| Battle of Lens | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Thirty Years' War | |||||||
 The Battle of Lens. Galerie des Batailles | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of France[1] |
 Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Prince de Condé | Leopold Wilhelm | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
16,000 18 guns |
18,000 38 guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,500 dead or wounded |
3,000 dead or wounded 5,000 captured | ||||||
| |||||
The Battle of Lens. Contemporary illustration, oil on canvas.
The Battle of Lens (20 August 1648) was a French victory under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé against the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). It was the war's last major battle.
Lens is a fortified city in the historic region of Flanders, today a major city in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France. The city had been captured by the French in 1647. The nobility rebelled against the leadership of Cardinal Mazarin, known as the Fronde, leading the Spanish to perceive an opportunity to retake Lens and possibly gain ground.
The Prince de Condé rushed from Catalonia to Flanders and an army was cobbled together from Champagne, Lorraine as well as Paris. The French army was 16,000 men (more than half were cavalry) and 18 guns. The Spanish army was larger, comprising 18,000 men (also more than half cavalry) and 38 guns. The armies drew up, but the Spanish were on high ground and Condé decided not to attack. As the French retired, the Spanish cavalry skirmished with the French rear guard and the engagement escalated until the armies were fully engaged. The Spanish infantry broke the Gardes Françaises regiment, but the superior French cavalry were able to defeat their counterparts and envelop the center.
References[]
- ↑ George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana, The American Cyclopaedia, New York, 1874, p. 250, "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis...". *[1] The original Banner of France was strewn with fleurs-de-lis. *[2]:on the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)."[3] from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica: "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour."
The original article can be found at Battle of Lens and the edit history here.