Battle of Baugé
Illustration of the Battle of Baugé as illumination from the Vigiles du roi Charles VII by Martial d'Auvergne (15th century)
| date | March 22, 1421 |
|---|---|
| place | near Baugé , Kingdom of France |
| output | French-Scottish victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 5,000 men | 1,500 men |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
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Chevauchées of the 1340s: Saint-Omer - Auberoche
Edward III. Campaign (1346/47): Caen - Blanchetaque - Crécy - Calais
War of the Breton Succession (1341–1364) : Champtoceaux - Brest - Morlaix - Saint-Pol-de-Léon - La Roche-Derrien - Tournament of Thirty - Mauron - Auray
France's allies : Neville's Cross - Les Espagnols sur Mer - Brignais
Chevauchées of the 1350s: Poitiers
Castilian Civil War & War of the Two Peter (1351–1375): Barcelona - Araviana - Nájera - Montiel
French counter-offensive: La Rochelle - Gravesend
Wars between Portugal and Castile (1369– 1385): Lisbon - Saltés - Lisbon - Aljubarrota
Battle for Northern France: Rouen - Baugé - Meaux - Cravant - La Brossinière - Verneuil
Jeanne d'Arc and the turn of the war: Orléans - Battle of the herring - Jargeau - Meung-sur-Loire - Beaugency - Patay - Compiegne - Gerberoy
The Battle of Baugé was a military clash in the Hundred Years War between England and France . It took place on March 22, 1421 near the French city of Baugé (near Angers ). The English troops suffered a heavy defeat under the Duke of Clarence , the brother of the English king. The duke himself was killed.
prehistory
Even after the Treaty of Troyes was signed on May 21, 1420, the hostilities in the Hundred Years War (1337-1455) continued. The English troops successively captured Montereau and Melun . Then King Henry V left the troops in December 1420 and returned to England. He left his brother, the Duke of Clarence, as deputy, who had the Earl of Salisbury to support him. Clarence undertook a series of minor punitive actions and campaigns against the supporters of the French Dauphin in the months that followed . These had been weakened by the Treaty of Troyes, but now regained strength and had allied themselves with the Scots.
In the course of the operations of the English army (at the beginning about 4,000 men) under Clarence and Salisbury, their troops moved into a camp near Beaufort Castle, 16 kilometers southwest of Baugé, in March 1421 . In contrast, the Dauphin's followers gathered around 5,000 men at Tours . The leaders of the Scottish contingent were the Earl of Buchan and the Earl of Wigtown , that of the French the Sieur de Lafayette . When they found out about the English camp not far from Baugé, they bypassed the English troops in order to relocate their retreat to the northeast. They reached Baugé on the evening of March 21, 1421. The next morning the Dauphin army prepared a battle formation near the village of La Lande Chasles, about eight kilometers from the city.
That day, March 22nd, some Scots were captured by an English forage detachment . Only now did Clarence learn of the proximity of the enemy and decided to gather his scattered troops and attack the opposing army. Against all warnings of his subordinates, he went out with 1,000 to 1,500 armed men. The Earl of Salisbury stayed to rally the other troops, especially the archers.
Course of the battle
The battle began when English troops attacked a bridge at the entrance to La Lande Chasles, which the Scots were defending. It was only when the English passed the river at another point and attacked the flank of the Scots that they fled into the streets of the village, where the fight continued. Clarence tried to regroup his troops, but many soldiers were busy chasing the Scots or looting the village so that he could only deploy a few hundred men on the hills in front of the village. They were already tired from the approach and the battle.
Meanwhile Buchan had gathered most of his army (several thousand men) behind the village of Vieul Baugé. Now, an hour before sunset, he led these troops against the English line-up. When the Dauphin army came into view, the Duke of Clarence gave the order to attack, even though his soldiers were outnumbered. Clarence fell in the battle, and the English were thrown back into the swampy bank of the river. There they were wiped out, with Gilbert Umfraville , Lord Ros and the Earl of Tankerville also being killed, and the Earl of Somerset being captured.
In the meantime the Earl of Salisbury had gathered a few more troops (approx. 1,000 men) and had followed the Duke. According to the tradition of English reports, he reached the battlefield after dark, attacked the French and Scots, and threw them back. He was able to recover the body of Clarence, which was subsequently brought to England in a car for burial.
consequences
On Easter Sunday , March 23rd, 1421, the rest of the English army began their retreat towards La Flèche . This enabled Salisbury to bypass the opposing army that threatened its lines of retreat. The army crossed the Loir using a makeshift bridge and reached safe Le Mans .
literature
- Alfred H. Burne: The Agincourt War. Wordsworth Edition Limited, Ware / Hertfordshire 1999, ISBN 1-84022-211-5 .