Battle of Montlhéry

The Battle of Montlhery (north of Montlhery and Longpont ) took place on July 16, 1465 between Louis XI. and the Ligue du Bien public place.

Context

After Louis XI. four years earlier had become king, he had reversed 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 increase their independence, and joined forces to Ligue du Bien public.

Preceding fights

Louis XI. , Who had the effective support of Count Gaston de Foix, had an army of 30,000 men who came from the big cities as well as from all over the provinces like Languedoc, Normandy, Champagne and the Dauphiné. With the beginning of hostilities in March 1465 he was marched into the Bourbonnais.

He then led his army towards Orléans, the elite units of the cavalry, mounted archers and artillery as the vanguard, which was commanded by the seneschal Pierre de Brézé.

On 11 July, the Burgundy Paris attacked, 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, the Porte de Saint-Cloud to take possession, which the road was blocked to the south. Louis location in Orléans was dangerous because his opponents were approaching from all sides of the capital.

The forces involved

The Breton army, about 12,000 men, was advancing to the east, and was on July 13, 50 km from Beaugency able to attack her the king of the flank and then to unite with the Burgundian troops, so that a total of almost 14,000 men were under arms.

In the south, eventually were the Count of Armagnac, Duke of Nemours and the Duke of Bourbon, in the southeast of the Marshal of Burgundy, in the east of Duke Johann with an army of horsemen and Swiss mercenaries - a striking imbalance became apparent.

At dawn of July 14 Louis XI reached. and his men after a forced march the castle Etampes. The King deposited in a fortified tower its treasures, and then marched towards Paris, the firm purpose to fight a battle if the Burgundian troops should oppose.

Expiration

Ludwig had the advantage of an elevated position on his side. The morning of July 16 passed with an indecisive artillery duel. At 14 clock, the king decided to attack. Brézé and the right wing made ​​the first attempt, then Louis attacked the Burgundian center, the Count of Maine was to attack last. Brézés advance struck a deep breach in the army of the Count of Saint-Pol, who then broke up into several groups, who retired in part, partly simply fled. Brézé fell in the attack.

The first clash of the centers the lines of the League broke already, the royal troops were able to advance into the middle of the tumult, so that the Count of Maine, only the attack on the wings of the Count of Charolais had remained when the king called him back: the victory was achieved so.

But the troops of Maine turned suddenly to flee and within moments left one-third of the royal troops the battlefield. The right wing Burgundian split to the left to attack the middle of the troops of Louis, who looked to be a wild and uncertain battle at the same moment from his clear victory. As it was believed even like Ludwig, Panic was spreading in his ranks; he showed himself, gave a motivational speech, his men threw themselves into battle again until the opposing pressure subsided. The king eventually withdrew with his people back to the hills of Montlhery.

Ludwig gave the order at night to illuminate the city and the mountain ridges to make the enemy believe that the battle will be resumed the next day. The king and his army marched on, however, Corbeil to Paris.

Balance

Ludwig reached that negotiations have started. In October, the League had dissolved, so that he only remained Charles the Bold as an opponent.