Meanwhile conflicting counsels destroyed the confidence of the French army, hesitation and dismay beset them. The keen eye of Condé had watched the dark masses of Spanish cavalry gathering together on the hills ready to descend like an avalanche on the retreating enemy. De Montmorency's artillery dragged heavily through the swampy ground in the rear, and he would not abandon it.
In vain Condé sent swift and urgent messages to him, pointing out the danger of delay.
It was too late, the Spaniards were upon them! The retreating army stayed its course and boldly faced the coming storm.
Egmont with two thousand horse charged on their left flank; the other side was assaulted by the Dukes Eric and Henry of Brunswick, while Mansfeld burst on their front.
The French army wavered under the tremendous shock, while the camp followers, pedlers and sutlers took to instant flight, and thus spread dismay through the entire army.
The Spanish cavalry carried everything before it; the rout was sudden and final!
The Duc de Nevers made a despairing effort to restore the battle at the head of five hundred dragoons; but the "black devils," as the Frenchmen called the "Schwartzreiters," cut them to pieces, and the Duc barely escaped at the head of a mere handful of men to La Fère, and with him was the Prince of Condé.
For a time the French infantry presented a bold front; the Gascons, the flower of the army, threw themselves into squares, and the fierce cavalry rode round their solid masses, bristling with steel, unable to find an entrance.
At this moment the Duke of Savoy, with his artillery, came on the field of action, and their deadly fire sealed the fate of the foe.
Yet the noble chivalry of France refused to be thus scattered and beaten; they gathered together in groups, fighting desperately to the last—brave souls to whom death was preferable to surrender!