Part 16 (2/2)
56).[40]
This artillery fight lasted till evening; on both sides pieces had been dismounted or were silenced; and the whole of the night was employed both by besieger and besieged in replacing the cannon on their repaired carriages or in bringing up new pieces.
Messire Charles d'Amboise was irritated; the affair was advancing but slowly. He had already received pressing letters from the king; for Louis XI. was afraid that a prolonged resistance would determine the other parts of Burgundy which had remained faithful to the court of France, to declare for the young d.u.c.h.ess. He knew that emissaries of Maximilian were going through the province and endeavouring to persuade the authorities of the great towns that the king's army was feeble and disheartened; seeing that, in spite of formidable artillery, twenty days had not enabled it to make any impression on the little city of Roche-Pont.
Although the besiegers concentrated their fire, the number of pieces mounted by them was inferior to that of the cannon of the besieged. The stone b.a.l.l.s of the bombards did no great damage to the defences. Messire Charles d'Amboise, therefore, during the night intervening between the 22nd and 23rd, raised a cavalier at A, strongly gabioned and terraced, and armed it with three large culverins. On the morning of the 23rd of September the corner tower, G, received the fire of five pieces loaded with iron ball and of a bombard discharging stone b.a.l.l.s. After two hours' fire all the defences of the platform were knocked down and the three pieces dismounted, the embrasures of the tower battery shattered, and the defenders killed or wounded. Then orders were given that the tower should be fired upon only by two pieces from the cavalier C; and the fire of the three culverins of the cavalier A, and the three bombards of the boulevard, concentrated their fire on the gate and its barbican. Towards the end of the day this fine gate presented the appearance shown in Fig. 57. In the evening the besieger's pieces that had not been dismounted--that is to say, two culverins of the battery A, a veuglaire of the cavalier, and one of the bombards of the boulevard--concentrated their fire on the terrace P, of the besieged.[41] By evening the wall was dismantled, the gabionades tumbled down, and only one of the three culverins was available. However there was no breach, and an a.s.sault could not be attempted.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 57]
The Sire de Montcler decided that he must at all risks r.e.t.a.r.d the besieger's progress if he could do nothing more. He reckoned that in two days the enemy would be able to effect a breach, either by his cannon or by mining, and that then the _cite_ must be taken; for the garrison could not long hold out behind the interior retrenchments. In the cannonade of the preceding days the Sire de Montcler had lost but few men, and his reserve force had not been drawn upon. He therefore got them under arms about nine o'clock, summoned a troop of one hundred well-mounted hors.e.m.e.n, and gave the following orders:--The hundred hors.e.m.e.n, accompanied by a hundred _coutilliers_ on foot, were to sally forth by the eastern gate against the post established at the mills, attack the small encampment installed in the meadows below, fall back by the road skirting the plateau on the east side, skirmish on the outskirts of the French camp, or cut down the posts they came upon on their way, and then return at full speed to the east gate. A second body of a hundred foot soldiers was to be at the cross road above the mills to protect their retreat. During these attacks, designed to attract the enemy's attention to the left, a troop of five hundred men on foot would issue from a masked postern giving egress below the front of the abbey on the west, and filing off along the ramparts, vigorously attack the cavalier C, and the battery A, spike the pieces, and do all possible damage. It was to retire by the same way, protected by the western ramparts.
Messire Charles d'Amboise was too experienced a warrior to fail in pus.h.i.+ng his advantage. He knew that success, especially in sieges, ultimately accrues to him who leaves the enemy no repose, and does not fall asleep when his first advantage has been gained. The north front of the place was rendered powerless; but an energetic governor of a town may, in a single night, acc.u.mulate many obstacles, devise a hundred stratagems, and very greatly hinder the efficiency of an attack. Charles d'Amboise had therefore resolved to have fascines conveyed to the ditch by a body of a thousand men, some yards from the great tower of the corner G, and to attempt an escalade, while the ordnance, firing on this tower at discretion, hindered the defenders from fortifying the platform again. He had observed the embrasure on the flank of this tower raking the ditch, and had summoned a body of twenty men, furnished with mattresses, and pieces of wood to mask it. As regarded the _fausse-braie_, that was ruined, and could not present any serious obstacle.
The Sire de Montcler had some reason to expect a night attack; but he intended to be beforehand with it, and crush it in the bud. ”Whatever happens,” he said to the troops ordered for the sorties, ”act according to your instructions: do not allow yourselves to be diverted by any attempt at an a.s.sault; on the contrary, execute the orders given you to the letter. We are still numerous enough to sustain an attack.”
At a quarter past ten the two detachments were in the act of issuing forth by the eastern gate and by the abbey postern. The governor then mounted the _debris_ of the defences of the tower at the corner C, and attentively examined the att.i.tude of the enemy. The fires they had lighted were no longer to be seen; but, on listening, he heard indistinct sounds along the works of the besieger. The sky was overcast, and drops of rain were in falling. The Sire de Montcler descended to the lower battery; all the embrasures fronting the exterior were in ruins, and all the pieces of ordnance covered with rubbish. The embrasure of the flank was intact, and the small piece with which it was furnished was in good condition. He had it loaded in his presence with nails and old iron, and gave orders to those serving it not to fire till they saw the enemy a few paces off; behind this piece he had a second placed similarly loaded, so that two volleys might be discharged one after the other. Then he went up again to the rampart walk of the curtain, and himself drew up his men, who were armed with long bills and good daggers and axes. He next visited the ruined gate. It presented such a pile of rubbish that the enemy would not have been able to pa.s.s it in the night; nevertheless in every corner he posted troops, with orders not to use their weapons till they found themselves face to face with the enemy, to observe absolute silence, and not to shout during the fight. This done, he placed a reserve of two hundred men behind the interior retrenchment, and fifty men, furnished with tarred bundles of straw, on the ridge of this retrenchment, with orders to kindle them when they heard the cry ”Burgundy!”
About three-quarters past ten the Sire de Montcler again ascended the platform of the corner tower, and recognised the presence of the enemy some yards from the ditch. Notwithstanding the darkness, he could see a black ma.s.s deploying in silence; then he heard the fascines rolling into the fosse and the wood cracking under the men's feet. In a few minutes, about fifty ladders were set up against the curtain, and each of them was covered by the enemy. These ladders were provided with hooks at the top and stays along the sides, so that the defenders could not throw them down: two, however, fell, dragging the a.s.sailants with them.
At this moment the small pieces of ordnance on the flank of the tower fired, and the cries of the wounded resounded from the ditch, while three more ladders were broken and fell. The hosts of a.s.sailants surged over on the rampart walk, and at the cry of ”Burgundy!” the fires having been kindled, the encounter with keen weapons in this narrow s.p.a.ce presented the strangest spectacle.
The artillery of the besieged was then directed to the flank of the curtain and the exterior, from the platform of the corner tower; while shouts arose from this battery, and the five hundred Burgundians who were ordered to the sortie on the west began an attack, and the troops that were preparing to reinforce the a.s.sault turned their backs to the town to fall on this attacking body.
The Sire de Montcler heard shouting in the distance on the north-east side, and saw a bright gleam through the darkness. He then went down to bring his reserves to the curtain. The French, however, succeeded in getting to the top of the rampart, and reached the corner tower. The few men who were on the summit of the dismantled platform struggled bravely until the moment when the reserve sent by the governor, ascending the incline on which the artillery was posted, fell on the French, and drove them back to the rampart walk of the curtain. The a.s.sailants then forming in a column on the rampart walk, directed a vigorous attack against the tower. From the interior retrenchment, showers of bolts, arrows, and small-shot were discharged upon them in flank; and although they had bucklers, the French lost a great many. As the rampart walk was narrow, the head of the column could present only three men abreast, and was met by a compact ma.s.s of defenders. It was not advancing; the soldiers in the rear, who were exposed to darts in flank, were pressing on those before them in order to force the platform and fight. In this press many fell mutilated within the town. One of the culverineers of the tower, aided by a dozen men, had succeeded during the struggle in getting a culverin out of the rubbish and carrying it without its carriage, loaded, into the midst of the group of Burgundians defending the pa.s.sage. Thrusting the mouth of the piece between their legs, he fired it: the ball, and the stones with which the bore of the culverin had been filled, made a frightful lane in the compact body of the French: some leaped down into the town, others ran towards the towers of the gateway, and several climbed the parapet to regain their ladders.
The Burgundians made another rush along the rampart, killing all who resisted.
But at that juncture a large body of the French issued forth through the gate of the lower battery. By aid of pickaxes and crowbars they had succeeded, after filling up the ditch with fascines, in enlarging the openings of two of the embrasures, already broken down by the cannon; then, throwing into these openings lighted bundles of straw and tar mixed with gunpowder so as to drive away the defenders, they had made their way into the interior at the risk of being themselves suffocated by the smoke, and rus.h.i.+ng towards the gate, killing the few that had remained in the battery, they had forced the doors and made an entrance for their comrades by the same road. Issuing forth into the town they ascended the incline at full speed.[42] The cry Of victory on the part of the Burgundians was answered by cries of ”France! d'Amboise!” These shouts revived the courage of the French who had remained on the rampart, and they renewed the attack. The Sire de Montcler despatched his last reserves against the new comers, but they continued to pour out on level ground and fought valiantly. Their number was increasing every moment, and they succeeded in driving back the reserves to the retrenchment. The Burgundians, cooped up on the platform of the tower, surrendered after having lost half their men. Messire Charles d'Amboise ordered that they should be honourably treated. The tower of the north-west salient was in the power of the enemy, as well as the whole of the curtain stretching from this tower to the north gate.
Day was breaking when the combat ceased, and some hours' repose were needed on both sides. The corner tower was lost to the besieged; the governor strongly barricaded the adjoining tower opening on to the curtain, and placed a number of small cannon in the upper story of this tower. He had done the same on the broken summit of the western tower of the gate. He wished to hinder the enemy from gaining ground on the curtains, and outflanking--particularly on his right--the retrenchment connected with the old wall surrounding the abbey, and meeting the tower on the north-east corner.[43]
A short time before the end of the struggle, the two bodies destined for the sorties were on their return, the foot soldiers through the abbey postern, and the men-at-arms, not through the east gate, but through that near the castle on the west. The foot soldiers brought in a hundred prisoners; the horse had lost a third of their party. The fortune of these two bodies had been as follows:--The foot soldiers, operating on the left, had come upon the enemy unawares, making their way through the brushwood of the western slope of the plateau as far as the gorge of the enemy's battery, C,[44] had fallen on the guard, spiked the guns, and, taking advantage of the confusion, had taken the attacking column in flank, had entered the battery, A, whose pieces they had also spiked, but, seeing themselves too far advanced, had beat a retreat, descending the slopes straight towards the west. As they were not vigorously pursued, they had entered the lower town, surprised and captured two bodies of guards, set fire to some huts erected by the besiegers, and regained the town. Charles d'Amboise, at first surprised by the audacity of the attack, but quickly perceiving that it could do him no serious damage, had given the strictest orders that nothing should divert his men from the a.s.sault, and had contented himself with sending against the troops of the besieged two or three hundred men to keep them back and compel them to seek the slopes, without troubling to pursue them. The men-at-arms had followed the governor's instructions, had fallen upon the small encampment above the mills, and, leaving the _coutilliers_ there to complete their commission (the latter had re-entered about two o'clock in the morning by the east gate), they had pursued the road indicated as far as the base of the plateau, and had arrived without hindrance at the boundary of the French camp, charging the posts in a direct line at full speed.
This attack had thrown confusion into that part of the camp which was occupied by the baggage, the carts, and camp servants. Stacks of forage had caught fire amid the disorder thus occasioned. But the a.s.sailants had soon observed three or four hundred hors.e.m.e.n close upon them; they had then made straight for the north, and buried themselves in the thick woods upon their right; they next wheeled towards the left, reached the banks of the stream, whose left bank they followed without interruption, but with the loss of a third of their comrades, who had strayed, or been captured or killed. They supposed they had fallen in with a body of the French in the lower town, and were preparing to pa.s.s it at a gallop, but they turned out to be the Burgundian foot soldiers.
Charles d'Amboise, at the first report of this attack on the rear of the camp, had been much disquieted, supposing that succour had arrived; but being soon correctly informed, had sent out men-at-arms to cut off this body of adventurers, and was only the more eager for the a.s.sault.
Messire Charles d'Amboise was accustomed (in this respect differing from the warriors of the time) to surround himself with young captains of intelligence and energy, who kept him constantly informed of all that took place in the army, during the march and on the field. When the information furnished was found to be exact, and was reported in cool discretion and without exaggeration, Charles d'Amboise would praise these young officers in presence of all his captains, and recompense them liberally. If, on the contrary, the reports were false or tainted with exaggeration, or incomplete, he would inflict severe and public censure on the reporters, and a.s.sign them some subaltern and humiliating duty, such as guarding the baggage or superintending the camp servants.
When Charles d'Amboise learned next morning the damage caused on the border of the camp by a few Burgundian men-at-arms, the loss of his men encamped at the mill and in the lower town, and the spiking of six of his pieces of ordnance, he was much annoyed, but could not refrain from saying to his captains: ”We have to do with brave men, who defend themselves valiantly. I beg you, gentlemen, to take care that their wounded and prisoners be treated with all the respect due to soldiers who do their duty.” Then about the second hour of the day he sent a herald to the retrenchment of the besieged, to ask a parley with the governor. The Sire de Montcler having ascended the terrace, the herald spoke as follows: ”Sir Governor! Monseigneur Charles d'Amboise, commanding the army of our lord the king of France, sends me to you to require of you to render up the town and castle of Roche-Pont, which you are withholding contrary to the treaties and defending against their lawful lord. Henceforward the said _cite_ is in the power of the army of our lord the king of France, and a longer resistance will only cause the useless loss of a great number of brave men. In consideration of your brave and n.o.ble defence, Monseigneur Charles d'Amboise will let you go forth--you and your men--with your lives and property. May G.o.d have you in his keeping and guide you to a wise decision.” ”Sir messenger,”
replied the governor, ”Messire Charles d'Amboise is a captain too well acquainted with war to think himself master of the town and castle of Roche-Pont because he has got possession of a tower and a curtain. He knows what it has cost him to advance even so far; and there is still a considerable s.p.a.ce between this retrenchment and the castle, and the castle is good and defensible. I acknowledge no other lawful lords of Burgundy, and of this city in particular, than the d.u.c.h.ess of Burgundy, daughter of the n.o.ble and puissant Duke Charles, and her ill.u.s.trious husband Maximilian. I am here to defend their property against all comers, and I will defend it as long as I have a sword in my hand.
Nevertheless, tell Messire Charles d'Amboise that if he is willing to exchange prisoners, man for man, I am prepared to do so. If he prefers to leave things as they are, I give him my word of honour that his people are being well treated.”
”Well, then,” said Charles d'Amboise, when the herald had conveyed this answer to him, ”this _cite_ will be damaged for a long time to come!”
During the 24th of September, the rain did not cease to fall in torrents. Besiegers and besieged were at a hundred paces from each other. They were employed in burying the dead, whose numbers were especially great on the side of the French, and both were preparing for a fresh struggle, though the bad weather greatly impeded the workers.
Figure 58 shows the position of the besieged and the besiegers.[45]
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