Battle of Jargeau
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The Battle of Jargeau, miniature by Martial d'Auvergne (c. 1500–1508).
| date | June 11, 1429 to June 12, 1429 |
|---|---|
| place | Near Jargeau |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| about 1,200 | about 700 |
| losses | |
|
unknown, low |
unknown, high |
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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 of 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 Jargeau took place on June 11th and 12th, 1429 and was Joan of Arc's first attack battle . Shortly after ending the siege of Orléans , French forces conquered the surrounding area along the Loire River . This campaign was the first sustained French offensive of the Hundred Years War in a generation.
background
By the end of 1428, during the later years of the Hundred Years War, the English and their Burgundian allies had occupied almost all of France north of the Loire. Many strategic points along the river had also been occupied and Orléans was the last great city on the Loire to be under French control when it was besieged by the English in October 1428. If successful, the English would control the entire Loire Valley and would have had every opportunity to invade southern France, the Dauphin's last remaining refuge .
On May 8th, the Dauphin's warriors, led by Joan of Arc, counterattacked and ended the siege of Orléans. The bridge there over the Loire was destroyed by the English shortly before they left. In the months that followed, more troops were raised and trained to bring the entire Loire Valley back under French control. The first target of this counter-offensive was to be Jargeau, which also had a bridge over the Loire. On June 9th, Joan of Arc joined the newly built troop in Orléans led by Duke Jean II. De Alençon , and on the same day they marched. Shortly before, on June 8th, Sir John Fastolf had left Paris for the Loire with an English relief army of several thousand men .
Jargeau
Jargeau was a small town on the south bank of the Loire in central France, less than 20 km east of Orléans. Conquered by the English a few years earlier as a starting point for a planned invasion of southern France, the city was defended by a wall, towers and fortified gates. A trench on the outside of the wall reinforced the defense. Suburbs had sprung up outside the city walls. There was also a fortified bridge over the Loire, which was to be important in the later course of the war.
Course of the battle
Jeanne d'Arc and Duke Jean II. De Alençon controlled a force of about 1200 men. William de la Pole, 4th Earl of Suffolk , commanded the approximately 700-strong English force, which also had gunpowder weapons . The battle began on June 11, 1429 with a French attack on the suburbs. The English troops left the city walls to defend themselves and initially routed the French. But Jeanne d'Arc used her standard to rally the French troops again, whereupon the English gave up the suburbs again and took up position on the city walls again.
The following morning, Joan of Arc called on the defenders to surrender , which they refused. As a result, the French bombarded the city with siege weapons, whereupon one of the city's towers collapsed. The English earl now asked for surrender talks, but conducted them with one of the French sub-commanders, the commander Étienne de Vignolles . This breach of the protocol, that is, neglecting negotiations with the French commander-in-chief, Duke de Alençon, led to a dispute among the French and made them refuse the English offers of surrender.
The city has now been taken by storm, with Joan of Arc at the head of the troops. She survived a stone projectile hit that splintered into two pieces on her helmet. The English suffered heavy losses in battle. Most estimates assume 300–400 fallen English soldiers with only minor French casualties.
literature
- Christopher Allmand: The Hundred Years War. England and France at War c. 1300 - c. 1450. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1988, ISBN 0-521-31923-4 .
- Kelly DeVries : Joan of Arc. A military leader. Sutton Publishing, Stroud 1999, ISBN 0-7509-1805-5 .
- Margaret Oliphant: Jeanne d'Arc Her Life and Death (= Heroes of the Nations 17, ZDB -ID 1092386-x ). GP Putnam's Sons, New York et al. 1896, online edition .
- Stephen W. Richey: Joan of Arc. The Warrior Saint. Praeger, Westport CT et al. 2003, ISBN 0-275-98103-7 .
Web links
- Siege of Orléans and the Loire campaign , with detailed descriptions and maps.
- Website about the life and work of Joan of Arc.