In the wake of his great military successes
in Northern France, particularly his recent conquest of Normandy, King Henry V of England
died suddenly of dysentery on 31 August, 1422. Henry’s early death at the age of 35 prevented him
from achieving his penultimate goal, becoming King of France, an arrangement made between French King
Charles VI and Henry in the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, which stipulated that upon the French Valois
monarch’s death, Henry and his descendants would receive the Crown of France, thus finally uniting
the two realms under the House of Lancaster and bringing lasting peace and a final
conclusion to the Hundred Years’ War.
Upon Henry’s death, his 9-month-old son, Henry
VI, became the new King of England and heir to the French throne. However, due to Henry VI’s
minority, the administration of the English realm fell upon the shoulders of a regency council made
up of the most influential leaders in England. In a cruel twist of irony, Charles VI died only
two months after Henry V, on the 21 October, 1422. Henry VI would now become the
king of both England and France.
But many French mangates, especially those of
the southern lands, now rejected the Treaty of Troyes and gathered around the late Valois
king’s son, the 19-year old Dauphin of France, whom they proclaimed to be King Charles VII.
However, large portions of Northern France were now under English control, including the capital
city of Paris itself, as well as the cathedral city of Reims, where Charles would have to
be crowned as per French royal tradition. The fact that Charles remained uncrowned and was
taking refuge in the southern city of Bourges led to the English derisively referring to him
as the “King of Bourges.” The English alliance with Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, also
posed a great danger to Dauphinist France. Decisively bested at the Battle
of Agincourt seven years prior, the French nobility was hesitant about
confronting the English army in open pitched battle. But the Dauphin Charles, on the
other hand, would not remain idle for long…
The Dauphin had gathered a strong
army through diplomatic maneuvering. In addition to the French, there was also a large
contingent of Scots in his army, as well as some Spanish mercenaries from the Crown of Aragon. A
detachment of Italian heavy cavalry from Milan - a city famed throughout Europe for its skilled
armorers - also arrived to provide assistance. This Dauphinist army, led by the Scotsman John
Stewart of Darnley, Earl of Buchan, invaded the Duchy of Burgundy in the summer of 1423 and
besieged the town of Cravant. During this time, a member of the English Regency Council,
John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford - a younger brother of the late Henry V - ruled on
behalf of the minor King Henry VI in France. Bedford reacted quickly to the Dauphinist
movement into Burgundy, and in additional to carrying out several successful offensive
campaigns of his own, inflicted a heavy defeat on his enemies at the Battle of Cravant.
Following the battle, Bedford set out to further consolidate his French holdings and prepare
for the continuation of the war in France. He primarily focused his efforts on consolidating
English control in Normandy, which was to become the main theater of future campaigns between the
Anglo-Burgundian and Franco-Scottish armies.
The winter of 1423 - 24 was also spent by the
French and Scots preparing for the inevitable conflict. In late 1423, the French managed
to win a small victory by capturing the city of Compiègne from the Burgundians during a raid
led by Dauphinist captain Étienne de Vignolles. He had taken advantage of thick fog and an
inadequate night-watch to take it by surprise from the Burgundians. However, this French contingent
was isolated from the rest of the Dauphin’s army and would be unable to hold the city by itself
for long without reinforcements. Despite this, the mere fact that Compiègne had been captured by
the French was enough to boost the morale of the Dauphinist forces as they prepared to go on the
offensive in 1424. The small French victory at the Battle of La Brossinière on the 26 of September,
1423, also greatly encouraged the Dauphinists, who began to gain hope that they might finally
be able to defeat the English in open battle.
Due to financial difficulties, Charles
took drastic measures to raise the funds necessary to strengthen his army. By the
start of the New Year, Charles had a war chest of a million livres granted to him by the
Estates General of Dauphinist France in Bourges. With these funds at his disposal, in the early
months of 1424 he began to collect as many soldiers as he could to his newly-raised army.
Among the contingents reinforcing the French were 6,000 fresh Scotsmen commanded by the elderly
Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, and his son. One of the most powerful
Scottish lords, Douglas had taken his men to Dauphinist France with the help of a
Castilian fleet, arriving in early spring. They arrived just in time; the English and
Scottish governments had made an arrangement for the ransom of the captive King James
I of Scotland, according to which the Scots would have committed themselves to cease
sending their armies to the aid of the French. Douglas’ army managed to reinforce the Dauphin
right before the agreement was concluded.
Having reviewed his forces in Bourges, now
numbering 14,000, Charles placed Douglas in command of the Great Army of Scotland,
a military expeditionary force that had fought for France in previous years. He also
bestowed upon Douglas the highest military rank of Lieutenant-General, as well as some land in
France, including the cities of Tours and Loches. The Dauphin’s declared intention for the campaign
of 1424 was to fight his way to Reims so that he could be crowned in the cathedral and
finally be recognized as King of France.
Meanwhile, Duke of Gloucester’s unwelcome military
intervention in the Low Countries on behalf of England seems to have pushed Burgundy into
making tentative concessions towards the Dauphin. In September, 1424, together
with the Duke of Brittany, they signed the first treaty of
abstinence from war between them. Though it covered only the midwest of France,
principally the duchy and county of Burgundy, the Bourbonnais, Mâconnais and Forez, it
was of enormous importance for two reasons: the truces were regularly renewed, providing an
ongoing dialogue between the two parties, and for the first time, Burgundy referred to the Dauphin
in an official document as “King of France.”
Meanwhile, the Duke of Bedford’s plans for the
campaign season of 1424 were equally ambitious. Meeting with his senior commanders in Paris, he
decided to launch an offensive into the south, extending the English conquests to the
counties of Anjou, Maine, and Dreux. First, he would have to wipe out the remaining
Dauphinist holdouts on the frontiers of Normandy, then secure the border before moving southwards.
In March, Bedford seized Le Crotoy, one of the last Dauphinist holdouts in Northern France.
Twelve days later, Compiègne agreed to surrender. The Burgundian siege to recapture the city had
dragged on until Bedford, uncharacteristically losing patience, took Guillaume Remon,
captain of neighboring Passy-en-Valois, under whom many of the Dauphinist garrison
of Compiègne had fought with, and paraded him before the town with a halter round his neck,
threatening to hang him if they did not surrender, but would release him if they did.
The garrison of Compiègne was allowed to withdraw with its arms intact - an unfortunate
error of judgment, as its soldiers avenged themselves by seizing the castle of Gaillon,
eighty miles away in Normandy. Two months and eight hundred men were required to recover it
and this time no mercy was shown: the Dauphinists were put to the sword and the castle itself
demolished to prevent it from being retaken.
Like Charles, Bedford had also been receiving a
steady stream of reinforcements. Throughout April and May, English reinforcements numbering 1,600
men under six-month contracts arrived in Calais led by Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick,
Lord Robert Willoughby, and Sir William Oldhall. Around 2,000 men were also taken from the
Norman garrisons. Even after he was joined by a Burgundian contingent, Bedford had only
eighteen hundred men-at-arms and eight thousand archers at his disposal for the new campaign.
Bedford led his troops in person to Ivry, arriving on August 14, the day before the
fortress would have to surrender if not relieved. He deployed his men ready for battle, but the
Dauphinist forces did not come. They were thirty miles away to the southwest at Verneuil, which, on
August 15, they captured by an ingenious ploy.
Knowing that everyone was waiting for the outcome
of the battle for Ivry, they took some of the Scots who could speak English, tied them up,
splashed them with blood and set them backwards on their horses, as if they were prisoners.
As they were paraded before the town they cried out in English, bewailing their fate and the
utter destruction of “their” army before Ivry.
The terrified townspeople were then presented
with the Sire de Torcy in a similar condition, who confirmed that all was lost. What they
did not know was that he had just deserted the English cause and sworn allegiance to the Dauphin.
Convinced that there was no point in holding out, the citizens opened their gates and the
Dauphin’s men took control of the town.
That same day, the garrison of
Ivry surrendered to Bedford’s army. But when the Duke received news of
Verneuil’s surrender to the French, he was outraged. Immediately, Bedford set out for
Verneuil after accepting the surrender of Ivry. The next day, August 16, the English army slowly
began to approach Verneuil. Arriving in person on the battlefield, Bedford observed a more numerous
French army in a developed battle formation. Some Normans, seeing the strength of the French,
switched sides. Fearing that the same thing would happen to the Burgundians, he sent them back
to assist his countrymen on the western front. Despite this, Bedford did not lose
confidence or hope of victory. After spending the night in camps, the two armies
prepared to face one another on August 17, 1424.
Both armies deployed in the traditional manner for
battle. Regardless of rank, everyone dismounted to fight on foot, apart from the Milanese on the
French wings and a small contingent of French heavy cavalry. The English archers were arrayed
in a thin, loose line in front of the center and, repeating the anti-cavalry tactics used so
successfully at Agincourt, each one was protected by a wooden stake driven into the earth in front
of him, its sharpened end pointing towards the enemy. All the English horses were tied together
so that they could not run away and were placed with the wagons at the rear of the army, forming
a barrier to protect its flank from attack. About 500 archers remained in the
rear with the fortified baggage train. Bedford commanded the right flank of his army,
while Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, led the left wing. The English army numbered
about 8,500 soldiers, of which about 3,000 were men-at-arms, while the rest were archers.
On the opposite end of the field, the French army numbered between 14 - 16,000 soldiers. Since
their army was not as unified or homogenous as England’s, the deployment and disposition of
troops was heavily influenced by the powerful nobles and mercenary leaders within the Dauphin’s
ranks. William II of Narbonne and his troops, primarily Spanish soldiers, were in the center.
To the right of him were the Scottish men-at-arms under the command of the Earl of Douglas,
while to their right were the Scottish archers. The Count of Aumale held the Dauphinist
left flank with the French footmen, while the heavy mounted Milanese mercenary
cavalry was placed in front of him. On the right wing stood the mounted French heavy cavalry.
Although their cavalry ranks were thin, the French commanders relied on their effectiveness
against the lightly-armed English archers.
The Dauphin Charles, who was not personally
present at the battle, wanted to use his large army as soon as possible due to the massive
financial problems with maintaining such a large number of soldiers for a long period
of time. This was an ideal opportunity, especially considering the numerical
advantage of the French on the battlefield. Although the fear of Agincourt loomed over the
French commanders, they remained optimistic about an open battle here at Verneuil.
The Battle of Verneuil began at about 4:00 PM on that hot and sunny day with
the advance of the English army. When their archers were within close range, they
struck their sharpened stakes in front of them, raised their longbows, and loosed a
tremendous arrow volley at the enemy. Under a shower of arrows, the French
army responded by advancing.
The Milanese cavalry launched a devastating
charge, sweeping the English longbowmen before them. The English arrows had little
effect on the heavily-armored Italians. The Milanese drove straight through the
army’s thin skirmish line of archers, who retreated back towards the main English ranks.
Sharpened stakes proved little help as the Lombard cavalrymen smashed into the enemy right flank
at full speed. The weight of such a heavy attack disrupted the English battle formation, pressing
deeper and deeper through the enemy ranks. Meanwhile, the French cavalry on the right
wing launched their own spirited charge. But instead of focusing
their attack on the archers, they bypassed the longbowmen and rushed
into the rear of the English army. Their intent was clearly to strike from
behind and sow panic in the English ranks.
Back on the left wing, the Milanese
armored cavalrymen managed to utterly destroy the English right flank. The wavering
longbowmen finally routed and fled to the north. Even the English men-at-arms on the right
suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat. With this withdraw, the English army’s
right flank had been entirely routed. Fleeing Englishmen retreated so far north that
news of a disastrous English defeat was beginning to spread through the area. But back on the
battlefield, the Lombards had no intention of halting and striking the rear of the shaken
and vulnerable English formation. They continued their pursuit of the enemy, focusing their
efforts on the English baggage train.
Seeing the retreat of the enemy right, the rest of
the French army launched their attack. They wanted to seize the moment and push back the rest of the
English infantry who still held their positions. However, their attack was poorly coordinated
and part of the French army, probably the Scots, lagged behind the rest. Bedford, a skilled and
charismatic military leader took advantage of this and rallied the wavering infantry,
restoring order in the center lines. His disciplined men-at-arms soon
clashed with the French infantry.
The French cavalry on the right wing, in an
attempt to attack the English from behind, hit the wall of tethered horses
protecting the English rear. Stuck in place with such few numbers, they
became an easy target for the English longbowmen, who dispersed them with a hail of arrow volleys.
On the English left, the archers there were soon forced to draw their daggers and join
in the melee with the advancing Scots.
But the fiercest action took place
in the center between the infantry. The English infantry, possessing skilled
and disciplined commanders of both high and low rank, finally managed to match their
opponent despite their initial setbacks. According to some sources, Bedford himself
partook in the bloody melee and killed many Frenchmen with his two-handed axe.
Exhausted from hours of combat, both sides gradually began to slow their
advances, lessening the intensity of the melee. Both the English and French anticipated the
imminent arrival and flank attack of the Milanese cavalry to finally end the battle.
But instead of the Lombards, English archers suddenly appeared and rushed into the vulnerable
French flank with their daggers and longbows. It is unknown where these archers came from -
they were possibly longbowmen who had rallied from their initial retreat off the battlefield.
It it is also possible they were stationed on the English left wing and were sent to aid their
comrades on the right. Regardless, the French were now attacked on their flank, taken completely
by surprise. With losses mounting in the bloody melee, the French army began to flee towards
Verneuil, with the English in hot pursuit.
Despite their vigorous attempts to halt
the panicked flight and rally their men, only the Scots remained in their original
position, putting up a fierce resistance. However, after being abandoned by their comrades, the Scots
were surrounded on all sides and annihilated. In the meantime, the Milanese, after having
seized a huge amount of booty from the looted English baggage train, began to return to the
battle. But seeing that they were too late, they turned their horses around
and left the battlefield.
The English victory at the Battle of Verneuil was
a victory to match Agincourt nine years earlier. Despite his inferior numbers and the disadvantage
of having not chosen the field of battle, Bedford completely routed the Dauphin’s forces.
The English had lost around 1,600 men, compared to the 6,200 French and Scottish soldiers
lying dead across the blood-soaked field. Among the dead French and Scotsmen were some of
the Dauphin’s best field commanders - the Count of Aumâle and the earls of Douglas and Buchan.
The young Duke of Alençon, newly married to the daughter of Agincourt’s most famous prisoner,
Charles d’Orléans, was himself a captive, together with Pierre, the Bastard of Alençon,
and Marshal Gilbert Motier de La Fayette.
The victory at Verneuil secured Bedford’s
reputation and the English conquest. The Scottish army, upon which the Dauphin depended so heavily,
was all but annihilated and would not be replaced. Having been released in April
of 1424, James I of Scotland was married off to a Beaufort and signed
the seven-year truce with England which would prevent further mass recruitment of
his subjects into the Dauphin’s service.
The Dauphin could not shrug off this defeat as he
had that at the Battle of Cravant a year earlier. Abandoning his plans for a coronation at the
Cathedral of Reims and also, to all appearances, for the recovery of his kingdom, he settled into
a life of luxury and indolence in his “Kingdom of Bourges,” leaving those still committed
to his cause leaderless and without hope. Bedford, however, returned to Paris to a hero’s
welcome: according to chronicler Jehan Waurin, who had participated in the campaign with the
English, the crowds in Paris wore red and shouted “Noël!” as he passed and when he went to
give thanks at the Cathedral of Notre Dame “he was received as if he had been God . . . in short,
more honor was never done at a Roman triumph than was done that day to him and his wife.”
Bedford’s captains pushed home their advantage by seizing the military initiative from
the disheartened Dauphinists. By October of that year, Salisbury and Suffolk had retaken
Senonches, Nogent-le-Rotrou and other frontier fortresses in the southeast and La Hire agreed to
evacuate his remaining strongholds in the spring. Guise, the last northern Dauphinist outpost, had
fallen after a five-month siege. In the southwest, the Earl of Salisbury joined lords Fastolf and
Scales in extending English control over the County of Maine and into the Duchy of Anjou, a
year-long campaign designed to both secure the border of Normandy and reward those who had missed
out on the profits of the first wave of conquest. The English victory in the 1424
offensive was now complete.
