100 YEAR WAR PART 7: THE SCOTTISH WARS

>1419
>August
Lets start the thread with something not related to the 100YW at all.

In Prague died the former Emperor Wenzel, who had ruled the Holy Roman Empire for two decades last century.
His brother Sigismund, the current Emperor, followed his brother as King of Bohemia.
But the kingdom itself is more and more drawn into the chaos of the hussite uprisings and agitation.

>September
John the Fearless is murdered.
His only son, Philip of Burgundy (23) followed as duke.

>November
As the English moved towards Paris, on the other main frontline the Earl of Salisbury took the border fortress of Avranches on the breton border, but at the moment failed to impress the powerful fortress of Pontorson nearby or the island-monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel, both held by local forces and while not needed for the English to secure their western flank, they were still a thorn.

>1420
>February

The allegiance of Brittany had become a major concern for the Dauphinists.
Duke John V of Brittany had been neutral in the civil wars and always tried to support a third, royal faction.
He had made a truce with the English when their invasion started, but still recognized the Dauphin, then cut off his support among the murder of John the Fearless, while still not joining the forming english-burgundian alliance.

The core dauphinist advisers around Tanneguy du Chatel and Jean de Louviers had enough of this double game and wanted to remove the duke for good
(remember that these are the same guys who were behind the murder of John the Fearless, and how that has turned out?)

Attached: john-v-duke-of-brittany-from-the-chronicles-of-e-de-monstrelet-translated-by-458f18-640.jpg (640x464, 103K)

i talk about the 100 year war, you learn something and can ask questions and either i or someone else can try to answer them. Or correct me if I am wrong somewhere.

Here comes the complicated internal situation of Brittany into play.
After the civil wars of the previous century between Blois and Montfort, the losing side of the Blois is represented at the moment by the Count of Penthievre-Blois, who would succeed to the ducal title if the Montforts would cease in male line (and the current duke had no sons, so that is a possibility, though he still had two brothers)

Penthievre-Blois had made contact with the dauphinist side to propose a coup to take over Brittany.
In the winter months, he was going on travel with John V and his brothers and suddenly arrested them and forced them to sign a declaration of abdiction.

But at this point the whole masterplan unravelled.
Pretty much all of the breton nobility was horrified at what the count had done and the Duchess instantly rallied the armed might of Brittany to her side to either free her husband or burn the Blois clan down.

As the month ended, one castle after another fell to the Bretons, with the Counts of Blois-Penthievre fleeing into exile and sending the captured duke to the Loire.

>March
The Count of Foix was removed as governeur of Languedoc, that he had achieved only last year.
Foix had come from the Captal-de-Buch line, who are the new counts, and thus had always good contacts to the English.
Both he and the lord of Albret considered allying with the English in Guyenne for a southern front.

Meanwhile the young Dauphin was send to the south to secure Languedoc for himself, just as the breton crisis exploded.

Attached: Joan_of_France_Duchess_of_Brittany.jpg (179x367, 17K)

>March
Salisbury defeats the local dauphinist army of Rieux and Aumale in Alencon (mentioned last thread)

He now starts a southern attack against the Maine border, taking the town of Fresnay

______
Since many years the heresy of Jan Hus (who rejected most ceremonies of the church) had been brewing in Bohemia, Jus himself was burned at the Council of Constance, where he had been invited to bridge the differences.

With pretty much an open uprising going on against the church and new imperial authority in Bohemia of Emperor Sigismund; the Pope Martin V had enough and proclaimed a general crusade against the Hussite Movement.

>April
The last Blois fortress of Champtoceaux was surrounded and besieged by the Bretons under the Duchess.
Interestingly with all of the Blois family having fled, the defense was also led by the Countess of Blois.

>May
Treaty of Troyes

Henry V is accepted as Regent of France and new heir to the Valois monarchy by northern France, Paris, the feeble king Charles VI and his queen.

>June
In Troyes everyone gratulated Henry V on being awesome and suggested he should take some time off, visit Paris or England again.
He indeed wanted to look after english affairs back home, where he had heard some unpleasant rumours of what his uncle Beauford is doing.

But first his authority in France had to be placed on more solid ground.
He knew he needed Paris, and also that Paris was a half-deserted ghost town strangled by enemy garrisons.
His english ones in the north would open up the Seine, but he really wanted to open the southern routes from Paris as well.

Attached: Champtoceaux.jpg (700x428, 78K)

>June
So, first things first: All english field forces were mobilized, the artillery and supply trains -for a possible attack on Paris- send south and an army of 9k made ready: just 3,2k of these were his own english soldiers, as 5k were Burgundians and 900 hired german soldiers.

This army took the larger town of Sens and then Joigny on the Yonne (the Yonne was a river that flew from Burgundy into the Seine), connecting Paris to Burgundy.

At the end of the month the Dauphinists were kicked out of Montereau, where the Yonne joined the Seine.
Of course it was now almost more worth for its symbolism then its strategic location, as he dug up the corpse of John the Fearless and send it to Dijon.

This practically only left Melun, the former island fortress of the Queen, now under control of what is left of the armagnacian presence, that not long ago secured Paris against burgundian attacks.
Melun was considered as impregnable in the past, but this was before the advent of gunpowder siege artillery.

By the way, the Burgundians tried to storm Compiegne, to open the Oise as the English were doing on the Seine, but the garrison repulsed all attacks.

Compiegne was the largest of multiple castles, towns, forts which local or gascon or breton troops took as their base to murder and plunder the countryside around in the name of the Dauphin and their righteous struggle against the evil english invaders

Another prominent one was Guise, on the northern border, which two young, brutal but efficient gascon adventurers called Jean Poton de Xaintrailles and Etienne de Vignolle 'La Hire' (the Hedgehog) took as their base

Attached: south of paris.png (350x348, 58K)

>June
The Dauphin returned from Languedoc and was informed how his top advisers and officials had managed to restart a civil war in Brittany and to probaly drive the Bretons to the english side.
Great.

The Dauphin himself probably did not gave a fuck, but Yolande of Anjou, the woman behind the House of Anjou, and the invisible force that held together the dauphinist court, saw the danger clearly.
Luckily Tanneguy du Chatel had also realized his folly and both worked to deescalate the crisis, while denying to have known anything about the Blois coup.

The Blois were ordered to free the ducal family asap, and full support was given to the Duchess of Brittany.

>July
Champtoceaux was on the verge of surrendering, as the Duke John V was released outside the castle.
All the male Blois figures fled into exile, all their possessions was destroyed and redistributed.

The whole episode had a nice aftereffect by destroying the Blois and the allied Clissons and thus practically giving the Dukes of Brittany absolute power in his duchy, as well as demonstrating that the nobles and population were on his side, having overcome the splits of the civil war last century.

__________

The english-burgundian army of 9k (King Henry V) opened the Siege of Melun (defended by 700).
The western side was held by the English of the king and his brother Thomas of Clarence; while the Burgundians were on the east under the Duke Philip personally and the Earls of Warwick and Huntingdon.

The Seine was blocked north and south, artillery battered the walls and supply lines stretched all the way from the coast from Harfleur to Melun.

Attached: Vue fantaisiste du camp des Anglo-Bourguignons au siège de 1420,.jpg (402x283, 32K)

also here a picture of Melun from later times when it had further grown.

From the city map it almost looked like Paris. The upper and lower parts are probably not too bad to take, but good luck at the middle island part

Attached: Vue à vol d'oiseau de la ville de Melun au XVIè, Musée de Melun, inv 80_0.jpg (560x340, 34K)

>July
While the Siege of Melun thus began, there was finally time to take care of Paris.

Paris was held politically by the President of the Parlament and the teenage Count of St-Pol (the younger brother of the Duke of Brabant and a cousin of the Duke of Burgundy), a capable guy who had been installed by John the Fearless who had great hopes for him.

Militarily Jean de La-Isle-Adam was in charge. He had been the burgundian captain of Pontoise, was the one who had taken over the capital among the popular uprising and since losing his own Pontoise to the English last year he now commanded the defense of Paris.

Henry V send his brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence with a large body of english soldiers from the Melun siege into Paris to take over the Bastille, the Louvre, the Hotel de Nesle and outside the castle of Vincennes, occupying the capital and dismissing St-Pol and Le-Isle-Adam.
It was a risky move as it might piss off the Burgundians and might trigger a parisean reaction, but the citizens were too dulled by general misery and probably thankfully for the English to free Paris from the dauphinist garrisons around.

_______

A major german crusader host was besieging Prague, but the attempt of 7k to storm the vital Vitkov Hill outside was beaten back by just a hundred fanatical Hussites.
This destroyed all morale and soon the siege was raised.

In the following years multiple crusades were launched and each one destroyed by the military prowess of the Hussites, their early handguns and wagonburg tactics.
The clusterfuck, drawing Poland, Lithuania and Denmark into the mess, centered all german attention for the decade to come, with noone using the golden opportunity to reverse the constant french expansion into the Holy Empire.

Attached: Adolf_Liebscher_-_Battle of Vitkov Hill.jpg (524x358, 75K)

>Summer
Like always Naples had descended into political conflict, like always there were calls for the Anjou to come and claim the kingdom.
Yolande of Anjou had rather enough of these italian adventures, but there was the Pope, Genua and Florence on her side and the Anjou were the legitimate rulers (in their eyes)

So with a heavy heart, she led her son Louis III sail to Rome to be crowned King of Naples (the fourth attempt already by the House of Anjou, not that anyone is counting anymore)

>September
Philip the Count of Vertus, the younger brother of the Duke of Orleans and only free Orleans prince, died a young death, just as he was assembling a relief force for Melun.
He had been a cornerstone of the dauphinist authority and his death was a large loss.

__
In Scotland died the Duke of Albany, the dominant figure the last decades, who had brought his own father the king and his brother the king under his control and likely murdered his nephew the heir.
With King James I in english captivity, he freely could rule Scotland.

At his death his son Murdoch Stewart followed, a weak noble who could hardly hold onto the power.
His other son the Earl of Buchan was commander of the scottish forces in France.

>November
After a major siege of four months, finally Melun surrendered.
It was proven once again that any place could be taken, but it also consumed a lot of energy and money, while the Dauphin still held all of southern France.

>December
King Henry V, the King Charles VI and the Duke of Burgundy entered Paris, celebrating the -hopefully- soon end of the civil wars and later Christmas.

In a General Estates meeting the aides taxes were reinstalled and the money stabilized, which was hoped would soon make Northern France able to finance the war alone without any further english financial contributions.

Attached: Philippe_of_Orléans_(1396-1420).jpg (987x293, 44K)

>1421
>January
Henry V returned to Rouen and his royal palace, that was in the process of being build.
He spend New Year in the capital of English Normandy, before making his way home.

His brother Thomas of Clarence would act as lieutnant of France in his absence.
The Earl of Huntingdon and the Duke of Exeter were installed in Paris, while the Earl of Salisbury kept having a free hand on the western frontlines..

_____
The Parlament of Paris declared all titles and offices of the Dauphin as forfeited and he himself banned from the kingdom due to his role in the murder of John the Fearless.

>February
After 3,5 years of glorious conquests, surpassing the golden age of his grand-grandfather Edward III, Henry V returned to England with his new wife.

He was greeted with ecstatic jubilation by the population but deep scepsis of the political class what the Treaty of Troyes meant for England.

For one, the English gladly paid and spend their riches and blood for conquests like that of Normandy but would they now continue to do so for the rest of France?
Wasnt it now just a french civil war, where England had no stake in?

Or even going further, was an english occupied Greater Normandy not better then Normandy staying in France, even under an english king on the french throne.

And just as the user at the beginning said, sure, a double monarchy might sound great at first, but would England as the less prosperous and less populated place not be the less relevant half and any future monarchs rather stay in France?

Would victorious England not become an appendage of defeated France?

Attached: Lewis Waller (1860–1915), as Henry V.jpg (698x944, 115K)

>February
Henry V had other stuff to deal with, mainly his relationship with his half-uncle and former ally Bishop Beauford, who had used his position of power at the english court and as chief negotiator at the Council of Constance to get himself a nice cardinal title as well as would be nominated to Papal Legate of England.

That is some extent of papal influence that Henry definitely dont want to see in England and he made clear that either Beauford will refuse the cardinal title or give up all ecclesial titles and benefices.

Beauford knew he was walking on very thin ice and only his status as being from a branch of the Lancasters prevented his total fall.
So he wont be a cardinal and he used the majority of his private fortune to finance the upcoming next english campaign.

>March
Jacqueline of Hainault arrived in London, where Henry V gave her a glamorous reception.

Who was that?
Okay, for that we need to dive once again in these confusing medieval succession crises.

Remember how after Agincourt the french dauphin died and the next one was the son-in-law of the Count of Hainault and Holland, who tried to play a central role and was refused entry into Paris until the Dauphin died a year later and the Duke was never mentioned again?

Well, on his way back he was bitten by a dog and died of blood poisoning.
He only had a daughter, the Jacqueline now mentioned, who back then was the widow of the Dauphin, having lost her husband and father.

She was accepted as new Countess of Hainault, but not as Countess of Holland, where the States of Holland rather elected her closest male relative, one of multiple bavarian dukes, as ruler.

(cont.)

Attached: Henry_Beaufort as cardinal.jpg (206x533, 39K)

(cont)

Jacqueline then sought the help of the most powerful entity in the Low Countries, the Burgundians.
She agreed to marry John IV of Brabant (new duke as his father died at Agincourt) and so bring her heritage into the burgundian claws for their support.
But while John IV was happy enough to get Hainault, which was just nearby Brabant, he did not care at all for Holland and had an agreement with the bavarian duke there, that he can keep Holland for giving up any claim to Hainault.

So far so good.
But right now things were going south fast. She declared her husband as unworthy and fled to England, where she asked Henry V to find her a new (probably english) husband as she had divorced her current one
(this is Veeky Forums, so most people are probably accustomed to medieval civil and canon law, so you might rightfully point out that she had no authority whatsoever to end a marriage contract on her own without papal approval)

In Hainault meanwhile everyone sided with her countess and against Brabant. And the States of Brabant on their turn stood against their duke as well and appointed his brother Philip of St-Pol (just kicked out of Paris and needing something to do) as regent.

So you might have an Hainault/England vs Brabant/Burgundy, a Hainault/England vs Holland and a Brabant vs Brabant civil war all in one.
Luckily, everyone calmed down and settled their differences somewhat, especially in Brabant and Holland.

But this will be an issue that will continue to fester, otherwise I would have not written so much about it.

Attached: 220px-Jacoba_van_Beieren_door_Hollandse_school_ca_1600.jpg (220x298, 24K)

>March

Thomas, Duke of Clarence, had always felt overshadowed by his brother the king.

He had been the favourite son of his father, he was rumoured to would have been proclaimed king if Henry V had not turned out to be such a great ruler, and even as military commander he had fallen back.

But, while even in previous generations there were deep splits inside the royal family, Plantagenet princes would never act against each others, thats what differentiated them from the French.

So, rather Clarence took now the opportunity to shine a bit more.
He gathered the english field army, the english nobles (Earl of Huntingdon, Beaufort Earl of Somerset and his brother) and combined it with Salisburys western army.

With 4-5k man he now launched a campaign right through the contested Maine/Alencon/Normandy region into Anjou.
His plan was to either surprise the capital of Angers or the vital nearby bridges at the Loire/Sarthe triangle.

At the same time, finally the scottish Earl of Buchan had gotten the permission to bring all scottish forces together into one Army of Scotland (4-5k), that would act as independent force.
Just days later he got news of the english advance south, and while not wanting to confront the army directly (thats the job of the French afterall) he moved to cut up their retreat, joining with some 1k french knights under Gilbert de Lafayette (an armagnacian captain famous for having secured Lyon for the dauphinist side)

Clarence meanwhile had marched all the way to Angers, only to found the city well prepared for an attack, the bridges as well, so yeah, tough luck.

He split up his army to move back home to Normandy, when his scouts saw a french force ahead.

Attached: bauge 1421.png (655x508, 82K)

So Clarence took all his cavalry and attacked, dispersing easily the troops among the local river (which he supposed to be the main french line) before engaging other troops at the village of Bauge.

The Battle of Bauge saw the english cav clash with 5-6k of the Army of Scotland, which became without any of the usual tactical advantages for the English or any archers involved, a purely martial affair against a larger army.

Maybe if it would have been against a french army the prestige of english feats and not being able to win a single battle against them would have been enough. But the Scots dont care.

Thomas, the Duke of Clarence was killed at the beginning and soon enough the major leaders and nobles either killed or captured, as the English were completely defeated, having lost 1,100.
Clarence and the english Count of [french] Tancarville were killed, Huntingdon and the Beauforts captured.

But more then any losses, what hurt the most was that finally the myth of english invincibility was over and after more then 80 years of war the french side had their first major battlefield victory

(and yes it was just against a part of the english army, and yes none of the archers were involved and yes, it was not a french but a majority scottish army, and yes the English blundered themselfs into defeat) but you know, that are just excuses.

And that user
got his victory.

Attached: battle-beauge.jpg (687x460, 72K)

>March
The larger part (though supposedly the lesser quality ones) of the english army was still at large and Salisbury made great efforts to unify them as quickly as possible and then make a huge round around the french-scottish forces who were out to cut them off, returning safely to Normandy.

While this kinda sucked from a french perspective, the Bauge was still hailed as that huge turning point, now that english control in northern france will crumble. Everyone was full of renewed confidence

The Earl of Buchan was hailed as hero, he would soon even be offered the post of Constable and the Scots, that everyone had made fun of, suddenly transformed into the spearpoint to drive out the Anglos.

>April
The childless and bankrupt Count of Namur lived too luxuriously and sold his rights of inheritance to Philip Duke of Burgundy.
Another building block as Burgundy grows larger.

___
The Harcourt were the main norman noble house, though they are right now driven out by the English.
One of them, Jacques d'Harcourt was the burgundian commander of the Somme rivertown of Le Crotoy and had married the heiress of Tancarville but was cheated out of his heritage, now with the english appointed lord of Tancarville killed at Bauge, he declared fully dauphinist.

From Le Crotoy he striked across the Somme mouth and captured the town of St Valery on the other side, as the Somme turned into a warzone.

>May
Duke John V of Brittany met his brother-in-law the Dauphin and the Earl of Buchan at Sable in Anjou.

They agreed to leave the whole Blois episode last year behind them and to fully reconciliate, but under the reservation that all persons on the dauphinist court who supported that plot were dismissed (which of course did not happen).

A breton corps would now fight alongside the dauphinist and scottish armies to expel the English.

Attached: sneth1340.gif (397x345, 11K)

>May
As money and political support flowed to the dauphinist side, the Dauphin Charles himself took command of some 6k french and scottish troops to march north and liberate the Duchy of Alencon as first step of an invasion of Normandy.

But the Earl of Salisbury was ready, and while the French began the siege of the city of Alencon, he harassed their supply lines and forced at last the siege to be raised again, as the whole campaign grounded to a halt.

________
In London Henry V and the still imprisoned scottish king met with the Earl of Douglas of the main scottish clan (and himself for a long time held by the English).

Once again the topic was the release of the scottish king, especially with the Duke of Albany dead and his successor being so weak.
Henry V would take the king a second time to France to neutralize the annoying Army of Scotland, but once this was done he would free him.

>June
The english parliament was very hesitant to grant new money and there were only limited new troops available.

But still, Henry V could not wait any longer and dally around in Merry Old England while his brother fucked up the situation in France.
So after just some four months he already left home again to return to the french battlefields.

He had some 4,200 fresh troops and the money ''loaned'' from his uncle not-anymore-cardinal Beaufort and that had to be enough for the moment.

Henry V left his brother John Duke of Bedford back to keep an eye on Bishop Beaufort and together with his other brother Humphrey Duke of Gloucester and James I of Scottland sailed away.

Attached: 27464.gif (500x387, 31K)

>June
A new army raised on the Loire (3k under the Vicomte of Narbonne, who was interestingly one of the rulers of Sardinia in the past before the island was conquered by the Aragonese), the promised breton army (2k, Richard of Montfort, brother of the breton Duke) and the 10k dauphinist and scottish troops (Dauphin, Buchan) marched into the region between Seine and Loire, heading to capture the major town of Chartres and threatening Paris.

>July
The plunder.... i mean of course dauphinist garrisons on the Oise and Marne went down the Somme to join the troops of Jacques d'Harcourt, who had captured pretty much all of the Somme mouth and launched large scale pillaging into burgundian Picardy and Artois

At Abbeville the Burgundians were building their own army to liberate the Somme again and Duke Philip of Burgundy himself went there with his principal commanders.

______

As Henry V landed in Normandy and went to the Seine, preparing for the big showdown with the Dauphinists, the large dauphinist armies around Chartres lost heart.

The Dauphin Charles suddenly did not feel like commanding an army anymore, he was too young you know, and returned to the south of the Loire.
The army retreated after him into the Vendome.

>August
Henry V had his army of 5k ready and marched south of Evreux, but no dauphinist army could be found anywhere.

The King then went to Chateaudun, hoping to confront the Dauphinists (12k, Buchan) but they just stood in vast defensive positions and were too numerous for the English to attack them on their own.

But sadly the English had been so successful that even after the Bauge victory the French still did not dared to attack, so no new Agincourt or Crecy.

Attached: chartres-dunois campaign 1421.png (426x470, 92K)

>August
The Guise commanders Xaintrailles and La Hire had hired reinforcements for the Somme across northern France and marched with 800 from the south towards the Somme mouth.

On that news the Duke of Burgundy ended his operations around Abbeville and raced with all his troops to hold the Somme and prevent these additional troops reaching d'Harcourt.

Luckily for the French, La Hire and Xaintrailles reached the Somme first, luckily the Somme rebels of Harcourt waited on the other side, not so luckily it was high water and the ford unpassable.

The Duke of Burgundy threw his cavalry vanguard of 1k against the Dauphinists, which started a wide spred cavalry clash around Mons-et-Vimeu, in which the principal burgundian attack was defeated, but it all dissolved into a confused struggle and finally the Burgundians won.

Despite the victory, it showed the weakness of the burgundian military strenght and both sides ended their campaign for now.

>September
The dauphinist army in Vendome could not be supplied anymore and dissolved.
The core of them around the Army of Scotland held the major town of Orleans, the rest crossed the Loire to return to their homes.

BUT HENRY V WAS STILL NOT SATISFIED and while everyone assumed the campaign was over, he suddenly thrusted south, crossed the Loire and in a huge arc swung south of Blois where he -rightly- predicted the mass of the dissolved army to be.

But at the first sign of english troops on the horizon, all the soldiers fled back into Blois.
Henry V could not attack the city and noone came out to challenge him. Fucking french cowards.

Attached: carte.png (550x382, 90K)

>September
The whole thing almost turned catastrophic, as he discovered that french troops under Tanneguy de Chatel had meanwhile captured the Loire bridge that he had used to pass south.

Henry V prepared for a bloody struggle, but thankfully once again the French lost all morale and gave back the bridge voluntarily.

The whole campaign to Chartres, Vendome and the Loire had no engagement and just lost troops, money and time for no effect.
The English claimed it as victory as the French fled before them; the French claimed it as victory as it was the English who suffered the most.

>October
So, no major battle, no revenge for the Bauge.
Well, it couldnt be helped, and he wanted his army be used as long as it still existed and was financed. So, more shitty sieges and supply lines to open.

The only obstacles in the Paris river system was the Marne and Compiegne on the Oise.
The english army (3k) now marched to the Marne, taking over the lesser places, while sending the Duke of Exeter to surprise the town of Meaux (held by famous free company leaders with 1k), which was not large or particularly strong but situated in a bend of the Marne and surrounded by water, so a siege might be troublesome.

Sadly, the surprise move did not work and Henry V had to open a regular siege.
The Earl of Warwick was tasked with blocking the Marne, while Henry V and Exeter raised elaborate siegeworks.

Given how much stronger places and massive fortresses had been taken before, Meaux should not raise much of a challenge, but still week after week it could not be taken, as the defenders did a superb job, building new walls and defenses with the rubble from the artillery bombardement.

___

The Army of Scotland and the breton corps moved into Lower Normandy and captured Avranches, that had been lost last year.

Over the whole winter the Earl of Salisbury had to busy himself retaking Avranches, but he had to take further troops away from the Meaux siege.

Attached: Paris at end of 1420, Henry left.jpg (553x615, 69K)

>December
The english Queen got a son, Henry, securing the direct Lancaster line, as Henrys V two brothers also had no kids.
Nice.

______
The Marne broke her banks and flooded the siege lines, forcing the English to rebuild their whole camp and all lines on higher ground.

At this point everyone had enough of this shitty siege, and everyone requested Henry V to raise it. Meaux was just not worth the trouble and killed english troops.

But in the year where he lost his brother and the first english battle, he did not want to for the first time in his reign to raise a major siege.

Just the situation in general was shit, and for the first time Henry V raised concerns if he ever would conquer all of France.
Two years had been gone since the Treaty of Troyes and while he opened the rivers to Paris, he had nothing else to show.
So, how many years, decades before the southern France was conquered?

The main issue, maybe even more then the financial problems, were manpower.
5k english soldiers held down Normandy, 2k had received grants of land and castles in Normandy and could be mobilized in emergencies, 1k held Paris.
That left only the new troops from England as offensive force, which right now had been reduced to 1,7k, lingering around Meaux.

His huge flaw in his strategical planning was that he could not count on either mass french mobilization in the North as the french monarchy could before, nor on the war being financed by french money alone (the last had not even much to do that he was a Plantagenet king, but rather that all financial and economic structures had been wrecked by the civil wars)

.........

Attached: siege of meaux.jpg (476x500, 294K)

(.....)
His only hope was Burgundy, but they had their own problems.
The building of the burgundian state had been with french money as Philip the Bold and John the Fearless controlled the french state. These times were over.

The burgundian treasury was practically empty, and the States of Flanders or Brabant vehemently refused to finance or send troops into any french civil wars. Not. their. fucking. business.
There were only local troops available, but the burgundian ones (as in the one from the duchy of burgundy) secured their own borders or fought around Lyon; while the ones from Artois and Picardy in the north fought in the Somme valley.

Attached: The-Siege-of-Meaux-A-SDL051040561-1-4b7a0.jpg (850x995, 139K)

>1422
>January
Duke Philip of Burgundy and his cousin Philip of St-Pol met Henry V at the Meaux siege.

Both men agreed to open peace negotiations or at least for a truce with the Dauphin, as right now neither of the one could really afford larger military operations anymore.

Also, there would be new efforts to bring Brittany into their alliance.
As a first step the brother of the Duke of Brittany, one of the orleanist leaders and captured at Agincourt, Arthur de Richemont was freed and joined the english army.

>March
Despite the obvious english discomfort around Meaux no relief was organized by the Dauphin, something that was bitterly noted in the north.

There was also a feeling that if Meaux should fall, so would be the rest of the dauphinist places.

Offemont, the commander of Compiegne, took a small troop and launched a suicidal attempt to get into Meaux.
It ended as expected, with him captured and all his man killed.

But for the defenders of Meaux it had become clear that the end was night.
They intended to give up the town and retreat into the central castle, but the surviving inhabitants got wind of it and opened the gates.
Meaux with this fell, the siege of castle continued.

___
John of Luxembourg (2,8k, the main burgundian commander) started a hopefully final Somme campaign, securing the river apart from its mouth and then moved south of the river, before money run out after 1,5 months

>April
The Dauphin married Marie of Anjou, increasing the Anjou influence even more at court.

>May
The Duke of Bedford had been left in England by Henry and now returned to his brother with some small but really needed reinforcements

Attached: Delpech_-_Marie_of_Anjou.jpg (800x1031, 143K)

>May
Just weeks later the castle of Meaux was fully destroyed, the last defenders capitulated and were mostly executed (which is a shame, because these guys really did wonders and might have had a glorious future ahead) and after 7 months the hardest siege of Henrys V campaigns was finally over

It showed the momentary impossibility of ending the war, no matter how effective the english armies were, when a small place like that took so long.
It also had cost a lot in English killed or sick and wounded, including Henry V himself.

But on the other hand, the failure to do anything during the siege had humiliated the Dauphin, and the fall of Meaux after all the time had a ripple effect across northern France.

Some of the last great castles in the north surrendered, and finally also Compiegne was given up by its commanders.
This only left Xaintrailles in Guise and Harcourt in Le Crotoy on the Somme.

Slowly, slowly the Plantagenet France was brought under control.

>June
King Henry V, his brother the Duke of Bedford, his half-uncle the Duke of Exeter, the breton Arthur de Richemont, the chancellor of France and the Parlament of Paris met and discussed further plans.

How realistic was a major campaign against Dauphinist France (not very), how realistic a major defeat of Plantagenet English or a second Bauge (also not much), how realistic a collapse of the dauphinist side (looking at the past decades this might be possible, but could not be planned)

So, what to do?
Sadly, noone had an answer besides cleaning up the north.

Attached: End of 1420-.png (1237x719, 446K)

>June
At least the diplomatic side looked good, as the Dukes of Lorraine (whose daughter and heir was married to the brother of Anjou, and who with this should have been pro-dauphinist) and of Brittany (despite the Sables agreement last year) moved over into the plantagenet camp and would accept Henry V as heir and king -once the mad Charles VI finally died.

Also Henry V confirmed the Count of Foix in his lost lieutnancy of Languedoc and planned a combined gascon-foix advance in the middle-near future.

________
With Compiegne and Meaux removed, the Earl of Warwick took all field forces around Paris, some 2-3k and went north to help the Burgundians finally secure the Somme (shouldnt it be rather be the other way round?)

He continued where John of Luxembourg had stopped last month, taking St-Valery and then besieged the last town of Le Crotoy.

___

Tanneguy du Chatel, the Viscount of Narbonne and the Earl of Buchan had taken 6k to invade Nevers and capture all the strategic bridges of the Loire towards Burgundy.

La Charite fell to them and Cosne was besieged.

>July
The Duke of Burgundy urgently asked for help on the Loire front, wanting all available men.

Obviously the English and French were not amused, he really should be able to do stuff on his own once in a while.
But the Duke also pointed out that the relief of the bridge towns were the opportunity for another battle and Henry V saw it the same.
So John of Luxembourg in Picardy and Earl of Warwick from La Crotoy hastened east, the Dukes of Bedford and Exeter mobilized the troops around Paris.

Henry V himself wanted to command the army, but he was weakened by dysentery contracted during the Meaux siege and forced by his generals and advisers to take is easy and rest.
The absolute very worst that could happen would be if the king died now and leave a just-born infant king.

Attached: 800px-Carte_de_la_Nièvre.svg.png (800x713, 251K)

>August
3k english troops had come to Auxerre, where they united with the Burgundians, an army of 12k had now gathered under Luxembourg, Bedford and Exeter.

While everyone got excited to finally avenge the Bauge, the French had been informed that a major army is being formed and abandoned the siege.

Arriving outside Cosne some days later the Burgundian-English Army found noone left. Goddamn, that was beyond annoying.

For the french army, it was split up: Narbonne helped the local defenses of northern Maine together with the Count of Aumale, together they plundered defenseless Normandy.
The Army of Scotland of Buchan held the Loire, just in case the English-Burgundians were so mad that they wanted to advance into proper dauphinist lands.

But they werent, they did not even retake La Charite.

Returning to Paris, they gave Henry V the good news that the Frogs yet again fled, that the appearance of an english army alone was enough to drive the enemies away and that Burgundy was well secured.

In return they got the rather bad news, that yes Henry V was seriously ill and that no, the chances stood not good and yes the war in France will be fucked.

On the last day of the month Henry V ordered that the war should continue, but still a peace or settlement with the Dauphin be pursued if the opportunity presented itself.
That all the great prisoners, especially the Orleans ones, should never been released as long as the Double Monarchy was not secured, that no matter what the english-burgundian alliance has to hold and that english princes should never fight each other.

Then he died, rip in pieces.

Attached: the-sudden-death-of-henry-v-at-the-chteau-de-vincennes-on-31-august.jpg (300x443, 48K)

The king had been 36 years old and reigned just 10; he was a highly capable king with a long-term vision who could due to his charisma alone inspire his troops and was seen even by his french opponents as close to a perfect king.

Still, his fame rested on successes done mostly due to the completely fucked-up french internal situation and the last three years showed his limits.
How would the war continue if he had lived longer? Noone knows and this is not a 'what-if' thread.

As tragic as it sounds, the birth of his son was a pretty bad event, because now the next english king is 8 month old Henry VI, who even when he grew up would be an uninterested passive king.
Without a son, his brother John Duke of Bedford would have succeeded, a competent soldier and administrator who would likely make a good king (but childs die often and young in the middle ages, so who knew if he will not be king in the future)

For the government: Henry VI is now new king of England and heir to the french monarchy.
John Duke of Bedford would take over as regent of France and lead the 100YW
A regency council would rule England for the next 1,5 decades, with the other royal brother, Humphry Duke of Gloucester in a leading role.

>September
The Duke of Bedford met with his half-uncle, the Duke of Exeter (a leading military figure earlier but now about to retire) and the Duke of Burgundy.
They agreed to proceed with the Troyes agreement and that nothing had changed.

Formally though Bedford offered Burgundy the role of regent of france, but like expected Burgundy rejected, he had other things to worry about.

Attached: 429px-King_Henry_V_from_NPG.jpg (429x599, 79K)

>October
In some forgotten corner of a royal palace, Charles VI (53) finally died.
He had been king for four long decades, almost ever either as child under control of his uncles or being insane.
He was just a shadow of a human being and since Troyes everyone ceased to care what happened to him.

He probably never would have been a particular impressive king, but he deeply cared for his people and the well-being of the nation, which he saw burned down around him.

With his death in the eyes of many the Valois Dynasty ended, as his only surviving son was a discredited rebel down on the Loire.
Even people who would refuse the Plantagenet might rather change to the Orleans branch then accepting the Dauphin as heir.

It came as a deep irony, that he would live so long and then died just weeks after Henry V, as if he had willed himself alive long enough to not have his rival being crowned king.

>November
The Dauphin Charles (19) is told about the death of his father and now styled himself King Charles VII, but noone really cared and he was not even crowned.

Just days later, the house in which he was, collapsed and he only narrowly saved himself by sprinting to the window, as everyone else in the room was crushed to death.

Nearly all three leaders from all sides (french, dauphinists, english) would have died one after the other.
But the Dauphin survived, with a lot of people probably wondering if that is a good thing or not.

>Winter
John of Luxembourg led a burgundian army into the County of Guise, where he ended the brigand rule and subjugated the area, though the town of Guise itself held out.

Attached: Dauphin-Charles_VII_of_France.jpg (800x889, 197K)

i will continue in 12h or so; someone has to bump the thread halfway through.

Fuckin RIP Henry and RIP England's chance at ever establishing significant continental presence

Attached: 1520194086765.jpg (500x259, 20K)

Bump

Nah, fuck 'em

just dont lose the war, m8
its pretty simple

>the house in which he was collapsed

What the absolute fuck

Also it's nice to see you back OP i really enjoy those threads.

Good idea

dog bless OP you're great

Attached: 1518708272682.png (313x387, 221K)

>1423
>January
A dauphinist party surprised the Seine town of Meulan and slaughtered the english garrison.

For the next two months the new regent, Bedford, had to besiege the town in the deepest winter.
Thats also a way to spend your time and ressources.

>February
The Earl of Buchan, Aumale and the Viscount of Narbonne gathered a larger army to raise the siege of Meulan, they came up to 30km close, but then hesitated and their army dissolved, as people had better things to do in winter then campaigning.

>March
Meulan surrendered again.
The garrison was so demoralized by the lack of dauphinist efforts to help them, that they went over to the English (who they killed before in their sleep? I dont know how well that went over)

___
Remember Jacqueline of Hainault who I talked about earlier?

She now married in secret Humphrey of Gloucester, theoretically giving the Lancasters a claim to Hainault.

Point 1, of course no matter what she herself thought of the matter, she was lawfully still married to the Duke of Brabant.
Point 2, this means that once the news break, Burgundy and England might very well head towards collision over the question of inheritage.

Just half a year after Henrys V death the Anglos keep fucking up.

>April
At Amiens the Regent John of Bedford met with the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany to confirm their tripple alliance.

It was agreed that noone of the three would ever make peace with the dauphinist party without the consent of the other two.
To reinforce their relationship the two sisters of the Duke of Burgundy married Bedford and Arthur de Richemond (brother of the breton Duke)

But in secret Philip of Burgundy and John V of Brittany narrowed it down that they might negotiate with the Dauphin even without english consent, just as long as the two were in unison.

The two might be allied to England and fight on the side of Plantagenet France, but probably dont want a full english victory.

Attached: HumphreyGloucester.jpg (388x600, 123K)

>Spring
The Earl of Salisbury had earned himself some rest and holiday, so he was named governeur of Champagne for a while.

At the same time the castle Mont Aquilon fell to pro-dauphinist brigands, so he would spend the next six months to besiege it.

>May
In the neapolitan wars the Queen of Naples had called the King of Aragon (including now Sicily and Sardinia and interested in further expanding in the western mediterrean) Alphonso V as heir into her realm, but when he began to arrest her lovers, she rather confirmed Louis III of Anjou, who was already supported by most of the rest of the italian nations.

With the aragonese armies isolated, with war threatening between Aragon and Castille and a milanese/genuese fleet capturing the city of Naples, Alphonso V finally gave up his italian plans.

Louis III was now securely accepted as heir to the queen, living peacefully somewhere in Calabria and waiting for her to die, so that he can finally achieve the dream of his house.

____
The former avignon pope Benedict XIII, the last of the schismatic popes, died.

>June
The last of the towns of the Somme rebels of d'Harcourt, Le Crotoy, was fully besieged by land and sea by burgundian and english forces.

>July
The Dauphinists planned for a repeat of the campaign last year, going over the Loire eastwards into burgundian lands.
This time it was a little bit more north, targeting the bridges of the Yonne

The Army of Scotland (Earl of Buchan) and french forces under Louis Count of Bourbon-Vendome had gathered a whole 8k

As they besieged the bridge town of Crevant southeast of Auxerre, the only burgundian troops in the area were some 1,5k in Auxerre.

Attached: Johanna 2 Königin von Neapel.jpg (615x740, 444K)

The English responded exactly the same as last year, bringing their free forces under the Earl of Suffolk and the Earl of Salisbury (who took whatever he could spare from the siege of Mont Aquilon) to Auxerre.
So you now had 1,5k Burgundians and 2,5k English, still only half of the french army and just a third of the relief force that had gathered last year in Auxerre (though most of them had been shitty burgundian troops of questionable quality, the english portion is roughly the same)

In the council it was still agreed to march to Cravant, either the French would flee again or at least finally a battle could be provoked.
The Earl of Salisbury got supreme command, as he had shown often enough that he knows what he is doing.

The plan was a bit complicated: they would cross the Yonne to the wrong side, go south towards the bridge near Cravant but not use that one, as it was surely guarded, but recross at a nearby ford to hit the french siege army from the flank.

But once they came there, it appeared they had severly underestimated the French: Buchan had broken up the siege, but did not flee this time, just placed his army on the bridge and ford.
Both troops, the french (8k) and anglo-burgundian (4k) faced each other across the river the whole day.

As it became late afternoon finally the English moved, they really wanted that damn battle.
So their forces began to cross the ford, covered by their archers. The crossing was in some way a contest of archery where obviously the Anglos had the upper hand, so they reached the other shore.

Attached: Salute 2013 12.jpg (850x538, 239K)

Attached: salute-2013-007.jpg (4320x3240, 821K)

But what decided the battle was a cavalry attack at the same time. Cavalry was supposed to be the core of any medieval army but never really played much of a role in the english victories (besides Tours), but this time it truly shone, as they pushed their way across the bridge and cut the French in two.

The Count of Vendome was captured, soon enough the scottish Earl of Buchan as well, and the French saw the battle lost and fled.
Sadly, the Scots were more heroic, they stood their place and were crushed by the enemy.

The Battle of Cravant was the revenge for the Bauge defeat that the Anglos always wanted, the Army of Scotland was destroyed and the majority of the dauphinist army eliminated, as they suffered 4k killed and 2k captured.
The Anglo-Burgundians themself though also lost 2/5 of their army with 1,6k killed.

The Earl of Buchan would be just weeks later released again, which seemed curious as he was the only general who ever defeated the English and was fighting against the direct orders of his own king.
But the English wanted peace with Scottland and so not execute the brother of the still-regent. Either way, Buchan and what had survived of his sub-commanders all left for Scottland.

(The burgundian commander during the Cravant fight was captured some months later during an ambush and then exchanged for Vendome-Bourbon)

>August
The Earl of Suffolk took command of burgundian troops and secured the southern flank of the Duchy of Burgundy towards Lyon, finally fully protecting these corelands, (though Lyon itself remained dauphinist)

The Earl of Salisbury returned to his siege of Mont Aquilon, which surrendered soon after.

Attached: salute-2013-009.jpg (4320x3240, 741K)

Attached: 800px-Cravant_3.jpg (640x382, 123K)

>September
The fighting on the Maine/Alencon/Normandy border had been dominated by raids and counter-raids with little actual fighting and lots of destruction.

John de La Pole, brother of the Earl of Suffolk and commander of Avranches, had made one of the usual longrange raids, deep into Anjou, which was pretty successfull and captured a large herd of cattle.

The commander of the city of Angers (the Count of Aumale) and of the fortress of St-Suzanne (Ambroise de Lore) nearby, united their troops with everything that could be found to bear arms in Anjou and with up to 6k moved to cut up the slow english retreat back into Normandy.

At the Battle of Brossiniere the french forces fell frontally and from the back at the english collumn (2,8k), which reacted fast and well, repulsing these attacks.
But the collumn was just too long and had captured too much loot and while in front and back it fought, it had no way to protect its flanks, which was hit now by french cavalry.

Many of the english army was slaughtered, with 1,5k killed and its commander de La Pole captured.

>Autumn
The Earl of Buchan arrived in Scotland.
He hadnt much of an opinion what his Stewart brother and the Earl of Douglas were doing in regard to free the king and have him return, but he knew for sure that an awesome war was going on which was surely better then dull life in Scottland (sorry, if any scot-anons are reading)

Yes, Cravant was a bloody defeat, but Bauge was a glorious victory, that spred the fame of the scottish prowess throughout europe. Its two sides of the same coin.

Soon enough masses of young Scots and minor nobles streamed to him to help him rebuild the Army of Scottland into an even mightier force.

Even the old Earl of Douglas, who had fought way back at Homildon Hill on the last english-scottish war and at the Percy Rebellion; and who had initially assumed to lead the scottish armies in France, agreed to come this time with Buchan.

Attached: johndelapole.gif (176x195, 8K)

>October
Jacques d'Harcourt agreed to have his Le Crotoy surrender in half a year unless a relief force comes.
The siege was thus ended and he himself was free to leave.

He travelled as hero back to the Loire territories, knowing full well that no relief force will ever come all the way to the north to the Somme.

The first things he did was trying to pursue some rebel castles in Poitou to accept the dauphinist authority, only to have the drawbridge raised when he was on it and be crushed to death.

What a shitty end. Services him right for abandoning his hometown

>Winter
Rampaging companies took the Oise towns of Beaumont and Compiegne for a while, before being driven out again by the English and Burgundians.

Another of these companies, this time nominally for the burgundian party, took the Loire bridgetown of La Charite, reversing the only success of the dauphinist side last year.

>1424
>February
The regency council agreed to free James I of Scotland for 40k sterling.
But before he left, he was married to the sister of the Beaufort Earl of Somerset (and a niece of Bishop Beaufort and Duke of Exeter, if someone cares about these genealogic connections), who was btw still imprisoned since the Battle of Bauge and will remain so for a long time.

>Spring
Fresh troops from England, and some new money arrived in Calais.

Part of them would be used to target a row of castles along the norman borders, the other part to support John of Luxembourg in his attempt to bring down Guise.

>March
As agreed and leaderless now, Le Crotoy surrendered, ending the Somme theatre.

___
The Guise garrison of Xaintrailles had plundered like usually, when they were ambushed and destroyed by John of Luxembourg (Xaintrailles was freed on a ransom as long as he fucks off down to the Loire)

The town of Guise could now be besieged.

Attached: Le_Crotoy.jpg (800x572, 114K)

>April
Just weeks apart two fleets arrive and leave Scotland.

The new Army of Scotland, some 6,5k well supplied and armed men, under the Earl of Buchan and Earl of Douglas, sailed on spanish ships down to the Loire (what the fuck is the english fleet doing all that time? such a gigantic transport fleet is hard to miss)

At the same time James I finally came back after long captivity of 18 years, resuming for the first time the royal authority.

____
Some week later the spanish fleet arrived in La Rochelle and disembarked the Army of Scotland.

It was personally reviewed by the Dauphin, who confirmed the Earl of Buchan as Constable (finally a new one after the Count of Albret had fallen at Agincourt and after him the Count of Armagnac lynched in Paris)
The Earl of Douglas was raised to be Duke of Touraine and given the towns of Loches and Tours, it was the first time that a foreigner was given a ducal title by the French.

The dauphinist administration had also been busy, raising troops and money for large-scale campaigning.
Good times were ahead.

>June
The town of Ivry on the Eure, south of Rouen, had slipped out of control and is now besieged by the English, who though became pretty worried, that a large dauphinist campaign was imminent and they should be somewhere else.

In fact, the french strategy was to raise the siege of Ivry and then use the town to hit the southern belly of Normandy.

Attached: -John_Stewart,_3rd_Earl_of_Buchan.jpg (800x1027, 214K)

>August
The Army of Scotland (Douglas, Buchan) united with the senior french military leaders (Count of Aumale, Viscount of Narbonne, the Duke of Alencon [whose father had raised it to a duchy and had a prominent role in the french civil wars until killed at Agincourt, his son now is old enough to serve as one of the few senior nobles the dauphinist cause])
Many of the lesser nobles and commanders of the garrisons and forts along the frontlines, as well as spanish and italian mercenaries, especially with new impressive full-plate cavalry, joined this massive army growing to 14k

We now had some sort of all-star assemble of the pathetic dauphinist times. Not exactly the gathering of the high nobility of Crecy or Agincourt, but still the best and brightest that remained.

(Does that count as spoiler? Do I make it too obvious how all of that will end?)

___
But while the army was getting ready and moved slowly on, Ivry surrendered after a siege of three months to Bedford who had personally joined the army.
He was also bringing together everything that could be armed, hoping to have something at hand to stop the french tide.

With the news of the fall of Ivry, the french strategy was obsolete. Some argued to end the campaign and return to the Loire, others to capture some castles and fortresses themselfs, now that they had a large army going. The last one was obviously the better choice.

Southeast of Ivry the french army as a first step stormed the town of Verneuil, but before they got to decide on further targets they were informed that the English were actually coming down to attack them.

That was unexpected, but still great news.

Attached: verneuil 1.png (251x325, 148K)

North of the town the army (14k) formed itself in two divisions, the french troops (Narbonne) on the left and the Army of Scotland (Buchan, Douglas) on the right, with the Count of Aumale sort of as supreme commander, which did not work as nobody gave a fuck about him.

The English (8k), approaching the battlefield, also parted in two, the regent Duke of Bedford facing the French and the Earl of Salisbury the Scots, with a small force as reserve to protect the baggage.

The Battle of Verneuil was started as Bedford with the strongest part of his army moved first. This triggered a french reaction but without coordination with the Scots, as practically two battles were going on at the same time.

As a bloody french-english struggle ensued, the lombard heavy cavalry on their flank launched a picture book attack of fully plate-covered rape, thrusting frontally into the english archers and plowing through them as their arrows could hardly penetrate.
Having pirced through the whole frontline, they fell upon the baggage and plundered the shit out of it.

At that time also the Scots and Salisburys division engaged each other, but the English were hardpressed and slowly losing.

The opposite happened on the other side, with the cavalry not returning to the battlefield, Bedford won his fight, and at last Narbonne and Aumale were driven back as this battle turned into a rout, both of them drowned in the ensuing panic.

Behind the English, their reserve had handled the cavalry that from both sides had fallen upon the baggage and with them driven away, could help Salisbury by falling into the flank of the Army of Scotland, preventing for the moment the defeat of Salisbury.

At this normally the battle would have ended in a draw, as both sides won in one half and lost the other, or a small english victory if the Scots would retreat.

Attached: 091121_7030 _02.jpg (460x406, 32K)

But the Duke of Bedford had gathered his victorious troops and -which was pretty unusual for medieval battles- led them back to the battlefield, falling directly into the rear of the now fully surrounded Army of Scotland, slaughtering them at will.

And so the Battle of Verneuil ended as overwhelming english victory.

The English lost 1,6k, among them many of their best troops and many knights, but caused 7,3k killed (among them the Viscount of Narbonne, the Count of Aumale, the Earls of Douglas and Buchan), with much of the rest of the leaders captured (the young Duke of Alencon, his half-brother the Bastard of Alencon, Lafayette from the Bauge battle)
The Army of Scotland was almost completely wiped out.

Verneuil was the second-largest and second-most bloody battle of the whole 100 Years Wars, only surpassed by Crecy.

That is why its a bit strange, that it is rather unknown and not counted among the big three english victories.
One of the reasons might be that the English also suffered a lot, that their archers were properly raped, that no major nobles or kings were present at the french army and it had no drastic aftermaths.

Still, any bit of enthusiasm on the french side, any optimism that the war would turn, that the English can be defeated in major battles and that maybe just maybe things might looking a bit more sunny in the future were brutally crushed

Attached: 6a0147e0fd1b4a970b01b7c7a969e4970b.png (1205x1073, 64K)

In the next days there were consolidations among the english leaders how to use the Verneuil victory; there was talk of a major campaign on or across the Loire or to fully capture Maine and Anjou.
But in the end the methodically, step-for-step approach of Henry V was continued.

Rightly or wrongly? Should the English have launched a campaign against Angers, Tours, Orleans, Poitiers, Bourges? Was this the missed opportunity to end the war?

Or would it just have invited a disastrous outcome, especially with the English also very much weakened by the battle?

I personally would take the careful approach, but someone like Napoleon would probably laugh at how the Anglos threw away a possible decisive victory.

Last thing:
The battle had an unexpected effect in Scotland.
With Buchan dead, his title and lands should fall to his brother, the duke of Albany, but the just returned James I refused that and kept it as senior Stewart line for himself, which led to a break with his Albany cousins and a confrontation about who would be the ultimate power in Scotland.

Attached: Salute 2011 - Battle of Verneuil.jpg (500x375, 47K)

(no agincourt or crecy style paintings for that one)

Attached: La bataille de Verneuil, par Martial d'Auvergne.jpg (482x335, 214K)

A clarance A clarance

>September
Besieged Guise capitulated, removing the last of the larger enemy garrisons in northern France.

Its a bit unclear, who would held Guise, as it was captured by John of Luxembourg (from a far-away branch of the german Luxembourgs who at the moment ruled the HRE, Hungary and Germany) who kept it for himself.
But the official Count of Guise would be the Duke of Bar, which was right now the brother of Louis III of Anjou, Rene, who also had married into the Lorraine house.

>October
For John V of Brittany the outcome of Verneuil was unwelcome news, as it now for the first time looked possible that Plantagenet France might crush its southern rivals.

He thus changed over to a more neutral course again.
He himself met with the Duke of Burgundy to ask his opinion (and keep the promise of Amiens that both sides would coordinate their relations regarding the Dauphinists), while his brother Arthur de Richemont met the Dauphin at Angers to offer to change sides.

At both meetings there were agreements: Philip of Burgundy did not care about Brittany becoming neutral, as long as it would not directly join the dauphinist side.
At the same time, he urged the Bretons to press for the removal of the current dauphinist advisers, who he made (rightfully) responsible for the murder of his father John the Fearless.

At Amiens, Richemont made clear how disappointed he was that the Anglo did not value his own military genius, so if he went to the french side, he wanted some sort of surpreme command.

Well, the Constable Buchan is dead, so Richemont can have the Constable position.

__
Humphrey of Gloucester arrived with 5k english troops at Calais.
Everyone was happy to hit the defenseless Dauphinists.

Until the Duke corrected them that he did not care for the 100YW, he revealed that he had married Jacqueline of Hainault and would now secure her rights there against the Burgundians and Brabanters

W
T
F

Attached: John V, Duke of Brittany, Grand armorial équestre de la Toison d'or.jpg (436x629, 105K)

>October
In the last days of the month Humphreys brother John of Bedford met with the Duke of Burgundy at Paris to discuss the Hainault crisis.

No, he also did not know what his retarded brother was doing.
No, of course it did not mean the end of the english-burgundian alliance.
Yes, he will try to mediate

The Duke of Brabant invited any mediation by Bedford, the Duke of Gloucester told his brother to fuck off.

>December
Arriving in Hainault, all the towns that were already way on her side, declared for the Countess and against the weak Duke of Brabant.
Bouchain, Mons and Valenciennes opened their gates.

>1425
>January
Remember how the Lancaster dynasty skipped the Mortimer claim to the throne?

The last of that line, Edmund Mortimer (33), Earl of March, died now young without children or brothers.
He had left a sister though, who had married the brother of the 2nd Duke of York (who was killed at Agincourt without children), so her young child, the current (3.) Duke of York would inherit much of the March lands and titles, but also some might point out that the York line -on itself on the same standing as the Lancaster line- would now have a more superior claim to the throne.

No way that will ever become relevant in the future, right?

Attached: Arms_of_Duke_of_York.png (410x478, 160K)

>February
Open warfare had broken out in Hainault between the hainaultian/english forces and brabantian troops led by the active brother of the Duke of Brabant, Philip of St Pol.

The Duke of Burgundy made clear that either the fighting stops right now or he will intervene immediately against the English.
Well, someone said as joke, that they should do a single combat between the Dukes of Burgundy and Gloucester for who was the right husband of the Duchess, and that was taken up by both sides and would be held in autumn.

At that time also the bavarian Duke of Holland died, who was the rival claimant there against the Countess, so this raised the stakes even more
(Holland was not as super-important as it will become next century, but still a perfect acquisition for the growing burgundian state in the Low Countries)

>March
Gloucester returned to England, where he was harshly reprimanded by the regency council.
At this time also his half-uncle Bishop Beaufort took over much of the leadership of the council, that should have been Gloucesters role.

In the next months several messages came from the Pope, making it extremely clear that this was a pointless conflict as the marriage of Jacqueline to Brabant had never been annulled and never will be

___
Not even a year after being back, James I of Scotland broke the power of his Albany cousins.

Murdock, the Duke of Albany and all his relatives were arrested and executed and his partisan rebellions crushed.

He was also aided by the fact that the other powerbase in Scotland, the Douglases, were heavily weakened by the Verneuil disaster, and James I could now build a strong centralized monarchy

Attached: King_James_I_of_Scotland.jpg (540x669, 138K)

>March
Arthur de Richemont was confirmed as Constable and assumed a leading military and political role at the dauphinist court, allied with Yolande of Aragon, who did not care about his vanity but rather to bring Brittany to her side.

As agreed, the Dauphin was forced during the summer to dismiss Tanneguy du Chatel, Jean Louvers and other leading advisers, who had saved the Dauphin from the paris massacres and build his power on the Loire.

The Dauphin was very much distressed by this as he strongly felt for these guys, but he was pressed by Yolande.
That was also the end of the public career for Tanneguy, who had been a central figure in the civil wars and the dauphinist/armagnacian party.

>May
With Burgundy throwing its weight behind its Brabant branch and the English stepping aside, most of the Hainault towns accepted the brabantian authority, leaving an increasingly desperate Countess at Mons.

>June
English-Breton relations broke down over the 'neutrality' of Brittany.

The English openly threatened with war.

As response a breton fleet, acting officially independent of ducal authority, sailed to the besieged island fortress of Mont St-Michel on the breton-norman border and defeated the english ships around.

This was a very welcomed development, because the island was on the verge of surrendering, as all its commanders had been killed at Verneuil.
The English were for the moment forced to raise the siege and the island was resupplied (though the siege would soon come back)

Attached: hard to besiege i guess.jpg (960x640, 88K)

>June
Mons betrayed her Countess and delivered Jacqueline to the Burgundians, who took her to Ghent to lead a peaceful and prosperous life there, as her 'husband' the Duke of Brabant would now rule Hainault.

>August
Salisbury attacked the capital of Maine, La Mans, which was defended by the commander of the nearby castle St-Suzanne, Ambroise de Lore.

After 20 days of siege the city fell to the English, as they finally could reap some fruits from their Verneuil victory.

>September
Lore had retreated to his St-Suzanne, but in his weakened state, the castle was stormed.

The front now pressed deep into Maine province.
Step by step in the next months the various castles and towns were taken by Salisbury, while the Duke of Bedford assumed the title of Count of Maine and Duke of Anjou.

_______
Charles III of Navarre (64) died without male issues, but two daughters.

With him died out the Evreux branch, whose first count had been the brother of the Count of Valois. Had he been born a few years earlier, the Evreux would have succeeded as french kings.

Practically all norman lands had been lost during the times of Charles the Bad, and the town of Evreux exchanged for Nemours, raised to a duchy.

Charles oldest daughter, married to a brother of the King of Aragon, would become Queen of Navarre. She also demanded to be Duchess of Nemours, but that went to her younger sister, married to James II of La Marche (who would also only have a daughter, so the Nemours ducal title would wander further to an armagnacian branch in the future)

________
Having arrived just recently in Ghent, Jacqueline of not-anymore-Hainault fled again to Holland, to at least rule there in peace.

Philip of Burgundy naturally was not amused and declared war on Holland.

Attached: Sainte-Suzanne location map Mayenne.jpg (657x443, 171K)

>September
The Count of Clermont, heir to the imprisoned Duke of Bourbon, married in Paris a sister of the Duke of Burgundy and asked on that occasion, why the English and Burgundians were fighting over something so irrelevant (to the English) like Hainault.

He had a point, so Bedford forbid the personal combat of his brother, who was sulking and did not care anymore, he also withdrew from the regency council in protest.
(he had no luck with his future choice of wifes, as his next one was condemned for sorcery and imprisoned for life)

>November
A sortie from newly besieged Mont St-Michel killed many of the besiegers, but could not break the siege.

>December
Conflict was brewing in England and you obviously cant have that, just as it looked better again for the Plantagenet side in France.

So the Duke of Bedford returned to London to settle the disputes and have everyone focus on the fucking war.

_______
Lastly, another look at southern french policies.

The dauphinist administration finally gave in and nominated the Count of Foix as Lieutnant of Languedoc, his brother as governeur of the Dauphine and this removed the constant threat of a southern front.

On the other hand the Count of Armagnac, who already had lost Comminges to Foix in the previous decade, had always hoped to profit from the downfall of the Foix clan.

He was now so pissed, that he declared, that the County of Armagnac was not a french fief anymore but rather a spanish one.
Okay.

>1426
>January
The English had enough of the breton treachery and them sabotaging their siege of St-Michel.

An english force of 700 launched a good old chevauchee into Brittany, reaching Rennes, before returning to the small castle of St-James-de-Beuvron

Attached: domaines de la maison darmagnac au xv siecle.jpg (1280x690, 446K)

>January
Gloucester had ordered -before he abandoned his 'wife'- some 1,200 english reinforcements to her towards Holland and Zeeland.

As a burgundian army was landing at Brouvershaven in Zeeland, these english archers came to prevent him advancing inland, but were driven back by burgundian cavalry.
After the defeat of the English, the burgundian army defeated the Zeeland militia (4k including those english archers) who were now open to attack.

With the military victories, the hollandish towns -always opposed to the nobles- went over to the Burgundians.

>February
Arthur de Richemont had raised a large feudal breton army, with which he attacked St-James to revenge the plundering and him being snubbed by them when he was on their side.

>March
While the Duke of Suffolk had raised a relief force for St-James, the defenders decided they cant wait for that and launched a successful sortie, while others of them sneaked out and into the siege camps and then raised hell.

The Bretons did not knew what was happening, total panic broke out, as the far superior siege army retreated from St-James and dissolved.

And that is why the Anglos did not want you as commander, Arthur.

When Suffolk reached St-James the next week or so, he united with the English there and took the breton border town of Dole.

Duke John V offered a three month truce to end the english-breton conflict, which was agreed.

>May
In the Parliament of Bats (as people came armed with bats) in the town of Leicester, Bishop Beaufort agreed to step down as chancellor in a gesture towards Gloucester, but his replacement was the Archbishop of York and a follower of Beaufort.

Still, this resolved the tensions in english politics at home, as Gloucester returned to the council and the Bishop Beaufort would submerge himself in church politics abroad, especially the still raging Hussite conflict.

Attached: normandy grows larger.png (479x463, 71K)

>August
The Duke of Bedford could return to Paris, he also fully reconciled with Burgundy, where he supported their position in the Hainault-Holland mess.

Burgundy can have the Low Countries.
The English take France.
Everyone was happy.

>December
Thomas Beaufort, the Duke of Exeter (49) died.
He had been the brother of the Bishop, a former chancellor and leading figure in the earlier conquests of Henry V, but taking it more slowly the last years.

He had no children, and his brother Bishop Beaufort obviously wont have any either; so the only ones to continue the Beaufort branch of the Lancasters would be the Earls of Somerset.

>1427
>February

At the dauphinist court there were essentially three central figures, the intrigant and highly corrupt head of council Giac, who was the only one of these advisers linked to the murder of John the Fearless left; the Constable Arthur de Richemont and as new rising figure Georges de la Tremouille, a minor noble who married the right woman, who soon after suspiciously died and began to gather wealth and influence.

Together, Tremouille and Richemont united to finally get rid of Giac, arresting him and drowning him in the Loire.
His rich widow naturally married Tremouille.

During the summer the two went further and dismissed the harmless but beloved Grand Chamberlain, again with his role going over to Tremouille.

It was then, that Richemont began to question his choice of maybe making that guy a bit too powerfull.

Attached: GeorgesdelaTremoille.jpg (674x688, 118K)

>February
Bishop Beauford, was given for a second time a cardinal title, as well as the position of Papal Legate for Germany, Hungary and Bohemia.
As that he was put in charge of organizing a Fourth Hussite Crusade, which he planned to include english longbow archers and to imitate the hussite wagonburg tactics.

It was also helped that the primary hussite leader Zizka had died two years ago, so chances stood good to end the heresy this time.

>April
Duke John IV of Brabant (23) died as weak and inefficient ruler, he was followed by his more competent brother Philip of St-Pol.

St-Pol made it immediately clear, that he wont rise any demands to the heritage rights of his brother to Holland or Hainault, but hoped in turn, that his cousin Philip of Burgundy might leave Brabant alone.

>May
The major norman-breton border fortress of Pontorson was besieged by the Earl of Warwick and was on the verge of falling.
It was together with Mont St-Michel the only two places left, so the garrison of the island tried to fall into the back of the besiegers, but were beaten back.

Soon after Pontorson capitulated.

>Summer
The peace with Brittany had been extended and now its Duke John V finally resolved the conflict by accepting the Plantagenet dynasty as rightful french rulers.

He would keep his duchy neutral though, but that is something that Bedford can live with.
Afterall, it freed up further english troops.

>July
The next target was on the other end of France, as the Earls of Warwick, Suffolk and his brother de La Pole were ordered over to the Nemours region, to besiege Montargis, a strategically placed town at the confluence of three rivers.

But because of the rivers it was hard to besiege and the three leaders had to establish independent camps.

Attached: border land.png (267x135, 64K)

>August
In Tachov in western Bohemia a major crusader host of up to 20k met the united strenght of the hussite armies.

As said, under Beaufort they tried to use wagonburgs, but rather inefficiently and when the Hussites attacked, panic broke out as everyone fled with large losses.

The Battle of Tachov was the end point of 8 years of war and four crusades and of any active attempts to defeat the hussite heresy by military means.

In the next years it would be the Hussites who launched chevauchees deep into Germany.

>September
The bastard half-brother of the Duke of Orleans [and later Count of Dunois], just being 25 years old, had in some way took over the administration and especially the defense of the Orleans lands.

Against much doubts, he pressed for a relief effort for Montargis, because otherwise the war would come dangerously close to the core orleanist lands.

Gathering many of the free captains and mercenaries under him (among them La Hire and Xaintrailles), he got an army of 1,6k running and marched to Montargis.

Here he could exploit that the besiegers were split up, by destroying the camp of de La Pole and attacking the camp of Warwick.
At the end of the day the English had lost 500 killed and 600 captured and Warwick decided to raise the siege.

It was one of these rare successes for the dauphinist party.

>Autumn
The news of the english reversal at Montargis led to a wave of uprisings across the thinly-garrisoned regions of occupied Maine; the most spectacular was when citizens of the capital of Le Mans opened the gates to their former lords.
The Duke of Bedford, the Regent, had been in the town on his way back from the breton negotiations and could barely escape.

In the next weeks the english reaction, under John Talbot, pacified Maine again, including Le Mans.

>November
The Duke of Burgundy was preparing a final campaign into Holland, but his enemies saw that their time was up and opened peace negotiations to end the conflict.

Attached: Papal legate Henry Beaufort trying to halt fleeing crusaders after the battle.jpg (300x460, 85K)

>November
The english Parliament and the regency council -with peace at home now- promised to get a large grant of money and fresh troops ready, for a large-scale campaign to finally get the war ended by either conquest or forcing the dauphinist side into negotiations.

>December
Thomas Beaufort, the brother of the Earl of Somerset, was freed after being captured at Bauge and made Count of Perche.

The French offered to also free his brother, but they wanted to get talks about the release of their own prisoners started: the Orleans brothers, the Duke of Bourbon, the Artois Count of Eu; all of them are still in prison since Agincourt.

The English refused to free anyone of them, unless the French accept the Plantagenet dynasty.
So, no larger prisoner exchange.

>1428
>March
John Talbot with an english troop had sneaked across the lines into Anjou and surprised the main city of Laval, entering it at night with ladders and taking it over.

This not only got them another nice town and pushed the frontlines down into Anjou, it also was a rich city and its commander, Andre de Loheac, came from the most wealthy family of the region, so everyone got rich from the plunder and ransom.

>July
The Reconciliation of Delft is signed between the Countess Jacqueline and the Duke of Burgundy.

The Countess had to confess that there was never any marriage with Humphrey of Lancaster and can keep her titles in Holland, Zeeland and Hainault.
In truth though all these territories were ruled by the Burgundians now and unless she got any kids, they would fully fall to the Duke of Burgundy.

As it went, she retreated from public life and was impoverished and against a nice pension she sold her rights even earlier, 5 years from now; dieing 10 years later.

With this the burgundian realm grew a good bit further northwards.

Attached: everyone was happy before the burgundians came.gif (467x574, 18K)

>July
The Cardinal Beaufort returned to England, from the shitty bohemian trip.

He still was now a cardinal, he still had legate powers and that was very much distrusted among the political class, but he would keep playing a central role in english politics.

Attached: Cardinal Beaufort.jpg (371x393, 19K)

>July
In Paris the Earl of Salisbury, who had brought the fresh troops over from England, met with the Duke of Bedford as all the senior leaders discussed the upcoming major campaign, while still not sure, where it even would go.

In the end it boiled down to two choices: Use the recent success at Laval for a full invasion of Anjou, capturing the major towns of Angers and Saumur and so continue the slow push south through Maine and Anjou and hopefully penetrate the Loire.

The other choice was also centered on the Loire, but would rather directly target the river.
The closest it came to the Seine river -the center of Plantagenet France- was on the Paris-Orleans line with Chartres between also already under english control.
So an offensive would be centered around the capture of Orleans and the surrounding river sector.

The second option, favoured by Bedford, was the more risky one but among the french demoralization and infighting it might get a decisive result.
It would open either the way directly down to the Valois capital of Bourges (which is south of Orleans) and the Berry/Blois/Touraine core lands of the Dauphinists.
Or they could go down the Loire from Orleans, capturing Blois, Tours, Saumur and cut off anything above the Loire (Dunois, Anjou, Vendome)

Salisbury had argued for the Anjou campaign, but he was convinced for an Orleans attack.

>July
So, what are the Dauphinists doing?

Civil war of course.

Tensions between Tremoille and Richemont had broken out in open conflict, Yolande of Anjou couldnt handle it anymore, while the Dauphin had almost no presence.

Many of the remaining nobles and military leaders split among the two camps (with Clermont, Marshal Boussac and the armagnacian count of Pardiac pro-Richemont and Bastard of Orleans pro-Tremoille)

Attached: what will it be.png (1005x895, 457K)

Thats it, I'm too tired and the Loire campaign is a good ending point.

It will be a pure rapeparty as french defenses are non existent, the only attempt to try to stop the English will be -like always- defeated, the Loire breached on a broad front and the Dauphin is ready to give up his lands and flee, meaning that the 100YW might be coming slooooowly to a close.

Of course, when all seemed to be lost some certain a little bit unlikely events will transpire, but thats for the next thread.

It will be either next weekend or the one after. If you are too lazy to check the Veeky Forums catalogues you can use the link in the OP post, if I remember to update it.
There will almost certainly remain two threads for the rest of the war, one for the 30s and one for the 40s-50s (as there is a truce in the middle, not that much will happen)

If there is interest and I find some motivation, I might at some later point continue these threads even after the war ends, following England and France into the rest of the 15th century with the Burgundian Wars, the War of Public Weal, the Breton War and of course above all the Wars of Roses. Not sure though.

Attached: Ax01345.jpg (1500x1119, 264K)

W-when does the frenchs start winning

Attached: images.png (288x175, 6K)

they have given up. They just lost one time too often.

bump

Thanks OP, you are doing Gods work.

Thanks OP

Its waifu time soon

Attached: 1518228676059.jpg (2445x2697, 1.02M)

>the only way to drive back the English is to slap plate armor on a woman and invent the concept of a waifu 6 centuries before Japan does because the only thing the French care about is pussy
What did the frogs mean by this?

Attached: 1450110426174.jpg (1002x1416, 274K)