Battle of the Spurs

The Battle of the Spurs or (Second) Battle of Guinegate took place on 16 August 1513. It formed a part of the War of the League of Cambrai of 1508 to 1516, during the Italian Wars. King Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian I were besieging the French town of Thérouanne in Artois (now Pas-de-Calais). Henry's camp was at Guinegate (present-day Enguinegatte). A large body of French heavy cavalry under Jacques de La Palice was covering an attempt by light cavalry to bring supplies to the besieged garrison. English and Imperial troops surprised and routed the French cavalry. The battle resulted in the precipitate flight and extensive pursuit of the French. During the pursuit, a number of notable French leaders and knights were captured. After the fall of Thérouanne, Henry VIII besieged and took Tournai.

Henry VIII joined the Holy League, as the League of Cambrai was also known, on 13 October 1511 with Venice and Spain to defend the Papacy from its enemies and France with military force. Henry promised to attack France at Guyenne, landing 10,000 men at Hondarribia in the Basque Country in June 1512. This army was conveyed by the admiral Edward Howard, and commanded by Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset. It remained at Bayonne till October supporting Ferdinand II of Aragon's action in the Kingdom of Navarre, though undersupplied and in poor morale. Maximilian joined the league in November. Louis XII of France hoped that Scotland would aid France against England.

In May 1513 English soldiers began to arrive in number at Calais to join an army commanded by George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Steward of the Household. Shrewsbury was appointed Lieutenant-General on 12 May, John Hopton commanded the troop ships. On 17 May Henry announced to the Cinque Ports and Edward Poynings, Constable of Dover Castle, that he would join the invasion in person, and had appointed commissioners to requisition all shipping. In Henry's absence across the sea (ad partes transmarinas), Catherine of Aragon would rule England and Wales as Rector and Governor (Rectrix et Gubernatrix).

The Chronicle of Calais recorded the names and arrivals of Henry's aristocratic military entourage from 6 June onwards. At the end of the month the army set out for Thérouanne. Shrewsbury commanded the vanguard of 8,000, and Charles Somerset, Lord Herbert the rearward of 6,000. Henry VIII sailed from Dover, and arrived at Calais on 30 June, with the main grouping of 11,000 men. The army was provided by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as Almoner, and comprised several different types of martial forces including cavalry, artillery, infantry, and longbowmen using arrows with hardened steel heads, designed to penetrate armour more effectively. Eight hundred German mercenaries marched in front of Henry.

Shrewsbury set up a battery and dug mines towards the town's walls, but made little progress against the defending garrison of French and German soldiers in July. The town was held for France by Antoine de Créquy, sieur de Pont-Remy who returned fire until the town surrendered, and the English called one distinctive regular cannon shot the "whistle." Reports of setbacks and inefficiency reached Venice. On the way to Thérouanne two English cannon called "John the Evangelist" and the "Red Gun" had been abandoned, and French skirmishing hampered their recovery with loss of life. Edward Hall, the chronicle author, mentions the role of Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex in this operation and the advice given by Rhys ap Thomas. An Imperial agent of Margaret of Savoy wrote that two "obstinate men" govern everything, these were Charles Brandon, Viscount Lisle who he called the "Grand Esquire" and the Almoner Wolsey.

Henry camped to the east of Thérouanne at a heavily defended position, described by English chronicles as environed with artillery, such as "falcons, serpentines, cast hagbushes, tryde harowes, and spine trestles (bolt firing tarasnice)", with Henry's field accommodation consisting of a wooden cabin with an iron chimney, with large tents of blue water-work, yellow, and white fabric, topped by the King's beasts, the Lion, Dragon, Greyhound, Antelope, and Dun Cow.

The Emperor Maximilian came to Aire-sur-la-Lys in August, with a small force (either a small escort that cannot be called an army or about 1,000 to 4,000 horsemen, depending on the sources). Henry donned light armour and dressed his entourage in cloth-of gold and came to Aire on 11 August, where Maximilian's followers were still dressed in black in mourning for his wife Bianca Maria Sforza. Henry hosted Maximilian at a tent with a gallery of cloth-of-gold at his camp over the weekend beginning 13 August. According to the chronicles, the weather on the day of the meeting was the "foulest ever." News of Henry's meeting with Maximilian in person delighted Catherine of Aragon, who wrote to Wolsey that it was an honour for Henry and would raise Maximilian's reputation; he would be "taken for a nother man that he was befor thought".

Louis XII of France determined to break the siege. In July a force of 800 Albanians commanded by Captain Fonterailles pushed through the besieger's lines and successfully delivered gunpowder and supplies including bacon to the gates of the town, leaving 80 soldiers as reinforcements. Fonterailles was helped by covering artillery fire from the town. Reports sent to Venice mentioned 300 English casualties or more, and Fonterailles' statement that the town could hold out till the feast day of the Nativity of the Virgin, on 8 September. The Venetians were aware that their French sources might have been misrepresenting the situation to gain their support.