Gascon campaign of 1345: Difference between revisions

| caption =A battle between French and English armies, as imagined by a contemporary chronicler|alt=A colourful and stylised picture of a late-Medieval battle

| date =1345

| coordinates = <!--Use the {{coord}} template -->

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| combatants_header =

| combatant1 =[[Image:Royal Arms of England (1340-1367).svg|20px]] [[Kingdom of England]]

| combatant3 =

| commander1 =[[File:Arms of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster.svg|20px]] [[Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster|Henry, Earl of Derby]]<br />[[File:Stafford arms.svg|20px]] [[Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford|Ralph, Earl of Stafford]]

The '''Gascon campaign of 1345''' was conducted by [[Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster|Henry, Earl of Derby]], as part of the [[Hundred Years' War]]. The whirlwind campaign took place between August and November 1345 in [[Gascony]], an [[Kingdom of England|English]]-controlled territory in south-west [[Kingdom of France|France]]. Derby, commanding an Anglo-Gascon force, oversaw the first successful English land campaign of the war. He twice defeated large French armies in battle, taking many noble and knightly prisoners. They were ransomed by their captors, greatly enriching Derby and his soldiers in the process. Following this campaign, morale and prestige swung England's way in the border region between English-occupied Gascony and French-ruled territory, providing an influx of taxes and recruits for the English armies. As a result, France's ability to raise tax money and troops from the region was much reduced.

 

 

The French army started to disintegrate: men were unpaid, even unfed; there was a lack of fodder for the horses; desertion was rife; and troops were selling their equipment. John lost heart on hearing of the defeat at Auberoche. The French abandoned all of their ongoing sieges of other Anglo-Gascon garrisons and retreated to Angoulême, where John disbanded his army, possibly because the French had run out of money. Derby moved back to the [[Garonne]] valley, captured the strong and well garrisoned town of [[La Réole]], all of the French outposts downstream of it, and other strong French positions in the area. In November Derby paid off his army and overwintered in La Réole. Various small Anglo-Gascon groups maintained the pressure on the French, capturing several significant fortified places between December 1345 and March 1346.

{{Legend|#FFB6C1|England and English-controlled Guyenne/Gascony in 1330}}]]

 

 

Although Gascony was the cause of the war, Edward was able to spare few resources for it. When an English army had campaigned on the continent earlier in the war it had operated in northern France, causing the Gascons to largely rely on their own resources; they had been hard pressed as a consequence.{{sfn|Fowler|1961|pp=139–140}}{{sfn|Rogers|2004|p=95}} In 1339 the French besieged Bordeaux, even breaking into the city with a large force before they were repulsed.{{sfn|Sumption|1990|pp=273, 275}} Typically the Gascons could field 3,000–6,000 men, the large majority of whom were infantry, although up to two-thirds of them would be tied down in garrisons.{{sfn|Fowler|1961|pp=143–144}}

 

==Campaign==

 

===Plans===

===Exploitation===

[[File:JeanIIdFrance.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|alt=profile of a bearded man with long red hair|{{center|A contemporary portrait of the Duke of Normandy (later King of France)}}]]

 

Derby moved south after his victory, falling back on his communications as winter weather was setting in. He started clearing French fortifications from the border of English territory: the small castle at [[Pellegrue]] surrendered; that at Monségur was stormed. He then moved on the large, strongly fortified town of [[La Réole]]. This occupied a key position on the north bank of the Garonne river, only {{Convert|35|mi|km|0}} from Bordeaux. The town had been English until captured by the French twenty-one years earlier. It had enjoyed considerable autonomy and lucrative trading privileges, which it had lost under the French. After negotiations with Derby, on 8{{nbsp}}November the citizens distracted the large French garrison and opened a gate for the English. The garrison fled to the citadel, which was considered exceptionally strong; the English proceeded to [[Mining (military)|mine]] it.{{sfn|Burne|1999|pp=114–115}} The garrison agreed a provisional surrender; if they were not relieved within five weeks they would leave. They were allowed to communicate this to the Duke of Normandy, but as he had just disbanded his army, and it was anyway mid-winter, there was little he could do. In early January 1346 the garrison left and the English replaced them. The town regained its previous privileges.{{sfn|Fowler|1961|pp=206–207}} Derby spent the rest of the winter there.{{sfn|Sumption|1990|pp=474, 476}}

 

==Aftermath==

In October 1345 Northampton commenced his campaign in northern Brittany, but it fizzled out in a series of failures to capture French-held Breton towns.{{sfn|Sumption|1990|pp=472–473}} The French decided to make their main effort in 1346 against Gascony. A large French army, "enormously superior" to any force Derby could field,{{sfn|Sumption|1990|pp=485–486}} assembled early in the campaigning season under the Duke of Normandy and marched up the Garonne valley.{{sfn|Burne|1999|p=118}} Their plan was to retake La Réole; to ensure their lines of supply they first had to retake Aiguillon.{{sfn|Fowler|1961|p=232}} Stafford, in charge of Aiguillon's Anglo-Gascon garrison of 900 men, withstood an [[Siege of Aiguillon|eight-month siege]]. Derby concentrated the main Anglo-Gascon force at La Réole, as a threat, and ensured that the French were never able to fully blockade the town.{{sfn|Sumption|1990|p=496}}{{sfn|Gribit|2016|p=138}}{{sfn|Wagner|2006|p=3}} They found that their own supply lines were seriously harassed.{{sfn|Wagner|2006|p=3}}

 

 

==Notes, citations and sources==

===Sources===

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

* {{cite book

|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11952/11952-h/11952-h.htm

|publisher=D. Estes and C.E. Lauriat

|access-date=6 December 2018

{{refend}}

 

[[Category:Conflicts in 1345]]

[[Category:14th-century military history of the Kingdom of England]]