Sir William Sackville, Kt.

From his Wikipedia entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Sackville

Sir William Sackville

Sir William Sackville (c.1570–1592) was an English army officer in the service of Henry IV of France, who knighted him.[1] He was the third son of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset.[2]

In the expedition of Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, Sackville arrived in France in September 1589, and was knighted shortly. He then served under François de La Noue, near Paris. He was wounded and lost his horse at the Siege of Paris in 1590.[1]

Sackville was killed in the 1592 campaign of Henry IV, in which Spanish forces under the Duke of Parma made a landing in northern France early in the year.[3] He was killed, or taken, in fighting near Bures on 14 February.[4] John Ross of the Inner Temple, as a law student of the early 1590s, wrote a long commemorative poem for Sackville.[5]

Notes

• 1. Hardin, Richard F. "Sackville, Sir William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40547. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• 2. Zim, Rivkah. "Sackville, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24450. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• 3. Nicola Mary Sutherland (2002). Henry IV of France and the Politics of Religion: The path to Rome. Intellect Books. p. 422. ISBN 978-1-84150-702-6.
• 4. G. B. Harrison (8 October 2013). An Elizabethan Journal. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-136-35529-5.
• 5. Richard F. Hardin, Geoffrey among the Lawyers: Britannica (1607) by John Ross of the Inner Temple, The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer, 1992), pp. 235–249, at p. 236. Published by: Sixteenth Century Journal DOI: 10.2307/2541888. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2541888

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From Henry IV of France and the Politics of Religion: The path to Rome, by Nicola Mary Sutherland

https://books.google.pl/books?id=oZo5dqMtOKkC&pg=PA422&redir_esc=y#...

While Duplessis was in England, Henry moved to Gisors (Eure) on 10 January 1592, to intercept Parma. He intended 'to amaze the duke and his forces and to enterteine tyme', until all his own forces had assembled. This entailed constant harrassment, the obstruction of supplies to the enemy and the blocking of alternative routes. Parma was also impeded by non-cooperation from Mayenne, who, paradoxically, wanted the relief of Rouen but not that it should fall to Spain. [91]

By early February, the struggle intensified. The King, Unton reported, went every day to war skirmishing all the time. On 5 February 1592, he was not only wounded but also narrowly escaped capture near Aumale while seeking to redress a surprise move by Parma [92]. Everyone was distraught, while the implications did not bear thinking of. The King was in great pain, unable to ride or to walk; but he returned to action just two weeks later, before he really recovered. Unton and Burghley believed that Parma's tactic was to weary the king rather than permit a battle. In this way, his nobles would quit and his army would crumble. [93]

While Henry was disabled, the Spanish landed at Le Havre and Parma captured Neufchatel; the enemy held the passage to Dieppe and communications with England became very difficult. [94] Pressure on Rouen hastened Parma's advance and caused a major skirmish as their king tried to hold him back. Both camps were constantly harried and alarmed; Siir William Sackville was killed; Unton's servants and horses were dying from starvation, and he himself was ill. [95]

Footnotes:

• 91. Stevenson, Ed., Correspondence of Sir Henry Unton, 249-50, 31 December 1591/10 January 1592, Unton to Burhgley - Unton followed the King in the field, witnessed his sufferings and suffered himself. Ibid, 256-8, 6/16 January 1592, Unton to Hunsdon; 294-8, 1/11/ February 1592, Unton to Burghley - On 20 January 1592, Rouen implored Mayenne to come to their aid. Benedict, Rouen During the French Wars of Religion, 220-1.
• 92. Stevenson, Ed., Correspondence of Sir Henry Unton, 283-6, 26 January/5 February 1592, Unton to Burghley; 288-9, 27 January/6 February 1592, Unton to Essex.
• 93. Stevenson, Ed., Correspondence of Sir Henry Unton, 278-80, 19/29 January 1592, Unton to Essex; 292-3, 31 January/10 February 1592, Burghley to Unton.
• 94. Stevenson, Ed., Correspondence of Sir Henry Unton, 294-8, 1/11 February 1592, Unton to Burghley; 204, 3/13 February 1592, Unton to Burghley; 306-11, 8/18 February 1592, Unton to Burghley; Lists and Analyses, Foreign, 1591-2, p. 371, 10/20 February 1592, Beauvoir to Burghley; Lefevre, Correspondence de Philippe II, iv. 17-18, 12 February 1592, Parma to Philip II from Neufchatel, about the affairs of the Netherlands.
• 95. Stevenson, Ed., Correspondence of Sir Henry Unton, 306-11, 8/18 February 1592, Unton to Burghley; 311-13, 8/18 February 1592, Unton to Essex; 218-21, 12/22 February 1592, Unton to Burghley.

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From An Elizabethan Journal, Volume 1, by G. B. Harrison:

https://books.google.pl/books?id=bgdFAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA103&redir_esc=y#...

14th February. News from France.

From France, it is reported by the ambassador that the Duke of Parma hath captured Neuchatel upon honourable composition, a place of great advantage to the enemy.

On the 7th, the King was engaged with the enemy, and in the fight, the Count Challigny (the Duke Mercury's brother) who commanded them was taken prisoner by Chicott, the King's fool, and very sore hurt. Many were slain and some captured; the rest escaping gave the alarum to the Duke of Guise's quarter, who barricaded their lodgings and armed themselves. Most of their horse and foot sallied out, but by this time many shot had come up to the Baron de Biron and the enemy were forced back into Bures, where the King's men entering pell-mell with them slew 200 in the village and took divers prisoners. The rest were forced to retire to the other side of the river. All the Duke of Guise's baggage was taken, his plate and money, and all he had there.

In this engagement, Sir William Sackville is either taken or slain, having been separated from the rest. For himself, the ambassador declareth that he is in great straits; all his horses are dead or harried out, for they never rest, being on horseback almost day and night; his servants die daily, and many of them are very weak and sick, and cannot live long.

The King, meanwhile, anxiously expects succour from England.