Battle of Empel

Miracle of Empel
	Part of the Eighty Years' War
	; The miracle of Empel ; Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, 2015
Date	December 6–8, 1585
Location	Empel, Netherlands, between the Meuse and Waal rivers.51°43′52″N 5°19′38″E / 51.73111°N 5.32722°E
Result	Spanish victory
Belligerents
States-General;	Spain;
Commanders and leaders
Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein;	Juan del Águila; Francisco Arias de Bobadilla;
Strength
30,000 men; 100–200 ships	4,000–6,000 men
Casualties and losses
High; Several ships burnt or captured	Low
	Empel The Netherlands

The Miracle of Empel (Milagro de Empel in Spanish) was an unexpected Spanish victory on December 8, 1585, near Empel, in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War. A Dutch force under Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein had trapped several thousand Spanish soldiers of the Army of Flanders under Francisco Arias de Bobadilla on an island between the Meuse and Waal rivers by breaching dikes and using naval patrols. The waters around the island unexpectedly froze one night after a Spanish soldier digging a trench found a painting of Mary, mother of Jesus, allowing the Spanish to drive the Dutch ships away before defeating the Dutch army.

In 1892, the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Christina of Austria, proclaimed Mary of the Immaculate Conception the patron of Spanish infantry.