, before they could be
quieted, the duke had made up for his considerable detour, and overtook
the Protestants a short distance beyond Moncontour. Coligny, having given
command of the right wing to Count Louis of Nassau, interposed the left,
of which he himself assumed command, between the main body and the enemy,
hoping to get off with a mere skirmish.[722] In this he was disappointed.
Attacked in force, his troops made a sturdy resistance. The fight
resembled in some of its incidents the conflicts of the paladins of a
past age. The elder rhinegrave rode thirty paces in front of his Roman
Catholic knights; Coligny as far in advance of the Protestants. The two
leaders met in open field. The rhinegrave was killed on the spot. The
admiral received a severe injury in his face. The blood, gushing freely
from the wound, nearly strangled him before his visor could be raised.
Reluctantly he was compelled to retire to the rear of the army. Still the
tide of battle ran high. The Swiss troops of Anjou displayed their
accustomed valor. It was matched by that of the Huguenots, who several
times seemed on the point of winning the day, and already shouted,
"Victory! Victory!" The Duke of Anjou, who, however little he was entitled
to the credit of planning the engagement, certainly displayed great
courage in the contest itself, was at one time in extreme peril, and the
Marquis of Baden was killed while riding near him. On the other side, the
Princes of Bearn and Conde, who had come to the army from Partenay, to
encourage the soldiers by their presence, endeavored by word and example
to sustain the courage of the outnumbered Huguenots.[723] But at the
critical moment, when the Roman Catholic line had begun to give way,
Marshal Cosse, who as yet had not been engaged, advanced with his fresh
troops and changed the fortunes of the day. The personal valor of Louis of
Nassau was unavailing. The German reiters, routed and panic-stricken, fled
from the field. Encountering their own countrymen, the lansquenets or
German infantry, they broke through their ranks and threw them into
confusion. Into the breach thus made the Swiss poured in an irresistible
flood. Inveterate hatred now found ample opportunity for satisfaction.
The helpless lansquenets were slaughtered without mercy. No quarter was
given. One of the German colonels, who had been the foremost cause of the
morning's mutiny, and who had prevented his soldiers from fighting until
their wag