Castilian attack on Gravesend

Castilian attack on Gravesend

Part of: Hundred Years War

Main attacks by Tovar and Vienne against England (1374-1380)

date	1380
place	Gravesend
output	Castilian victory

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of England	Castile and Leon Kingdom of France
Commander
Unknown	Fernando Sánchez de Tovar

The attack on Gravesend happened in 1380 , when 20 warships from Seville , which had previously destroyed English port cities in the south, attacked the port cities along the Thames until shortly before London from Harfleur in France under the command of Fernando Sánchez de Tovar .

prehistory

After defeating the English in the sea ​​battle of La Rochelle , the Castilians , with the support of France, were determined to take control of the English Channel and finally break the power of England at sea. They attacked the port cities and coastal settlements in the south of England, making it clear that they would only achieve their goal if they also destroyed Gravesend , England's most important port.

procedure

Fernando Sánchez de Tovar, who had replaced the now deceased Ambrosio Boccanegra as Commander in Chief of the Castilian Navy, collected a fleet of 20 battle-tested warships in Seville. They prepared the attack in the French port city of Harfleur under the protection of France and drove from there up the English Channel towards the Thames.

After burning down the fortress of Winchelsea , which was an obstacle to the campaign, the Tovar galleys sailed at the head of the northern foreland towards the Royal Canal in August. They advanced on the Thames without resistance, destroyed the port cities there on the way and finally ended up on the south bank of the Thames in Gravesend, which at the time was less than 20 kilometers from the capital London.

In the attack that followed, Gravesend was taken without much resistance and, like the surrounding settlements, plundered and destroyed. Tovar's fleet made very rich booty. In addition, as hoped, he caused panic on the island with the attack, as the destruction near London could be clearly seen by the local population. This gave the whole country the impression that England was now just as threatened as it was at the time of the Vikings in the 9th century.

consequences

The victory of Castile broke the hegemony of England as a sea power for the time being and cemented the dominance of Castile in the English Channel and the Atlantic , which was decisive for France in this part of the Hundred Years War. In this new situation Castile was able to seize profitable trade with Flanders .

bibliography

• Del Rey Vicente, Miguel; Canales Torres, Carlos (2012). En tierra extraña: expediciones militares españolas. Madrid: Editorial Edaf. ISBN 978-84-414-3206-2 . (Spanish)
• Díaz González, Francisco Javier; Calderón Ortega, José Manuel (2001). "Los almirantes del" Siglo de Oro "from the marina castellana medieval". En la España medieval (Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid) (24): pp. 311-364. ISSN 0214-3038. (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fernando Sánchez de Tovar, el castellano que remontó el Támesis y saqueó Londres El Confidencial . Retrieved May 28, 2018 (Spanish)
2. ↑ La batalla que a los humilló ingleses y puso el Canal de la Mancha bajo control castellano Belt . Retrieved May 30, 2018. (Spanish)