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clanged down, trapping Picot between the gate
and the portcullis - a shot in the head finished him
and his attempt to blow up the gate. (It was just
about this time that in England Shakespeare was
writing Hamlet; the Prince of Denmark could have
been speaking for Isaac Mercier when he said For
‘tis the sport to have the engineer Hoist with his
own petard.) The Savoyards struggled to lift the
portcullis or to break it, but the Genevese
workmanship was strong and efficient. The route
remained barred; the Savoyards just could not get
through.
Could it be that the action of one man, a
Huguenot refugee who had adopted Geneva as
his home, who had kept his head when all but he
had fled, could frustrate the well-planned attack of
an élite troop?
While the Savoyards struggled with the un-liftable
portcullis, the Genevese came rushing down and
very fierce hand to hand fighting took place. It
was not an easy fight; twice the Genevese were
repulsed, twice they came back, and finally they
beat the Savoyards back to the Corraterie.
It was at this point that a cannon shot was heard
by friend and foe. It was the cannon on the
Boulevard de l’Oie, the only cannon fired during
the fight. It was loaded with chain. In the dark, in
the turmoil and confusion, when it was difficult to
tell friend from foe, there wasn’t much question of
aiming the cannon or seeking to achieve a
specific purpose. But the cannoneers were not
going to be left out of things, and decided to let off
one shot at least.
Providence continued to be with the Genevese.
The shot hurtled straight at the famous Savoyard
ladders and destroyed two of them! Soldiers who
were on them were sent flying; soldiers who were
on the ramparts saw their line of retreat destroyed
and panicked; those who wanted to escape, could
only do so by jumping down. If they were lucky,
they landed on the branches placed in the moat
and escaped severe injury, others landed on the
ground and suffered broken limbs.
The cannon shot which had given further heart to
the Genevese, gave further despair to the
Savoyards. Troops waiting at Plain Palais
believed this was the signal of victory; they
heartily beat their drums and sounded their
trumpets while their comrades were in fact fleeing
in disorder and confusion.
The Genevese, fully roused, were shooting their
muskets from every window, the Savoyards had
only one aim: save themselves. Brunaulieu,
determined not to go back in disgrace, died
fighting. D’Albigny ordered the retreat to be
sounded and jumped down from the wall. Luck
was with him in this and he escaped with light
injuries.
The bulk of the Savoyard forces, advancing on the
city in the conviction that the gates would be
open, met their fleeing comrades. Indeed, in the
misty darkness, taking them for fleeing Genevese,
there were some fights with their own comrades
before they realised what had happened. They
could hardly believe that their elite troops, far from
waiting inside the city gates, were fleeing. By half
past five in the morning, by which time the
Savoyards had expected to be masters of the city,
the Genevese were in full control.
The Duke was waiting impatiently to hear further
news of the success of his surprise attack; he
learnt instead of the rout of his troops. His one
chance of subduing the Protestant Republic had
failed, and failed ignominiously. He was in such a
rage, he could hardly speak. Vous avez fait là
une belle cacade! he cried angrily to the Duke
d’Albigny (What a ridiculous mess you’ve made of
it!). And he ordered four Spanish captains to be
executed immediately for having failed to do their
duty; it was one way of relieving his anger.
The Savoyard forces dispersed immediately. The
Duke was overcome with a sense of disaster and
despair. He went to the Abbey of Hautecombe
near Chambéry, before returning to Turin to face
the wrath of people who had lost relatives or
realized the folly of the adventure.
The Savoyards had lost 60 men while only 16
Genevese had been killed; two of the wounded
died later. Those who had given their lives to
defend the city included native citizens, bourgeois,
refugees, immigrants and soldiers of the garrison;
this helped to cement relations among the
different sections of the population, particularly
between the Genevese and the Huguenot
refugees.
The Genevese had taken 13 prisoners, all nobles
who had hoped to celebrate a great victory that
day. Since war had not been declared, the
Genevese saw no reason to observe its niceties
and treated the prisoners as brigands. They
refused all offers of generous ransoms made by
the prisoners and passed summary judgement on
them. Tabazan, the city executioner, hanged
them that very evening. He cut off their heads as
also the heads of some 50 dead Savoyards left
behind. These were impaled along the Boulevard
de l’Oie as a warning to all enemies of the
Republic.
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