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30-560: As Charles the Bold died unexpectedly on 5 January 1477, during the battle of Nancy , his daughter Mary of Burgundy became Duchess of Burgundy at the age of nineteen. At the time, her marriage to Maximilian I had not yet been solemnized, so she stood alone for the heavy task of defending the succession states against the various rulers of neighbouring countries. Mary's position was weak. Louis XI of France had taken Burgundy and Franche Comté and had also invaded Artois and Picardy following

60-460: A frontal assault on the Burgundian position would be disastrous. The largely Swiss vanguard of 7,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry were instructed to attack from the right flank, while the principal thrust would come from the 8,000 infantry and 1,300 cavalry of the center, which was dispatched on a difficult circuitous march round the left flank, over thickly wooded snow-covered slopes out of view of

90-453: A hook or thorn on the back side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants and protecting allied soldiers, typically musketeers . The halberd was usually 1.5 to 1.8 metres (4.9 to 5.9 ft) long. The word halberd is cognate with the German word Hellebarde , deriving from Middle High German halm (handle) and barte (battleaxe) joined to form helmbarte . Troops that used

120-601: A relieving army when the weather improved. The exact number of the Burgundian forces vary, but contemporary observers put the numbers between 2,000 and 8,000. By late December René had gathered some 10,000–12,000 men from Lorraine and the Lower Union (of the Rhine ), in addition to a Swiss army of 8,000–10,000. René began his advance on Nancy early in January 1477, reaching Nancy early on the morning of 5 January. Informed of

150-407: A sign of rank. While they could use them in melee combat, more often they were used for dressing the ranks by grasping the shaft in both hands and pushing it against several men simultaneously. They could also be used to push pikes or muskets up or down, especially to stop overexcited musketeers from firing prematurely. The halberd has been used as a court bodyguard weapon for centuries, and is still

180-467: A symbol of rank with no sharpened edge and insufficient strength to use as a weapon. It served as an instrument for ensuring that infantrymen in ranks stood correctly aligned with each other and that their muskets were aimed at the correct level. The word helmbarte or variations thereof show up in German texts from the 13th century onwards. At that point, the halberd is not too distinct from other types of broad axes or bardiches used all over Europe. In

210-420: A vast poem called la Nancéide , in 5,044 Latin verses, on the war between Burgundy and Lorraine, culminating in the battle of Nancy (first printed in 1518). Sir Walter Scott wrote a novel, Anne of Geierstein , which reaches its climax in the battle of Nancy (published in 1829). Eugène Delacroix painted The Battle of Nancy in 1831. In La Malgrange (Jarville), a tower was erected in 1877 to commemorate

240-700: The Battle of Nancy , decisively ending the Burgundian Wars . The halberd was the primary weapon of the early Swiss armies in the 14th and early 15th centuries. Later, the Swiss added the pike to better repel knightly attacks and roll over enemy infantry formations, with the halberd, hand-and-a-half sword , or the dagger known as the Schweizerdolch used for closer combat. The German Landsknechte , who imitated Swiss warfare methods, also used

270-487: The Swiss Confederacy . René's forces won the battle, and Charles' mutilated body was found two days later. Charles was besieging the city of Nancy, capital of Lorraine , since 22 October 1476 following its recapture by the forces of René II earlier in the year. Despite the harsh winter conditions, Charles was determined to bring the siege to an end quickly as he was well aware that soon René would arrive with

300-801: The ceremonial weapon of the Swiss Guard in the Vatican and the Alabarderos (Halberdiers) Company of the Spanish Royal Guard . The halberd was one of the polearms sometimes carried by lower-ranking officers in European infantry units in the 16th through 18th centuries. In the British army, sergeants continued to carry halberds until 1793, when they were replaced by spontoons . The 18th-century halberd had, however, become simply

330-631: The 1665 Battle of Montes Claros at Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira depicts a minority of the Portuguese and Spanish soldiers as armed with halberds. Antonio de Pereda 's 1635 painting El Socorro a Génova depicting the Relief of Genoa has all the soldiers armed with halberds. The most consistent users of the halberd in the Thirty Years' War were German sergeants who would carry one as

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360-497: The Burgundian army. His small band was carried with the fleeing army until eventually surrounded by the pursuing Swiss army. A halberdier swung at the Duke's head and landed a deadly blow directly on his helmet. He was seen to fall but the battle continued, and his death went unnoticed by the opposing army. It was two days later that the Duke's body was found, already stripped by pillagers, and carried into Nancy. Most of Charles' army

390-733: The Grand Privilege the authority of Mary seemed restored. It appeared that during her trip through all the States of the Netherlands that each principality itself still had considerable needs. These individual needs were also met by Mary and became known as the land privileges. The main provisions were: Many aspects of the Great Privilege were ignored as Mary's position strengthened. After the death of Mary in 1482, her husband Maximilian I , acting as guardian of her son Philip

420-458: The Handsome , abolished the treaty. The Flemish cities revolted to maintain their autonomy , but ultimately failed in their attempts. Battle of Nancy Lorraine victory The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars , fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 by Charles the Bold , Duke of Burgundy , against René II, Duke of Lorraine , and

450-493: The approach of René's army, Charles drew up the bulk of his army in a defensive position south of Nancy on a heavily wooded slope behind a stream, at the narrowest part of the valley down which the Swiss would have to advance. The Burgundian infantry companies and dismounted gendarme formed up in a large square formation with some 30 field guns in front at the top of the slope, while on either flank were mounted knights and coutilliers . The Allied scouts soon recognized that

480-401: The attack of René II. 48°40′36″N 6°11′58″E  /  48.67667°N 6.19944°E  / 48.67667; 6.19944 Halberdier A halberd (also called halbard , halbert or Swiss voulge ) is a two-handed polearm that came to prominent use from the 13th to 16th centuries. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It can have

510-565: The battle, and were later able to confirm that it was a halberd. While rarer than it had been from the late 15th to mid-16th centuries, the halberd was still used infrequently as an infantry weapon well into the mid-17th century. The armies of the Catholic League in 1625, for example, had halberdiers comprising 7% of infantry units, with musketeers comprising 58% and armored pikemen 35%. By 1627 this had changed to 65% muskets, 20% pikes, and 15% halberds. A near-contemporary depiction of

540-411: The center force but could not elevate enough to be effective; the single volley discharged killed but two men. Although the right-wing Burgundian cavalry held off the Swiss rivals, most of the Swiss infantry pushed on to engage the outnumbered Burgundian infantry square in a one-sided fight. The vanguard threw back the Burgundian left wing and put the artillery to flight. As Charles attempted vainly to stem

570-464: The center force's advance by transferring troops from his left flank, the weight of numbers arrayed against him became overwhelming, and the Burgundy forces started to break apart and retreat. It is thought that during the fight Charles said: "I struggle against a spider who is everywhere at once," signifying the large amount of Swiss infantry. Charles and his staff unsuccessfully attempted to rally

600-526: The death of Mary's father Charles the Bold. Among her own citizens there was great discontent, which did not make Mary's situation any easier. The Duchy of Guelders and the principality of Liège had already declared independence. On 3 February 1477, an urgent meeting of the States General was therefore convened. It appeared that the States were prepared to recognise and support Mary of Burgundy as their sovereign with financial resources, but only with

630-483: The granting of various concessions. The Great Privilege granted by Mary met a large part of the demands and complaints of the States. These came down to dissatisfaction with the centralised administration of the Burgundian Netherlands. The power of the central government had to be curtailed by a series of provisions while the power of the individual provinces had to be increased. After the enactment of

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660-589: The heraldic device of a thistle as its coat of arms to commemorate the defeat of Charles the Bold. René II also erected a cross to mark the spot where the body of Charles was found. The nearby étang Saint-Jean was drained in the 19th century, freeing the area of what is now Place de la Croix-de-Bourgogne in Nancy. The original cross was moved to the Lorraine museum . The current monument is a design by Victor Prouvé (1928). Pierre de Blarru, canon of Saint-Dié , composed

690-415: The late 13th century the weapon starts to develop into a distinct weapon, with the top of the blade developing into a more acute thrusting point. This form of the halberd is erroneously sometimes called a voulge or a swiss voulge , but there is no evidence for the usage of these terms for this weapon historically. There were variations of these weapons with spikes on the back, though also plenty without. In

720-491: The pike units steadily decreased. By 1588, official Dutch infantry composition was down to 39% arquebuses, 34% pikes, 13% muskets, 9% halberds, and 2% one-handed swords. By 1600, troops armed exclusively with swords were no longer used and the halberd was only used by sergeants. Researchers suspected that a halberd or a bill sliced through the back of King Richard III 's skull at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, leaving his brain visible before killing him during

750-472: The pike, supplemented by the halberd—but their side arm of choice was a short sword called the Katzbalger . As long as pikemen fought other pikemen, the halberd remained a useful supplemental weapon for push of pike , but when their position became more defensive, to protect the slow-loading arquebusiers and matchlock musketeers from sudden attacks by cavalry , the percentage of halberdiers in

780-515: The pursuing army that they threw themselves into the moat in the hope that they could swim to the city. René II built the church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours on the site of the battle, and the Church of Saint-François-des-Cordeliers in Nancy itself. He furthermore built the basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port to recognize the help of St. Nicholas in the battle. The city adopted the motto of non inultus premor ("I cannot be touched with impunity") and

810-411: The waiting Burgundians. The small rearguard of 800 handgunners acted as reserve. After a march lasting some two hours, the center force emerged from the wooded slopes slightly to the rear of the Burgundian position and formed up in a wedge formation. The early notes of the Swiss horns sounded three times, and the Swiss charged downhill into the Burgundian positions. The artillery attempted to retrain on

840-546: The weapon were called halberdiers . The word has also been used to describe a weapon of the early Bronze Age in Western Europe. This consisted of a blade mounted on a pole at a right angle. The halberd is first mentioned (as hallenbarte ) in a work by 13th-century German poet Konrad von Würzburg . John of Winterthur described it as a new weapon used by the Swiss at the Battle of Morgarten of 1315. The halberd

870-466: Was inexpensive to produce and very versatile in battle. As the halberd was eventually refined, its point was more fully developed to allow it to better deal with spears and pikes (and make it able to push back approaching horsemen), as was the hook opposite the axe head, which could be used to pull horsemen to the ground. A Swiss peasant used a halberd to kill Charles the Bold , the Duke of Burgundy , at

900-403: Was killed during the battle and their retreat. Only the few who retreated over 50 km (31 mi) to Metz survived. Contemporary chronicles record that the killing of retreating soldiers continued for three days after the battle and that for 5–6 leagues (15–18 miles [24–29 km]) the road was covered with the dead. Some of the soldiers who reached Metz were reportedly still so afraid of

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