Odet de Foix, Viscount of Lautrec

War of The League of Cambrai (1508-1516)

Following his entry to the military service, this was the first war he fought into, not yet as a Marshal of France, but as a Lieutenant General.^[4] Foix was then sent to the Italian Peninsula at the outbreak of the war, serving initially under the supreme command of Charles II d'Amboise.^[5] He participated in the decisive French victory over the Republic of Venice at the Battle of Agnadello^[5] on May 14, 1509. In recognition of his capabilities and aristocratic standing he was promoted Marshal of France by King Louis XII on March 1, 1511.^[4]

In early 1512, he was appointed as the primary subordinate commander to his cousin, Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, who had assumed the position of supreme command of the French Army of Italy.^[4] Operating together during a swift winter campaign against the forces of The Holy League of Spain, Venice and The Papal States.^[6] The two successfully relieved the Siege of Bologna^[6] on February 5, 1512 and initiated the Sacking of Brescia on February 18, 1512.^[7]

On April 11, 1512, Odet de Foix, commanded the heavy cavalry and gendarmerie wings during the Battle of Ravenna.^[8] In the final actions of the battle, coinciding with the death of Gaston de Foix, Odet was overwhelmed and cut down by Spanish Infantry, he was presumed dead after sustaining more than twenty pikes and sword wounds but he was found breathing by his brother, Thomas de Foix-Lescun, and immediately evacuated to a field hospital.^[9] Due to his wounds and injuries, he was completely incapacitated for the rest of 1512. Following a prolonged recovery, he returned to active service under Francis I of France. He played an important role in the Franco-Venetian victory at the Battle of Marignano on September 14–15, 1515, which re-established French dominance over the Duchy of Milan and effectively concluded his actions in the war.

Governance of Milan (1516-1522)

In 1516, King Francis I of France, appointed Odet de Foix, Governor-General of the newly reclaimed, Duchy of Milan.^[4] Operating with a massive personal entourage, his administrative tenure was characterized by intense autocratic severity, which quickly alienated the local Italian population and made the French military occupation highly unpopular and opposed by the Milanese population.^[4] He returned briefly to France in 1520 to attend the entourage of Francis I of France to the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

He returned in Early 1521, to lay siege to Brescia, forcing the remaining Spanish and German garrisons to surrender in May 26, 1521.^[8] The surrender was caused by the dissonance between the two factions, while Brescia was given over to Venetian commissioner, Andrea Gritti.^[5] During the start of The Italian Wars of 1521-1526, he was given supreme responsibility for defending French Lombardy from the joint Imperial-Papal Army commanded by Prospero Colonna. In 1521 he succeeded in defending Milan against the Spanish army before the Battle of Vaprio d'Adda. While he successfully checked the initial Spanish advances near Milan prior to the battle,^[10] his logistical and strategic positioning soon deteriorated; he was outmaneuvered by Colonna's forces and a gathering Anti-French uprising within the city walls, Foix was driven out of Milan in late November 1521.^[11] He was forced to retreat eastward, consolidating his remaining forces in a defensive ring of strongholds along the Adda River, ending his governance in Milan.^[12]

Operations in Lombardy (Italian Wars 1521-1526)

After his military retreat of Lombardy, he established a defensive line along the Adda River to regroup his forces and to wait for his reinforcements.^[13] During that time, Foix's mountainous northern flank along the Swiss border came under pressure and harassment from Imperial troops trying to sever his communications.^[14] Due to this, Foix directed a series of counter-maneuvers to the Imperial forces known as Operations in Val Vestino.^[14] Foix utilized his forces and the terrain of Vestino Valley west of Lake Garda, French detachments and allied Venetian scouts successfully engaged and defeated Imperial Columns and German Landsknechts.^[10] These actions by the French and Venetian troops secured the supply lines and the upcoming of a large body of Swiss reinforcements coming for remaining French forces along the Adda River.^[14]

In early 1522, Foix launched a massive counter-offensive to retake Milan after consolidating a large fresh contingent of 16,000 Swiss mercenaries.^[15] However the counter-offensive stalled due to suffering a financial crisis as the French Royal Treasury failed to send funds, leaving the Swiss mercenary troops unpaid. Growing mutinous, Swiss mercenary captains delivered an ultimatum to Foix, demanding either: receive immediate payment, be allowed to be discharged and to be sent home, or be led into a battle at once.^[15]

Foix, forced to an unplanned offensive on April 27, 1522, Foix faced the Imperial-Papal army that had established heavily fortified positions at the Manor house of Biccoca, north of Milan.^[15] Foix and his artillery commander, Anne de Montmorency, specifically ordered the army to halt for a plan to bombard the opposing forces with superior French Artillery to soften and weaken them^[14] but the restless and impatient Swiss Mercenaries launched a blind assault on a sunken road and blocked the artillery lines,^[13] when Montmorency rode and ordered the Swiss to halt, the mercenaries ignored him and marched on their own.^[14] The charging Swiss forces were decimated by entrenched Spanish arquebusiers, Imperial artillery and German landsknechts as they were trapped in the middle of the fields of Biccoca.^[15] The disaster ruined the contemporary reputation of Swiss square pike military invincibility, several surviving Swiss mercenaries fled the army and deserted, forcing Foix to retreat to the alps and back to France.^[16] Meanwhile, the Imperial forces of Colonna marched down to Genoa to capture it, since Foix already left, the city surrendered in 1522.^[16]

When Odet de Foix returned to France the same year, King Francis I of France was furious and initially refused to meet Foix, blaming him for the loss of French grip of Northern Italy.^[15] Foix defended himself and told the truth, he proved the king's mother, Louise of Savoy, and the Royal Treasurer, Jacques de Beaune (Lord of Semblançay), had intercepted the funds for the Swiss mercenaries and caused the disaster, the scandal was so intense, Francis I, executed Jacques de Beaune and reformed the French Royal Treasury, thanks to the intensity of the scandal and the manipulation of Foix's sister, Françoise de Foix,^[5][6] who was the official mistress of Francis I. Foix managed to escape execution or prison and instead, Francis I sidelined him by appointing him Governor of Languedoc.^[15][16]

War of the League of Cognac (1526-1530)

Before the League of Cognac existed, King Francis I of France was captured by Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V at the Battle of Pavia during the Italian Wars.^[17] Desperate for his freedom, Francis I signed the Treaty of Madrid and swore an oath to give up all his claims in Italy, Burgundy, Artois and Flanders and even surrendering his two eldest sons, Francis III of Brittany and Henry II of France in January 14, 1526.^[17] He was then released and allowed to return to France but when he crossed the French border in the Bidasoa River, he publicly repudiated the treaty, claiming he had signed it under extreme duress and that it was completely invalid.^[17] Pope Clement VII absolved the religious oath of the French king to Charles V, which cleared the path for the War of the League of Cognac.^[18]

Pope Clement VII realizing the skyrocketing of Charles V in Italy, the Pope and the Venetian Republic were terrified and acted that they needed to drive the Imperial forces out of Italy.^[10] On May 22, 1526, they formed the League of Cognac, which consisted of France, the Papal States, Venice, the Republic of Florence and Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan.^[19]

On early 1527, Charles V's main Imperial army in Northern Italy, were made up of Spanish, Italian and German Protestant Landsknechts.^[17] They were starving, unsupplied and unpaid for months which caused the commanders, Charles III, Duke of Bourbon and Georg von Frundsberg to lose control of their troops,^[20] Frundsberg was so distressed trying to calm down his German landsknechts, he suffered a stroke which then proved fatal.^[21] The mutinous Imperial army abandoned the northern front of Italy to the rich undefended southern Italian cities and forced Charles III to lead them to Rome or they will kill him.^[21] On May 6, 1527, the mutinous army arrived; though Charles III gets killed during the initial assault, the army slaughtered the Swiss guards, besieged the Pope inside Castel Sant'Angelo and spent the next eight months looting, plundering, raping, killing and destroying the city.^[14]

In July 1527, the sack shocked western Christendom and embarrassed Francis I due to his slowness to deploy troops to his Papal ally.^[22] He then finally committed France to the war and pulled Odet de Foix from military retirement and made him Captain-General of the grand expedition forces.^[22] Francis I's orders to Foix were to march to Italy, restore French honor, and liberate Pope Clement VII, who was still besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo.^[15] Foix crossed the Alps in late July or early August,^[8] but decided instead of marching to Rome quickly, he would secure Lombardy first so the Imperial forces wouldn't cut his supply lines from his rear.^[8] His first target was the strategic fortress city of Alessandria in Piedmont.^[8] Foix besieged the city and successfully forced Alessandria to surrender in late August, which re-established French foothold in Northern Italy.^[8] Next Foix turned his eyes to Pavia, a heavily fortified city, which carried emotional weight to the French who have been humiliated by the Spanish, 2 years earlier in 1525.^[23] On October 1, 1527, Foix besieged the city and nearly 4 days later of French bombardment, the French breached the walls.^[8] On October 5, 1527, Count Ludovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso surrendered to the French,^[24] Foix intended to preserve the city but his French soldiers and Venetian allies were bloodthirsty and furious. For over a week, the army initiated the Sack of Pavia,^[23] they massacred Imperial troops and Italian civilians, burned down entire quarters of the city and looted houses for the revenge of the French 1525 defeat.^[25]

With the city of Pavia utterly destroyed, Foix's Italian allies expected him to take the city of Milan, the capital of Lombardy.^[15] Foix's Italian allies begged him to besiege the city but he refused as it would take months and drain his forces, gold and time as he knew the Pope was languishing in his besieged state.^[8] He then turned south to Rome and rapidly marched his forces to Piacenza, then Parma, and continued pushing hard into central Italy.^[24] The utter destruction of Pavia ignited fear to the mutinous Imperial forces in Rome.^[26] Foix's rapid advance broke the diplomatic resolve of the mutinous Imperial troops, so Pope Clement VII's captors managed to strike a deal with the Pope.^[27] On December 6, 1527, the Pope escaped Castel Sant'Angelo disguised as a peddler or servant and escaped from Rome to the League of Cognac's stronghold, Orvieto as he feared that the erratic Imperial forces might block his initial negotiations with them.^[28] Even though the Pope had already fled Rome, Foix continued to march to Rome which made the remaining Imperial forces, flee to Naples out of terror of the large French army.^[29]

Odet de Foix decided to not march to Rome but to the south, the city of Naples, as Rome was already a plague-ridden wasteland with dozens of bodies in the streets and to break Spanish-Imperial control over Naples.^[8] As he marched nearer to Naples, Foix encountered minot resistance from Melfi, which he besieged, sacked and massacred 3,000 residents and took the Prince of Melfi in March 1528, which terrified local barons, clearing his path to Naples.^[25] On April 1528, Foix has reached Naples and initiated a multi-pronged encirclement campaign.^[15] Foix established the main French military camp on a high ridge overlooking city of Poggioreale, the position made locals call it: Monte di Leutrecco or Lo Trecco which was named after him.^[30] To fully besiege the city, he relied on his Genoese allies to blockade the ports, who was commanded by Admiral Filippino Doria, nephew of celebrated, Andrea Doria.^[15] The early stages of the siege was a massive success for France. The Governor of Naples, Hugo of Moncada, tried to launch a desperate naval breakout to smash the blockade, and initiated the Battle of Capo d'Orso, Doria's forces crushed Moncada and was killed in action while a prominent Imperial noble, Alfonso d'Avalos was captured.^[8]

By early summer, French victory seemed certain, but Francis I heavily insulted the supreme Genoese Admiral, Andrea Doria, by trying to limit Genoa's commercial power and even trying to get Doria arrested.^[23] Furious, Doria secretly negotiated with the captured noble, Alfonso d'Avalos. Andrea Doria flipped allegiance to Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire in July 1528.^[15] Filippino Doria withdrew the blockade and turned it against the French overnight. Imperial ships sailed freely to the harbors and resupplied the Neapolitan defenders, with food and ammunition.^[24] Filippino Doria then imposed a new blockade on Odet de Foix's naval communication lines and supply lines.^[13]

With his supplies running short and the siege had dragged to the tiring summer heat, Foix became desperate.^[8] He ordered his military engineers to destroy the ancient fresh water source for Naples, the Bolla Aqueduct, the primary source of water to the city.^[8] The choice backfired catastrophically, flooding the French camps and transforming the French trenches into a stagnant, muddy marshland due to the summer heat.^[8] Because of this, diseases and pestilence became rampant, it was recoded to be typhus, malaria and dysentery.^[31] Within weeks, the French camp became a massive grave yard resulting the deaths of countless others.^[15] Foix contracted typhus, which agonized him for his final days while managing the siege in a tent.^[8][31] Odet de Foix then died of his disease on August 15, 1528 and his body was laid to rest in the Church of Santa Maria la Nova.^[24] Following his death, the Marquis of Saluzzo, Giovanni Ludovico, Foix's second in command, abandoned the siege and retreated due to the French army being leaderless and sick.^[15]