The Battle of Castillon of 1453 was the last battle fought between the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War. This was the first battle in European history where cannons were a major factor in deciding the battle.
Context
After the French capture of Bordeaux in 1451, the Hundred Years' War appeared to be at an end. However, after three hundred years of English rule the citizens of Bordeaux considered themselves English and sent messengers to Henry VI of England demanding he recapture the province.
On 17 October 1452, the Earl of Shrewsbury landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3,000 men-at-arms and archers. The French garrison was ejected by the citizens of Bordeaux, who then gleefully opened the gates to the English. Most of Gascony followed Bordeaux's example and welcomed the English home.
During the winter month Charles VII of France gathered his armies in readiness for the campaigning season. When spring arrived Charles advanced toward Bordeaux simultaneously along three different routes with three armies.
Preparation
Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury, received another 3,000 men to face this new problem, but it was still an inadequate number to hold back the thousands of Frenchmen on Gascony's borders. When the leading French army laid siege to Castillon, Talbot abandoned his original plans (acceding to the pleas of the town commanders) and set out to relieve it. The French commander, Jean Bureau, in fear of Talbot, ordered his 7,000 to 10,000 men to encircle their camp with a ditch and palisade, and deployed his 300 cannon on the parapet. This was an extraordinarily defensive setup by the French, who enjoyed great numerical superiority. They had made no attempt to invest Castillon.
Talbot approached the French camp on 17 July 1453, arriving before his main body of troops with an advance guard of 1,300 mounted men. He routed a similar sized force of French francs-archers (militia) in the woods before the French encampment, giving his men a large boost of morale.
Main battle
A few hours after this preliminary skirmish, a messenger from the town reported to Shrewsbury's resting troops (they had marched through the night) that the French army was in full retreat and that hundreds of horsemen were fleeing the fortifications. From the town walls a huge dust cloud could be seen heading off into the distance. Unfortunately for him, they were only camp followers ordered to leave the camp before the upcoming battle.
Shrewsbury hastily reorganised his men and charged down towards the French camp, only to find the parapets defended by thousands of archers and crossbowmen and hundreds of cannons. Surprised but undaunted, Shrewsbury gave the signal to attack the French army. Shrewsbury didn't take part in the battle directly. He had been previously captured and paroled, thus was not allowed to take arms against the French.
English troops charged the camp, across a ditch, only to be met with a hail of arrows and quarrels, and a fierce gun, cannon and small arms fire. The concentrated fire could be explained by the fact that the ditch followed, probably by accident, the former bed of a small stream, giving a bastionned look to defences.
Once battle started, Shrewsbury received a thin trickle of men from his leading footmen. After an hour the cavalry of the Breton army sent by the Duke of Brittany arrived and charged his right flank. The English gave way, pursued instantly by the French main body of troops.
During the rout Shrewsbury's horse was killed by a cannon ball and he fell trapped beneath it, until a Frenchman, a Francs Archer, recognised him and killed him with a hand-axe. His death, and the subsequent recapture of Bordeaux three months later, effectively brought the Hundred Years' War to a close.
Aftermath
Following Henry VI's episode of insanity in 1453, the subsequent outbreak of the Wars of the Roses and the evident loss of the military ascendancy for the benefit of the French, the English were no longer in any position to pursue their claim to the French throne and lost all their land on the continent (except for Calais).
External links
Coordinates: 44°51′20″N 0°02′26″W / 44.85556°N 0.04056°W / 44.85556; -0.04056
