Battle of Soltau The Battle of Soltau ( ) took place on 28 June 1519 and was the military climax of the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud which lasted from 1519 – 1523 . Some sources describe it as " the last knights ' battle " ( " Die letzte Ritterschlacht " ) . The feud had all the hallmarks of a typical dispute between noble families of that time . At its heart was the division of revenue and territorial claims , mainly on the land of the Bishopric of Hildesheim . Two aspects , however , made it rather different . Firstly , the main protagonists on both sides were members of the princely House of Welf family and secondly , the warring parties simultaneously supported different pretenders to the imperial elections of the Holy Roman Empire . The Brunswick - Calenberg party , with dukes Henry II of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel and Eric I of Calenberg at its head , favoured the Habsburg Charles ( later Emperor Charles V ) , the Lüneburg - Hildesheim coalition under Duke Henry the Middle and Bishop John IV supported the election of Francis I of France as the new emperor . Despite their convincing victory at the Battle of Soltau , the Lüneburg - Hildesheim alliance eventually lost the war against Brunswick and Calenberg , when Emperor Charles V banned both Henry , Duke of Lüneburg , and Prince - Bishop John . Background . The forces of Brunswick numbered about 7 , 000 foot soldiers ( of which 4 , 000 were feudal levies and 3 , 000 were professional " Landsknecht e " ) and 700 armoured cavalry ( " Reisige " ) . The Lüneburgers also had purportedly over 7 , 000 infantrymen , but their cavalry force , of about 1 , 500 horse , was considerably stronger . The Brunswickians took 24 cannon and a large baggage train with them ; the strength of the Lüneburg artillery is unknown . As it happened , only the lighter guns could be deployed for the battle itself . The professional infantry fought in compact squares ( " Gevierthaufen " ) . Following Swiss practice , the first three to five ranks carried pikes up to six metres long , whilst the rear ranks were mainly equipped with the shorter halberd s or similar . Occasionally two - handed swords and matchlock - arquebus es were carried , but they played a secondary role . Nothing is known of the weapons carried by the levies . Both armies marched in the usual order for that period . At the head was a vanguard ( " Vortrab " ) also known as the " Verlorener Haufen " or ' forlorn hope ' , which in the case of the Brunswick force numbered some 1 , 500 " Landsknechte " , accompanied by 300 cavalry and a section of artillery ( probably the field guns ) . This was followed by the main body of 4 , 500 men ( 500 " Landsknechte " , accompanied by the rest of the cavalry ) and a rearguard ( " Nachhut " ) of 1 , 000 " Landsknechte " . The baggage train would have been at least as large as the army itself , especially on the Brunswick side , which took with it a large quantity of treasure and its war chest . Nothing is known about the order of march of the Lüneburg army , but it was probably similar to that of Brunswick . However , for reasons that are not explained anywhere , the Lüneburgers had allowed their foot soldiers to fall behind , so that on 28 June only their cavalry initially stood in the way of the Brunswickians . Prelude . After a long , at times parallel , pursuit both armies met around midday on the 28 June 1519 northwest of Soltau between the villages of Vahlzen and Langeloh . The weather was warm , but cloudy . Both parties occupied a rise , between which there was a piece of marshy terrain about 700 metres wide . The Brunswickians facing south had secured their flanks on two bogs , the Vahlzen Moor ( " Vahlzener Moor " ) to the west and the " Dickmoor " to the east ( the latter appears to have been much wetter and marshier ) . Precise information on the positioning of the two forces does not exist . However , it is known that the Lüneburgers had divided their cavalry into five " Fähnlein " , four of 225 each and one of 600 horsemen . It is reckoned that the Brunswickians had largely remained in their march formation and only assembled their 700 horsemen alongside their vanguard . If it were possible they would also have brought their field pieces into position at the edge of the hill they had now occupied . However it is likely that the two dukes in command were not agreed about the action to be taken in the face of the enemy . Battle . Opening clash . Oddly the battle was started by the Lüneburgers , although to begin with they only had their ( albeit superior ) cavalry at hand . According to the report by Henry the Middle three of his small " Fähnlein " of cavalry launched a frontal attack on the Brunswick horse . The fourth Lüneburg " Fähnlein " out - flanked the opposing body of cavalry and put it to flight headlong into the nearby Vahlzen Moor , where many of the routed horsemen lost their lives . The large " Fähnlein " ( 600 horse ) had not been engaged in the battle to that point . What the Brunswick vanguard ( of 1 , 500 " Landsknechte " ) did during the cavalry battle is unclear . It must have been so far from its own cavalry that they could be out - flanked . Attack on the Brunswick forlorn hope . Whilst a portion of the victorious squadrons pursued their fleeing enemy , Lüneburg ' s large " Fähnlein " of knights now attacked the isolated vanguard of their opponents , evidently supported again by an effective flanking move by the four small " Fähnleins " who conducted themselves very skillfully throughout . The " Landknechte " buckled under the shock attack of the Lüneberger cavalry , the artillerymen were cut down . As a result , the forlorn hope was shattered and routed into the " Dickmoor " . Because this moor was more boggy than the Vahlzen Moor , a much larger number of the routed troops lost their lives there . Now only the Brunswick main body and its rearguard remained in the field , when Lüneburg ' s foot soldiers finally arrived on the scene . Attack on the Brunswick main body . The 4 , 500 man strong main body of the Brunswick force had apparently not left its hill . Yet despite their attackers having to advance uphill to engage it , the main body put up little resistance . This would hardly have been surprising in view of the fate of their comrades and the fact that the greater part of the main body consisted of unprofessional soldiers . It appears not to have been supported by the rearguard which may have already fled . The main body of the Brunswick army was engaged frontally by the superior Lüneburg infantry whilst enemy horsemen swarmed around its flanks . It was beaten back and fled like the vanguard before it . Had the rearguard at this stage still been in the field it would surely have been carried away with the rout of the those in front of it . With that the battle itself was over . Occasional skirmishes went on into the night , the seizure of the richly laden Brunswick baggage train and its war chest being the main objective . Aftermath . The defeated Brunswick army probably lost around 3 , 000 to 3 , 500 killed , most of them drowned in the marshes , as well as numerous prisoners ( including Duke Eric I of Calenberg and William , Count of Wunstorf and Regenstein ) . Some 136 noblemen and 400 knight ' s chargers were also captured , along with the silver , tableware and garments of the Brunswick dukes and the war chest with 10 , 000 Gulden . The victors , by contrast , only suffered light casualties . Reports vary between 10 and 200 dead . The first figure ( 10 ) is hardly believable , even if the favourable circumstances for the Lüneburg forces are taken into account . No figures are given for the wounded , although these usually greatly exceeded the number killed . The report of 3 , 000 to 3 , 500 dead on the Brunswick side is clearly estimated and is probably based on the number of remaining troops that gathered again after the battle . The nobility of both sides complained about the high number of horses lost in the battle . This could be due to the fact that the cavalry at Soltau did most of the work ( which in the case of the Lüneburgers at least affected the first half of the battle ) . It is also quite feasible that the miry terrain led to the demise of many of the horses . Uncertainties . The course of the battle is difficult to fully reconcile from the few reports . For example it is unclear why the Lüneburg infantry dropped behind on the march , what the role of the Brunswick artillery was , how the cavalry could play the deciding role on marshy terrain and , in particular , how the Lüneburg forces were able to so easily out - flank first the enemy cavalry and then its vanguard as well . It remains striking that the tactical advantage was on the side of the Lüneburg army from the start . It must have been the decisions of the respective leaders that created this situation . Who made these decisions and when , remains unknown . The opening engagement of the cavalry can only have taken placed in the manner described if the Brunswick horsemen had charged their opponents . Otherwise it remains puzzling how the forlorn hope lost contact with its own cavalry , a factor which in the end led to the downfall of both forces . Consequences . Eric of Calenburg was captured , but later freed on payment of a considerable ransom to Bishop John and the surrender of various castles . Henry the Younger escaped to Rothenburg Castle . Although Henry the Middle and Bishop John IV were able to take control of the regional situation for a time through their victory at Soltau , the wider political direction of the empire took a different turn . After Charles from the House of Habsburg had been elected as the new emperor , the defeated party made various attempts to show that the victors of Soltau had been in the wrong . Because the latter had supported Francis I of France , the reaction of Charles V was unsurprising . In the end the Lüneburg - Hildesheim party had to acquiesce to significant material forfeitures at the Quedlinburg Recess of 1523 . The victor of Soltau , Henry the Middle , was placed under an imperial ban and by 1520 had to seek exile in France . In 1530 Charles V lifted the ban and Duke Henry was able to spend his last years at Wienhausen near Celle where he died in 1532 . Bishop John was also banned and later resigned from office .