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{{Short description|1453 battle between France and England}}
{{Battlebox|
{{Use British English|date=July 2022}}
battle_name=Battle of Castillion
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
|image=
{{Infobox military conflict
|caption=
| conflict = Battle of Castillon
|campaign=Hundred Years' War
| partof = the [[Hundred Years' War]]
|colour_scheme=background:#cccccc
| image = Français 5054, fol. 229v, Bataille de Castillon 1453 - détail.jpg
|conflict=[[Hundred Years' War]]
| image_size = 300
|date=[[July 17]], [[1453]]
| caption = The death of [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury|John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury]] at the battle of Castillon from ''Vigilles de Charles VII'' by [[Martial d'Auvergne]] (1484)
|place=[[Gascony]]
| date = 17 July 1453
|result=Decisive French victory
| place = [[Castillon-la-Bataille]], [[Duchy of Gascony]]
|combatant1=[[England]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|44|51|6|N|0|1|8|W|region:FR-B_type:event|display=inline,title}}
|combatant2=[[France]] [[Brittany]]
| result = French victory
|commander1=[[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury]]
|commander2=[[Charles VII of France]]
|strength1=6,000
|strength2=7,000 - 10,000
|casualties1=4,000 dead, wounded, or captured
|casualties2=100 dead or wounded
|}}


*End of the [[Hundred Years’ War]]
The '''Battle of Castillon''' was the last battle fought between the [[France|French]], the [[Bretons]] and the [[England|English]], during the [[Hundred Years' War]]. This was the first battle in European history where [[Cannon|cannons]] were the deciding factor.
| combatant1 = {{plainlist |
* [[Kingdom of France]]
* [[Duchy of Brittany]]}}
| combatant2 = {{plainlist |
* [[Kingdom of England]]
* [[Duchy of Gascony]]}}
| commander1 = [[Jean Bureau]]<br>[[Peter II, Duke of Brittany|Peter II]]<br>[[Jacques de Chabannes]]
| commander2 = [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury|John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury]]{{KIA}}<br>[[John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle|John Talbot, Viscount Lisle]]{{KIA}}<br>[[John de Foix, 1st Earl of Kendal|John de Foix, Earl of Kendal]]{{POW}}
| strength1 = 7,000{{sfn|Grummitt|2010|p=335}}–9,000<ref name="Wagner" /><ref name="Seward260" /><br>1,000 Bretons<ref name="Seward260" /><br>300 guns
| strength2 = 5,000<ref name="Wagner">{{harvnb|Wagner|2006|p=79}}</ref>–10,000<ref name="Seward260">{{harvnb|Seward|1999|p=260}}</ref>
| casualties1 = 100 killed or wounded
| casualties2 = 4,000 killed or captured{{sfn|Nolan|2006|p=120}}{{sfn|Prestwich|2017|p=152}}{{sfn|Eggenberger|1985|p=146}}<hr>The rest of the army surrenders the next day{{sfn|Chartier|1858|pp=7–8}}
| map_type = France Nouvelle-Aquitaine
| map_relief = yes
| map_caption = Location within current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
| map_label = [[Castillon-la-Bataille]]
}}
{{Campaignbox Hundred Years' War}}
{{Campaignbox Lancastrian War}}


The '''Battle of Castillon''' was a battle between the forces of [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]] which took place on 17 July 1453 in [[Gascony]] near the town of Castillon-sur-Dordogne (later [[Castillon-la-Bataille]]).
After the French capture of [[Bordeaux]] in [[1451]], the Hundred Years' War seemed at an end. However, after three hundred years of English rule the citizens of Bordeaux considered themselves English and sent messengers to [[Henry VI of England]] demanding he recapture the province.
On the day of the battle, the English commander, [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury]], believing that the enemy was retreating, led his army in an attack on a fortified French encampment without waiting for reinforcements. Talbot then refused to withdraw even after realizing the strength of the French position, causing his men to suffer severe casualties from the French [[artillery]]. Castillon was a major European battle won through the extensive use of [[field artillery]].


The battle led to the English losing nearly all their holdings in France, especially [[Gascony]], which had been a possession of the [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenet kings]] for the previous three centuries. Political instability ensued in England.
On [[October 17]], [[1452]], [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury]] landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3,000 men-at-arms and archers. The French garrison was ejected by the citizens of Bordeaux, who then gleefully opened the gates to the English. Most of [[Gascony]] followed Bordeaux’s example and welcomed the English home.


==Background==
During the winter month [[Charles VII of France]] gathered his armies in readiness for the campaigning season. When spring arrived Charles advanced toward Bordeaux simultaneously along three different routes with three armies.
The breakdown of the 1420 [[Treaty of Troyes]] began the final stage of the Hundred Years' War.<ref>{{harvnb|Wagner|2006|p=127}}</ref> This period from 1420 to 1453 is characterized by [[Anne Curry]] as the "wars of the Treaty of Troyes" for control of the crown of France.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|1993|p=155}}</ref>


After the 1451 French capture of [[Bordeaux]] by the armies of [[Charles VII of France|Charles VII]], the Hundred Years' War appeared to be at an end. The English primarily focused on reinforcing their only remaining possession, [[Calais]], and watching over the seas.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|1993|p=115}}</ref> After three hundred years of [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenet]] rule, though, the citizens of Bordeaux considered themselves as subjects of the English monarch and sent messengers to [[Henry VI of England]] demanding that he recapture the province.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|p=135}}</ref>
Talbot received another 3,000 men to face this new problem, but it was still an inadequate number to hold back the thousands of Frenchmen on Gascony’s borders. When the leading French army lay siege to Castillon, Talbot abandoned his original plans (acceding to the pleas of the town commanders) and set out to relieve it. The French commander, [[Jean Bureau]], in fear of Talbot, ordered his 7,000 to 10,000 men to encircle their camp with a ditch and palisade, and deploy his 300 cannon on the parapet.


On 17 October 1452, the Earl of Shrewsbury landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3,000 men.<ref name="Seward259">{{harvnb|Seward|1999|p=159}}</ref> A feared and famous military leader, Talbot was rumoured to be seventy-five or eighty years old, but it is more likely that he was around sixty-six at the time.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|p=1}}</ref> With the cooperation of the townspeople, Talbot easily took the city on 23 October.<ref name="Pollard136">{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|p=136}}</ref> The English subsequently took control over most of western Gascony by the end of the year.<ref name="Pollard136" /> The French had known an English expedition was coming, but had expected it to come through [[Normandy]].<ref name="Seward259" /> After this surprise, Charles prepared his forces over the winter, and by early 1453 he was ready to counterattack.<ref name="Seward259"/>
Talbot approached the French camp on [[17 July]] [[1453]], arriving before his main body of troops with an advance guard of 1,300 mounted men. He routed a similar sized force of French archers in the woods before the French encampment, giving his men a large boost of morale. A few hours after this preliminary skirmish, a messenger from the town reported to Talbot’s resting troops (they had marched through the night) that the [[France|French]] army was in full retreat and that hundreds of horsemen were fleeing the fortifications. From the town walls a huge dust clouded could be seen heading off into the distance.


==Prelude==
Talbot hastily reorganized his men and charged down towards the French camp, only to find the parapets defended by thousands of fully armed archers and hundreds of cannon. Surprised but undaunted, Talbot gave the signal to attack the French army that outnumbered his own force six to one.
Charles invaded [[Guyenne]] with three separate armies, all headed for Bordeaux.<ref name="Seward259" /> Talbot received 3,000 additional men, reinforcements led by his fourth and favourite son, [[John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle|John, the Viscount Lisle]].<ref name="Seward259" /> The French laid siege to Castillon (approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Bordeaux) on 8 July.<ref name="Pollard137">{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|p=137}}</ref> Talbot acceded to the pleas of the town leaders, abandoning his original plan to wait at Bordeaux for more reinforcements, and set out to relieve the garrison.<ref name="Pollard137" />


The French army was commanded by committee; Charles VII's ordnance officer [[Jean Bureau]] laid out the camp to maximize French artillery strength.<ref name="Wagner" /> In a defensive setup, Bureau's forces built an artillery park out of range from Castillon's guns.<ref name="Seward259" /> According to [[Desmond Seward]], the park "consisted of a deep trench with a wall of earth behind it which was strengthened by tree-trunks; its most remarkable feature was the irregular, wavy line of the ditch and earthwork, which enabled the guns to [[Enfilade and defilade|enfilade]] any attackers".<ref>{{harvnb|Seward|1999|pp=259–260}}</ref> The park included up to 300 guns of various sizes, and was protected by a ditch and [[palisade]] on three sides and a steep bank of the River Lidoire on the fourth.<ref name="Wagner" />
Once battle started, [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury|Talbot]] received a thin trickle of men from his leading foot units. After an hour the cavalry of the [[Breton]] army sent by the duke of [[Brittany]] arrived and charged his right flank. The English army gave way, pursued instantly by the French main body of troops.


Talbot left Bordeaux on 16 July. He outdistanced a majority of his forces, arriving at [[Libourne]] by sunset with only 500 [[men-at-arms]] and 800 mounted [[archery|archers]].<ref name="Seward260">{{harvnb|Seward|1999|p=260}}</ref> The following day, this force defeated a small French detachment of archers stationed at a priory near Castillon.<ref name = "Wagner" /><ref name="Seward260" /> Despite earlier plans to wait for reinforcements, Talbot pressed his men onward to the French camp, believing the rest of his men would arrive soon.<ref name="Wagner" />
During the rout [[Talbot]]’s horse was killed by a cannon ball and he fell trapped beneath it, until a Frenchman wielding a battle-axe recognized him and killed him.


Following Henry VI's episode of insanity in 1453 and the subsequent outbreak of the [[Wars of the Roses]], the English were no longer in any position to pursue their claim to the French throne and lost all their land on the continent (except for [[Calais]]).


== External link ==
==Battle==
[[File:Battle of Castillon.jpg|thumb|Painting depicting the Battle of Castillon (1453) by the French painter [[Charles-Philippe Larivière]] (1798–1876). ([[Galerie des Batailles]], [[Palace of Versailles]]). [[John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury|John Talbot]] at right is falling from his wounded horse, leading to his death]]


Along with the morale boost of victory at the priory, Talbot also pushed forward because of reports that the French were retreating.<ref name="Seward260" /> However, the cloud of dust leaving the camp which the townsmen indicated as a retreat was in fact created by [[camp follower]]s departing before the battle.<ref name="Seward260" />
* [http://www.batailledecastillon.com spectacle]
* http://www.xenophongroup.com/montjoie/castilon.htm - From Oriflamme, French medieval history page


The English advanced but soon ran into the full force of the French army.<ref name="Pollard137" /> Despite being outnumbered and in a vulnerable position, Talbot ordered his men to continue fighting.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|pp=137–138}}</ref> Historian [[A. J. Pollard]] suggests this seemingly reckless behaviour from Talbot may be due to the fact that his "pride and honour were at stake for he had already ordered his men to battle when he discovered the strength of the French position".<ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|p=139}}</ref> The only Englishman who remained mounted in the battle, he also did not wear armour due to previous agreements with the French when he was released from captivity in [[Normandy]].<ref name="Seward260" />
[[Category:1453]]
[[Category:Battles of the Hundred Years' War|Castillon 1453]]


According to [[David Nicolle]], the battle itself was "highly characteristic of the period" with the strong field fortification of the French and the small-arms fighting of the battle.<ref name="Nicolle">{{harvnb|Nicolle|2012|p=52}}</ref> In many ways, this battle played out like the [[Battle of Crécy]] in "reverse".<ref name="Nicolle" /> The French guns obliterated the advancing soldiers, with each shot reportedly killing six men at a time.<ref>{{harvnb|Seward|1999|p=261}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lace|1994|p=94}}</ref> Talbot's reinforcements continued to arrive at the battle, only to suffer the same fate in their turn.<ref name="Wagner" /> Despite the odds against the English, the battle lasted over an hour until a thousand-strong [[Breton people|Breton]] [[cavalry]] force led by [[Peter II, Duke of Brittany]], crashed into their right [[flanking maneuver|flank]], sending them into retreat.<ref>{{harvnb|Seward|1999|pp=261–262}}</ref>
[[fr:Bataille de Castillon]]

[[io:Castillon-batalio]]
The battle ended in an English [[rout]], and both Talbot and his son were killed.<ref name="Wagner" /> There is some debate over the circumstances of Talbot's death, but it appears that his horse was killed by a cannon shot, and its mass pinning him down, a French archer in turn killed him with an axe.<ref>{{harvnb|Lace|1994|p=93}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Seward|1999|p=262}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pollard|2005|pp=137–138}}</ref>

The survivors of the clash as well as the remnant of the Anglo-Gascon force which had not been thrown into the battle, totalling up to 5,000 men, including [[John de Foix, 1st Earl of Kendal]], sought refuge in the castle of Castillon.

==Aftermath==
The day after the battle, Jean Bureau besieged the castle with his artillery, and the defenders surrendered on 19 July, becoming prisoners of war.{{sfn|Chartier|1858|pp=7–8}}

With Talbot's death and the destruction of his army, English authority in Gascony eroded and the French retook Bordeaux on 19 October.<ref name="Wagner" /> It was not apparent to either side that the period of conflict was over.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|1993|pp=115–116}}</ref> In hindsight, the battle marks a decisive turning point in history, and is cited as the endpoint of the period known as the Hundred Years' War. This was a major European battle won through the extensive use of [[field artillery]].{{sfn|Nolan|2006|p=119}}{{sfn|Green|2014|p=139}}

[[Henry VI of England]] lost his mental capacity in late 1453, which led to the outbreak of the [[Wars of the Roses]] in England. Some have speculated that learning of the defeat at Castillon led to his mental collapse.<ref name="Wagner" /> The English Crown lost all its continental possessions except for the [[Pale of Calais]],<ref name="Wagner" /> which was the last English possession in mainland France, and the [[Channel Islands]], historically part of the [[Duchy of Normandy]] and thus of the Kingdom of France. Calais was lost in 1558.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|1993|p=120}}</ref> The Channel Islands have remained British [[Crown Dependencies]] to the present day, though they were subject to German occupation during [[World War II]].

A casualty after the battle of Castillon was [[Pierre II de Montferrand]], husband of Mary Plantagenet, illegitimate daughter of the [[John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford|Duke of Bedford]] and a granddaughter of [[Henry IV of England]]. While returning to France after being exiled in England, Montferrand was arrested and taken to [[Poitiers]] where he was tried by a commission. Having been found guilty he was beheaded and quartered, possibly on the orders of [[Charles VII of France|Charles VII]], at [[Poitiers]], in July 1454. Montferrand was one of only a few nobles known to have been executed for treason during the reign of Charles VII.<ref>{{harvnb|Cuttler|1981|pp=205–206}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Richardson|2011|p=550}}</ref>

== Location of the Battlefield ==
'''To this day, regarding the position of the French camp, two hypotheses are in opposition.'''

The first hypothesis, based on the writings of Léo Drouyn, asserts that Jean Bureau chose a site north of the Dordogne River to position his cannons. According to his assumptions, the camp was set up behind an old winding bed of the Lidoire, a small tributary of the Dordogne. The riverbed served as a ditch, and its northern bank was fortified with a parapet and a continuous wall made of tree trunks. The entrenched camp, stretching 600 meters in length, was guarded to the north, about 1.5 km away, by 1,000 Breton cavalrymen under the command of Lords Jean de Montauban and Gilles de la Hunaudaye. The Colle plain, located in the present-day commune of Lamothe-Montravel between the entrenched camp and the Dordogne, provided an ideal flat terrain for the French artillery to fire.

According to a second,<ref>{{Cite book |last=ADAM |first=Julien |title=Castillon, 17 juillet 1453: la France gagne la guerre de Cent Ans |publisher=Historic'one |year=2024 |isbn=978-2-912994-82-0 |pages=55-59}}</ref> more recent hypothesis, based on the discovery of new sources from the Saint Florent priory and an investigation conducted by Judge Lassime in the 18th century, the French camp was located in front of the town of Castillon, within cannon range—approximately 200 meters. Since the Lidoire shifted its course after 1496, Léo Drouyn's hypothesis would be rendered invalid.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{Cite book |last=Curry |first=Anne |author-link=Anne Curry |title=The Hundred Years War |date=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |isbn=978-0-312-09142-2 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cuttler |first=Simon H. |title=The law of treason and treason trials in later medieval France |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-521-23968-4 |series=Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite book |last=Eggenberger |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbatt0000egge_s0b6 |title=An encyclopedia of battles: accounts of over 1560 battles from 1479 B.C. to the present |publisher=[[Dover Publications|Dover]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-486-24913-1 |series=Dover books on history, political and social science |location=New York}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology |editor-first=Clifford J. |editor-last=Rogers |title=Castillon, Siege and Battle of |volume=1 |first=David |last=Grummitt |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lace |first=William W. |title=The Hundred Years' War |date=1994 |publisher=[[Lucent Books]] |isbn=978-1-56006-233-2 |location=San Diego}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nicolle |first=David |author-link=David Nicolle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-O6CwAAQBAJ |title=European Medieval Tactics (2): New Infantry, New Weapons 1260–1500 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-84908-740-7 |location=Botley}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization |volume=1 |editor-first=Cathal J. |editor-last=Nolan |title=Castillon, Battle of (July 17, 1453) |page=119 |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |year=2006}}
* {{Cite book |last=Green |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uyuBAAAQBAJ |title=The Hundred Years War: A People's History |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-300-20994-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Prestwich |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Prestwich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9WLDwAAQBAJ |title=A Short History of the Hundred Years War |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78672-326-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pollard |first=A. J. |author-link=A. J. Pollard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mlF-AwAAQBAJ |title=John Talbot and the war in France, 1427–1453 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Pen & Sword Military]] |isbn=978-1-84415-247-6 |edition=2. |location=Barnsley}}
* {{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JcbV309c5UC |title=Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families |publisher=Independently published |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4610-4520-5 |editor-last=Everingham |editor-first=Kimball G. |edition=2nd |location=Baltimore, MD}}
* {{Cite book |last=Seward |first=Desmond |author-link=Desmond Seward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wwpT6Ch367QC |title=The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337–1453 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-101-17377-0 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=John A. |title=Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War |date=2006 |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |isbn=978-0-313-32736-0 |location=Westport, Conn.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chartier |first=Jean |author-link=Jean Chartier (chronicler) |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k27714p |title=Chronique de Charles VII, roi de France, Tome 3 |publisher=[[Pierre Jannet (bibliographer)|Pierre Jannet]] |year=1858 |location=Paris |oclc=763869755}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKRYZ71Zh0IC |title=Society at war: the experience of England and France during the Hundred Years War |date=1998 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=978-0-85115-672-9 |editor-last=Allmand |editor-first=Christopher T. |editor-link=Christopher Allmand |edition=Reprint |series=Warfare in history |location=Woodbridge}}
* {{Cite book |last=Allmand |first=Christopher T. |author-link=Christopher Allmand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Igb2Q2WKYQcC |title=The Hundred Years War: England and France at War c. 1300–c. 1450 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-31923-2 |edition=Rev. |series=Cambridge medieval textbooks |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Burne |first=A.H. |date=April 1953 |title=The Battle of Castillon, 1453: The end of the Hundred Years War |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/battle-castillon-1453-end-hundred-years-war |magazine=[[History Today]] |pages=249–256 |volume=3 |issue=4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Curry |first=Anne |author-link=Anne Curry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uedsmAEACAAJ |title=The Hundred Years' War, 1337–1453 |date=2003 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-96863-8 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vale |first=M. G. A. |title=English Gascony 1399–1453: a study of war, government and politics during the later stages of the hundred years' war |date=1970 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-821834-0 |series=Oxford historical monographs |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uypj10Wjuw0C |title=Knights and peasants: the hundred years war in the French countryside |date=2000 |publisher=[[The Boydell Press]] |isbn=978-0-85115-806-8 |edition=Repr. |series=Warfare in history |location=Woodbridge}}
* {{cite book |last=ADAM |first=Julien |author-link= |url= |title=Castillon 17 juillet 1453, La France gagne la guerre de Cent Ans |date= |publisher=Historic'one |year=2024 |isbn=978-2912994820 |location= |publication-date=2024 |page=}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

* [http://www.batailledecastillon.com Spectacle]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051028021944/http://www.xenophongroup.com/montjoie/castilon.htm Castillon from French medieval history page]
* [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bec_0373-6237_1847_num_8_1_452074 A contemporary newsletter describing the battle] {{in lang|fr}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1453 in England]]
[[Category:1450s in France]]
[[Category:Battles of the Hundred Years' War|Castillon 1453]]
[[Category:Military history of Nouvelle-Aquitaine|Castillon 1453]]
[[Category:History of Gironde]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1453|Castillon]]
[[Category:Hundred Years' War, 1415–1453]]
[[Category:Gascony]]

Latest revision as of 22:19, 6 December 2024

Battle of Castillon
Part of the Hundred Years' War

The death of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury at the battle of Castillon from Vigilles de Charles VII by Martial d'Auvergne (1484)
Date17 July 1453
Location44°51′6″N 0°1′8″W / 44.85167°N 0.01889°W / 44.85167; -0.01889
Result

French victory

Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Jean Bureau
Peter II
Jacques de Chabannes
John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury 
John Talbot, Viscount Lisle 
John de Foix, Earl of Kendal (POW)
Strength
7,000[1]–9,000[2][3]
1,000 Bretons[3]
300 guns
5,000[2]–10,000[3]
Casualties and losses
100 killed or wounded 4,000 killed or captured[4][5][6]
The rest of the army surrenders the next day[7]
Location within current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

The Battle of Castillon was a battle between the forces of England and France which took place on 17 July 1453 in Gascony near the town of Castillon-sur-Dordogne (later Castillon-la-Bataille). On the day of the battle, the English commander, John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, believing that the enemy was retreating, led his army in an attack on a fortified French encampment without waiting for reinforcements. Talbot then refused to withdraw even after realizing the strength of the French position, causing his men to suffer severe casualties from the French artillery. Castillon was a major European battle won through the extensive use of field artillery.

The battle led to the English losing nearly all their holdings in France, especially Gascony, which had been a possession of the Plantagenet kings for the previous three centuries. Political instability ensued in England.

Background

[edit]

The breakdown of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes began the final stage of the Hundred Years' War.[8] This period from 1420 to 1453 is characterized by Anne Curry as the "wars of the Treaty of Troyes" for control of the crown of France.[9]

After the 1451 French capture of Bordeaux by the armies of Charles VII, the Hundred Years' War appeared to be at an end. The English primarily focused on reinforcing their only remaining possession, Calais, and watching over the seas.[10] After three hundred years of Plantagenet rule, though, the citizens of Bordeaux considered themselves as subjects of the English monarch and sent messengers to Henry VI of England demanding that he recapture the province.[11]

On 17 October 1452, the Earl of Shrewsbury landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3,000 men.[12] A feared and famous military leader, Talbot was rumoured to be seventy-five or eighty years old, but it is more likely that he was around sixty-six at the time.[13] With the cooperation of the townspeople, Talbot easily took the city on 23 October.[14] The English subsequently took control over most of western Gascony by the end of the year.[14] The French had known an English expedition was coming, but had expected it to come through Normandy.[12] After this surprise, Charles prepared his forces over the winter, and by early 1453 he was ready to counterattack.[12]

Prelude

[edit]

Charles invaded Guyenne with three separate armies, all headed for Bordeaux.[12] Talbot received 3,000 additional men, reinforcements led by his fourth and favourite son, John, the Viscount Lisle.[12] The French laid siege to Castillon (approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Bordeaux) on 8 July.[15] Talbot acceded to the pleas of the town leaders, abandoning his original plan to wait at Bordeaux for more reinforcements, and set out to relieve the garrison.[15]

The French army was commanded by committee; Charles VII's ordnance officer Jean Bureau laid out the camp to maximize French artillery strength.[2] In a defensive setup, Bureau's forces built an artillery park out of range from Castillon's guns.[12] According to Desmond Seward, the park "consisted of a deep trench with a wall of earth behind it which was strengthened by tree-trunks; its most remarkable feature was the irregular, wavy line of the ditch and earthwork, which enabled the guns to enfilade any attackers".[16] The park included up to 300 guns of various sizes, and was protected by a ditch and palisade on three sides and a steep bank of the River Lidoire on the fourth.[2]

Talbot left Bordeaux on 16 July. He outdistanced a majority of his forces, arriving at Libourne by sunset with only 500 men-at-arms and 800 mounted archers.[3] The following day, this force defeated a small French detachment of archers stationed at a priory near Castillon.[2][3] Despite earlier plans to wait for reinforcements, Talbot pressed his men onward to the French camp, believing the rest of his men would arrive soon.[2]


Battle

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Painting depicting the Battle of Castillon (1453) by the French painter Charles-Philippe Larivière (1798–1876). (Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles). John Talbot at right is falling from his wounded horse, leading to his death

Along with the morale boost of victory at the priory, Talbot also pushed forward because of reports that the French were retreating.[3] However, the cloud of dust leaving the camp which the townsmen indicated as a retreat was in fact created by camp followers departing before the battle.[3]

The English advanced but soon ran into the full force of the French army.[15] Despite being outnumbered and in a vulnerable position, Talbot ordered his men to continue fighting.[17] Historian A. J. Pollard suggests this seemingly reckless behaviour from Talbot may be due to the fact that his "pride and honour were at stake for he had already ordered his men to battle when he discovered the strength of the French position".[18] The only Englishman who remained mounted in the battle, he also did not wear armour due to previous agreements with the French when he was released from captivity in Normandy.[3]

According to David Nicolle, the battle itself was "highly characteristic of the period" with the strong field fortification of the French and the small-arms fighting of the battle.[19] In many ways, this battle played out like the Battle of Crécy in "reverse".[19] The French guns obliterated the advancing soldiers, with each shot reportedly killing six men at a time.[20][21] Talbot's reinforcements continued to arrive at the battle, only to suffer the same fate in their turn.[2] Despite the odds against the English, the battle lasted over an hour until a thousand-strong Breton cavalry force led by Peter II, Duke of Brittany, crashed into their right flank, sending them into retreat.[22]

The battle ended in an English rout, and both Talbot and his son were killed.[2] There is some debate over the circumstances of Talbot's death, but it appears that his horse was killed by a cannon shot, and its mass pinning him down, a French archer in turn killed him with an axe.[23][24][25]

The survivors of the clash as well as the remnant of the Anglo-Gascon force which had not been thrown into the battle, totalling up to 5,000 men, including John de Foix, 1st Earl of Kendal, sought refuge in the castle of Castillon.

Aftermath

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The day after the battle, Jean Bureau besieged the castle with his artillery, and the defenders surrendered on 19 July, becoming prisoners of war.[7]

With Talbot's death and the destruction of his army, English authority in Gascony eroded and the French retook Bordeaux on 19 October.[2] It was not apparent to either side that the period of conflict was over.[26] In hindsight, the battle marks a decisive turning point in history, and is cited as the endpoint of the period known as the Hundred Years' War. This was a major European battle won through the extensive use of field artillery.[27][28]

Henry VI of England lost his mental capacity in late 1453, which led to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in England. Some have speculated that learning of the defeat at Castillon led to his mental collapse.[2] The English Crown lost all its continental possessions except for the Pale of Calais,[2] which was the last English possession in mainland France, and the Channel Islands, historically part of the Duchy of Normandy and thus of the Kingdom of France. Calais was lost in 1558.[29] The Channel Islands have remained British Crown Dependencies to the present day, though they were subject to German occupation during World War II.

A casualty after the battle of Castillon was Pierre II de Montferrand, husband of Mary Plantagenet, illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Bedford and a granddaughter of Henry IV of England. While returning to France after being exiled in England, Montferrand was arrested and taken to Poitiers where he was tried by a commission. Having been found guilty he was beheaded and quartered, possibly on the orders of Charles VII, at Poitiers, in July 1454. Montferrand was one of only a few nobles known to have been executed for treason during the reign of Charles VII.[30][31]

Location of the Battlefield

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To this day, regarding the position of the French camp, two hypotheses are in opposition.

The first hypothesis, based on the writings of Léo Drouyn, asserts that Jean Bureau chose a site north of the Dordogne River to position his cannons. According to his assumptions, the camp was set up behind an old winding bed of the Lidoire, a small tributary of the Dordogne. The riverbed served as a ditch, and its northern bank was fortified with a parapet and a continuous wall made of tree trunks. The entrenched camp, stretching 600 meters in length, was guarded to the north, about 1.5 km away, by 1,000 Breton cavalrymen under the command of Lords Jean de Montauban and Gilles de la Hunaudaye. The Colle plain, located in the present-day commune of Lamothe-Montravel between the entrenched camp and the Dordogne, provided an ideal flat terrain for the French artillery to fire.

According to a second,[32] more recent hypothesis, based on the discovery of new sources from the Saint Florent priory and an investigation conducted by Judge Lassime in the 18th century, the French camp was located in front of the town of Castillon, within cannon range—approximately 200 meters. Since the Lidoire shifted its course after 1496, Léo Drouyn's hypothesis would be rendered invalid.

Notes

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  1. ^ Grummitt 2010, p. 335.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wagner 2006, p. 79
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Seward 1999, p. 260
  4. ^ Nolan 2006, p. 120.
  5. ^ Prestwich 2017, p. 152.
  6. ^ Eggenberger 1985, p. 146.
  7. ^ a b Chartier 1858, pp. 7–8.
  8. ^ Wagner 2006, p. 127
  9. ^ Curry 1993, p. 155
  10. ^ Curry 1993, p. 115
  11. ^ Pollard 2005, p. 135
  12. ^ a b c d e f Seward 1999, p. 159
  13. ^ Pollard 2005, p. 1
  14. ^ a b Pollard 2005, p. 136
  15. ^ a b c Pollard 2005, p. 137
  16. ^ Seward 1999, pp. 259–260
  17. ^ Pollard 2005, pp. 137–138
  18. ^ Pollard 2005, p. 139
  19. ^ a b Nicolle 2012, p. 52
  20. ^ Seward 1999, p. 261
  21. ^ Lace 1994, p. 94
  22. ^ Seward 1999, pp. 261–262
  23. ^ Lace 1994, p. 93
  24. ^ Seward 1999, p. 262
  25. ^ Pollard 2005, pp. 137–138
  26. ^ Curry 1993, pp. 115–116
  27. ^ Nolan 2006, p. 119.
  28. ^ Green 2014, p. 139.
  29. ^ Curry 1993, p. 120
  30. ^ Cuttler 1981, pp. 205–206
  31. ^ Richardson 2011, p. 550
  32. ^ ADAM, Julien (2024). Castillon, 17 juillet 1453: la France gagne la guerre de Cent Ans. Historic'one. pp. 55–59. ISBN 978-2-912994-82-0.

References

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Further reading

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