_THE FIRST DEFENCES AGAINST FIRE ARTILLERY._
King John had possessed himself of the duchy of Burgundy and united it
with the crown; he resigned it in favour of his son Philip, who, as is
well known, had distinguished himself on the fatal day of Poictiers.
From that epoch till the time of Charles the Bold, the duchy had
remained in the hands of the descendants of King John; and although the
dukes of Burgundy were very warlike, and had formed a league with the
English against the crown of France, in consequence of the quarrel that
arose in 1400 between Philip and the Duke Louis d'Orleans, brother of
Charles VI., the duchy was relatively at peace, while the north of
France, as far as the Loire, was in the power of foreigners.
After the death of Charles the Bold before Nancy, King Louis XI. lost no
time in despatching to the province of Burgundy La Trémoille, baron of
Craon, who, acting in concert with the Prince of Orange, soon reduced
the whole province into subjection to the king of France; this was in
1477.
The town of La Roche-Pont (at that time the abbey alone preserved the
name of Saint-Julien, and the town had adopted that of the castle) had
been deemed by Charles the Bold worthy of special attention. Recognising
the advantageous site of the place and the importance of its strategic
position, this prince had adapted the ancient defences to the new mode
of attack. The old castle of La Roche-Pont, several times repaired,
still showed some of its defences dating from the end of the twelfth
century, the donjon being particularly well preserved; but the abbey and
the entire plateau had been surrounded by a new wall by Philip, about
1380, and the town had been rebuilt within this enclosure, the right
bank of the larger stream being completely abandoned. At the end of the
fourteenth century there existed only a suburb on the slopes of the
plateau along the left bank, and this suburb had no other defence than a
wall of inconsiderable strength on the north. The great-grandson of
Anseric, Sieur de la Roche-Pont, having died without male heirs, the
fief of La Roche-Pont had reverted to the Duke Philip, who, as well as
his successors, appointed the governors of the town and castle,
henceforth a ducal domain.
The enclosure of the town had been rebuilt in great part on the Roman
foundations. It consisted of a substantial wall rising about twenty-four
feet above the outside ground level, without machicoulis, strengthened
with cylindrical towers thirty-six feet in height surrounded by
machicoulis and covered with conical roofs. Machicoulis formed also the
upper defence of the curtains and towers of the castle, whose plan had
not been changed.
This place had not suffered any attack since the date of these new
works, and it was intact under Charles the Bold. During his struggle in
the north with the people of Ghent and Hainault, and as a precaution
against the intrigues of Louis XI., he had thought it needful to put the
town of La Roche-Pont in a good state of defence. Now, limited though
its efficiency was, the artillery of the king of France already played a
sufficiently important part in sieges to render it necessary to provide
against its effects. The duke therefore raised several boulevards to
replace the walls and receive artillery. (Fig. 48.)
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--THE TOWN OF LA ROCHE-PONT IS FORTIFIED BY
CHARLES THE BOLD.]
As shown in our plan, the bailey of the castle no longer existed. It was
replaced by a wide ditch, A, of little depth; its bottom was on a level
with the two boulevards, B and C. A third boulevard surrounded the base
of the donjon externally, in the place of the ancient _chemise_. This
boulevard commanded the stone bridge rebuilt in the fourteenth century
on the Roman piers. Before the north front was raised an isolated
boulevard of earth, D, of slight elevation, but commanding the road of
the plateau. At the angles of the north front two large towers, E, F,
adapted to receive cannon, flanked the angles and were in a position to
sweep the boulevard, D. Set back on the eastern side, a similar tower,
G, commanded the valley of the rivulet. Two boulevards, H and I, forming
projections beneath the defences of the fourteenth century, commanded
the course of the river, and could cross their fire with the boulevard
B, and the tower E. A boulevard was also raised on the eastern salient
at K.
The faubourg had preserved its two parish churches, and a convent of
Jacobins had been built at L, on lands bought by Saint Louis while the
fief of La Roche-Pont was still directly dependent on the crown of
France.
The abbey of Saint-Julien, O, had diminished its enclosure, and yielded
a part of its estates. Houses arose in its ancient pleasance, whose
perimeter had been somewhat altered. These habitations were within its
liberties and belonged to the abbey, which granted them on lease.
At M, a parish church under the invocation of Our Lady had been built
towards the end of the thirteenth century, when the lord of La
Roche-Pont, wanting money, sold some lands--formerly belonging to the
castle--for building. At N was the market-place. Three gates gave
admission to the _cité_: one on the north, called Saint-Julien's gate;
one on the east, Mill-gate; and the third on the south-east, called
Castle-gate.
We must enter into some details respecting the new defences raised under
Charles the Bold. Figure 49 presents a bird's-eye view of the northern
boulevard, D, with the _cité_ front in the background, its gate of the
fourteenth century, and the two great corner towers.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.]
Fig. 50 A gives the plan of one of these towers at the level of the
lower battery, and B its section through _a_, _b_.
These towers were forty yards in diameter on the outside, and consisted
of a low battery, whose floor was six feet beneath the upper level of
the plateau. The descent to this low battery was by a slope ending in an
octagonal hall whose vaults rested on four great cylindrical pillars.
Three chambers with embrasures for three large cannons opened into this
hall. By the galleries, C, there was a communication between two of
these chambers and two other smaller ones pierced with embrasures for
culverins. From the descent D, two passages, E, gave access to two
chambers, F, likewise arranged with embrasures to receive two large
guns.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--MASONRY TOWER FOR ARTILLERY.]
The barrel vaults of these rooms had openings to allow the smoke to
escape. Small powder magazines, G, opened near each of the chambers, and
five large lunettes pierced in the vaults of the central hall gave air
and light to the interior. At H, a well was connected with a cistern
constructed under the central hall, as indicated in section B. This
cistern was supplied by rain-water falling on the platform and
discharged by four pipes passing down through the inner walls. Two
winding staircases connected the lower battery with the platform and the
curtains of the fourteenth century, I I, and allowed of a descent
through two posterns, K, into the braie, L, defended by an epaulement, a
palisade, and narrow ditch. Flanks, _l_, raked the salient of this
braie. The curtain, whose rampart walk rose six feet above the level of
the platform, closed the gorge of the tower, as shown in section B at N.
Two watch-towers, P, were built in the thickness of the parapet, pierced
with nineteen embrasures for small pieces. This parapet was not too high
for arbalisters to shoot over its slope. A wide incline, R, facilitated
the getting up of guns and the ascent of men to the platform.
Fig. 51 presents a bird's-eye view of boulevard _I_,[36] with the
ramparts of the fourteenth century. These boulevards were earthworks,
and their interior surface was four yards below the level of the
plateau. The boulevards, B and C, raised at the western angles of the
castle, had their platforms on a level with the bottom of the ditch, as
mentioned above. Having thus described the general plan and the details,
we proceed to narrate the events of which the town of La Roche-Pont was
the theatre in 1477 and 1478.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.]
With a view to securing the aid of the Prince of Orange, after the death
of Duke Charles, Louis XI. had been most liberal to him in promises, one
of which was that he would place in his hands all the strong towns of
Burgundy that belonged to the estate of the Prince of Orange, his
grandfather, and which Duke Charles had forestalled.
But when the Seigneur de Craon had taken possession of these places he
would not give them up, notwithstanding the demands made upon him by the
Prince, and the apparent orders of King Louis XI.
The marriage between the daughter of Charles the Bold, sole heiress of
his domains, and Maximilian, Duke of Austria, took place in the
meantime. The latter proceeded to recover possession of the duchy of
Burgundy, and had a conference with the Prince of Orange, exasperated at
the non-fulfilment of the promises made him; while the province was soon
to a large extent roused against the French, whom the Seigneur de Craon,
eager for gain, and by no means faithful in accomplishing his
engagements, rendered detestable.
The Seigneur de Craon had left in the town of La Roche-Pont only a
somewhat feeble garrison. At the instigation of the agents of
Maximilian, who was filling the country with emissaries, the inhabitants
barricaded themselves one evening in the streets, and attacked the
French posts. The latter, small in number, and indifferently commanded,
took refuge in the castle after having lost some soldiers. The castle
was ill supplied with provisions and munitions. Surrounded by the
townspeople, the garrison could not hold their position long; so that
one night it escaped on the south side, passing right through the
Burgundian posts to join the Seigneur de Craon's army near Dijon. The
inhabitants immediately hoisted the Cross of Burgundy on the keep, and
hastened to Maximilian to inform him of the success of the rising, and
to ask assistance against a return of the king's armies; for they were
scarcely in a condition to defend themselves. Maximilian sent them a
body of twelve hundred Germans, Swiss, and Brabançons, with cannon,
munitions, and engineers. The first thing these troops did on arriving
was to commit some depredations in the environs and the western
faubourg, after which they set about the defence of the place.
The Sire de Montcler had been invested with the command of the foreign
troops and of those he was able to collect together in the town and
neighbourhood. He was an active, enterprising, and rather shrewd man, of
noble bearing and handsome countenance, in the prime of life, capable of
enforcing obedience, and trusting to himself alone in getting his orders
executed. He had soon decided on his plans.
The able-bodied population of the town amounted to about two thousand
men, half of whom were in a condition to render effective service, and
were accustomed to war. Some days after the arrival of the foreign
troops, some Burgundian lords who favoured the young duchess, and were
much incensed against the Seigneur de Craon--who, for no other reason
than to get money, had plundered their estates and taken away their most
valuable property--assembled at La Roche-Pont. They brought with them
two hundred lances and some convoys of provisions. The effective
garrison might therefore be said to amount to three thousand fighting
men, of whom five hundred were horse--each lance being followed by an
esquire.
The place was not in a good state of defence; the braies were much
dilapidated, the earthen boulevards crumbling away, while the ditches
wanted clearing out. No piece was mounted. There were neither gabions
nor fascines nor stakes for palisades. The Sire de Montcler made the
following arrangement:--All, whether captains, soldiers, pioneers,
inhabitants of the town, men or women, were to go every morning before
daybreak to the posts assigned them beforehand, on pain of death. And
with a view to impressing this order on all, gallows were set up in the
various wards, which bore the following names: Tower ward (on the
North); Saint-Julien's ward (including the abbey and the eastern part of
the _cité_ opposite the monastery); Saint-Louis's ward (situated between
the abbey and the castle, on the west); the Mill ward, looking towards
the east. The tenants of the abbey had claimed exemption from the
service, but the Sire de Montcler had paid no attention to their claims
any more than to those of the abbot, whose gardens and buildings served
as a central arsenal. Two or three obstinate burgesses had been hanged,
and since then none had failed in his duty. At noon all went to dinner,
and returned at two o'clock to work till nightfall. The women and the
children from eleven to sixteen years of age carried earth in baskets
and traies; and the soldiers, pioneers, and townsmen, under the
direction of the engineers, began to restore the parapets of the
boulevards, cleared out the ditches and restored the braies again. A
sawing machine was established at the mill and cut wood to make
palisades. In a few days the inhabitants, who had at first thought this
very hard work and regretted having driven away the French garrison, had
become habituated to this life of fatigue, and endured it quite
cheerfully. Singing and laughing were heard in every quarter while the
work was going on. It might have been supposed that they were engaged in
a _fête_.
The governor had not overlooked the supply of provisions. It was the end
of the summer. All the harvest produce of the neighbourhood had been
ordered to be brought into the town. A pair of millstones, which were
still available after the establishment of the saw-mill, was at work
night and day. All the provisions stored in the houses were to be
deposited in the abbey or the castle, on pain of death, and the
inhabitants received their several rations like the soldiers. A large
store of grain and vegetables laid up in the abbey considerably
increased the supplies of provisions. The Sire de Montcler had of
course laid hands on these provisions.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.]
The old men and young children were occupied in making gabions and
cutting turf for the taluses of the boulevards. Behind the north front
the governor had a good trench dug, demolishing some houses, with
retrenchment and good gabionades on the flanks for artillery. The north
wall of the abbey was terraced and united to the east curtain by a
retrenchment with a ditch.
The Sire de Montcler was a good-humoured man, familiar with all, present
everywhere and talking to everybody; and, thanks to his jocular and
pleasant ways, the good people saw their houses demolished and the soil
of their gardens taken away to make ditches and epaulements without
being greatly distressed.
When everything was well prepared for the defence, however, the governor
sent away all useless mouths. Women, children, and old men had to seek
an asylum in the environs. After this, the western faubourg was burned
to prevent its being occupied by the troops of Louis XI.
A _tête du pont_ had been formed on the right bank outside the
drawbridge (Fig. 52), with a large cavalier on the left bank; the two
other bridges were destroyed. On the plateau towards the north arose, in
front of the boulevard D,[37] an intrenchment of earth, with barricades
of trees and large gabions screening two culverins. The boulevards and
towers on the north were armed with bombards.
Every night the governor took care to reconnoitre the environs.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 36: See the general plan, Fig. 48.]
[Footnote 37: See Fig. 48.]