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B21037 The stratagems of war, or, A collection of the most celebrated practices and wise sayings of the great generals in former ages written by Sextus Julius Frontinus, one of the Roman consuls ; now English'd, and enlarged with a new collection of the most noted strategems and brave exploits of famous and modern generals ... by M.D.A.; Strategematica. English Frontinus, Sextus Julius.; D'Assigny, Marius, 1643-1717. 1686 (1686) Wing D287; Wing F2244A; ESTC R4210 174,765 364

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so that the Prince was never able to force him to a Fight And when all his Forage and Provisions were spent he was driven by that means to the necessity of departing out of the Country into Germany again CHAP. XLIX Of certain times convenient to fight an Enemy and other times wherein it is Wisdom to refuse a Battel IF an Armies Reputation depends wholly upon a speedy success as in many cases If the Enemy be gathering together greater Forces and expects a speedy supply of Horse or Foot If the Country be so at his devotion that the longer he delays the stronger he grows or if Victuals or Money begin to fail then a General should seek all fit opportunities for a speedy Encounter while the Enemy is not too strong and his own party in a condition and resolution to give Battel But if a General hath more Forces coming into him or if he knows that by delaying he may shorten or cut off his Enemies Provisions or if Sickness and Diseases do daily lessen the number of his Enemies then by delaying he may do as much service as by venturing a Battel At the Isle of Rhee the Freuch Army would never offer to fight with the English till they perceived them in a confusion by reason of their orders to Embark But they always followed them close at the Heels till this opportunity was offered to them and then with all their Forces of Horse and Foot they fell furiously upon the English and cut off a great many Likewise in the War between Don John of Austria and the Estates of the Netherlands he endeavour'd to fight the Army commanded by Count Bossute because he understood that Duke Cassimire with 5000 Horse and 6000 Foot with other Forces were coming into the Earls Camp within a few days But the Earl would by no means suffer his Men to venture out of their Trenches CHAP. L. How Lewis King of France stopt the Assistance which the Dukes of Burgundy and Britany were going to send to the Duke of Normandy THe French King understanding that these three Dukes had made a League Offensive and Defensive against him their common Enemy and having an intent to assault and fight them single When he led his Army into Normandy he feigned Letters from that Duke to the Duke of Burgundy signifying that he was loath to run the hazard of a War that he had accepted of the Kings offers and concluded an agreement with him for 60000 Franks and therefore he desired him to forbear sending of his Forces to his Assistance as had been formerly promised These Letters the King caused to be sent by an Herald to the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany who though they suspected them to be false yet because they received a confirmation from the Contents from other hands but by the procurement of the King they caused their Armies to be speedily disbanded By this means the King obtained by policy what otherwise he could not well get by Force without the hazard of his Army for he having thus weakned his Enemies made with them what agreement he thought convenient and they were forced to yield to his Terms of peace CHAP. LI. A Policy used by a French General to destroy the Neapolitan Army strongly Encamped WHen there was a dispute between Ferand King of Naples and Charles King of France about the Crown of that Kingdom Ferand understanding that the French Army was too potent for him to encounter with only with his faint-hearted Neapolitans resolved to entrench himself between certain Hills The French General finding him in that advantagious Post that he did not dare to meddle with him divided his Army secretly in the night and sent a strong Party round about to assault King Ferand behind whilst he in the Interim with small Parties skirmished and kept them in continual play At last when the party of Men which were to surround the Neapolitan Army and to fall upon their Backs were come to the appointed place the French assaulted the Enemy behind and before entred their Trenches and routed them Xerxes in the same manner recovered the Streights of Thermopyle in Greece defended by a handful of Lacedemonians under Leonidas their Captain CHAP. LII How Prince Maurice took the Town of Gertrudenberg WHen the Prince of Orange besieged Gertrudenberg by Sea and Land he understood by a Prisoner taken from the Enemy that once every day the Governour with the chief Magistrates were wont to go up privately to take a view of the Hollanders Trenches and of the Country round about that they might see for an opportunity to sally out upon them immediately he took advantage of this Information and secretly ordered a Gentleman of his Army to run away to the Town under pretence that he had murdered a Man and therefore fled to save his Life The Gentleman according to appointment discover'd to the Princes Army by playing upon a Pipe when the Governour was in the Steeple The great Guns being then ready and waiting for the purpose were all immediately discharged at one time and battered down the Steeple killed the Governour with the Magistrates which as soon as the Prince suspected he caused a sudden assault to be made and carried the Town for want of a Governour and Orders to defend it For such a Consternation that must needs happen at the unexpected destruction of a Chieftain either in an Army or in a Garrison the Soldiers Hearts must needs be broken and before orders can be given to supply his place by another the Enemy hath a great advantage upon the party that he commands CHAP. LIII How the States of Holland took the Town of Breda by surprize THey hired a certain Master of a Boat who was wont to carry into the City Provisions of Bread and Beer and other necessaries for maintenance of the Garrison In this Boat they stored a Company of Stout and Valiant Gentlemen and covered them over with Turves and other things The Boatsman according to his custom brings strong Liquors upon the Guard makes them all drink plentifully till they were drunk whilst they were in that Condition he passeth the Guard and enters into the Town with his Company of Men who immediately gave notice to their Friends without by casting up a Ball of Wild-fire to fall on A Gate was broken open for them then did they disperse themselves about the Town killed all that resisted and mastered the Guard Such surprizes have been made with Carts full of Corn Hay c. wherein have been hid Soldiers and sometimes a Cart hath been purposely broken and out of order at the Gate of a Town to hinder the shutting of it and a party of the Enemy hath then set upon and entred the Town CHAP. LIV. How the Garrison of the Skonse at Zutphen was surprized THe Spaniards to strengthen the more the City of Zutphen in Gelderland had built a very strong Skonse in such a place as hindred any Enemy from making their approaches
Henry the VI. of England After this Kings overthrow the Lords sent to King James to desire him to disband his Army and not to molest the English Borders threarning him that if he did otherwise they would meet him in the Field He answered the Messengers That he was resolved to take the Town and Castle of Roxburg which he had besieged and that he was not to be driven away from thence by Words As King James was storming the Castle of Roxburg he gave fire to one of the great Guns himself and was suddenly struck dead The Queen then in the Army desired the Lords not to be dejected by the Kings death nor to forsake the Siege and told them that she would provide another King for them her Son James then about nine years old who was brought into the Camp and saluted King by the Army who never left off till they had taken the Castle and demolished it Thus this Couragious Queen undaunted at the unexpected death of her Husband continued in the Field to hearten the Soldiers and force the Enemy to surrender this strong Castle to the Scots King James the III. succeeding to his Father wanted not his Courage though he suffered himself to be too much govern'd by his passions which brought him at last to an untimely end To him succeeded James the IV. who in the year 1500 proclaimed a War against England in favour of the French and sent a great Fleet to their Assistance He was so resolved that when he was disswaded from a Battel with the English because of his small and weak number he declared to the Earl of Angus he would fight them if they were one hundred thousand strong The Scots according to the example of their King fought stoutly and though there were 5000 of them killed they slew as many of the English But the King lost his life in this Battel of Fluddon Field He was so zealous for the Christian Religion that he obtained from the Pope the stile of Protector of the Faith James the V. a Child succeeds his Father under several Regents At last the distractions of the Kingdom forced the Nobility to invite over from France John Stuart Duke of Albany 1514. to take upon him the Government of the King and Kingdom He was a wise and moderate man but much addicted to the French faction and interest He was a Nephew of King James the III. by his Brother Alexander It was the unhappiness of this and several of the former Kings to come to their Crown before they had knowledge and ability to bear them therefore divisions and factions in the State between great and Ambitious Men did miserably tear that poor Kingdom of Scotland and caused many calamities to fall upon the innocent Inhabitants When King James the V. came to be of Age he visited with a fleet all the Islands and punished such disorderly Rebels as regarded not his Predecessors commands He went over into France and marryed first Magdalen the French Kings Daughter but she dyed suddenly He marryed next with Mary of the House of Guise of whom was born that excellent Queen Mary of Scotland whose Rebellious Subjects and over-jealous Kinswoman brought her after much affliction and a long imprisonment to an undeserved Death She was conveyed into France and marryed to the Dolphin and her mother declared Regent in Scotland About this time happened great troubles all over that Kingdom by the bringing in of the Protestant Reformation which was opposed by the Queen Regent and her French Faction with the Roman Clergy but much encouraged by the People the Gentry and Nobility and especially by James a Bastard Son of James the V. who leaving the command of his Cloyster was created by his Sister Queen Mary Earl of Murrey Queen Elizabeth of England was not wanting to the Protestant party in Scotland she sent them both Men and Money and by the assistance of the English the French were driven out of Scotland Queen Mary after the death of her Husband the French King returns by shipping to Scotland where she found the Religion of the Country changed by an Act of Parliament and the Roman Faith abolished Though the Queen had the liberty of the Mass in her own Chappel the furious Zeal of the reformed party was scandalous and unsufferable for they offered many affronts to the Queens Domesticks of the Roman persuasion Therefore to strengthen her self against a contrary faction she calls home Mathew Stuart Earl of Lenox out of England where he had lived in Exile This Noble Man brought with him a Son named Henry commonly called the Lord Darly to the Court of Scotland where as soon as the Queen fixed her Eyes upon him she chose him for her Husband and dignified him with the Dukedom of Rothesay and Earldom of Ross to make him a fitter match for a Queen He was a person of admirable and comely presence and a zealous Roman Catholick After he was marryed and proclaimed King many of the Nobility grew discontented and fell into several parties labouring to breed a difference between the King and Queen which they found means to effect after the King had caused David Riz her French Secretary to be violently carryed away from the Queens presence and murdered she being then big with Child Afterwards she was brought to bed in Edinburg Castle of a Son named James who after the decease of Queen Elizabeth united both Kingdoms and put an end to the quarrels of both Nations The Queens Husband was afterwards inhumanely murdered by Earl Bothwel and other Conspirators The distressed Queen after many hazards and troubles flies for shelter into England where instead of a Sanctuary she finds a Prison and Death King James though Crowned young and governed by his Unkle Murrey proved one of the most excellent Princes for Wisdom Learning and all other Princely Endowments that ever any Nation was blessed with He was first govern'd by his Unkle Murrey but he being shot by one Hamilton in the Streets of Lithgo and killed Mathew Lenox the young Kings Grandfather was made Regent of Scotland during his Minority but he being also killed at Sterlin the Earls Morton and Mar were appointed to succeed But when the King was twelve years of Age he took upon him the Government and was assisted by twelve Noble Men as Councellours Then his Kinsman Esmerus Stuart the Son of John the Brother of Mathew late Earl of Lenox came over from France to visit his Cousin King James and was by him highly advanced made Lord Chamberlain of Scotland Captain of Dunbritton and Duke of Lenox His Father for his extraordinary Valour at the Battel of Baugy against the English had the Noble seat of Aubigny bestowed upon him by the French King Charles the VII King James met with many difficulties and snares out of which Providence and his own discretion led him safe to the Crown of England to the great Joy and Happiness of both Kingdoms He marryed with Anne Daughter
to the King of Denmark and by her had two Sons Prince Henry who was the great expectation of the Enlish Nation but suddenly snatcht away by death Prince Charles and the Lady Elizabeth marryed to the Prince Palatine of the Rhine Prince Charles Successour to his Father and Heir of three flourishing Kingdoms after many Battels where he shewed his undaunted Courage as well as Piety in his Afflictions was by a most unnatural most devillish and unparalell'd Rebellion murdered by his Subjects Never any Prince was better qualified for a Crown never any more patient in distress Instead of the Imperial Crown of these Realms Providence bestowed upon him the Crown of Martyrdom and his memory will ever continue precious in the remembrance of all his Loyal Subjects He was too much a Christian to continue long in Peace Governour over such a tumultuous People This Nation hath been happy many years in excellent wise and valiant Princes who have protected us and our Estates from forrein and intestine Enemies Our late King Charles the II. of ever blessed Memory was drawn into the Field betimes to contend with Cruelty Rebellion and Tyranny when to the loss of his Patrimony was added the loss of so good a Father and the Banishment of his Friends his excellent Courage was not dejected but under so many aggravations of Sorrow under so many pressing and grievous Afflictions as were sent to welcom him into the World he endeavour'd to recover by his Valour and Conduct his Kingdoms and Crowns In Scotland when he was to struggle with a seditious and troublesome Generation and was to encounter with a Victorious Army of Enemies his Wisdom preserved his divided party from that ruine into which they were falling by their needless Factions and at the unhappy Battel of Worcester King Charles shewed himself to be a wise and diligent Commander and an undaunted Soldier by the confession of his greatest Enemies But that which this brave Prince attempted to obtain by his just Arms Providence procured to him by a Miracle I mean the Restauration of the Royal Family to their Dignities and Estates without any effusion of Bloud when there were so many Enemies both at home and abroad to oppose them In this short summary of the Heroes of the Royal Family I cannot but mention our present King James the II. whose great Courage undaunted Spirit and Noble Mind hath been sufficiently tryed both at at home and abroad both by Sea and Land against Foreign Enemies in the Field and furious and unreasonable Combitations of sactious Spirits within the Kingdom Victory and success hath always attended upon him and may this most Excellent Prince long continue over us in all prosperity and happiness and may his Enemies lick the dust CHAP. XLIV Of the Conquest of France by King Henry the V. and several other Remarkable Passages in that famous War KIng Henry the V. for the recovering of his Right to the Crown of France which was denyed to him upon the pretence of the Salick Law sent over the Duke of Exeter his Unkle with several Noble Men and 500 Horse to Charles the VI. of France to demand the Crown and with it the Princess Catherine the French Kings Daughter The Dolphin in contempt of King Henry's youthful days sent him in scorn a Tunn of Tennis Balls to play with The King was so sensible of this scornful present that he swore That he would toss so many Iron Balls in France that the strongest Rackets in that Kingdom should not be able to return them back It is no Wisdom to provoke the weakest Enemy nor safe to contemn the meanest Power for that which is wanting in Ability may be made good by diligence and policy King Henry for the obtaining of his purpose transported over an Army into France Harflew was besieged and within six Weeks taken The Soldiers had liberty to plunder it A sudden distemper happened in the English Army which destroyed many of the stoutest Soldiers who are as much subject to death in their Tents as in the midst of the Enemies Swords and the showres of shot The King left a Garrison in Harflew and resolved by land to march to Chalice with Two Thousand Horse and Thirteen Thousand Archers The Dolphin with above Thirty Thousand at Rohan resolved in Council to sight the English At Agencourt the Constable of France came to the Dolphin with Ten Thousand Horse and some Foot The French as their manner is boasted of the Victory before they had got it but they presumed so much upon their numbers that they thought to swallow up the English King Henry had wisely provided all things for a Fight He had got a number of Stakes strengthned with sharp Irons at each end with them he fences in his Foot that they might find in case of necessity some defence against the multitudes of the Enemies Horse The French Army was divided into three Battalions the first consisting of 16000. was lead by the Constable the second by the Dukes of Alanson and Barr the third was commanded by the Earls of Mark and Damp. The English Vanguard was brought up by the Duke of York the main Battel in which were the strongest Bill-men by the King assisted by the Duke of Glocester the Earls of Oxford and Suffolk The Rear was marshalled by the Duke of Exeter the Kings Unkle An Ambush of English Archers was placed within a new hedge to receive and surprize the French at their first approach They did such good service with their showres of Arrows which fell upon the Van of the French Army consisting for the most part of Horse that they were overthrown and helped to trample upon and disorder their Foot In that hurly burly the English Bill-men fell upon them with such fury that they were forced to fly but at the coming in of the French main Battel the English retreated in order within their Stakes and where then followed by the French Horse with more hast than discretion for they found themselves so entangled that many of the most furious lost their Lives Here the King fought hand to hand with the Duke of Alanson and beat him down and would have spared his Life had not his Guard killed him before he was aware When the two first Battalions were overthrown the third had no stomack to go on to the charge and though they were the greater number they fled and craved quarter which was granted but when a dreadful noise was heard from the English Camp occasioned by 600 Horse that fell in to plunder the English behind their Backs the King imagining that another Army was coming on to assault him and that so many thousand Prisoners might rise up and endanger his Army in the Rear commanded them all to be flain for which he ever after was heartily sorry In this Battel sell the Constable and Admiral of France the Dukes of Alanson Brabant and Barre many Earls 25 Barons 8000 Knights Esquires and Gentlemen and many
was his common custom as soon as he had pitched his Tents to cause a white Banner to be displayed on the top of his Pavillion and there to remain two or three days If the Town or City did yield whilst that was up the Inhabitants were to expect good Quarter and the preservation of their Lives and Estates without the least Injury but if they resisted obstinately his offers of Grace and would try his Strength he did then put up a Red Banner which did threaten them with Death and the loss of many Lives After that if they did not open to him their Gates he commanded his Black Banner to be hung out after which he would never admit of any parley nor conditions of a surrender but was wont to command that Town with all its Inhabitants to be destroyed with Fire and Sword This custom of his struck such a Terror into the minds of all his Enemies that after one or two Towns had experienced this Severity none had the confidence to withstand him but readily yielded at his first Summons CHAP. LX. How the Governour of Croizon obliged his Soldiers to defend themselves and their Fort when they were ready to yield THis Fort was hardly besieged by General Norrice and several Breaches being made in the Walls the Soldiers within began to talk of a surrender The Governour a very stout and ingenious Man to prevent the dishonour of a base and cowardly yielding caused a Post to be set in every breach made by the Enemies Canon and to it chained all such persons as were willing to yield or had behaved themselves cowardly but with their Weapons in their hands that they might if they pleased defend themselves and their Castle By this Policy he forced all the rest to stand stoutly to their Arms and saved both himself and Fort from the Enemies Power CHAP. LXI How the Lord Willoughby prevented the Siege of Bergen-op-Zone whereof he was Governour when the Duke of Parma began to besiege it AFter the loss of the Spanish Fleet in 1588. the Duke of Parma who was ready with a numerous Army for the Invasion of England but being hindred from that design by the unexpected ruine of the Invincible Armado he employed all his Forces against the Towns of the Netherlands This of Bergen was one of the first that he endeavour'd to win As he was considering of the method to be used because the Town was fortified both by Art and Nature and was guarded by a strong Castle which was first to be mastered before the City could be taken secret Letters were brought to him to give him to understand that a certain Spaniard kept a Prisoner in the City had contracted Friendship with two English Men a Captain and an Ensign and perswaded them for a Sum of Money to betray the Castle and City to the Spaniards They according to their Duty discovered the whole plot to the Lord Willougby who designing to make advantage of this business for the destruction of the Spanish Army ordered them to proceed on and promise the accomplishment of the Treason which was to be effected in this manner they were to perswade for a sum of Money some of the chief Captains to open the Gates at night for them and a party of Spanish Soldiers who should secure the strongest and most considerable part of the Town The Spaniards being come according to appointment one of the Officers went out to them and offered himself to be bound hand and foot for their greater assurance At his approach before the Gates they were instantly opened and when so many were entred that the Guards could easily Master the Lord Willougby let down the Port-Cullisses and gave such as were hastning in such a Volley of small and great Shot that several hundreds were killed of the Spaniards The Treacherous Officer escaped in the hurly burly and saved himself from such as guarded him for they were more sollicitous how to save thir own lives than to destroy his At the return of the Spanish Army which was come to take the Town the Sea being high and the Air very dark there were a great many that for want of knowing the right way fell into the Water and were found drowned the next morning There were so many killed of the Dukes Army that he was forced the next day to raise his Siege and depart for that time CHAP. LXII How Ferand King of Naples won a Gity and Castle from the French FErand understanding that the King of France had fought a great Battel with the Venetians and Millanoys near Fernon considered with himself how he might make an advantage of the Kings absence and hazard for the re-taking of his lost Kingdom He had some Troops on foot ready at command with them he marches to the City of Naples at such a time as the Issue of the Fight could not well be known and sent his Summons to the Governour of the Castle to deliver it to him together with this false news That there had been a Battel fought at Fernon wherein their King was killed and the French utterly routed The credulous Governour believing the Messenger because he knew that there had been a Fight but never had any certain Intelligence before and fearing lest he should anger the King and make him less willing to grant Honourable Conditions to him and his party if he should obstinately hold out and oblige him by Compulsion he yielded up his Castle and City into the Kings power which occasioned the loss of the whole Realm from the French CHAP. LXIII How Mahomet Bassa concealed the Death of Soliman at the Siege of Sigeth in Hungary from his Army near Two Months until his Successor was come into the Camp and the Town taken WHen Soliman the Magnificent was dead before Sigeth in Hungary the great Bassa caused him to be put in a Horse-Litter as if he had been only troubled with the Gout and obliged the Phisitians to go to and fro with their Physick as if they had him in cure to hide his Death from the mutenous Janizaries who would have taken advantage of the Interregnum to have plundred the Christians and Jews and perhaps have broken up the Siege Yet he could not conceal this death long but they had a Jealousie that the Bassa dealt not fairly with them therefore to satisfie them he promised the next day that they should see their Emperour himself alive for that purpose he cloathed the Corps in its Imperial Robes and placed it in a Chair of State at the end of a long Gallery with a little Boy behind him who was to move secretly the Emperours hand and to lift it up to his Head as if he had therewith stroakt his Beard as it seems was his usual custom The Soldiers seeing this at a distance off imagined him to be yet alive and departed very well satisfied for that time Thus the subtile Bassa concealed his death from his Army and Guards about Forty days more