The Battle of Arques occurred on 15–29 September 1589 between the French royal forces of King

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

and troops of the Catholic League commanded by Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, during the eighth and final war (1585-1598) of the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mi ...

. It was a victory for Henry IV.

Background

At the death of Henry III of France, the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

Henry of Navarre became by birthright the successor to the French throne (as Henry IV). Although he quickly declared his intention to "maintain and preserve the Catholic, apostolic and roman religion" of the country (french: "maintenir et conserver la religion catholique, apostolique et romaine"), the major French cities sided with the Catholic League and its leader, the

Duke of Mayenne Duke of Mayenne (duc de Mayenne) is a title created for a cadet branch of the House of Guise. It subsequently passed by marriage to the Gonzaga in 1621. They sold it to Cardinal Mazarin in 1654; he bestowed it on his niece, Hortense Mancini in 1 ...

(younger brother to the deceased Henry I, Duke of Guise). At that time, the royal army was in a shambles and Henry IV could only count on barely 20,000 men to conquer a rebellious country. In order to accomplish this task, he divided his troops into three commands:

Henri I d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mont ...

(1568-1595) for Picardy,

Jean VI d'Aumont Jean VI d'Aumont (1522-1595) was a soldier and Marshal of France. He served as Marshal under Henri III, campaigning against the Protestants in 1585. He would not however conduct the campaign with much enthusiasm, and after clamour at court he would ...

for

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...

, and Henry IV for

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

(where he awaited reinforcements from

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

). On 6 August 1589, Henry set up camp with 8,000 men at the port of

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

. The Duke of Mayenne sought to take back this key strategic port from Henry's forces and to drive him from Normandy. He drew together 35,000 troops, plus Cambrésis militias, Lorraine troops led by the Marquis de

Pont-à-Mousson Pont-à-Mousson () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are known as ''Mussipontains'' in French. It is an industrial town (mainly steel industry), situated on the river Moselle. Pont-à-Mous ...

and a contingent of Spanish troops to attack the city. Knowing that an attack against an army of this size would be pointless, and that staying in the city of Dieppe would be suicidal, Henry (after consulting with the Duke of Longueville and the Duke d'Aumont) decided to go to the city of Arques (today called "Arques-la-Bataille") and to construct important military defenses (raising of areas, rebuilding fortifications).

The battle

Between 15 and 29 September 1589, the troops of the Catholic League launched several attacks on Arques and the surrounding areas, but the Duke of Mayenne's forces were countered by royal artillery. The attacks were extremely deadly for both sides, and soon Henry IV's side found itself undermanned. Henry's rescue came from the sea on 23 September: 4,000 English soldiers under Roger Williams sent by Queen Elizabeth had left England in several waves over three days.

Terry Breverton Terry D. Breverton (born 1946) is a British former businessman and academic who has written many books on subjects mainly related to Wales and seamen. Life Terry Breverton was born in Birmingham in 1946. His parents were Welsh, and he was broug ...

, "Williams, Roger" in ''Wales: A Historical Companion'', Amberley, 2012. Seeing these reinforcements, the Duke of Mayenne decided to retreat, leaving Henry IV victorious. After the battle of Arques, Henri IV snatched a short rest in a neighbouring chateau, and before riding away he scratched with his diamond the following aspiration on one of the windows: " Dieu gard de mal ma mie. Ce 22 de Septembre 1589.-HENRI Page 67 of MEN, WOMEN, AND MINXES by Mrs. Andrew Lang, Published by Longmans, Green & Co 1912

Notes and references

*''This article is based in part on a translation of the article Bataille d'Arques from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

on 14 March 2007.'' * Jouanna, Arlette and Jacqueline Boucher, Dominique Biloghi, Guy Thiec. ''Histoire et dictionnaire des Guerres de religion''. Collection: Bouquins. Paris: Laffont, 1998. * Kinard, Jeff. ''Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact'' ABC-CLIO, (2007).

Background

The battle

Notes and references

See also