Battle of Guinegate (1479)

Part of the War of the Burgundian Succession

Date	August 7, 1479
Location	Guinegatte, County of Artois
Result	Habsburg victory

Belligerents

France

Habsburg
Burgundy

Commanders and leaders

Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes

Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg

Strength

c. 11,000

c. 27,300

Casualties and losses

Unknown

The First Battle of Guinegate took place on August 7, 1479. French troops of King Louis XI were defeated by the Burgundians led by Archduke (later to be Emperor) Maximilian of Habsburg. This battle was the first in which the innovative Swiss pike square formation was first employed by a power that was not natively Swiss.

Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy had been killed at the Battle of Nancy on January 5, 1477. King Louis XI immediately adjudicated his territories to be recovered fiefs of the French kingdom and campaigned in the counties of Artois, Flanders, Hainaut and the Duchy of Burgundy. Nevertheless, Charles' only heir, Mary of Burgundy on August 19, 1477 had married Archduke Maximilian, who, determined to come into the Burgundian inheritance, concentrated troops in the former Burgundian Netherlands and marched against the French army.

Many of the troops that had been victorious at the Battle of Nancy had been provided by the Lower League. Among these troops was a sizable contingent of Swiss soldiers that had been a part of the victorious army of Lorraine, and the salient characteristic of this contingent was their method of fighting. Formed up in pike squares, Swiss mercenaries made themselves and their method of warfare felt far beyond their borders. The notable characteristic of the pike squares is the difficulty with which the traditional cavalry of the day had in penetrating it.

The failure at Nancy, and its reasons, had not escaped Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont, who had fought under the Archduke's father-in-law Charles at the battle of Nancy. He was now fighting with the Archduke, and he urged him to adopt a similar method of fighting with his 11,000 foot troops.

...
Wikipedia