Chapter 23
In This Chapter
● Invading France with Henry V
● Sharp-shooting on Agincourt
● Mounting a French comeback with Joan of Arc
● Bringing the Hundred Years’ War to an end
When the Hundred Years’ War resumed in the fifteenth century, two fascinating individuals came to the fore: King Henry V and Joan of Arc. Their actions dominated the final period of the war, and its fortunes swung with them. From the devastating campaigns fought by Henry to the amazing turnaround inspired by the woman known as the Maid of Orleans, the second half of the war - approximately 38 years - is a gripping story.
In this chapter I visit some of the war’s sprawling battles and piece together how this seemingly endless conflict eventually drew to a close.
Envisioning English Triumph: Henry V and the Lancastrian War
As I describe in Chapter 22, King Henry IV planned campaigns in France but was never able to put them into action. Therefore, the peace of 1389 between England and France continued steadily throughout his reign.
When Henry V became king in 1413, he had one big agenda in mind: invading France. His overall objective was to become king of both countries, but a more pressing issue was to regain control of the Plantagenet lands that previous kings had held in southeastern France - and of the revenues that they produced. Surprisingly, Henry very nearly pulled this ambition off during the phase of the war known as the ‘Lancastrian War’.
Travelling the road to Agincourt
When he became king at the age of 27, Henry V was already an experienced commander. He had fought against his father’s enemies in both Wales and England and was very keen to cut his teeth in France. From the English perspective, the moment was ideal to resume the Hundred Years’ War: Charles VI of France was widely known to be suffering from a serious mental illness and was plagued by revolts from the French nobility, including his own brother, Louis of Orleans.
France was weakened, and Henry wanted to take full advantage. The only likely problem was money, but parliament granted Henry the authority to charge a ‘double tax’ for the war, and he was able to put together an army that was around 12,000 strong. Henry was in a fortunate position with this.
His predecessors had raised revenues through a ‘poll tax’ payable by all, which had led to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (see Chapter 22), whereas Henry’s tax was payable only by the nobility who would potentially gain booty if he was successful. Nevertheless, if he hadn’t been he might have ended up with trouble on his hands!
Invading Harfleur
In August 1415 Henry sailed for France. Very few among the party knew where they were headed, because Henry was hoping to surprise the French with his choice of landing spot. The target was the French fortress at Harfleur on the Seine estuary (see Figure 23-1), and having landed in Normandy the English army made its way there. Henry was keen to use Harfleur as a base to strike farther inland, just as Edward III had used Calais years earlier (check out Chapter 21).
Taking Harfleur was a large task, because it was a huge fortress with 26 towers, various fortifications and a broad, deep moat. Henry laid siege to it, launching several unsuccessful attacks until the outer fortifications fell on 17 September. The siege was arduous with many English troops dying from dysentery after apparently drinking rotten wine and unclean water. The rest of the fortress surrendered soon afterwards and by 22 September, Harfleur was in the hands of the English.
Marching into the mud
Having secured Harfleur, in October Henry moved on with the intention of marching to Calais. The port was in English hands, and Henry and his men would be able to winter and resupply there. Unfortunately for Henry the long siege at Harfleur gave the French opportunity to organise their response and the French army was now in the field, led by Charles d’Albret, the Constable of France.
The French intention was to intercept the English before they made it to Calais: and they managed to do so. The French army had greater numbers than the English and was growing all the time as more and more French noblemen joined it with their companies. Also, torrential rain slowed down the English, and they soon realised that they wouldn’t make Calais before meeting the French. On 25 October, the two sides encountered each other in a muddy set of fields in northeastern France near woods locally known as Agincourt.
Pinpointing the Battle of Agincourt
The battle that followed is one of the most famous in medieval history. The battlefield was a relatively narrow strip of land between two large woods: Agincourt and Tramecourt.
The two armies were very different in composition and approaches to fighting:
● The English army was made up of around 1,500 men-at-arms (fully armoured soldiers) and nearly 7,000 longbowmen, the archers who caused chaos at Crecy and Poitiers over 50 years earlier (flip to Chapter 21 for the story of these battles). They were very keen to get on with the fighting as quickly as possible.
● The French army, although slightly larger in numbers (around 10,000 troops), was mostly made up of men-at-arms along with around 1,500 knights. The French were hesitant to begin fighting at first because they were still waiting for around 2,000 further troops to arrive.
Eventually the French cavalry were hampered by the mud and the tremendous, unrelenting volleys of arrows fired by the English archers who were positioned on both sides in the woods. Driven back towards their own lines, the cavalry ran straight into its own infantry who had begun their advance!
Chaos followed. The heavily armed French found moving in the mud incredibly difficult. In the brutal three-hour melee that followed, the English infantry attacked and were joined by their archers who, having run out of arrows, picked up axes, hatchets and daggers. Everybody piled into the bloody, muddy carnage including Henry and the French commander Charles d’Albret. After some time, the French tired and were overcome; thousands were lost in the mud and unable to retreat to their own lines.
Few reliable sources for the battle exist, but the result was obviously a huge victory for the English. Most modern historians agree that at least 4,000 Frenchmen were killed with the English losing only around 500. Many French nobles were killed too, including Charles d’Albret. Several thousand French prisoners were taken, but Henry became concerned that the remaining French were regrouping for another attack and had them all executed, so that his army would be able to move quickly.
Conquering France (almost)
Agincourt was an almost complete victory. The French government was already tearing itself apart, split between the rival Dukes of Burgundy and
Orleans, King Charles VI was suffering from bouts of insanity (according to some sources, he often convinced himself that he was made of glass) and the army had now been utterly defeated in the field. France was in no position to respond. The way seemed clear for Henry V to press home his advantage and possibly end the war by uniting the two kingdoms. Over the next four years he nearly managed it.
Enjoying favourable international relations
Agincourt certainly got Henry noticed in Europe. The following year, 1416,
Henry received an embassy from King Sigismund of Hungary (1368-1437), one of the most powerful rulers in Europe, who would go on to become Holy Roman Emperor. Sigismund was visiting Western Europe to try and heal the divisions in the papacy that had followed the Great Western Schism (turn to Chapter 19 for more), but he dropped in on Henry in 1416 while he was in the area.
Sigismund’s original intention seems to have been to try and make peace between France and England, but he was so impressed with Henry as a statesman that he eventually signed a mutual cooperation deal with him!
This event in turn had another positive effect for Henry, because Duke John of Burgundy, who had held himself independent from the French crown, met with Henry and declared him to be the true king of France.
Henry’s good fortunes didn’t stop there. Again in 1416 Henry won another important victory. France was still allied with the Italian city of Genoa, and a Genoese fleet had besieged Harfleur. After an immense seven-hour naval battle, the English were victorious and the channel was back under English control. Henry was on a roll.
Taking Rouen, slowly and brutally
With fresh allies and quite a lot of momentum, Henry resumed campaigning in 1417 and very quickly took control of the whole of south Normandy. His next target was the important city of Rouen (see Figure 23-1), which was tremendously wealthy from the weaving industry and the export of its products down the Seine to Paris, from where they were exported across the whole of Europe.
Henry quickly surrounded Rouen and laid siege. The city was now completely cut off from the north coast, as well as from Paris to the south. The siege was hard and brutal. The citizens of Rouen forced out the women and children that they were no longer able to feed, hoping that the besieging army would feed them. But the English ignored them and without food or shelter, they died dreadful deaths of starvation in the fields around Rouen. Another set of innocent victims of the war.
The siege dragged on for more than 18 months, and the city didn’t fall until January 1419. The French nobles who had continued to resist were executed, and Henry moved south towards Paris.
Agincourt: Too few sources to shake a sword at
Although Agincourt is one of the most famous events in medieval history, no reliable sources or accounts of the battle exist. Although historians have a good idea of how the battle progressed, the numbers involved vary hugely depending on which source you read. Famously the events of the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V are all captured in the plays of William Shakespeare (1554-1616). Shakespeare's history plays have generated a huge amount of academic debate concerning how close they are to the 'facts' and from where Shakespeare got his information.
The text of Henry V certainly gives an idea of the size and scale of the conflict that took place in France. The two most famous cinematic versions of the play - starring Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989 - offer thrills and insights. The more recent version is probably the best and gives a great impression of the mud, grime and unrelenting violence of the campaign. Famously, however, the 1944 version has a terrific scene showing a huge volley of English arrows at the crucial point in the battle. Both are well worth checking out if you have the time.
Henry now travelled wearing the appropriate ducal robes of Normandy, clearly making the political point that he was laying claim to the old Plantagenet lands and titles (see Chapter 21). A nice piece of medieval political spin!
Zeroing in on Paris: the Treaty of Troyes
The English army was outside Paris by August, although their advance didn’t go without incident. Shortly after they arrived Henry’s new French ally, John of Burgundy, was assassinated by supporters of the Dauphin, the French heir to the throne. John’s death didn’t derail Henry though, because the French king had no choice but to negotiate with an English army parked outside his capital.
In the early months of 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was signed. It made Henry heir to the French throne (still occupied by the failing Charles VI who wasn’t expected to live much longer). All Henry had to do was wait and he would combine the thrones of England and France. The deal was sealed in June 1420 by Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Valois, the daughter of the French king. For once this doesn’t just seem to have been a political match and considerable attraction existed between Henry and Catherine. The scene between them at the end of Shakespeare’s Henry V shows them very much in love and there is reason to believe that this wasn’t too far from the truth.
The Treaty of Troyes was an amazing result for Henry and a terrible one for France, but the French government was still in crisis and the king barely in touch with reality.
Amazingly, copies of the text of the Treaty of Troyes still exist. Following are some of the more important clauses in the treaty. Basically the agreement gave Henry complete power in the event of Charles’s death and also absolutely outlawed the Dauphin, Prince Charles - and this document was drafted before the Dauphin had the Duke of Burgundy assassinated!
6. After our [Charles VI’s] death, and from that time forward, the crown and kingdom of France, with all their rights and appurtenances, shall be vested permanently in our son [son-in-law], King Henry [of England], and his heirs.
7. . . . The power and authority to govern and to control the public affairs of the said kingdom shall, during our lifetime, be vested in our son, King Henry, with the advice of the nobles and wise men who are obedient to us, and who have consideration for the advancement and honour of the said kingdom
24. . . . [It is agreed] that the two kingdoms shall be governed from the time that our said son, or any of his heirs shall assume the crown, not divided between different kings at the same time, but under one person who shall be king and sovereign lord of both kingdoms; observing all pledges and all other things to each kingdom its rights, liberties or customs, usages and laws, not submitting in any manner one kingdom to the other.
29. In consideration of the frightful and astounding crimes and misdeeds committed against the kingdom of France by Charles, the said Dauphin, it is agreed that we, our son Henry, and also our very dear son Philip, duke of Burgundy, will never treat for peace or amity with the said Charles.
Upsetting the best-laid plans of mice and men
Everything seemed set for Henry to succeed, but as you know from reading this book (or even scanning some of the headings in Chapter 24), history rarely turns out as planned.
Henry returned to England with his new wife at the end of 1420 and was planning a campaign to mop up the last elements of resistance in France for 1421. In June 1421 he crossed the channel again - for the last time.
During 1422 the English army was laying siege to the town of Meaux (see Figure 23-1) when Henry suddenly fell gravely ill with dysentery. He lasted only until August when he died at the age of 35. Suddenly everything that he and England had fought and planned for was reduced to nothing.
Henry V’s only heir was his young son, Henry, born just the year before. He was technically heir to the French throne, a fact that proved horrendously difficult to enforce. Actual power transferred to John, Duke of Bedford, who became the regent for the new infant king in France. Henry’s youth meant that he was unable to lead troops into battle until he came of age in 1436. The delay was fatal to his chances of successfully claiming the French throne.
Recovering with the French: Riding to the Rescue with Saint Joan
Ironically, the desperately ill and half-mad Charles VI outlived his great rival Henry V by two months, maintaining the crown in French hands until his death in October 1422. With the English regent John, Duke of Bedford, unable to enforce the succession of Henry VI, the French crown passed to the previously outlawed Dauphin who became Charles VII.
But as the following contemporary chronicle shows, Charles VII inherited a kingdom in a desperate state:
Charles VI being dead, Charles VII succeeded to his father in the kingdom, in the year of our Lord 1422, when he was about twenty-two years of age. In his time, owing to the long wars, wars which had raged within and without, the lethargy and cowardliness of the officers and commanders who were under him, the destruction of all military discipline and order, the rapacity of the troopers, and the general dissolution into which all things had fallen, such destruction had been wrought from the Loire to the Seine - even to the Somme - the farmers were dead or had fled, and almost all the fields had for many years lain without cultivation or any one to cultivate them.
Charles wasn’t really able to do much to turn the situation around over the next seven years, and the English continued to capture towns and pillage territory.
In 1428, however, the war took an entirely new direction, under the influence of an illiterate, 17-year-old shepherdess.
The story of Joan of Arc is one of the most famous in all history, never mind medieval history. Her remarkable achievements and the events in which she was involved are almost legendary. However, Joan didn’t win the Hundred Years’ War on her own! Her great achievement was to stop the advance of the English army that had been carrying on since 1415. After that, Charles VII was then able to turn the tables and carry the war to the English. Having said that, Joan’s life is still one of the most incredible stories.
Rising from the bottom
Medieval history features several people from the peasant classes who made major impacts, including individuals such as Peter the Hermit and Wat Tyler (discussed in Chapters 12 and 22 respectively), but Joan was something else altogether.
She was born in a small village in the east of France in 1412. Her parents were rural folk, and her father owned 50 acres of land. Nothing about her upbringing hinted at what she went on to do. The area in which she lived was still loyal to the French king despite the fact that it bordered the lands of the Duke of Burgundy, who was allied with England.
Taking the initiative
From a young age Joan had visions and claimed that she heard voices in her head. Furthermore, she claimed that these voices were those of Saints Michael, Catherine and Margaret. The saints repeatedly told her that her destiny was to drive the English out of France and that she would accompany the Dauphin (Charles VII) at his coronation.
Many people have visions and hear voices, but Joan was determined and acted on them. In 1428, at the age of just 16, she talked a friend of the family into taking her to Vaucouleurs, in Normandy, where some of the French army were garrisoned. She begged the garrison commander to take her to the French court, but he sarcastically dismissed her. She didn’t give up though; the following January in 1429 she was back, demanding to be taken to the king and predicting in detail that the French army would be defeated in a battle near Orleans (see Figure 23-1).
When the prediction came true a few weeks later, Joan was taken to the French court at Chinon and granted an interview with King Charles VII. Managing to get this far seems remarkable, but France was in a desperate state in the war. Anything that offered hope was lapped up. Indeed, desperation seems the only explanation for what followed.
The 17-year-old Joan, standing in borrowed armour, asked the French king if she could be placed at the head of the relief force being sent to break the English siege at Orleans. Amazingly, the king said yes!
Mounting a holy war
Historians have put forward one overriding reason for Joan’s amazing ascent to power and her ensuing success: she turned a tired and exhausting conflict into a religious war, rather like the Crusades (see the chapters in Part III). She had been ordered by the saints to take up the fight, and this religious aspect was used as very effective propaganda. To ensure that no risk of bad PR existed, the Dauphin even checked out Joan’s background - to make sure that she wasn’t hiding any sinful skeletons in her closet!
That Joan managed to achieve what she did is a testament to her skill as a leader and an orator. She must have had some force of personality to make her arguments convincing to both kings and nobles and the common soldiers.
To be able to move in both worlds is the mark of a true leader and is something said of commanders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Joan arrived at Orleans in late March 1429 and quickly engaged with the French military leaders. She also began sending letters to the English leaders. Joan was illiterate and must have dictated the letters, but they clearly show how she perceived herself and her role. The following is a good example:
King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the kingdom of France . . . settle your debt to the king of Heaven; return to the Maiden [Joan herself], who is envoy of the king of Heaven, the keys to all the good towns you took and violated in France.
Recovering miraculously
Joan certainly brought a fresh impetus to the conflict. For the best part of the preceding decade, the French forces had taken a cautious approach. But under Joan’s influence, they took the fight to the English.
By early May, the forces under Joan had won three consecutive victories, capturing three fortresses in the process, despite Joan being effectively excluded from several war councils by nobles who still didn’t completely trust her. Regardless, she insisted on a full assault against the English stronghold called Les Tourelles. On 7 May, despite receiving an arrow wound in the neck, she led the charge against the fortress.
The attack was successful and drove the English army away from Orleans. This incredible series of events persuaded Charles VII to make Joan the co-commander-in-chief of the French army, and she didn’t waste any time. Within a period of just a few months, Joan turned the war in a new direction:
● She won an astonishing victory over an English relief force at Patay, a battle that turned into a complete rout - despite receiving a direct blow to the helmet from a cannonball during the battle!
● In late June the French army made the considerable journey to Reims and by 16 July the city was back in French hands. Inside the city, Charles VII was finally able to be truly crowned as king of France - Reims was the city where French kings were traditionally crowned. It was a hugely symbolic moment in the war.
Joan spent the rest of 1429 engaged in an attempt to retake the outskirts of Paris from the English, although her efforts ultimately failed. During the winter break from campaigning, she was rewarded with noble status and had her position as co-commander-in-chief renewed. Her intention was again to take the war to the English in 1430, but unfortunately for her events didn’t quite work out that way.
The legacy of Saint Joan
The story of Joan of Arc doesn't end with her execution in May 1431. Even at the time, most people regarded her trial as a farce and the verdict even more so. More than 20 years later in 1452, Pope Calilxtus III ordered an investigation, which led to a retrial in 1456 that found Joan innocent and stated that she was a martyr and condemned those who had convicted her. In 1909 she was beatified by the Catholic Church and 30 May is still celebrated in France and elsewhere as her feast day. The French also have a public holiday in her honour on the second Sunday in May.
In the 500 years that have passed since her death, Joan has been an inspiration for some of Europe's greatest writers. She features in the works of Shakespeare, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw and Jean Anouilh, as well as in an opera by Giuseppe Verdi. More recently she has been used as a symbol by extreme right wing French politicians. Several films of her life have been made, too. She was famously played by Ingrid Bergman in 1948; a visually impressive recent version was made in 1999, starring Milla Jovovich as an excellent Joan.
May 1430 found Joan at the city of Compiegne, which was under siege by the English-allied Duke of Burgundy. During a skirmish she was captured by the Burgundian troops and taken prisoner. As I mention in Chapter 21, high-ranking prisoners were often ransomed back to their families, but Joan was a commoner and despite her recently acquired noble status her family had no money. Amazingly, Charles VII didn’t intervene.
In the end the only people who met Joan’s price were the English and despite Philip being their ally he charged them the full price. She was sold to the English as a prisoner of war.
Going on trial and meeting her end
Instead of holding on to Joan and waiting for a ransom to be paid, the English put her on trial in Rouen - for heresy. Despite the fact that Joan had been their greatest enemy, the English would normally have had to treat her with honour like any other prisoner of war of status. However, the opportunity to rid themselves of a difficult opponent and win a big propaganda victory was far too great to turn down.
English lawyers claimed that Joan was a ‘false soothsayer’ who had invented her visions and undermined the authority of the Church by doing so. She was also accused of cross-dressing! Clearly in battle she had to wear armour but this was used as a charge against her and she was portrayed as a deviant who wanted to change her gender.
The ensuing trial was a complete joke. The English refused Joan a legal representative and were basically unable to substantiate their claims against her.
A record of the trial still exists in which Joan shows that she was as capable in an intellectual battle as in a physical one.
Sadly for her nothing made a jot of difference and she was convicted of heresy. Despite the fact that heresy was only a capital offence for repeat offenders, she was sentenced to death. On 30 May 1431 she was burned at the stake in Rouen. After her execution her body was burned twice more - to convince the watching public that she hadn’t escaped. Her ashes were then thrown in the Seine to avoid them being used as relics. Joan was just 19 years old.
Wrapping Up the Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years’ War didn’t finish with the death of Joan of Arc, but her passing certainly moved the conflict into its final phase. English influence was on the wane. The victories that Joan won put the French on the offensive and the English in retreat. Figure 23-1 shows how more of France was returning to the control of the French king, Charles VII, by 1430 (see Figure 21-1 in Chapter 21 for a comparison with how the map of France looked nearly 100 years earlier).
Realigning at the Congress of Arras
In 1435 representatives of England, France and Burgundy met at the town of Arras near to Calais (see Figure 23-1). This period was a difficult time for the English, because the Duke of Bedford (Henry VI’s regent in France) had died just the week before the meeting was concluded, which meant that he was unable to influence the Treaty of Arras that was signed on 21 September.
The treaty finally made peace between Charles VII and Philip, Duke of Burgundy, and cut out the English completely. The peace allowed Philip to keep all the territories that he had already occupied during the war and enabled him to shift his campaigning towards extending his territory into the Low Countries.
The Duke of Burgundy’s shift of allegiance from England to France changed the war forever. Henry VI was apparently reduced to tears by the betrayal, and mobs attacked Burgundian merchants in London. The new alliance made an English win incredibly difficult, and yet simply pulling out would seem like a defeat. To add to the English problems, Henry VI came of age in 1437. The English needed to fight a defensive retreat and were now led by an untried 16-year-old leader.
Figure 23-1: France in 1430
Retreating, little by little
For the next 15 years the English army continued campaigning in the form of a gradual withdrawal and Charles VII was able to spend several years reorganising the French government of his war-torn country. In addition, he changed the nature of the French army. Previously it had been made up of levies from his nobles, but now he was able to create a professional standing army that was completely loyal to the crown.
Whereas Joan of Arc had taken the war to the English and actively sought battle, Charles went back to the plan of his predecessors and avoided open battle wherever possible. Instead, he focused on retaking towns and cities across the north of France. In 1449 the French army finally recaptured the city of Rouen, which had been an English stronghold for nearly 50 years.
The English presence in France was tiny and dwindling every day and by 1451 only Calais remained in English hands.
Ending the matter
The last English efforts to strike back at Charles VII came in 1453. Under the leadership of Lord Talbot, a small force of English and Gascon troops attacked a French camp at the battle of Castillon. The conflict was important for two reasons:
● The rout of the English troops was effectively the last battle of the Hundred Years’ War.
● The battle was the first in Europe in which the use of cannons was decisive.
Following the battle, the forces of Charles VII moved into Bordeaux and the final end came. All English territories that remained fell back into French hands and English interests in France ceased.
The defeat had a devastating effect on Henry VI, who slipped into a bout of insanity. His government began to collapse around him, bringing into existence the Wars of the Roses during which Richard Duke of York (the father of Richard III) was persuaded to assume control of the country.
As the Hundred Years’ War struggled to a conclusion, another epic contest was also coming to an end. On 5 April 1453, the armies of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II finally gained control of Constantinople and brought the Byzantine Empire to an end. You can read all about these events in Chapter 24.
Assessing the legacy
Like many conflicts the Hundred Years’ War ended on a bit of a downer. Most of its epic struggles - Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt and the French recovery under Joan of Arc - took place years before the war’s official conclusion.
The biggest impact of the war was that it left the English bankrupt and the Lancastrian dynasty (Henry IV, V and VI) fatally undermined, bringing about the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York.
At the time, the events of 1453 must have just seemed to the English and French like a temporary end to hostilities. After all, their war had been going on in one form or another since 1337; surely the fighting would resume soon.
But it never did. The huge cost of the conflict and the internal problems that both countries faced prevented the war from being resumed.
Ironically the biggest consequence of the Hundred Years’ War was the one thing that Edward III had been trying to prevent when he invaded France in 1337 - England and France permanently became two separate countries under individual rulers.
Although they desired control of French lands and were related to the French aristocracy, successive English kings became truly English. What was a war over inheritance turned into one between two different countries:
● The kings of England had become ever more distinctly English and even began using the English language at court. The war also left England geographically isolated from the rest of Europe, an island apart from the mainland.
● France had suffered the physical impact of the war but become stronger and more unified under their king. By 1453 the King of France was in a far more powerful position than he had been in 1337 and his vassals were more loyal to him as a result.
The French landscape and many of its buildings still show real physical evidence of the war. Many historians argue that the continuing uneasy relationship between the two countries can be traced back to the events between 1337 and 1453.