Crossing of the Somme

Last updated
Crossing of the Somme
Part of the Thirty Years' War and the
Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)
Crossing of the Somme.jpg
Crossing of the Somme, 1636. Oil on canvas by Peter Snayers.
Date5 August 1636
Location
Result Imperial-Spanish victory
Belligerents
Royal Standard of the King of France.svg  France Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg  Spain
Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor (after 1400).svg  Holy Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Royal Standard of the King of France.svg Louis, Count of Soissons Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand
Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg Prince of Carignano
Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor (after 1400).svg Ottavio Piccolomini
Strength
14,000 [1] 18,000 [2] –25,000 [3]
Casualties and losses
700-800 soldiers killed
+ 13 captains
14 lieutenants
16 corporals
35 killed and 50 wounded (reported) [4]

The Crossing of the Somme took place on 5 August 1636 during the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War when units of the Spanish Army of Flanders and the Imperial Army under Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, lieutenant of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, crossed the Somme river near Bray-sur-Somme during its offensive in French territory. Despite the fierce resistance of the French army led by Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, the allied troops successfully crossed the river and drove off the French troops along the Oise river, proceeding over the following weeks to invest the important fortress of Corbie, located two leagues upriver of Amiens, which caused a spread of panic among the population of Paris.

Contents

Background

Shortly after France declared the war on Spain in May 1635, a French army under the Marshals of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé and Gaspard III de Coligny, allied with the Dutch States Army, invaded the Spanish Netherlands from two sides and threatened Brussels before investing Leuven. [5] The siege ended in a costly failure because of bad logistics and organization, and as the French army was decimated by the plague. [5] The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, counterattacked and expelled the invaders, concentrating his resources against the Dutch over the following months. [6] The recapture by the statholder Frederick Henry of Orange of the key fortress of Schenkenschans did not discouraged the Spanish, and the Count-Duke of Olivares continued determined to concentrate the war effort against the Dutch. [7]

After suffering further defeats against the armies of the Duke Charles of Lorraine and the Imperial generalissimo Matthias Gallas in the Rhine, Alsace and Lorraine, the French armies remained focused in the defense and reconquest of strategic places in these territories. [8] The conquest of the Franche-Comté, entrusted to Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and Charles de La Porte de La Meilleraye, soon became an absolute priority to the Cardinal Richelieu. [3] The Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, whose position in Germany had strengthened since the Peace of Prague, meanwhile, projected an invasion of the eastern France under Matthias Gallas, but as logistical and financial problems diminished his force, he proposed a joint invasion to the Cardinal-Infante. [9] Philip IV of Spain and Olivares rapidly agreed. [2]

A lightly equipped army ranging from 10,000–12,000 infantry and 13,000 cavalry soldiers [3] to 18,000 soldiers of both types, including an imperialist contingent under Ottavio Piccolomini was gathered at Mons during June. [2] On the 2nd of July the Cardinal-Infante crossed the frontier via Avesnes and took the fortresses of Le Catelet and La Capelle. [10] Though having large garrisons, La Capelle surrendered after only six days of siege and Le Catelet, one of the strongest fortresses of France, after three days thanks to the exploding shells used by the Spanish army, a recent innovation yet unfamiliar to the French. [10] The alarming advance of the Cardinal-Infante forced Louis XIII to return to Paris from Fontainebleau. [10] By then Ferdinand was in Cambrai and had left the command of his army to the Prince Thomas Francis of Carignano, the commander of the Army of Flanders. [11]

Battle

The Prince of Carignano took over the army and headed to Saint Quentin with the aim of continuing the invasion and attracting Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, who was in Picardy in command of a force of 14,000 soldiers, and his army to the town. [11] Having arrived at the fields in front of Saint Quentin, the Prince changed the route of the army and advanced towards the Somme river. [11] The Cardinal Infante sent to him don Esteban de Gamarra, a gentleman in his confidence, to transmit the order to cross the Somme at the village Bray-sur-Somme or at an easier place even if the French armies were guarding the riverside. Pontoons and boats were dispatched from Cambrai for this purpose. [12]

The Prince put on alert his Maestres de Campo and Colonels and set route to Bray. [12] On 4 August his troops occupied a small island in middle of the river and soon a skirmish began with the French troops on the other riverside. [12] The Count of Soissons, who were stationed with his troops on a nearby hill, believed that the Spanish were attempting to cross the river in that place and detached its battalions and squadrons near the riverside to reject every attempt. [13] The Marquis of Fontenay, who led these troops, set fire to the village and entrenched his soldiers in a series of forts built in the riverside. [13] The skirmish continued a long time with artillery and musketry fire. [12] According to the French, only 20 of his soldiers were killed, among them the Comte de Matha, captain of a company of the Régiment des Gardes. [13]

The Prince ordered his Tercios of Spaniards march to the village of Cerisy, located a league south of Bray, and cross there the river. [12] A pontoon bridge was promptly tended from one bank to the opposite, and large amounts of faggots previously prepared were spread on the marshy land to facilitate the crossing of the soldiers. [14] Only the Régiment de Piedmont was in that place to confront the Spaniards. [13] These formed in squadron at the riverside and became involved in a stubborn fight that lasted for three hours. [15] The Régiment de Piedmont, reinforced by a company of the Régiment des Gardes, tried to expel them from the pontoons and the road of faggots with great fierceness, [13] but thanks to the presence of the Prince, who took the command of the attack, the Spaniards managed to cross the river and drove off the Régiment de Piemont from the riverside. [15]

The Maestro de Campo Alonso Pérez de Vivero y Menchaca, Count of Fuensaldaña, put then his soldiers to work in the digging of trenches to cover them from a possible counterattack. [16] The Spanish artillery and some musketeers riddled the forest where the Régiment de Piedmont had sought coverage and forced the few surviving troops to retreat leaving behind about 700-800 corpses. [17] The Prince lost that day around 35 soldiers killed and 50 wounded. [4] The French losses could have been higher if the Spanish cavalry had crossed the river in time to pursue them, but this did not happen and Soissons was able to withdraw his troops in good order. [4]

Aftermath

The Prince of Carignano, searching the destruction of the retreating French army, dispatched Ottavio Piccolomini in command of his cavalry and Johann von Werth with the Spanish cavalry behind the Count of Soissons, who was forced to pass the Oise river. [4] The harassment of the German and Spanish cavalry diminished the strength of the French army, finding the Imperial-Spanish troops abandoned corpses and weapons at his advance. [4] Piccolomini's persecution of the retreating French army lead him to Roye, which he captured and from where he reached Compiègne and advanced further into French territory, which caused consternation in Paris. [10] Meanwhile, Soissons retreated to Noyon pursued by Johann von Werth. The Bavarian general destroyed 5 French cavalry regiments near the town, but he had not enough forces to attempt its capture. [18]

On 7 August the Prince of Carignano, by orders of the Cardinal-Infante, surrounded the vital fortress of Corbie, which surrendered to him a week later. [10] The following day Louis XIII wrote to the Prince of Condé ordering him to abandon the siege of Dôle and to withdraw from the Franche-Comté to help defend Paris. [10] At the French court it was believed that after Corbie the Spanish would advance further into France. [19] Piccolomini, who wanted to do so, tried to persuade the Cardinal-Infante. The Cardinal-Infante felt that more ambitious operations could risk his army and resolved to retreat. [19] He was back in Cambrai in early September, before Matthias Gallas' invasion of France had begun, and the French armies regained most of the lost ground over the following months. [20]

Notes

  1. Vincart, p. 18
  2. 1 2 3 Israel, p. 75
  3. 1 2 3 Parrott, p. 119
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Vincart, p. 28
  5. 1 2 Israel, p. 69
  6. Israel, p. 70–71
  7. Israel, p. 72
  8. Parrott, p. 118
  9. Israel, p. 74
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Israel, p. 76
  11. 1 2 3 Vincart, p. 24
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Vincart, p. 25
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Michaud/Poujoulat, p. 254
  14. Vincart, p. 25–26
  15. 1 2 Vincart, p. 26
  16. Vincart, p. 26–27
  17. Vincart, p. 27
  18. Vincart, p. 29
  19. 1 2 Israel, p. 77
  20. Israel, p. 78

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Savoy-Carignano</span> Noble family; cadet branch of the House of Savoy

The House of Savoy-Carignano originated as a cadet branch of the House of Savoy. It was founded by Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano (1596–1656), an Italian military commander who was the fifth son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. His descendants were accepted as princes étrangers at the court of France, where some held prominent positions. Upon the extinction of the main Savoy line they eventually came to reign as kings of Sardinia from 1831 to 1861, and as kings of Italy from 1861 until the dynasty's deposition in 1946. The Savoy-Carignano family also, briefly, supplied a king each to Spain and Croatia, as well as queens consort to Bulgaria and Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano</span> Prince of Carignano

Thomas Francis of Savoy, 1st Prince of Carignano was an Italian military commander and the founder of the Carignano branch of the House of Savoy, which reigned as kings of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1861, and as kings of Italy from 1861 until the dynasty's deposition in 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Nördlingen (1634)</span> Battle of the Thirty Years War

The Battle of Nördlingen took place on 6 September 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. A combined Imperial-Spanish force inflicted a crushing defeat on the Swedish-German army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthias Gallas</span> Italian-Austrian nobleman and professional soldier

Matthias Gallas, Graf von Campo und Herzog von Lucera was an Italian professional soldier during the Thirty Years' War. He distinguished himself in the first half of the war in service of the Catholic League, in the War of the Mantuan Succession, and as one of Albrecht von Wallenstein's Generals. After carrying out the dismissal and elimination of Wallenstein, Gallas became acting supreme commander of the Imperial Army three times between 1634 and 1647 but he never held the function or authority of a Generalissimo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Breitenfeld (1642)</span> 1642 battle of the Thirty Years War

The Second Battle of Breitenfeld, also known as the First Battle of Leipzig, took place during the Thirty Years' War on 2 November 1642 at Breitenfeld, north-east of Leipzig in Germany. A Swedish Army commanded by Lennart Torstensson decisively defeated an Imperial Army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and his deputy Ottavio Piccolomini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottavio Piccolomini</span> Italian nobleman (1599–1656)

Ottavio Piccolomini, 1st Duke of Amalfi was an Italian nobleman whose military career included service as a Spanish general and then as a field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria</span> Spanish and Portuguese prince (1609-1641)

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand was a Spanish and Portuguese prince, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal of the Holy Catholic Church, Archduke of Austria, Archbishop of Toledo (1619–41), and a general during the Thirty Years' War, the Eighty Years' War, and the Franco-Spanish War. He is largely considered to be the best Spanish general of the time with some contemporary sources claiming him to be the last great general of the Spanish Empire. He is as well, one of few generals to be undefeated on the battlefield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Reims (1814)</span> 1814 battle during the War of the Sixth Coalition

The Battle of Reims was fought at Reims, France between an Imperial French army commanded by Emperor Napoleon and a combined Russian-Prussian corps led by General Emmanuel de Saint-Priest. On the first day, Saint-Priest's Russians and General Friedrich Wilhelm von Jagow's Prussians easily captured Reims from its French National Guard garrison, capturing or killing more than half of its defenders. On the second day, an overconfident Saint-Priest carelessly deployed his forces west of the city, not grasping that Napoleon was approaching with 20,000 troops. Too late, Saint-Priest realized who he was fighting and tried to organize a retreat. In the battle that followed, the French army struck with crushing force and the Allies were routed with serious losses. During the fighting, Saint-Priest was struck by a howitzer shell and died two weeks later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kallo</span> Battle in 1638 close to Antwerp

The Battle of Kallo was a major field battle fought from 20 to 21 June 1638 in and around the forts of Kallo and Verrebroek, located on the left bank of the Scheldt river, near Antwerp, during the second phase of the Eighty Years' War. Following the symbolic recovery of Breda during the 1637 campaign, the Dutch Republic agreed with the French Crown, with whom it had allied in 1635, to besiege a major city in the Spanish Netherlands during the 1638 campaign. The commander of the Dutch States Army, Frederick Henry of Orange, planned an approach over Antwerp from the two sides of the Scheldt. Count William of Nassau-Siegen was entrusted to land in the Spanish-controlled Waasland region, west of Antwerp, to seize the forts of Kallo and Verrebroek, along with several other key fortifications, to invest Antwerp from the west. In the meantime, Frederick Henry would advance on the opposite bank to complete the blockade of the city while the armies of France invaded the Spanish Netherlands from the south to oblige the Spanish Army of Flanders to divide its forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of La Marfée</span> 1641 battle of the Franco-Spanish War

The Battle of La Marfée, also known as the Battle of Sedan, took place on 6 July 1641, during the 1635 to 1659 Franco-Spanish War, a related conflict of the Thirty Years War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Schenkenschans</span> 1635–36 battle of the Eighty Years War

The siege of Schenkenschans was a major siege of the Eighty Years' War. In a successful campaign the Army of Flanders, commanded by Spanish general Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, captured Schenkenschans along with a number of important towns, reversing recent Dutch gains and opening the Dutch Republic to a possible invasion. The Dutch Stadtholder, Fredrick Henry, pushed the republic's military efforts to their limit to recapture the fortress of Schenkenschans to counter the threat to the exposed Dutch heartland. He succeeded in doing so after a costly nine month siege.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Breda (1637)</span> Siege in 1637, part of the Eighty Years War

The fourth siege of Breda was an important siege in the Eighty Years' War in which stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange retook the city of Breda, which had last changed hands in 1625 when the Spanish general Ambrogio Spinola conquered it for the Spanish Habsburgs. Hereafter, the city would remain in the hands of the Dutch Republic until the end of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Les Avins</span> 1635 battle of the Franco-Spanish War

The Battle of Les Avins took place on 20 May 1635, outside the town of Les Avins, near Huy in modern Belgium, then part of the Bishopric of Liège. It was the first major engagement of the 1635 to 1659 Franco-Spanish War, a connected conflict of the Thirty Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relief of Thionville</span> 1639 battle of the Thirty Years War

The Relief of Thionville took place on 7 June 1639, during the Thirty Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Valenciennes (1656)</span> 1656 battle during the Franco-Spanish War

The Battle of Valenciennes was fought on 16 July 1656 between the Spanish troops commanded by John Joseph of Austria and the French troops under Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, in the outskirts of the city of Valenciennes in the Spanish Netherlands during the Franco-Spanish War. After a period of Spanish recovery following the Peace of Münster in 1648, France went again on the offensive in 1654, having succeeded in suppressing internal rebellions, and took several towns in the province of Hainaut over the course of two years. On early 1656, Turenne was instructed by the French court to continue the offensive. He intended at first to besiege Tournai, but realising that it had been strongly reinforced by the Army of Flanders under the newly appointed John Joseph of Austria, illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain, he went instead to besiege Valenciennes, in the course of the Scheldt River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Leuven</span> 1635 battle of the Thirty Years War

The siege of Leuven was an important siege in the Thirty Years' War in which a Franco-Dutch army under Frederick Henry of Orange and the French Marshals Urbain de Maillé-Brezé and Gaspard III de Coligny, who had invaded the Spanish Netherlands from two sides, laid siege to the city of Leuven, defended by a force of 4,000 comprising local citizen and student militias with Walloons, Germans, Spanish and Irish of the Army of Flanders under Anthonie Schetz, Baron of Grobbendonck. Poor organization and logistics and the spread of sickness among the French, along with the appearance of an Imperial-Spanish relief army of 11,000 under Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand and Ottavio Piccolomini, forced the invading army to lift the siege. This failure allowed the Spanish forces to take the initiative and soon the invaders were forced into a headlong retreat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Saint-Omer</span> 1638 battle of the Thirty Years War

The siege of Saint-Omer was a siege in the Thirty Years' War in which a French army under Gaspard III de Coligny, Maréchal de Châtillon, laid siege to the Flemish city of Saint-Omer, defended by a small garrison in command of Lancelot II Schetz, count of Grobbendonck. Despite several initial successes in the capture of the minor forts around Saint-Omer, on the night of 8/9 June a Spanish relief army under Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, surprised Châtillon's troops and established a small fort in the middle of the French lines. An entire army corps under Maréchal de La Force was ordered to move towards Saint-Omer to support Châtillon siege, but on 12 July a further Imperial-Spanish force commanded by Ottavio Piccolomini entered Saint-Omer, resolving the French marshals to withdraw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Venlo (1637)</span>

The siege of Venlo was an important siege in the Eighty Years' War that lasted from 20 to 25 August 1637. The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, retook the city of Venlo from the United Provinces, which had taken control of it in 1632 during the offensive of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange against Maastricht. The capture of Venlo and Roermond, which was surrendered to the Cardinal-Infante a week later, effectively cut Maastricht from the Dutch Republic, thus preventing further attacks on the Spanish Netherlands from the east. In the southern front Ferdinand lost the towns of La Capelle, Landrecies, and Damvillers to the French, but then he forced them to retreat south of Maubeuge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Landau (1702)</span> During the War of the Spanish Succession

The siege of Landau took place from 16 June to 12 September 1702, during the War of the Spanish Succession. An Imperial army led by Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden captured Landau, a fortress town in the Rhineland-Palatinate held by a French garrison commanded by the Comte de Mélac.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Corbie</span>

The Siege of Corbie took place from the 7th to the 15th of August, 1636 during the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59) where a Spanish army under Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand and his lieutenant Prince of Carignano successfully capture the important French fortress of Corbie. The siege would only last a little over a week with the fortress eventually surrendering after 8 days on the 15th of August. This important siege battle is part of the Crossing of the Somme campaign led by the Cardinal-Infante and caused an important event to happen after the siege with the French royal family fleeing Paris in fear of the Spanish tercios and the Cardinal-Infante's campaign, which was thought to have been aimed towards the French capital.

References