On 1 February 1702, in the War of the Spanish Succession, Imperial troops under Prince Eugene of Savoy got into French-held Cremona through a canal under the walls and captured Marshal Villeroi. Irish regiments in French service held the gate on the Po, and by nightfall Eugene had to withdraw. The French kept Cremona but lost their commander.
Battle of Cremona
1 February 1702 · 324 years ago
Winter quarters in Lombardy
The War of the Spanish Succession began in northern Italy in 1701. Prince Eugene of Savoy led an Imperial army there and beat the French at Carpi and Chiari. For the winter the French withdrew into quarters around Cremona on the Po, where Marshal Villeroi had his headquarters, while Eugene blockaded Mantua.1
The way into Cremona came from inside the town. Antonio Cosoli, the parish priest of Santa Maria Nuova and a supporter of the Emperor, told the Imperial side about a canal that ran from the town ditch into his cellar. He asked the authorities to have the foul, blocked channel cleaned out, and they did, without suspecting anything.2
The surprise
Eugene set out from Ostiano on the Oglio on 31 January with picked infantry and cavalry. A second column under Prince Vaudemont was to come up on the far bank of the Po, seize the bridge of boats and enter by the Po gate. Bad roads slowed both columns, and Eugene's men reached the town only toward morning.3
Early on 1 February Imperial troops came in through the canal, opened the gates and spread through the streets. By about seven in the morning they held much of the town, and many French officers were caught in their quarters. Villeroi rode out to rally his men, was dragged from his horse in the fighting and was saved by Francis MacDonnell, an Irish captain in Imperial service, who took him prisoner without knowing who he was.4
The Irish at the Po gate
Everything now depended on the Po gate. Two Irish battalions in French service, Dillon's and Bourke's, were quartered close to it. Under Major Daniel O'Mahony they reached the gate first and held it. MacDonnell came to them under a white flag and offered them Imperial pay if they gave it up; they refused and kept him prisoner.5
The French destroyed the bridge of boats over the Po, so Vaudemont's column, which came up only in the afternoon, could not cross. The fighting in the streets went on all day.6
A town kept, a marshal lost
With the Po gate lost and the garrison rallying, Eugene broke off the fight and withdrew at nightfall, taking Villeroi and other prisoners with him. The French infantry alone lost about 1,430 officers and men killed, wounded and captured, according to the French returns. Imperial losses are less certain: the Austrian official history gives about 800, while the Irish historian John O'Callaghan puts them at 1,500 to 1,600.7 › Battle of Luzzara, 1702
O'Mahony carried the news to Versailles. Louis XIV received him, promoted him to colonel and gave him a pension of 1,000 livres. In Italy the duc de Vendôme took over the French command. For Eugene the raid was a near miss: the town stayed French, and that summer he met Vendôme at Luzzara.8
The Skirmish at Bender, 1713: when the Ottomans evicted Charles XII
1 February 1713 · 313 years ago
Ottoman forces moved against Charles XII of Sweden at Bender, in today's Moldova, where he had stayed in exile since his defeat at Poltava, in order to remove him. The king resisted but was taken, and the Swedish word kalabalik, meaning chaos, comes from the clash.
Read the full story of The Skirmish at Bender, 1713: when the Ottomans evicted Charles XII ›
