Marignan

This year is the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Marignan which established François the First as king.  He ruled for a long period and brought many changes to France, including convincing Leonardo da Vinci to move to Amboise and bring the Mona Lisa to France.

A huge spectacle of hundreds of costumed volunteers put on a show explaining the Battle.  It included knights on horseback engaging in jousting tournaments among other fantastic scenes.

The Battle of Marignano  took place on September 13 and 14, 1515, near Milan.  It resulted in a victory for French forces.

It pitted the French army, composed of the best armored lancers and artillery in Europe and led by Francis I, newly crowned king of France and a day past his 21st birthday, against the Old Swiss Confederacy. With Francis were Germans, bitter rivals of the Swiss for fame and renown in war, and arriving late his Venetian allies.

The prologue to the battle was a remarkable Alpine passage, in which Francis hauled pieces of artillery (including 40 or 70 huge cannons) over new-made roads, a previously unknown route. This was, at the time, considered one of the foremost military exploits of the age and the equal of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. The French surprised and captured the Papal commander in a daring cavalry raid deep behind the allied lines.  The French seized a great deal of booty on the raid, including 600 horses.

The Swiss encountered Francis's forces at the little burnt-out village of Marignano on a featureless plain. A treaty signed, the French were not expecting battle. Francis was in his tent, trying on a new suit of armor, when scouts reported the coming of the Swiss. The French army quickly jumped into action, forming up in three divisions: the vanguard, posted slightly forward and on the right under the Duke of Bourbon.  The central battle, commanded by the King, slightly trailed on the right;and on the left and even further back, the “rearguard” commanded by the Duke of Alençon. Each division was a combined arms force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

The battle was a decisive victory for Francis. This could be considered the expected outcome, seeing as the Swiss were heavily outnumbered and outgunned. But the Swiss during the preceding decades had almost habitually emerged victorious from such disadvantageous situations, and the French victory by no means came easy, the battle hanging in the balance until the arrival of the Venetian reinforcements.

The immediate cause of the Swiss defeat was their failure to capture the enemy artillery during the early phase of the battle, and the arrival of the Venetians. But also contributing to the Swiss defeat was their lack of discipline and their ineffective command structure. 

“I have vanquished those whom only Caesar vanquished” was printed on the medal King Francis ordered struck to commemorate the victory.  Considering the battle his most cherished triumph, Francis requested that he himself be knighted on the battlefield, in the ancient style, by the hand of none other than the Chevalier Bayard. 

A beautiful sky ended the hours of historic celebration