XIII.

CHAP. of the Swiss presented themselves before the French encampments at Marignano, on the thirteenth day of September, 1515.(a) The attack immediately commenced. Their impetuosity was irresistible. The intrenchments were soon carried, and a part of the artillery was already in the hands of the assailants. As the French recovered from their surprise, they began to make head against their adversaries, and the horse joining in the action, a dreadful engagement took place, which continued with various success and great slaughter to a late hour of the night. During this contest Francis was in the midst of the battle and received several wounds. The bandes noires, whom the Swiss had threatened with total extermination, contributed with the French Gendarmerie to retrieve the loss. The darkness of the night, although it did not termi nate the contest, rendered it for a time impossible for the combatants to proceed in the work of destruction; and an involuntary truce of some hours took place, during which both parties kept the field, impatiently waiting for that light which might enable them to renew the engagement. Accordingly, with the dawn

of

A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III.

A. Et. 40.

(a) Muratori, Annali d'Ital. x. 115,

of day the battle again commenced, when it appeared that the French monarch had availed himself of this interval to arrange his artillery, and to reduce his troops into better order than when they had been attacked on the preceding day. The vanguard was now led by the Sieur I de Palisse with seven hundred lances and ten thousand German infantry. The body of the army under the royal standard was commanded by the king, and consisted of eight hundred men at arms, ten thousand Germans, five thousand Gascons, and a large train of artillery directed by the duke of Bourbon. Trivulzio led the corps de reserve, which consisted of five hundred lances and five thousand Italian infantry. The light infantry under the command of the Sieur de Chita and the bastard of Savoy, brother of the king, were ordered to act as circumstances might require.(a) The attack of the Swiss was now supported with unshaken firmness. A detachment which was intended to surprise the right wing of the French army was intercepted by the duke of Alençon, and pursued by the Basque infantry of Pietro Navarro, who put every man to the sword.(b) After having resisted

E 2

the

(a) Muratori, Annali d'Ilal. x. 116.

fb) Ligue de Cambray, liv. v. ii. 496.

CHAP.

XIII.

A. D. 1515.

A. Et. 40.

A. Pont, III.

XIII.

CHAP. the charge, the French became the assailants. Francis at the head of his Gerdarmes first made an impression on their line; but the numbers A. Pout. III. of the Swiss were so great and their courage

A. D. 1515.

A. Et. 40.

and discipline so exemplary, that he would in all probability have been repulsed, had not D'Alviano at that moment rushed into the midst of the combat, at the head of a small but select and intrepid body of cavalry, and by the cry of Marco, the war signal of the Venetians, given new courage to the French and dispirited the ranks of their adversaries, who conceived that the Venetian army had at this juncture joined in the engagement. After sustaining the contest for several hours, the Swiss were obliged to relinquish the palm of victory; but even under these circumstances they had the firmness and resolution to form in regular order and to quit the scene of action under such discipline, that the French monarch, whose army was exhausted by watchfulness and fatigue, did not venture on a pursuit.(a) Weakened by intestine divisions, deserted by their allies, and defeated by the French, they hastened to Milan, where they demanded from the

(a) Ligue de Cambr. liv. v. ii. 498. Planta's Helvetic Confederacy, ii. 112.

the duke such subsidies as they knew he was wholly unable to pay. This, however, afforded them a sufficient pretext for withdrawing themselves altogether from the theatre of war, and leaving their Italian allies to the mercy of the conquering army.(a)

(a) Guicciard. lib. xii. ii, 101,

1

Francis I. knighted

The battle of Marignano is justly considered by both the French and Italian historians as highly honourable to the gallantry and prow- by the cheess of the French arms. The example of valier Bay, Francis I. who had in the course of the con- ard. flict repeatedly extricated himself from situations of imminent danger by his own personal courage, had animated his soldiers to the most daring acts of heroism; insomuch that Trivulzio who had before been engaged in no less than eighteen important battles, declared that they resembled only the sports of children in comparison with this, which might truly be called a war of giants. The chevalier Bayard fought at the side of his sovereign, where he gave such proofs of romantic courage, that Francis, immediately after the engagement, insisted on being knighted by him upon the field of battle. The ceremony was instantly performed

54

XIII.

CHAP. performed in the true spirit of chivalry, and Bayard, making two leaps, returned his sword into the scabbard, vowing never more to unsheath it except against the Turks, the Saracens and the Moors.(a) This victory is chiefly to be attributed to the superiority of the French artillery; but the arrival of D'Alviano, although accompanied by so small a body of soldiers, undoubtedly contributed to the success of the day. The number of Swiss left dead on the field is stated by different historians at eight, ten, fourteen, and even fifteen thousand; whilst the loss of the French varies from three to six thousand, among whom, however, were many of the chief nobility of France.(b) On this spot polluted with carnage, Francis

A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III.

A. Et. 40.

THE LIFE OF

(a)" Certes, ma bonne épée, vous serez dores-en-avant, 66 gardée comme une relique, & honorée sur toutes; & ja❝mais je ne vous porterai, si ce n'est contre les Turcs, les "Sarrasins, & les Maures." Champier, ap. Moreri, Dict. Hist. art. Bayard.

(b) The author of the League of Cambray states the loss on the part of the French to have been between five and six thousand, and adds that 15,000 Swiss were left dead on the field; liv. v. ii. 499. but Mr. Planta, on the authority of Schwickardt, informs us, that it appeared by a muster roll of the Swiss, after their return, that about 5000 men had perished in the action. Hist, of the Helvetic Confed, vol. ii, p. 112.