Battle of Guinegate (1479)

Battle of Guinegate (1479)
Part of the War of the Burgundian Succession
Early 16th century depiction of the battle by Wolf Traut
Date 7 August 1479 Location Guinegatte, County of Artois Result Burgundian victory
Belligerents
Valois	Burgundian State
Commanders and leaders
Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes	Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg Engelbert of Nassau Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont Philip of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein
Strength
c. 16,000 (not counting cannoneers)[1]–c. 20,000 men in total[2] 4,000 (2,000 heavy cavalry and 2,000 light cavalry)[1]–10,800 cavalry[2] 8,000 regular archers[2] 12,000 infantry (including archers; mounted archers also fought on foot)[1]	c. 16,000[1]–c. 23,000 men in total[2] 1,650 (825 heavy cavalry plus 825 light cavalry)[1]–4,950 cavalry (including mounted archers)[2] 300 English archers plus 3,000 archers, crossbowmen, arquebusiers and coleuvriniers.[1] c. 11,000 pikemen;[1] or 11,000 foot soldiers with close-combat weapons;[a]or 2,475 lance infantry (including archers) and an unspecified number of contingents of Flemish militia pikemen[2]
Casualties and losses
1,300 dead (probably exaggerated)[2]	5,000 dead[2]

The First Battle of Guinegate took place on 7 August 1479. King Louis XI's French troops, led by Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes (who had been a commander under Charles the Bold but defected to the French side after the latter's death in 1477), were defeated by the Burgundians, led by Archduke (later Emperor) Maximilian of Habsburg. The battle was the first in which the innovative Swiss pike square formation was used by a power that was not natively Swiss.^[3]

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