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Siege of Coruña

Part of the Anglo–Spanish War (1585–1604) and the Eighty Years' War

Monument of the heroine Maria Pita in the Square of the Town Hall of A Coruña

Date

4 - 18 May 1589

Location

A Coruña, (Galicia)

Result

Spanish victory

Siege Lifted
Invasion attempt repelled

Belligerents

Kingdom of England

United Provinces

Iberian Union

Commanders and leaders

Elizabeth I of England

John Norris

Marquis of Cerralbo

Álvaro Troncoso

María Pita

Strength

Six galleons
60 armed merchant vessels
60 Dutch flyboats
20 pinnaces
27,667 men
Total: 180+ ships

1 galleon
1,500 men

Casualties and losses

1,500 killed or died
3 large ships sunk or captured
1000 deserted on ten small ships

1000 dead, mostly civilians
great material destruction in the lower city
3 galleons sunk or scuttled

The siege of Coruña, also known as the defence of Corunna, was a series of military encounters between the English Armada and the defenders of the fishermen's city of Coruña in Galicia that lasted for two weeks in May 1589. The siege was the first interaction between the English Armada, a revenge English expedition within the Anglo-Spanish war, and the Spanish troops, and set the tone for the rest of the campaign. The siege ended in failure, and the English moved on to besiege Lisbon.

Background
- Landing
Siege
Aftermath
See also

Background

The English Armada was considerably larger than the 137-ship-strong Spanish Armada. Drake commanded some 180 ships which was made up of six Royal galleons, 60 English armed merchantmen, 60 Dutch flyboats and about 20 pinnaces. It transported 23,375 soldiers. In addition to the troops, there were 4,000 sailors and 1,500 officers and gentlemen adventurers. Drake assigned his vessels to five squadrons, led respectively by himself in the Revenge, Sir John Norris in the Nonpareil, Norris's brother Edward in the Foresight, Thomas Fenner in the Dreadnought, and Roger Williams in the Swiftsure. Also sailing with them – against the Queen's express orders – was the Earl of Essex and the pretender to the Portuguese throne supported by England.

Drake and Norris had orders from Queen Elizabeth to first attack Santander, where most of the surviving galleons from the Spanish Armada were being kept, and destroy the Spanish fleet. He also had to placate the fleet's commanders and investors who wanted the first objective to be landing in Lisbon. Drake chose to ignore them, alleging unfavourable winds and too much risk of becoming embayed by the Spaniards in the Bay of Biscay. He headed in a different direction and attacked Coruña instead. His behavior suggests that his goal in taking this simple fishing town was either to establish a base of operations or to raid it for booty. The latter seems most plausible since this expedition was privately funded and Drake had investors to satisfy. He might have been gathering supplies for a long struggle in Santander.

When the expedition arrived, Coruña was a small fishing village with a healthy economy due to the frequency with which ships stopped in its harbor, but only about 4,000 permanent inhabitants. At that time the army was concentrated in Santander, where an attack was expected, and the rest of the region was almost defenceless. To face the English Armada the city counted two galleons; the Regazona 1,294 tons, (San Juan, with 50 cannons ), the small galleon San Bernardo with 21 cannons, which couldn't sail at the time, two galleys (Diana and Princesa with 20 cannons each), and two other smaller ships (San Bartolomé with 27 cannons and the urca Sansón with 18). Regarding infantry, a combination of militia, hidalgos and the few available soldiers summed up to 1200 men, much of them with questionable levels of military training, except for the seven companies of old tercios who happened to be resting in the city after their return from war. Of course, it also had the medieval city walls, built in the 13th century, and a couple of medieval fortifications built around the river at the same period. The Spanish soldiers were led by Juan Pacheco de Toledo, Marques de Cerralbo, the governor of Coruña, and garrison commander Álvaro Troncoso.

Landing

The English Armada arrived on 4 May. Initially, 8,000 soldiers disembarked in the beach of Santa María de Oza lead by Norris. Álvaro de Troncoso y Ulloa came out to meet him with the 150 tercio's arquebusiers he had available, to defend the beach. They spread out to give the impression of a much larger number and opened heavy fire on the 8,000 soldiers. Troncoso was familiar with the local geography, even if the arquebusiers were not, and under his command the Spaniards moved around quickly, effectively disconcerting the attackers and forcing them to retreat back towards the ships. This gave enough time for the lighthouse fire to be lighted as an alert for the entire region. Norris's men took various losses and many were wounded; the less experienced soldiers panicked under the initial disconcert. When the invaders realized how many enemies they were really facing, Norris ordered his men to surround the Spanish, who immediately retreated towards the little Fort of Malvecín, near the "wall of the fish market". Their ability to repel the first English attack was a huge morale boost for the retreating defenders.

The English troops landed once again and explored the beach. They found and captured the San Bernardo, which was being repaired. They stole the ship's cannons, and disembarked the artillery from their own ships at night in large barges. The galleys Princesa and Diana engaged the barges, but with little effect.

Assuming (correctly), from the previous encounter, that the city had no significant military presence, the invaders carried all the artillery pieces to the walls by the fishermen markets the following day, and started the process of weakening the walls. They were allowed to do so without interruption, until they suddenly found themselves under heavy fire from the medieval Castle of San Antón and from the ships San Juan and San Bartolomé. The struggle between the two ships and the English artillery batteries was fierce. Norris's men took heavy losses, and at least two English cannons were put out of action They then tried to board the ships from land, unsuccessfully. After a long struggle, Norris gradually got the upper hand. A group of about fourteen soldiers managed to board the San Juan. Given the state of the ship, the Spanish gathered the gunpowder until the English soldiers were aboard, then blew the ship up as they jumped off it; fourteen soldiers were killed in the explosion, others were injured. The San Bartolomé continued to fight against the entire enemy artillery for a long time still, but was finally sunk by the Spanish in a similar way, to avoid its capture, before they retreated back to the castle. The two galleys retreated into the Mero river. The surprise factor was very effective, as it was the defenders targeting, not the ship, but the soldiers. The English troops had begun to suffer desertions.

Siege

A Coruña city wall

The defenders that had not participated in the fight were behind the city walls and could not assist those outside. Without the ships, the inhabitants of the lower city, outside the medieval walls, could do nothing to prevent 1.500 soldiers from circling the beach and disembarking behind the church of San Xurxo, at the feet of the "upper city", the line of the medieval nucleus of the village, effectively surrounding them. Some sought for refuge in the Castle of San Martín, while others decided to take arms and cut through the English lines towards the upper city. The English troops took the poor neighbourhoods of the lower city without much difficulty in the evening of 5 May and, on the night of 5 May, they took reprisals for the heavy casualties suffered during the two previous days on the inhabitants of the lower city and looted every patch of the city outside the walls. 400 Spaniards were killed that night, women and children included, adding to the 100 who died fighting during the day. The reaction came the next morning when a group of 1400 voluntary men from neighbouring villages, under the orders of the veteran Flanders captain Juan de Varela, who had sneaked past the English lines at night, charged towards the English troops camped in the lower city. When word of the events of the 5th spread new volunteers came from Santiago and the nearby mountains until there were 2400 Spanish in the Mount Arras, outside the city walls, and harassing Blake's men as they tried to prepare the siege. Not much compared to the more than 23000 English men on the beach, but the guerrilla strategies they used were particularly effective in the forested hills of Coruña.

The naval blockade was particularly ineffective for reasons unknown to the besieging army, and there were no signs of shortage of supplies in the city. The reason was that Spanish barques regularly managed to sneak past the English fleet to gather supplies and returned to the city unnoticed. The two galleys (Diana and Princesa) managed to sail away unmolested, but failed to return with reinforcements as intended. Despite the huge numbers of the besieging force the Spanish still managed to break the siege often and come in and out. They probably had a better supply system than the English Armada did, since the area is poor in both food and fresh water and not too densely populated. To try to prevent the constant breaking of their siege the captains of the attackers ordered the tightening of the siege, gathering even more people more closely together. Later in the campaign, the troops suffered disease outbreaks that swept through various ships. It is reasonable to think they originated here.

Norris decides to close lines and focus on breaching the walls, while from the inside the defenders kept attacking constantly. It is said that for days the entire city took turns to eat and sleep, while they spent the rest of the time defending the walls and repairing cracks in them. Two attempts at assaulting the walls were repelled by the inhabitants of the city, while the stress caused by the stalk, hit and run strategies carried out by Valera's men really affected the morale of Blake's men. On 12 May a mine was detonated. The medieval constructions resisted the blow.

Breach in the wall

After days of work and various mines, the walls break on 14 May. Pedro Ponce and the citizens covering that side of the wall prevent Norris' soldiers from advancing. Later in the evening, a second explosion opened a larger breach in the wall. The defenders anticipated the mine and shored up the turret and its wall causing the force of the explosion to be directed back at the attackers. The side of the wall was covered by Troncoso and his men, who repelled the initial attack. The English suffered considerable losses.

Norris ordered ten companies to charge in through the a second breach created by their artillery. He charged along with his best soldiers on the first line. They broke the resistance and entered the city followed by the bulk of the English army. The women of the city, many of whom had survived the chaos of 5 May, came to help Troncoso's men armed with pikes and knives and led by Maria Pita charged against Norris and his soldiers. It is said that an English commander carrying a banner, who was leading the assault to the highest part of the wall, was killed by María Pita who, snatched the spear carrying the English banner from the commander and threw it at him. This demoralized the English troops, composed of 12,000 men, who began to retreat. She then appeared on the top of the wall herself, shouting: Quen teña honra, que me siga ("Whoever has honour, follow me!") whereupon the English incursion was driven back by the defenders. At the other breach, Inés de Ben (a storekeeper in the lower city) lead another charge against the soldiers entering through the destroyed wall. After more than two-hours of sustained English assaults, the attackers were forced to retreat.

While that was going on, the English simultaneously carried out an unsuccessful attack on the Castle of San Antón.

Battle of El Burgo bridge

On 18 May English scouts soon reported a Spanish force of some 8,500 -10,000 raw levies under the command of the Andrada and Altamira which were attempting to reinforce the town, having crossed the bridge of El Burgo five miles south Coruna. Norreys at once set off to take the bridge and drive the Spanish away, but with only 1,700 men the first attempt failed. The Spanish began to entrench themselves around the bridge but after reinforcements from Sir Edward Norreys, Colonel Sidney and Captain Cooper, Norreys was able to lead nine regiments of pikemen and musketeers totalling 6,000. With the push of the pike the English managed to drive the Spanish back over the narrow two hundred yard long bridge which spanned a river and was then were able to surround and barricade them. In the ensuing fight and under hail of musket fire over 1,000 were killed wounded or captured, Norreys captured a Spanish Royal Standard as a trophy. English casualties were few and included Edward Norreys who was wounded by a sword slash to the head. The victorious English then went out into the countryside and laid waste to many villages.

English retreat

Later that day they got word that Spanish reinforcements were arriving from Santander to relieve the city. The following day they raised the siege, reembarked, then sailed to Lisbon.

Despite outnumbering the defenders, the English army failed to take the city. Attempts by the sea were also unsuccessful, repelled by artillery fire from the castle.

Aftermath

The English army lost over 1500 men in the siege, three large ships, and four landing barges, and had to leave without supplies and carrying hundreds of injured. The worst damage was probably to the morale of the men. After being repeatedly defeated by civilians and women, it was dangerously low. Indiscipline and discontentment increased. When Drake ordered the fleet to head to Lisbon, 1000 of his men, on ten small ships, deserted and returned to England.

The human loses to the city were of about 1000 people, counting men, women, and children, plus great material damage to the lower city. At his arrival, Philip II gave Maria Pita the rank of "permanent second lieutenant of the city", with the corresponding salary for her and for other leaders of the popular defence.