a Spanish general. When the Eighty Years' War started, d'Avila suffered a defeat in the Battle of Quesnoy. He was also involved in the 1572 Siege of Middelburg and the Battle of Flushing a year later. In 1574, d'Avila defeated Louis and Henry, brothers of William the Silent, in the Battle of Mookerheyde. In 1576, as commander of the Spanish troops in the Citadel of Antwerp, he was the main instigator of the Sack of Antwerp in which some 7,000 lives and a great deal of property were lost.
