Battle of Formigny

The Battle of Formigny by Martial d'Auvergne

Date	15 April 1450
Location	Formigny, Normandy, France
Result	Decisive French victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of France

Duchy of Brittany

Kingdom of England

Commanders and leaders

Charles de Clermont

Arthur III, Duke of Brittany

Thomas Kyriell (POW)

Strength

3,000 French
1,200–2,000 Bretons
(reinforcements)

4,000–5,000

Casualties and losses

500–1,000 killed

2,000–3,754 killed
900–1,400 captured

The Battle of Formigny, fought on 15 April 1450, was a major battle of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The destruction of England's last army in Normandy in the battle and the decisive French victory paved the way for the capture of the remaining English strongholds in Normandy.

The French, under Charles VII, had taken the time offered by the Treaty of Tours in 1444 to reorganize and reinvigorate their armies. The English, without clear leadership from the weak Henry VI, were scattered and dangerously weak. When the French broke the truce in June 1449 they were in a much improved position. Pont-Audemer, Pont-L'Evêque and Lisieux fell in August and much of Normandy was retaken by October. Cutting north and east the Bureau brothers oversaw the capture of Rouen (October 1449), Harfleur (December 1449), Honfleur and Fresnoy (January 1450), before moving on to invade Caen.

The English had gathered a small army during the winter of 1449. Numbering around 3,400 men, it was dispatched from Portsmouth to Cherbourg under the command of Sir Thomas Kyriell. Upon landing on 15 March 1450, Kyriell's army was reinforced by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and lieutenant general of Normandy with forces drawn from Norman garrisons under Sir Matthew Gough, Sir Robert de Vere and Sir Henry Norbury.

Kyriell advanced south, laying siege to Valognes, which blocked Cherbourg from the rest of the Cotentin peninsula. Valognes fell on 27 March after a short siege and Kyriell continued his advance toward French-held Carentan.

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