Battle of Saint-Pol-de-Léon
| date | June 9, 1346 |
|---|---|
| place | near Saint-Pol-de-Léon |
| output | English victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| about 1000 | 180 |
| losses | |
|
unknown, heavy losses |
unknown, low |
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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 Saint-Pol-de-Léon was a battle during the War of the Breton Succession , which was part of the Hundred Years War . The battle was fought in June 1346 and marked a turning point in the dispute between the Anglo-Breton party of the Montforts and the Franco-Breton party of the Blois.
background
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 successor. 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 this recognizes Edward as feudal lord and rightful king of France. The initially regional dispute over a French fiefdom was soon instrumentalized in 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. This captured Montfort and occupied almost all of Brittany in the following months. In August 1342, English troops finally landed in Brittany and were able to break the siege of Brest, the last city under the control of the Montforts. The following four years were essentially characterized by tactics on both sides. While Charles Blois also raised troops from the Breton nobles who were loyal to him and also German mercenaries , the Anglo-Breton troops led by Thomas Dagworth tried to consolidate their still precarious position and to side with the Montfort party to pull. Dagworth expanded the defenses on the southwest coast, but at the same time led an expedition to the north of Brittany to bring this coast also under his control.
Course of the battle
On June 9th, Dagworth was in what is now the Finistère department , north of Morlaix . Charles Blois led the fastest parts of his army in a forced march and attacked Dagworth and his 180-strong escort in the isolated town of Saint-Pol-de-Léon . Dagworth had his men retreat quickly and led them to a nearby hill where they established a defensive position.
Blois, who had already seen the efficiency of the English longbowmen at the Battle of Morlaix and many other small skirmishes, knew that if his cavalry attacked the English defenses on the steep slopes of the hill, his cavalry would be doomed. The only way he saw of defeating Dagworth before his reinforcements arrived was to attack on foot. He had all his men dismount and his clearly outnumbered force advance in three places at the same time. However, this attack and all others that took place during the afternoon were repulsed by the precise fire of the English archers. The last assault, with Charles at its head, came at last daylight, but that too failed. The Franco-Breton troops had to finally break off the attack and withdraw to the east of Brittany. They left dozens dead, wounded, and prisoners.
consequences
The English troops suffered only minor losses among the archers and men, while none of the knights and armed men had died. The losses of men on the Blois side were certainly high, although exact figures are not known. The effect of the battle was primarily a psychological one. Charles Blois had been defeated by the English for the second time after the Battle of Morlaix. In the Breton nobility, doubts grew as to whether the House of Blois would actually be able to prevail in the war of succession.
literature
- Turnbull, Stephen. The Book of the Medieval Knight. Arms and Armor Press: London 1985. ISBN 0-85368-715-3
- Jonathan Sumption , The Hundred Years War. Volume 1: Trial by Battle . University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia 1999. ISBN 0-8122-1655-5