Siege of Perpignan (1542)

Siege of Perpignan

Date	1542
Location	Perpignan, Crown of Aragon, Spain (present-day France)
Result	Decisive Spanish victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of France
Supported by the:

Ottoman Empire

Jülich-Cleves-Berg

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Dauphin of France

Duke of Alba

Strength

40,000 men

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Thousands of dead, sick
or wounded

Unknown, but minor

The Siege of Perpignan took place in 1542, at Perpignan (Spanish: Perpiñán), between a larger French army commanded by Henry, Dauphin of France and the Spanish garrison at Perpignan. The Spaniards resisted until the arrival of the Spanish army under Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, causing the withdrawal of the French army. The siege was one of the costliest defeats of Francis I in the French offensive of 1542.

In June, 1541, Francis I of France, allied with the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, the Ottoman Empire, Denmark and Sweden, made a show of the power at his disposal, by arriving with five armies. Francis declared war on 12 July 1542, and the French immediately launched an offensive with the five French armies against Charles. One of them, commanded by his son Charles, Duke of Orléans went to Luxembourg. Another, led by Francis's eldest son, Henry, Dauphin of France, marched to Roussillon towards the frontiers of Spain. The third, commanded by Marshal Maarten van Rossum marched over Brabant, the fourth under the Duke of Vendôme to the Netherlands, and the fifth went to the Piedmont commanded by the Marshal of France Claude d'Annebault.

The result of this new offensive was another failure for Francis I. In Flanders, the army of Maarten van Rossum, supported by a German army under the Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, came up against a strong Imperial-Spanish defense of Leuven and Antwerp. The Duke of Orleans attacked Luxembourg, and in the meantime, in Piedmont, the French army only managed to capture some towns due to the cunning of Claude d'Annebault.

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Wikipedia