Battle of Verneuil

Battle of Verneuil (Vigiles du roi Charles VII)

date	August 17, 1424
place	near Verneuil-sur-Avre , France
output	English victory

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of France Kingdom of Scotland	Kingdom of England Duchy of Burgundy
Commander
John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Buchan † Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas † Viscount Aumale † Johann II.	John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford
Troop strength
12,000-18,000 men	8,000-10,000 men
losses
6,000 fallen	1,600 dead

The Battle of Verneuil was a battle of the Hundred Years War on August 17, 1424 near the French town of Verneuil-sur-Avre .

prehistory

After the young Henry V started the war between France and England again, fought victories and conquests, the insane French King Charles VI. admit defeat, give his daughter to his enemy and confirm him as heir to the throne. However, the actual heir to the throne, the Dauphin Charles, did not accept this , which led to the war between the English and their allied Duke of Burgundy against the Dauphin, who found support in the south. The death of Henry V and the subsequent death of Charles VI. but did not lead to the hoped-for better position of the Dauphinists, since the brother of King John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford , as regent for the minor King Henry VI. continued to act skillfully militarily. The Dauphin, desperate to find allies, found them among the Scots. They had always stood on France's side when it came to curtailing England's power. Under the command of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Buchan , 6,000 Scots had rushed to the Dauphin's aid by 1419. They became a significant part of the French army and played a major role in the Dauphinist victory at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. In the subsequent Battle of Cravant , however, many of Buchan's men, who were in Scotland at the time, fell to more Raise troops.

The return of Stewart

In 1424 Stewart returned to France with 2,500 armed men and 4,000 archers. He was accompanied by his father-in-law, the aristocratic warlord Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas , an experienced soldier who, however, had little luck in battle, which earned him the nickname "The Loser". On April 24th they reached the Dauphin at his headquarters in Bourges, who deployed them immediately.

The march on Verneuil

In August the new army got ready to assist Ivry Castle , near Le Mans , which was besieged by the Duke of Bedford. Douglas and Stewart left Tours on August 4th to reunite with the French generals, the Duke of Alecon and the Counts of Narbonne and Aumale . Before the army reached Ivry, however, the castle surrendered to the English.

Since their original mission was now superfluous, the military leaders held advice. The Scots and the younger French officers were eager to fight the English, while the Count of Narbonne and the older nobles refused to take any chances. Eventually, however, the Scots were able to convince the others and so it was agreed to attack the English possessions on the Norman border, starting with Verneuil in the west. The city was conquered by a ruse: a group of Scots disguised themselves as English and allies of Bedford, whereupon the gates were opened for them.

On August 15th, the Duke of Bedford learned that Verneuil was in the hands of the French and decided to retake the city as soon as possible. When he approached the city two days later, the Scots convinced the French to take a position in front of the city. The army took up position a mile north of Verneuil on a plain beside the road leading out of the Piseux forest. The French, under Narbonne's leadership, took up positions on the left of the road with the French cavalry, while the Scots under Douglas and Stewart and the Lombard cavalry remained on the right. Supreme command was given to the Count of Aumale, but this was very difficult as the soldiers from several nations were difficult to lead.

The battle

When Bedford emerged from the woods, he divided his army into the tried and tested division with knights in the middle and archers on the flanks. As a precaution, he even posted 2,000 archers at the back of the army to guard the train. Bedford himself commanded the division against the French and Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury , that against the Scots. At 4 p.m. the enemy began to advance. When the troops were within range, Bedford ordered to stand still and the archers began pounding stakes into the ground, a simple but effective method of fighting the incoming cavalry. However, since the ground was hard from the summer sun, the stakes could only be pushed slowly into it. The French saw the opportunity and, without consulting the Scots, began an attack. The archers on Bedford's right were quickly driven out, allowing the French cavalry to break through the ranks and threaten the right flank. That chance was wasted, however, when, instead of turning around, the French rode further north towards the entourage. It was therefore easy for the English knights to slaughter the French infantry, which were defenseless without the horsemen. Unable to counter the attack, Narbonne's division collapsed and fled back to Verneuil, where many, including Aumale, drowned in the moat.

After the French were driven out, Bedford banned their pursuit and returned to the battlefield where the Earl of Salisbury fought the Scots. Just like the French cavalry before them, the Lombard riders tried to ride towards the English baggage train, but where they were destroyed by the English archers together with the French. The Scots were now not only weakened by the loss of their cavalry, but also had to deal with the archers previously posted with the entourage who, after the destruction of the French and Lombard cavalry, attacked the right Scottish wing on their own initiative. The Battle of Verneuil came to an end when Bedford, coming from the south, attacked the back ranks of the Scots. Surrounded, the Scots fought furiously, but were quickly defeated.

Result

The Battle of Verneuil was one of the bloodiest battles of the Hundred Years War and was called the second Agincourt by the English . 2000 French and 4000 Scots were killed. The English lost 1,600 men, which was an unusually high number even for them. The loser Douglas lost the last time in this battle and was killed like the Earl of Buchan.