Gascon campaign of 1345

Gascon campaign of 1345
Part of the Edwardian Phase of the Hundred Years' War
A battle between French and English armies, as imagined by a contemporary chronicler
Date 1345 Location Gascony , South-west France Result English victory Territorial changes Numerous towns and castles captured by the English
Belligerents
Kingdom of England	Kingdom of France
Commanders and leaders
Ralph, Earl of Stafford	Louis of Poitiers  † Bertrand de l'Isle  (POW )
Strength
Under 8,000 at any time	Up to 20,000
Casualties and losses
Light	Very heavy

The Gascon campaign of 1345 was conducted by Henry, Earl of Derby, as part of the Hundred Years' War. The whirlwind campaign took place between August and November 1345 in Gascony, an English-controlled territory in south-west France. Derby, commanding an Anglo-Gascon force, oversaw the first successful English land campaign of the war. He twice defeated large French armies in battle, taking many noble and knightly prisoners. They were ransomed by their captors, greatly enriching Derby and his soldiers in the process. Following this campaign, morale and prestige swung England's way in the border region between English-occupied Gascony and French-ruled territory, providing an influx of taxes and recruits for the English armies. As a result, France's ability to raise tax money and troops from the region was much reduced.

Ralph, Earl of Stafford, had sailed for Gascony in February 1345 with an advance force and, following conventional practice, laid siege to two French strongholds. Derby arrived in August and immediately concentrated available Anglo-Gascon forces and headed directly for the largest French force, which was gathering at Bergerac, 60 miles (97 km) east of Bordeaux. Bergerac had good river supply links to Bordeaux and would provide a suitable forward base from which to carry the war to the French. He decisively defeated the French there, before moving to besiege the provincial capital of Périgueux. By this time the French had diverted their main effort to the south west, under the overall command of John, Duke of Normandy, the son and heir apparent of King Philip VI of France. Unable to take Périgueux, and threatened by John's much larger force, Derby left garrisons blockading it and withdrew. One garrison, at Auberoche, was besieged by the French. Derby advanced with a small force, launched a surprise attack against the much larger French army and won another decisive victory.

The French army started to disintegrate: men were unpaid, even unfed; there was a lack of fodder for the horses; desertion was rife; and troops were selling their equipment. John lost heart on hearing of the defeat at Auberoche. The French abandoned all of their ongoing sieges of other Anglo-Gascon garrisons and retreated to Angoulême, where John disbanded his army, possibly because the French had run out of money. Derby moved back to the Garonne valley, captured the strong and well garrisoned town of La Réole, all of the French outposts downstream of it, and other strong French positions in the area. In November Derby paid off his army and overwintered in La Réole. Various small Anglo-Gascon groups maintained the pressure on the French, capturing several significant fortified places between December 1345 and March 1346.

Background

Since the

Before the war commenced, at least 1,000 ships a year departed Gascony. Among their cargoes were over 80,000

Although Gascony was the cause of the war, Edward was able to spare few resources for it. When an English army had campaigned on the continent earlier in the war it had operated in northern France, causing the Gascons to largely rely on their own resources; they had been hard pressed as a consequence.[9]^[10] In 1339 the French besieged Bordeaux, even breaking into the city with a large force before they were repulsed.^[11] Typically the Gascons could field 3,000–6,000 men, the large majority of whom were infantry, although up to two-thirds of them would be tied down in garrisons.^[12]

There was no formal border between English and French territory. Many landholders owned a patchwork of widely separated estates, perhaps owing

By 1345, after eight years of war, English-controlled territory mostly consisted of a coastal strip from Bordeaux to Bayonne, and isolated strongholds further inland. The French had strong fortifications throughout what had once been English-controlled Gascony. Several directly threatened Bordeaux: Libourne, 20 miles (32 km) to the east allowed French armies to assemble a day's march from Bordeaux; the strongly fortified town of Blaye was situated on the north bank of the Gironde 25 miles (40 km) downstream of Bordeaux and in a position to interdict its vital seaborne communications;^[16] the fortress of Langon, 30 mi (48 km) south of Bordeaux, blocked upstream communication along the Garonne, and facilitated the supply of any French force advancing on Bordeaux.^[17]

Campaign

Plans

Edward determined early in 1345 to attack France on three fronts. The

French intelligence had uncovered the English plan for offensives in the three theatres, but France did not have the money to raise an army in each. The French anticipated, correctly, that the English planned to make their main effort in northern France. Thus they directed what resources they had there, planning to assemble their main army at Arras on 22 July. South-western France was encouraged to rely on its own resources, but as the Truce of Malestroit, signed in early 1343, was still in effect, the local lords were reluctant to spend money, and little was done.^[25]

Initial operations

Derby's force embarked at

Meanwhile, small independent parties of Gascons raided across the region. Local French groups joined them, and several minor nobles threw in their lot with the Anglo-Gascons. They had some successes, but their main effect was to tie down most of the weak French garrisons in the region and to cause them to call for reinforcements. The few French troops in the region not garrisoning their fortifications immobilised themselves with sieges: of Casseneuil in the Agenais; Monchamp near Condom; and Montcuq, a strong but strategically insignificant castle south of Bergerac.^[30] Large areas were effectively undefended.^[31]

Edward's main army sailed on 29 June. They anchored off

On 9 August 1345 Derby arrived in Bordeaux with 500 men-at-arms, 1,500 English and Welsh

After a council of war Derby decided to strike at the French at Bergerac. The capture of the town, which had good river supply links to Bordeaux, would provide the Anglo-Gascon army with a base from which to carry the war to the French.[40] It would also force the lifting of the siege of the nearby castle of Montcuq and sever communications between French forces north and south of the Dordogne. The English believed that the town could be easily taken if the French field army could be beaten or distracted.^[41] After eight years of defensive warfare by the Anglo-Gascons, there was no expectation among the French that they might make any offensive moves.^[10]

Derby moved rapidly and took the French army at Bergerac by surprise on 26 August, decisively beating them in a running battle. The exact details of the battle are confused and there are contradictions between the original sources, which is reflected in the modern accounts. Clifford Rogers provides a summary of the contemporary accounts, their discrepancies, and the treatment of these by modern historians.^[42] In any event, French casualties were heavy, many being killed or captured. Prisoners included Henri de Montigny, Seneschal of Périgord, ten other senior noblemen and many lesser nobles.^[43] Derby's share of the ransoms and the loot was estimated at £34,000 (£35,000,000 in 2024 terms^{[note 2]}), approximately four times the annual income from his lands.^{[note 3][45]} The survivors of the French field army rallied around de l'Isle and retreated north to Périgueux.^[46] Within days of the battle, Bergerac fell to an Anglo-Gascon assault and was subsequently sacked.^[47] Strategically, the Anglo-Gascon army had secured an important base for further operations. Politically, local lords who had been undecided in their allegiance had been shown that the English were again a force to be reckoned with.^[48]

Derby consolidated and reorganised for two weeks, left a large garrison in the town and moved north to the Anglo-Gascon stronghold of

The Duke of Normandy lost heart on hearing of the defeat. There are accounts that he resigned his command and returned to Paris, only to be reinstated and sent back by his father, the King.^[61] The French abandoned all of their ongoing sieges of other Anglo-Gascon strongpoints.^[53] There were reports of the French army disintegrating: men unpaid, even unfed; lack of fodder for the horses; desertion; troops selling their equipment. Despite heavily outnumbering the Anglo-Gascon force the Duke of Normandy retreated to Angoulême and disbanded his army, possibly because the French had run out of money.^[59] Derby was left almost completely unopposed for five months.^[62][63]

Derby moved south after his victory, falling back on his communications as winter weather was setting in. He started clearing French fortifications from the border of English territory: the small castle at

While this was happening the main Gascon forces disbanded. Many of the English soldiers took ship for home. After the main forces had gone home for the winter, small groups of Anglo-Gascons remained active. They cleared the valley of the Garonne downstream of La Réole of French presence, and raided the poorly fortified towns and weakly garrisoned French castles and smaller fortifications within their reach. Langon, which had resisted Stafford in the summer, was taken. Frequently Derby negotiated trade concessions or privileges with towns, or reinstated previous ones, to encourage them to open their gates to the English forces. The towns could more readily participate in the lucrative export trade through Bordeaux if under English rule, and Derby's performance lessened their fear of French retribution. Derby had considerable success with this approach, which also allowed the towns to avoid the possible dangers of a siege or sack.[67] The citizens of several French garrisoned towns persuaded the soldiers to withdraw, so that they could pre-emptively surrender to Derby. In at least one case they seized the French soldiers in their beds and expelled them. A letter from a committee of French garrison commanders sent to Philip VI in November claimed that towns were defecting to the English on a "daily" basis, and to Anglo-Gascon forces of trivial size. The French defenders were thoroughly demoralised.^[68]

The Duke of Bourbon, the newly-appointed French Seneschal of Gascony, unexpectedly found himself under assault. Stafford marched on the vitally important town of Aiguillon, which commanded the junction of the Rivers Garonne and Lot, "the key to Gascony",^[69] in late November. The inhabitants attacked the garrison and opened the gates to the English.^[70] By March 1346 almost the entire province of Agenais was in English hands.^[61][71] Bourbon held only Agen, the capital, and four castles; all were blockaded by the English. Morale was not good. As Bourbon started to assemble a new army at Agen, fights broke out with the townsfolk. Several Italian mercenaries were lynched.^[72] Since the start of the campaign the English had captured over 100 towns and castles.^[73][74]

Assessment

The campaign had been a disaster for the French,^[75] the worse for being unexpected; during the previous eight years of the war, the Anglo-Gascons had made no large-scale offensive moves.^[10] They had lost towns and castles; suffered heavy casualties; and had many nobles taken prisoner, who would not be available to fight until they had paid their heavy ransoms, much of which would go to fund the English war effort. Towns throughout south-west France embarked on urgent and expensive programmes to repair, improve or in some cases build from scratch their fortifications. They also paid attention to keeping them adequately garrisoned. It became next to impossible to raise tax money from the region, or to persuade men to serve away from home. This extended to areas far from where Derby had campaigned.^[68]

After two and a half years of uneasy peace, the war had restarted with a series of French humiliations. In the border region morale and, more importantly, prestige had decidedly swung England's way following this campaign, providing an influx of taxes and recruits for the English armies.^[76] Large parts of the Gascon nobility had been wavering with regard to committing themselves, and Derby's victories tipped the balance for many.^[67] Local lords of note declared for the English, bringing their retinues with them.^[77][78] Derby's success was essentially defensive: he had secured Gascony. He had also set the scene for a possible future Anglo-Gascon offensive; this was to come late the following year, with his series of mounted raids.^[79] For the time being, while French financial resources were hampered, their ability to raise and project large forces were not seriously impaired.^[80]

The four-month campaign has been described as "the first successful land campaign of ... the Hundred Years' War",^[81] which had commenced more than eight years earlier. Derby^{[note 4]} went on to lead another successful campaign in 1346.^[82] Modern historians have praised the generalship demonstrated by Derby in this campaign: "superb and innovative tactician";^[83] "ris[ing] to the level of genius";^[84] "brilliant in the extreme";^[61] "stunning";^[85] "brilliant".^[86] A chronicler writing fifty years after the event described him as "one of the best warriors in the world".^[38]

Aftermath

In October 1345 Northampton commenced his campaign in northern Brittany, but it fizzled out in a series of failures to capture French-held Breton towns.^[87] The French decided to make their main effort in 1346 against Gascony. A large French army, "enormously superior" to any force Derby could field,^[88] assembled early in the campaigning season under the Duke of Normandy and marched up the Garonne valley.^[89] Their plan was to retake La Réole; to ensure their lines of supply they first had to retake Aiguillon.^[69] Stafford, in charge of Aiguillon's Anglo-Gascon garrison of 900 men, withstood an eight-month siege. Derby concentrated the main Anglo-Gascon force at La Réole, as a threat, and ensured that the French were never able to fully blockade the town.^[90][91][92] They found that their own supply lines were seriously harassed.^[92]

Edward III was meanwhile assembling a large army in England. The French were aware of this, but anticipated that it would sail to Gascony and attempt to relieve Aiguillon.^[93] Instead it landed in Normandy in July, achieving strategic surprise and starting the Crécy campaign.^[94] Philip VI ordered his son to abandon the siege and march north; after several delays John did, arriving in Picardy two weeks after Philip's army had been decisively beaten at the Battle of Crécy with very heavy losses.^[95] The areas facing Derby were left effectively defenceless,^[96] and he sent local Gascon forces to besiege the few major strongholds in the region still held by the French. Taking a force of approximately 2,000 Derby set out from La Réole on a grand chevauchée, a great mounted raid. During the following two months this was devastatingly successful. Not only Gascony, but much of the Duchy of Aquitaine was left securely in English hands. It was to be held until formally ceded by the French in 1360 in the Treaty of Brétigny.^[97]

Notes, citations and sources

Notes