Battle of the herrings

Battle of the herrings

Part of: Hundred Years War

Battle of the herrings (contemporary illustration)

date	February 12, 1429
place	Near Rouvray-Sainte-Croix
output	English victory

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of France Kingdom of Scotland	Kingdom of England
Commander
Charles I. de Bourbon John Stewart of Darnley † Jean de Dunois	John Fastolf
Troop strength
approx. 3,000–4,000 men, 400 Scottish infantrymen	300 teams of horses and wagons, approx. 600 long archers and approx. 1,000 Paris city militiamen
losses
400–600 fallen	unknown

The battle of the herring took place on February 12, 1429 near Rouvray in the Beauce north of the French city ​​of Orléans during the Hundred Years War . The chronicler Enguerrand de Monstrelet (around 1390-1453) handed down the course of the events in connection with the siege of Orléans . It is disputed whether the village he mentions is Rouvray-Saint-Denis or Rouvray-Sainte-Croix .

prehistory

The cause of the battle was an attempt by the French relief army to intercept an English supply train for the siege ring of Orléans. The French were led by Charles I. de Bourbon . The English have been besieging Orléans near Rouvray-Sainte-Croix since October last year. The French were from a small Scottish army consisting of about 400 men infantry under Sir John Stewart , the constable of Scotland ( Constable of Scotland supported).

The English supply convoy was under the direction of Sir John Fastolf and was equipped in Paris , from where it had left shortly before. According to the French medieval historian Régine Pernoud (1909–1998), the convoy consisted of 300 horse-drawn carts and wagons, which had crossbow bolt shafts , cannons, cannon balls and barrels loaded with herrings . The latter were sent as Lent was approaching, when it was forbidden to eat meat but fish was allowed. The herrings brought with them ultimately led to the name of this battle.

Course of the battle

The battlefield was one level. The French army consisted of about 3,000 to 4,000 men. Opposite this was the much smaller army of the English, consisting of around 600 long archers , 1000 Paris city ​​militiamen and 300 horse-drawn carts and wagons, which had taken up a defensive position in a makeshift fortification made of wagons (similar to a wagon castle ). This makeshift fortification was fenced in by pointed posts that prevented the French cavalry from launching a frontal attack. This pointed stake tactic was used with great success at the Battle of Agincourt . The French attack began with an artillery bombardment .

The 400 Scottish infantrymen under John Stewart went against the orders of the Count of Clermont to attack the English formation (Régine Pernoud said that Count Clermont sent message after message to the Scots expressly forbidding any premature attack). This led to the premature termination of the French artillery fire, for fear of self- fire on the allied bulkheads. The Scots were inadequately armored and suffered heavy losses from the English longbow and Parisian crossbowmen who fired from their safe cover behind the wagon castle.

At this point the English saw that the French would not be able to support the Scots in time (Régine Pernoud quoted from the Journal du siege d'Orléans that the French were acting cowardly and therefore not helping John Stewart and his infantry) and launched a counterattack. They struck the back row and the flanks of the disorganized Franco-Scottish army and drove them to flight.

Pernoud reported that the Franco-Scottish army lost around 400 to 600 men, including John Stewart, the leader of the Scots. Among the wounded was Jean de Dunois , also known as the Bastard of Orléans, who had struggled to get away with his life and who would later play a decisive role alongside Joan of Arc in lifting the siege of Orléans and later in the French Loire campaign.

meaning

Contemporary depiction of the battle of the herrings

While it is generally believed today that the battle of the herring was lost because of the forced suspension of artillery fire, this was not the contemporary view, at least not in the besieged city of Orléans. According to the Journal du siege d'Orléans, the Counts of Clermont were blamed for the catastrophe within the city walls because he was viewed as a coward and despised. Clermont soon afterwards left Orléans with the wounded Jean de Dunois and 2,000 men. The morale of the French and the city was at a low point, so much so that they thought about surrendering the city.

The battle of the herrings was one of the most important battles during the siege of Orléans from its beginnings in October 1428 to the appearance of Joan of Arc in May of the following year. Even so, it appeared to be a minor engagement, and if it weren't for the context in which it took place, it would likely be the lowest of all footnotes in military history , or even be forgotten altogether.

But it was not only part of one of the most famous siege actions in history, it also played a central role, since after the defeat of the city governor Robert de Baudricourt (approx. 1400–1454) in the fortress of Vaucouleurs , he was finally convinced that To approve Joan of Arc's request for assistance and safe conduct to Charles VII in Chinon . Only two weeks after the battle she had a meeting with the Dauphin in Chinon.

See also

• Siege of Orléans

literature

• Chroniques d'Enguerrand de Monstrelet , 15th century, several editions, for example by JAC Buchon: Choix de Chroniques et Mémoires sur l'histoire de France avec notices biographiques. Chroniques d'Enguerrand de Monstrelet , 1826, Paris, A. Desrez, p. 599 online (French)
• Régine Pernoud: May 8, 1429. La libération d'Orléans , Gallimard, coll. Trente journées qui ont fait la France , 1969. (French)
• John A. Wagner: Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport CT et al. 2006, ISBN 0-313-32736-X , p. 154.

Web links

Commons : Battle of the Herring  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• John A. Wagner - Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War on Google Books (Engl.)
• johannavonarc.blogspot.com - The battle of the herrings
• xenophongroup.com - Battle of the Herrings (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Monstrelet, p. 598: "environ à un village nommé Rouvroy, en Beauce, séant entre Joinville et Orléans" (German: near a village called Rouvroy, in the Beauce, between Joinville and Orléans). A few lines below the notation Rouvray appears twice.
2. ↑ Hagen Seehase, Ralf Krekeler: The feathered death. The history of the English longbow in the wars of the Middle Ages. 4th edition. Verlag Angelika Hörnig, Ludwigshafen 2006, ISBN 3-9805877-6-2 (online on Google Books)