Battle of Saint-Omer

date	July 26, 1340
place	Saint-Omer
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
County of Flanders Kingdom of England	Kingdom of France
Commander
Robert III Count of Artois	Odo IV Duke of Burgundy Jean I Count of Armagnac
Troop strength
11,000–16,000 (mostly lightly armed)	approx. 3,000
losses
approx. 8,000	unknown (a few hundred)

The Battle of Saint-Omer was a major armed conflict in 1340 in the wake of King Edward III. Summer campaign against France started from Flanders at the beginning of the Hundred Years War . The Chevauchée began after the Battle of Sluis , but turned out to be less successful for the English than the previous campaigns and led to only minor changes in the initial situation of the campaign. The Battle of Saint-Omer was the culmination of Edward's campaign to the north and ended in a tactical stalemate, forcing a strategic retreat by Anglo-Flemish forces.

background

Up until 1340 , Flanders was a part of France that had been subject to regular revolts and wars of independence over the past centuries. In the late 1330s, Flanders tried again to achieve self-determination. The French ruler Louis I of Flanders had been overthrown in a bloody coup and replaced by the dictator Jacob van Artevelde . Edward, who was looking for allies for his war against France, allied himself with Artevelde by financing its rule and supplying the Flemish cloth industry with English wool. He was able to use Flanders as a starting point for his invasion of France.

Artevelde agreed to the agreement with Edward, but was secretly unwilling to use all of his resources in the war, nor did he have full control over the trading cities in the semi-independent region. Upon arrival, Edward found that only a fraction of the 150,000 troops he had requested for his support had been drawn together. Spurred on by his success at the Battle of Sluis, Edward wanted to quickly use his advantage on land as well. He ordered Robert III. von Artois , an old contender for the title of Count von Artois , with 1,000 English troops and 10,000 Flemish troops who had gathered in Artois to lead a chevauchée into French territory. The aim was to lure the French into a battle and capture the important fortified city of Saint-Omer. During this maneuver, Edward would stay in Flanders and build up a second force to march against and besiege the border fortress of Tournai .

The French were aware of Edward's preparations and his goals, and began their own preparations to strengthen their fortresses and positions in the region. In addition, troops were to be raised in northern France to raise an army against the Anglo-Flemish alliance. By July, King Philip VI. 25,000 men gathered in the region, mostly in well-developed defensive positions, including Saint-Omer and Tournai.

Robert's campaign

Saint-Omer received special attention from French commanders, as Robert failed completely in disguising his main objective. He was moving in an almost direct line towards the French city. During his advance, Philip first sent a troop of approx. 1000 men under Odo IV. Duke of Burgundy to Saint-Omer, only to send another troop under Jean I Count of Armagnac afterwards about a week later . These two commanders quickly prepared the city for a state of war by evacuating much of the civilian population, destroying the suburbs and fortifying the city walls. Contrary to what Robert von Artois thought, there were no pro-Flemish supporters in the city and his plan to move as far as the city just to be let in turned out to be foolish. Nevertheless, he approached the city, razed the neighboring city of Arques on July 25, 1330, and made preparations for the attack on the eastern foothills of Saint-Omer.

The French army of Philip VI slowly followed in Robert's footsteps, and the Anglo-Flemish commanders soon realized that they had no time for a long siege of Saint-Omer. In just a few days they would be caught between the French royal army and the garrison of Saint-Omer. Realizing that he might be forced to retreat, Robert deployed his troops in front of Saint-Omer in the hope of luring the garrison into a decisive battle. He placed his best troops, the English longbow archers and the troops from Bruges and Ypres, in the center, the left wing also consisted of men from Ypres, Fernes and Bergen . The right wing was formed by other soldiers from Bruges. Behind these troops stood a mixed unit with men from all over Flanders. Behind it was the army camp.

The battle

Burgundy and Armagnac were on the advance of Philip VI. informed and waited for its arrival without wanting to engage in battle. This plan failed, however, when a number of French knights, eager to face the enemy, ventured against their orders to venture out of the city and attacked the left wing of the Anglo-Flemish alliance. They were repulsed, but as they retreated, the infantry from Ypres chased them into the open area directly in front of the city. When the retreating French troops saw this, they halted and attacked the Flemish again, resulting in bitter hand-to-hand combat that lasted all afternoon. From the walls Burgundy and Armagnac saw the gap that had opened Flemish Anglo troops as a result of thrust between, and decided with 400 of their best cavalry fail to the flanks of the enemy attack.

Armagnac advanced against the already weakened left wing and quickly punched a hole in the thinned ranks of the Flemings. They soon turned to flee, and Armagnac's men pursued them to the Anglo-Flemish base camp. There they also routed the unorganized reserves, killing thousands of soldiers and looting the entourage. While the base camp was completely destroyed in this advance, Armagnac's troops were missing to support Burgundy's attack on the right wing. The English and Flemish troops there fought much more disciplined, and Burgundy's attack was met with a shower of arrows.

Without being aware of the destruction of the base camp, the Anglo-Flemish troops from the center and the right wing of Burgundy encircled and overpowered cavalry, drove them back towards the city and invaded the undisturbed northern suburbs of Saint-Omer. Only a swift counterattack by townspeople and archers prevented Robert from advancing into the town proper. The city gates could only be closed just behind the retreating troops from Burgundy. Neither Robert nor the French forces in town knew that Armagnac dominated the battlefield farther back. As darkness fell, both Robert and Armagnac retreated to their respective starting positions on the same street, resulting in a series of surprising clashes in the dark but no major fighting.

Aftermath

It was not until the next morning that Robert realized the full extent of the disaster that had befallen his reserve. Failed either to conquer the city or to crush the French troops, Robert knew that he would have to withdraw before Philip's army could cut off his retreat to Flanders. Leaving behind anything that could not be quickly transported, Robert returned unmolested to Edward's army. He had saved his best units from annihilation and could claim at least a partial victory for himself. On the battlefield, he had lost around 8,000 Flemish soldiers - mainly due to the erosion of untrained Flemish reserves - which was many times the French casualties. The battle had little effect on the further campaign, since the core troops of both armies were relatively unscathed and the strategic situation did not change.

At least three short-term effects became evident: The morale of the Flemish troops in Edward's army collapsed, causing major problems with disputes over pay and confidence in Edward's leadership skills. Furthermore, South Flanders was now undefended as the troops designated for this purpose had perished in front of Saint-Omer, which allowed the French cavalry to raid the area and caused great destruction in Edward's rear, with further problems with morale and supplies as a result. The Flemish cities that had lost particularly many men, Ypres, Bruges and Ghent, made peace offers to Philip, which undermined the recruitment and support of Edward in the major Flemish cities. Edward didn't let this irritate him and stuck to his goal of invading northern France. Shortly afterwards he left Ghent to begin the unsuccessful siege of Tournai.

literature

Jonathan Sumption : The Hundred Years War. Volume 1: Trial by Battle. Faber and Faber Limited, London 1990, ISBN 0-571-20095-8 .