Battle of Marignan

The battles of Marignan ( Marignano in Italy, today Melegnano, city to 16 km in the western south of Milan), took place September 13rd and 14th 1515 and opposed François I {{er}} of France and its allies Vénitiens to the Suisse S which defended the Milanais. The battle of Marignan is one of the episodes of the Guerres of Italy started with Louis XII.

Introduction

François I {{er}} affirms its claims on the Milanais at the beginning of its reign, by the rights of his Claude wife, heiress of Orleans, and thus of Louis XII.
Au spring 1515, François I {{er}} gathers with Lyon an army of: 30000 men: noble French, adventurous Gascon S and Navarrese, German Infantryman S (Lansquenet S), and fighters of the Netherlands (the “black band”). To join together them, the king increases the tax and fact of the loans, because it should extremely expensive pay the neutrality of the ambitious Henri VIII of England but also of Charles of Ghent, future Charles Quint. 400 kilos of Gold (: 150000 ecu S) go to the Swiss garrison. In the absence of King, his mother ensures the Régence.
Face with him, a coalition was formed with the Pape, the duke of Milan, the Empereur and the king of Aragon.
Le moral of the troops is good, the youth of François I {{er}} is regarded as a pledge of victory. The artillery is the principal asset of the French. It is the first of Europe {reference}, with its 60 bronze guns ordered by Galiot de Genouillac. Knowing the usual passages, kept by the troops of the pope, the heavy guns are hoisted with Treuil S to cross the collars by paths with Chèvre S, like the Col of Argentière, the side of Montgenèvre.

The battle

With Marignan, to 16 km in the south-east of Milan in Italy in the plain of the Po, the September 13rd 1515, the Swiss troops which carry like the French, the white scarf, attack the lansquenets which protect artillery. Three squares of Piquier S make them to fold but king, which did not have time to put its armor whose leather was torn by a blow of spade, comes to rejoin them.

The knight Bayard, fights with a great bravery. Its horse is killed under him. It goes back in saddle at once. The divided supports, its second mounting packs and involves it towards the Swiss rows. He manages to run away himself and regains his camp through the vines. The troops hold until midnight, then the combat stops.

In the small hour of the 14, the combat begins again. The French artillery ordered by the seneshal of Armagnac made of the devastations but the left wing of the army ordered by the duke of Alençon, bends. Suddenly, a cry resounds “Marco! Marco! ”. They are the Venetian ones. At 11 a.m., the Swiss ones beat a retreat towards Milan.

The evening: 14000 Swiss lie without life on the battle field. The legend affirms that François I {{er}} is made knight by Pierre of Terrail, lord of Bayard. Unfortunately this tough legend is not confirmed by the documents of time and appears only years later (starting from 1525 and sortout 1539) in works with the glory of the royalty.

Negotiations

France reconquers the Milanese thus. It signs with the Swiss ones, the November 29th with Freiburg, a perpetual peace treaty which is respected until the fall of French monarchy, in 1792. The Swiss ones put their mercenaries at the service of king de France, by the Traité of Geneva the November 7th 1515.

Relations between the king of France, king Very-Christian, and the pope, are to be redefined. The agreement of the pope is essential for the durable acquisition of the conquests, and the perception of the ten-per-cent taxes on the clergy. In December, the meeting of Bologna leads to a legal settlement, approved in August 1516 by the pope.

A famous battle

The battle of Marignan, at the dawn of the reign of François I {{er}}, which will have lasted two days, unusual fact for this time, became a symbol of the glory of the king. The defeat of Swiss is an event, because those acquired, by their discipline, a reputation of invincibility. It evokes another big boss of the Antiquité, Jules César, which was one of rare to beat the Swiss ones. It fits thus in the beginning of the Renaissance, with for the first time the decisive use of artillery. The Italian artists, whose Léonard de Vinci, then will open in France.

Random links: