Battle of Castillon
Bataille de Castillon
17 July 1453
   
Charles VII          Edward VI

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In the years after Agincourt the tide of the HYW turned in France’s favor. In 1422 the kings of France and England both died. England lost the very capable Henry V while France lost its mad Charles VI. Henry was succeeded by his infant son Henry VI while Charles VI was succeeded by his more mature, though timorous son Charles VII.

Charles VII was spurred to greater assertiveness by Joan d’Arc who led French forces to a number of military successes, including raising the siege of Orleans in 1429. England’s able Marshall in France, John, duke of Bedford died in 1435, which weakened the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. Philip, duke of Burgundy, sensing a turn in the initiative in the conflict, abandoned England and made his peace with Charles via the Treaty of Arras in 1435.

The French army became more professional as the tenets of chivalry gave way to modern military strategy. Artillery came to play an increasingly important role on the battlefield and the mounted and the armoured knight was experiencing the sunset of his effectiveness.

Bordeaux was temporarily French in 1452 when it revolted and welcomed back the English, who were led by John Talbot. In response, in 1453 a French army took the field with the goal of destroying Talbot’s army. This would allow the reconquest of the southwest.  As a prelude to confronting Talbot and recapturing Bordeaux the French laid siege to Castillon, about 30 miles to the east of Bordeaux.

Laid siege is perhaps a bit of exaggeration. The French arrived at Castillon and set up a camp to the east of the city. They didn’t attempt to encircle the city but maintained a threatening presence. They held a priory outside the city and were camped about a mile or two away. The French were nominally under command of the nobles in the army but they deferred the critical decisions to Jean Bureau and his brother Gascard. In addition to the main French force, there was a Breton cavalry force camped at Horable, the hill above the French position.

The English called for the relief of Castillon and John Talbot was convinced to respond. Talbot was inclined to wait for the French to move on Bordeaux but was encouraged to take the field and confront the French. He ultimately did so, by making a forced march at night, which caused his forces to become spread out, with the cavalry significantly in front of his infantry and artillery. At Castillon he surprised the French garrison at the priory and routed them. His scouts saw French horses being led away from the French camp and misinterpreted this as a French retreat. Talbot, seeking to take advantage of the perceived French confusion, advanced on the camp.

The French were in an enviable position. Jean Bureau had chosen an encampment behind a small tributary of the Lidoire. His back was to the Lidoire, which offered protection from that direction. He built a barrier behind the tributary and deepened the stream in front of him, making the site more difficult to attack. He had his massed artillery facing generally south towards the Dordogne, several hundred yards away, and west towards Castillon. The bulk of the French line was facing south. Today the path of the tributary is very evident from the air and on the ground.

The aerial view shows the champ de mars looking in the direction of Castillon. The Dordogne is to the left and the tree line on the right is the course of the Lidoire. The wavy line running up through the center of the view is the course of the stream Bureau used as his forward barrier. This image is from the xenophongroup.com web site on Castillon.

 

The French position is more evident on GeoEye IGN satellite map. The red line marks out part of the French line. The course of the Lidoire is the narrow green band at the upper part of the view and the Dordogne is off the view at the bottom. The second IGN map view covers from the French position (without the French defensive line highlighted in red) to the Dordogne. Talbot’s attack entered the field from the left and brought him into the field between the French artillery line and the Dordogne, which gave him limited maneuvering room.




Rounding out the topography of the field, is this detail from an IGN carte randonnée map. It shows the contour of the battle environment. Horable is the hill above the French position on which the Breton cavalry was camped, underlined in red. Their location allowed them to see the battlefield and be able to attack the flank of Talbot’s position. The French position is also  marked in red, and Talbot's approach in blue.

 

There are several schematic views of the conflict. The first is from an information plaque at the monument to John Talbot on the battlefield. It shows Talbot’s approach from the west and the narrow band of land between the French position and the river in which he had to maneuver. This map is rotated 90 degrees from the maps above. The red AB is Castillon. D is the French position. The English moved in from Castillon towards the French position and attacked from between D and the Dordogne.

 

The second is from the xenophongroup.com site and is aligned more familiarly showing the movements of both the English and Bretons. There is some controversy among military historians as whether the Bretons came around the left, as shown here, or arrived from the right of the French position. This map from the Xenophongroup shows the Bretons coming from the west of the French position while a similar map from Burne shows them attacking from the east of the French position.


The French strength is estimated by Burne (333) as in the vicinity of 7,000 - 10,000 troops, including men at arms, archers and artillery troops. Xenophongroup estimates a smaller Franco-Breton force of 5,000 - 7,000 troops. Bureau had about 300 canons and was able to arrange them so they provided enfilade support for each other. The small Breton reserve (about 1000 men) was camped outside the French artillery park up the hill at Horable.

Talbot arrived on the field with about 1300 troops, men at arms and archers. While he surprised the French outpost outside of Castillon, he was in turn surprised to the find that French retreat he was expecting was not in fact the case. Instead, he found a well fortified position. He dismounted his troops and commenced an assault in the French barricade. He was joined on the field by his lagging infantry as they came up to Castillon, but his artillery never arrived to counter that of the French. He was outnumbered but continued the assault, at times reaching the barricade and while mounting it, never penetrating it. Burne and Xenophongroup both estimate that there were ultimately about 4000 Anglo-Gascon troop on the field. 

As the fight was going on in front of the palisade, the Bretons came down from Horable and attacked Talbot’s flank. This broke the assault and the English began to flee. They were pursued by the French archers and men at arms who came over the palisade and pursued them to the river. The English were able to find a ford at Pas de Rauzan and some were able to escape. Talbot was not among them. He was unarmoured (having pledged as conditions of release from an earlier captivity ‘not to wear armour against the French’) and trapped under his horse when it fell. He was killed on the battlefield. English casualties were about 4000 while French casualties were closer to 100.

This battle followed the pattern of earlier fights in the conflict, in that the side that chose the defensive position prevailed. It worked for the Black Prince at Poitier when the French broke on his defensive wall, and at Crecy and Agincourt when the English were able to choose the ground.

This battle also effectively marks the end of the serious fighting in the HYW. The next day, July 18, the French moved up to Castillon and forced the surrender of the city. Shortly thereafter Bordeaux recognized the untenability of its position and also capitulated. France had finally prevailed in this multigenerational struggle of succession to the French throne.

It is possible to visit the battlefield today. This first view is from Horable, the hill on which the Breton cavalry was camped. They were able to look down on the plain where the Anglo-Gascon force was gathering. I've marked this plain with the red line.


From the current D936, at the base of the hill of Horable, you have a closer view of the champ de mars. The red line is the French position, with the French occupying the territory below the line and the Anglo-Gascon force attacked towards us from above the red line. The red line follows a small tributary of the Lidoire and is evident on the satellite pictures above.


Today you can walk on the battlefield. It is planted with a variety of crops. Closer to Castillon there are vines. There is an orchard closer to the river and some of the land appears to be being reforested. Bordering the French palisade, the land on both sides is planted with corn. Unlike the satellite pictures, which show the land after the harvest, I visited the field in September before the harvest. This meant that my ground level views did not have the panoramic scope it would have after the harvest. The first picture is the small tributary of the Lidoire that Bureau deepened. It was the forward French position. The palisade he raised has been leveled and is planted in corn today. We are standing just inside the French line looking west. The second picture gives some small sense of the depth of the ditch today. It is about 3' - 4' deep. It is filled with wild blackberries. As I walked along the line eating them, I thought that these plants are growing in soil that was watered with the blood of English soldiers 550+ years ago.

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This next picture takes a longer view and is just from the English side of the line, looking NW. The hill in the background is Horable, the corn to the left of the image is on the English side of the field and the trees on the French side.


The next two show the field from the English perspective. The first is almost from the river looking north. It is taken from the approach to the Talbot memorial, in the trees on the right side of the picture. Some sources say this is about the spot that Talbot was killed. The second is taken out on the champ de mars, looking west towards Castillon. The French line is to the right of the picture, and not visible. Talbot had a flat field that offered no protection from the French canon.

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When the Anglo-Gascon survivors withdrew they found themselves trapped by the Dordogne at their back. After some searching, and several drownings, they found a ford nearby called Pas de Rauzan. This picture is the view across the Dordogne just up river from the ford.

There is a monument to Talbot close to the river and a memorial plaque. It is interesting that on the field of victory Talbot is commemorated and not the Bureau brothers. Several maps show a monument to the Bureau brothers in the vicinity, but we were never able to find it. 

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Sources:

Burne, A.H., The Agincourt War, Wordsworth editions, reprinted 1999
Office of Tourism, Castillon, "Bataille de Castillon"
Xenophongroup web site: http://www.xenophongroup.com/montjoie/castilon.htm