Editing Charles the Bold (section)

=== Battle of Nancy ===
{{Main|Battle of Nancy}}
[[File:The-Finding-of-the-body-of-Charles-the-Bold-after-the-Battle-of-Nancy-1865-Found-in-the-collection.jpg|alt=The naked corpse of Charles the Bold found after the Battle of Nancy|thumb|263x263px|Charles's corpse found after the [[Battle of Nancy]], [[Auguste Feyen-Perrin]], 1865, [[Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy|Musée des Beaux-Arts]], [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]]]

While Charles may have wanted to continue the war against the Swiss, his plans changed drastically when Nancy was reconquered by René II on 6 October.{{Sfn|Smith|De Vries|p=197|2005}} In need of money, Charles took a large loan from the [[Medici Bank|Medici bank]] with which he assembled 10,000 hastily gathered men.{{Sfn|Van Loo|2021|p=445}} The rest of his army consisted of the Italian mercenaries under the command of the {{Ill|Count of Campobasso|fr|Comte de Campobasso}}, the Burgundian garrison in Nancy, and 8,000 reinforcements from the [[Burgundian Netherlands|Netherlands]].{{Sfn|Vaughan|Paravicini|2002|p=419}} Charles arrived before Nancy at 11 October and by 22 October had begun bombarding the city walls. The siege continued throughout the harsh winter.{{Sfn|Smith|De Vries|2005|p=198}} Charles was hoping that he could enter the city before any of Rene's allies came to raise the siege.{{Sfn|Vaughan|Paravicini|2002|p=420}}

Meanwhile, René spent November and December negotiating with the Swiss to hire an army of mercenaries and with Louis XI to pay the Swiss. He was eventually successful with both and marched towards Nancy from Basel on 26 December with 9,000 Swiss mercenaries.{{Sfn|Dean|2014|p=40}} Between 31 December and 3 January 1477, the Count of Campobasso and his Italian mercenaries deserted the Burgundians.{{Sfn|Dean|2014|p=39}}{{Sfn|Walsh|2005|p=367}} They joined René and fought the Burgundians in the forthcoming battle.{{Sfn|Walsh|2005|p=367}}{{Efn|It is not clear what was Campobasso's position during the battle. One Neapolitan account reports that Charles found himself engaged in a duel with Campobasso during the battle.{{sfn|Walsh|2005|p=368}} According to Angelo de Tummmulilis, Charles had Campobasso at his mercy but spared him and told him to flee.{{sfn|Walsh|2005|p=399}}}}

On 5 January, in heavy snow, René and his army marched towards the Burgundian position.{{Sfn|Smith|De Vries|2005|p=199}} The snow obscured their movements, and they [[Flanking maneuver|outflanked]] the Burgundian army by marching around towards their front, where Charles had not placed pickets.{{Sfn|Dean|2014|p=41}} Around noon they attacked the Burgundians, whose artillery was too slow to engage with the quickly approaching army.{{Sfn|Smith|De Vries|2005|p=200}} Charles tried to rally his men, but to no avail, for the Burgundians were already fleeing from the battlefield.{{Sfn|Dean|2014|p=43}} Meanwhile, the Alsatian and Swiss infantry encircled Charles and his horsemen. In the [[Meurthe (river)|River Meurthe]] he fell from his horse, and was struck on his head with a [[halberd]], which pierced his helmet and went into his skull.{{Sfn|Dean|2014|p=43}} Half of the Burgundian army died during the battle or while retreating.{{Sfn|Dean|2014|p=43}} Only those who escaped the fifty kilometers to [[Metz]] survived.{{Sfn|Smith|De Vries|2005|p=200}}