Battle of Guinegate (1479)
| Battle of Guinegate (1479) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Burgundian Succession | |||||||
Early 16th century depiction of the battle by Wolf Traut | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Valois | Burgundian State | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes |
Maximilian I of Habsburg, Duke of Burgundy Engelbert of Nassau Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont Philip of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
c. 16,000 (not counting cannoneers)–c. 20,000 men in total 4,000 (2,000 heavy cavalry and 2,000 light cavalry)–10,800 cavalry 8,000 regular archers 12,000 infantry (including archers; mounted archers also fought on foot) |
c. 16,000–c. 23,000 men in total 1,650 (825 heavy cavalry plus 825 light cavalry)–4,950 cavalry (including mounted archers) 300 English archers plus 3,000 archers, crossbowmen, arquebusiers and coleuvriniers. c. 11,000 pikemen; or 11,000 foot soldiers with close-combat weapons;or 2,475 lance infantry (including archers) and an unspecified number of contingents of Flemish militia pikemen | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,300 dead (probably exaggerated) | 5,000 dead | ||||||
The First Battle of Guinegate took place on 7 August 1479. King Louis XI's French troops, led by Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes (who had been a commander under Charles the Bold but defected to the French side after the latter's death in 1477), were defeated by the Burgundians, led by Duke (later Emperor) Maximilian I of Habsburg. The battle was the first in which the innovative Swiss pike square formation was used by a power that was not natively Swiss.