Battle of Patay 1429 AD - Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans - Hundred Years' War

The Battle of Patay was a decisive battle fought  in medieval France just north of Orleans on June   18th 1429 during the Hundred Years War between  the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France.   the english victory at agincourt 15 years  earlier was an absolute disaster for france in   the aftermath of this defeat england took control  of normandy and the duchy of burgundy took paris.   in 1419 a formal alliance was made between the  english king henry v and the duke of burgundy   philip the good. the english and burgundian allies  then forced the french king charles vi also known   as the mad king to sign the treaty of troyes  in 1420. the terms of this treaty arranged for   henry to marry charles's daughter catherine of  valois and charles submitted that henry and his   descendants would inherit the throne of france  disinheriting the french dauphine charles vii.   in 1422 henry v died which meant that  his infant son was now king months later   charles vi also died and as a result henry  v's young son who shared the same name   was to be crowned both henry vi  of england and henry ii of france.   in theory this should have ended the  hundred years war with an english victory   however many french princes still refused to  recognize the terms of the treaty of troyes   as many frenchmen still remained loyal to  the dauphine therefore the war continued.   in 1423 an allied english and burgundian army  led by thomas montagu the earl of salisbury and   baron robert willoughby defeated a united french  and scottish army at the battle of cravant later   that year the english suffered a crushing defeat  by the french at the battle of la brasseniere   despite this the english were able to overcome the  setback and win another decisive victory at the   battle of vernuil in 1424 with the latter battle  often being described as a second agincourt.   the years immediately following these events  witnessed the peak of english power in france   during this time the english controlled virtually  all of northern france everything north of the   loire river save for orleans and angers.  the english continued their advance south   into central france and on october 17th 1428  the english besieged the city of orleans.   the city was exceptionally well defended  and a siege dragged on for several months.   as the time passed the english noose  around orleans began to tighten.   one french excursion was launched to secure  supplies outside of the city known as the   battle of the herrings due to the target being  an english wagon convoy loaded with fish.   this failed however resulting in a disastrous  french defeat and a crash in french morale   supplies were beginning to run low the  situation was beginning to look grim.   should orleans fall to the english it would  have made the recovery of northern france   all but impossible. when the french  estates met at chennai in september of 1428   they urged the dauphine to make peace charles  even considered abdicating and going into exile   in scotland. these were some of  the darkest times in french history the turning point came in 1429 when a 16 year old  peasant girl joan of arc approached the dauphine.   she told the dauphine she had received visions  from god to drive the english from their homeland   and that it was his destiny to become king of  france. she convinced the dauphine to send her   to the siege after joining with a relief convoy  assembling at blois she met with the english siege   commanders and famously exchanged words calling  herself the maiden and ordering them in the   name of god to quote: "be gone, or i will make you  go." upon her arrival at orleans the morale of the   french troops increased tremendously. she brought  with her much needed supplies into the city.   the people saw her arrival as a miracle as divine  intervention. the tide was now beginning to turn.   the dauphine simultaneously gathered  reinforcements and the french forces   rallied assaulting the english surrounding  the city. these assaults proved successful   and the english were forced to  break the siege and retreat. emboldened by the maiden the french  counter-attacked seizing several english   strongholds on the loire river. the french army  led by the duke of alencon stormed the town of   jarjo on june 12th then captured the bridge at  meung sur loire and continued on laying siege   to beugency on june 15th. following the defeat at  orleans, an english army of reinforcements under   the command of john fastolf set off from paris and  joined forces with the survivors of the retreating   army under lord talbot and lord scales at meung  sur loire. talbot recommended an immediate   attack to relieve beaugency however fastolf was  more cautious and opposed this course of action   being reluctant to seek a pitched battle with the  french who were much more numerous. an army from   brittany also arrived under the banner of arthur  de richmont. this further reinforced the french.   discouraged by the arrival of this new army  and unaware of fastolf's reinforcements   the english garrison at bugency surrendered on  june 18th. as a result lord talbot finally agreed   to fastolfs proposal and the english army  set out in flight retreating towards paris. learning of this maneuver the duke of alencon  unsure in this moment of what to do next asked   joan for counsel. the maiden replied have you  good spurs? ha cried they. must we fly then?   no surely. but there will be need to ride boldly.  we shall give a good account of the english and   our spurs will serve us famously in pursuing  them. and so the french army set off in pursuit   chasing the english army with haste and  sending scouts to learn the english location. a mounted force of one thousand five hundred  nights and minute arms led by la hire,   and jean de xaintrailles led  the french army's advance.   joan followed in the rear staying with  the main army led by the duke of alencon.   after becoming aware that the french forces  were approaching the english commander lord   talbot the earl of shrewsbury sent a force of  archers to ambush them from a patch of woods   along the road and redeployed his men setting  up 500 longbowmen in position to cover the   rest of the retreating army and blocked  the main road near the village of patay the english commander intended to deploy the  same tactics used previously at the battles of   agincourt in 1415 and crecy in 1346 deploying  an army composed of mostly longbowmen behind a   barrier of sharpened stakes driven into  the ground to deter any cavalry attack. talbot and scales positioned  their army on the main road   near the intersection while fastolf deployed his  infantry along a ridge behind talbot's forces.   on the french side the french scouts initially  failed to locate the english army in its entirety.   the french vanguard then paused at st sigmund  about four miles from patay and finally had   success. a lone stag roaming along the road  was flushed out by the french and ran north   towards the english position. when the english  spotted the stag they raised a hunting cry   this gave away their position to the french. la  hire and jean rushed forward to engage the enemy.   the retreating english army stopped and  began making preparations for the battle.   at this point the rear guard led  by talbot was still in the process   of constructing their defensive  fortifications of sharpened stakes. appearing over a hill south of the english lines   jean and lehire caught sight of the  english army. remembering the advice   of the maiden they did not pause or even wait  for the rest of the french army to catch up.   instead they immediately deployed their cavalry  and attacked smashing into the english position. fastolf watched in horror from the ridge as  talbot's forces were annihilated by the full   force of the french heavy cavalry charge.   the english fortifications were unfinished  and were ineffective in stopping the attack.   the french knights were soon joined  by the rest of the french vanguard   and fastolf attempted to reinforce  talbot's forces but this was to no avail.   the shock of the french heavy cavalry charge  was devastating and the english army was shaken.   soon the entire english army was in full flight.   fastolf managed to escape and lord talbot  was taken prisoner. the rest of the battle   was essentially a mop up operation with the  french cavalry riding down the fleeing english. the battle of patay was a stunning victory for  france. the english army was virtually destroyed.   the english initially deployed five thousand men  and lost over two thousand. the french on the   other hand lost only about one hundred men. in  addition to the destruction of the english army   the capture of key english commanders during  this campaign proved to be a fatal blow from   which the english would never recover  for the rest of the hundred years war.   following this great victory the french were able  to regain large swaths of territory to the north   south and east of paris. joan of arc accompanied  the royal french army on its march to reims   where the dauphin was crowned as king  charles vii of france on july 17 1429. after the coronation the french also tried  to retake paris but failed. on may 23   1430 joan of arc was captured by the  burgundians at the siege of compagnie.   the burgundians then transferred her to the  english and she was put on trial in Rouen   where she was convicted for  heresy and cross-dressing. on may 30th 1431 she was  executed by burning at the stake. the death of joan of arc was tragic indeed  but despite this she had a profound impact   on not only the hundred years war but the entire  history of france and europe. although she did   not participate in any fighting directly she came  along in what was perhaps france's darkest hour   in history and she gave the people of france hope  to overcome what they saw as overwhelming odds.   for centuries to come joan of arc would be  known as the quintessential heroine of france.

Channel: a mad biscuit

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Keywords: mount, warband, hundred, years, war, joan, arc, joan of arc, england, france, knights, archers, la hire, xaintrailles, talbot, fastolf, john, thomas, scales, battle, patay, 1429, agincourt, orleans, maiden, sallet, gothic, armor, bannerlord, map, machinima, documentaryl, history

Id: -1kXuQTmoGI

Length: 24min 4sec (1444 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 14 2020