The Fall of English France 1449–53
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THE FALL OF ENGLISH FRANCE 1449–53 DAVID NICOLLE ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CAMPAIGN • 241 THE FALL OF ENGLISH FRANCE 1449–53 DAVID NICOLLE ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER Series editor Marcus Cowper © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CONTENTS ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN 5 CHRONOLOGY 8 OPPOSING FORCES 10 The reformed French army of Charles VII English armies in the mid-15th century Morale and the rise of nationalism OPPOSING COMMANDERS 17 French commanders English commanders THE FALL OF NORMANDY 22 The English invasion From the Grand-Vey to Formigny The battle of Formigny The final collapse in Normandy THE FALL OF GASCONY 42 The battle of Castillon The end of English Gascony AFTERMATH 84 The impact on France The impact on England Postscript in Calais THE BATTLEFIELDS TODAY 92 FURTHER READING 93 INDEX 95 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com The decline of English France: frontiers c.1448 England and English-controlled territory at the start of 1449 Normandy and Gascony Irish principalities under varying degrees of English control Regions of southern Scotland under some degree of English control French royal territory at the start of 1449 Major French feudal domains, excluding Burgundian domains Burgundian territory within the Kingdom of France SCOTLAND Burgundian territory within the Empire Provençe ruled by a member of the French dynasty of Anjou Territory regained by the French crown and Duchy of Burgundy, 1428–44 Edinburgh Maine handed over to French control, March 1448 Glasgow Other countries 13 DENMARK IRELAND York Dublin Bremen Chester 16a THE ENGLAND Amsterdam WALES Cork EMPIRE 24 London Bristol BRABANT 16b 25a 14 FLANDERS Cologne Calais 22 8 20 15 2 19 Dieppe 7 25b 1 4 EVREUX Reims Metz 11 NORMANDY 5 Strassburg Paris 23 3 10 21 ALENÇON BRITTANY MAINE Orléans ANJOU Tours Nantes Dijon BURGUNDY English victory 9 French victory (Duchy) (County) Poitiers Other battles 17 Geneva English naval movements 12 FRANCE Limoges French campaigns Lyon SAVOY French naval movements 18 ANGOUMOÎS PERIGORD 6 DAUPHINÉ 0 200 miles Bordeaux LIMOUSIN 0 200km GASCONY Avignon Toulouse PROVENÇE Bayonne COMMINGES La Coruña BÉARN Marseille Oviedo Bilbao NAVARRE BIGORRE FOIX LÉON-CASTILE ARAGON © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN After a period of uneasy truce, the Hundred Years War flared up again early in the 15th century with yet another English invasion of France, marked by a crushing English victory at Agincourt in 1415, soon followed by the signing of an Anglo-Burgundian alliance. In 1418 the Burgundians took control of Paris and in 1420 the Treaty of Troyes recognized Henry V of England as heir to the aged and mentally unstable Charles VI of France. Henry V then married Catherine de Valois to unite the ruling houses of England and France. On the face of it England had won the war, but Charles VI’s disinherited son, the Dauphin Charles, refused to recognize the treaty and established a rival court in the central French city of Bourges. This ‘Kingdom of Bourges’ was financially and militarily weak but became the centre of an increasingly effective resistance and, after Jeanne d’Arc had convinced the ex-dauphin, now the self-declared King Charles VII, into having himself crowned in the sacred city of Reims (see Campaign 94: Orléans 1429, Osprey Publishing Ltd: Oxford, 2001), the balance gradually shifted in his favour. Charles VI of France and Henry V of England both died in 1422, leaving their theoretically joint Crown to the infant Henry, called the VI of England and the II of France (though this title is not accepted by French historians). The concept of two kingdoms coming together in such a personal union was widely accepted in late medieval Europe, and many English historians still 1 French defeat English at Gerberoy, spring 1435. 15 English reinforcements under Richard Woodville Lord Rivers sent to 2 Alliance between Charles VII and the Duke of Burgundy confirmed Gascony, 1450. at Arras, 1435. 16 Yorkist revolt in Ludlow (A) in February, stand-off between Yorkist 3 English evacuate Paris, 1436. and Royalist forces at Dartford is ended by negotiation (B) in March, 4 English defeat French at Ry, 2 February 1436. 1452. 5 French retake Pontoise, 1441. 17 Charles VII marches against Savoy, August 1452. 6 French threaten Gascony, 1441–42. 18 English army under Talbot, initially mustered to support Calais, sails 7 French retake Dieppe and an English attempt to retake it fails, 1443. to retake Bordeaux from the French, September–October 1452. 8 English army sails to Cherbourg from Portsmouth because French 19 Ships from Hull, King’s Lynn and Dover assemble at Fowey for taking of Dieppe makes eastern part of English Channel unsafe. second expedition to Gascony, autumn and early winter 1452. 9 The Dauphin Louis campaigns against the Swiss in support of 20 English fleet moves from Fowey to Plymouth, February 1453. Frederick of Hapsburg, 1444. 21 English army under John Viscount Lisle sails to support Talbot, 10 Charles VII and the Dauphin Louis campaign against écorcheurs in March 1453. Alsace and Lorraine, 1444. 22 Duke of Burgundy defeats Ghent rebels at the battle of Gavere, 11 Charles VII leads punitive expedition against Metz in support of the 23 July 1453. Duke of Lorraine. 23 Charles VII assembles ships from Holland, Zealand, Flanders, 12 Major upgrading of fortifications at La Rochelle naval base, Brittany, Poitou and Spain at La Rochelle to support second French 1445–47. siege of Bordeaux, summer 1453. 13 English defeated by Scots in renewed hostilities, 1448–49. 24 First battle of Barnet, 22 May 1455 (start of Wars of the Roses). 14 Kentish rebellion led by Jack Cade reaches London but is crushed in 25 French fleet attacks Sandwich (A) and Fowey (B), nominally in July 1449. support of Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses, 1457. 5 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com LEFT harbour a nostalgic feeling that it would have been a reasonable way to end A French illustration, made the long conflict. Nevertheless, English and Burgundian armies failed to around 1460, showing the take control of the whole country, and the English faced huge difficulties relationship between the kingdoms of England and maintaining order in the vast areas they ruled after the Treaty of Troyes. France in French eyes, with Whether this territory really formed an ‘English France’ during the 15th century King Richard I of England remains controversial. Meanwhile, the English position in south-western France offering homage to King had hardly been affected by the great victories in the north. Here there was no Philippe Auguste of France. (Grand Chroniques de France, significant expansion, and what might be called ‘French France’ under Charles Bib. Munic. Ms. 5, f.225v, VII still controlled the Mediterranean coast and an Atlantic coast between Châteauroux) Gascony and Brittany. Then there was Brittany itself; this Duchy was a RIGHT powerful military force that overlooked the strategic sea lanes between England Little remains of the French and Gascony. Both sides were eager to draw Brittany into their fold, and kings’ fortified palace on the Charles VII’s eventual success in doing this was a major boost to his cause. Isle de la Cité in Paris apart The apparently deep-seated pro-English sentiment in Gascony was in from three massive towers reality an attachment to local autonomy strengthened by commercial self- incorporated into the later Palais de Justice. (Author’s interest. Put simply, the people of Gascony preferred the distant rule of photograph) England to that of an increasingly centralizing and powerful French monarchy. The link between London and Bordeaux was particularly strong, English settlement in Gascony being primarily focused upon Bordeaux, Bayonne and Dax. Here the resident English included merchants and craftsmen as well as garrisons. Most seem to have been prosperous, with the only exceptions being some rural parishes where poorer English settlers may have been involved in wine growing. Meanwhile the situation in England was surprisingly complex for a country that believed that it had won the war, with widespread criticism of the cult of royal militarism. Some even linked the war with the stories of King Arthur and prophesied that – as in the Tales of the Knights of the Round Table – all would end in catastrophe. The high hopes of King Edward III’s reign had largely evaporated and an increasingly unpopular war had become a political burden for Henry VI’s government. Even the King’s marriage to another French princess, Margaret of Anjou, did little to raise the Crown’s prestige, and the unfortunate Margaret was seen as an interfering foreigner. 6 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com The situation in France outside those regions under English rule was dominated by relations between the Duke of Burgundy and his cousin, King Charles VII. While the alliance between Burgundy and England endured, Charles VII had little hope of expelling the invaders and his struggle was as much diplomatic as military. There were also deep-seated tensions between other senior aristocratic families, not least between the houses of Bourbon and Burgundy. To further complicate the issue, the reforms that characterized Charles VII’s reign were intended to strengthen the King’s position, thus weakening that of the great nobles upon whom the King’s military power ultimately rested. Meanwhile the Duke of Brittany became a somewhat reluctant ally of Charles VII, largely owing to pressure from his brother, Arthur de Richemont, the Constable of France. Unlike their ruler, however, the people of Brittany remained strongly pro-French and furnished the royal armies with large numbers of committed troops. One major diplomatic triumph nevertheless trumped all others when, in 1435, the Duke of Burgundy changed sides and formed an alliance with Charles VII.