Battle of Montlhéry
| date | July 16, 1465 |
|---|---|
| place | Montlhéry south of Paris |
| output | draw |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 14,000 men | 15,000 men, including 7,000 knights and a strong artillery |
,_Comte_de_Charolais.svg){kind=small}
The battle of Montlhéry (in the north of Montlhéry and Longpont ) took place on July 16, 1465 between the troops of the French king Louis XI. and the Ligue du Bien public ( League for the common good ) under the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold .
context
After Louis XI. Four years before he had become king, he had turned his alliance with the Duke of Burgundy , who had supported him against his father, into the opposite. The great feudal lords of France had not ceased to expand their independence and formed the Ligue du Bien public .
Previous fights
Louis XI, who had the effective support of Count Gaston von Foix , had an army of 30,000 men who came from the big cities as well as from whole provinces such as Languedoc , Normandy , Champagne and Dauphiné . With the start of hostilities in March 1465, he had marched into the Bourbonnais .
He then led his army towards Orléans , the elite cavalry units , the mounted archers and the artillery as vanguard, which was commanded by Seneschal Pierre de Brézé .
On July 11th, the Burgundians attacked Paris , which opposed them. The army of the Count of Charolais (the title of Charles the Bold at the time) had the best artillery in Europe. They succeeded in seizing the Porte de Saint-Cloud , which blocked the way to the south. Ludwig's position in Orléans became dangerous as his opponents approached the capital from all sides.
The armed forces involved
The Breton army, around 12,000 men, advanced eastwards, and on July 13th, 50 kilometers from Beaugency , was able to attack the king from the flank and then to unite with the Burgundian troops, making a total of almost 14,000 Men were under arms.
In the south were the Count of Armagnac , the Duke of Nemours and the Duke of Bourbon , in the south-east the Marshal of Burgundy, and in the east, finally, Duke John II of Lorraine with an army of horsemen and Swiss mercenaries - a striking imbalance emerged from.
At dawn on July 14th, Louis XI. and his men after a forced march the castle of Étampes . The king deposited his treasures in a fortified tower and then marched towards Paris, determined to deliver a battle if the Burgundian troops should resist.
procedure
Ludwig had the advantage of an elevated position on his side. The morning of July 16 passed with an undecided artillery duel. At 2 p.m. the king decided to attack. Brézé and the right wing made the first advance, Ludwig then attacked the Burgundian center, the Count of Maine was to attack last. Brézé's advance made a deep breach in the army of the Count of Saint-Pol , which then split up into several groups, some of which withdrew and some simply fled. Brézé fell in the attack.
At the first clash of the centers the lines of the league already broke, the royal troops were able to advance into the middle of the fray, so that the Count of Maine would only have the attack on the wing of the Count of Charolais when the king called him back: the Victory seemed to have been achieved.
But Maine's troops suddenly turned to flee and within a few moments a third of the royal troops left the battlefield. The right Burgundian wing split to the left in order to attack the middle of the troops of Ludwig, who at the same moment saw his clear victory turning into a wild and uncertain battle. When Ludwig was even believed to have fallen, panic spread among his ranks; he showed up, gave a motivating speech, his men threw themselves into battle again until the opposing pressure subsided. The king eventually retired to the hills of Montlhéry with his people .
Ludwig gave the order to illuminate the city and the mountain ridges at night to make the enemy believe that the battle would resume the next day. The king and his army, however, marched to Paris via Corbeil .
Balance sheet
Ludwig managed to get negotiations started. In October the league disbanded, leaving him with only Charles the Bold as an opponent.
Web links
- Map of the Battle of Montlhéry (French)
- Paul Murray Kendall's account of the Battle of Montlhéry in his biography of Louis XI. (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michel Rimboud: La bataille de Montlhéry - 1465 . LA BATAILLE DE MONTLHÉRY - 1465 by Michel RIMBOUD ( memento of November 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), 17/12/2006.