Battle of Mauron
| date | August 14, 1352 |
|---|---|
| place | Brambily, near Mauron |
| output | Victory of the Montfort / England party |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 2000 | 5000 |
| losses | |
|
600 |
600 dead, |
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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 Mauron was fought on August 14, 1352 between Anglo-Breton and Franco-Breton troops and was part of the War of Breton Succession in the Hundred Years War.
prehistory
After the death of Jean III, Duke of Brittany , in 1341, both his half-brother Jean Montfort and Charles Blois , as the husband of his niece Johanna von Dreux , claimed the succession. While Blois from the French King Philip VI. was confirmed, Montfort received from the English King Edward III. the promise to support him in asserting his claims if he recognizes Edward as feudal lord and legitimate king of France. The initially regional dispute over a French fiefdom was soon instrumentalized in this way for the overarching dispute of the Hundred Years War between England and France for the French throne.
After Jean Montfort had first brought large parts of Brittany under his control, he was defeated in November 1341 in the Battle of Champtoceaux to the Franco-Breton army of Charles Blois. Blois captured Montfort and occupied almost all of Brittany in the months that followed. From August 1342 the first English troops landed in Brest and were just able to avert the complete defeat of the House of Montfort. In the following years there were always bloody skirmishes on both sides as well as some larger battles ( Morlaix , Saint-Pol-de-Léon , La Roche-Derrien ) with varying fortunes of war.
In 1352, the French king (now Jean II ) sent a large army under the command of Guy II. De Nesle to Brittany to recapture the territories that had been lost to the Anglo-Breton Alliance in the past. After this army had taken control of Rennes and the surrounding areas, the next step was to take Ploërmel Castle . The English commander Sir Walter Bentley and the Breton commander Tanneguy I. du Chastel hurriedly gathered troops to intercept the advancing army.
Course of the battle
The two armies met at Brambily (now Saint-Léry ) near Mauron Castle . The Anglo-Breton troops numbered about 2,000 men, while Guy de Nesle led about 5,000 soldiers into the field.
In a quick advance, Walter Bentley and his troops occupied a defensive position on a hill in front of a hedge. He had his troops line up on foot. The long archers were probably posted on the flanks for safety. Even if the hedge offered Bentley's troops some protection from attacks in their backs, the overall position was relatively open and anything but optimal. After Guy de Nesle sent Bentley to surrender, which Bentley refused, the Franco-Breton army attacked in the afternoon. Presumably they assumed that the defensive position was too weak and could be overcome because of their own numerical superiority.
Initially, part of the Franco-Breton cavalry attacked the longbow archers on one of the two wings, causing so terrible losses to Bentley's troops that some of the archers fled. Overall, however, it was possible to prevent the complete collapse and at least to tie up the cavalry. Guy de Nesle let all remaining troops advance on foot against the center of Bentley's army. The fighting was fought with great severity and the Anglo-Breton lines, which were pushed back to the hedge behind them, seemed to break several times. Eventually two large groups of de Nesle's army turned to flee for reasons unknown. Panic soon gripped the entire Franco-Breton army and their attack collapsed.
For a long time it had looked like it was only a matter of time before Bentley's troops fell. Ultimately, they had won, albeit very close.
consequences
The commander, Guy de Nesle, was among the at least 600 fallen on the Franco-Breton side. In particular, the Breton nobility belonging to the House of Blois lost many knights and were badly hit in battle. Among the dead French knights were 89 members of the Star Order who had vowed never to withdraw from battle. A further 160 French knights and nobles were captured and subsequently brought the victors large ransom sums . But the Anglo-Breton troops also had 600 dead. How close Bentley's victory was, is shown by the fact that he had thirty longbow archers who had fled after the battle executed as an example. On the other hand, he soon sent a letter to England urging further troops to be replenished in order to make up for the losses suffered and to ensure a sufficient garrison in Brittany.
This victory only confirmed the status quo of the controlled areas in Brittany at first. The Franco-Breton side had failed to change the situation in their favor. In particular, the losses among the Breton nobility loyal to the House of Blois turned out to be devastating.
literature
- Jonathan Sumption , The Hundred Years War. Volume 2: Trial by Fire . University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia 1999, pp. 94-95. ISBN 0-571-20737-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Sumption p. 95