Montdidier.—The St. Médard Quarter.
Montdidier, seen from the Moreuil Road.
After the town had been rebuilt, the Reform quickly gained ground, in spite of persecutions and the burning of Pastor Michel de la Grange.
In 1636, a powerful Spanish army, under the command of Jean de Werth and Piccolomini, captured Roye and summoned Montdidier to surrender. The burghers refused and, almost unsupported, kept the enemy at bay and made a number of successful sorties. A narrow valley on the road to Breteuil has retained the name of "cut-throat", in remembrance of one of these sorties, during which 200 Spaniards were slain. After a siege lasting 34 days, the approach of the Royal Army compelled the Spaniards to retreat, and Louis XIII thanked the burghers in person for their courage and loyalty.
From that time forward the town lived in peace. Louis XIV often stayed there on his way to Flanders.
On March 19, 1814, the Cossacks, coming from Roye, entered the town.
The next day a large detachment of Cossacks and Prussian Hussars, infantry and artillery, under the Russian Baron de Geismar, took possession and exacted heavy requisitions in kind.
The Cossacks bivouacked in the streets, with their horses in full harness, and cooked their food in the open. An attack by the combined garrisons of Amiens and Beauvais on March 24 drove out the Cossacks, but the latter returned on the 27th, with the intention of plundering and burning the town. In response to a petition from the chief citizens, Baron de Geismar consented not to burn the town, but allowed his soldiers to pillage it for one hour. On the 28th, the Cossacks withdrew towards Compiègne, to join the Allies in their march on Paris.