The Battle of the Spurs or (Second) Battle of Guinegate took place on 16 August 1513. It formed a part of the War of the League of Cambrai of 1508 to 1516, during the Italian Wars. King Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian I were besieging the French town of Thérouanne in Artois (now Pas-de-Calais). Henry's camp was at Guinegate (present-day Enguinegatte). A large body of French heavy cavalry under Jacques de La Palice was covering an attempt by light cavalry to bring supplies to the besieged garrison. English and Imperial troops surprised and routed the French cavalry. The battle resulted in the precipitate flight and extensive pursuit of the French. During the pursuit, a number of notable French leaders and knights were captured. After the fall of Thérouanne, Henry VIII besieged and took Tournai.
Prelude
Context
Henry VIII joined the Holy League, as the League of Cambrai was also known, on 13 October 1511 with Venice and Spain to defend the Papacy from its enemies and France with military force. Henry promised to attack France at Guyenne, landing 10,000 men at Hondarribia in the Basque Country in June 1512. This army was conveyed by the admiral Edward Howard, and commanded by Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset. It remained at Bayonne till October supporting Ferdinand II of Aragon's action in the Kingdom of Navarre, though undersupplied and in poor morale. Maximilian joined the league in November. Louis XII of France hoped that Scotland would aid France against England.
Siege of Thérouanne
In May 1513 English soldiers began to arrive in number at Calais to join an army commanded by George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Steward of the Household. Shrewsbury was appointed Lieutenant-General on 12 May, John Hopton commanded the troop ships. On 17 May Henry announced to the Cinque Ports and Edward Poynings, Constable of Dover Castle, that he would join the invasion in person, and had appointed commissioners to requisition all shipping. In Henry's absence across the sea (ad partes transmarinas), Catherine of Aragon would rule England and Wales as Rector and Governor (Rectrix et Gubernatrix).
The Chronicle of Calais recorded the names and arrivals of Henry's aristocratic military entourage from 6 June onwards. At the end of the month the army set out for Thérouanne. Shrewsbury commanded the vanguard of 8,000, and Charles Somerset, Lord Herbert the rearward of 6,000. Henry VIII sailed from Dover, and arrived at Calais on 30 June, with the main grouping of 11,000 men. The army was provided by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as Almoner, and comprised several different types of martial forces including cavalry, artillery, infantry, and longbowmen using arrows with hardened steel heads, designed to penetrate armour more effectively. Eight hundred German mercenaries marched in front of Henry.
Shrewsbury set up a battery and dug mines towards the town's walls, but made little progress against the defending garrison of French and German soldiers in July. The town was held for France by Antoine de Créquy, sieur de Pont-Remy who returned fire until the town surrendered, and the English called one distinctive regular cannon shot the "whistle." Reports of setbacks and inefficiency reached Venice. On the way to Thérouanne two English cannon called "John the Evangelist" and the "Red Gun" had been abandoned, and French skirmishing hampered their recovery with loss of life. Edward Hall, the chronicle author, mentions the role of Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex in this operation and the advice given by Rhys ap Thomas. An Imperial agent of Margaret of Savoy wrote that two "obstinate men" govern everything, these were Charles Brandon, Viscount Lisle who he called the "Grand Esquire" and the Almoner Wolsey.
Henry camped to the east of Thérouanne at a heavily defended position, described by English chronicles as environed with artillery, such as "falcons, serpentines, cast hagbushes, tryde harowes, and spine trestles (bolt firing tarasnice)", with Henry's field accommodation consisting of a wooden cabin with an iron chimney, with large tents of blue water-work, yellow, and white fabric, topped by the King's beasts, the Lion, Dragon, Greyhound, Antelope, and Dun Cow.
The Emperor Maximilian came to Aire-sur-la-Lys in August, with a small force (either a small escort that cannot be called an army or about 1,000 to 4,000 horsemen, depending on the sources). Henry donned light armour and dressed his entourage in cloth-of gold and came to Aire on 11 August, where Maximilian's followers were still dressed in black in mourning for his wife Bianca Maria Sforza. Henry hosted Maximilian at a tent with a gallery of cloth-of-gold at his camp over the weekend beginning 13 August. According to the chronicles, the weather on the day of the meeting was the "foulest ever." News of Henry's meeting with Maximilian in person delighted Catherine of Aragon, who wrote to Wolsey that it was an honour for Henry and would raise Maximilian's reputation; he would be "taken for a nother man that he was befor thought".
Louis XII of France determined to break the siege. In July a force of 800 Albanians commanded by Captain Fonterailles pushed through the besieger's lines and successfully delivered gunpowder and supplies including bacon to the gates of the town, leaving 80 soldiers as reinforcements. Fonterailles was helped by covering artillery fire from the town. Reports sent to Venice mentioned 300 English casualties or more, and Fonterailles' statement that the town could hold out till the feast day of the Nativity of the Virgin, on 8 September. The Venetians were aware that their French sources might have been misrepresenting the situation to gain their support.
Battle
French attempt to supply Thérouanne
A second French attempt was organized for 16 August, with a force assembled at Blangy to the south. This French army was made up of companies of gendarmes and pikemen, with some other troops as well. These included Balkan "stradiotes" (stradiots), mercenary light cavalry equipped with short stirrups, beaver hats, light lances, and Turkish swords.
In response to the new threat, English military engineers had built five bridges overnight over the river Lys to allow their army free passage to the other side and Henry moved his camp to Guinegate (now called Enguinegatte), on 14 August, after displacing a company of French horse armed with spears who were stationed at the Tower of Guinegate.
The French infantry were left at Blangy, while the heavy cavalry were divided into two companies, one under the command of La Palice and Louis, Duke of Longueville, the other under Charles IV, Duke of Alençon. Alençon's smaller force attacked the besieging positions commanded by Lord Shrewsbury, the larger force against the south of the besieging lines where Lord Herbert commanded. Both attacks were designed to act as diversions in order that the stradiots be able to reach Thérouanne with supplies. Each stradiot had a side of bacon at his saddlebow and a sack of gunpowder behind him.
Combat
The French had hoped to catch the besieging army unprepared by moving out before dawn; however, the English 'border prickers' (light cavalry from the Scottish borders) were out and they detected the movement of the larger of the two bodies of French cavalry. Henry VIII drew up a field force from the siege lines sending out a vanguard of 1,100 cavalry, following this with 10,000–12,000 infantry. La Palice's force encountered English scouts at the village of Bomy, 5 miles from Thérouanne; the French, realising that the English were alert, checked themselves on the edge of a hillside. The stradiots then began their rather forlorn attempt to contact the garrison, riding in a wide arc towards the town.
Historical accounts derived from English and Imperial sources differ slightly.
According to Sir Charles Oman, whose narrative is largely based on the mid-16th century English Chronicle of Edward Hall, La Palice made a mistake in staying in his exposed position too long, presumably he was doing so in order to allow the stradiots the greatest possibility of success. The English heavy cavalry of the vanguard drew up opposite Palice's front, while the mounted archers dismounted and shot at the French from a flanking hedgerow. Now aware of the approach of the English infantry in overwhelming numbers, La Palice tardily ordered his force to retreat. At this point the Clarenceux Herald is said to have urged the Earl of Essex to charge. The English men-at-arms and other heavy cavalry charged just as the French were moving off, throwing them into disorder. To complete the French disarray, the stradiots crashed in confusion into the flank of the French heavy cavalry, having been driven off from approaching the town by cannon fire. At much the same time, a body of Imperial cavalry also arrived to menace the other flank of the French horsemen. Panic now seized the French cavalry, whose retreat became a rout. La Palice tried to rally them but to no effect. In order to flee more quickly the French gendarmes threw away their lances and standards, some even cut away the heavy armour of their horses. The chase went on for many miles until the French reached their infantry at Blangy. During the pursuit many notable French knights were captured, along with a royal duke and the French commander, La Palice, himself. Meanwhile, the smaller French force had been driven off, Sir Rhys ap Thomas capturing four of their standards. The initial cavalry clash took place between the village of Bomy and Henry's camp at Guinegate.
According to Reinhold Pauli and others, Maximilian recommended that parts of the troops should be sent to the flank and rear of the enemy and lighter cannons should be put on the ridge of the neighbouring hill. He then commanded 2,000 vanguard cavalry troops himself. Marchal reports that the emperor had prepared the battle plan in mind even before arriving at the English headquarters. Henry had wanted to lead the cavalry charge but was advised against this by his allies; so the task fell upon the 53-year-old emperor (he had won two battles in the same area, including the First Guinegate where he was a young leader supported by veterans), who in battle acted as commander-in-chief of the allied forces and directed the military operations in person. He charged with the cavalry against the French as soon as contact was made. The French cavalry initially charged back strongly, but quickly gave way and retreated. According to Howitt, the French retreat was intended as a distraction that would allow Duke of Alençon to provide the city with supplies (but the Duke was repelled by Lord Herbert before reaching the gates of the city), but soon turned into a disastrous flight that the French commanders could not control.
Contemporary accounts
The day was soon called the "Battle of the Spurs" (in French: La Journée d'Esperons) because of the haste of the French horse to leave the battlefield. In the summer of 1518 the English ambassador in Spain, Lord Berners, joked that the French had learned to ride fast at the "jurney of Spurres."
The same evening the Imperial Master of the Posts, Baptiste de Tassis sent news of the battle to Margaret of Savoy from Aire-sur-la-Lys in Artois;
Early in the day the Emperor and the King of England encountered 8,000 French horse; the Emperor, with 2,000 only, kept them at bay until four in the afternoon, when they were put to flight. A hundred men of arms were left upon the field, and more than a hundred taken prisoners, of the best men in France; as the Sieur de Piennes, the Marquis de Rotelin, and others.
Henry sent his account to Margaret of Savoy on the following day. He mentioned that the French cavalry had first attacked Shrewsbury's position blockading the town, capturing 44 men and wounding 22. An Imperial cavalry manoeuvre brought the French horse within range of the guns, and the French cavalry fled.
The chronicle writer Edward Hall gave a somewhat different account. Hall, who says the French called it the "battle of the Spurs", centres the action around a hill, with English archers at the village of "Bomye." He has the French cavalry break after a show of English banners organized by the Clarenceux Herald, Thomas Benolt. Hall mentions that Maximilian advised Henry to deploy some artillery on another hill "for out-scourers" but does not mention any effect on the outcome. Although Henry wished to ride into the battle, he stayed with the Emperor's foot soldiers on the advice of his council.