Tercio Viejo de Holanda in Seneffe 1674

 Hello guys,

After this summer holydays I finished a full unit for my Spanish army of Flanders during the second half of XVII c. the Tercio Departamental de Holanda, also known as the Tercio Viejo de Holanda.

I wanted this unit mainly for the Franco-Dutch War, and particularly for Seneffe in 1674, one of the  bloody battles of the period. This tercio is particularly attractive for wargaming because its service during the 1670s can be followed through several of the major campaigns fought by the Army of Flanders.

For the figures I have used North Star's 1672 range, with a few conversions and two self-sculpted pikemen. They were painted using a mixture of Vallejo and Foundry paints, as usual.

 Tercio Viejo de Holanda

The Tercio Departamental de Holanda was one of the veteran Spanish infantry formations serving in the Low Countries. Bruno Mugnai lists it as EI-8, Departamental de Holanda or Viejo de Hollanda, in his book "Wars and Soldiers in the Early Reign of Louis XIV Volume 4" giving 1580 as the date of its origin. Much later, after all the wars and reorganisations of the seventeenth century, its lineage ended up in the Zamora Regiment in 1715.

As with many old Spanish units, its name changed over its long existence, and it was normally known by either the territory in which it served or the name of its commanding officer.

For the period that interests me most, Mugnai gives the following succession of commanders:

Juan Pacheco Osorio de Cerralvo – 1654

Pedro de Zavala y Laezeta – 1660

Luis Zúñiga y Carrillo – 1663

Juan Domingo Méndez de Haro y Sotomayor, Count of Monterrey – 1666

Diego Gómez de Espinosa – 1672

Rodrigo Tello – 1672

Ordóñez de Lara – 1677

Juan Caro – around 1679

Joseph de Moncada y Aragón – 1682

By the time of Franco Dutch War, the Army of Flanders was smaller from the army of the great Spanish victories of the previous century. Nevertheless, veteran Spanish tercios remained in service and continued to take part in some very hard fighting against Louis XIV's armies.

Tercio Viejo de Holanda was at Naarden in 1673, followed in 1674 by Seneffe and Oudenaarde. It subsequently appears at Bouchain in 1676, Cassel in 1677 and Ypres in 1678. It was still serving in Flanders afterwards and is recorded at Brussels in 1685.

So in miniature this is a very useful unit. I can field it in several different actions of the Franco-Dutch War rather than tying it to a single battle.

But the main reason I wanted to paint it was Seneffe.

The Spanish contribution from the Army of Flanders was substantial, although heavily weighted towards mounted troops. According to the figures quoted by Mugnai, the Army of Flanders contributed around 6,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry to the allied army.

An Austrian print of the battle reproduced by Mugnai is particularly interesting. In the final phase of the fighting, the Hispanic troops can be seen deployed with infantry and cavalry alternating in the battle line. And among that infantry were men of the unit represented here.

Mugnai specifically states that companies of the Tercio Viejo de Holanda participated at Seneffe.

I think the word companies is important. I have not found evidence that allows me to claim that the complete tercio fought at Seneffe as a single tactical formation. What can safely be said is that companies belonging to it were present.

Now the flag...

A Spanish infantry flag captured during the battle is recorded in Les Triomphes de Louis XIV. It is an extremely simple design: a white field bearing a red Burgundian Cross. Mugnai notes that some scholars have suggested that such simple two-colour flags may have belonged to veteran infantry units. He then specifically mentions the presence of companies of the Viejo de Holanda at Seneffe.

Elsewhere he adds an important word of caution. Although simple flags have been associated with the old veteran tercios, the Seneffe example could also have been a colonel's colour. More importantly, there is no surviving evidence that allows it to be attributed to a particular tercio.

So it is tempting to associate this flag with the Viejo de Holanda, but can not be 100% sure.

The flag I eventually chose for the unit needs a little explanation.

I could have used the simple white flag with the red Burgundian Cross recorded at Seneffe. It would certainly have made sense visually, and its possible association with veteran infantry is very tempting.

Instead, I decided to use a more elaborate Spanish colour connected with another battle in which the Viejo de Holanda fought: Cassel, 11 April 1677.

The design I used is a reconstruction based on the description of Spanish colours captured by the French at Cassel. It has a white field with the traditional red Cross of Burgundy, accompanied in each of the four quarters by the crowned cipher of Charles II. I should make clear that I am not claiming this to be the documented flag of the Tercio Viejo de Holanda

What we do know is that Spanish flags of this type were recorded among the trophies of Cassel, and we also know independently that the Viejo de Holanda fought at Cassel in 1677 with another Tercio, so...that was enough for me.

For a miniature unit I wanted something historically plausible but also a little more colourful than the  austere Seneffe flag. The crowned ciphers of Charles II surrounding the Burgundian Cross immediately identify the unit visually with the Spanish Monarchy of this period.

Thank God we know the uniform :) for 1671, only three years before Seneffe, the information collected by Mugnai describes the private soldiers of the Viejo de Holanda as wearing a grey coat with red facings.By the 1680s this had evolved into a grey-white coat, again with red facings. Drummers wore blue coats with red facings.

For the figures I used North Star's 1672 range. I made several conversions to to add a little variety to the unit, and there are also two self-sculpted pikemen mixed in with the North Star figures. For instance, the officer and flag bearer are artillery men with head swaps/feathers, partizan, and shoulder ribbons added. Also a French pikemen was used, with another head and plastic arms with pike from Warlord Games ECW/TYW range.

The paints are a mixture of Vallejo and Foundry. This time, for the basic appearance I followed the documented 1671 description quite closely: grey coats and red facings, while allowing some variation in the shades of grey,  3 tones in the same unit. I prefer this slightly irregular appearance for the period rather than making every man look identical.

I hope you like this unit !