A Richard for All Seasons
France on Fire
1488
In March of 1488 Maximilian von Habsburg, King of the Romans, invaded Flanders with 3,000 men. In quick succession he took Ghent, Bruges, and Lille. His stated purpose was to support Francis II of Brittany in his struggle against France, and ensure the independence of Brittany from France. To this end Francis had secretly promised Maximilian his daughter Anne's [1] hand in marriage in return for protection from France.
In April 1488 King Richard III of England crossed the Channel, leaving a pregnant (yet again) Joanna behind, with his fleet and with his army, 4,000 strong. Landing at Cherbourg he proceeded along the coast to Rennes, where he and Francis II conferred, and agreed on two major points. That Brittany must remain independent of France, and that French royal power must not be allowed to grow. Richard had several reasons to embark on this costly venture. Firstly he simply didn't like France, for starters they were England's traditional enemy and they had also been responsible for the Welsh rebellions, for financing the invasions of Henry Tudor the Welshman (ended at Bosworth, of course), the poorly planned Buckingham Rebellion of 1483, and even for Henry VI's invasion in 1470 that had led to his brief second reign. Maximilian had asked for Richard's aid, and French ships had been raiding seaside towns and reliably preying on English merchant ships for a couple of years. It was time to end it.
Nor was Richard to bear the entire burden of his own expedition. While Maximilian's realm was quite wealthy, he was having troubles in the Low Countries at this point, but Richard's brother-in-law John II of Portugal was able to be more charitable. John loved his sister Joanna and was glad to help Richard, since trade between the two nations flourished. He also didn't mind helping his cousin Maximilian [2], and so he sent money, ships, and guns to each of his allies.
From Lille, Maximilian proceeded southward, devastating French Picardy, then across Normandy and on to Rennes. There he rendezvoused with Francis II and Richard, and together with their army of 10,000 they moved southeastward to France's crown lands of Anjou, daring Charles VIII and his sister-regent Anne to attack. To this end Charles and Anne sent their able general Louis II de la Tremoille against the allies with 12,000 seasoned men. There was much animosity especially between the French royal veterans and the Bretons, who had a tradition of fighting on and off for centuries, and in battle Tremoille failed to control his men fully. The Battle of Laval was won by Richard and his allies on May 13th, with 1,000 allied dead and 4,000 French dead. Tremoille withdrew to Angers and requested reinforcements.
Charles VIII's regent Anne then ordered Duke Louis II of Orleans and Count Charles of Angouleme, until recently so instrumental in rebellion against French royal power in the Mad War, to support Tremoille. The two noblemen, fearing royal retribution lest they obey, led 3,000 reinforcements to Angers, where Tremoille decided on an offensive strategy. Anjou was in France's royal domain, and could absorb a lot of damage. He would leave the enemy there and go into Brittany, to ravage Francis II's lands and force him out of the fight. Tremoille first withdrew to Le Mans, then moved northward to Alencon, the allied force following him all the way. Finally he struck for Rennes, and the allies were forced to attack lest Francis II be forced to bow out of the conflict.
Tremoille wished his own lieutenants to command his flanks, but Duke Louis II and Count Charles pushed him into letting them command. This proved to be Tremoille's only mistake, and yet it cost him both victory and his life. Tremoille's center performed spectacularly, and did the most damage on the allied forces, but the indecisiveness of Duke Louis II and Count Charles allowed the allied wings to triumph and then surround Tremoille. The Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, as it came to be known, was a costly but solid victory for Richard III and his allies. It was fought on June 30th, 1488 [3] and resulted in 3,000 allied dead and 7,000 French dead.
Charles VIII was hard pressed to absorb the loss of such a seasoned, talented general. With the death of Tremoille and royal power on the decline for now, France's nobles began to make rebellious noises, and Charles was forced to increase their rights in return for troops to fight the allies. It was quite an irony that his royal power decreased after the end of his regency.
Meanwhile, the allies moved back into French territory and continued their less than friendly activities. Anjou fell town by town, and Francis II, with Richard and Maximilian's signatures and backing, sent frequent messages to King Charles offering peace in exchange for a guarantee that he wouldn't interfere, nor allow any vassal, agent, or employee to interfere, with the Breton succession and Anne's marital status and children. Charles, gathering an army at Paris, grew increasingly incensed with each letter, and departed for Anjou with his army of about 13,000 on August 2nd, against Anne's advice to wait for his royal troops from Guyenne and Languedoc.
At this time the allied forces were besieging Alencon and ravaging the countryside around that city. The Duke of Alencon, Rene, refused to join their war against French royal authority, so they were stuck there for the time being. Hearing of the allied presence there, Charles VIII struck for the city with his army and arrived on the wrong side of the Sarthe River, then began to cross the one bridge in the area.
Richard had used scouts and lookouts extensively, so he knew of the French army and where they must cross. He hid the bulk of the allied forces nearby and simply waited until a little over half the French had crossed, in the morning of August 18th. Then he struck, first with a hail of arrows and gunfire, and even a radical cannon blast that went wide of its mark, then a charge of footmen.
The result was a massacre of half of the French army. Without any organization to fight, men crushed each other to death or fell into the river and drowned to escape the allied army. Any who tried to escape the flanks and flee into the fields and cross country were quickly hunted down and dispatched by Richard's fleet scouts. The body of the French knights, rallying around their King, fought the hardest and caused the gravest English casualties. At the end of the battle the allied 9,000 (bolstered by reinforcements from Brittany) were down to 6,000, the French knights having done most of the damage.
Laying about himself left and right, leaving no doubt as to who he was by his golden crown and elaborate vestments, Richard led the fight on into high noon. He was hammering a young French knight mercilessly with his mace when something heavy slammed into his side. Reeling, letting his mace (hanging by a strap to his wrist) fall, Richard grabbed the reins and hooked a leg over the saddle as he fell. Heaving himself up with a tight groan, sweat pouring into his eyes, he turned and only saw blurs. He breathed in and pain stabbed at him. Looking down he saw the end of a lance wedged in his armor, but no blood. So there will be a nasty bruise and broken ribs, he took a split second to think worriedly, before he grabbed the handle of his mace and swung with all his might at his unseen attacker. He heard the satisfying crunch of a helmet and skull caving in, felt the vibration up his arm.
The rider slid from his mount and Richard looked about, seeking a new enemy. He spurred his horse toward a knot of Frenchmen fighting a group of his own men, and joined the fray, but the French knights' fighting was halfhearted and soon they actually surrendered. "Cowards! Fight for your young fool king!" Richard roared, glaring at them and turning to survey the rest of the field. To his surprise, fighting continued in fierce knots but otherwise the French continued surrendering. "What is the meaning of this?" The fighting dwindled away as men shouted for silence, looking at and moving toward a figure on the ground. Richard then stared with shock at the armor of the horseman whose helmet he had crushed, who lay quite still on the ground. It was King Charles! Richard sat astride his horse in silence as Francis II, Maximilian, and Thomas Howard pounded toward him. Dismounting swiftly, with a wince as he slipped in the blood and guts of men and horses, Lord Constable and Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard lifted Charles's visor and stared into dull eyes.
"King Charles is dead," he stated flatly in a loud, emotionless voice.
Bear with me, I've just learned how to make these not seven minutes ago
[1] OTL Duchess of Brittany, wife of Maximilian (briefly), Charles VIII, and Louis XII
[2] Maximilian's mother Eleanor of Portugal was sister to John II's father Alfonso V of Portugal
[3] "Coincidentally" (
) Charles VIII's 18th birthday, and the official end of his regency
