Battle of Sluis (1603)

Retranchement is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located on the Belgian border, about 9 km northwest of Oostburg, in the municipality of Sluis.

The Battle of Sluys (; Dutch pronunciation: [slœys]), also called the Battle of l'Écluse, was a naval battle fought on 24 June 1340 between England and France. It took place in the roadstead of the port of Sluys (French Écluse), on a since silted-up inlet between Zeeland and West Flanders. The English fleet of 120–150 ships was led by Edward III of England and the 230-strong French fleet by the Breton knight Hugues Quiéret, Admiral of France, and Nicolas Béhuchet, Constable of France. The battle was one of the opening engagements of the Hundred Years' War. Edward sailed from the River Orwell on 22 June and encountered the French blocking his way to Sluys harbour. The French had bound their ships into three lines, forming large floating fighting platforms. The English fleet spent some time manoeuvring to gain the advantage of wind and tide. During this delay the French ships were driven to the east of their starting positions and became entangled with each other. Béhuchet and Quiéret ordered the ships to be separated and the fleet attempted to move back to the west, against the wind and the tide. While the French were in this disorganised state, the English attacked. The English were able to manoeuvre against the French and defeat them in detail, capturing most of their ships. The French lost 16,000–20,000 men. The battle gave the English fleet naval supremacy in the English Channel. However, they were unable to take strategic advantage of this, and their success barely interrupted French raids on English territories and shipping. Operationally, the battle allowed the English army to land and to then besiege the French town of Tournai, albeit unsuccessfully.

Sluis-Aardenburg was a municipality in the province of Zeeland, in the south-western part of the Netherlands. It was created from a merger of Sluis and Aardenburg in 1995, and it merged with the municipality of Oostburg, on 1 January 2003, to form the new municipality of Sluis. Sluis-Aardenburg covered an area of 83.48 km², of which 0.89 km² was water. The municipality comprised the following towns, villages and townships: Aardenburg Draaiburg Eede Heille Retranchement Sint Anna ter Muiden Sint Kruis Sluis Terhofstede Zwindorp

Sluis (Dutch: [slœys] ; Zeelandic: Sluus [slys]; French: Écluse) is a town and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland. The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January 2003. The former municipalities of Oostburg and Sluis-Aardenburg merged on that date. The latter of these two municipalities was formed from a merger between the previous municipality named Sluis and the former municipality of Aardenburg in 1995.

The siege of Sluis (1604), also known as the Sluis campaign or the Battle of the Oostburg Line, was a series of military actions that took place during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War from 19 May to 19 August 1604. A States and English army under Prince Maurice of Orange and Horace Vere respectively crossed the Scheldt estuary and advanced on land taking Cadzand, Aardenburg, and IJzendijke in the Spanish Netherlands. This soon led to the culmination of the siege of the Spanish-held inland port of Sluis.Initially it was hoped that with Ostend under siege for three years by the Spanish, an attempted relief by Maurice's army could be achieved. Even though Ostend would finally fall into the hands of the Spanish, Sluis, an important stronghold itself, was eventually captured after tough fighting which included the defeat of a Spanish relief force under Ambrogio Spinola and Luis de Velasco.

Oud Sluis is a defunct restaurant in Sluis, Netherlands. It was a fine dining restaurant that had been awarded one or more Michelin stars since 1995. It carried one star in the period 1995–1998, two stars in the period 1999–2005 and three stars from 2006.The chef was Sergio Herman. The restaurant appeared from 2003 in the list of The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants. In its first ranking it was placed 40th, the ranking for 2011 was 17th.Since 2008 they have also run a guest house, Casa Chico y Luna, in Sint Anna ter Muiden.In June 2013, Sergio Herman announced the closure of the restaurant by the end of 2013 to focus on his other projects. He also wants to spend more time with his wife and 4 children. The restaurant finally closed down on 22 December 2013.

Sint Anna ter Muiden is a small city in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands. It is administratively a part of municipality of Sluis, and the town of Sluis lies about 1 km east. It is located on the westernmost point of the Netherlands (excluding the kingdom's other countries and its special municipalities). It has a population of 50 (as of 2001). Sint Anna ter Muiden was granted city rights in 1242 by the counts of Flanders, Thomas II of Savoy and Jeanne of Flanders. This makes it today the second smallest place in the Netherlands that bears this traditional designation (after Staverden with just 40 inhabitants). Sint Anna ter Muiden was a separate municipality until 1880, when it was merged with Sluis. Prior to 1 January 2003, it was in the former municipality of Sluis-Aardenburg.

The Battle of Cadzand was an early skirmish of the Hundred Years' War fought in 1337. It consisted of a raid on the Flemish island of Cadzand, designed to provoke a reaction and battle from the local garrison and so improve morale in England and amongst King Edward III's continental allies by providing his army with an easy victory. On 9 November Sir Walter Manny, with the advance troops for Edward III's continental invasion, made an attempt to take the city of Sluys, but was driven off.

Knokke-Zoute Airfield is a former airfield, located 5 km east of Knokke-Heist in West Flanders, Belgium. It was closed in 1960 and is now in agricultural use.

Cadzand is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located in the municipality of Sluis, about 8 km northwest of Oostburg. The village contains 790 inhabitants (2010). Better known to many visitors is the nearby beach at Cadzand-Bad. Cadzand was the scene of two battles during the Hundred Years' War 1337-Battle of Cadzand 1387-Battle of MargateUnder the Secret Treaty of Dover, concluded in 1670 between Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France, England was supposed to get possession of Cadzand as well as Walcheren, as the reward for helping France in the then impending war against the Dutch Republic. In the event, the Dutch resistance - much stronger than anticipated - managed to repulse the French-English attack, and the treaty was not implemented. In 1685 Cadzand was an important station on the escape route of Jean Harlan, a Huguenot from Calais, who escaped after Louis XIV's Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, reached Cadzand in a small boat and eventually founded a successful merchant family in Germany. Cadzand was also an important destination that year and shortly thereafter for other Huguenot refugees from the Calais area when their temple at Guinness was demolished by royal decree in the summer of that year. Three in particular were the Morel brothers, Isaac, Jacob and Pierre (changed to Pieter after moving to Cadzand), and the two brothers Jacob and Isaac Van Houte. All five "had been large landowners at Guemps, Offequerque, Hames, and Andres, close to Calais." Similar to a sister church in Canterbury, Kent, England, they helped re-build in Cadzand the mother church they lost in Guinness, Calais.During the year 1847 a large exodus of people from Cadzand, occurred, mainly to the United States. One ship, the "bark Maria", carried within it that year a significant number of Cadzanders, like Isaac LeMahieu and Suzanne Morel.Until 1 April 1970, Cadzand was a separate municipality. It then was annexed by the municipality of Oostburg. It was in January 2003, with the merger of Sluis-Aardenburg and Oostburg, that Cadzand found itself within the newly enlarged municipality of Sluis.

The Zwin is a nature reserve at the North Sea coast, on the Belgian-Dutch border. It consists of the entrance area of a former tidal inlet which during the Middle Ages connected the North Sea with the ports of Sluis and Bruges inland. The Zwin inlet was formed originally by a storm that broke through the Flemish coast in 1134, creating a tidal channel that reached some 15 km inland and was also connected, through another channel, to the mouth of the Scheldt further north-east. The new waterway offered access to the sea to the inland city of Bruges, which consequently rose to become one of the foremost medieval port cities of Europe. The towns of Damme, Sluis and Sint Anna ter Muiden were also located on the Zwin. However, from the late 13th century onwards, the channel was affected by progressive silting, which from around 1500 caused the waterway to become unusable and cut off the harbour of Bruges from the sea. The present-day nature reserve was founded in 1952. It has an area of 1.25 square kilometres in Knokke-Heist, Belgium and 0.33 square kilometres in Sluis, Netherlands. It is famous for its large variety in salt-resistant flora, such as sea lavender. It is also popular with bird watchers. There is a small zoo with some major domestic birds and it is one of the few places in Belgium with a population of white storks.In March 1986 it was declared a Wetland of International Importance.

Lapscheure is a town in Damme, a municipality in the province of West Flanders, Belgium.