User:Jacques Grolet/Siege of Metz (1473)

The siege of Metz in 1473 pitted the Duke of Lorraine Nicholas I d'Anjou against the rich bourgeois of the Republic of Metz. Despite a daring war ruse, the attackers from Lorraine were unable to take Metz and the siege was abandoned.

Historical Context
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Lorraine became the regular scene of clashes between different lords of the Holy Roman Empire. The dukes of Lorraine, Bar, Luxembourg, the counts of Deux-Ponts, Vaudémont, the archbishop of Trier, the bishops of Metz, Toul and Verdun, are allied or opposed at the whim of circumstances, in a world strongly marked by feudalism. The conflict of 1473 pitted the Duke of Lorraine Nicolas against the bourgeois of Metz.

Siege of the city
In 1473, the city was once again the target of the duke of Lorraine Nicolas d'Anjou, grandson of René d'Anjou. The duke established his camp on the Sablon Plain, with 10,000 Lorrainer soldiers. Since the successive sieges of 1428 and 1444 did not succeeded to conquer the city of Metz by force, Nicolas decided to take the city by surprise. The Duke entrusts this mission to Captain Berthold Krantz.

On April 9, 1473, Krantz, disguised as a merchant, entered Metz with some soldiers, and hided in barrels. During the night, Krantz’s men managed to take the Serpenoise Gate and block its harrow, thanks to a wagon fitted with a beam lined with metal pegs. Some of the Lorrainer troops burst into the city, but soon found themselves blocked by the bourgeois of Metz, awakened by the baker Harelle. Armed and determined not to let themselves be invaded, the inhabitants managed to close the doors, and to lower the harrows, trapping some 500 Lorrainer soldiers. Krantz was killed in the battle along with some of his men, the other Lorrainers were captured.

Realizing that his attempt had failed, the young duke of Lorraine preferred to withdraw with his troops on Pont-à-Mousson.

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