Fort Sint-Andries

Fort Sint-Andries (in Dutch, Fort St. Andries) is a former Dutch military fort, located between the Meuse and the Waal to the west of Heerewaarden.

The fort was built in 1599 on the initiative of Cardinal Andrew of Austria, son of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol and grandson of Ferdinand I. Andrew was acting as stadtholder in place of Albert of Austria, while the latter had left for Spain for his marriage to Isabella Clara Eugenia of Austria.

The fort was pentagonal in shape and offered the Spaniards a strategic position, giving them a perfect view over both rivers. However, the fort did not serve the Spaniards for very long: in 1600, after a mutiny, the Spanish soldiers sold the fort to the States General. On 24 March 1600, after only three days of siege by Maurice of Orange, the fort capitulated.

During the Franco-Dutch War, the fort surrendered without resistance to the dragoons that the Viscount of Turenne sent there on 23 June 1672.

On 28 December 1794, the fort was again taken by the French under General Delmas, helped by the ice that allowed the troops to cross the rivers on foot.

In 1812, the fort was replaced by a new fort, built a few hundred metres to the west, the New Fort Sint-Andries.

Machine-translated from “Fort Saint-André (Pays-Bas)” on the French Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort Sint-Andries ranks #6,852 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #157 of the 200 mapped in Netherlands. Founded 1599, it is older than 33% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. 16 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Tilburg, 33 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in French) ↗