Until they received the arrears due to them, they refused to stir.

Not till August 21 was Don Frederick able to invest Alkmaar with a force of 16,000 men.

The garrison consisted of some 1300 burghers with 800 troops thrown into the town by Sonoy, Orange's lieutenant in North Holland.

Two desperate assaults were repulsed with heavy loss, and then the Spaniards proceeded to blockade the town.

Sonoy now, by the orders of the prince, gained the consent of the cultivators of the surrounding district to the cutting of the dykes.