This is one of a series of roundels depicting the 'Spanish Fury' of 1576 and the liberation of Antwerp in August 1577. Between 4 and 6 November 1576 mercenaries in the Spanish service launched a full-scale attack on Antwerp (see A.38-1975). Over 2500 citizens were murdered and 100 houses burned down, including the magnificent Town Hall. In August 1577, however, the Netherlandish coalition overthrew the Spanish troops in the Citadel, as depicted in the plaquette A.34-1975. They then negotiated with the German mercenaries to withdraw (see A.36-1975). This roundel depicts the Oath of the Victors (2 August 1577), illustrating the moment when the generals Bours (left), Roeck (centre) and Liedekerke (right) swore loyalty to the Estates General, before a crowd of soldiers.

The compositions of these bronze plaquettes, of which the V&A holds six (A.33-1975 to A.38-1975), are closely related to a set of seven engravings by the Wierix brothers, after designs by Marten de Vos, published in Antwerp in 1578-79. Five of the original drawings by Marten de Vos are known: four are at the Ashmolean Museum (including the design for this scene, WA1996.322) and one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Comparison of the plaquettes with the drawings and engravings to which they are related indicates, as Jeremy Warren has argued, that the plaquettes derived from the drawings, not the engravings, and thus that the plaquettes were very likely made before the prints. No complete set of seven plaquettes has survived; other partial sets, in lead, are at the Ashmolean and the Rijksmuseum.

Charles Avery attributed the plaquettes to the medallist and bronze sculptor, Jacques Jonghelinck, who was appointed head of the Mint of Antwerp in 1572. In that role, he would have worked for the Spanish Habsburgs, so it might be surprising that he would then take on these anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish subjects. The attribution, therefore, remains tentative. (Last updated March 2025)