Battle of Baugé | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Hundred Years' War | |||||||
![]() The Battle of Baugé, illustration from the manuscript of Martial d'Auvergne, Les Vigiles de Charles VII, c. 1484. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of France Kingdom of Scotland | Kingdom of England | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Gilbert Motier de La Fayette John Stewart, Earl of Buchan Archibald Douglas, Earl of Wigton | Thomas, Duke of Clarence † Thomas Montagu, Earl of Salisbury Gilbert de Umfraville † John, Baron Ros † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,000 men | 4,000 men (although only 1,500 men directly took part in the battle) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Very light | 1,000 dead 500 captured |
The Battle of Baugé, fought between the English and a Franco-Scots army on 22 March 1421 at Baugé, France, east of Angers, was a major defeat for the English in the Hundred Years' War. The English army was led by the king's brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence, while the Franco-Scots were led by both John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, and Gilbert Motier de La Fayette, the Marshal of France. English strength was 4,000 men, although only 1,500 deployed, against 5,000 French and Scots.
In 1415 Henry V, with the intention of resuming the war, sailed from England to France with a force of about 10,500. He then pursued a highly successful military campaign, including the decisive victory at the Battle of Agincourt, and regained from the French crown much of England's previously held lands in France. [1] [2]
The Scots had been in an alliance with France since 1295. [3] In 1419 the situation in France was desperate. Normandy was lost to the English and Paris to the Burgundians. France was in a state of an ongoing civil war between the Royalist faction and the supporters of the dukes of Burgundy. In these deteriorating circumstances, the Dauphin appealed to the Scots for help. A Scottish army was assembled under the leadership of John, Earl of Buchan, and Archibald, Earl of Wigtown, and from late 1419 to 1421 the Scottish army became the mainstay of the Dauphin’s defence of the lower Loire valley. [4]
When Henry returned to England in 1421, he left his heir presumptive, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, in charge of the remaining army. Following the King's instructions, the Duke of Clarence led 4000 men in raids through the provinces of Anjou and Maine. [5] This chevauchée met with little resistance, and by Good Friday, 21 March, the English army had made camp near the little town of Vieil-Baugé. The Franco-Scots army of about 5000 also arrived in the Vieil-Baugé area to block the English army's progress. It was commanded by the Earl of Buchan and the new Marshal of France, the Seigneur of La Fayette; however, the English forces were dispersed, and, significantly, many of the English archers had ridden off in search of plunder or forage. On Easter Saturday, one of these foraging groups captured a Scots man-at-arms who was able to provide the Duke of Clarence with intelligence on the 5000 strong Scottish army. Clarence was keen to engage the enemy; however, he had a problem: the following day was Easter Sunday, one of the most holy days in the Christian calendar, when a battle would be unthinkable. A two-day delay was also deemed as out of the question. [4] [6] According to the chronicles of Walter Bower both commanders agreed to a short truce for Easter. [7]
There are several accounts of the Battle of Baugé; they may vary in the detail; however, most agree that principal factor in the Franco-Scottish victory was the rashness of the Duke of Clarence. [7] It seems that the Duke of Clarence did not realise how big the Franco-Scottish army was as he decided to rely on the element of surprise and attack immediately. He discounted the advice of his lieutenants, the Earl of Huntingdon and Gilbert Umfraville, to consolidate his own force and position; instead he ordered the Earl of Salisbury to round up all the archers and follow him as soon as possible. Clarence then with only about 1500 men-at-arms available, and virtually no archers, charged the Franco-Scottish lines. The Scots rallied hastily, and battle was joined at a bridge which Clarence attempted to cross. A hundred Scottish archers, under Sir Robert Stewart of Ralston, reinforced by the retinue of Hugh Kennedy, held the bridge and prevented passage long enough for the Earl of Buchan to rally the rest of his army. [4] [8]
When Clarence finally forced his way across, he was confronted with the main body of the Franco-Scottish army; its men-at-arms were dismounted and were well defended by the Scottish archers. [7] In the ensuing melée, John Carmichael of Douglasdale broke his lance unhorsing the Duke of Clarence. There are several versions of how Clarence met his death, but, according to Bower, the Scottish knight Sir John Swinton wounded the prince in his face, but it was Alexander Buchanan who is credited with killing the Duke with his mace and holding the dead Duke's coronet aloft on his lance in triumph. [2] [4] Another version stated that a Highland Scot, Alexander Macausland of Lennox, was responsible for Clarence's demise, whereas the Burgundian chronicler Georges Chastellain has the Duke killed by a Frenchman. [7] [9]
Later on in the day, probably in the evening, decisive action was taken by Salisbury, who, having succeeded in rounding up the English archers, used a contingent of them to rescue what was left of the English force and retrieve some of the bodies of the fallen, including that of Clarence. [10]
However, the Scots allowed the remnant of the English army, led by Salisbury, to escape and so missed an opportunity to remove the English from France. Nevertheless, the battle did secure the reputation of the Scottish army in France. [4] On hearing of the Scottish victory, Pope Martin V passed comment by reiterating a common medieval saying, that "Verily the Scots are the antidote of the English." [10]
The Dauphin was able to exploit the victory at Baugé by announcing his intention to invade English-held Normandy. [5] He made Archibald Douglas, Earl of Wigtown, the Count of Longueville and Lord of Dun-le-Roi. Sir John Stewart of Darnley received the lands of Aubigny-sur-Nere and Concressault, whilst the Earl of Buchan was made Constable of France. In 1422 the Dauphin created the "hundred men-at-arms of the King's bodyguard", known as the "Hundred Lances of France", to supplement the 24 archers of the Garde Ecossaise. The Hundred Lances eventually became the company known as the Gendarmerie of France, who distinguished themselves at Fontenoy in 1745. John Carmichael was elected bishop of Orléans in 1426, and was one of the 6 bishops to attend the coronation of the Dauphin as Charles VII in 1429 at Rheims. Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar, Joan of Arc’s Scottish Captain and known to the French as Canede, was granted the right to quarter his coat of arms with the fleur-de-lis of France. [4]
Meanwhile, Henry V had been busy in England with his wife Catherine of Valois. Catherine had been crowned at Westminster in late February. Soon after the queen's coronation, Henry and Catherine had set out on separate tours of England. It was while Henry was in the north of England he was informed of the disaster at Baugé and the death of his brother. He is said, by contemporaries, to have borne the news manfully. Henry returned to France with an army of 4000–5000 men. He arrived in Calais on 10 June, before going on to Paris (which was occupied by the England-friendly Burgundian forces under Philip the Good); he then visited Chartres and Gâtinais before returning to Paris. Several key southern towns were still loyal to the Dauphinist forces, leading Henry to decide to remove them as a factor for good. After taking the first town, he moved to lay siege to the strongly fortified Dauphin-held town of Meaux. It turned out to be more difficult to overcome than first thought. The siege began about 6 October, and the town held for seven months before finally falling on 11 May 1422. Whilst on his campaign in France, Henry fell ill and soon died (probably of dysentery) on 31 August 1422. [2]
England's war in France continued under the Duke of Bedford's generalship, and the English won several battles including a decisive victory at the Battle of Verneuil (17 August 1424). At the battle of Baugé, Clarence had attacked the Franco-Scots army without the support of his archers. At Verneuil the English archers, although initially routed by a Milanese cavalry charge, later rallied and fought to devastating effect. The result of the battle was to virtually destroy the Dauphin's field army. By that time James I, who had returned to Scotland, was reluctant to send more relief to the French, and Scottish expeditions in aid of France were no longer a factor in the war. [11] [12]
Henry V, also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in Shakespeare's "Henriad" plays, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the greatest warrior-kings of medieval England.
The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancaster—from which the house was named—for his second son Edmund Crouchback in 1267. Edmund had already been created Earl of Leicester in 1265 and was granted the lands and privileges of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, after de Montfort's death and attainder at the end of the Second Barons' War. When Edmund's son Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, inherited his father-in-law's estates and title of Earl of Lincoln he became at a stroke the most powerful nobleman in England, with lands throughout the kingdom and the ability to raise vast private armies to wield power at national and local levels. This brought him—and Henry, his younger brother—into conflict with their cousin King Edward II, leading to Thomas's execution. Henry inherited Thomas's titles and he and his son, who was also called Henry, gave loyal service to Edward's son King Edward III.
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, 3rd Earl of Somerset, KG was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was a paternal first cousin of King Henry V and the maternal grandfather of Henry VII.
The Battle of Cravant was fought on 31 July 1423, during the Hundred Years' War between English and French forces at the village of Cravant in Burgundy, at a bridge and ford on the banks of the river Yonne, a left-bank tributary of the Seine, southeast of Auxerre. The battle ended in a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies.
Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence was a medieval English prince and soldier, the second son of Henry IV of England, brother of Henry V, and heir to the throne in the event of his brother's death. He acted as counselor and aide to both.
The Battle of Patay, fought on 18 June 1429 during the Hundred Years' War, was the culmination of the Loire Campaign between the French and English in north-central France. In this engagement, the horsemen of the French vanguard inflicted heavy casualties on an English army; most of them sustained by the longbowmen as the English cavalry fled. In addition, all but one of the senior English commanders were captured. A victory often credited to Joan of Arc, she was in fact not present for the battle as she had remained with the main body of the French army. The vanguard at Patay was led by La Hire and Jean Poton de Xaintrailles.
The Battle of Verneuil was a battle of the Hundred Years' War, fought on 17 August 1424 near Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy between an English army and a combined Franco-Scottish force, augmented by Milanese heavy cavalry. The battle was a significant English victory, and was described by them as a second Agincourt.
The siege of Meaux was fought from October 1421 to May 1422 between the English and the French during the Hundred Years' War. The English were led by King Henry V. Henry became ill while pressing this long siege, which took place during the winter months, and died on 31 August as a result.
Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, Duke of Touraine, was a Scottish nobleman and warlord. He is sometimes given the epithet "Tyneman", but this may be a reference to his great-uncle Sir Archibald Douglas.
John Stewart, Earl of Buchan was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who fought alongside the Kingdom of France during the Hundred Years War. In 1419, he was sent to France by his father the Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, with a Scottish army of 6,000 men. Stewart led the combined Franco-Scottish army at the Battle of Baugé on 21 March 1421, where he comprehensively routed an English force under Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence.
Clan Carmichael is a Scottish clan and is also considered a sept of the Clan Douglas, Clan MacDougall, Stewart of Appin, and Stewart of Galloway.
The Lancastrian War was the third and final phase of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. It lasted from 1415, when Henry V of England invaded Normandy, to 1453, when the English were definitively defeated in Aquitaine. It followed a long period of peace from the end of the Caroline War in 1389. The phase is named after the House of Lancaster, the ruling house of the Kingdom of England, to which Henry V belonged.
The Scottish Guards was a bodyguard unit founded in 1418 by the Valois Charles VII of France, to be personal bodyguards to the French monarchy. They were assimilated into the Maison du Roi and later formed the first company of the Garde du Corps du Roi.
Events from the 1420s in England.
The Hundred Years' War was a conflict between the kingdoms of England and France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy of Aquitaine and was triggered by a claim to the French throne made by Edward III of England. The war grew into a broader military, economic, and political struggle involving factions from across Western Europe, fuelled by emerging nationalism on both sides. The periodisation of the war typically charts it as taking place over 116 years. However, it was an intermittent conflict which was frequently interrupted by external factors, such as the Black Death, and several years of truces.
The Auld Alliance was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France against England made in 1295. The Scots word auld, meaning old, has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting association between the two countries. The alliance was never formally revoked, although it is considered by some to have ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560.
The dual monarchy of England and France existed during the latter phase of the Hundred Years' War when Charles VII of France and Henry VI of England disputed the succession to the throne of France. It commenced on 21 October 1422 upon the death of King Charles VI of France, who had signed the Treaty of Troyes which gave the French crown to his son-in-law Henry V of England and Henry's heirs. It excluded King Charles's son, the Dauphin Charles, who by right of primogeniture was the heir to the Kingdom of France. Although the Treaty was ratified by the Estates-General of France, the act was a contravention of the French law of succession which decreed that the French crown could not be alienated. Henry VI, son of Henry V, became king of both England and France and was recognized only by the English and Burgundians until 1435 as King Henry II of France. He was crowned King of France on 16 December 1431 in Paris.
John Grey, 1st Earl of Tankervillejure uxoris6th Lord of Powys, KG, was an English peer who served with distinction in the Hundred Years' War between England and France under King Henry V.
Sir Alexander Buchanan was the eldest of the three sons of Sir Walter Buchanan, eleventh Laird of Buchanan. He was noted for killing Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, heir to the English throne, at the Battle of Baugé.
Sir John Stewart of Darnley, 1st Comte d'Évreux, 1st Seigneur de Concressault, 1st Seigneur d'Aubigny was a Scottish nobleman and famous military commander who served as Constable of the Scottish Army in France, supporting the French against the English during the Hundred Years War. He was a fourth cousin of King James I of Scotland, the third monarch of the House of Stewart.