Bleijenbeek is a small hamlet in the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province of Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

. It is located in the municipality of Bergen, about 2 km east of Afferden

Afferden (Limburg)

Afferden is a town in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen , and lies about 25 km southeast of Nijmegen....

.

The main building in the hamlet is the ruin of Castle Bleijenbeek. According to the 19th century historian A.J. van der Aa, the castle is known for the numerous sieges by the armies of Guelders

Guelders

Guelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.-Geography:...

 and Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. In 1580, the castle was besieged by the forces of Guelders, but it was defended bravely by the lord of the castle, Marten Schenk, when the Duke of Parma sent cavalry, the sieging army had to retreat. In 1589, Schenk had changed sides, and the castle was besieged by Marcus van Rije, the stadtholder of Guelders appointed by the Spanish king; this time, the castle was conquered.