My " armée de Picardie" (french army at Rocroi)

 

This page will present the photos of my French army for this battle of May 1643. No pictures of figurines for now (it is under construction, as well as its counterpart and French opponent).
You will find on this page the composition of the army and historical data.

A radio program evoking Condé's victory at Rocroi.

 

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Composition (rule DBA, according to extension 1500-1900)

1 x 3Cv  Cavalru, unde rthe duke of Enghein, future "grand Condé" (General)

2 x 4Pi    Pistoliers

1 x 4Kn  Cuirassiers, under Gassion

3 x 4Pk   Pikemen

4 x 4Sh   Handguners

1 x Art    Artillery

Figures picturess

- The infantry (Lien vers la page consacrée)

Regiment of Navarre Louis XIII

  The review of 18 May and the night of 18 to 19 May 1643.

In order to present this army, I rely on the quotation from Henri d'Orleans:"Louis de Bourbon was of moderate stature, slender, well proportioned, of delicate appearance, but muscular and broken in the exercises of the body, in the use of arms and the horse. The nascent mustache barely covered a rather thick lip; The mouth was large, the chin fleeing, the cheekbones protruding; The very arched profile exaggerated what is commonly called the Bourbon type; He had a superb forehead, his eyes dark blue, a little on the level of his head, but very beautiful, his penetrating gaze, and in his whole person a strange charm which captured and subdued. Let us follow him in this moving review, passed in the presence of the enemy's army in battle, on the eve of a day which may decide the fate of France.(...)

(...)La Motte Saint-Cyr presents to him the ancient dragoons of Richelieu, whom their new armaments has made known as fusiliers; It is the light troop par excellence; It flanks the extremity of our line; It lacks the hundred and twenty men whom Gassion has thrown into Rocroy. In this left-wing cavalry, which is finishing in order, the Marquis de Beauvau's Liégeois are shown beside the French squadrons of Guiche, La Ferte, Harcourt, others less known, and the Marolles regiment, one of the And already one of the best. Marolles, said the Brave, condemned to death after a famous duel, has just passed into exile ten years employed in serving France outside France; He is much appreciated by the Due d'Anguien, who sends him a friendly greeting and who also salutes for the last time the brilliant Earl of Ayen. Henri de Noailles was killed the next day at the head of the Guiche light-horses.(...)

(...)Behold, on the left of the infantry, the sombre flag of the "black bands," a remembrance of John de Medici and the wars of Italy. He floats in the first rank of "Piedmont," the most popular, the best trained of our regiments. No body practices both the tactics of the extended order and the musketeers deployed. The Spaniards nicknamed him El Bizarro, the valiant among the valiant, and they know him well; Because it was he who stopped their rise at Corbie in 1636; They have found it elsewhere; If he had been supported when he attacked the wood of La Marfee in 1641, or when the following year he defended the abbey of Honnecourt, the fate of these two days might have been different. Like the other French or Swiss old regiments, Piedmont has several companies detached in garrison, and superior officers employed as governors of places. The chief of corps, Gaspard de Coligny, whose name will often be involved in the life of our hero, is not present; The lieutenant-colonel, Puységur, who had been taken prisoner the year before, was still with the enemy; They are replaced by the first captain. All the infantry officers are in the rank; The mestres de camp and sergeant-majors are alone outside, on the side of their troops, on foot and spades in their hands.(...)

(...)Near Piedmont, the first of the "petits vieux," Rambure, whose name since Ivry is synonymous with bravery. These two regiments are almost always together. Rene de Rambure, the fourth mestre of this name, has just replaced his brother, killed at Honnecourt. The Duc d'Anguien then passes before the front of some less famous regiments, among whom we note that of the Count de Bussy-Rabutin, who does not serve during this campaign. In the center, in the place fixed by the ordinances, he finds the Scots and the Swiss; Among strangers, it is those whom the oldest brotherhood of arms unites to the French troops; The king has granted, or rather preserved to the former, the rank of the guards Molondin of Solothurn, is remarked by the fine appearance of his two battalions; The mestre de camp is an eminent maneuver. Then the Duke goes to see the troops of the third line, especially the gendarmes, who are the bottom and nerve of this reserve, handsome horses, brave horsemen, many of whom are his friends. Montcha, the handlebar of the queen's gendarmes, has the command of the six companies which form two squadrons....)

Cuirassiers de Gassion

(...)Having conversed with Sirot for a few moments on the part assigned to the reserve the next day, M. le Duc returned to the first line. La Fressinette, lieutenant-colonel, presents the regiment of Persan; The prince learned with sorrow that he had just been carried away by the mestre de camp, his friend, and one of the best infantry officers of the army, seriously wounded by a cannon-shot. "Picardie" has the "right of everything," it is the dean of the French infantry. In the recriminations which gave rise to the battle of Thionville, the conduct of this regiment had been severely condemned; He will recover brilliantly on May 19th. The mestre de camp, of Nangis, killed in 1644, and Maupertuis, lieutenant-colonel, killed a few months later, are present. "Picardy" is supported by "La Marine," created in 1636 and already ranked among "the old. It was the favorite body of Cardinal de Richelieu, who gave the command to a tried chief, the Marquis de la Trousse, the father of Mme de Sevigne's friend."

 (Source: Henri d'Orléans, La Première campagne de Condé, Revue des deux mondes, 3e période, tome 56, 1883 (pp. 721-750).

 

Jean de Gassion

Jean de Gassion is a highly experienced general. He served under the orders of the King of Sweden and is characterized by a temperament of sabreur whose dynamism does wonder at the head of the cavalry. He takes an important part) at the Battle of Rocroi. His military qualities are the only competitor of his great reputation in the field of love. The words of the court ladies at his place are very clear ("He was one of the most wicked courtiers of his age." At court many girls who had been pleased with him cajoled him and said to him: Monsieur, you have done me the finest things in the world. "" I have more joy than you have kissed me than if I have been given a hundred-thousand pounds».
Stéphanie Félicité comtesse de Genlis, Les annales de la vertu, ou, Histoire universelle, iconographique et littéraire: à l'usage des artistes et des jeunes littérateurs, et pour servir à l'éducation de la jeunesse,, vol. 2, maradam, 1806)

 Gassion's cuirassiers