Battle of Beaugency (1429)

Battle of Beaugency
Part of the Hundred Years' War
An aerial view of Beaugency as it stands today. English defenders retreated into the tower at the upper right.
Date 16–17 June 1429 Location Beaugency, France Result French victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of France	Kingdom of England
Commanders and leaders
Joan of Arc, John II of Alençon	John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury

The Battle of Beaugency took place on 16 and 17 June 1429. It was one of Joan of Arc's battles. Shortly after relieving the siege at Orléans, French forces recaptured the neighboring district along the Loire river. This campaign was the first sustained French offensive in a generation during the Hundred Years' War.

Beaugency was a small town on the northern bank of the Loire river in central France. It controlled a bridge of strategic significance during the latter part of the war. Conquered by the English a few years earlier as a staging point for a planned invasion of southern France, the French attack recaptured the bridge and the town, providing a vital supply conduit for the summer offensive in the north and the coronation of King Charles VII of France.

The French Loire campaign of 1429 consisted of five actions:

Virtually all of France north of the Loire had fallen to foreign occupation by the end of 1428. The bridge at Orléans had been destroyed shortly before the siege lifted. The French had lost control of all other river crossings. Three swift and numerically small battles at Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, and Beaugency demonstrated renewed French confidence and laid the groundwork for subsequent French offenses on Rheims and Paris. The Loire campaign killed, captured, or disgraced a majority of the top tier of English commanders and decimated the numbers of the highly skilled English longbowmen.

French recruitment swelled following the victory at Orléans. During the assault on Beaugency one volunteer caused a particular stir among the French command. Constable Arthur de Richemont, who had been in disgrace at court for two years, appeared with a force of 1000 men and offered his services. At the risk of royal disfavor Joan of Arc accepted this aid.

Joan of Arc and Duke John II of Alençon controlled a force that included the captains Jean d'Orléans, Gilles de Rais, Jean Poton de Xaintrailles, and La Hire. John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury led the English defence. Breaking with the then-prevalent form of siege warfare, the French army followed the capture of the bridge at Meung-sur-Loire on the 15 June, not with an attack on that town or its castle but with an assault on neighbouring Beaugency the next day.

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