On July 11,1573, after a relieving force of 4000 men, sent by Orange, had been utterly defeated, and the inhabitants were perishing by famine, Toledo gained possession of Haarlem.

The survivors of the heroic garrison were all butchered, and Ripperda and Brederode, their gallant leaders, executed.

A number of the leading citizens were likewise put to death, but the town was spared from pillage on condition of paying a heavy fine.

The siege had lasted seven months, and the army of Toledo, which had suffered terribly during the winter, is said to have lost twelve thousand men.
Alva in his letters to the king laid great stress on the clemency with which he had treated Haarlem.

It had been spared the wholesale destruction of Zutphen and Naarden, and the duke hoped that by this exhibition of comparative leniency he might induce the other rebel towns to open their gates without opposition.