A knight without fear or reproach. Knight without fear and reproach Hero without fear and reproach

A Knight Without Fear or Reproach (Modern Elegy) (97) Filled with courage and praying to God, I set out early on the dangerous road. The narrow path lay in front of me, Merging at the end into a kind of thick darkness. The distance was silent like a dark grave; Tall grass with only wind

The Italian wars, in which France and Spain were figuring out which of them was stronger, more important and to whom the rich Italian duchies belonged, was not entirely chivalrous, since times were already different and mercenaries began to rule on the battlefield. But this does not mean that among those and others there were no real knights, about whom they said that they were without fear and reproach. One of these was Pierre Terrail de Bayard, whose motto was: "Do what you must and come what may."

He deservedly deserved his fame during his lifetime, both by his unmercenary deeds and military exploits. He began the service of France under King Charles VIII, the same one who first quickly captured all of Italy, and then also quickly lost everything, and even died young, after he smashed his head on the doorframe with a run. But that is the king, and now we are talking about the knight Bayard.

The first glory came to him after he distinguished himself by recapturing a decent amount of money from the Spanish detachment. They talked about 15 thousand coins. So - the money, in principle, was the spoils of war for him and his friend. But Bayard honestly gave half of the sum to his friend, and gave his half to the soldiers.

Bayard was very scrupulous in matters of honor, which in those days was already largely accepted in words, and not in deeds. He was captured by the Spanish general Alonso de Sotomayor, a close relative of the great military leader Gonçalvo of Corduansky. Therefore, he could well count on an early ransom from captivity. Bayard was appointed the general's guard. He took his word not to try to escape, after which he allowed him to move freely within the walls of the castle. Of course, Alonso de Sotomayor immediately seized such an excellent chance and, having learned that there was a Spanish detachment nearby, fled.

Bayard, of course, sent the horsemen in pursuit and they safely intercepted the fugitive. The Spaniard could have expected to be locked up and treated in the most harsh way. But this did not happen, they were still courteous to him. After the ransom was delivered, already their Spaniards began to reproach Sotomayor for treachery. He replied that the French guard treated him like a pig.

Of course, the world was small then, and despite the fact that the Spaniards fought with the French, they communicated with each other in one way or another - war is war, and life is life. Therefore, Bayard, of course, was told that the Spaniard was talking about him. Of course, the knight did not tolerate such a fear and reproach and called the Spanish liar to battle, where he finished him off. That, in fact, was then considered a proof of knightly honor. God's judgment, you know.

All-European fame came to Bayard in 1503, after the events at the Garigliano River. The camps of the French and the Spaniards were located on different banks of this river. They stood for a long time and the French began to have problems with food, which is why almost all the cavalry was sent for foraging.

The Spaniards, who were going to defeat the French in parts, decided to take advantage of this. One of the parts of the attack plan was the passage of the Spanish cavalry unit across a narrow bridge. It was a roundabout blow that was supposed to close the French in a ring. But this Spanish squad noticed Bayard. He correctly assessed the danger of the Spanish maneuver and rushed at full speed on horseback to the bridge, sending his squire for help.

As a result, Bayard managed to get to the bridge, and there was no way to wade him in this place - only across the bridge. It was here that it turned out that the bridge was narrow and although there were about 200 Spaniards, and Bayard was alone, he was a serious obstacle, since the Spaniards could attack it with a maximum of 2 people. And in such skirmishes he was a master, he was also a knight, and all his life he was engaged only in war. Of course, the Spaniards replaced each other on the bridge in the beginning of the felling and, in fact, the question was only in how long Bayard would run out of strength.

But then another miracle happened, or, if you like, the mistake of the Spaniards. They decided to lure Bayard, who was stubbornly holding the bridge, to the shore and withdrew. But he, of course, was a knight without fear and reproach, but not quite a fool and was not going to give up a comfortable position, but simply seized the moment and rested a little.

And then help came. But now another problem arose - help could not join the battle either, since for this Bayard had to move off the bridge, and the Spaniards were pressing on him. He also had to squeeze the Spaniards off the bridge so that the French could break through to the other side and start a battle. For this defense of the bridge, the French king Louis XII gave him a new motto "One has the strength of an army." And it's true, damn it!

The vicissitudes of war touched the knight without fear or reproach. During the siege of Teruana, he was captured when the French detachment fled and only Bayard and several other people remained standing. As a result, he was captured by the British, but the English king, as a sign of respect for the staunch knight, released him from captivity without ransom. Still, there was nobility then, although it did not concern everyone.

Then King Louis XII died, and the new King Francis I respected Bayard so much that he asked him to be knighted before the start of the Battle of Marignano.

On Italian soil, Bayard died in 1524, when it was time for the French to fail. The defeated French army was retreating, and Bayard commanded the rearguard, covering the French withdrawal. During the battle, he received a bullet from a musket. A new time was approaching, in which there would be no place for knights who could hold the bridge alone.

According to legend, the duke of Bourbon, the former constable of France, who went over to the side of the Spaniards, stopped in front of the mortally wounded Bayard. Our knight said to him: “Don't weep for me, weep for yourself; you are fighting against your fatherland ”, after which he died.

There is another story about his death. It is said that the wounded Bayard ordered him to be put under a tree, facing the enemies:

I always looked them in the face and, dying, I don't want to show my back! ..

Many people are familiar with the motto of Pierre Terreille de Bayard: "Do what follows, and come what may." Among the heroes of the European knightly Middle Ages, Pierre Bayard remained in history with the honorable title he received from friends and enemies during his lifetime. He entered it for his amazing feats, nobility of deeds, generosity and unparalleled courage as a "knight without fear and reproach."

The favorite of Charles VIII was distinguished by an astounding scrupulousness in matters of honor for his time. Such a case is known. Pierre Bayard once captured the enemy general Alonso de Sotomayor, who was a close relative of the Spanish commander Gonsalve of Corduan and therefore could hope for a ransom from French captivity. The ransom amount was named in one thousand gold coins.

The noble prisoner was escorted to the castle of Monerville. The Spaniard, who guarded him, Pierre Bayard gave his word not to attempt to escape, and therefore received complete freedom of movement within the walls of the castle. However, General Alonso de Sotomayor did not keep his word of honor, bribed one of the guard soldiers and a week later fled from Monerville to Andria, where the Spanish troops were camped at that time.

Outraged by this action of the prisoner, Pierre Bayard sent horsemen in pursuit of him. They overtook the fugitive and returned him to the castle. However, contrary to the Spaniard's expectations, he continued to be treated with the same courtesy, which, of course, he now did not deserve. When the ransom was delivered, General Alonso de Sotomayor, already among his own, received a reproach for treachery, for dishonoring the title of a Spanish nobleman. In response, he said that one of the French knights in captivity had mistreated him.

When such rumors reached Bayard, he summoned the "villain" to a knightly duel by letter, demanding otherwise to abandon slanderous words. The duel with swords and daggers took place two weeks later. A sick Frenchman still managed to kill the Spaniard to death, thus proving the integrity of his own knightly honor.

However, the world (well, or at least all French) fame was still far away. And this is how she came to Pierre Terreille:

In 1503, the opposing troops camped along the Garigliano River, the French (more numerous) on its right bank, the Spaniards (12 thousand under the command of Gonzalo de Cordoba) - on the left. The stand lasted quite a long time, and not one of the armies dared to cross the river first and start a battle. But soon the French camp began to feel a lack of food, and their commander was forced to send almost all of his cavalry to replenish supplies.

Gonçalvo Corduansky learned about this through spies, who decided to take advantage of the opportunity and defeat the French army in parts: first the infantry, and then the cavalry. He developed a seemingly perfect encirclement plan. One detachment of the Spanish army was to attack the French from the front, the other, of two hundred horsemen, to complete the encirclement over the newly built bridge.

On November 8, 1503, the Spanish cavalry easily crossed the river and, turning, attacked the French positions. Here she ran into stubborn resistance, which was quite in line with the wishes of Gonsalvo Corduansko. And he sent a second detachment to the rear of the enemy. At that moment, the French gave the signal to retreat. To enable the infantry to break away from the advancing enemy cavalry, they organized small detachments of cover with all the available cavalry. One of such detachments of fifteen was commanded by Bayard.

The retreat proceeded in perfect order, and it seemed that the Spanish plan to encircle the enemy would completely fail. All hope Gonsalvo Corduansky now pinned on a detour maneuver of a detachment of two hundred knights. He was ordered to intercept the retreating infantry and destroy it. To do this, he had to cross a ridge of hills on the outskirts of Garigliano and cross the river along a narrow bridge. To the dismay of Gonçalvo Corduanski, this maneuver did not go unnoticed. As soon as the Spaniards drove to the heights adjacent to the bridge, they were immediately noticed by the French. Bayard correctly assessed the danger threatening the French army and, together with his squire Le Basco, rushed to cut them. The task for the two horsemen was not an easy one - to have time to intercept the Spaniards before they crossed the river, and, not allowing them to turn around, to impose a battle on the bridge.

But only having approached closer to the crossing, Bayard realized that it was impossible to hold the bridge together - the Spanish detachment consisted of several dozen people. And then he turned to his squire with the words: "Run, run for help, while I will deal with them here!" Now Bayard had to defend the bridge alone, and not only his life depended on this, but the lives of many hundreds of infantrymen.

The Spaniards could not imagine that only one person was going to seriously challenge the crossing of two hundred well-armed knights. And this self-confidence was their first mistake. The Spaniards did not realize that the narrow bridge completely deprives them of their main advantage - superiority in numbers. Only two or three could attack at the same time, pushing and interfering with each other. But now Bayard has a chance to hold out, turning a seemingly hopeless battle into several duels. And in this case, Bayard had a great experience. And he took advantage of the unexpected gift of the Spaniards one hundred percent.

As soon as the first ranks of the Spaniards began to cross, he spurred his horse and, spear in hand, rushed to meet them. The blow was so powerful and unexpected that the first two Spaniards were knocked down and fell into the river. Two more were immediately killed. Then Bayard turned his horse across the aisle, completely blocking the path across the bridge. Now the Spaniards have lost even the illusory hope of pushing past the French knight to the opposite bank. Already in the first skirmish, Bayard's spear broke, he drew his sword and began to strike them right and left, covering himself and the horse's head with a shield.

The Spaniards were unable to either kill or injure the lone defender of the bridge. Exhausted or injured, some Spaniards replaced others in this endless duel, they could not make their way to the shore. But it was clear that sooner or later the forces would have to leave Bayard, the only question was how quickly.

And here the Spaniards made a second mistake, which became fatal for them. They stopped the attack and retreated to their bank, as if enticing Bayard and inviting him to follow them into the field. But unwillingly, the Spaniards gave Bayard the opportunity to rest at the moment when forces had already begun to change him. Therefore, no matter how much the Spaniards called him, no matter how much they waved their hands, he did not move and remained on his edge of the bridge. And the Spaniards had no choice but to renew their attacks. They managed to wound Bayard, and he was forced to continue the fight with only one hand. The Spaniards looked forward to a quick victory.

And at that moment long-awaited help arrived. Le Basco brought with him a hundred knights. But they could not significantly alleviate Bayard's position. He could not leave the battle without fear that the Spaniards would break through after him to the French coast. And the tightness of the bridge now turned against the French, not allowing them to attack the Spanish detachment. Bayard resolved the stalemate. He turned the exhausted horse and began to push the Spaniards ashore with his chest. One knight pushed back two hundred! The others followed him. But the numerical superiority remained on the side of the Spaniards. But they, morally broken, were no longer capable of resisting and retreated. The French pursued them for over a mile. For this feat, King Louis XII of France bestowed upon Bayard the motto: "One has the strength of an army."

... During the siege of the fortress city of Teruana by the British, the "knight without fear and reproach" was captured. The enemy then attacked so hard on the French cavalry, which was in a hurry to help the besieged garrison of Teruana, that he turned it into a shameful flight. Only Pierre Bayard and a handful of knights survived, who fought bravely, but could not escape death or captivity. The English king, as a sign of respect for the exploits known to him, released Bayard from captivity without ransom and even invited him to his service. But he, naturally, refused such an honor.

... The new king of France Francis I, bowing before. Pierre Bayard, during the Battle of Marignano, asked him to be knighted. He, out of modesty, at first refused, but the king insisted on his request. Bayard knighted the monarch with the traditional three blows of the sword flat on the shoulder, saying:

God grant, Your Majesty, that you do not know escape!

Interesting legend about Bayard's death:

"A knight without fear or reproach" died on Italian soil in 1524. Then the incompetent royal commander-in-chief, Admiral Bonivet, was defeated and began to retreat to the Alps. Bayard commanded the rearguard, covering the retreat of the French. When the admiral was mortally wounded, he handed over command to Pierre, begging him to save the army. During the battle, one of the Spanish soldiers shot him in the back with a musket.

The Duke of Bourbon stopped in front of the wounded, saddened by the death of his heroic enemy. Bayard replied to Bourbon: “Don't weep for me, weep for yourself; you are fighting against your fatherland ”, after which, according to legend, he kissed his sword and died.

According to another version, the knight, dying, asked his subordinates to put him under a tree, facing the enemies:

I always looked them in the face and, dying, I don't want to show my back! ..