Author Topic: The Battle at Mons-En-Pavele.  (Read 3342 times)

Longmane

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The Battle at Mons-En-Pavele.
« Topic Start: December 29, 2011, 10:04:40 PM »
The last part of the look at Fleming infantry in action.

The Battle at Mons-En-Pévèle, 18 August 1304

In 1304 king Philip the Fair of France raised a mighty army and advanced against the southern border of Flanders.  This border was well defended by the Flemings, and Philip was forced to make a long detour by way of Tournai in order to invade Flanders.  On 13 August, the Flemings proposed to do battle in so favourable a position that the king did not dare attack them.  Negotiations followed, on the 14, 15 and 16 August, but without result.  On 17 August, the Flemings advanced again and pitched camp at Mons-en-Pévèle, so close to the royal army that Philip had to stay where he was.

On the morning of the 18th the Flemings again advanced toward the royal army and this time forced a battle to the south of the village of Mons-en-Pévèle.

About six in the morning the Flemings armed themselves, after a meagre breakfast and attending Mass.  They took down their tents and left them behind in the camp on the hill.  The nobles and rich citizens left their horses there, for every man was to fight on foot.  The communal soldiers then advanced, and chose a site south of the village, sloping north to south.  They protected the back of their long battle array with their wagons.  The carts were securely fastened together, and one wheel of each was removed.  There were narrow passages left between the ranks of wagons, and soldiers guarded the wagons. 

The troops stood shoulder to shoulder in dense battle array, making a front of 1,000 to 1,200 metres.  The left wing stretched out to the village hedge.  The right wing stretched out to a brook, the 'courant de Coutiches', and was partly protected by a ditch.  The Flemish army was probably between 12,500 and 15,000 men strong.  The dense battle array was protected by big shields, such as the crossbowmen used.  The leaders told them to keep their ranks closed, so that no knight could break through.  The men of Bruges and from the Franc of Bruges formed the right wing, commanded by Philip of Chieti, the men of Ghent and their local comrades were on the left wing, under John of Namur; William of Jülich with the men of Ypres, the men of Courtrai, the troops from Lille and its neighborhood under Robert of Nevers were placed between the men of Ghent and those of Bruges.

In the French army a watch was kept during the night, and early the next morning they observed the Flemings' preparations and sounded the alarm in the royal camp.  Each man took up his arms, and put on a white scarf as a distinctive mark.  The Grand Master of the crossbowmen, Thibault de Chepoix, assembled his troops and advanced right up to the Flemings, with the crossbowmen and bidauts in front.  The knights also formed up in the meantime, making with 3,000 heavy cavalry a front which was broader but less deep than the Flemings.  The king had first knighted three hundred squires.

Fighting between the crossbowmen started just after nine o'clock.  On the left wing, Thibault realized that he had little chance of breaking through the powerful Flemish battle formation, and began an outflanking movement.  Both the count of St Pol and the two marshals did the same.  On the French right wing, Gaucher de Châtillon began a similar manoeuvre, in which the 'battles' of Charles of Valois, Louis of France and the dukes of Brittany and Burgundy took part.  Six knightly 'battles' began the outflanking movement, as well as the foot of the Grand Master of the crossbowmen, and there were still six 'battles' in front of the Flemings, while the king followed in the second line with the rearguard.  Five catapults were set up under the protection of the count of Boulogne's men to bombard the Flemings.

Philip's knights were firmly resolved to fight this time with finesse.  The main attack was to fall on the back and flanks of the Flemish army.  There was to be no frontal attack, for this could too easily go disastrously wrong.  On the Flemish side the battle was fought, as usual, defensively, but in contrast with Courtrai no reserve waited behind the phalanx: the famous commander John of Renesse had in fact been killed two days earlier in Holland.  But there were soldiers on the wagons to defend them.

The skirmishing of the crossbowmen along the entire front did not last long, for the French commanders recalled their light foot-soldiers and the cavalry units which were in front of the Flemings attacked them at a trot.  All the Flemish archers, except those from the Franc of Bruges and Bruges itself, cut their bowstrings and threw their weapons on the ground, and quickly moved off toward the main body.  There the communal soldiers confidently awaited the charge, which they hoped to withstand with their long pikes and lances, while the men with the goedendags stood at the ready. 

But the French nobles did not press their charge home to hand-to-hand fighting, and just before they reached the wall of pikes they drew rein and sat motionless.  It was simply a feigned charge, made to frighten the Flemings and to put their archers out of action.  But the Brugeois archers shot several volleys which drove the knights back beyond range of the bows.  The French archers and bidauts were sent forward again.

At the same time the French began shooting at the Flemings with the five catapults.  But the men of Ypres made a sortie with a strong corps.  The French light foot-soldiers tried vainly to halt them. The men of Ypres suffered but marched bravely on and captured the catapults, which they put out of action.  Then they turned back to the main formation, still in good order.

Meanwhile the men of Ghent and those of Ypres took part in a series of small engagements, such as often took place in the years 1302–1304.  Only small parties of both sides were involved.  The French knights tried to lure these Flemings out of their battle-order and then to ride them down.  The Flemings hoped to inflict heavy losses on their adversaries without moving too far away from the protecting line of waggons, since they feared attacks on the flank and rear.

While there was not very much going on along the Flemish front, there was very heavy fighting in progress behind the main battle-order round the protecting carts.  Eight French units out of fourteen attempted a strong attack.  The French foot-soldiers stormed the barricade and tried to haul away the wagons, in order to clear the way for the nobles.  A few French knights managed to get among the three rows of wagons, but there was too little space, and they were killed.  On the right wing about thirty to forty heavy French cavalry got in between the carts and the Brugeois, but were killed also. The attack by the French foot-soldiers, supported by the knights, was a complete failure, and they were driven back by the Flemings.

The French foot-soldiers noticed the Flemish camp at Mons-en-Pévèle, shortly after noon, and advanced towards it at once.  The Flemish wagoners and the servants and grooms who looked after the horses of the nobles and rich burghers, and the carts, were not well enough armed to defend the camp.  They fled with the animals in the direction of Lille.  The tents and a large quantity of booty thus fell into the hands of the French, who carried off the goods at once to their own camp. When Thibault de Chepoix's foot-soldiers saw this, they left their Grand Master in the lurch and also set off to the camp.  The plunderers sold their booty at once in the French camp, and went on a drinking spree. Only a few of them took any further part in the battle.


In the meantime the situation in both armies was terrible.  It was stiflingly hot, and everyone was suffering from fearful thirst.  The men of Ghent and Ypres exhausted themselves in small fights, which caused them heavy casualties and rather less to the French.  In both armies warriors died of sunstroke.  The situation was even worse in the Flemish army, since they were surrounded.  Only the men of Bruges, who were near the Coutiches brook, could now and then go to the watercourse to let the soldiers drink, but first they had to drive off Chepoix's soldiers, until the latter went off to plunder the camp. Troops of both armies suffered agonies of thirst the whole afternoon.

There was talk of an armistice, and the negotiations were favourably received in both armies.  While negotiators went over to the Flemish army, the French knights went to drink and refresh themselves. Opposite the Flemings they posted a unit of bidauts, the best French foot of the day.  Even king Philip dismounted and relaxed.  He called the count of St Pol's men back from behind the wagons, and posted them in front of the Flemish front line.  But while the French enjoyed such freedom of action, things were not so comfortable for the Flemings.  They could not so easily refresh themselves, since they could not leave their position.  The negotiations came to nothing. 

Just before sunset the Flemish leaders held a council.  John of Namur pointed out that the men of Ghent were exhausted.  Philip of Chieti, William of Jülich and Robert of Nevers decided on a general attack.  The whole army was to advance, leave the wagons and storm the enemy lines. Hand-to-hand fighting, which the French had been so anxious to avoid, was to be the answer.

William of Jülich attacked first.  The bidauts tried to block this advance, but were thrown back, and driven from the battlefield.  The French army was taken completely by surprise: many of the nobles were not ready for battle, and mounting their horses took to flight, which degenerated into panic. William's corps was followed by a strong formation under Philip of Chieti and Robert of Nevers. The Flemings advanced with banners unfurled, shouting their war-cries.  The French knights fled in whole companies, and the Flemings slaughtered anyone they could catch.  This panic created a stir throughout the kingdom, and Geoffrey of Paris even accused the nobility of treason.

While the right wing, with William at their head, drove off the French, the left wing took no part in the attack.  John of Namur, who was not physically a strong man, left the battlefield with the exhausted men from Ghent, Ypres and Courtrai, and marched off towards Lille. William of
Jülich, Philip of Chieti, and Robert of Nevers pursued the French with the men from Bruges and the neighborhood, strengthened with the bravest Flemings from other corps.  Many knights whose horses were tired fell into the pits and ditches which dotted the battlefield and the neighborhood of the French camp.  Some Flemings fell into them too, but not so many.

The Flemish attack took Philip the Fair by surprise.  He was sitting on the ground, and his first attempt to remount failed, but he was more successful the second time.  He had only a small following with him, but even though he saw his troops fleeing, he resumed the unequal battle.  He was scarcely in the saddle when William's men came up.  The king's horse was killed, his faithful knights perished, but Philip defended himself stoutly.  At one moment he lost his weapon, but a butcher gave him a gigantic battle-axe, with which the king felled several of the enemy.  Luckily for him he was not recognized, for his knights had ripped off the royal lilies.  The oriflamme lay on the ground in shreds.  William went on with his men towards the French camp.

Philip of Chieti and Robert of Nevers followed with their strong formation.  Meanwhile Philip the Fair was trying to mount another horse, but because of his weight, and after his heavy fall, this was even more difficult than before.  Then one of his knights dismounted, and kneeling, offered the king his back as a mounting block.  Philip had scarcely mounted when the other Flemings attacked.  The French knight who had sacrificed himself was killed instantly, and his head rolled in front of the hooves of the horse he had given up to his sovereign.  A Flemish knight then sprang upon the king and dealt the horse such a blow with his goedendag that the animal bolted, and thus brought the king in safety to a group of nobles who had been watching the result of the encounter anxiously. The knights who had helped the king to remount were killed.  Some knights hastened to the king's help: his brother Charles of Valois came up first with Gautier de Brienne, Louis of France and Louis de Clermont followed with their knights. 

The Bretons and Picards re-grouped their units.  These bands of knights had been re-formed out of reach of the Flemings, and together with those of the constable, the two marshals and the Burgundian nobles they attacked William's little band.  William had only a few men with him - perhaps 700 when he set out but their numbers had been weakened during the attack - and he tried in vain to ward off this counterattack.  The French knights were more numerous and charged from all directions: William tried once more to organize a crown-shaped defensive formation, but it was too late.  His companions on all sides were overwhelmed, and they died to the last man.

Then this band of knights rushed to the help of the king, and heavy fighting followed between these nobles and the large formation of men under Philip of Chieti.  According to the French chronicler Guiart, the French broke up the Flemish formations, but he had to concede that the Brugeois triumphantly pushed through the French camp.  The victorious Flemings found some wine and food in the royal tent and elsewhere.  They saw that the rest of the army had not followed, but that the French knights were still about: it had grown completely dark, the moon had risen, and theyfeared attacks from all directions in the moonlight. 

They took council and decided to move off.  They returned in smart formation along the Coutiches brook to the camp on the hill at Pévèle, their banners flying.  They picked up their scattered comrades on the way.  The French debated whether to attack them, but decided not to risk it because of the darkness, and the retreat went on without incident to the camp.

There the Flemings sounded victorious trumpets, and looked on themselves as the winners.  They were joined on the hill by more men who had got scattered, but they found neither food, drink, nor tents, and returned out of sheer necessity to Lille, leaving the battlefield in the hands of the king, who rightly proclaimed himself the victor. 

But the engagement had been so hotly contested, and so indecisive, that the men from the triumphant Flemish army still felt they had won.  The losses on both sides were heavy, about 300 nobles in the French army, and perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 foot-soldiers.  The Flemings had lost as many men, or very nearly so, but they had many wounded as well, and had lost their wagons and tents.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2011, 03:00:22 PM by Longmane »
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.  "Albert Einstein"

Alpha

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Re: The Battle at Mons-En-Pavele.
« Reply #1: December 31, 2011, 07:36:17 PM »
I really enjoy reading these.

Shizzle

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Re: The Battle at Mons-En-Pavele.
« Reply #2: January 01, 2012, 04:40:26 AM »

Zakilevo

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Re: The Battle at Mons-En-Pavele.
« Reply #3: January 01, 2012, 05:05:13 AM »
+2

Longmane

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Re: The Battle at Mons-En-Pavele.
« Reply #4: January 01, 2012, 10:55:02 PM »
I pleased to know they are found interesting, as while I'm planning look at other aspects of medieval life apart from solely warfare itself, I have every intention posting a few more of these etc as well.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2012, 10:57:04 PM by Longmane »
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.  "Albert Einstein"