The Last Campaign of Duke Alessandro Farnese
Henry IV during the siege of Paris
On July 24, 1591, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Alessandro Farnese (that is, Alexander of Parma in the old Russian spelling) received a letter from his uncle, King Philip II, with an order to prepare a new campaign in France against the French Huguenot heretics, led by the king of Navarre, sadly misunderstanding (for Philip, of course) who became the king of France, Henry IV (in Russian-language literature - Henry IV).
The previous campaign of the duke in the summer and autumn of 1590 saved the French allies of Spain - members of the Catholic League from defeat, and the city of Paris from the siege, but expensively, and in every sense, cost him himself.
The duke himself was categorically against the new campaign - he had enough worries with the Dutch heretics. The son of the murdered stathouder of the Netherlands, Willem van Oranje (better known as William the Silent), Maurice turned out to be a talented commander and from 1590 managed to capture several fortresses, starting with impregnable Breda.
Moreover, literally on the day of receiving the letter, Maurice van Oranje managed to inflict a rather sensitive defeat on Farnese at Fort Knodsenburg.
Portrait of a young Moritz van Oranje
And now, instead of teaching the insolent youth a lesson, the duke was forced to leave Flanders again. He even tried to protest against such an unreasonable order, but King Philip II found very weighty arguments - for example, he reduced the funding for the duke's army.
So, by November 1591, Alessandro Farnese had more or less recovered his health and gathered an army for a new invasion of France, where the affairs of the Allied-Legists again went awry. However, he placed certain conditions on their head, the Duke de Mayenne. He wanted to take the city of La Fère and place a Spanish garrison there.
The fortress was to be the first link in a chain of fortified points located 10 leagues apart. Mayenne did not like such an obvious occupation of French territory. For several weeks he hesitated, but in January 1592 he was forced to submit to the demands of the Spaniards. In compensation, Philip II promised him 400 écus a year to continue the war.
In mid-January 1592, Farnese, with an army of 23, and Mayenne together set out on a campaign against Normandy to lift the siege of Rouen. According to historyofwar.org, Farnese's own army numbered 13 infantry and 500 cavalry, so 4-000 is probably the total number, including the French Leagues.
Meanwhile, the siege of Rouen went on neither shaky nor roll. The city was brilliantly defended by a garrison under the command of André de Brancas, also known as Admiral Villars. He successfully used the time given to him by the delay of the king to strengthen the city walls, strengthen the garrison, which at the beginning of the siege numbered at least 6 people, and even moved some of the cannons from Le Havre.
The siege was led by a mixed army, consisting, in addition to the French troops of Henry IV, also from the Dutch and the British under the command of Robert Devereux. According to historyofwar.org, there were 6 British in the army, the same number of Swiss infantry and 000 French. The total number of besiegers, according to the site, reached 4 people - the largest army that Béarnets could collect so far.
All these troops were under the general command of the king. However, Marshal Biron was mainly in charge of them - the king did not like to engage in sieges and revived only during assaults or cavalry raids. Meanwhile, the marshal was accused of deliberately prolonging the siege and incorrectly choosing the direction of the main attack - the impregnable Fort Sainte-Catherine.
Thus, the king again stepped on the same rake as during last year's siege of Paris - his trust in the marshal clearly went beyond reason. And, as it turned out, with the same consequences. True, this is already our afterthought - and then it seemed unlikely that the Spanish army would leave Flanders again - after all, last year's campaign towards Paris seriously worsened their positions in the Low Countries.
Now it seems more logical that from Picardy, Bearnz should first go to Rouen in order to complete the conquest (or liberation, it seemed to anyone) of Normandy and only then storm the cities around Paris - Mantes, Noyon, Chartres and others, but then he could think, that will do both.
Nevertheless, although large-scale siege works were carried out and appeals were brought up, and cannons continuously fired at the walls, in which gaps were barely able to be repaired, the city held on. Meanwhile, Farnese's army entered Picardy, and for the king the situation of the previous year at the walls of Paris could now be repeated with Rouen.
The dilemma arose again - to stay put and wait, or to withdraw from the camp and attack. The king was eager to cross weapon with the enemy. He was impatient to face off against the duke. In order not to lift the siege, he left most of the army at Rouen, led by Biron, while he himself headed north with 6 cavalry.
Henry sent the bulk of the cavalry to Neufchatel (Neufchatel) 50 km northeast of Rouen, but left with him 400 gendarmes and 500 mounted arquebusiers. The cavalry had to constantly be close to the enemy, circle around him and disturb him with small attacks.
On February 3, the Baron de Givry, sending some of the best horsemen to the king, informed that the entire Spanish army had entered the plain in battle order and was moving to his right (from the baron de Givry), apparently to force the king to retreat and lift the siege of Rouen.
Together with these 900 cavalrymen, the king moved towards the town of Omal. Climbing the slope, they approached the town, but so far there was no sign of the presence of the enemy. Suddenly, the king and his detachment saw the entire enemy army in front of them so close that they could clearly hear the drums of the infantry and the signals of the trumpets and horns of the cavalry.
Until now, the slope had blocked the view of the valley at Omal, and the army of the Duke of Farnese appeared in front of the royal detachment quite unexpectedly, which once again showed that the king did not bother to organize reconnaissance.
The future Duke of Sully left a colorful description of this army:
“It was an army of approximately 17-000 infantry and 18-000 cavalry, marching in clear formation, ready for battle and able to turn into battle formation in a matter of minutes. Gendarmes, many battalions, artillery in teams on the flanks.
The whole army was surrounded like walls by rows of supply wagons moving with the army. Such an organization of the marching movement made all attempts to approach and try to attack some individual detachments completely impossible. Separately from the bulk of the troops, covering the flanks, detachments of light cavalry, "carbines", galloped.
The whole army was surrounded like walls by rows of supply wagons moving with the army. Such an organization of the marching movement made all attempts to approach and try to attack some individual detachments completely impossible. Separately from the bulk of the troops, covering the flanks, detachments of light cavalry, "carbines", galloped.
In such a situation, the most reasonable thing would be to withdraw, but Béarnets was still eager to fight Farnese. On 5 February he tried to set up an ambush for the enemy cavalry, which, given the balance of power, was not very successful. In Spanish sources, this is the so-called. the battle of Omal is considered the victory of the Duke of Farnese, the French write only about the reckless courage of Henry IV.
Countess Genlis in her Stories Henry the Great even wrote that the king deliberately tried to create the impression of his complete recklessness in order to lull the suspicions of Duke Farnese. It seems that the king did not even have to strain himself too much.
More importantly, in this skirmish, Henry was wounded, as the same Sully delicately put it, in the region of the kidneys. For all the seeming comical nature of this injury, it could have ended badly for the king if the bullet had not first passed through the pommel of the saddle. But even such a wound was enough to send the king to bed for a while.
The Battle of Omal influenced the plans of the Duke of Farnese. He decided first of all to move to Neufchatel, where the king and part of his troops were. At the approach of the Spanish Ligist army, in order not to fall into a siege, the troops left the city on February 16 under the shots of the Spanish batteries, already set up for the siege, barely managing to get ahead of the enemy approaching in battle order. The French retreated to Dieppe.
The same Countess Genlis writes of a battle in which the vanguard of Farnese under the command of the Duke of Guise Jr. was defeated, and the ligists had to abandon their wagon train, and the Duke himself barely escaped. In her presentation, this happened even before the battle of Omal. Some kind of clash really took place, and the noble ligist Count Chaligny from the Lorraine house was captured and, to his disgrace, by the royal jester Chico (yes, thus, from the books of A. Dumas). But according to Wikipedia, it happened on February 17th.
Meanwhile, on February 26, Villars made a general sortie, which was crowned with complete success (and again - due to the mistakes of Marshal Biron) - the garrison managed to capture several cannons, the marshal himself was wounded, and the royal troops suffered heavy losses. It would seem that now Farnese could enter Rouen without interference. But Mayenne did not want the Spaniards to actually take over the city.
Villard also seemed to be concerned about the same and sent a message to the Duke of Farnese announcing that Rouen could now take care of himself. Under pressure from both of his French allies, the duke retreated to Picardy, where he laid siege to the town of Rue (near the coast north of the mouth of the Somme).
So Henri's hopes for disagreements between the Catholic allies were not so unfounded. Another thing is that in his own camp the situation was no better - the king could hardly manage to extinguish conflicts between Catholics and Protestants and between the French and foreigners - the British, Germans and Dutch.
Villard soon regretted his actions. Henry returned to take direct control of the siege, and Rouen soon came under more pressure than before. Villard was forced to send a message to the duke asking for help and announcing that Rouen would have to surrender on 20 April if no one came. Farnese reacted quickly, lifting the siege of Rue, and reached the vicinity of Rouen in just six days.
This came as an unpleasant surprise to the king, who believed it would take twenty days for the Duke of Farnese to reach Rouen from Picardy, and allowed many of his nobles to take a break, leaving the infantry to lead the siege. Henry IV was forced to abandon the siege. The noble detachments left the army one by one, foreign mercenaries were exhausted or sick. With the remnants of the army, Henry withdrew to Port-sen-Ouen. On April 21 (according to other sources, a day earlier) Farnese and Mayenne entered the city in triumph.
Thus, the goal was achieved, and the Spaniards could safely return to Flanders, where the state of affairs urgently required the presence of the duke and the army. But now it was Duke Farnese's turn to step on the rake a second time. In 1590, after the siege of Paris was lifted, he, on the advice of Mayenne, decided to capture the town of Corbeil, which led to a delay in the campaign and unnecessary losses.
And now, instead of returning to Flanders or, at least, immediately attacking the king, he again listened to the advice of Mayenne and decided to free all the ports on the Seine up to Le Havre, first of all, the small town of Codbeck (aka Codbeck-en- Co), located 43 km west of Rouen. It would seem that there should be no difficulties - Henri's army, weakened by disease and desertion, could not interfere with the siege.
On April 23, the duke's army began to lay siege to the city. The Spaniards placed artillery batteries so as to bombard both the city walls and the Dutch ships that entered the mouth of the Seine and tried to support the garrison of the city. On the same day, the Duke of Farnese was wounded by a musket ball in the arm. True, some historians write that this happened earlier - on April 20, back in Rouen.
However, inconsistencies both in dates and in the presentation of events should not be surprising: there is simply no one exact, objective and detailed source. The Duke at first tried to ignore the wound and continued to supervise the placement of the batteries. But the wound was stronger and put him to bed.
I must say that, unlike Bearnz, who was 8 years younger, the Duke of Farnese could not boast of iron health. He had previously been treated for dropsy for a long time. Now he had to transfer overall command to the much less competent Mayenne, and command of the Spanish contingent to his son Ranuccio. On 23 (4) or 26 (2) April the walls were breached and the Spaniards entered the city.
And they were trapped. During this time, reinforcements approached Henri's army - the troops of the Duke de Montpensier, who had captured Avranches shortly before. The king's army now numbered 25 men, including a large English contingent of 000, 7 Dutch, and a powerful French cavalry.
According to Wikipedia, the so-called. the battle of Codbeck began on April 24 - perhaps it was then that Bearnets approached the outskirts of the city, but did not prevent the capture of the city in order to slam the lid of the trap.
About the events of the next month, that is, until May 21, the information is not very specific. To begin with, a quote from the Russian-language Wikipedia - and this is clearly a machine translation:
The Duke of Parma tried to keep the Seine open for supplies and the crossing of his troops. Henry saw this as the duke's strategic weakness.
The Spanish forces were trapped in a narrow triangle between the sea and the river, which was effectively controlled by the Dutch ships. Henry gained control of the Seine, both above and below Codbeck, and occupied the Pont de Larche, the last bridge across the river between Rouen and Coudbeck.
With the approach of Henry's forces to the city, the Catholic army was ready for a siege, however, in the face of resistance to superior forces, cases of desertion began to become more frequent ...
On the third day, Henry managed to cut off and force the surrender of a division of Spanish light cavalry stationed nearby. A large amount of provisions, ammunition and valuables fell into the hands of the king's people, thus putting the soldiers of the Duke of Parma in a difficult situation.
The duke was now in a stalemate, forcing the river was the only means of salvation, and although the duke of Mayenne and the most experienced officers considered this maneuver impossible, the duke of Parma decided to try to escape.
The Spanish forces were trapped in a narrow triangle between the sea and the river, which was effectively controlled by the Dutch ships. Henry gained control of the Seine, both above and below Codbeck, and occupied the Pont de Larche, the last bridge across the river between Rouen and Coudbeck.
With the approach of Henry's forces to the city, the Catholic army was ready for a siege, however, in the face of resistance to superior forces, cases of desertion began to become more frequent ...
On the third day, Henry managed to cut off and force the surrender of a division of Spanish light cavalry stationed nearby. A large amount of provisions, ammunition and valuables fell into the hands of the king's people, thus putting the soldiers of the Duke of Parma in a difficult situation.
The duke was now in a stalemate, forcing the river was the only means of salvation, and although the duke of Mayenne and the most experienced officers considered this maneuver impossible, the duke of Parma decided to try to escape.
Judging by the map from the Journal de Duclair site, the triangle was formed by a bend in the Seine, above which there was a bridge occupied by Henri, and below - the mouth of the Seine. It must be said that the French ligists deserted - for the Spaniards, Italians or Germans this was hardly possible. There were no divisions in the Spanish cavalry, perhaps they meant a squadron consisting of 3 companies of 100 people each.
Another source writes about the lack of food -
There was no hay for his horses, no bread for his people. A loaf of bread was sold for two shillings. A jug of water cost a crown. As for meat or wine, one could hardly dream of them. His (i.e. Alessandro Farnese) people were furious about their position. They signed up to fight, not to starve, and murmured that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in their hands than to fall to pieces every hour when the enemy watches and enjoys their agony.
When the army of King Farnese appeared, he placed his main forces in a camp on the Coshua plateau near the village of Vieux Louveto at the exit from Codbeck. But, since the camp was too small for the entire army, part of the forces had to be placed in the village of Luveto (another 2 km further from the city) and 3 people in the forest near the camp.
According to the most detailed (and least objective) source, that is, the History of Henry the Great, the king, having gathered an army of 8 people in 20 days, occupied all the roads between Codbeck and Rouen. Unfortunately, Countess Genlis did not bother to mention specific dates.
First, he again defeated the vanguard of the Farnese army, that is, the League of Duke Charles de Guise Jr., and captured their convoy. Other sources also speak about the capture of the convoy, so this fact can be considered reliable. Upon learning of this, Farnese urgently began to gather an army near the dug-in camp. Then Bearnets with 8 people attacked the enemy troops in the forest and took it 000 hours later.
The Spaniards (conditionally, because it is not clear who was there) retreated to the camp, losing 800 people. And after that, Henry again attacked the Duke of Guise in Louveto. Farnese came to the rescue, and as a result, the fight dragged on for a whole day. The duke lost 700 or 800 men (again, according to the author) and retreated to the camp in the evening. This battle took place the day before the retreat of the Allied army.
About how Duke Farnese managed to get out of the trap, all sources tell about the same. First - again a quote from Wikipedia:
The Duke of Parma ordered to begin preparations for forcing the river. On the opposite bank, he built a redoubt and placed in it artillery and eight hundred Flemish soldiers of Count Bossu. Then he collected all the boats and rafts he had that had been captured at Rouen, and, under the cover of forts, transferred all the Flemish infantry and the Spanish, French and Italian cavalry on the night of May 22 to the opposite bank of the Seine. The fire of the coastal redoubt did not allow the Dutch ships to approach. By morning, the duke was able to evacuate his entire army to the other side of the Seine. Only a small part of the army was left at Codbek to engage in skirmishes and divert the king's forces. The young Ranuccio I Farnese commanded this rearguard and was also able to successfully leave Codbæk a little later.
It can be added that Farnese built 2 forts with artillery - the second on its coast. How he managed to quietly transport almost 1 people with cannons across a river about 000 meters wide is, of course, an interesting question. Even the Countess Genlis, who praises Bearnz, admits that the spies served him very badly. In fact, Henri had no intelligence. On the other hand, it is possible that the battles with the royal army served precisely to divert the attention of the king.
Be that as it may, the Allied army crossed to the left bank of the Seine and moved south at an accelerated march. It was possible to transport even artillery and the remaining convoy. Only the wounded and sick remained in the abandoned camp.
After 4 days, the Spaniards were already a few kilometers from Paris, from where they turned to Château-Thierry on the Marne, where the duke gave them rest. The king's cavalry succeeded in capturing 500 stragglers and, possibly, part of the baggage train. The Duke of Farnese for the second time, after 1590, left part of the troops to reinforce the Spanish garrison in Paris and in June returned to Flanders via Artois and Hainaut. The Duke of Mayenne shut himself up in Rouen.
Thus, the Duke of Farnese managed, albeit with very serious losses, to get out of the trap. The Duke's enemies, and not only Protestants, accused him of running away. Interestingly, King Philip II of Spain took the same view, while Pope Clement VIII congratulated the duke on saving the Catholic army.
Of course, the opinion of King Philip was much more important - he removed Farnese from the post of governor of the Spanish Netherlands (the duke did not have time to find out about this).
Most sources write that Henry IV won a strategic victory, since he regained Codbeck. But the codeback itself was of no particular importance. Rather, Bearnets helped not so much himself as his Dutch allies - after all, even after returning to Flanders, the Farnese army could not prevent the capture of two more fortresses - Steenvik and Keeverden. The troops needed time to restore combat readiness, and the duke himself had to go back to Spa to improve his health.
However, he did not manage to improve his health - an old illness, an untreated wound and a difficult morale, primarily due to the undeserved nitpicking of the king and failures in which he was not guilty, led to the fact that on December 2, 1592, Duke Alessandro Farnese died.
Ironically, during preparations for the third campaign in France. Actually, this was the most important achievement of Bearnz in this campaign. It happened, in general, by accident, but it was of great importance.
Not without reason in the Netherlands the news of the Duke's death was greeted with popular rejoicing with fireworks and dancing in the streets. Never again did Maurice of Orange or Henry IV have such a dangerous opponent.
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