On 25 October 1415 Henry V, leading a small army of around 5000 archers and 900 men-at-arms spectacularly defeated a French army nearly ten times that number south of Calais. Encouraged by this success he invaded Normandy two years later and the campaign went well but then on 31 August 1422 at the siege of Meaux Henry V contracted dysentery and died.
With the crown now passing to the nine month old Henry VI the responsibility for the continued conquest of Normandy fell to the late king’s brother, John, Duke of Bedford.
The Armies Meet
In August 1424 Bedford was besieging Ivry, an important Normandy border fortress when news came of an approaching Franco-Scottish army led by the Duke of Aumale and the Viscounts of Narbonne and Alencon. This army occupied the nearby castle of Verneuil, where they were joined by 2000 Italian mercenary heavy cavalry equipped with the latest plate armour for both knight and horse.
On 17 August 1424 the Franco-Scottish host of between 18,000 to 20,000 men, including 6,000-10,000 Scots under Archibald, Earl of Douglas deployed for battle on an open plain north of the castle. Bedford faced this strong force with 1,800 men-at-arms and 8,000 archers.
The French chose this ground because it best suited heavy cavalry and unlike at Agincourt Bedford had no woods to protect his flanks, but he arrayed his forces in a similar way with the men-at-arms in the centre and the archers on the wings behind stakes. He protected his rear by forming a wagon laager from the baggage train together with a guard force.
Battle is Joined
The Franco-Scottish army began the fight with a frontal assault by the heavy cavalry. Many of the English arrows failed to penetrate the excellent Italian armour and the cavalry broke through the English line and carried on to attack the baggage train. The English army had been split asunder and defeat seemed inevitable. But, incredibly, the English managed to regroup and leaving the Italians in the rear, advanced to meet the oncoming French and Scots.
Bloody hand-to-hand combat followed in which, as at Agincourt, the archers joined in with mauls, axes and swords. Finally, the enemy were put to flight and in the rout no quarter was given to the Scottish contingent which was almost completely annihilated.
An English Triumph
The fighting had been savage and at the end of the battle over 7,200 Franco-Scottish and approximately 1,000 English soldiers lay dead. The victory was decisive and by 1428 most of the land between the rivers Loire and Seine was controlled by the English. But 1428 also marked a change of fortune for the French: beginning with the appearance of Joan of Arc and ending in 1453 with the reconquest of both Normandy and Aquitaine.
Sources:
Stephen Turnbull, The Book of the Medieval Knight, (Arms and Armour Press, 1985)
Matthew Strickland & Robert Hardy, The Great Warbow, (Sutton Publishing, 2005)
Ian Heath, Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1, (Wargames Research Group, 1982)
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