| Chevauchée of the Black Prince (1355) Grande chevauchée | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofHundred Years' War | |||||||
 A medieval town under assault. A miniature from a chronicle byJean Froissart | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg) Kingdom of England | .svg) Kingdom of France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Edward, the Black Prince | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5,000–8,000 | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown, but few | Unknown | ||||||
TheBlack Prince'schevauchée, also known as thegrande chevauchée, was a large-scalemounted raid carried out by an Anglo-Gascon force under the command ofEdward, the Black Prince, between 5 October and 2 December 1355 as a part of theHundred Years' War.John, Count of Armagnac, who commanded the local French forces, avoided battle, and there was little fighting during the campaign.
The Anglo-Gascon force of 4,000–6,000 men marched fromBordeaux in English-heldGascony 300 miles (480 km) toNarbonne and back to Gascony, devastating a wide swathe of French territory andsacking many French towns on the way. While no territory was captured, enormous economic damage was done to France; the modern historianClifford Rogers concluded that "the importance of the economic attrition aspect of thechevauchée can hardly be exaggerated."[1] The English component resumed the offensive after Christmas to great effect, and more than 50 French-held towns or fortifications were captured during the following four months. In August 1356 the Black Prince headed north onanother devastatingchevauchée with 6,000 men; he was intercepted by the main French army, 11,000 strong, and forced to battle atPoitiers, where he decisively defeated the French and captured KingJohn II of France.
Since theNorman Conquest of 1066, English monarchs had held titles and lands within France, the possession of which made themvassals of the kings of France.[2] Following a series of disagreements betweenPhilip VI of France (r. 1328–1350) andEdward III of England (r. 1327–1377), on 24 May 1337 Philip'sGreat Council in Paris agreed that the lands held by Edward III in France should be taken back into Philip's hands on the ground that Edward III was in breach of his obligations as a vassal. This marked the start of theHundred Years' War, which was to last 116 years.[3]
Before the war commenced, at least 1,000 ships a year departedGascony. Among their cargoes were more than 80,000tuns of wine.[4][note 1] The duty levied by the English Crown on wine fromBordeaux, the capital of Gascony, was more than all other customs duties combined and by far the largest source of state income. Bordeaux had a population of more than 50,000, greater than London's,[6] and Bordeaux was possibly richer. However, by this time English Gascony had become so truncated by French encroachments that it relied on imports of food, mostly from England.[7] Any interruptions to regular shipping were liable to starve Gascony and financially cripple England; the French were well aware of this.[8]
Although Gascony was the cause of the war, Edward III was able to spare few resources for its defence, and previously when an English army had campaigned on the continent it had operated in northern France. In most campaigning seasons the Gascons had to rely on their own resources and had been hard-pressed by the French.[9][10] In 1339 the French besieged Bordeaux, the capital of Gascony, even breaking into the city with a strong force before they were repulsed.[11] Typically the Gascons could muster 3,000–6,000 men, the large majority infantry, although up to two-thirds of them would be tied down in garrisons.[12] In July 1346, Edward IIIlanded the main English army inNormandy in northern France. Philip concentrated French forces against this threat and over the following year the Anglo-Gascons were able to push the focus of the fighting away from the heart of Gascony.[13][14][15]
The French port ofCalais fell to the English on 3 August 1347 after aneleven-month siege and shortly after theTruce of Calais was signed.[16] This was partially the result of both countries being financially exhausted.[17] In the same year, theBlack Death reached northern France andsouthern England,[18] resulting in the death of approximately 45 per cent of the population.[19] Fighting continued inPicardy andBrittany, and especially fiercely in south-west France, where the English raided deep into French territory, but no large forces took the field.[20] Negotiations for a permanent peace commenced in 1353 inAvignon under the auspices ofPope Innocent VI and the war died down to skirmishes and small-scale raids.[21] These talks collapsed in early 1355.[22] In April 1355 Edward III andhis council, with the treasury in an unusually favourable financial position, decided to launch offensives that year in both northern France and Gascony.[23][24]John II of France (r. 1350–1364) attempted to strongly garrison his northern towns and fortifications against the expected descent by Edward III, at the same time assembling a field army; he was unable to, largely due to lack of money.[25]
In their 1345 and 1346 Gascon campaigns, the English had pushed the main front back well beyond the borders of Gascony to the north and west, among other things guaranteeing its food supplies and putting the Gascon territory beyond reach of French advances from those directions.[26] Numerous French-held castles and small towns remained within what was nominally English territory, just as the English had outposts deep within French territory.[27] To the immediate south lay theCounty of Armagnac, largely untouched by the war.[28][29] It was the heartland ofJohn, Count of Armagnac, the French King's personal representative in the south west and the most powerful French noble in the region.[28][30] John had long been a proponent of pressing the war against Gascony.[31] He had ignored his orders to keep the truce in 1354, raiding repeatedly intoAgenais and besieging several important towns, albeit unsuccessfully.[31][32] In spring 1355 he again made unsuccessful attempts to capture English-held towns.[28] Frustrated, and with the peace talks having failed, he launched repeated raids deep into Gascony throughout the summer, to great effect.[28] He devastated agricultural areas and burnt down the suburbs of several Gascon towns.[28]
Edward III's eldest son,Edward of Woodstock, later commonly known as the Black Prince, was given the Gascon command[33][34] and began assembling men, shipping and supplies.[35] He was scheduled to sail in July, but eventually set off on 9 September, arriving in Bordeaux, the capital of Gascony, on the 20th accompanied by 2,200 English soldiers.[36][37] The next day he was formally acknowledged as the king's lieutenant in Gascony, with plenipotentiary powers.[29][38] The Gascon nobility pressed on him the advantages of striking at the County of Armagnac.[28][29] The Black Prince agreed to make Armagnac his first target. Gascon nobles, who had been preparing for the expedition for some time, reinforced him to a strength of somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 and provided a bridging train[39] and a substantialsupply train. The latter largely carried grain for the horses, although later it was used to transport the spoils of thechevauchée.[40][41]
The English expedition to Normandy was intended to be carried out with the cooperation of the FrenchmagnateCharles II of Navarre,[42][43] but Charles reneged on the agreement.[44][45] Instead achevauchée, a large-scale mounted raid, was attempted from the Englishenclave of Calais in November.[43][44] However, the French King had stripped the area of fodder, food and potentialbooty, causing the English to return to Calais within ten days.[44][46] They had achieved nothing, but did focus French attention on the north.[47][48]
On 5 October 1355 the Black Prince's Anglo-Gascon force left Bordeaux on their own carefully plannedchevauchée.[28][49] It took in reinforcements and supplies atSaint-Macaire,[28][50] 30 miles (48 km) to the south, and continued throughBazas,[51] reaching the border with Armagnac on 12 October.[51] The rapid march to this point caused many of the expedition's 15,000 horses[52] to die or break down, especially those which had accompanied the English on the exhausting eleven-day sea voyage and been given inadequate time to recover;[53] this had been allowed for, and they were replaced locally.[54] Before crossing the border new knights weredubbed, as if it were the eve of a formal battle, and banners were unfurled.[51][55] As soon as Armagnac was entered, the army started devastating the countryside;[39] the Anglo-Gascons divided into three columns,[56] which marched parallel to each other, to maximise the destruction.[38] Over eleven days thechevauchée traversed Armagnac from west to east,[51] in sight of thePyrenees.[39] The weather was fine,[57] and one combatant reported the area to be "a noble, rich and beautiful region".[51] Most towns were fortified in name only[58] and were easily stormed and burnt.[51] Within reach of the line of march only two towns escaped destruction.[51] The Black Prince wrote "we rode ... through the land of Armagnac, harrying and wasting the country, the [Gascon lords] were much comforted."[59]
John of Armagnac deliberately avoided battle,[57] even though the French forces in the region outnumbered the English.[60] He was reinforced byJames de Bourbon,Constable of France, andJean de Clermont,Marshal of France,[38][60] and the French concentrated in the strongly fortified large city ofToulouse, expecting a siege.[38][60] They broke the bridges enabling access to the city[60] and confidently expected the Black Prince to withdraw to Gascony[61] once he saw the strength of the fortifications.[62] The English passed within a few miles of the city and continued east, fording the strongly flowingGaronne andAriège rivers;[63] the former was described by a member of the expedition as "rough, rocky and most frightening"[64] and the latter as even "more dangerous".[64][65] Several horses and a small, but unknown, number of men were lost during the operation, but the supply wagons all crossed successfully.[66] This took the French by surprise;[63] they had not even guarded the fords.[58][61]
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The area they now passed through was known as the granary of southern France;[58] a contemporary described the area east of Toulouse as the "fattest land in the world".[58] The English continued to burn everything they could, targeting windmills in particular, as a region unable to grind its own grain was unlikely to be able to provide a surplus to support the French military.[67] As before, they stormed all but the largest towns and strongest castles,[60] often amidst brutality and slaughter.[68] Small groups ranged at least 24 miles (39 km) from the main body, looting and burning smaller places across a wide front.[69] The major city ofCarcassonne, 50 miles (80 km) east of Toulouse, was the cultural, political, religious and financial centre of the area[70] and was captured when the population abandoned the town and retreated to the strongly fortifiedcitadel.[70] They offered a huge sum if the English would spare the town, but this was refused.[38] After three days of rest and looting the town was thoroughly fired.[71] The tax records for the region were also captured, which enabled the English to form an accurate view of the damage they were doing to the French economy and war effort.[72] They continued east, in weather which had turned wintery:[65] "the whole area was burned" according to a participant.[73] Two days later, on 8 November, they reachedNarbonne, 10 miles (16 km) from theMediterranean.[71] It was only a little less populous than London,[74] but again the town was rapidly captured and sacked while the citadel was ignored.[65] The French in the citadel responded by bombarding the English withartillery.[65][75]
The whole of southern France was in uproar.[41][76] A major offensive so late in the year had not been expected and the Black Prince's willingness to march 300 miles (480 km) from his base, crossing rivers considered impassable to large bodies and living off the land, took the French completely by surprise.[58][63] English scouts, foragers and arson parties pushed out in all directions from Narbonne, some as far as 30 miles (48 km).[71] French towns up to 100 miles (160 km) away began hastily reinforcing their fortifications.[71][77] Twonuncios arrived from Pope Innocent, attempting to arrange a truce; they were turned away, being told to apply to Edward III.[38][71]
John of Armagnac, with Bourbon and Clermont, moved at least part of the French army toHomps, 15 miles (24 km) west of Narbonne, where the road crossed theRiver Aude.[78] They apparently hoped to force the English to attack them across the river, and so fight at an advantage.[78] The English were unable to remain in any one place for long, as it soon became stripped of food, especially fodder and grain for the 15,000 horses with the army.[79] So on 10 November the English moved out from Narbonne,[65][80] their rearguard and stragglers being harassed by asortie of the town militia.[65][81] The English crossed the Aude north of Narbonne and then headed north-east towardsBéziers;[82] their scouts reported that the town was strongly held, and so after acouncil of war they turned back to the west, expecting to have to fight Armagnac's force.[83][84] It was an arduous march and water was short; one chronicler writes that the horses, which would normally require 120,000 imperial gallons (550,000 L; 140,000 US gal) of water each day, had to be given wine instead.[85] The French retreated to Toulouse, not wishing to meet the English on equal terms, when they anticipated that the English combined arms tactics and use oflongbowmen would lead to their defeat.[78][86] The Black Prince pursued them as far as Carcassonne, where, struggling to forage in territory which had already been well picked over, he struck south towards the prosperous city ofLimoux, which was destroyed.[78][87][88]
On Sunday 15 November the English army razed four large French towns and devastated the surrounding area, while their leaders were inducted as lay brothers at the Dominicanmonastery at Prouille.[78][89] The English then turned east again, across theCounty of Foix. On the 17th the Black Prince met withGaston, Count of Foix, the most powerful French noble in the region after Armagnac, and a great enemy of his.[90] The details of the discussion are unknown, but Gaston allowed the English free passage, arranged provisions, allowed his men to join the Black Prince's army and provided guides.[91] The weather was bad, and the going difficult; the army again forded the Garonne and Ariège in flood, to the amazement of locals.[92][93] Numerous towns not belonging to Gaston were looted and burnt.[94]
The French were initially quiescent as the English swung wide to the south of Toulouse,[88] but James of Bourbon persuaded John of Armagnac to lead the French army south-west from Toulouse on 18 November in an attempt to cut off the English.[95] They hoped to turn back the English at theRiver Save, in eastern Armagnac, and so strand them in French territory.[96] The two advance guards met in a fierce clash on 20 November; the French were defeated and they retreated.[96] The English followed and camped close to the French on the 22nd, in formation, anticipating a battle the next day,[97] but the numerically superior French withdrew during the night.[96][98] The English headed directly for Gascony, following a different route to that of six weeks earlier.[99] The marching was hard and water was short in places, causing an increase in deaths among the horses.[100] On 28 November the English crossed the border of Gascony, and many Gascons left at this point.[96] The balance of the army returned toLa Réole on 2 December, having marched 675 miles (1,100 km); the Black Prince and his entourage moved on to Bordeaux on the 9th.[101]
Contemporary accounts agree thechevauchée left immense destruction in its wake, and that an enormous amount of booty was seized;[102] according to one account, English soldiers jettisoned the silver they had looted, in order to be able to carry all the gold and jewellery available.[103] It was reported that the formal booty took 1,000 carts to transport; a gross exaggeration, but indicative of the impression the amount of loot seized made on contemporaries.[104] The French knights and merchants captured were ransomed.[96]
While no territory was captured, enormous economic damage was done to France.[41][102] Carcassonne alone generated more tax than seven entire provinces combined.[1] The four main cities burnt down alone paid for 1,000 men-at-arms and generated an additional 100,000écu in tax each year;[105] if unadulterated this would be approximately half a tonne (0.5 ton) of silver, or two per cent of the French Crown's annual income.[106] It was estimated that the towns destroyed generated a total of 400,000écu annually in war taxes. All were subsequently given considerable tax exemptions and trade privileges for many years.[105] For example, the town of Avignonet was exempted from war taxes for seven years.[107] In addition, 500 villages were destroyed.[41] The modern historian Clifford Rogers concluded that "the importance of the economic attrition aspect of thechevauchée can hardly be exaggerated."[1]
As well as the direct financial effects, towns throughout the south of France looked to their defences, spending large amounts over several years on building or repairing fortifications, and being much less willing to let troops raised locally serve away from home.[105] Contemporaries, including the Black Prince, considered thechevauchée to have been as successful in non-financial terms as in financial, itemising the punishment of minor lords who had switched sides to the French; the persuasion of local magnates, especially Gaston of Foix, to move towards the English; the securing of Gascony against attack from the south; and the establishment of a moral ascendancy over the French forces.[108] All this had been achieved during the Black Prince's first independent command and with almost no losses among the Anglo-Gascons.[29][109]
The majority of the Gascon troops involved in thechevauchée dispersed to their homes for winter.[110] After a three-week break and an enthusiastic celebration of Christmas[111] the English force, plus a small number of Gascons, was divided into four groups and resumed the offensive.[112] French morale was low, and the lack of money for wages kept garrisons small.[113] More than 50 French-held towns or fortifications were captured during the following four months,[114] including strategically important towns close to the borders of Gascony,[102] and others over 80 miles (130 km) away.[115] Armagnac putJohn of Boucicaut in charge of defending this front over the winter, but as he had only 600 men he felt there was little he could do.[116] Other, local, French commanders felt similarly under-resourced and attempted no countermeasures.[113][117] Several members of the local French nobility went over to the English; the Black Prince receivedhomage from them on 24 April 1356.[116][118]
Reinforcements of men and horses and supplies of food andmateriel arrived from England during the spring, and at the start of August 1356 the Black Princeheaded north on anotherchevauchée with an Anglo-Gascon force of 6,000. He penetrated as far as theLoire, then withdrew, pursued by the main French army, 11,000 strong, under John II. The English were forced to battle atPoitiers, where they decisively defeated the French and captured John II.[119][120]
