The First French Campaign of Lorraine
The spring of 1478 was as eventful as the winter had been uneventful : the icy weather and the sufferings of the Burgondian forces under Nancy had proven winter campaigns in Western Europe to be less than agradable, but the war started all over again as soon as thaw became permanent. The first French initiative in early March was an attack through Northwestern Lorraine. While the French were mostly aiming to kick the Burgondians out of Luxembourg, and later mounting an attack on the rest of Lorraine from the bishopric of Verdun.
For this endeavour, the French had an army of 20 000 men, the other 13 000 being on the front in Flanders. These were separated in 3 different army groups, one going through Montzéville, west of Verdun, one through Verdun and Douaumont from Bar-le-Duc, and the third one through Saint-Mihiel, south (and then East) of Verdun. Meanwhile, the Coalition of Lorraine, Switzerland and Austria, to take back Guise and Bar-le-Duc, in French parts of Lorraine, had prepared some 10 000 men.
The Coalition had planned to move through Metz to get additionnal troops , which they didn't obtain, and supplies, which they did. As a consequence of this, the French Eastern force, led by Philippe de Crèvecoeur, met with the Coalition forces led by the Duke of Lorraine in Étain.
The French army was made of some 2500 Franc-archers, 3000 foot soldiers, and 500 lancers, and also included a dozen canons. On the other side the Coalition had 250 Lorrain knights, 7000 Swiss pikemen, 1000 Austrian soldiers (lansquenets) and 1500 missile troops. There was no light cavalry to speak of.
The French had seen the Lorrain troops arrive and knew they were outnumbered. Therefore, Philippe took his lancers and a few foot soldiers which he hid in a bush. When the Lorrain army arrived, he started firing the cannons. After a few minutes, the Coalition started firing back. He then left his infantry to go with his lancers shake up the Lorrain knights and the missile troops. Meanwhile French archers had started to "make it rain".
The lancer charge did badly shake up the Coalition cavalry and missile troops, but the Swiss charged and the infantry started fighting. When Philippe de Crèvecoeur returned, his infantry was in a really bad shape. He thus called a retreat.
The defeat at Étain was not a massacre nor a disaster for either side, and the Coalition took more casualties than the French - while they could not wield as much money as the French. However, it pointed out to a massive flaw - the Franc-archers were extremely disorderly, which had caused the damage to the French infantry.
The first consequence, obvious, is that the French had to return to Bar before doing anything else - but the Coalition had to reconcentrate, especially after a few attacks had come through Triers from Limbourg, a Burgondian province, on Sarre.
This also forced the French to reconsider their campaign in Luwembourg, as the Coalition was, after all, going to attack that year. While the Western force had to go on towards Luxembourg, the Center one had a very tempting prize under its eyes : Verdun. The Bishop of Verdun was asked if he had chosen with whom he would take sides : the King of France, the Duke in Nancy, or the Princess in Brussels. The Bishop chose France to avoid to have his city besieged and sacked. As a consequence, the French had enlarged their alliances in Lorraine. Meanwhile, the western force took Montmédy and settled there.
Annoyances in Artois and Flanders
The English, led by their king, Edward IV, had decided they would go to war for Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut. Well, at least to get the first two. Their first method was landing a large army in Calais unsuspiciously and use it to get a foothold, and then move towards their targets. Except Calais was nowhere near Hainaut, and it was way easier to reach Holland and Zeeland by sea. Hell! you needed to go by zee to reach Zeeland.
As a consequence, the English decided they would need a strong base from which to attack from when they would war the Burgondians.
This is why they started raiding and capturing cities near Calais. Their first target was Gravelines, in the Flanders, as it controled the mouth of the Aa which could be used to get faster to Ypern/Ypres. Just afterwards, considering supply issues, they went in a turning move after Boulogne sur mer, capturing Saint Omer in mid-June and taking Boulogne after a three-week siege. Whereas King Edward IV wasn't as ruthless as his ancestor Edward III, he still was displeased by seeing the city resist for so long. After all, the bulk of the French army could arrive pretty much anytime. Seing as the French weren't coming for him, he went to besiege Arras. But he was warned a "large force" was moving out of Lens when under Arras. So he moved to besiege Lens. A similar messenger told him that "the French King had arrived in Arras with his ost". And thus the two cities made the English king burn supplies uselessly for one month, before reinforcements arrived in large enough numbers to make the English move back to Calais.
The English were not the only annoyance. The Burgondians had reorganized despite several defeats such as Tournai, and were now making several inroads in French-occupied lands to free cities and liberate income to pay their mercenaries. Gand/Gent and Mons were the main cities that fell to the Burgondians, making the new frontline more linear.
Map of the different planned offensives :
Negociation is always useful
Louis the Spider was not the kind of man who would only let brutal force ratios apply. While France was able to crush any of its three enemies - England, Burgondy and the Coalition - one-handedly, it would probably be curb-stomped if all three of them allied to get rid of France so as to be left to squabble alone. For this, he had to take steps to weaken his enemies and strengthen France. One of them is having minor powers recognise the French claims are rightful. In June 1478, the County of Kleve and that of Montbéliard recognized French claims, and Montbéliard decided to support them.
The second action was getting papal approval. This was a little harder, but news of heavy-handed Burgundian behaviour in Liege and Utrecht did go in Louis's favor despite his lack of prominent virtues. This could only go better as time went by, thought the King.
And finally, raising allies against the Coalition was necessary, as they were a mostly defensive alliance. Varying the pressure could only reduce the probability that they can put up a sufficient joint force with the English or Burgondians. The obvious ally was Savoy, which had seen the Swiss recently raiding its lands of Vaud. In August of 1478, his sister Yolande de France, duchess dowager of Savoy and its regent, accepted to join the war against the promise of subsidies and of protecting her children, as her health was ailing. She immediately started raising Savoyard troops and recruiting mercenaries, but without effect until the end of the year.
Map of Europe at the end of 1478 :
Finally, it is worth noting that Jeanne de France, Louis XI's 14-year-old and handicapped daughter, can barely walk after she fell down stairs in the abbey of Lignières. Her marriage with Louis d'Orléans is cancelled after it is implied she might never bear children.
