The Battle of Meung-sur-Loire took place on 15 June 1429. It was one of
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daÊk} ; 1412 â 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of OrlĂ©ans and her insistence on the coronati ...
's battles following relief of the
siege at Orléans.
This campaign was the second sustained French offensive in a generation in the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337â1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
.
Background
Meung-sur-Loire (now in
Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434. ) was a small town on the northern bank of the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, LĂ©ger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the RhĂŽne ...
river in central France, slightly west of Orléans. It controlled a bridge of strategic significance during the latter part of the war. Captured by the English a few years earlier as a staging point for a planned invasion of southern France, the French offensive recaptured the bridge and hampered English movement south of the river during the campaign.
The French
Loire Campaign
The Loire Campaign was a campaign launched by Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years' War. The Loire was cleared of all English and Burgundian troops.
Campaign
The English under John, Duke of Bedford ordered John, Lord Talbot to besiege Orlé ...
of 1429 consisted of five actions:
:1. The
Siege of Orléans
The siege of OrlĂ©ans (12 October 1428 â 8 May 1429) was the watershed of the Hundred Years' War between France and England. The siege took place at the pinnacle of English power during the later stages of the war. The city held strategic and ...
.
:2. The
Battle of Jargeau
The Battle of Jargeau took place on 11â12 June 1429. It was part of the Loire Campaign during the Hundred Years' War, where Charles VII's forces successfully recaptured much of the region following their victory at the siege of Orleans. Th ...
.
:3. The Battle of Meung-sur-Loire.
:4. The
Battle of Beaugency.
:5. The
Battle of Patay.
Virtually all of France north of the Loire had fallen to foreign occupation by the end of 1428. The bridge at Orléans had been destroyed shortly before the siege lifted. The French had lost control of all other river crossings. Three swift and numerically small battles at Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, and Beaugency demonstrated renewed French confidence and laid the groundwork for subsequent French offenses on
Rheims and Paris. The Loire campaign killed, captured, or disgraced a majority of the top tier of English commanders and decimated the numbers of the highly skilled
English longbow
The English longbow was a powerful medieval type of bow, about long. While it is debated whether it originated in England or in Wales from the Welsh bow, by the 14th century the longbow was being used by both the English and the Welsh as a ...
men.
Tactics
English defenses at Meung-sur-Loire consisted of three components: the walled town, the fortification at the bridge, and a large walled castle just outside the town. The castle served as headquarters to the English command of
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Thomas Scales.
Joan of Arc and Duke
John II of Alençon
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
controlled a force that included captains
Jean d'Orléans,
Gilles de Rais
Gilles de Rais (c. 1405 â 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais (), was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later convi ...
,
Jean Poton de Xaintrailles, and
La Hire
Ătienne de Vignolles, Sieur de Montmorillon, Chatelain de Longueville (), also known as La Hire (; 1390 – 11 January 1443), was a French military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
Nickname
One explanation for his nickname of La ...
. Estimates of numerical strength vary with the ''Journal du SiĂšge d'OrlĂ©ans'' citing 6,000 â 7,000 for the French. A number that large probably counts non-combatants. Bypassing the city and the castle, they staged a frontal assault on the bridge fortifications, conquered it in one day, and installed a garrison. This hampered English movement south of the Loire.
Bibliography
*
Devries, Kelly. ''Joan of Arc: A Military Leader'' (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 1999).
* Richey, Stephen W. ''Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint.'' (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003).
* Allmand, C. ''The Hundred Years War: England and France at War c. 1300 â 1450.'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
See also
*
Medieval warfare
References
External links
Joan of Arc And The Loire Valley Campaignhistory page
A Popular History of France from the Earliest Timesby François Pierre Guillaume Guizot, vol. 3
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
1429 in England
1420s in France
Meung-sur-Loire 1429
History of Loiret
Meung-sur-Loire
Meung-sur-Loire 1429