Siege of Caen (1417)
Siege of Caen | |||||||
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Part of the Hundred Years' War | |||||||
The Chateau de Caen | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of England | Kingdom of France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Thomas, Duke of Clarence | Guillaume de Montenay |
The siege of Caen took place during the
Background
Following his
The siege
The English army landed on the coast of Normandy near
Having installed a prefabricated bridge over the river,[3] Henry began the siege on 18 August[5] with an artillery barrage on the lower town. The English cannon were so large that the shock of firing broke the abbey windows. The larger guns fired solid stone balls or hollow iron shells filled with combustible material, while the smaller guns fired showers of lead shot.[6] Henry also attempted to undermine the walls, but the defenders set up bowls of water on the ramparts so that by observing the ripples, they could detect the English digging and countermine, fighting the attackers underground.[3]
The commander of the French garrison, Guillaume de Montenay, having refused to surrender, Henry planned an assault on 4 September. The attack was mounted on the lower town from two opposite directions, one led by the king and one by the Duke of Clarence. After crossing the moat by filling it with
The castle, encumbered with by a thousand refugees from the earlier fighting, surrendered on 20 September without being either bombarded or assaulted.[11] De Montenay handed over the keys to Henry, who gave generous terms to the defenders. The soldiers were allowed to leave with their horses, arms, equipment and up to 2,000 écus of coin each. Civilians were allowed to leave with only the clothes they were wearing, or they could stay and swear fealty to Henry. About 700 citizens are known to have left the city, and de Montenay and his soldiers went on to join the defenders of Falaise.[14]
Aftermath
While the siege was still in progress, Clarence had written to the Lord Mayor of London saying that English settlers would be required to populate the town and when they later arrived, they were allocated vacant houses to live in.[15] In the following months, Henry went on to capture Argentan, Falaise and Cherbourg. Turning east, he then besieged Rouen, then considered to be France's second city. The desperate Siege of Rouen lasted from July until January 1419, but its capture secured the whole of Normandy as a base from which he could press on towards Paris. Henry finally died in 1422 at the Siege of Meaux.[16] Caen remained in English hands until 1450 when it was besieged and taken back during the French reconquest of Normandy in the closing stages of the war.[17]
References
- ^ Seward 2001, pp. 98-99
- ^ Seward 2001, pp. 100-103
- ^ a b c d Bradbury 1992, pp. 165-166
- ^ Wylie 1929, pp. 57-58
- ^ Matusiak 2013, p. 173
- ^ Seward 2001, pp. 104-105
- ^ Wylie 1929, p. 59
- ^ Taylor 2013, p. 197
- ^ Wylie 1929, p. 60
- ^ Barker 2012, p. 12
- ^ a b Wylie 1929, p. 61
- ^ Mortimer 2009, p. 371
- ^ Seward 2001, p. 104
- ^ Sumption 2017, p. 540
- ^ Wylie 1929, p. 62
- ^ Bradbury 1992, pp. 168-170
- ^ Jaques 2007, p.182
Bibliography
- Barker, Juliet (2012). Conquest: The English Kingdom of France, 1417-1450. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674065604.
- Bradbury, Jim (1992). The Medieval Siege. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0851153575.
- Jaques, Tony (2007), Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Matusiak, John (2012). Henry V. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415620277.
- Mortimer, Ian (2009). 1415: Henry V's Year of Glory. The Bodley Head. ISBN 978-0224079921.
- Sumption, Jonathan (2016). The Hundred Years War, Volume 4: Cursed Kings. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0571274567.
- Taylor, Craig (10 October 2013). Chivalry and the Ideals of Knighthood in France During the Hundred Years War. Cambridge University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-107-04221-6.
- Wylie, James Hamilton (1929). The reign of Henry the Fifth: Volume II. Cambridge University Press.