Chapter VI: Civil war in catholic France and the Treaty of Limousin
Great commotion was the feeling in Quimper on February 12th 1573. For days now armed men had been gathering in- and outside of the city as Gaston de Bourbon had been gathering his forces. Now they were marching to the fields outside of the city as they prepared to leave. Gaston de Bourbon’s Catholic League had gathered 12,000 armed soldiers, paid for by sympathizing nobles, and started marching for Paris. Charles X had been informed of this by spies in the Catholic League, who were recruited through cardinal Galard’s contacts within the Breton clergy. Not only was the fact that it was no ill-discplined gathering of militia’s but a trained army disturbing, but also the reports of spies that told that Scottish and English mercenaries had been arriving. Charles X had send ambassadors to England and Scotland to demand an explanation for this and the reply was that the kings would try to stop Gaston’s men from recruiting in their lands, but could not guarantee that they could stop that completely.
On the 3rd of March 1573 the army of the Catholic League Le Mans where the Armée du Nord had been waiting for them. 12,000 Leaguers now prepared themselves under the leadership of general Henri de Guise to face off against the Armée du Nord, led by Pascal de Vibien. The Armée du Nord numbered around 20,000 soldiers, a third of them cavalry. de Vibien started hostilities by letting most of his cavalry charge into the League lines, expecting most of them to break formation and run. The formation held however and drove back the cavalry after killing more than half of them. While de Vibien was contemplating his next move as his cavalry was regrouping behind the lines the Scottish mercenaries charged across the field while the English pelted the French lines with arrow fire. As the French rose back from behind their shields, having suffered massive casualties, they had no time to brace themselves for the Scottish charge. In minutes the lines were breaking at several points. League arquebusiers had run next to the Scottish charge and were setting up their guns on the left flank of the Armée du Nord. de Vibien was giving orders from there when he noticed them too late. He is known to have shouted “Retreat! Retreat to Paris!” after which the arquebusiers opened fire, killing the general in the barrage.
That night there was great rejoicing the camp of the Catholic League. Now the road to Paris lay open, only the Armée Royale was standing in their way. But that army had a reputation for defeat and their morale was known to be at an all-time low. For Charles X this defeat was a total disaster. He send messengers to the Occitans, which resulted in the Treaty of Limousin a few days later. There royal and republican representatives signed a truce for five years. France did not recognise the Divine Republic but refrained from conducting military campaigns against them. Furthermore, the Divine Republic had to stop funding protestant preachers which had been noticed in former Burgundy. This treaty gave France the possibility to focus on the Catholic League, while the Divine Republic used it to aid their protestant brethren in northern Spain. Three months after the truce the northern of Spain was in revolt once again.
Having secured their supply lines the Catholic League approached Paris on March the 18th 1573. That night they made their camp outside of Paris while Charles X refused to leave the capital. The Armée Royale had marched into the city but only numbered around 6,000 soldiers. Morale in the Catholic League was soaring high, inside of Paris it was extremely low. That evening a large mass was held in Paris with more than half of the city praying for God to defend the city. Cardinal Galard then rose to preach to the gathered soldiers and people of Paris.
“My fellow Christians. Times are grim and God asks all of us to make sacrifices. Outside of our gates stand the armies of Gaston de Bourbon who dares to call himself the leader of the Catholic League. There is nothing Catholic about it for they dare to defy the God given right to rule. The only thing they are in league with is Satan! Before I you all, I now tell that there should be no doubt that this is not a fight among kings. This is a fight between God and Satan, between righteous and all that is evil. It are not soldiers outside our walls, it are demons. And Gaston dares to call himself king of France while he must rely of foreigners, on Bretons, on Flemish, on Normans as the core of his forces. Is that the behaviour of a king of France? NO! This is a test of God, but also a chance. For the Armée Royale this will be the moment where they redeem themselves or suffer the burning fires of hell. For you, people of Paris, this will be your greatest moment or your ultimate demise!
Soldiers of the Armée Royale when the enemy attacks tomorrow, shout out Not a third defeat! People of Paris, use any power you can muster to aid the soldiers and hinder the enemy forces of Satan in their attack on Paris. Paris shall not fall! Let the streets run red with their blood, let the streets become a maze of death for them. Do not let the League of Satan take Paris! Deus Vult!”
The gathered masses erupted in loud cheers and when Charles X stood to present himself to the people shouts were raised praising the king. By refusing to leave Paris he made this a last stand and himself a symbol of resistance. Even in the camp of the Catholic League they could hear the shouting inside of Paris but they thought that sympathisers had taken up arms. That idea was reinforced as they noticed that the entire night people were active in the city, carrying torches. On March 19th 1573, at 08:00h the drummers called for the attack on Paris. Through concentrated fire they managed to shoot open one of the city gates and after an hour the Catholic League managed to fight themselves into Paris.
But after they had grouped inside of the streets, they were pelted by everything the people of Paris could gather. They also found many streets blocked by barricades behind which soldiers held the line. When the Catholic League tried to attack the barricades, they were countered by a charge of units of the Armée Royale shouting “Not a third!”, cheered by the people of Paris. At noon the Catholic League had only taken a small part of the city but, despite their superior numbers and equipment, wasn’t’ able to advance. When Gaston de Bourbon himself arrived on the battle, hoping to break the enemy morale by his presence, he reached the opposite of his goal. The Catholic League had to put up a great effort as the Armée Royale charged towards him and a soldier even managed to reach him but was cut down only a meter away. When Charles X appeared in full battle regalia on the barricades the soldiers and people of Paris cheered him on. Night fell and the Battle of the Barricades paused. In the morning scouts came to Gaston telling him than another army was approaching, the Armée de Flandres and they guessed they would arrive in the late noon. This news also spread in Paris where Charles X was ready to play his trump card. He climbed the barricades and spoke so that the Catholic League could also hear them.
“Frenchmen, catholics. Why all this bloodshed? Why are devout catholics fighting one another when Satan himself has descended upon southern France? Why are fathers and son taken away from their families and why are women crying in the streets over the losses? I will tell you why. Because of the selfish goals of one man, Gaston de Bourbon! But you there, soldiers of the Catholic League. You believe that you follow the true king of France. Well, let me show you something that he cannot present!”
Charles X was brought a chest from which he took a red standard. Silence fell over the barricades and gasps of surprise could be heard as Charles X hoisted a standard that had been made in the greatest secret while the Catholic League had approached.
“Do you not recognise it? Do you not recognise the banner of Saint-Denis, patron saint of France? Frenchmen, the Oriflamme calls you to stand up and fight Satan’s armies!”
Loud cheers erupted among the royal barricades as morale in Catholic League broke down. Several unites of the League began retreating from Paris, seeing this as a sign of God. Charles X then led a charge of the Armée Royale on the enemy lines, leading on foot and in front of the army. While the Catholic League tried their best to stop the charge and their own men from retreating, the people of Paris joined in the onslaught. From outside of the city Gaston de Bourbon could see his men fleeing and when he stopped some and demanded to know what was going on, they only shouted “It is the oriflamme of death!” after which they continued their rout. Gaston de Bourbon regrouped his forces as best as he could outside of the city and managed to retreat with his remaining 7,000 men in an orderly fashion, just in time as the Armée de Flandres arrived an hour later. In Paris the Armée Royale and the soldiers were cheering Charles X. The army had regained their honour and the king had shown that he was the embodiment of French courage.
The Oriflamme of which Charles X had a replica made in secret
Charles X however had been wounded during the battle and while speaking to the people of Paris he collapsed. Before he could be carried to his bed he died, his body carried by noblemen through the streets of Paris. To make sure Gaston de Bourbon wouldn’t profit from this, cardinal Galard send for his son, Philippe, and had him raised on the shoulders of soldiers and the people, proclaiming him king Philippe III and strengthening his legitimacy by this show of popular consent. Charles X was buried two days later, the oriflamme clutched in his hands, he would be the last king to lead the oriflamme into battle, but had also brought back honour to the old standard. Nobles from all of France quickly came to Paris, upon hearing of the battle and the death of Charles X and, through an initiative of cardinal Galard, formed the Loyalist League. This would be a league of noblemen and also commoners who would gather money and supplies in order to aid the royal army in their fight against the Catholic League. Gaston de Bourbon’s bet had had the opposite effect. Instead of taking over the throne he had now given the royal power legitimacy and had split France in two leagues.
The rest of the year saw a complete anarchy in France in the areas outside of the reach of Paris. Nobles fought eachother, divided between the Catholic League and the Loyalist League. Philippe III announced that he would show his forgiveness and said he would negotiate with Gaston de Bourbon. These negotiations went very slow and booked no result, but de Bourbon could not just refuse as the news had spread of the popular consent when Philippe III was proclaimed king. The death of Charles X, carrying the oriflamme in to battle, had also greatly discredited him as many Frenchmen considered him a king killer. Spain, that had paid for a large part of Gaston de Bourbon’s army, also began backing down from supporting the Catholic League. This deprived the Catholic League of Spanish diplomatic backing and of important funding and slowly they began disintegrating.
Great commotion was the feeling in Quimper on February 12th 1573. For days now armed men had been gathering in- and outside of the city as Gaston de Bourbon had been gathering his forces. Now they were marching to the fields outside of the city as they prepared to leave. Gaston de Bourbon’s Catholic League had gathered 12,000 armed soldiers, paid for by sympathizing nobles, and started marching for Paris. Charles X had been informed of this by spies in the Catholic League, who were recruited through cardinal Galard’s contacts within the Breton clergy. Not only was the fact that it was no ill-discplined gathering of militia’s but a trained army disturbing, but also the reports of spies that told that Scottish and English mercenaries had been arriving. Charles X had send ambassadors to England and Scotland to demand an explanation for this and the reply was that the kings would try to stop Gaston’s men from recruiting in their lands, but could not guarantee that they could stop that completely.
On the 3rd of March 1573 the army of the Catholic League Le Mans where the Armée du Nord had been waiting for them. 12,000 Leaguers now prepared themselves under the leadership of general Henri de Guise to face off against the Armée du Nord, led by Pascal de Vibien. The Armée du Nord numbered around 20,000 soldiers, a third of them cavalry. de Vibien started hostilities by letting most of his cavalry charge into the League lines, expecting most of them to break formation and run. The formation held however and drove back the cavalry after killing more than half of them. While de Vibien was contemplating his next move as his cavalry was regrouping behind the lines the Scottish mercenaries charged across the field while the English pelted the French lines with arrow fire. As the French rose back from behind their shields, having suffered massive casualties, they had no time to brace themselves for the Scottish charge. In minutes the lines were breaking at several points. League arquebusiers had run next to the Scottish charge and were setting up their guns on the left flank of the Armée du Nord. de Vibien was giving orders from there when he noticed them too late. He is known to have shouted “Retreat! Retreat to Paris!” after which the arquebusiers opened fire, killing the general in the barrage.
That night there was great rejoicing the camp of the Catholic League. Now the road to Paris lay open, only the Armée Royale was standing in their way. But that army had a reputation for defeat and their morale was known to be at an all-time low. For Charles X this defeat was a total disaster. He send messengers to the Occitans, which resulted in the Treaty of Limousin a few days later. There royal and republican representatives signed a truce for five years. France did not recognise the Divine Republic but refrained from conducting military campaigns against them. Furthermore, the Divine Republic had to stop funding protestant preachers which had been noticed in former Burgundy. This treaty gave France the possibility to focus on the Catholic League, while the Divine Republic used it to aid their protestant brethren in northern Spain. Three months after the truce the northern of Spain was in revolt once again.
Having secured their supply lines the Catholic League approached Paris on March the 18th 1573. That night they made their camp outside of Paris while Charles X refused to leave the capital. The Armée Royale had marched into the city but only numbered around 6,000 soldiers. Morale in the Catholic League was soaring high, inside of Paris it was extremely low. That evening a large mass was held in Paris with more than half of the city praying for God to defend the city. Cardinal Galard then rose to preach to the gathered soldiers and people of Paris.
“My fellow Christians. Times are grim and God asks all of us to make sacrifices. Outside of our gates stand the armies of Gaston de Bourbon who dares to call himself the leader of the Catholic League. There is nothing Catholic about it for they dare to defy the God given right to rule. The only thing they are in league with is Satan! Before I you all, I now tell that there should be no doubt that this is not a fight among kings. This is a fight between God and Satan, between righteous and all that is evil. It are not soldiers outside our walls, it are demons. And Gaston dares to call himself king of France while he must rely of foreigners, on Bretons, on Flemish, on Normans as the core of his forces. Is that the behaviour of a king of France? NO! This is a test of God, but also a chance. For the Armée Royale this will be the moment where they redeem themselves or suffer the burning fires of hell. For you, people of Paris, this will be your greatest moment or your ultimate demise!
Soldiers of the Armée Royale when the enemy attacks tomorrow, shout out Not a third defeat! People of Paris, use any power you can muster to aid the soldiers and hinder the enemy forces of Satan in their attack on Paris. Paris shall not fall! Let the streets run red with their blood, let the streets become a maze of death for them. Do not let the League of Satan take Paris! Deus Vult!”
The gathered masses erupted in loud cheers and when Charles X stood to present himself to the people shouts were raised praising the king. By refusing to leave Paris he made this a last stand and himself a symbol of resistance. Even in the camp of the Catholic League they could hear the shouting inside of Paris but they thought that sympathisers had taken up arms. That idea was reinforced as they noticed that the entire night people were active in the city, carrying torches. On March 19th 1573, at 08:00h the drummers called for the attack on Paris. Through concentrated fire they managed to shoot open one of the city gates and after an hour the Catholic League managed to fight themselves into Paris.
But after they had grouped inside of the streets, they were pelted by everything the people of Paris could gather. They also found many streets blocked by barricades behind which soldiers held the line. When the Catholic League tried to attack the barricades, they were countered by a charge of units of the Armée Royale shouting “Not a third!”, cheered by the people of Paris. At noon the Catholic League had only taken a small part of the city but, despite their superior numbers and equipment, wasn’t’ able to advance. When Gaston de Bourbon himself arrived on the battle, hoping to break the enemy morale by his presence, he reached the opposite of his goal. The Catholic League had to put up a great effort as the Armée Royale charged towards him and a soldier even managed to reach him but was cut down only a meter away. When Charles X appeared in full battle regalia on the barricades the soldiers and people of Paris cheered him on. Night fell and the Battle of the Barricades paused. In the morning scouts came to Gaston telling him than another army was approaching, the Armée de Flandres and they guessed they would arrive in the late noon. This news also spread in Paris where Charles X was ready to play his trump card. He climbed the barricades and spoke so that the Catholic League could also hear them.
“Frenchmen, catholics. Why all this bloodshed? Why are devout catholics fighting one another when Satan himself has descended upon southern France? Why are fathers and son taken away from their families and why are women crying in the streets over the losses? I will tell you why. Because of the selfish goals of one man, Gaston de Bourbon! But you there, soldiers of the Catholic League. You believe that you follow the true king of France. Well, let me show you something that he cannot present!”
Charles X was brought a chest from which he took a red standard. Silence fell over the barricades and gasps of surprise could be heard as Charles X hoisted a standard that had been made in the greatest secret while the Catholic League had approached.
“Do you not recognise it? Do you not recognise the banner of Saint-Denis, patron saint of France? Frenchmen, the Oriflamme calls you to stand up and fight Satan’s armies!”
Loud cheers erupted among the royal barricades as morale in Catholic League broke down. Several unites of the League began retreating from Paris, seeing this as a sign of God. Charles X then led a charge of the Armée Royale on the enemy lines, leading on foot and in front of the army. While the Catholic League tried their best to stop the charge and their own men from retreating, the people of Paris joined in the onslaught. From outside of the city Gaston de Bourbon could see his men fleeing and when he stopped some and demanded to know what was going on, they only shouted “It is the oriflamme of death!” after which they continued their rout. Gaston de Bourbon regrouped his forces as best as he could outside of the city and managed to retreat with his remaining 7,000 men in an orderly fashion, just in time as the Armée de Flandres arrived an hour later. In Paris the Armée Royale and the soldiers were cheering Charles X. The army had regained their honour and the king had shown that he was the embodiment of French courage.
The Oriflamme of which Charles X had a replica made in secret
Charles X however had been wounded during the battle and while speaking to the people of Paris he collapsed. Before he could be carried to his bed he died, his body carried by noblemen through the streets of Paris. To make sure Gaston de Bourbon wouldn’t profit from this, cardinal Galard send for his son, Philippe, and had him raised on the shoulders of soldiers and the people, proclaiming him king Philippe III and strengthening his legitimacy by this show of popular consent. Charles X was buried two days later, the oriflamme clutched in his hands, he would be the last king to lead the oriflamme into battle, but had also brought back honour to the old standard. Nobles from all of France quickly came to Paris, upon hearing of the battle and the death of Charles X and, through an initiative of cardinal Galard, formed the Loyalist League. This would be a league of noblemen and also commoners who would gather money and supplies in order to aid the royal army in their fight against the Catholic League. Gaston de Bourbon’s bet had had the opposite effect. Instead of taking over the throne he had now given the royal power legitimacy and had split France in two leagues.
The rest of the year saw a complete anarchy in France in the areas outside of the reach of Paris. Nobles fought eachother, divided between the Catholic League and the Loyalist League. Philippe III announced that he would show his forgiveness and said he would negotiate with Gaston de Bourbon. These negotiations went very slow and booked no result, but de Bourbon could not just refuse as the news had spread of the popular consent when Philippe III was proclaimed king. The death of Charles X, carrying the oriflamme in to battle, had also greatly discredited him as many Frenchmen considered him a king killer. Spain, that had paid for a large part of Gaston de Bourbon’s army, also began backing down from supporting the Catholic League. This deprived the Catholic League of Spanish diplomatic backing and of important funding and slowly they began disintegrating.
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