Broke Loose in Saint-Quentin
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The day hell (actually) broke loose in Saint-Quentin. Alejandro Vidal Crespo Unit Director of Market Strategies at Banca March MONTHLY STRATEGY REPORT April 2016 Monthly Strategy Report. April 2016 The day hell (actually) broke loose in Saint-Quentin. In 1555, Gian Pietro Carafa ascended to the papacy of Rome as Paul IV. The new Pope had served as papal nuncio in the Spanish court, during which time he developed a particular dislike of Emperor Charles V. Neapolitan by birth, the new Pope had a personal mission to rid Spain of all its possessions in Italy, especially those in his native Naples. Thus in 1556, when Emperor Charles V abdicated to his son Philip II, Paul IV took advantage of the purported instability in the Spanish court to urge Spain’s greatest European adversary, France, to attack its holdings in southern Italy. Henry II, king of France, dispatched an army to the region to join papal troops with the intention of advancing on Naples, but to his dismay, the viceroy of Naples, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, third Duke of Alba, upon learning of the intentions of France and the Vatican, led the Neapolitan Tercios (a force of heavily-armed infantrymen and veterans) north to meet the invaders, soundly defeating them and arriving at the gates of Rome in 1557. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. We were discussing the new Pope, who had incited a war between Spain and France on account of the former’s holdings in Italy, the umpteenth armed dispute between the two powers, given that France was totally surrounded by territories of the powerful House of Hapsburg, which ruled Spain, Flanders, Naples and the Duchy of Milan. While the French led the offensive in Italy, Philip II ordered his forces in Flanders to invade France from the north: the Tercios of Flanders joined 8,000 Portuguese troops under the command of Ruy Gómez Silva, Duke of Pastrana, and 7,000 English troops under Lord Pembroke, provided by Philip II’s wife, the Queen of England. In total, 60,000 infantry, 17,000 calvary, and 80 artillery units marched under the Royal Command delegated to Manuel Filiberto, Duke of Savoy. Through false manoeuvring and manipulation, the Duke of Savoy led the French to believe he would attack the Champagne region, prompting the French—with 22,000 infantry, 8,000 calvary, and 18 artillery units under Duke of Montmercy—to mobilise its defences in that region. However, the Spanish army headed for the town of Saint-Quentin, on the banks of the River Somme, laying siege to it on 2 August 1557. French forces arrived two days later and, after trying to enter the besieged city, were forced to retreat to the nearby Montescourt forest to devise a plan of attack. The battle began on 10 August, the Feast Day of St. Lawrence. With its rear-guard covered, the French decided its vanguard would cross the river in boats: the next crossing was at Rouvroy, and the French command considered it too narrow to permit swift manoeuvring from the Spaniards. So as the French vanguard edged across the river, the Duke of Montmercy ordered the rest of the army to abandon the forest cover. But neither scheme proved successful: Spanish musketeers massacred the French soldiers trying to traverse the river while the Duke of Savoy’s troops quickly crossed at Rouvroy, having built an additional bridge of logs and dinghies, surprising their opponents on all sides. Fully deployed, the Spanish infantry fell upon the lion’s share of French troops, to whom they gave no quarter, inflicting a harsh defeat. Monthly Strategy Report. April 2016 The French army suffered 12,000 casualties; an additional 6,000 prisoners were taken, including 1,000 noblemen (who were crucial in the day to securing peace agreements), among whom was the Duke of Montmercy himself. Although Paris was within reach of the forces under Philip II, who arrived at the scene of the battle the following day from Brussels, the king decided to consolidate the region before advancing into French territory, earning him a reputation as the Prudent King. Nevertheless, upon hearing the news from his retreat at the Yuste Monastery, Charles V hastened to ask, Is Paris Spanish yet? Meanwhile, the Duke of Alba entered Rome in triumph, met the defeated Pope, and reached a peace accord in which it was agreed that no further wars against the Spanish monarchy would be instigated. The conflict between Spain and France continued for several months, but after a French defeat at Gravelines, the Peace of Cateau-Cambressis was signed in 1559. This treaty, perhaps the most important of the 16th century, would secure Hapsburg dominance in Europe: France definitively renounced the Italian territories and recognised Spanish sovereignty in Flanders with the delivery of certain occupied strongholds. Fewer tensions and disputes in Europe enabled Spain to concentrate on its expansion in the Americas. Furthermore, an alliance would be formed with Spain to combat the spread of Protestantism, an issue of tremendous political relevance that would spark the French Wars of Religion. But King Henry II of France would live to see none of it. During a tournament organised to celebrate the peace treaty (which included his daughter’s marriage to Philip II, a widower since 1558), he was struck in the eye by a fragment of the splintered jousting lance and succumbed to his wounds shortly thereafter. Last but certainly not least, King Philip II decided to erect an enormous palace-monastery to commemorate the victory at Saint-Quentin, and he would name it after St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo), upon whose Feast Day the battle occurred. San Lorenzo de El Escorial, one of the most beautiful monuments in Spain, was constructed in the shape of a grid to replicate the instrument used in the Saint’s martyrdom. Today, near five centuries later, it serves as a reminder that one day hell literally broke loose in Saint-Quentin..