Battle of Dormans

The Battle of Dormans was a battle during the 5th War of Religion in France. It occurred near the village of Dormans, more precisely between Tréloup and Verneuil, on 10 October 1575. It was an encounter between royal troops commanded by Henry, 3rd Duke of Guise and a body of German reiters recruited by the Protestants, notably the English Protestants and the Malcontents (duc d'Alençon) led by Thoré, the younger brother of the maréchal de Montmorency and of Henri comte de Damille.

The inhabitants of Dormans had destroyed the wooden bridge linking the village to the other bank of the River Marne before the battle. Guise routed the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others and receiving the nickname "Balafré", the same as his father, following a wound from an arquebus shot to his right cheek. The results of this victory were negated by the attack of John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern, son of Frederick III, Count Palatine of the Rhine, which soon menaced Paris.