Battle of Verneuil

The Battle of Verneuil was a battle of the Hundred Years' War, fought on 17 August 1424 near Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy between an English army and a combined Franco- Scottish force, augmented by Milanese heavy cavalry. The battle was a significant English victory, and was described by them as a second Agincourt.

The battle started with a short archery exchange between English longbowmen and Scottish archers, after which the force of 2,000 Milanese heavy cavalry charged the English, brushed aside an ineffective English arrow barrage and wooden archer's stakes, penetrated the formation of English men-at-arms and routed one wing of their longbowmen. The Milanese pursued the fleeing English off the field and went on to capture and loot the English baggage train. Meanwhile, the well-armoured English and Franco-Scottish men-at-arms clashed on foot in a ferocious hand-to-hand melee that went on for about 45 minutes. Many of the English longbowmen rallied and joined the struggle. The French and Scottish men-at-arms broke in the end and were slaughtered, with the Scots in particular receiving no quarter from the English. The Milanese cavalry returned to the field at the end of the battle but fled upon discovering the fate of the Franco-Scottish force.

Altogether some 6,000 French and Scottish were killed and 200 taken prisoner. The Burgundian chronicler Jean de Wavrin, who fought in the battle, estimated 1,600 English killed, although the English commander, John, Duke of Bedford, claimed to have lost only two men-at-arms and "a very few archers". The Scots army, led by the earls of Douglas and Buchan (both of whom were killed in the battle), was almost destroyed. Many French nobles were taken prisoner, among them the Duke of Alençon and the Marshal de La Fayette. After Verneuil, the English were able to consolidate their position in Normandy. The Army of Scotland as a distinct unit ceased to play a significant part in the Hundred Years' War, although many Scots remained in French service.

Background

In 1424, France was still recovering from the 1415 disaster at Agincourt, and the northern provinces were in the hands of the English following Henry V's conquest of Normandy. The Dauphin (heir to the French throne) Charles had been disinherited due to the 1420 Treaty of Troyes and, upon the death of his father Charles VI in October 1422, his status as King of France was recognised only in the regions still not occupied by the English, namely the south of the country (less the province of Guyenne in the southwest). The civil war between the pro-Dauphin Armagnacs and the pro-English Burgundians showed no sign of ending.

The death of Henry V in August 1422, two months before that of Charles VI, brought no relief to the French, as the continuing English war effort was managed by Henry's brother Bedford, acting for the nine-month-old Henry VI. The Dauphin desperately needed soldiers, and looked to Scotland, France's old ally, to provide essential military aid.

Army of Scotland

The first large contingent of Scots troops came to France in the autumn of 1419, some 6,000 men under the command of John Stewart, Earl of Buchan. These men, strengthened from time to time by fresh volunteers, soon became an integral part of the French war effort, and by the summer of 1420 the "Army of Scotland" was a distinct force in the French royal service. They proved their worth the following year, playing a large part in the victory at the Battle of Baugé, the first serious setback experienced by the English. The mood of optimism this engendered collapsed in 1423, when many of Buchan's men fell at the Battle of Cravant.

At the beginning of 1424, Buchan brought with him a further 6,500 men. He was accompanied by Archibald, Earl of Douglas, one of the most powerful noblemen of Scotland. On 24 April, the army, comprising 2,500 men-at-arms and 4,000 archers, entered Bourges, the Dauphin's headquarters, helping to raise Charles' spirits. A body of 2,000 heavy cavalry was hired from Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan, after a treaty of alliance on 17 February. These men-at-arms were led by the Frenchman le Borgne-Caqueran and clad in complete suits of tempered steel plate armour, and rode barded horses. A smaller Milanese cavalry force had been decisive against the Burgundians at La Buissière in September 1423.

The victory at La Buissière and an English defeat by the French under the Count of Aumale at the Battle of La Brossinière on 26 September 1423 improved the Dauphin's strategic situation. The outflanking and destruction of a body of English longbowmen at La Brossinière convinced the French that it would be possible to destroy a large English army in a decisive battle. A plan was devised - the main English army would be sought out and crushed, after which Charles VII would be crowned as king in Reims.

Army of France

The French army was under the command of the Count of Aumale, a French commander who had defeated the English at La Brossiniere and the Burgundians at Le Buissiere. He was accompanied by the Viscount of Narbonne, and their army joined with the Scots under the Earl of Buchan. Thus reinforced, the Franco-Scottish army was confident it could fight the English and yet again secure a great victory as at Baugé.

Prelude

In the summer of 1424 the English army, under the command of Bedford and the experienced Earl of Salisbury, laid siege to the French stronghold of Ivry, 42 km (26 miles) northeast of Verneuil.

The Franco-Scottish army made ready to march to Ivry and lift the siege of the castle, and Buchan left Tours on 4 August to meet with Aumale and Narbonne. But before the army could reach the castle, it surrendered to the English. Uncertain what to do, the allied commanders held a council of war. The Scots and some of the younger French noblemen were eager for battle, but Narbonne and the senior nobility had not forgotten Agincourt and were reluctant to take the risk. As a compromise it was agreed to attack the English strongholds on the Norman border, beginning with Verneuil in the west. The town was taken by a simple ruse: A group of Scots, leading some of their fellow countrymen as prisoners, pretended to be English, and claimed that Bedford had defeated the allies in battle, whereupon the gates were opened.

On 15 August, Bedford received news that Verneuil was in French hands and he and his army marched there as quickly as they could. As he neared the town two days later, the Scots persuaded their French comrades to give battle. Douglas is said to have received a message from Bedford that he had come to drink with him and prayed for an early meeting. He replied that having failed to find the duke in England he had come to seek him in France.

On 16th August, Bedford dismissed the Burgundian commander L’Isle Adam and his 1000-2000 man contingent sending them back to the siege at Nesle in Picardy. Bedford depriving his army of so many men just prior to battle has been a confusing decision for historians to explain, though some cite a growing lack of trust between the English and Burgundians.

Battle

Dispositions

The Franco-Scottish army deployed a mile north of Verneuil on an open plain astride the road leading out of the forest of Piseux. The flat fields had been chosen to give the greatest advantage to the Milanese cavalry, where they could be employed to their full potential against the enemy archers. The mounted Milanese men-at-arms under Caqueran drew up in front of the dismounted Franco-Scottish men-at-arms, who were formed into one battle. Narbonne's Spanish mercenary men-at-arms and most of the French were situated on the left of the road, while Douglas and Buchan were on the right. Aumale was given overall command, but this heterogeneous army defied all attempts at coordinated direction.

On emerging from the forest, Bedford likewise put his men in a single battle, to match the disposition of the enemy, with the usual distribution of men-at-arms in the centre and archers on the wings and in front, with sharpened stakes ahead of them. Bedford placed a lightly-armoured rearguard of 500–2,000 men, some mounted, to protect the baggage train and the horses. Some 8,500 horses were tethered together to link the main army to the baggage wagons as a precaution against encirclement.

Both sides wanted the other to take the initiative in beginning the battle, and so, from dawn to about 4:00 pm, the two armies stood facing each other under the blazing sun. Bedford is also said to have sent a herald to Douglas once both armies had been deployed to ask what terms for battle he required, to which Douglas grimly replied that the Scots would neither give nor receive any quarter.

Milanese attack

At about 4 pm, Bedford ordered his men to advance. The English soldiers shouted "St. George! Bedford!" as they slowly began to cross the field. A short archery duel between English and Scottish archers took place, with inconclusive results. At the same time, as if by some pre-arranged signal, the 2,000 Milanese mounted men-at-arms charged the English front line. They brushed aside the English wooden stakes that could not be secured in ground baked hard by the summer sun. English arrows proved ineffective against the Italian mercenaries' superior armor. The shock effect of the Milanese charge terrified the English, with men-at-arms and archers knocked over, and gaps torn in the English ranks as they tried to avoid the onrushing horsemen and others throwing themselves to the ground and being ridden over by the cavalry. The Milanese rode through the entire English formation, dispersing the longbowmen on the English right.

Many of the English panicked in the face of the Milanese charge, and a Captain Young was afterwards found guilty of cowardice for retreating with the 500 men under his command without orders, considering the battle as lost. Young was hanged, drawn and quartered as punishment for his retreat. English mounted troops fled to Conches, where they proclaimed the battle lost to the town's small garrison. At Bernay, more Englishmen announced Bedford's defeat. At Pont-Audemer

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