Battle of Cocherel
| Battle of Cocherel | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Hundred Years' War | |||||||
 Jean de Grailly surrender to Bertrand du Guesclin | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Burgundy Bretagne France |
 Navarre | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Bertrand Du Guesclin |
 Jean de Grailly (POW) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,500 to 3,000 | 5,000 to 6,000 and 300 archers | ||||||
The Battle of Cocherel was a battle fought on 16 May 1364 between the forces of Charles V of France and the forces of Charles II of Navarre (known as Charles the Bad), over the succession to the dukedom of Burgundy. [2] The result was a French victory.
The armies
The king of France's forces were led by Bertrand du Guesclin, though Jean, Count of Auxerre was the highest-ranking noble present. There were knights from Burgundy (f. e. Jean de Vienne), Breton, Picard, Parisian and Gascon people.[2]
The forces of Navarre were commanded by the Gascon chief, Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch and mainly consisted of 800 to 900 knights and 4000 to 5000 soldiers from Normandy, Gascony and England, including 300 English archers.[3] The English and Gascons consisted mainly of routier companies that had been operating in Brittany and Western France.[2]
The battle
The Navarrese army was lined up in three battalions. It took up a defensive position, with the archers forming wedged divisions along the front, as had been a standard tactic for English armies of the period. In the past when the opposing army had advanced then they would be cut to pieces by the archers, however in this battle, du Guesclin managed to break the defensive formation by attacking and then pretending to retreat, which tempted the enemy from their hill in pursuit. A flank attack by du Guesclin's reserve then won the day. [2]
Notes
- ↑ S. H. Cuttler (18 December 2003). The Law of Treason and Treason Trials in Later Medieval France. Cambridge University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-521-52643-2. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 Wagner. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. pp. 102-103
- ↑ André Castelot, Du Guesclin le vainqueur de Cocherel in Vivre au Moyen Âge, Historia Spécial 1996.
References
- Turnbull, Stephen. The Book of the Medieval Knight. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85368-715-3
- Wagner, John A (2006). Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Westport CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32736-X.
Media related to Battle of Cocherel at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 49°04′29″N 1°21′53″E / 49.0747°N 1.3647°E