Battle of La Brossinière

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of La Brossinière
partof=Hundred Years' War


caption=
date= 26 September 1423
place= La Brossinière
result = French victory
territory=
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=
commander2=William de la Pole Thomas Aubourg Thomas Cliffeton
strength1=2 000 soldiers 800 archers
strength2=
casualties1=1 knight, and some others
casualties2=1400 killed
notes=The Battle of La Brossinière or Battle of la Gravelle (French - "la "besoigne" de la Brossinière") was a battle of the Hundred Years' War on 26 September 1423. It occurred at La Brossinière (commune of Bourgon, Mayenne), between the forces of England and France, shortly after hostilities had resumed, following the battle of Agincourt (1415).

Place

The battle was fought on the former "chemin gravelais", or "chemin du Roy" as it was mentioned in 1454, a famous ancient route, built to expedite travel of wheeled vehicles between Anjou and Normandy. [This route crossed Bourgon at the meadow of Le Pavement. It was in fact part of the Chemin de Cocaigne, a Gallo-Roman way restored under the Carolingians, which linked the Cotentin to the Gascogne.]

Prelude

The battle of Agincourt had been particularly damaging for the nobility of the region. After this battle, the English regent John of Lancaster, given the titles of duke of Anjou and comte du Maine, ordered a systematic conquest, though this was not effected without resistance.

At the time of this battle, in September 1423, the English force commanded by William de la Pole, who had returned to Normandy after a pillaging expedition to Anjou and Maine, suffered a crushing defeat. Cousinot reports that "there were great deeds of arms done" ["il y eut de grandes vaillances d'armes faites".] and that the English "were beaten in the field and there were fourteen to fifteen hundred killed" ["furent desconfits au champ et y en eut de quatorze à quinze cent de tuez..."]

William Pole

In the month of September 1423, Lord William de la Pole, brother of the earl of Suffolk, left Normandy with 2000 soldiers and 800 archers to go raiding in Maine and Anjou. He seized Segré, and there mustered a huge collection of loot and a herd of 1,200 bulls and cows, before setting off to return to Normandy, taking hostages as he went.

To avenge the insult

Queen Yolande of Aragon, mother-in-law to Charles VII of France, who was in her town of Angers, had the first thought of avenging the affront and the damage to her county, and gave orders for such a mission to the most valiant of the unlucky French king's partisans, Ambroise de Loré, who had been commander of Sainte-Suzanne since 1422. Knowing that John VIII of Harcourt, count of Aumale and governor of Touraine, Anjou and Maine, was then in Tours and preparing an expedition into Normandy, Amboise despatched a message to Aumale by letter. The governor came in haste to Laval, bringing the troops he had already gathered "and summoning men from all the lands he passed through". ["et manda gens de toutes parts à ce qu'ils se rendissent vers lui ".]

Preparations

The promptest and best-armed response came from the baron of Coulonges, whose services were accepted despite his current disgrace with the governor, who merely enjoined Coulonges not to present himself to him. This whole concentration of force was all gathered together very rapidly. D'Aumale had not yet arrived in Laval on Friday September 24, but set off again as early as the Saturday morning, on his way to take up a position on the road to follow the English, sending scouts to keep an eye on their march and to inform him of it exactly. It was early at the Bourgneuf-la-Forêt, from which he sent word to Anne de Laval at Vitré "to pray her that she would send him the army of her sons, named André of Lohéac, then a young man of twelve years; which she did very willingly, and sent him to accompany it, master Guy XIV de Laval, lord of Mont-Jean, and all the people of the "seigneurie" of Laval, with several other of their vassals that she could recover and bring in promptly from other parts". ["luy prier qu'elle luy voulust envoyer l'aisné de ses fils, nommé André de Lohéac, lors estant jeune d'âge de douze ans ; laquelle le fist très volontiers et luy bailla pour l'accompagner, mestre Guy XIV de Laval, seigneur de Mont-Jean, et tous les gens de la seigneurie de Laval, avec plusieurs autres ses vassaux qu'elle peut recouvrer et avoir promptement d'autre part").]

Aumale then took counsel from the bastard duke of Alençon, the sire de Mont-Jean, Louis of Trémigon and Ambroise of Loré. He appraised them that the English were three leagues off and that they would pass La Brossinière, following the main road from Brittany, the following Sunday morning. [Each gave his opinion; it was concluded that the governor, the bastard of Alençon and Guy de Laval, would proceed on foot and put their troops in line of battle at La Brossinière; while Loré, Trémigon, those that were allowed to join the baron of Coulonges, with their two hundred lances, would go on horseback "besongner sur iceux Anglois ainsi qu'ils verroient à faire" .]

Course of the battle

Two hours after the troops had been drawn up in battle order, the English scouts who were giving chase arrived and met the French skirmishers. The scouts ran them down and forced them to withdraw into the line of battle, where they stood their ground. The English could no longer pursue them, since a massed body of cavalry was in front of them, withdrawing towards the count of Aumale; they could only form an arc when the troops unmasked themselves.

The English, with a long baggage train but marching in good order, dug in strongly behind defences, behind which they could retire in case of cavalry attack. Trémigon, Loré and Coulonges wanted to make an attempt on the defences, but they were too strong; they turned there and bravely attacked the English in the flank, but were broken and cornered in a large ditch. The infantry moved to the front; the convoy of carts, and troops closed up and tried to escape behind; despite their courage, they were unable to withstand for long.

The result was a butchery in which 1,200 to 1,400 men of the English forces perished. The others, including William Pole, Thomas Aubourg and Thomas Cliffeton, fled, though only 120 got away. On the French side, only a single knight was lost, John Le Roux, and "a few others [of no title] " ("peu d'autres"). André of Lohéac, the future marshal, was knighted with several of his companions. The lady of Laval had the dead buried.

The victory was a happy augury for the start of Charles VII's reign, and remains a glorious memory for the French. [Those who took part in the battle vaunted their participation on all occasions and, even fifty years later, their children recalled it as a claim to glory.]

Notes

References

*"This page is a translation of ."
* Cousinot : "Chroniques de la pucelle". Paris, 1859.
* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9f%C3%A9rence:Dictionnaire_de_la_Mayenne_%28abb%C3%A9_Angot%29 "Bataille de la Brossinière", in Alphonse-Victor Angot, Ferdinand Gaugain, "Dictionnaire historique, topographique et biographique de la Mayenne", Goupil, 1900-1910]
* "La Mayenne des origines à nos jours" . Éditions Bordessoules. 1984.