Battle of Castelnaudary

The Battle of Castelnaudary occurred at Castelnaudary, France, on 1 September 1632, between the rebel forces of Henri II de Montmorency (loyal to Gaston, Duke of Orléans) and the royalist forces of Marshal Henri de Schomberg (loyal to King Louis XIII).

Battle of Castelnaudary
Date1 September 1632
Location
Castelnaudary, Occitanie
Result French Royalist victory
Belligerents
Cardinal Richelieu for Louis XIII French rebels following Gaston, Duke of Orléans, brother of Louis XIII
Commanders and leaders

Henri de Schomberg
Henri II de Montmorency

Achille d'Étampes de Valençay

Prelude

Duke Henri II de Montmorency was solicited by Gaston, Duke of Orléans (brother of King Louis XIII) to launch a rebellion against the King's Chief Minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Using his position as Governor of Languedoc, he raised levies of troops and money and took command of an army of six or seven thousand troops.[1] His force included a number of commanders who had previously served under him at the Battle of Avigliana including Brigadier Achille d'Étampes de Valençay.

Richelieu's representatives tried in vain to negotiate with the Duke and when discussion failed, Richelieu sent Henri de Schomberg and a force of royalist troops to confront him.

Battle

The battle took place at Castelnaudary in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, on 1 September 1632. Government forces defeated the rebels commanded by Montmorency and took him prisoner. [2][1][3]

Trying to emulate his victory at Avigliana in 1630, Montmorency lead a charge into the royal camp at the head of a few horsemen, he cut his way through six ranks of infantry amidst a continued shower of shot, and fought against overwhelming numbers, until his horse dropped dead. Severely wounded, he was captured.[3][4]

Aftermath

The Duke of Orléans abandoned Montmorency by submitting to the will of Richelieu, and Henri II was executed in Toulouse as a traitor on 30 October 1632.[5][3]

Notes
  1. Tucker 2009, pp. 586, 587.
  2. Jaques 2007, p. 210.
  3. Chisholm 1911, p. 787.
  4. Traill 1858, p. 512.
  5. Ripley 1861, p. 574.

References
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Montmorency (family)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 787.
  • Jaques, Tony (2007), Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E, Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century, 1, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 210, ISBN 978-0-313-33537-2
  • Ripley, George (1861), The New American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge, D. Appleton and Company, p. 574
  • Tucker, Spencer (2009), A global chronology of conflict: from the ancient world to the modern Middle East, 2 (illustrated ed.), ABC-CLIO, pp. 586, 587, ISBN 978-1-85109-667-1
Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Traill, Thomas Stewart, ed. (1858). "Montmorency, Henri II". The Encyclopaedia britannica: or, Dictionary of arts, sciences and general literature. 15 (8 ed.). A. and C. Black. p. 512.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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