Swiss issued forth from Milan in disciplined columns. Battle The Swiss encountered Francis's forces at the little burnt-out village of Marignano on a plain dotted with vineyards, farm fields, small orchards, and pastures. A treaty signed, the French were not expecting battle. Francis was in his tent, trying on a new suit of armor, when scouts reported the coming of the Swiss. The French army quickly sprang into action, forming up in three divisions. The French vanguard, under the joint command of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon and the Marshal Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, took possession of two shallow rises near San Giuliano. This formation consisted of crossbowmen (protected by earthworks and pavise shields) on the left, a large square of Landsknecht infantry at the center, and arquebusiers on the right, covering the artillery, which was arrayed in a crescent shape along the south-eastern and eastern edges of the formation. Two kilometers to their rear, Francis I of France personally led a force of cavalry and 6,000 Landsknechts recruited from the Netherlands known as the Black Band of Gueldern. Finally, the rearguard, a further kilometer to the center's rear, was led by the King's brother-in-law, Charles IV, Duke of Alençon. Unlike the French force, which had a good mix of pikemen, arquebuses, and cavalry, the Swiss force consisted almost entirely of pike infantry and only fielded less than a dozen artillery pieces. Close to sunset, the Swiss approached the French in three divisions of their own, each a dense mass of pikemen. They had no artillery or cavalry, and had learned in past actions that a rapid advance into the enemy would sweep all before them. At Marignano, the battle began with a “forlorn hope” detaching from the Swiss vanguard phalanx, and charging the grand battery in front of the King’s position in the center with lowered pikes. Their intent, justified by experience in other battles, was to quickly overrun the French cannon and then turn them upon their owners. At first the Swiss attack succeeded in driving back the landsknecht defenders and capturing a few of the guns, the speed of the Swiss advance rendering their fire ineffective. But Bourbon’s cavalry from the French right counter-attacked their flank, driving the forlorn hope back to the shelter of the Swiss vanguard. The pursuing French horse were themselves forced to retreat back a full kilometer after taking heavy losses. Smoke and the