These opened the battle, and Count Egmont,
whose cavalry had suffered from the fire of the Huguenot cannon,
ordered a charge, and the splendid cavalry of Parma swept down
upon the right wing of Henry. The cavalry under Marshal Biron were
unable to withstand the shock and were swept before them, and Egmont
rode on right up to the guns and sabred the artillerymen. Almost
at the same moment the German riders under Eric of Brunswick, the
Spanish and French lancers, charged down upon the centre of the
Royal Army. The rout of the right wing shook the cavalry in the
centre. They wavered, and the infantry on their flanks fell back but
the king and his officers rode among them, shouting and entreating
them to stand firm. The ground in their front was soft and checked
the impetuosity of the charge of the Leaguers, and by the time they
reached the ranks of the Huguenots they were broken and disordered,
and could make no impression whatever upon them.
As soon as the charge was repulsed, Henry set his troops in motion,
and the battalia charged down upon the disordered cavalry of the
League. The lancers and cuirassiers were borne down by the impetuosity
of the charge, and Marshal Biron, rallying his troops, followed
the king's white plume into the heart of the battle. Egmont brought
up the cavalry of Flanders to the scene, and was charging at their
head when he fell dead with a musketball through the heart.
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