Battle of Ivry

Victory for Henry IV on 14 March 1590 at Ivry (Eure): despite numerical inferiority (11,000 against 16,000), the king repulsed Mayenne through a decisive cavalry charge and the resistance of Montpensier and Biron. The main weapon was the arquebus; the League defeat paved the way for consolidation of royal power.

On 14 March 1590 at Ivry-la-Bataille (Normandy), Henry IV faced the Catholic League army commanded by the Duke of Mayenne during the Wars of Religion. Paris, besieged by Henry for nearly a year, risked famine; Mayenne tried to relieve Dreux and deployed on the plain of Saint-André against about 8,000 royal infantry and 3,000 cavalry.

Royal artillery of six guns opened the fight; League reiters overthrew Aumont's light horse and destroyed the royal guns. Henry IV charged the League lancers, delivered his white-plume harangue, and rallied his troops after a melee in which he was several times thought dead. Montpensier and Biron repulsed the opposite wing; German landsknechts were massacred.

The League army was completely defeated; the royalists captured five guns, all enemy colours, Mayenne's cornet and Egmont's standard. Mayenne fled to Nantes. The battle sealed the fate of the League army, already battered at Arques in September 1589, and strengthened Henry IV's position ahead of the end of the Wars of Religion.