Battle of Blanchetaque
Battle of Blanchetaque | |
---|---|
Part of the River Somme, near Abbeville 50°09′43″N 1°44′57″E / 50.1619°N 1.7492°E | |
Result | English victory |
The Battle of Blanchetaque was fought on 24 August 1346 between an
Hearing of a ford at
Background
Since the Norman Conquest of 1066, English monarchs had held titles and lands within France, the possession of which made them vassals of the kings of France. The status of the English king's French fiefs was a major source of conflict between the two kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages.[1] English holdings in France had varied in size over the centuries, but by 1337 only Gascony in south-western France and Ponthieu in northern France were left.[2] Following a series of disagreements between Philip VI of France (r. 1328–1350) and Edward III of England (r. 1327–1377), Philip's Great Council in Paris on 24 May 1337 agreed that the Duchy of Aquitaine, effectively Gascony, should be taken back into Philip's hands on the grounds that Edward was in breach of his obligations as a vassal. This marked the start of the Hundred Years' War.[3]
Early in 1345, Edward determined to attack France on three fronts: a small force would sail for
The main English army sailed on 29 June 1345 and anchored off
John, Duke of Normandy, the son and heir of Philip VI, was placed in charge of all French forces in south-west France. In March 1346 a French army numbering between 15,000 and 20,000,[12] enormously superior to any force the Anglo-Gascons could field, including all the military officers of the royal household,[13] marched on Gascony. They besieged the strategically and logistically important town of Aiguillon,[14] "the key to the Gascon plain",[15] on 1 April.[12] On 2 April the arrière-ban, the formal call to arms for all able-bodied males, was announced for the south of France.[12][16] French financial, logistical and manpower efforts were focused on this offensive.[17]
Meanwhile, Edward was raising a fresh army, and assembled more than 700 vessels to transport it – the largest English fleet ever to that date.[18][19] The French were aware of Edward's efforts, but given the extreme difficulty of disembarking an army other than at a port, and the existence of friendly ports in Brittany and Gascony, the French assumed that Edward would sail for one of the latter – probably Gascony – to relieve Aiguillon.[20] To guard against any possibility of an English landing in northern France, Philip relied on his powerful navy.[21] This reliance was misplaced given the difficulty naval forces of the time had in effectively interdicting opposing fleets, and the French were unable to prevent Edward successfully crossing the Channel.[21]
Prelude
The campaign began on 11 July 1346, when Edward's fleet departed the south of England. The fleet landed the next day at
The French military position was difficult. Their main army was committed to the intractable siege of Aiguillon in the south-west. After his surprise landing in Normandy, Edward was devastating some of the richest lands in France and flaunting his ability to march at will through France. On 2 August, a small English force supported by a large number of Flemings invaded France from Flanders. French defences were completely inadequate. On 29 July, Philip proclaimed the arrière-ban for northern France, ordering every able-bodied male to assemble at Rouen, where Philip himself arrived on the 31st.[28] He immediately moved west against Edward with an ill-organised and poorly-equipped army. Five days later he returned to Rouen and broke the bridge over the Seine behind him. On 7 August, the English reached the Seine, 12 miles (19 km) south of Rouen, and raided up to its suburbs. Philip, under pressure from representatives of the Pope, sent envoys offering peace backed by a marriage alliance; Edward replied that he was not prepared to lose marching time to futile discussion and dismissed them.[29] By 12 August, Edward's army was encamped at Poissy, 20 miles from Paris, having left a 40-mile-wide (60 km) swath of destruction down the left bank of the Seine to within 2 miles (3 km) of the city.[30][31]
On 16 August, Edward burnt down Poissy and marched north. The French had carried out a scorched earth policy, carrying away all stores of food and so forcing the English to spread out over a wide area to forage, which greatly slowed them. Bands of French peasants attacked some of the smaller groups of foragers. Philip reached the River Somme a day's march ahead of Edward. He based himself at Amiens and sent large detachments to hold every bridge and ford across the Seine between Amiens and the sea. The English were now trapped in an area which had been stripped of food. The French moved out of Amiens and advanced westwards, towards the English. They were now willing to give battle, knowing that they would have the advantage of being able to stand on the defensive while the English were forced to try and fight their way past them.[32]
Edward was determined to break the French blockade of the Somme[33] and probed at several points, vainly attacking Hangest and Pont-Remy before moving west along the river. English supplies were running out and the army was ragged, starving and beginning to suffer from a drop in morale.[34] On the evening of 24 August, the English were encamped north of Acheux while the French were 6 miles (10 km) away at Abbeville. During the night Edward was made aware, either by an Englishman living locally or by a French captive,[35] that just 4 miles (6 km) away, near the village of Saigneville, was a ford named Blanchetaque (so named for the white stones lining the river's bed). Edward immediately broke camp and moved his whole force toward the ford.[36][37]
Battle
When the English arrived at the river they discovered that the French had defended the ford strongly. Guarding the far side of the crossing were 3,500 soldiers, including 500
At about 9 a.m., a force of
The opposing cavalry, having moved into contact at walking pace, suffered few casualties. The greater pressure of the English forced the mêlée onto the French bank of the river. The dismounted French men-at-arms were pushed back by the mass of retreating French and advancing English men-at-arms, making space for the English longbowmen to gain the riverbank. The longbowmen were themselves being forced forward by more English cavalry advancing behind them. More and more English were fed into the bridgehead and after a short, sharp struggle, the French broke, fleeing for Abbeville, 6 miles (10 km) away. It seems that most of the knightly and noble French participants, being mounted, successfully escaped. The French infantry were unable to outrun the pursuing English cavalry and suffered heavy casualties.[43] As was usual, no quarter was offered to the common soldiers.[44] Du Fay was seriously wounded, but escaped.[45]
An hour and a half after the French lines had broken, the entire English army was across the ford. The main French army was close enough behind them to capture a number of English stragglers and the slower of their wagons. However, the tide was turning, and the French halted, facing the English across the river for the rest of the 24th, debating whether to attempt to force the crossing at the evening low tide.[45] They decided not to and on the morning of the 25th backtracked to the bridge at Abbeville, a 12-mile diversion.[46] Casualties in the action are not clear, but it is claimed by a contemporary chronicler that as many as 2,000 French soldiers were killed in the battle or the rout which followed it.[46] English losses are not known but were probably light.[38]
Aftermath
Once the French withdrew, Edward marched the 9 miles (14 km) to Crécy-en-Ponthieu where he prepared a defensive position.[47] The French had been so confident that the English could not breach the Somme line that they had not denuded the area, and the countryside was rich in food and loot. So the English were able to resupply, Noyelles-sur-Mer and Le Crotoy in particular yielding large stores of food, which were looted and the towns then burnt.[45][48] On 26 August the main French army under Philip was crushingly defeated here at the Battle of Crécy with heavy loss of life.[49][50] Edward ended the campaign by laying siege to Calais, which fell after twelve months, securing an English entrepôt into northern France which was held for two hundred years.[51]
References
Citations
- ^ Prestwich 2007, p. 394.
- ^ Harris 1994, p. 8.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 184.
- ^ DeVries 1996, p. 189.
- ^ Prestwich 2007, p. 314.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 455–457.
- ^ Lucas 1929, pp. 519–524.
- ^ Prestwich 2007, p. 315.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 461–463.
- ^ Gribit 2016, p. 1.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 476–478.
- ^ a b c Wagner 2006, p. 3.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 485–486.
- ^ Fowler 1961, p. 215.
- ^ Fowler 1961, p. 232.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 485.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 484.
- ^ Rodger 2004, p. 102.
- ^ a b Burne 1999, p. 138.
- ^ Fowler 1961, p. 234.
- ^ a b Sumption 1990, p. 494.
- ^ Oman 1998, p. 131.
- ^ a b Allmand 2005, p. 15.
- ^ a b Rodger 2004, p. 103.
- ^ Rogers 1994, p. 92.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 507.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 507–510.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 512–513.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 514.
- ^ Rogers 2000, pp. 252, 257.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 514–515.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 520–521, 522.
- ^ a b Ormrod 2012, p. 277.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 521.
- ^ Prestwich 2003, p. 156.
- ^ a b c Hardy 2010, p. 64.
- ^ Burne 1999, p. 158.
- ^ a b DeVries 1996, p. 158.
- ^ Rogers 2000, p. 262.
- ^ Oman 1998, p. 133.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 523.
- ^ a b Burne 1999, p. 159.
- ^ Burne 1999, pp. 159–160.
- ^ King 2002, pp. 269–270.
- ^ a b c Rogers 2000, p. 263.
- ^ a b Burne 1999, p. 160.
- ^ Rogers 2000, p. 264.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 524–525.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 526–531.
- ^ Rogers 1994, p. 99.
- ^ Burne 1999, pp. 207–217.
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- ISBN 978-1-84022-210-4.
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- Fowler, Kenneth (1961). Henry of Grosmont, First Duke of Lancaster, 1310–1361 (PDF) (PhD thesis). Leeds: University of Leeds.
- Gribit, Nicholas (2016). Henry of Lancaster's Expedition to Aquitaine 1345–46. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-78327-117-7.
- Hardy, Robert (2010). Longbow: A Social and Military History (PDF). Yeovil, Somerset: Haynes Publishing. ISBN 978-185260-620-6.
- Harris, Robin (1994). Valois Guyenne. ISBN 978-0-86193-226-9.
- King, Andy (2002). "According to the Custom Used in French and Scottish Wars: Prisoners and Casualties on the Scottish Marches in the Fourteenth Century". Journal of Medieval History. 28 (3): 263–290. S2CID 159873083.
- Lucas, Henry S. (1929). The Low Countries and the Hundred Years' War: 1326–1347. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. OCLC 960872598.
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- Rogers, Clifford J. (2000). War Cruel and Sharp: English Strategy under Edward III, 1327–1360. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer. OCLC 804338875.
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- Wagner, John A. (2006). "Auberoche, Battle of (1345)". Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years' War. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Greenwood. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-313-32736-0.