Since his victory in July at Jemmingen, the Spanish commander Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba (or Alva) had enforced military discipline on the cities of the Netherlands, so even with Protestant leanings there would be little welcome for Orange's army.

[7] On 10 October, Orange moved on to the fortified town of Saint Tron (Now: Sint-Truiden, French: St Trond, Limburgs: Sintruin) which, despite the presence in the city of troops sent by Liege, opened its doors.

[8] Orange pillaged the abbey of St Tron and compelled the abbot to pay twenty thousand crowns for his ransom.

[9] Alva had ordered nearby Leeuw (now Zoutleeuw or French Léau) to send its garrison to reinforce Thilmont.

That left the Leeuw fortifications defenseless, so when a foraging party led by Orange's brother Louis arrived, it had to yield.

Alva also called up 10 companies of Walloons under Jean de Croy, le comte du Roeulx.

The result was a mutiny in which Captain Malburg was killed and Orange himself was lucky to survive as a pistol bullet lodged in the scabbard of this sword.

To get to Wavre, Orange had to move his army across the river Jaulche (Dutch: Grote Gete), which was the border between the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Habsburg-ruled Duchy of Brabant.

To protect his crossing, Orange set a rear-guard, near Judoigne (Now French: Jodoigne, or Dutch: Geldenaken), under the command of Colonel Philip van Marbais Lord of Louverval, including 2,000 men with fire-lock weapons and 500 horse, most were Walloons or from Gascony, chosen to keep the Spanish occupied while the main army crossed the river.

[17] Orange lost over 2,000 men and some key commanders: Count Hochstrate received a mortal wound, and died not long after,[18] and Colonel Philip van Marbais Lord of Louverval was captured, taken to Brussels, and beheaded.

[20] When Orange met Genlis, he found the Huguenot army was disappointingly small, numbering about 2,000 infantry and 500 cavalry (estimates of the total vary between 2,000 and a probably exaggerated 5,800).

As punishment, the town had to fund a tercio of the Army of Flanders and some years later, in 1572, the Spanish King Philip II confiscated Diest, destroying its fortifications.