This siege brings the same actors on the stage, and we are principally
induced to offer it to our readers by the circumstance of the
detestable homicide meeting in it with a reverse, and that partly
occasioned by women.
Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, was engaged in an inveterate war
with Louis XI. Learning there was but a weak garrison in Beauvais,
he marched towards that city, with the expectation of entering it
without opposition; and so it proved with the faubourgs, and the
Burgundians thought themselves masters of the place; but the citizens,
the moment they were aware of their danger, closed their gates, and
took their posts on the walls like men. Not only these: the women and
maidens insisted upon taking part in this honourable defence. Led by
Joan Hachette, they ranged themselves on the parts of the walls the
least protected; and one of these heroines even obtained an enemy’s
standard, and bore it in triumph into the city. The principal attack
of the besiegers was directed against the gate of Bresle: the cannon
had already beaten it in; the breach was open, and the city would have
been taken, if the inhabitants had not heaped together on the spot an
immense mass of fagots and combustible matters. The flames of this pile
proved an efficient check to the Burgundians. The assault began at
eight o’clock in the morning, and was still raging, when, towards the
decline of day, a noble body of troops was seen entering by the Paris
gate. These brave fellows, having marched fourteen leagues without
halting, gave their horses and equipments to the care of the women
and girls, and flew to those parts of the walls where the fight was
hottest. The besiegers, though numbering eighty thousand, could not
resist the united valour of the garrison and the new comers; they soon
wavered, and at length fled to their camp in disorder. More defenders
arrived by daybreak; the citizens received them as liberators; they
spread tables for them in the streets and public places, cheered them
with refreshments, and afterwards accompanied them to the walls. The
duke of Burgundy then perceived, but too late, a great error he had
committed. Instead of investing Beauvais with a numerous army, he had
attacked it on one side only: succours and convoys arrived from all
parts. The duke himself began to experience the horrors of famine;
the French, scouring the country, intercepted his convoys. Everything
announced a fruitless enterprise; but he resolved, before raising the
siege, to attempt a general assault. The besieged, under the orders
of Marshal De Rouault, prepared to receive him. The marshal wanted
to relieve La Roche-Tesson and Fontenailles; but as they had arrived
first, and had established themselves at the gate of Bresle, which was
the post of danger, they complained of removal as of an affront, and
obtained permission to retain a post they had kept night and day. The
trumpets sounded, the cannon roared, the Burgundians advanced, fire
and sword in hand; they planted their ladders, mounted the breaches,
and attacked the besieged: the latter received them with firmness;
they precipitated them, they crushed them, or beat them back from
their walls. Raging like a wild bull, Charles rallied his soldiers
and led them back to the assault; but they were again repulsed, with
greater loss than before. How willingly we may suppose, Charles sounded
a retreat. Had it not been for the excessive precaution of some of
the burgesses, his army must have been entirely destroyed: they had
walled up the gates on the side next the Burgundians, which impeded
the sortie. Charles raised the siege on the 10th of July. Louis XI.
rewarded the valour and fidelity of the inhabitants by an exemption
from imposts. As the women had exhibited most ardour in defence of
Beauvais, he ordered that they should take precedence of the men in the
fête which was celebrated every year, on the 10th of July, in honour
of their deliverance from the power of a man known to be a sanguinary
conqueror.