This battle was one of the bloodiest and most significant battles of the Burgundian Wars. Then, on June 22, 1476, near the fortress Murten (in French - Morat) in the Swiss canton of Bern, the Swiss troops and the army of the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold met. The previous defeat had taught him nothing, and he again contacted the Swiss. This became his mistake, because he also lost this battle with them. By the way, the story with Murten is a clear example of how stupid stubbornness is punished and that no personal courage wins where experience and skill are at work.
Battle of Murten. Panorama of Ludwig Braun. "Burgundian camp under attack."
Siege of Murten
And it so happened that barely recovering from the defeat at Granson, Charles the Bold again decided to get involved in a fight with the Swiss and, having gathered new forces, he invaded their territory in June 1476. Already on June 9, his army laid siege to the fortress of Murten, just 25 kilometers from Bern. It would be more logical to go to Bern itself, but Karl, apparently, decided not to leave the enemy garrison in his rear, so he first decided to take Murten. The city was defended by a garrison of 1580 fighters, so it seemed like there was no serious resistance to the army of Charles, armed with powerful artillery!
Engraving from 1879-80 depicting the Battle of Murten. Louis Midart. Funds of the Central Library of the city of Soloturn.
The Burgundians began by throwing a rampart around Murten, then they placed bombards on it, reinforced the gaps between them with a palisade and began firing them at the city walls. That is, they did the same as Julius Caesar did in his time at the walls of Alesia: they erected a counter-valuation line around the besieged fortress, installing artillery on it, and in case of the approach of Swiss troops, 1, 5-2 km from the city, they built a circumferential line (however, it was not continuous), which protected their army from the outside. After that, on June 12, they went on an assault, but it was repulsed, since reinforcements arrived at the garrison of the fortress, arriving by the lake. Karl understood that Swiss troops were about to come to Murten's aid. Therefore, he did not re-storm the fortress, but limited himself to shelling, and began to prepare for a battle with the enemy. The Burgundians spent several days in anxiety, expecting that the Swiss were about to approach. The alarm was announced several times, and the army was formed behind the palisade to repel the attack of the enemy, but the Swiss did not appear, and the Burgundians again returned back to the camp. On June 21, Karl personally made a reconnaissance of the location of the Swiss and considered that they were not going to attack him.
Charles the Bold (Karl the Bold), Duke of Burgundy (1433-1477). Painting by Roger van der Weyden (circa 1460).
What did the Swiss do?
Upon learning of the enemy's actions, on June 10, Bern announced mobilization. Already on June 11, Berne units began to arrive at the border points and the very next day they began to participate in clashes with the Burgundians. On Wednesday, June 19, the Bernese militia (5-6 thousand people) camped in Ulmitz, just 5 km from the forward positions of the Burgundian troops. The militias of their allies also began to approach here: the Basel militia (of 2,000 infantry and 100 cavalrymen) and cavalry from Alsace under the command of the Duke René of Lorraine and Oswald von Thierstein, who was an assistant to the Baili of Upper Alsace.
Battle of Murten. Miniature from the Lucerne Chronicle of Schilling the Younger, 1513. Zurich Library.
In total, according to one of the participants in the battle, Jörg Molbinger, who fought in the noble cavalry, there were 26,000 allied troops, of which more than 1,800 were horsemen. Hans von Kageeneck, another of the participants in this battle and also fought in the cavalry, calls the smaller figure - 1,100 horsemen.
René II, Duke of Lorraine. Lorraine Museum.
The vanguard (vorhut or forhut) of the Swiss was commanded by Hauptmann Hans von Golwill of Aargau. It included crossbowmen and also coolers, and half were pikemen. The total number of the avant-garde reached 5,000 people. Kagenek wrote that there were "Bernese, Friburians and Swiss" in it.
Milanese helmet 1440 Weight 4196 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The main force (Gevalthaufen), commanded by several Hauptmann, among whom Hans Waldmann stood out, was a "battle" in the form of a "spear" or "hedgehog" with pikemen along the entire perimeter, standing in 4 ranks, and arrows in the center. There were from 10 to 12 thousand people in the battle.
Armor from 1480. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The rearguard (nahhut) was commanded by Hauptmann Kaspar Hartenstein from Lucerne. It had 5-6 thousand soldiers, armed in about the same. In the interval between the vanguard and the main battle, the cavalry moved.
Helmet 1475 Weight 3374 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Meanwhile, it began to rain, from which the Allies had nowhere to hide. In addition, the Zurich people were expected, and they arrived at night, although they were exhausted by the incredibly difficult road. A council of war was immediately assembled and the general command was entrusted to Wilhelm Herter von Gertenegg, who became the "chief Hauptmann".
Sallet helmet 1475 Weight 2778 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The development of iron production made it possible to establish at this time the mass production of the same type of armor and, in particular, sallet helmets, which were used by the infantry of the Swiss and Burgundy. Since the armor was similar, multi-colored crosses had to be sewn on clothes for identification.
The reconnaissance was carried out early Saturday morning. 500 mounted gendarmes and 800 infantrymen under the command of Herter and Waldmann went to the positions of the Burgundians. They reached the Burgundian positions, but then retreated under artillery fire. Nevertheless, they were able to see both the obstacles built by the Burgundians and the location of their artillery.
Battle map.
The battle itself began shortly after noon. Petermann Etterlin, one of the Hauptmann commanders of the Swiss avant-garde, later wrote in his "chronicles" that they had gathered in haste, and many soldiers did not even have time to eat breakfast. That is, even then they slept for a long time and ate late, although perhaps the reason for this was the rain and the late approach of the militia of their Zurich. Be that as it may, the allies lined up in a column and left the camp, but did not go even one kilometer, as they stopped at the edge of the forest, lined up for battle, and then Oswald von Tirstein took up the fact that both Rene of Lorraine, and with him more He knighted 100 noblemen. So to speak, he raised their morale, for to die as a knight is not at all like dying simply … as a "rich landowner"!
Swiss halberd weighing 2320 g. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.
The course of the battle
After that, to the rumble of drums, the Swiss infantry, reinforced by detachments of horse men at arms of the Dukes of Lorraine and Austria, began an attack on the very center of the position of the Burgundians. And then it turned out that Karl the Bold had no intelligence at all! You see, he did not expect their attack, as it had rained heavily the day before. They say, the roads will be difficult to pass, and if so, the Swiss will not be able to approach the city. The fact that the enemy can walk in the fields, on the grass and the rough roads will not stop him, somehow it simply did not occur to the brave duke, and he did not guess to send scouts.
Plate mitten 1450 Italy. Weight 331.7 g. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The order of battle of the Swiss consisted of three battles of spearmen and halberdists, between which there were knights (at least 1,800 people) and arrows. In the first line there were two battles and horsemen at arms, in the second one. Moreover, the offensive of the Swiss turned out to be completely unexpected for the Burgundians. Moreover, Karl himself reacted with distrust to the report of his guards, so he did not immediately give the order to declare a military alarm, because of which a lot of time was lost, so precious in any battle.
Burgundy pollex. Weight 2976.7 g. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Nevertheless, the Burgundians managed to open strong fire from their bombards and small cannons, and thus were able to thwart the attack of the Swiss. But they were not frightened at all, but came out from under the artillery fire, turned 180 degrees, rebuilt and … just changed the direction of the attack. All this perfectly characterizes the high military training of the Swiss and their discipline and at the same time shows the low level of military art of Karl the Bold and his entourage. All the same, it is dangerous to rebuild in front of the enemy and close to him. After all, Karl could (and should, in theory!) Send his gendarmes to the attack.
Battle of Murten. Panorama of Ludwig Braun "Attack of the Lorraine and Austrian cavalry".
Gendarmes of the 15th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. By this time, the armor had become so strong and perfect that the need for shields from the riders disappeared.
Guisarma 1490 Weight 2097.9 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
However, he did not, and the reorganization itself took place so quickly that the Burgundians could neither redirect the fire of their artillery at them, nor build their own forces in order of battle. As a result, a very strong blow was inflicted on Karl's troops, which they could not withstand. But then, seeing what was happening from the walls of the besieged Murten, his garrison opened the gates and struck the rear of the Burgundian army. Here again the question arises: why the Burgundian bombards were not aimed at the gates of the city. Well, just in case ?! Where were the gunners of the siege bombards, from which the city had just been fired upon? After all, it was obvious that in the event of an attack "from the field" the garrison would definitely go on a sortie? But, apparently, all this was just not obvious to Karl the Bold, why everything happened exactly this way and not otherwise. As a result, there were only 6 to 8 thousand killed in his army, and the duke himself disgracefully fled from the battlefield. Moreover, a significant number of English archers hired by him were among the fallen, and mercenaries do not like such a command and are usually no longer hired to such losers.
Battle of Murten. Panorama of Ludwig Brown "Burgundy Camp and English Archers".
Battle of Murten. Panorama of Ludwig Braun. "Flight of the Burgundian Army".
Thus, the Battle of Murten once again demonstrated the high fighting qualities of the Swiss infantry. Skillfully using the terrain, she could successfully repel the attacks of even knightly cavalry with the help of firearms. In hand-to-hand combat, thanks to her halberds, she had a number of advantages over infantry with long pikes.
"Karl the Bold flees after the Battle of Murten." Eugene Burnand 1895
The same picture presented as a picture in the Niva magazine. Yes, then, to see the paintings in color, one had to travel. For now, it's enough to get on the Internet.
Interestingly, this battle inspired the German battle-painter Ludwig Braun to create the panorama "The Battle of Murten in 1476", which he painted in 1893. This really huge canvas 10 by 100 m impresses at the same time with its colorfulness and scope. True, it was written in a "romantic style", which is why the depicted individual people are overly dramatized, and the composition looks somewhat staged. But be that as it may, this is a real work of art.
