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MARIGNAN, BATTLE OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 717 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARIGNAN, See also:BATTLE OF , fought on the 13th and 14th of See also:September 1515 between the See also:French See also:army under See also:Francis I. and the Swiss. The See also:scene of the battle—which was also that of a hard fought engagement in 1859 (see See also:ITALIAN See also:WARS)—was the See also:northern outskirts of the See also:village of See also:Melegnano, on the See also:river Lambro, ro m. S.E. of See also:Milan. The circumstances out of which the battle of Marignan arose, almost inconceivable to the See also:modern mind, were not abnormal in the conditions of Italian warfare and politics then prevailing. The See also:young See also:king of See also:France had gathered an army about See also:Lyons, wherewith to overrun the Milanese; his See also:allies were the republics of See also:Venice and See also:Genoa. The See also:duke of Milan, See also:Maximilian See also:Sforza, had secured the support of the See also:emperor, the king of See also:Spain, and the See also:pope, and also that of the Swiss cantons, which then supplied the best and most numerous See also:mercenary soldiers in See also:Europe. The practicable passes of the See also:Alps and the See also:Apennines were held by Swiss and papal troops. Francis however boldly crossed the See also:Col de 1'Argentiere (Aug. 1515) by paths that no army had hitherto used, and See also:Marshal de La Palisse surprised and captured a papal See also:corps at Villafranca near See also:Pinerolo, whereupon the whole of the enemy's troops See also:fell back on Milan. The king then marching by See also:Vercelli, See also:Novara and See also:Pavia, joined hands with Alviano, the Venetian See also:commander, and secured a foothold in the Milanese. But in See also:order to avoid the See also:necessity of besieging Milan itself, he offered the Swiss a large sum to retire into their own See also:country. They were about to accept his offer, not having received their subsidies from the pope and the king of Spain, when a fresh corps of mercenaries descended into See also:Italy, desirous both of gaining See also:booty and of showing their prowess against their new rivals the French and See also:Lower See also:Rhine " lansquenets " (Landsknechts) and against the French See also:gendarmerie, whom (alluding to the " Battle of the Spurs " at Guinegatte in 1513) they called " See also:hares in See also:armour." The French took position at Melegnano to See also:face the Swiss, the Venetians at See also:Lodi to hold in check the See also:Spanish army at See also:Piacenza.

Alviano, who was visiting the king when the Swiss appeared before Melegnano, hurried off to bring thither his own army. Meantime the French and the Swiss engaged in an incredibly fierce struggle. The king's army was grouped in front of the village, facing in the direction of Milan, with a small stream separating it from the oncoming Swiss. On either See also:

side of the Milan road was a large See also:body of landsknechts, a third being in reserve. The French and .Gascon See also:infantry (largely armed with arquebuses) was on the extreme right, the various bodies of gendarmerie in the centre. In front of all was the French See also:artillery. The battle opened in the afternoon of the 13th of September. As the Swiss advanced in three huge columns, the French guns fired into them with terrible effect, but the assailants reached the intersected ground bordering the stream, and thus protected from the See also:rush of the French gendarmerie, they debouched on the other side, and fell upon the landsknechts. The See also:crowd of combatants, the gathering darkness, and the dust, prevented any See also:general direction being given to the battle by the leaders of either side. Francis himself at the See also:head of two See also:hundred gendarmes charged and drove back two large bodies of Swiss which were pressing the landsknechts hard. The battle went on by moonlight till See also:close on midnight, when the Swiss retired a See also:short distance. Both sides spent the See also:rest of the See also:night on the battlefield, reorganizing their broken corps.

Francis and his gendarmes were the outpost See also:

line of the French army, and remained all night mounted, See also:lance in See also:hand and See also:helmet on head. Next See also:morning at sunrise, the battle was renewed. The Swiss now See also:left their centre inactive opposite the king and with two strong corps attempted to See also:work See also:round his flanks. That on the left made for the French baggage, but found it strongly guarded by landsknechts, who drove them back. The nearest French gendarmerie joined in the pursuit, but a detachment from the Swiss centre fell upon these and destroyed them. This detachment in turn followed up its See also:advantage until as Francis himself expressed it, " the whole See also:camp turned out " to aid the landsknechts and " hunted out " the Swiss. Meantime the Swiss left attack had closed with the French infantry bands and the " aventuriers" (afterwards the famous corps of Picardie and See also:Piedmont), who were commanded on this See also:day be the famous engineer Pedro See also:Navarro. It was in the, See also:main struggle of See also:arquebus against See also:pike, but it was not the arquebus alone, or even principally, that gave the victory to the French. When the Swiss ranks had been disordered, the short pike and the See also:sword came into See also:play, and aided by the See also:constable de See also:Bourbon with a handful of the gendarmerie, the French right more than held its own until Alviano with the See also:cavalry from Lodi rode on to the See also:field and completed the rout of the Swiss. In the centre meanwhile the two infantries stood fast for eight See also:hours, separated by the See also:brook, while the artillery on both sides fired into it at short range. But the landsknechts, animated by the king, endured it as well as the Swiss; and at the last, Francis leading a final advance of his exhausted troops, the Swiss gave way and fled. Only 3000 Swiss escaped out of some 25,000 who fought.

On the French side probably 8000 were killed or died of wounds. The battle lasted twenty-eight hours. Its See also:

tactical See also:lesson was the efficacy of combining two arms against one. The French gendarmerie, burning to avenge the insult of " hares in armour," made more than See also:thirty charges by squadrons, and they were admirably supported by their See also:light artillery. The landsknechts retrieved their first day's defeat by their conduct on the second day. Nevertheless Marignan was in the main the work of the gendarmerie, the last and greatest See also:triumph of the armoured lancer; and as a fitting close to the battle the young king was knighted by See also:Bayard on the field.

End of Article: MARIGNAN, BATTLE OF

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