Battle of Winchelsea
Battle of Winchelsea | |||||||
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Part of the Hundred Years' War | |||||||
A depiction of medieval naval combat from Jean Froissart's Chronicles, 14th century | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of England | Crown of Castile | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
King Edward III Edward the Black Prince | Charles de la Cerda | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
50 ships | 40 ships | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
At least 2 ships lost Heavy human losses | 14–26 ships captured |
The Battle of Winchelsea or the Battle of Les Espagnols sur Mer ("the Spaniards on the Sea") was a naval battle that took place on 29 August 1350 as part of the
England's trade, its war finance and its ability to bring force to bear against France were heavily reliant on seaborne transportation, especially to its territory in Gascony. With their own ability to raise and support a fleet much reduced by English activities, the French hired Castilian ships to blockade English ports. Frustrated by their effectiveness, Edward III led the fleet that intercepted them and inflicted heavy losses. In spite of that success, English trade and ports saw little relief from naval harassment by the French and their allies.
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. Over the centuries, English holdings in France had varied in size, but by 1337 only Gascony in south-western France and Ponthieu in northern France were left.[1] Following a series of disagreements between Philip VI of France and Edward III of England, on 24 May Philip's Great Council in Paris 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, which was to last one hundred and sixteen years.[2]
Throughout the early part of the war English coastal areas were harassed by French raids. The port towns of Portsmouth, Southampton, Hastings and Plymouth were captured and razed, as were many smaller places. Numerous English merchant ships, and several warships, were captured.[3] In June 1340 Edward III smashed the French fleet at the Battle of Sluys. In 1346 the English landed in northern Normandy and undertook a devastating chevauchée through northern France. The English navy paralleled the march of the army, capturing or burning large numbers of French warships and merchant vessels as it went.[4] Thereafter the threat from the French navy was much reduced.[5] The English then soundly beat the French at the Battle of Crécy and captured the major French port city of Calais. The Truce of Calais was agreed in September 1347[6] but the war continued via raids and guerrilla warfare;[7] the ongoing fighting was "almost constant".[8]
When war did not restrict trade, over 1,000 ships a year departed Gascony for England. Among their cargo were over 100,000,000 litres of wine. The duty levied by the crown on wine from Bordeaux was more than all other customs duties combined and by far the largest source of state income. Bordeaux, the capital of Gascony, was larger than London, and possibly richer. However, by this time English Gascony had become so truncated by French encroachments that it relied on imports of food, largely from England. Any interruptions to regular shipping were liable to starve Gascony and financially cripple England; the French were well aware of this.[9]
Prelude
In November 1349,
In early 1350 negotiations to renew the truce, brokered by two papal nuncios, were taking place. Nevertheless, the governments of both France and England were actively planning for the renewal of large scale military operations. In February, French intermediaries in Bruges paid 20,000 florins to hire the Castilian fleet as mercenaries. In April it blockaded the English Channel ports, while the French struggled to reinforce it with what native ships they could finance and man. In mid-June, a truce was agreed. The Castilians were specifically named in it, and Phillip VI ceased to pay them.[12]
Regardless, the Castilian ships continued to attack the English, now as outright pirates. They had converted their vessels into warships by the addition of wooden castles – raised fighting platforms – at the bow and stern and the erection of crow's nest fighting platforms at the masthead.[13] They were based out of Sluys, and several hundred Flemish adventurers joined their ranks, mostly equipped as crossbowmen, in the expectation of plunder. Their assault on English shipping has been described as "ferocious", and as bringing "panic" to English ports. The English arrayed the coastguard for the first time since the Normandy campaign in 1346.[14]
On 10 August, while Edward was at
Battle
By the afternoon of 29 August, the English fleet was off
The difficulty of the manoeuvre is attested to by the King's own ship, the Cog Thomas, striking the Castilian it was attempting to grapple so heavily as to spring the English ship's timbers. At the second attempt, it successfully grappled and archers deterred Castilians attempting to drop large rocks from their higher deck. The Castilian ships towered above the diminutive English ones;
The English are said to have captured between 14 and 26 of the enemy ships and it is possible that others were sunk.[d] What their own losses were is not stated but, as Edward's own vessel and the vessel carrying the Black Prince were sunk, and from the near capture of La Salle du Roi, it seems likely that the English fleet suffered heavily.[22] Few, if any, prisoners were taken, and dead and wounded Castilians and Flemings were thrown overboard. Much of this action was visible from the English shore, and the clifftops near Winchelsea were lined with spectators, which gave the battle its name.[23]
Aftermath
There was no pursuit of the surviving Castilian ships, which fled to French ports. Joined by French ships, they continued to harass English shipping for the rest of the autumn before withdrawing to Sluys again to winter. The following spring, the Channel was still effectively closed to English shipping unless strongly escorted. Trade with Gascony was less affected, but ships were forced to use ports in western England, often impractically far from their cargo's intended English markets.[24] Chroniclers make much of this victory, no doubt because of the royal involvement. However, historians point out the heavy English loss of personnel and the likelihood that a number of their ships were lost.[20] Others have suggested that the battle was just one of a number of significant and hard-fought naval encounters of the period, only recorded because of the prominent figures involved.[15] Most stress its lack of impact on the operational or strategic situation.[15][18][20]
Charles de la Cerda survived the battle and shortly after was made Constable of France.[25] With communications with Gascony now more secure, the English launched a large expedition from there in 1356 under the Prince of Wales, at the end of which the French suffered a devastating defeat.[26] Edward III continued the war, bringing it to a successful conclusion in 1360 with the Treaty of Brétigny.[27]
Sources
The main contemporaneous account for the battle is
Notes
- ^ This strength is not known with certainty, but Stow puts it at 50 ships and pinnaces(Hannay 1911, p. 711)
- ^ Later the knight banneret Sir John Chandos.(Hannay 1911, p. 712)
- knight of the Garter (Hannay 1911, p. 712).
- ^ Avesbury put the number at 24, Walsingham at 26, not including those that were sunk.[10]
References
- ^ Harris 1994, p. 8.
- ^ Sumption 1990, p. 184.
- ^ Rodger 2004, pp. 96–7.
- ^ Rodger 2004, p. 103.
- ^ Sumption 1990, pp. 502, 506–07.
- ^ Burne 1999, pp. 216–19.
- ^ Sumption 1999, pp. 2–3, 6–7.
- ^ Burne 1999, p. 225.
- ^ Rodger 2004, pp. 79–80.
- ^ a b Avesbury 1889, p. 285.
- ^ Rodger 2004, pp. 103–4.
- ^ Sumption 1999, pp. 63–64, 66.
- ^ Rodger 2004, p. 63.
- ^ Sumption 1999, p. 66.
- ^ a b c d e f Rodger 2004, p. 104.
- ^ Burne 1999, pp. 227–8.
- ^ a b c Clowes 1996, p. 271.
- ^ a b Prestwich 2007, p. 320.
- ^ Froissart 1870.
- ^ a b c Sumption 1999, p. 67.
- ^ Burne 1999, pp. 228–9.
- ^ a b Hannay 1911, p. 712.
- ^ Burne 1999, p. 229.
- ^ Sumption 1999, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Farmer 2016, p. 16.
- ^ Oman 1998, pp. 160–73.
- ^ Oman 1998, p. 176.
- ^ Burne 1999, pp. 243–5.
Sources
- Avesbury, Robert of (1889). "De Gesta mirabilibus Regis Edwardi Tertii". In OCLC 492928484.
- Burne, Alfred (1999). The Crecy War. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 978-1-84022-210-4.
- Clowes, William Laird (1996) [1897]. The Royal Navy: A History From The Earliest Times to 1900. Vol. 1. London: Chatham publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-015-9.
- Farmer, Sharon (2016). The Silk Industries of Medieval Paris. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-9331-9.
- Froissart, Jean (1870). Luce, Simeon (ed.). Chroniques. Vol. 1. Paris: Societe de la Histoire de France. LCCN 05009768.
- OCLC 14004298
- Harris, Robin (1994). Valois Guyenne. ISBN 978-0-86193-226-9.
- ISBN 978-1-85367-332-0.
- Prestwich, M. (2007). ISBN 978-0-19-922687-0.
- Rodger, N.A.M. (2004). The Safeguard of the Sea. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-029724-9.
- ISBN 978-0-571-20095-5.
- Sumption, Jonathan (1999). Trial by Fire. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-13896-8.