Battle of Cravant

Date	31 July 1423
Location	Near Cravant, France
Result	Anglo-Burgundian victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury

John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan (POW)

Louis, Count of Vendôme

Strength

4,000

8,000

Casualties and losses

Around 1600

6,000

The Battle of Cravant was fought on 31 July 1423, during the Hundred Years' War between English and French forces at the village of Cravant in Burgundy, at a bridge and ford on the banks of the river Yonne, a left-bank tributary of the Seine, southeast of Auxerre. The battle ended in a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies.

After the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, the English king was permitted to occupy all the country north of the Loire. In 1422, with Henry V suddenly dead and an infant King Henry VI of England, hostilities recommenced.

In the early summer of 1423, the French Dauphin Charles assembled an army at Bourges intending to invade Burgundian territory. This French army contained a large number of Scots under John Stewart of Darnley, who was commanding the entire mixed force, as well as Spanish and Lombard mercenaries. This army besieged the town of Cravant. The garrison of Cravant requested help from the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, who raised troops and in turn sought support from Burgundy's English allies, which was forthcoming. The two allied armies, one English, one Burgundian, rendezvoused at Auxerre on 29 July.

The allied commanders held a council of war in Auxerre Cathedral on the evening of 29 July. This led to the drafting an order of battle, covering a mixture of tactical and disciplinary matters. The army was clearly intending to fight a dismounted action, with horses taken to the rear, and archers were to prepare anti-cavalry stakes. That night the army was ordered to pray for victory. The march was to begin at 10 o'clock the following morning.

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Wikipedia