Battle of La Marfée

Bataille of La Marfée
Part of Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)
Date 6 July 1641 Location Plateau of La Marfée, overlooking the town of La Marfée in the Principality of Sedan Result Imperial-Spanish victory
Belligerents
France	Holy Roman Empire Spain Principality of Sedan
Commanders and leaders
Gaspard de Coligny	Guillaume de Lamboy Louis de Bourbon-Soissons Frédéric de la Tour d'Auvergne
Strength
9,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry	7,000 infantry, 2,500 cavalry
Casualties and losses
7,500 killed, wounded or captured	Nominal

The Battle of La Marfée took place during Thirty Years' War near Sedan, France, on 6 July 1641, between a Royal army of Louis XIII under Marshall Gaspard III de Coligny, and French malcontents led by Prince Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, and Duke Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, who were supported by an Imperial-Spanish army under general Guillaume de Lamboy sent from the Spanish Netherlands by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria. The French malcontents and the Habsburg forces dealt a serious defeat to the French Royal Army, and for a moment, Cardinal Richelieu feared that the rebels, supported by the Spanish forces, would advance on Paris. Shortly after, however, Soissons fell dead, either murdered by an assassin or killed by himself accidentally, and the rebellion vanished.

Since 1636 prominent members of the French nobility had been plotting against Richelieu. While some of them fled to London and tried to gain support from King Charles I till the outbreak of the English Civil War, others fled to the Principality of Sedan, an independent state of the Holy Roman Empire, whose prince, Frédéric de la Tour d'Auvergne, welcomed French Protestants and other factions hostile to France and Cardinal Richelieu. He also took part in the "Princes de la paix" conspiracy with the comte de Soissons and Henri II de Guise, aiming to re-establish the privileges of the great feudal lords. In April 1641 Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII sent the Army of Champagne, under Gaspard III de Coligny, to put an end to his schemes.

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