Siege of Bordeaux (1453)

Last updated
Siege of Bordeaux
L'artillerie royale a l'oeuvre au siege de Bordeaux.png
The royal artillery at work at the siege of Bordeaux. Illumination from the Recueil des Croniques et Anchiennes Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, à présent nommé Engleterre by Jean de Wavrin, BNF
Date13 August 19 October 1453
Location
Result French victory
Belligerents
Blason France moderne.svg Kingdom of France Royal Arms of England (1470-1471).svg Kingdom of England
Commanders and leaders
Blason France moderne.svg Charles VII of France
Blason JeanBureau.svg Jean Bureau
Blason Montferrand-Landiras.svg Pierre de Montferrand
Blason Maison Durfort de Duras.svg Gaillard IV de Durfort

The siege of Bordeaux by King Charles VII, between August and October 1453, is part of the third phase of the Hundred Years' War. It marks the attachment of the city to the crown of France and the end of the English presence in Guyenne.

Contents

Background

On June 29, 1451, the city of Bordeaux surrendered to the troops of Charles VII but it was recaptured a year later by Lord Talbot. [1] On July 17, 1453, the French won the battle of Castillon, which opened the road to Bordeaux for them. The fall of Castillon led to that of the surrounding towns: Saint-Émilion, Libourne, Fronsac, Bourg, Blaye. Bordeaux thus finds itself surrounded.

Operation

On August 13, 1453, the King of France, Charles VII, arrived in person at the Château de Montferrand on the Ambès peninsula to direct the siege operations. The fleet is placed under the command of Jean de Bueil, admiral of France. Charles VII had defense works built to protect his army in the open countryside, in particular near Lormont. The city of Bordeaux is protected by three walls and around twenty large towers; [2] 8,000 men ensured its defense, they resisted for two months. [3]

The fall of Cadillac and then of the Château de Blanquefort in September [4] diminished the hopes of the people of Bordeaux; moreover, the rich merchants feared seeing their hotels destroyed by Jean Bureau's artillery. [5] Charles VII receives reinforcements from fifteen Burgundian ships, sent by Philip the Good. The plague having reached the king's army, the latter agreed to show clemency towards the defenders of Bordeaux, in order to conclude the negotiations promptly; moreover, the supply of the French armies was hampered by the Gascons who led a scorched earth policy. [4]

A treaty was signed on October 9 between the king and nine Bordeaux notables in Montferrand; it provides for the payment of 100,000 crowns by the city of Bordeaux and the release of French prisoners without ransom. Twenty people from Bordeaux, designated by the king, suffered the penalty of banishment, including the lord of Landiras and that of Duras. [6] On October 12, the Bordeaux people delivered twelve hostages, six English and six Gascons, as guarantee. [2] The English left the city with the honors of war, the troops of Charles VII entered there on October 19.

Consequences

The king did not deign to enter Bordeaux, he promised to leave the administration of the city to the people of Bordeaux but in reality he reserved the choice of the mayor, five jurats and the city clerk. A tax was applied to the export of wine, at a rate of 25 cents per barrel. The capture of the city by the French and the loss of its privileges led to the emigration of many nobles and bourgeois to England. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Castillon</span> 1453 battle that ended the Hundred Years War

The Battle of Castillon between the forces of England and France took place on 17 July 1453 in Gascony near the town of Castillon-sur-Dordogne. Historians regard this decisive French victory as marking the end of the Hundred Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Bureau</span> French artillery commander (c. 1390–1463)

Jean Bureau was a French artillery commander active primarily during the later years of the Hundred Years' War. Along with his brother, Gaspard, he is credited with making French artillery the most effective in the world. As Master Gunner of Artillery in the armies of Charles VII, Bureau acquired a reputation as an effective artillery officer during the Normandy campaign (1449–1450), when his bombardments helped capture the towns of Rouen, Harfleur, and Honfleur, and aided in the French victory at Formigny. Bureau commanded the victorious French army at the decisive Battle of Castillon in 1453.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constable of France</span> First Officer of the Crown in the Kingdom of France

The Constable of France was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown and the commander-in-chief of the Royal Army. He was, at least on paper, the highest-ranking member of the French nobility.

The écorcheurs were armed bands who desolated France in the reign of Charles VII, stripping their victims of everything, often to their very clothes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hundred Years' War, 1415–1453</span> Third phase of the Hundred Years War

The Lancastrian War was the third and final phase of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. It lasted from 1415, when King Henry V of England invaded Normandy, to 1453, when the English lost Bordeaux. 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.

Philippe de Culant was a French nobleman and soldier of the Hundred Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pey Berland</span> Roman Catholic archbishop (c. 1380–1458)

Blessed Pey Berland was the Archbishop of Bordeaux from 1430 until his abdication, during a pivotal time in the history of the city and of Gascony. During his tenure, the city of Bordeaux remained staunchly faithful to the King of England in the last phase of the Hundred Years' War, but the French took the city in 1451.

Gadifer Shorthose was the English mayor of Bordeaux from 1434 until 1451. He was a weak leader and the city passed out of English lordship and into France during his mayorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castillon-la-Bataille</span> Commune in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

Castillon-la-Bataille is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Castillon station has rail connections to Bordeaux, Bergerac and Sarlat-la-Canéda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War</span> French dynastic war from 1407 to 1435

The Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War was a conflict between two cadet branches of the French royal family – the House of Orléans and the House of Burgundy from 1407 to 1435. It began during a lull in the Hundred Years' War against the English and overlapped with the Western Schism of the papacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hundred Years' War</span> Medieval Anglo-French conflicts, 1337–1453

The Hundred Years' War was a series of armed conflicts fought between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from English claims to the French throne. The war grew into a broader power struggle involving factions from across Western Europe, fueled by emerging nationalism on both sides. The periodization of the war takes place over 116 years, wherein the war was interrupted by several years of truces.

Jean de Foix was the Captal de Buch, first Earl of Kendal, Vicomte de Castillon, Meilles and Comte de Benauges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sieges of Vannes (1342)</span> Siege during One Hundred Years War

The sieges of Vannes of 1342 were a series of four sieges of the town of Vannes that occurred throughout 1342. Two rival claimants to the Duchy of Brittany, John of Montfort and Charles of Blois, competed for Vannes throughout this civil war from 1341 to 1365. The successive sieges ruined Vannes and its surrounding countryside. Vannes was eventually sold off in a truce between England and France, signed in January 1343 in Malestroit. Saved by an appeal of Pope Clement VI, Vannes remained in the hands of its own rulers, but ultimately resided under English control from September 1343 till the end of the war in 1365.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Paris (1429)</span> 1429 battle of the Hundred Years War

The siege of Paris was an assault undertaken in September 1429 during the Hundred Years' War by the troops of the recently crowned King Charles VII of France, with the notable presence of Joan of Arc, to take the city held by the English and Burgundians. King Charles's French troops failed to enter Paris, defended by the governor Jean de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam and the provost Simon Morhier, with the support of much of the city's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March to Reims</span>

After the French lifted the siege of Orléans and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Patay, the English and Burgundians no longer posed a threat. Joan of Arc convinced the Dauphin Charles to go to Reims for his coronation. Successfully marching their army though the heart of territory held by the hostile Burgundians solidified the Dauphin’s regrasp of the throne of France. He had been disinherited from it through the Treaty of Troyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Tartas</span> 15th-century battle during the Hundred Years War

The siege of Tartas in Gascony was an engagement between English and French forces in the late stages of the Hundred Years' War. It was undertaken by English forces and their Gascon subjects against Charles II of Albret, a powerful nobleman in southwestern France. Albret was hostile to the English and his presence in Gascony caused much trouble to the English in the region, thereby raising the need to strike against him. The bulk of hostilities only lasted up until early 1441: the siege had dragged on inconclusively, and peace terms were agreed between the attackers and defenders. The ceasefire was extended several times until mid-1442 as both sides awaited further support from England and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaillard IV de Durfort</span> Lord of Duras

Gaillard IV de Durfort, Lord of Duras, was a 15th-century Gascon noble of the Durfort family.

Antoine de Chabannes (1408–1488), from 1439 Count of Dammartin, was a significant military and political figure of 15th-century France. An indefatigable fighter, during his long career he joined or led numerous military campaigns all over France and beyond. He served the French Valois kings Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII, but also participated in two aristocratic uprisings, the Praguerie against Charles VII in 1440 and the War of the Public Weal in 1465 against Louis XI. Associated early in his life with the Armagnac faction, he fought in Charles VII's campaigns against England, including those involving Joan of Arc, and also remained generally opposed to the Burgundians and their Habsburg successors. 18th-century scholar Charles Pinot Duclos described him as "one of the bravest men of his time, sincere, faithful, quick-tempered, a keen friend and implacable enemy". Claude Villaret called him "the most experienced general of his era".

Jacques de Chabannes was a French nobleman and military commander during the reign of King Charles VII. The elder brother of Antoine de Chabannes, he is most notable for his significant role at the Battle of Castillon in 1453.

The Gascon campaign of 1450-1453 took place during the Hundred Years War when the kingdom of France undertook a military campaign to invade and cede the Duchy of Gascony from the English. Following the decisive victory of the French at the battle of Castillion and after the fall of Bordeaux, the last English stronghold in Gascony, English control of Gascony was removed.

References

  1. Larousse, Éditions. "Bordeaux - LAROUSSE". www.larousse.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  2. 1 2 Georges Minois (2010). La guerre de Cent Ans: naissance de deux nations (in French). Paris: Perrin. p. 537. ISBN   978-2-262-03229-6.
  3. Yves Renouard (1965). "La conquête française". Histoire de Bordeaux (in French). Vol. 3 - Bordeaux sous les rois d'Angleterre. Bordeaux: Fédération historique du Sud-Ouest. pp. 519–521.
  4. 1 2 "Enluminer la guerre à la fin du 15th century". Christian Delabos (in French). Histoire antique et médiévale: 50–51. January 2017. ISSN   1632-0859.
  5. 1 2 "Histoire de Bordeaux depuis les origines jusqu'en 1895 - Jullian, Camille 1859-1933". 1886.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  6. Histoire de Charles VII : roi de France et de son époque 1403-1461 (in French). Vve J. Renouard. 1865-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-11.