View source for Battle of Ivry

{{short description|1590 battle of the French Wars of Religion}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Battle of Ivry
|partof=the [[French Wars of Religion|French War of Religion (1587–1594)]] and the [[Anglo–Spanish War (1585)|Anglo–Spanish War]]
| image= Henri IV à la bataille d'Ivry.jpg
| image_size = 300
|caption=''Henry IV at the battle of Ivry'', by [[Charles de Steuben]] (1838–1842).
|date=14 March 1590
|place=[[Ivry-la-Bataille|Ivry]], [[Eure]], [[France]]
|result=Royalist victory
|combatant1={{flagicon|Kingdom of France|valois}} [[Kingdom of France|French Crown]]<br>Supported by:<br>{{flagcountry|Kingdom of England}}
|combatant2={{flagicon image|Flag of the Catholic League (French Wars of Religion).svg}} [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]]<br>Supported by:<br>{{flag|Spain|1506}}
|commander1={{flagicon|Kingdom of France|valois}} [[Henry IV of France]]<br>{{flagicon|Kingdom of France|valois}} [[Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron|Marshal de Biron]]
|commander2={{flagicon image|Flag of the Catholic League (French Wars of Religion).svg}} [[Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne|Duc de Mayenne]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of the Catholic League (French Wars of Religion).svg}} [[Charles, Duke of Aumale|Duke of Aumale]]{{POW}}<br>{{flagicon|Spain|1506}} [[Philip, Count of Egmont|Count of Egmont]]{{KIA}}
|strength1=12,000 infantry,<br> 3,000 cavalry
|strength2=13,000 infantry,<br> 4,000 cavalry
|casualties1=500
|casualties2=6,000 killed or wounded<br>4,000 prisoners
|}}
{{Campaignbox French Wars of Religion}}
{{Campaignbox Anglo-Spanish War}}

The '''Battle of Ivry''' was fought on 14 March 1590, during the [[French Wars of Religion]]. The battle was a decisive victory for [[Henry IV of France]], leading French royal and English forces against the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] by the [[Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne|Duc de Mayenne]] and Spanish forces under the [[Philip, Count of Egmont|Count of Egmont]]. Henry's forces were victorious and he went on to lay siege to [[Paris]].<ref name="Motley">{{cite book|last1=Motley|first1=John Lothrop|title=History of the United Netherlands: 1590–1600 Volume 3 From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years' Truce–1609|date=1871|publisher=Harper & brothers|location=Harvard University|pages=51–57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2BAAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>

The battle occurred on the plain of [[Épieds, Eure]] near Ivry (later renamed [[Ivry-la-Bataille]]), [[Normandy]]. Ivry-la-Bataille is located on the river [[Eure (river)|Eure]] and about thirty miles west of [[Paris]], at the boundary between the [[Île-de-France]] and the [[Beauce, France|Beauce]] regions.

==Prelude==
Henry IV had moved rapidly to besiege [[Dreux]], a town controlled by the League. As Mayenne followed intending to raise the siege, Henry withdrew but stayed within sight. He deployed his army on the plain of Saint André between the towns of [[Nonancourt]] and Ivry. Henry had been reinforced by English troops sent in support by [[Queen Elizabeth I]].<ref name="Morris">Morris p 342</ref>
* Henry had 12,000 foot soldiers (including English and Swiss) and 3,000 men on horseback.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of France Volume I, by the author of English history|date=1867|publisher=Oxford University|page=447|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLX7eM1qA9EC&pg=PR1}}</ref><ref name="Guy">Guy p. 344</ref>
* The army of the Catholic League, led by the Duke of Mayenne, had 13,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 cavalry which consisted of citizens led by priests and rebellious nobles, assortment of German and Swiss mercenaries under [[Appenzell]], and the troopers of the Guise family. Included in this force were 2,000 wallon cavalry brought over from [[Flanders]] under [[Philip, Count of Egmont]],<ref name="Motley"/>

==Battle==
{{refimprove section|date=March 2017}}
At first light on 14 March 1590, the two armies engaged.<ref name="Guy"/>
[[File:Follow my white plume cried Henry.jpg|thumb|Henry at Battle of Ivry]]
Before the battle, the king famously spurred his troops:
<blockquote>"Companions! If you today run at risk with me, I will also run at risk with you; I will be victorious or die. God is with us. Look at his and our enemies. Look at your king. Hold your ranks, I beg of you; and if the heat of battle makes you leave them, think also of rallying back: therein lies the key to victory. You will find it among those three trees that you can see over there on your right side. If you lose your ensigns, cornets or flags, do never lose sight of my panache; you will always find it on the road to honour and victory."</blockquote>

The action began with a few deadly cannon volleys from the six pieces of the royal artillery, which was under the command of the master, [[La Guiche]]. The cavalry of the two sides then clashed with a dreadful force. The Duke of Mayenne followed up with the mercenary troops of the [[Guelders]] across the open field. The mercenaries, who were mostly sympathetic to the Protestant cause, fired in the air and put their spears in rest.

Mayenne charged with such a fury that after a terrible fusillade and a struggle of a full quarter of an hour which left the field covered with dead, following the defection of his mercenaries, the opposing left flank fled and the right was pierced and gave way.

[[Aumont family|Aumont]] soon overcame the League's light horse and their royalist counterparts retreated under the attack of a [[Walloons|Walloon]] squadron backed up by two squadrons from the League. It was then the turn of the Jean VI d'Aumont, the Duc de Montpensier and the [[Baron de Biron]] to charge the foreign cavalry, forcing it into a retreat. [[Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron|Marshal de Biron]], in command of the rear-guard with English and Swiss troops on both flanks, joined up with the king who, without stopping after his victory, had crossed the river Eure in pursuit of the enemy.<ref name="Motley"/>

However, the decisive event took place elsewhere on the battlefield: the King charged the League's lancers, who were unable to get far enough back to use their weapons.<ref>Black p 104</ref>

Mayenne was driven back, the [[Charles, Duke of Aumale|Duke of Aumale]] forced to surrender, and the Count of Egmont killed. The Duke of Mayenne had lost the battle.<ref name="Morris"/> Henry pursued the losers, many of whom surrendered for fear of falling into worse hands, their horses being in no condition to get them away from danger. The countryside was full of Leaguers and Spaniards in flight, with the king's victorious army pursuing and scattering the remnants of the larger groups that dispersed and re-gathered.

==Aftermath==
{{further|Siege of Paris (1590)}}
Henry defeated Mayenne at Ivry so that he would become the only credible claimant to the throne of France. However, he was unsuccessful in his subsequent siege of Paris. He would not be accepted into the city until 1594, following his conversion to Roman Catholicism the previous year. Henry was advised that the Parisians, like much of the French people, would not accept a Protestant king.

[[Thomas Babbington Macaulay]] wrote a famous poem about the battle, entitled "The Battle of Ivry." It begins:
<br /><blockquote>Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are!<br />
And glory to our Sovereign Liege, King Henry of Navarre!<ref>[http://www.poetry-archive.com/m/ivry.html ''Poetry archive'']</ref></blockquote>

== See also ==

* [[Henri IV's white plume]]
* [[Henry IV of France|Henri IV of France]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|2}}
===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|last=Black|first=Jeremy|title=European Warfare, 1494–1660 Warfare and History|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134477081}}
* Arlette Jouanna and Jacqueline Boucher, Dominique Biloghi, Guy Thiec.  ''Histoire et dictionnaire des Guerres de religion''. Collection: Bouquins. Paris: Laffont, 1998. {{ISBN|2-221-07425-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=T.A.|title=Europe and England in the Sixteenth Century|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134748198}}
* {{cite book|last1=Parmelee|first1=Lisa Ferraro|title=Good Newes from Fraunce: French Anti-league Propaganda in Late Elizabethan England|date=1996|publisher=University Rochester Press|isbn=9781878822659}}
* {{cite book|last1=Guy|first1=John|title=Tudor England|date=1990|publisher=OUP Oxford paperbacks|isbn=9780192852137|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tudorengland00john}}

{{coord missing|France}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Ivry}}
[[Category:1590 in France]]
[[Category:Battles involving France|Ivry 1590]]
[[Category:Battles involving Spain|Ivry 1590]]
[[Category:Battles involving England|Ivry 1590]]
[[Category:History of Catholicism in France]]
[[Category:Battles of the French Wars of Religion|Ivry]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1590]]
[[Category:Military history of Normandy]]