The History of the Campagnes 1548 and 1549

[Hans Hellinger]

“The History of the Campagnes 1548 and 1549: Being an Exact Account of the Martial Expeditions Perform’d in Those Days by the Scots and French on the One Side, and by the English and Their Foreign Auxiliaries on the Other”

First-hand account by a French soldier fighting in Scotland in 1548-49 including descriptions of several skirmishes, commando actions and so on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Beaugu%C3%A9

https://books.google.com/books?id=POhEhgztHHwC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

One small excerpt:

“The enemy, perceiving their disorder, thought to have made their advantage of it; but Captain Linieres, with 60 soldiers, met them half way and put a sudden stop to their pursuit; 25 of his arquebusiers fired upon their flank, whilst Mr. D’Andelot, upon the head of 50 gentlemen who had waited upon him from his tent, as he was going to visit the trenches, at the first onset pushed them back to their barriers, where again they faced about, and here a gentleman of Limoge went alone, and singled out an Englishman, by whom he had been wounded some 5 or 6 days before, and with his halberd struck him dead to the ground, and to return to the party who after effecting what they designed, retired to the trenches.”

[Hans Hellinger]

This is another good one:

“”By this means Mr de Desse had an opportunity of taking a narrow and leisurely inspection of the enemy’s works and defences, and when retiring, he had the pleasure to witness a very notable and daring attempt of one of those Highland Men that belonged to the Earl of Argile. This fellow had by this time taken notice of the French behavior, and had seen them go fearlessly forward upon the very mouth of the enemy’s cannon, which he being willing to imitate, went straight upon a party of the English, that had engaged a few Frenchmen commanded by Captain Voquedemar, and with incredible celerity seizing one of them, in spite of opposition, trussed him upon his back , and in this plight brought him to our camp; where we observed that the enraged captive had bit his shoulder after so butcherly a manner, that he had almost died of his wound. Mr. De Desse rewarded the action with a good coat of mail and 20 crowns, a compliment which the Highlander received with all imaginable demonstrations of gratitude.”

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