Henri II: His Court and Times (50 page)

The French Government, aware that it was impossible for
Charles to accept as an accomplished fact their possession of
Metz, without compromising his authority in Germany, did
not doubt that it was against their recent annexation rather
than the robber Hohenzollern that his preparations were
directed, and were already actively engaged in making ready
for its defence. As Montmorency's position at the head of
affairs necessitated his presence in the centre of the kingdom,
this defence was entrusted to the Duc de Guise, who was
nominated governor of Metz, with practically unlimited
powers. Bitter as was the rivalry between the two great
nobles, it was not permitted to prejudice the safety of the
country, and the Constable, as Minister for War, rendered the
duke every possible assistance.
⁰¹

Even with the loyal co-operation of Montmorency, Guise's
task was a sufficiently formidable one. The town of Metz is
enclosed on the west, north, and east by the Moselle and the
Seille, which form a very strong natural bulwark, but on the
south, on which side the place is directly accessible, it was at
this time only defended by an old wall without bastions and
in a very bad state of repair; while the extensive faubourgs
afforded abundant cover for the batteries of a besieging force.
To render the town defensible against the great army which
was approaching, extensive works must be undertaken, but,
even if they were pushed on with all possible expedition, it was
very doubtful if they could be completed before the arrival of
the enemy. Guise, however, was not the man to be discouraged, and he had the good fortune to have under his
orders the Florentine Piero Strozzi, Camillo Marini, and the
Sieur de Saint-Rémy, three of the most skilful engineers of
the time.

The town suffered cruelly from the necessities of its defence.
An immense number of buildings were demolished, to make
room for new ramparts or to clear the approaches; the
beautiful faubourgs were almost entirely razed to the ground,
with all the churches, convents, and colleges they contained,
and even the ancient Abbey of Saint-Arnoul, in which were
the tombs of Louis le Débonnaire, of his brother Drogo, of his
mother Hildegarde, Charlemagne's best loved wife, and of
other great personages of the Carolingian epoch, was not
spared. It was, indeed, impossible to do so, since it was
situated on an eminence which commanded the Porte
Champenoise quarter, and would most certainly have been
turned to account by the besiegers. The bodies were removed,
with great solemnity, to the Dominican Church, escorted by
Guise and his principal officers, bareheaded and with tapers
in their hands.
⁰²

Notwithstanding the loss and suffering inflicted on them by
this wholesale destruction, the citizens proved wonderfully
tractable, for since the occupation of the town in the previous
spring the French had treated them with consideration, and
their sympathies were now entirely with their new masters;
while Guise's courtesy and tact had won all hearts. So far
from showing any ill-feeling, many of the people are said to
have assisted in the demolition of their own houses, "regarding
it as being for the public good and for their own security."
⁰³

F
RANÇOIS DE
L
ORRAINE
, D
UC DE
G
UISE
FROM A DRAWING ATTRIBUTED TO C. DUMOUSTIER IN THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE

The duke himself set a splendid example of energy and
devotion to duty. Although, in time of peace, it was his habit
to take considerably more than the usual amount of sleep, he
now contented himself with brief snatches of slumber. At all
hours he might be seen hurrying to and fro, encouraging the
engineers, who laboured unceasingly, day and night, at the
fortifications, supervising the drilling of the recruits, and
inspecting the ammunition and stores which were being
brought into the town, of which he caused a careful inventory
to be made. From the time of his arrival in Metz until the
end of the siege, "many as were the eyes which were continually
upon him, he was not seen to waste a single hour";
⁰⁴
no matter seemed too small for his attention, and, to show that
a commander should be able to give personal proof of hard
labour and fatigue, as well as of a vigilant mind, he often
wielded pick and shovel himself.

Meanwhile, the great army of the Emperor, swollen continually
by the arrival of reinforcements from different
quarters of Germany and the Netherlands, was slowly
drawing nearer. It had been greatly delayed after crossing the
Rhine by the illness of Charles, who was so feeble that he
could not walk without support, though his indomitable
spirit still drove him on; and it was not until October 19
that it appeared before Metz, while the siege did not really
open until the 31st. By that time the fortifications had practically
been completed and the place abundantly provisioned
for several months, for Guise had sent away and distributed
among the neighbouring towns all the non-combatants, with
the exception of a few priests and monks, and some two
thousand labourers and artisans, whom he kept to repair
the ramparts and assist in serving the artillery.

On the other hand, the Imperialists had received an unlooked-for accession. Albert Alcibiades, endangered by the advance
of his outraged suzerain, had offered his troops to France; but
the price he demanded was so exorbitant, and the French
mistrusted him so thoroughly, that his services were declined.
Thereupon the Margrave opened negotiations with Alva, and
began to prowl round Toul, "like a wolf round the sheepfold."
The Constable, informed of this, despatched Aumale with a
force of cavalry to watch him. Suddenly, on October 28,
Albert threw himself on the Lorraine prince, defeated, and
captured him. Then he presented himself with his prisoner
in the Imperial camp, made his peace with the Emperor, and
joined the besiegers.

At the end of September, Montmorency had assembled a considerable army at
Rheims, and early in October he advanced into Lorraine, with the intention of
throwing rein forcements into Metz and harassing the Imperialists. But, on
reaching Saint-Mihiel, he learned that the Comte de Rœux had
invaded Picardy, and, after laying waste the country between
the Oise and the Somme, was about to lay siege to Hesdin,
which had been taken by the Netherlanders in the last
campaign, though it had soon been recovered. He therefore
confined himself to strengthening the garrisons of Toul and
Verdun, and returned to Rheims, where he was joined by the
King; and it was decided that the bulk of the army should be
despatched under Vendôme into Picardy. The conduct of the
Constable and the King has been criticised by some historians,
but it should be pointed out that Guise had assured them that
he had sufficient forces at Metz, and that the royal army could
be employed in other operations; while it was certainly
necessary to deal with the invasion of Picardy.
⁰⁵

By the middle of November, three armies were encamped
around Metz. The Spaniards, Italians, and Germans besieged
it from the south, the Netherlanders from the north, and the
troops of Albert Alcibiades from the south-west. The main
attack, however, was directed from the south. Authorities
differ widely as to the total strength of the investing force,
but the most reliable estimate it at from 70,000 to 80,000 men,
with about 140 cannon of various calibre. The garrison
numbered about 10,000 men, and included three Bourbons —
the Princes de la Roche-sur-Yon and de Condé and the Comte
d'Enghien; the two elder sons of the Constable, François and
Henri de Montmorency; Nemours, La Rochefoucauld, and a
great number of other young nobles, "who had come to take
their pleasure at the siege."

Great as was the numerical strength of the Imperial army,
its effectiveness was ruined by the dissensions between the
various nations which composed it. The Germans and
Netherlanders detested the Spaniards, who cordially reciprocated their sentiments; there was little love lost between the
Germans and the Italians; and the troops who came from
the districts which had suffered at the hands of Albert
Alcibiades were indignant at the pardon which the exigencies
of war had compelled Charles to extend to the crimes
of that princely brigand, and would have infinitely preferred
to cut the throats of his Pomeranians and Prussians to
those of the French. The Emperor's selection of Alva for
the command was most unpopular, and the German and
Flemish generals criticised every order he gave, and often
ignored him altogether.

Charles arrived in the camp on November 20. He was
still so weak from illness that he had been carried from
Thionville in a litter, but, on reaching Metz, he mounted
a white horse and rode through the lines, commending the
officers and men who had distinguished themselves. The
presence of the Emperor infused some spirit into his army,
and the trenches were pushed so close to the walls that the
garrison were able to throw stones into them. By the 28th,
a breach three hundred paces wide had been made, but Guise
had constructed an inner line of earthworks, bristling with
cannon, and awaited the expected assault with confidence.
⁰⁶

It was never delivered, however, for the besiegers had not
counted on the second line of defence, and, though the
Emperor repeatedly urged that an attempt should be made to
storm the place, Alva and the other generals refused to undertake it, pointing out that it would be to lead the troops to
certain destruction. They were probably right, but Charles
reproached them bitterly with their want of courage, and
declared that he "saw very well that he had no real men
left, and must take leave of the world and get him to a
monastery."
⁰⁷

November had been cold and wet; December was worse.
The camp of the Imperialists became a swamp; their huts and
tents were inundated, and the condition of the roads and the
activity of the garrisons of Toul and Verdun rendered it
difficult for their convoys to reach them. The troops suffered
terribly, particularly the Spaniards and Italians, unaccustomed
to the rigours of the northern winter; dysentery and typhus
broke out, and hundreds were carried off, while many more
deserted. The besieged, too, gave them no rest, and their
continual sorties contributed to the general demoralisation
which prevailed.

By Christmas, on which festival only a few shots were
exchanged, Charles was compelled to admit the hopelessness
of continuing the siege. "I see well," said he, "that Fortune
is a jade; she prefers a young king to an old emperor." Next
morning, the retreat of the Imperialists began, though it was
not until New Year's Day that Charles left his quarters to
return to Thionville and thence to Brussels. Albert Alcibiades
remained to the last, to cover the retreat of the artillery; but
a sortie of the French compelled him to abandon a number
of pieces, whose carriages had stuck fast in the ruts of the
muddy roads.
⁰⁸

The abandoned camp of the besiegers presented a spectacle
calculated to excite the pity of even the most hardened veteran.
The number of newly-dug graves which were to be seen on
every side made it resemble one vast cemetery; the dead
bodies of men and horses lay about in all directions, and there
was also a multitude of sick and wounded men, "some prone
on the ground, others seated on stones with their legs in the
mud, frozen up to the knees. More than three hundred were
rescued from this horrible misery; but it was found necessary
to amputate the limbs of the majority."
⁰⁹

The generous-hearted Guise treated the unfortunate derelicts
of the Imperial army with a humanity very rare at this epoch,
and everything possible was done to alleviate their sufferings.
¹⁰
His conduct, which was the theme of universal praise, was
a fitting climax to a success which had established his
reputation as one of the greatest soldiers of his time.

The theatre of hostilities in 1552 had extended from the
frontiers of Artois and Picardy to the shores of the Two
Sicilies. In the north, Vendôme succeeded in driving back
the Flemings and in recovering Hesdin; in Piedmont,
Brissac obtained some trifling successes over Ferrante
Gonzaga; in Tuscany, Siena expelled the Spanish garrison
which the Emperor had imposed upon it, and placed itself
under the protection of France; and the alliance with the
Turks, which had brought so much odium upon François I,
having been renewed, through the exertions of Aramon, the
French Ambassador to the Porte, the Ottoman fleet attacked
and defeated that of Andrea Doria off the Neapolitan coast,
and, but for the non-arrival of the galleys of Paulin de la
Garde, might have followed up this victory by an attempt
upon Naples.