Editing Battle of Lens (section)

==Aftermath==
Condé sent two cavalry regiments and an infantry regiment under Villequier to escort the 5,000–6,000 enemy prisoners to [[Arras]] and [[La Bassée]], which required several round trips and caused the French to remain near the battlefield for the next eight days to await the return of the escorts. Once the prisoners were secure, Condé's army joined [[Josias von Rantzau]]'s force in the siege of [[Veurne|Furnes]].{{sfn|Thion|2008|p=33}}{{sfn|Thion|2008|p=162}}

===Casualties===
3,000 of the Archduke's men lay dead or wounded and 5,000–6,000 were captured, along with all 38 guns, 100 flags, the [[Pontoon bridge|pontoon]] bridges and the baggage train.{{sfn|Guthrie|2003|p=193}}{{sfn|Thion|2008|pp=162–165}} Beck was captured and Condé lent him a carriage to take him to Arras, where he died of his wounds ten days later. The French lost 1,500 killed or wounded.{{sfn|Guthrie|2003|p=193}}

===Political consequences===
The year 1648 saw two political developments that were both directly tied to the Battle of Lens, but with opposite results.<ref name="Traugott2010">{{cite book|author=Mark Traugott|title=The Insurgent Barricade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRXPdH7IZjEC&pg=PT521|year=2010|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-26632-2}}</ref> First, it caused a hardening of the monarchy's attitude toward the ''[[parlement]]s'', leading to an initial confrontation in Paris and a protracted struggle that followed.<ref name="Traugott2010"/> The French victory ended the [[Thirty Years' War]], though not the conflict between France and Spain. The armies of [[Turenne]], [[Carl Gustaf Wrangel|Wrangel]] and [[Hans Christoff von Königsmarck|Königsmark]] were threatening [[Vienna]] and [[Prague]]; [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Ferdinand]]'s ally, [[Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria|Maximilian of Bavaria]], fervently wanted peace; and [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]] had lost his main army. Ferdinand had no choice other than to make peace. He approved the propositions for peace from France and Sweden in [[Münster]] and [[Osnabrück]]. (Since 1641, talks had taken place between France and the Empire in Münster, and between Sweden and the Empire in Osnabrück.) The definitive peace treaty, called the [[Peace of Westphalia]], was signed on 24 October, ending the Thirty Years' War. The war between France and Spain, in contrast, would not end until the [[Treaty of the Pyrenees]] on 7 November 1659).{{sfn|Thion|2008|p=33}} The latter made Lens and most of the [[Artois]] province part of France.

In the end, the French victory at Lens was made inconsequential by subsequent events elsewhere, during the failure to secure [[Anne of Austria]]'s regency of France while [[Louis XIV]] was too young to rule. A civil war in France known as the [[Fronde]] broke out shortly afterwards, giving Spain the chance of recovery.{{sfn|Guthrie|2003|p=181}} The [[Te Deum]] at [[Notre-Dame de Paris]] in honour of the battle ended in a riot, which caused a serious confrontation that led to the revolt. In January 1649, Louis XIV and his ministers had to flee Paris.<ref>Parker, Geoffrey: ''The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0521543927}}, p. 222.</ref>