The Battle of Montlhéry — Illumination from the Mémoires de Commynes (c. 1518–1524)

This illumination decorating a manuscript of the Mémoires by Philippe de Commynes, executed around 1518–1524 in the circle of the miniaturist Étienne Colaud and preserved at the Musée Dobrée in Nantes (Ms. XVIII, folio 7 verso), depicts the Battle of Montlhéry on 16 July 1465, a major engagement of the War of the League of the Public Good. Louis XI faced the coalition forces commanded by Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais, in a battle whose outcome remained undecided: the two armies clashed without either being able to impose an outright victory. As both chronicler and counsellor to both sides, Philippe de Commynes constitutes the most valuable narrative source for this episode: he was himself present at Montlhéry in the Burgundian camp, and his account of the battle — alternating tactical descriptions with political judgements — makes it one of the most vivid texts in medieval French historical literature. The miniature illustrates the practice of illuminated history at the beginning of the sixteenth century, in which the memoirs of a great political witness are visualised with the decorative richness of court workshops.