Maximilien de Béthune (1560-1641) wrote in his memoirs (which were written in the second person) his own recollection of the Siege of Cahors (1580); which while lacking in the particulars of note to the siege itself, is a great first-hand account of Early Modern urban combat. It is a great scene, so I have translated it out of the French.
"The King of Navarre being around Montauban, the month of May or June 1580. he did draw up an enterprise against Cahors: of which the execution was one of the most signal seizures of a Town by petard (without any intelligence) which has been ever made: for the Town is, quite large & entirely environed by rivers on three sides, in which (besides the well armed inhabitants) there were nearly two thousand gens de pied & one hundred foreign men at arms [hommes d'armes estrangers], under a Governor of the most brave & qualified Gentlemen of the Province named de Vesins, who had been warned four or five days previously, that the King of Navarre had enterprised against the place: for the said warning was found in his box, upon which he had written with his hand three times, a mockery for the Huguenots [nergue pour les Huguenots].
The King of Navarre having passed through Montauban, Negrepelisse, Saint Anthonin, Carjarc & Senevieres, for to continually reassemble some men, for the cause that Monsieur de Choupes whom he had summoned, was not yet joined: Finally having made a good journey, he arrived around midnight at a good quarter league from Cahors: at which place in a large valley full of stones, under several bunches of walnut trees, [&] where itself was found [was] a thicket, which to you was a very great relief, for there was a great heat, the weather blazing on all sides, with numerous rumblings of thunder, which were not nevertheless followed by great rains: The King of Navarre himself making the same order to his troops, according to how they should march, attack & combat, gave ten of the most agile & firm-couraged Soldiers of his two guards, to the two petardiers, who were[,] which we have heard you say[,] from the Viscount de Gourdon (for it was also he who had made the enterprise) [&] after that marched a troop of twenty armed men & thirty harquebusiers of the guards, commanded by S. Martin Captain of the guards: this troop was followed by another, which was commanded Monsieur de Roquelaure, composed of forty Gentlemen of the Court of the King of Navarre, of the most determined, in the first rank of whom was you, & 60. soldiers of the guards, the which was followed after with 200. armed men, separated into four [troops], & a thousand or 1200. harquebusiers, separated into six troops: It was necessary to carry three gates by blows of petards, & [even] still [necessary] to open further the holes which they had made, by axe blows especially since the armed men could not enter except on all four limbs, [&] at the entry of the town you had to combat a troop of around forty well armed men, having some halberds & pistols, and around 200. harquebusiers for the darkness prevented good judgement, but in the scene of the salvees of harquebusades, one saw that the most of them had naked legs, not having leisure to grab the bases of their chausses: the bells made a marvelous noise, sounding the alarm from all sides: the voices too, crying incessantly charge, charge, and & kill, kill: the harquebusades & clashing of arms too, the tiles, stones, firebrands & pieces of wood, which from the top of the houses the one threw upon you too: & the breaking of the swords & shattering of the pikes & halberds too; for from the first combat the one came to hands, up to the collar of the one [&] the other, & this melee lasted more than a great quarter of an hour, during the which you were carried to the earth by a large stone, which hurled from a window fell on your helmet, & you were raised by the Sir de Bertichere & la Trape, who combatted near you.
There happened still more than a dozen similar combats, of which in some of them the King [of Navarre] himself was found, so that there he broke two halberds, & his armor was found marked by several blows of harquebuses or pistols, & numerous hand blows: nor were yours exempt, & notably at the third melee, when they attacked the barricades of the great square, where the pieces of artillery were, your tassets being undone, you were wounded by a halberd blow in the left thigh, which did not nevertheless prevent you from being found at the exploits, which were great in number: & the Town being of great width, it was no longer possible (seeing the fewness of the men of war that the King of Navarre had) for he to any longer make all the necessary guards, so that you were all weary, thirsty, hungry & tortured with somnolence: there having already [passed] three days & three nights [where] you were armed, without having entered into a house, (for if one had amused himself with pillaging from commencement, all would be lost) [nor having] drunk, nor eaten but one drink & one morsel, here and there while combatting, nor slept except fully standing, your cuirasses leaning upon some shop stalls: And you would have in the end succumbed to the attacks of the enemies from outside, who were coming from all sides to the relief of this Town, which increased daily, & could enter easily inside, by one of the quarters of it named la Barre which the inhabitants held still, & were in the act of piercing the wall for this effect: so much so that all the most wise & considered servants of the King of Navarre, foreseeing all these inconveniences, to him advised at all times, to reassemble the most of his men to him [that] would be possible, mount on horse, abandon the Town & retire himself: for all you others (indeed he himself) were so fatigued, & besides the wounds of many, had the feet skinned & full of blood, [so] that none nor himself could sustain hardly anymore: but to all such propositions of his retreat, this Prince responded always firmly & with a smiling face, (which resolved the hearts [of even] the most frightened.) It is said [to me from] there above [in Heaven] what must be done of me in every occasion, & therefore you remember that my retreat out of this Town (without having conquered & secured [it] to the party) will be the retreat of my life out of this body, there being too much of my honor in it to act otherwise, & therefore one must not speak to me more, except of combatting, of conquering or of dying.
The things being in this extremity, there was no doubt that they were going to increase [their attacks], when that Monsieur de Choupes (who had been summoned for himself to be present at this enterprise, & had not been able to assemble his troops sooner) arrived at the gates of the Town, of the side where the one had entered, having about one hundred well armed men and five to six hundred harquebusiers, with whom (knowing the deplorable state in which all things were reduced) he made such efforts, & combatted so bravely inside the Town & outside it, against the succors; assisted by the least weary & wounded of the King of Navarre, who by his arrival had regained courage, that in the end[,] the quarter of la Barre & the College which still held were taken, all the curtains, towers & gates of the Town secured: the enemy succors were themselves forced to retire, & the Town entirely conquered.
At the pillage of which one spared himself not, & in your particular, you gained by the most great good fortune of the world, a small box of iron (which we believe you have still) which you then gave to the one of us four to carry, & having opened it you found four thousand escus in gold inside.
He who would wish [for us] to recount all the particularities of this surprise of the Town & not forget any of the things worthy of remark which happened there, as much to the King of Navarre, as to each of you other most qualified Gentlemen, it would make a large volume of it: but we will leave that to the Historians, as well as (as we have already said) all the other [events] where you had not any part at all, whether by the means of the employment of the hands or of the mouth, or of the eyes or of the ears, our aim not having been [any] other, than to remind you of that which has passed through your cognizance."
No comments:
Post a Comment