The French victory in the Siege of Orleans
from 1428 to 1429 was a major turning point in the Hundred Years’ War. Over the next 25 years, the English found
themselves on the defensive, desperately trying to keep hold over their ever-diminishing Continental
possessions, unable to cope against King Charles VII’s revitalized France. By 1440, the English had been pushed out of
the strategically important Loire Valley, their lands now restricted to Normandy and
Gascony. The Treaty of Tours in 1444 provided a respite
for both sides, which Charles used wisely to reorganize and reform his army. In 1449, the winds of war picked up again. The inadequate leadership of King Henry VI
rendered England unable to oppose the French re-conquest of Normandy. Charles launched a three-pronged invasion
under the command of Jean, Count of Dunois - the “Bastard of Orléans” - which crushed
the English at the Battle of Formigny on April 15th, 1450. But conquering Gascony, however, would prove
a greater challenge for Charles. For 300 years, Gascony had been an English fief
since the 12th century, building close ties with the Crown. As such, the people and the nobility were
staunch supporters of their English overlords. Rather than a single invasion, Charles raised three small armies
to enter and occupy Gascony from different routes. Through this strategy, he aimed to lure the
English into open battle, rather than having his armies bogged down in long and costly
sieges. In early 1450, the French made ready to invade
Gascony. By summer’s end, the three armies began
the campaign to conquer the region. The first column under the Count of Foix marched
alongside the Adour River towards Bayonne. Meanwhile, Count of Penthievre marched the
Breton army through the Dordogne River valley. In October, the Bretons arrived at Bergerac
and headed west on a route to Bordeaux on the Gironde River. Bordeaux was the provincial capital of English-held
Gascony and was seen as the primary target by the French. The city was besieged before winter. By spring 1451, Jean de Dunois marshalled
the third army south to join the besiegers at Bordeaux. Meanwhile, a combined Franco-Breton-Spanish
fleet blockaded the mouth of the Gironde, rendering the English seaborne supplying of
Bordeaux impossible. Cut off and isolated, the beleaguered garrison held out
until June 30th, before opening the gates to the French. Bayonne fell to Foix within two months of
Bordeaux’s capitulation. For the first time in almost three hundred
years, Paris controlled Gascony. “Never may I hear mass again if I do not put the French to rout!”
- John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury The French were seemingly on the verge of
winning the war. But it was not yet so. The pro-English populace of Gascony opposed
the Valois regime, both overtly and covertly. Several Gascon nobles taking refuge in England
pleaded with Henry to send an invasion army to liberate the King’s conquered subjects. Henry agreed, and looked to his veteran commander
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, to raise a relief army and shuttle it to Southwestern
France in September 1452. The 65-year old Lord Talbot was a seasoned
veteran, with over three thirty years of experience fighting the French on the Continent. He fought bravely under John, Duke of Bedford,
at the Battle of Verneuil in 1424. After the disastrous English setback at Orleans
in 1429, Talbot was captured during the rout, subsequently spending four years as a prisoner. He was captured once more during the 1449
Normandy campaign, but was ransomed along with seven other hostages in July 1450. But despite these setbacks, John was held
in high regard by his troops and remained feared by his enemies. Numbering around 3,000 men, Talbot’s expeditionary
force included troops recruited from his estates at Whitchurch, Sheffield, and Painswick. Battle-hardened and grizzled veteran officers
could be counted on to competently lead his troops into the coming battles. On October 17th, 1452, Talbot’s force made
landfall to the northwest of Bordeaux, in the Medoc region. The French were caught by surprise, having
believed that re-capturing Normandy was a higher priority for the English. The gates of Bordeaux were swung open as the Gascons
welcomed Talbot’s army with open arms on October 22nd. Talbot cooperated closely with the Gascons
to gradually rid the region of French presence, which was concentrated in the fortified towns
and castles. Within weeks, he had created a bulwark to
repel the expected French counterattack. By Christmas 1452, the English had regained
control over most of Gascony. Over the winter, Talbot’s fourth son, Viscount
Lisle, raised another 2,300 reinforcements and transported them to Gascony
to join his father. “Charles VII, the Victorious” With the English build up in Gascony clearly
becoming a problem, King Charles spent the winter of 1452 - 53 assembling an army large
enough to defeat Talbot in open battle. He entrusted overall command of the new army
to the Lord of Clermont. Jean Bureau, a gunpowder perfectionist, would
command the artillery. Finally, the Count of Penthievre would lead
the mounted lancers (the gens d’ordonnance). Again splitting the army into three columns
during the advance into Gascony, but now the French commanders planned to converge and
overwhelm Talbot’s position at Bordeaux. By June 21st, Clermont bypassed Talbot’s
patrols undetected, encamping in the Medoc area of Gascony. In a show of bravado, Talbot challenged Clermont
and his generals to march out the next morning and fight him in the open at Martignas. But the French, still gathering their forces,
did not fall for the ruse. Talbot marched back to Bordeaux after his
scouts’ reports determined that he was vastly outnumbered. A major battle was imminent,
and Talbot knew it. To regain the initiative, his strategy was
to defeat the smaller French column in detail to even the odds. Bureau’s army advanced down the Dordogne
River in early July and made siege preparations against Castillon - a small market town on the north
bank of the river, thirty miles east of Bordeaux. Bureau’s column included the main artillery
train, manned by experienced French gun crews. They reached Castillon on July 13th, encamping
east of the city. A detachment of archers was ordered to take
position in the St. Laurent Priory, just north of the town, Bureau intending to use it as
a picket to detect the approaching English relief force. The decision to form a fortified artillery park
as his main position east of Castillon was a prudent one. He wanted to avoid being sandwiched between a relief column
led by Talbot, and town’s pro-English populace. Always a perfectionist, Bureau wanted to besiege
Castillon slowly and methodically. Behind the walls of Bordeaux, Talbot bided
his time, waiting for an opportunity to strike. He planned to attack and defeat Bureau’s
column, the smallest of the three French columns, and then turn against Clermont’s main army. Meanwhile, 700 French pioneers worked tirelessly
for four days to build the fortified camp and artillery park east of Castillon. The park was roughly 700 yards long and 200
yards wide, with Bureau’s troops packed tightly inside the thirty-acre interior. Bureau’s chosen position paralleled the
Dordogne River, flowing less than a mile to the south and anchored on the smaller Lidoire
- a tributary running north. The considerably steep banks of the Lidoire provided a natural
moat and wall against attacks from that direction. Along the other three sides of the artillery
park, a deep trench was dug. Just behind the trench, raised earthworks
provided elevation to the defenders, dotted by strongpoints with interlocking fields of
fire. The pioneers also constructed a reinforced
palisade behind the trench, using excavated dirt and felled trees, to provide cover for
the men and cannons. The main gate was built on the south wall,
opposite the Dordogne. By dusk on July 16th, the fortified park was
complete, and Bureau’s entrenched position secure. He commanded six to seven thousand troops
inside the fortification. Some eleven and a half miles to the north,
another 1,000 Breton mounted lancers were hidden in the forest, on the opposite bank
of the Lidoire. The camp’s numerous strongpoints bristled
menacingly with guns, the French boasting nearly 300 artillery pieces of different caliber. Their arsenal had culverins, serpentines,
arbalests, and hand cannons - crude, handheld forerunners of the later arquebus. Culverins were the most effective, as they
were lightweight and able to fire .30 caliber balls through their 5-inch bronze barrels. Additionally, smaller handguns and swivel
guns were mounted along the ramparts, in between the artillery batteries that were concentrated
in the strongpoints. The arriving English would find the position
pre-sighted by primed and loaded guns. Bureau had designed his fort in a way that
rendered any hopes of successful assault futile. Talbot set out from Bordeaux towards Castillon
at first light on July 16th. His combined army of 5,300 English and 3,000
Gascons trailed close behind him. A handpicked retinue of 500 men-at-arms and
800 mounted archers served as the vanguard of the army. Behind them moved the footmen
and a few pieces of artillery. The English advanced along the north bank
of the Dordogne in the punishing summer heat, reaching Libourne by sundown. The vanguard then set out eastwards after
a quick rest, moving on a forested path to Castillon. The decision to ride for the remaining 12
miles during the night was a shrewd one by Talbot, for the English vanguard reached the
town by sunrise, while successfully avoiding detection by French pickets. The 1,000 French archers posted around the
St. Laurent Priory were completely unaware of Talbot’s force, with their only sentries
stationed on the southern road to Castillon. Giving the command to charge, Talbot and his
vanguard swarmed the priory at dawn on July 17th, 1453, catching most of the French archers
still in their bedrolls. The Battle of Castillon had begun. The enemy detachment was overwhelmed and quickly
defeated by the English, in a short but intense battle. Surviving French archers managed to fight
their way out and flee to the artillery park a mile east. The raid on the priory was executed to perfection. Alerted to Talbot’s presence, Bureau made
no attempts to retake the structure. With their morale raised, the English vanguard
secured the perimeter around the priory and prepared the grounds for the rest of the army,
which departed from Libourne during the night attack. While waiting for the main column to arrive,
Talbot rested the men of the vanguard, who previously rode hard for thirty miles to reach
Castillon. Sir Thomas Everingham was ordered to take
a group of riders east and reconnoiter the French position. Hungry and tired, men of the vanguard were
just starting to eat their breakfast when Everingham returned, reporting that the main
French force was well-entrenched behind strong earthworks. But then, a Gascon messenger from Castillon
brought word that he had seen large clouds of dust to the east , from which he inferred
that the French were withdrawing. Talbot now faced a decision on whether to
continue the attack before the men finished eating or to postpone it until the rest of
his infantry arrived. Everingham advised him to wait for reinforcements. But Talbot chose to reorganize the vanguard
and proceed with a renewed attack. This was a significant gamble. If the French were indeed retreating, pursuing
them would likely inflict heavy losses on their army. But the English intelligence was wrong. The clouds of dust spotted by the Gascon messenger
were in fact raised by horses from the artillery park being removed to another location. Little did Talbot know that he was about to
attack Bureau’s entire army with only a third of his own force. “For Talbot and St. George!”
– battle cry of the English vanguard at Castillon The Earl’s vanguard rode east, then trotted
south across a ford of the Lidoire before moving onto an open plain between the artillery
park and the Dordogne. The men-at-arms and archers dismounted for
an assault on foot, while Talbot himself remained on his steed to retain control over the troop
deployments. As per the agreement of his earlier release
from French captivity, Talbot swore an oath to never again wear armor or take up arms
against the King of France. Honoring this pledge, John Talbot refused
to don his armor or carry a sword into battle at Castillon. Mounted on a white horse, he was perhaps the most
conspicuous figure on the battlefield for either side. Talbot was surprised to see the French still
manning the earthworks, calmly anticipating his approach. Not a single French soldier was retreating. Nevertheless, the Earl was convinced that
the shock of his attack would breach the fort and force Bureau to retreat. Everingham again urged Talbot to wait for
reinforcements, but the Earl was resolute. He ordered his captains to organize the ranks
into two equal-sized battle groups. Talbot turned towards the men and gave the
signal! The Vanguard shouted: “For Talbot and St.George!” With a brisk step, they moved up the dirt
slope towards the ditch at the top. One English battle group attacked the west
side of the French artillery park, closest to Castillon. The other English formation moved against
the eastern side. As the English approached the ditch they were
met by a devastating barrage from the French guns. The English closed ranks and pressed into
the point-blank cannonade. Once at the top, those who survived the withering
fire took cover in the dry moat at the base of the palisade to catch their breath. They rose again with a shout and scaled the
ramparts. Men fell in the harrowing hand-to-hand fighting
atop the parapet. Among the first to climb the rampart was Everingham,
serving as Talbot’s standard-bearer. He plunged the English banner into a section
of the ramparts. But he was killed almost immediately after. The rest of the English army reached the battlefield,
but with no time to form their ranks, they rushed in piece meal. French bombards tore through the English ranks
as they advanced into the fray. On the day, Talbot committed 4,000 men, nearly
half of his army, to the ill-conceived assault. His artillery did not arrive in time to support
the attack. French guns continued mowing down the English
troops as the day wore on. The initial assault on the left, led by Everingham,
was perhaps the closest the English got to breaching Bureau’s fortifications. After about 90 minutes of fighting, the English
were spent. Then, the French mounted lancers moved up
on the English right flank from the wooded high ground to the north. Unseen until now, the French lancers quickly
turned the flank of the exhausted English. Men and banners alike were trampled under
horses’ hooves. The English broke and fled. The French in the park now leapt over the
parapet and advanced. Talbot’s attack fell apart. Bureau ordered a general advance, pursuing the English towards
the Dordogne, aiming to thoroughly finish them off. Talbot scrambled for a way out of this debacle, as the French
began reorganizing for a final push toward the riverbank. He looked everywhere for a shallow ford or crossing over
the Dordogne that would permit his army to escape. Talbot’s son, Lord Lisle, organized a rearguard
in a last-ditch effort to protect the escape route, while under continuous French bombardment. One shell struck Talbot’s horse, knocking
them both to the ground. The Earl was now pinned beneath the dead animal. By now, the English rearguard was on the verge
of collapse. Talbot’s aides raced to their commander
to help escort him from the field. But a French archer, Michel Perunin, also spotted Talbot,
reaching him first and cutting him down with a battleaxe. With the river to their backs and their escape
route cut off, the English rearguard found themselves trapped in a losing battle with
the French. Swimming across the Dordogne, many Englishmen
drowned in the fast-moving river. Talbot’s son, Lord Lisle, fought on but
was felled by French lancers just as a group of surviving English troops discovered a crossing
upstream known as the Pas de Rozan. A fraction of English troops escaped to safety,
but Talbot’s army was effectively wiped out. Bureau halted the pursuit soon after, ending
the battle. Castillon surrendered to the French the next
day and was spared destruction. Talbot’s body was recovered and returned
to his family in Shropshire for burial. Within a week, French forces again besieged
Bordeaux. This time the garrison was better prepared,
holding out for three months before surrendering. By the end of 1453, England had lost all her
French possessions save Calais. At long last, the Hundred Years’ War
was over!
