THE FIRST DEFENCES AGAINST FIRE ARTILLERY.

King John had possessed himself of the duchy of Burgundy and united it with the crown; he resigned it in favour of his son Philip, who, as is well known, had distinguished himself on the fatal day of Poictiers. From that epoch till the time of Charles the Bold, the duchy had remained in the hands of the descendants of King John; and although the dukes of Burgundy were very warlike, and had formed a league with the English against the crown of France, in consequence of the quarrel that arose in 1400 between Philip and the Duke Louis d'Orleans, brother of Charles VI., the duchy was relatively at peace, while the north of France, as far as the Loire, was in the power of foreigners.

After the death of Charles the Bold before Nancy, King Louis XI. lost no time in despatching to the province of Burgundy La TrÉmoille, baron of Craon, who, acting in concert with the Prince of Orange, soon reduced the whole province into subjection to the king of France; this was in 1477.

The town of La Roche-Pont (at that time the abbey alone preserved the name of Saint-Julien, and the town had adopted that of the castle) had been deemed by Charles the Bold worthy of special attention. Recognising the advantageous site of the place and the importance of its strategic position, this prince had adapted the ancient defences to the new mode of attack. The old castle of La Roche-Pont, several times repaired, still showed some of its defences dating from the end of the twelfth century, the donjon being particularly well preserved; but the abbey and the entire plateau had been surrounded by a new wall by Philip, about 1380, and the town had been rebuilt within this enclosure, the right bank of the larger stream being completely abandoned. At the end of the fourteenth century there existed only a suburb on the slopes of the plateau along the left bank, and this suburb had no other defence than a wall of inconsiderable strength on the north. The great-grandson of Anseric, Sieur de la Roche-Pont, having died without male heirs, the fief of La Roche-Pont had reverted to the Duke Philip, who, as well as his successors, appointed the governors of the town and castle, henceforth a ducal domain.

The enclosure of the town had been rebuilt in great part on the Roman foundations. It consisted of a substantial wall rising about twenty-four feet above the outside ground level, without machicoulis, strengthened with cylindrical towers thirty-six feet in height surrounded by machicoulis and covered with conical roofs. Machicoulis formed also the upper defence of the curtains and towers of the castle, whose plan had not been changed.

This place had not suffered any attack since the date of these new works, and it was intact under Charles the Bold. During his struggle in the north with the people of Ghent and Hainault, and as a precaution against the intrigues of Louis XI., he had thought it needful to put the town of La Roche-Pont in a good state of defence. Now, limited though its efficiency was, the artillery of the king of France already played a sufficiently important part in sieges to render it necessary to provide against its effects. The duke therefore raised several boulevards to replace the walls and receive artillery. (Fig. 48.)

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Fig. 48.—The Town of La Roche-Pont is Fortified by Charles the Bold.

As shown in our plan, the bailey of the castle no longer existed. It was replaced by a wide ditch, A, of little depth; its bottom was on a level with the two boulevards, B and C. A third boulevard surrounded the base of the donjon externally, in the place of the ancient chemise. This boulevard commanded the stone bridge rebuilt in the fourteenth century on the Roman piers. Before the north front was raised an isolated boulevard of earth, D, of slight elevation, but commanding the road of the plateau. At the angles of the north front two large towers, E, F, adapted to receive cannon, flanked the angles and were in a position to sweep the boulevard, D. Set back on the eastern side, a similar tower, G, commanded the valley of the rivulet. Two boulevards, H and I, forming projections beneath the defences of the fourteenth century, commanded the course of the river, and could cross their fire with the boulevard B, and the tower E. A boulevard was also raised on the eastern salient at K.

The faubourg had preserved its two parish churches, and a convent of Jacobins had been built at L, on lands bought by Saint Louis while the fief of La Roche-Pont was still directly dependent on the crown of France.

The abbey of Saint-Julien, O, had diminished its enclosure, and yielded a part of its estates. Houses arose in its ancient pleasance, whose perimeter had been somewhat altered. These habitations were within its liberties and belonged to the abbey, which granted them on lease.

At M, a parish church under the invocation of Our Lady had been built towards the end of the thirteenth century, when the lord of La Roche-Pont, wanting money, sold some lands—formerly belonging to the castle—for building. At N was the market-place. Three gates gave admission to the citÉ: one on the north, called Saint-Julien's gate; one on the east, Mill-gate; and the third on the south-east, called Castle-gate.

We must enter into some details respecting the new defences raised under Charles the Bold. Figure 49 presents a bird's-eye view of the northern boulevard, D, with the citÉ front in the background, its gate of the fourteenth century, and the two great corner towers.

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Fig. 49.

Fig. 50 A gives the plan of one of these towers at the level of the lower battery, and B its section through a, b.

These towers were forty yards in diameter on the outside, and consisted of a low battery, whose floor was six feet beneath the upper level of the plateau. The descent to this low battery was by a slope ending in an octagonal hall whose vaults rested on four great cylindrical pillars. Three chambers with embrasures for three large cannons opened into this hall. By the galleries, C, there was a communication between two of these chambers and two other smaller ones pierced with embrasures for culverins. From the descent D, two passages, E, gave access to two chambers, F, likewise arranged with embrasures to receive two large guns.

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Fig. 50.—Masonry Tower for Artillery.

The barrel vaults of these rooms had openings to allow the smoke to escape. Small powder magazines, G, opened near each of the chambers, and five large lunettes pierced in the vaults of the central hall gave air and light to the interior. At H, a well was connected with a cistern constructed under the central hall, as indicated in section B. This cistern was supplied by rain-water falling on the platform and discharged by four pipes passing down through the inner walls. Two winding staircases connected the lower battery with the platform and the curtains of the fourteenth century, I I, and allowed of a descent through two posterns, K, into the braie, L, defended by an epaulement, a palisade, and narrow ditch. Flanks, l, raked the salient of this braie. The curtain, whose rampart walk rose six feet above the level of the platform, closed the gorge of the tower, as shown in section B at N. Two watch-towers, P, were built in the thickness of the parapet, pierced with nineteen embrasures for small pieces. This parapet was not too high for arbalisters to shoot over its slope. A wide incline, R, facilitated the getting up of guns and the ascent of men to the platform.

Fig. 51 presents a bird's-eye view of boulevard I,[15] with the ramparts of the fourteenth century. These boulevards were earthworks, and their interior surface was four yards below the level of the plateau. The boulevards, B and C, raised at the western angles of the castle, had their platforms on a level with the bottom of the ditch, as mentioned above. Having thus described the general plan and the details, we proceed to narrate the events of which the town of La Roche-Pont was the theatre in 1477 and 1478.

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Fig. 51.

With a view to securing the aid of the Prince of Orange, after the death of Duke Charles, Louis XI. had been most liberal to him in promises, one of which was that he would place in his hands all the strong towns of Burgundy that belonged to the estate of the Prince of Orange, his grandfather, and which Duke Charles had forestalled.

But when the Seigneur de Craon had taken possession of these places he would not give them up, notwithstanding the demands made upon him by the Prince, and the apparent orders of King Louis XI.

The marriage between the daughter of Charles the Bold, sole heiress of his domains, and Maximilian, Duke of Austria, took place in the meantime. The latter proceeded to recover possession of the duchy of Burgundy, and had a conference with the Prince of Orange, exasperated at the non-fulfilment of the promises made him; while the province was soon to a large extent roused against the French, whom the Seigneur de Craon, eager for gain, and by no means faithful in accomplishing his engagements, rendered detestable.

The Seigneur de Craon had left in the town of La Roche-Pont only a somewhat feeble garrison. At the instigation of the agents of Maximilian, who was filling the country with emissaries, the inhabitants barricaded themselves one evening in the streets, and attacked the French posts. The latter, small in number, and indifferently commanded, took refuge in the castle after having lost some soldiers. The castle was ill supplied with provisions and munitions. Surrounded by the townspeople, the garrison could not hold their position long; so that one night it escaped on the south side, passing right through the Burgundian posts to join the Seigneur de Craon's army near Dijon. The inhabitants immediately hoisted the Cross of Burgundy on the keep, and hastened to Maximilian to inform him of the success of the rising, and to ask assistance against a return of the king's armies; for they were scarcely in a condition to defend themselves. Maximilian sent them a body of twelve hundred Germans, Swiss, and BrabanÇons, with cannon, munitions, and engineers. The first thing these troops did on arriving was to commit some depredations in the environs and the western faubourg, after which they set about the defence of the place.

The Sire de Montcler had been invested with the command of the foreign troops and of those he was able to collect together in the town and neighbourhood. He was an active, enterprising, and rather shrewd man, of noble bearing and handsome countenance, in the prime of life, capable of enforcing obedience, and trusting to himself alone in getting his orders executed. He had soon decided on his plans.

The able-bodied population of the town amounted to about two thousand men, half of whom were in a condition to render effective service, and were accustomed to war. Some days after the arrival of the foreign troops, some Burgundian lords who favoured the young duchess, and were much incensed against the Seigneur de Craon—who, for no other reason than to get money, had plundered their estates and taken away their most valuable property—assembled at La Roche-Pont. They brought with them two hundred lances and some convoys of provisions. The effective garrison might therefore be said to amount to three thousand fighting men, of whom five hundred were horse—each lance being followed by an esquire.

The place was not in a good state of defence; the braies were much dilapidated, the earthen boulevards crumbling away, while the ditches wanted clearing out. No piece was mounted. There were neither gabions nor fascines nor stakes for palisades. The Sire de Montcler made the following arrangement:—All, whether captains, soldiers, pioneers, inhabitants of the town, men or women, were to go every morning before daybreak to the posts assigned them beforehand, on pain of death. And with a view to impressing this order on all, gallows were set up in the various wards, which bore the following names: Tower ward (on the North); Saint-Julien's ward (including the abbey and the eastern part of the citÉ opposite the monastery); Saint-Louis's ward (situated between the abbey and the castle, on the west); the Mill ward, looking towards the east. The tenants of the abbey had claimed exemption from the service, but the Sire de Montcler had paid no attention to their claims any more than to those of the abbot, whose gardens and buildings served as a central arsenal. Two or three obstinate burgesses had been hanged, and since then none had failed in his duty. At noon all went to dinner, and returned at two o'clock to work till nightfall. The women and the children from eleven to sixteen years of age carried earth in baskets and traies; and the soldiers, pioneers, and townsmen, under the direction of the engineers, began to restore the parapets of the boulevards, cleared out the ditches and restored the braies again. A sawing machine was established at the mill and cut wood to make palisades. In a few days the inhabitants, who had at first thought this very hard work and regretted having driven away the French garrison, had become habituated to this life of fatigue, and endured it quite cheerfully. Singing and laughing were heard in every quarter while the work was going on. It might have been supposed that they were engaged in a fÊte.

The governor had not overlooked the supply of provisions. It was the end of the summer. All the harvest produce of the neighbourhood had been ordered to be brought into the town. A pair of millstones, which were still available after the establishment of the saw-mill, was at work night and day. All the provisions stored in the houses were to be deposited in the abbey or the castle, on pain of death, and the inhabitants received their several rations like the soldiers. A large store of grain and vegetables laid up in the abbey considerably increased the supplies of provisions. The Sire de Montcler had of course laid hands on these provisions.

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Fig. 52.

The old men and young children were occupied in making gabions and cutting turf for the taluses of the boulevards. Behind the north front the governor had a good trench dug, demolishing some houses, with retrenchment and good gabionades on the flanks for artillery. The north wall of the abbey was terraced and united to the east curtain by a retrenchment with a ditch.

The Sire de Montcler was a good-humoured man, familiar with all, present everywhere and talking to everybody; and, thanks to his jocular and pleasant ways, the good people saw their houses demolished and the soil of their gardens taken away to make ditches and epaulements without being greatly distressed.

When everything was well prepared for the defence, however, the governor sent away all useless mouths. Women, children, and old men had to seek an asylum in the environs. After this, the western faubourg was burned to prevent its being occupied by the troops of Louis XI.

A tÊte du pont had been formed on the right bank outside the drawbridge (Fig. 52), with a large cavalier on the left bank; the two other bridges were destroyed. On the plateau towards the north arose, in front of the boulevard D,[See Fig. 48.] an intrenchment of earth, with barricades of trees and large gabions screening two culverins. The boulevards and towers on the north were armed with bombards.

Every night the governor took care to reconnoitre the environs.