Battle of Taillebourg

The Battle of Taillebourg won by Saint Louis, by Eugène Delacroix (Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles)

Date	21 July 1242
Location	Taillebourg, Charente-Maritime (at the bridge over the Charente River)
Result	Decisive Franco-Poitevin victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Strength

est. 4,000

est. 12,300

The Battle of Taillebourg was a 1242 battle between the Capetian troops of Louis IX and his brother Alphonse of Poitiers, and the rebel followers of Hugh X of Lusignan and Henry III of England. It was fought over the bridge built over the Charente River, a point of strategic importance on the route between northern and southern France. The battle resulted in a decisive victory for the French, and the end to the Poitevin revolt.

The origin of this episode of the predecessor to the Hundred Years War, fought between France and England, was in the revolt of a Poitevin baron, Hugh X, lord of Lusignan. Lusignan had a long tradition of autonomy in the heart of Aquitaine, far from the successive capitals of the kingdoms of France and England, since having been attached to the kingdom of England with the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine with the English king. It was therefore to avoid the mistrust of the Poitevin barons with regard to a recent change in suzerainty (Poitou had been attached to the crown in 1214, at the peace of Chinon), and to make a home for his younger son Alphonse, that Louis VIII (‘the Lion’) had given Poitou in prerogative to Alphonse of Poitiers. This prince had been just 6 years old at the death of his father in 1226, and was therefore, like his elder brother Louis IX (Saint Louis), placed under the regency of his mother Blanche of Castile at the time.

Alphonse was not allowed to take possession of his fiefdom until the age of 18 years, which he did in 1240. On that occasion, he received the homage of the lords of the province, given even by the most powerful of them, Hugh de Lusignan. Hugh possessed several lands in Poitou, apart from his family stronghold, including the castle of Montreuil-Bonnin and, above all, the County of Marche.

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