ship. The Battle of the Downs marked the end of
Spanish supremacy in northern Europe.Tromp’s victory was one of the most important of the
period.
Tromp again left the service, only to return in
1652 with the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War
(1652–54) between the Netherlands and England. Im-
mediately he sailed to Dover to attack the English fleet,
which was commanded by Robert blake. The English
were inferior in numbers, and with this in mind Tromp
initiated an immediate attack. The battle of Dover
(19 May 1652) had no victor, but Tromp was forced
to withdraw. That October, he returned to again take
on Blake’s fleet, but Blake was not there, and he had
to return home empty-handed. The Dutch admiralty
relieved him of his command, and replaced him with
Admiral Witte Corneliszoon de Witt. De Witt sailed
to England, where he fought the English off Kentish
Knock (26 September 1652) and was defeated, upon
which Tromp was quickly reinstated as commander.
He sailed back to England and defeated the English
under Blake at Dungeness (30 November 1652), then
attempted to follow up the victory when he met Blake
off Portland (18–20 February 1653), but the English
commander won an easy triumph.
Tromp took additional losses when Blake beat him
at the battle of the Gabbard (2–3 June 1653), an en-
gagement that led to a blockade of the Dutch coast by
English forces. Tromp used his fleet to draw off some
of the English ships in the cordon, allowing a number
of Admiral de Witt’s ships to escape. These ships joined
Tromp’s main fleet to take on the English at Terheijde,
near Scheveningen off the coast of Holland (29 July
1653). During the battle, a soldier on one of Sir William
Penn’s ships shot Tromp in the heart, killing him in-
stantly. Despite the loss of their commander, the Dutch
won when the English had to withdraw for additional
supplies. Tromp’s body was returned to his homeland,
and he was buried with full military honors in the city of
Delft, where a memorial now stands in his honor.
The death of Maarten Tromp at the age of 56 was a
huge blow for the Dutch government. It has been argued
that Tromp’s loss caused the Dutch to sue for peace,
which ended the war with the Treaty of Westminster
(1654). His son, Cornelis Von tromP, followed in his
father’s steps and became one of the Netherlands’ most
important naval commanders of the 17th century.
References: Boxer, C. R., ed. and trans., The Journal of
Maarten Harperszoon Tromp, Anno 1639 (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1930); Vere, Francis,
Salt in Their Blood: The Lives of the Famous Dutch Ad-
mirals (London: Cassel & Company, Ltd., 1955); Bruce,
Anthony, and William Cogar, “Tromp, Maarten Harp-
ertszoon” and “Downs, Battle of the,” in An Encyclopedia
of Naval History (New York: Checkmark Books, 1999),
114, 376; Mets, James Andrew, Naval Heroes of Holland
(New York: The Abbey Press, 1902); Waddam, Henry,
Sir, The Danes Plot Discovered against this Kingdome...
(London: Printed for Andrew Coe and Marmaduke Boat,
1642); Lawson, John, Sir, A Great and Bloudy Fight at
Sea between the Parliaments Navy, under the command of
General Blake, and the Dutch fleet, commanded by the Lord
Admiral Van-Trump (London: Printed for J. Fielding,
1652); The Common-wealths Great Ship commonly called
the Soveraigne of the Seas, built in the yeare, 1637... (Lon-
don: M. Simmons, 1653).Tserclaes, Jean See tilly, Johann tserclaes,
count Von.Turenne, Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne,
vicomte de (Henri Turenne) (1611–1675)
French military commander
Henri Turenne was born at Sedan, France, sometime in
1611, the second son of Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne,
duc de Bouillon and prince of Sedan (France), and his
second wife, Elizabeth of Nassau, the daughter of Wil-
liam I of Orange (the Silent). Turenne’s father was a
major military commander, serving the French kings
Charles IX and Henry IV in numerous battles. Follow-
ing his father’s death in 1623 Turenne studied military
arts under his maternal uncle, maurice of Nassau, and
entered the service of the Netherlands as an aide to Mau-
rice during the Eighty Years’ War, or war for Dutch In-
dependence (1568–1648) from Spanish authority.
In 1625, Maurice was succeeded as the head of
the Dutch forces by his brother, Frederick Henry (also
known as Fredrik Henrik) of Nassau, and Turenne con-
tinued in service with him. The following year, he was
advanced to the rank of captain. He served with great
distinction under Frederick, seeing action at the battle
of S’Hertogenbosch (1629). However, in 1630, he left
the Netherlands and entered the service of the French tSeRclAeS, JeAn