August 10th, 1557 - The Battle of St. Quentin

Conflict: Last Valois-Habsburg War

Combatants: French vs. Spanish

Location: France

Outcome: Spanish victory

As part of his invasion of the Valois-aligned France, Phillip II of Spain with 50,000 Spanish and English soldiers, led by the Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, besieged the city of St. Quentin. A French army under command of the Duke Anne of Montmorency marched to relieve the city. But Montmorency's force of 26,000 men were caught crossing the Somme by Imperial cavalry and badly routed. Six thousand Frenchmen were killed and another 6,000 captured along with Montmorency himself. With the remaining bulk of the French army fighting in Italy, northern France was virtually defenseless.

Battle before St Quentin, 1557 Wellcome by Granello and Castello

Points of Interest:

• Savoy wanted to abandon St. Quentin and march directly on an undefended Paris but was overruled by Phillip.

• St. Quentin would fall on August 27th, but Phillip would order a withdrawal from France the following month.

Phillip II (1527-1598), King of Spain by an unknown artist

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy by Atribuido a Giorgio Soleri

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Sources:

Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).

Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.

Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.