Battle of Guinegate (1479)
| date | 17th August 1479 |
|---|---|
| place | Guinegate (today Enguinegatte ) |
| output | Victory of Archduke Maximilian I. |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
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| Troop strength | |
| about 10,000 men | about 27,300 men |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
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The Battle of Guinegate was fought in a French town called Guinegate in Picardy , today it is called Enguinegatte in the Pas-de-Calais department . It happened on August 17, 1479 . Some sources mention August 7th as the day of the fight. The reason for the battle was the dispute over the possession of the Burgundian legacy of Charles the Bold between Archduke Maximilian I (the "last knight") of the House of Habsburg and King Ludwig XI. from France.
prehistory
Two years earlier, on August 19, 1477, Maximilian I had married Maria of Burgundy . Maria was the only heir to her father, Charles the Bold , who died in the battle of Nancy on January 5, 1477. The Duchy of Burgundy was a French fiefdom . When Charles the Bold was dead, the French King Louis XI. the territories as a fief that had fallen back to him and let his troops move into the Burgundian cities of Picardy , Artois , Flanders , Hainaut and the Duchy of Burgundy. Archduke Maximilian, on the other hand, saw these lands as his jointly ruled property with Maria. He responded to the French attempt to take the land by collecting an army that invaded Picardy from the Burgundian Netherlands . A battle broke out near the village of Guinegate.
The battle took place at a time of military transition. The Swiss had won battles with Charles the Bold near Murten (1476) and near Nancy (1477) through the massive deployment of foot soldiers who fought with pikes . The previously dominant armies of knights had fallen behind compared to the infantry. Word of the success got around and motivated all European countries to imitate the federal tactics . The beaten Burgundians were the first to learn from this knowledge. The 20-year-old Archduke Maximilian had neither enough experience in this nor, as the new sovereign, enough acceptance to reform the army in his area with a new idea. In his ranks, however, he had the Count of Romont , who came from the area of Lake Neuchâtel and had Swiss experience. The count taught the Flemish foot servants to pose as a heap of violence and how to proceed in battle.
Course of the battle
The French army fought under the command of Philippe de Crèvecœur . Maximilian I personally led the German and Burgundian units into battle. The young Archduke joined the ranks of the footmen. With a long spear in hand, he fought in the first link against the approaching knights. His example may have increased the fighting spirit of the tactical association. After four hours of fighting, the French were defeated and fled the battlefield.
consequences
After the battle Maximilian was able to take back a large part of Hainaut with the city of Cambrai without further resistance . But his success was not permanent. Mary of Burgundy died unexpectedly in a riding accident in 1482. Louis XI took advantage of the conflicts that broke out in the Netherlands. to restart the war. Maximilian had to conclude the Arras peace with France in the same year . The Duchy of Burgundy, the Free County of Burgundy and Artois, the city of Arras and Picardy, which was occupied in 1477, fell to France. The Habsburgs got Flanders back.
rating
In terms of state politics, the battle is of marginal importance compared to the Burgundian Wars , for example, since it was about the solution of a regional conflict. The French king had gone too far in reclaiming fiefs and thus triggered Archduke Maximilian's resistance. In terms of military history, however, this armed conflict is to be given a high priority. Even if they have not yet been designated as such, Landsknechte made their debut here as a new element in warfare. It was just as revolutionary that Maximilian had joined the fighting force. Perhaps this experience contributed to the fact that he later had an open ear for wishes from the ranks of the mercenaries.
literature
- Hans Delbrück: History of the art of war in the context of political history. Berlin 1920. Part 4, pp. 4-8.
- Hermann Wiesflecker: Guinegat (t) e . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Vol. 4, 1989, Col. 1785.
Footnotes
- ↑ Hellmut Diwald : Entitlement to come of age. Around 1400 - 1555 (= Propylaea history of Europe , vol. 1). Propylaeen-Verlag, Berlin 1975, p. 311.
Coordinates: 50 ° 36 ′ 29 ″ N , 2 ° 16 ′ 16 ″ E