonson served as a volunteer under his command.

Vere won the reputation of being one of the best English soldiers of the day. His troops acquired a cohesion and a training based on the Dutch model fitting them to face the best Spanish troops, and his camp became the fashionable training-ground of all aspiring English soldiers, amongst others not only his younger brother Horace, but men of such note as Ferdinando (Lord) Fairfax, Gervase Markham and Captain Myles Standish. He was elected Member of Parliament for Leominster in 1593.

Sir Francis served in the Cádiz expedition of 1596, and in 1598 was entrusted with the negotiation of the treaty whereby the Anglo-Dutch alliance was revised; for himself he obtained the governorship of Brill and the rank of general.

The culminating point of his career came when, in 1600, on the advice of Oldenbarnevelt, the States General decided to carry the war into the enemy's country. In the Battle of Nieuwpoort (2 July 1600), one of the most desperately contested battles of the age, Maurice of Nassau, with support by Vere, completely defeated the veteran Spanish troops of the archduke Albert. This was followed by the celebrated defense of Ostend from July 1601 to Marchn 1602. Vere came back to England in 1602, but the remaining English troops kept fighting side by side with the Dutch until the surrender of the garrison in September 1604.. Vere returned to Holland with more troops in 1602 and with Maurice laid siege to the Spanish garrison at Grave but before that place surrendered he was injured under the right eye. He recovered after six months in Ryswick, was again on active service with the Dutch throughout 1603-04 and continued with the governership of Brill.