Battle of Patay
Bataille de Patay
18 June 1429


 Charles VII v. Henry VI
La Hire, Ponton de Xaintrailles and Ambroise de Lore
v
John Talbot, Thomas de Scales and John Fastolf

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No one at Patay had coinage so the appropriate coinage are the royal issues on each side.

Charles VII

AR blanc au briquet, 26mm, 2.88gr. Obv: *KAROLVS*FRANCORVM*REX, center shield of France between 3 crowns and a trilobe. The mint mark is a dot at point 18, under the E of REX. Rev: *SIT*NOMEN*DNI*BENEDICTV, center cross with two lis and two crowns. Mint is Paris, second period (1436-61) Dup 522; C 694; Laufraie 514.

Henry VI (1422-61)

Calais Groat 1427-30 rosette/mascle, 26mm. Obv: HENRIC DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC, crowned central portrait. Rev inner circle: VILLA CALISIE, outer circle:   POSVI DEVM ADJUTOREM MEVM (I have made God my helper), long cross. Mint is Calais. S:1859, C:H64D-040/45.

Background

In 1422 both England and France lost their kings, to be succeeded respectively by the infant Henry VI and Charles VII. Charles was mature, if timid, while Henry was a pawn of competing English factions. Map 1 shows both French and Anglo-Burgundian holding in 1429 in northern France. The lighter yellow areas are Anglo-Burgundian.

Map 1

At this stage of the Hundred Years War, momentum was swinging to the side of the French. In May 1429 the French were able to lift the siege of Orleans, in part due to the inspiration and leadership of Jeanne d’Arc. Elsewhere in the Loire, the English found themselves on the defensive. Jargeau had fallen, with a significant loss of English lives. They still held Meung, which the French bypassed to besiege Beaugency-sur-Loire. Unaware that an English relief army was close, Beaugency surrendered 18 June. Map 2 shows the general relationships among the key places. Patay is north of Orleans, circled in blue.
The English relief army was led by Sir John Fastolf and was joined by John Talbot. Thomas de Scales was also a leader in the army. The French were led by La Hire, Ponton de Xaintrailles and Ambroise de Lore. There are varying estimates for the size of both English and French forces. The English had 4000 – 5000 troops. The French had about 1500 mounted troops in the lead and a larger force in the main body. The larger group was commanded by Alencon and accompanied by Arthur de Richemont and Jeanne d’Arc.
Map 2

Map 3, from Gondoin, shows the larger scale of movements of both the French and English in June 1429.

Map 3

When the English realized that Beaugency had surrendered, they started to withdraw to Janville, with the French in pursuit. The description of the battle comes from Burne’s The Agincourt War, the Xenophon site and from Anatole France’s The Life of Joan of Arc (in translation).
The Battle

The rear guard of the English army was commanded by Talbot and was composed of about 500 archers. Fastolf was further ahead with the main body, on a slight rise. Map 4 offers a closer look at the area around Patay. Patay is underlined in purple at the top of the map. Lignerolles is also underlined in purple. St Peravy is circled in green. The green line south of Lignerolles is the path of the original road - today you see it bends a bit to the right. The diagonal purple line traces the relevant part of the 'ancienne chemin de Blois.'

Map 4

A. France (102) describes the setting like this: the French “reached a spot where the ground, which had been level hitherto, descends, and where the road leads down to a hollow called La Retreve. They could not actually see the hollow, but beyond it the ground rose gently, and dimly visible two and a half miles away, was the belfry of Lignerolles on the wooded plain known as Climat-du-Camp. A league straight in front of them was the little town of Patay.” Map 5 offers a closer view if the terrain and engagement. Vallee de la Retreve is marked just to the right of the blue arrows. Talbot's line is marked in red, corresponding to the green line in Map 4. There are several places given for Falstaff's position. Most commonly is N of Talbot to the left of the chemin de Blois (the dotted line here and purple line on Map 4). Other sources place him on the ridge where the three *** are located. The French came charging over a ridge at about where the blue arc is drawn. It is at that point that they could see into the narrow valley and see Talbot.

Map 5

Near St. Peravy the French supposedly spooked a stag which ran into the hollow or wooded depression and startled the English rear guard. This caused both sides to realize how close they were to each other. Talbot’s rear guard started to prepare for immediate battle. Talbot though he could create an ambush but didn’t have time to prepare his position. Burne (258) says this of Talbot’s defensive position: “The position selected by Talbot seems to have run along the road from Lignerolles to Coinces, at a point where it crosses the old Roman road from St. Sigismond to Janville. This point is near the bottom of a slight dip in the ground (and was) … a few hundred yards in front of the ridge that Fastolf would hold.” The common plan of defense was to drive stakes into the ground facing the attacking force, so charging horses would impale themselves, breaking up the attack. Talbot was accompanied by Thomas de Scales, an experienced fighter. However, in this case the French came on so fast Talbot did not have a chance to adequately prepare his position and his archers were over run and slaughtered. Talbot and Scales were captured.

These pictures show the repective views the English and French had. First the English perspective. Talbot was on this ground (left photo) looking up at the ridge over which the French came. The chemin de Blois follows a path down from the ridge at the border between the grain crop and the maize. The next picture is from further back - towards Fastolf's position. He was actually further back than this view, and probably to the right. He could clearly see the ridge over which the French came but would have had difficulty seeing Talbot's line, given that it was in a dip in the land. The track is part of the chemin de Blois, up which the English survivors fled after the battle.

**

When the French came over the ridge, this is the view they had. This is from the chemin de Blois looking into the valley at Talbot's line (red) and up to the ridges on the further side of the valley towards Fastolf's position. After they passed through Talbot's line they attacked Falstaff. This is the view NW along the chemin de Blois towards the higher ground likely occupied by Fastolf. The buildings on the left of this second photo are in Lignerolles.





Fastolf stood on the rise further north on an old Roman road (chemin de Blois) to face the French charge. Burne describes this position as a ridge that now carries a rail track, about 2 miles SE of Patay. Fastolf made modest preparation, due, says Burne, to a lack of enthusiasm for the forthcoming fight and since his troops were largely inexperienced. Regardless, they were unprepared for the French assault.

After the rear guard fell, the French continued their charge and attacked the main body, “crushing all who stood in their path and pursuing those who fled in the rout that followed.” (Barker 123) Burne (259) gives a similar picture of French aggressiveness and English confusion. “… the French attack was made in such large numbers and followed so closely by the main body, that Fastolf found himself overwhelmed before he could take any effective steps to oppose this surprise attack.” A France (103) also tells a similar story: “Feeling the French cavalry at his heels, he (Fastolf) gave spur and at full gallop led his men to Lignerolles. … There was no battle. Marching over the bodies of Talbot’s archers, the French threw themselves on the English, who were as dazed as a flock of sheep and fell before the foe without resistance.”



Map 6 is from the Xenophon web site and shows a likely sketch of the battlefield. This map places Fastolf on the Old Roman Road on the way to Janville. Map 7 is Burne’s similar representation of the battle site.

Map 6     Map 7

If, as A. France claims, Fastolf fled to Lignerolles, he traveled diagonally across the French line of attack.

Map 8 (also from Xenophon), offers an alternative location for the battle. It also indicates ‘la Camp’ off the Old Roman Road. Back on Map 4, this is the area circled in purple to the SE of Patay. Burne places this as the location for Fastolf’s wagon train, and and an army fleeing the crossroad in Map 6 would come at least close to Lignerolles.

Map 8
Map 8 (Xenophon) offers an alternative location for the battle, somewhat south of the site already presented. This location is suggested by Ferdinand de Liocourt, based on finding horseshoes at this location. I looked at La Mission de Jeanne d'Arc: L'exécution by Ferdinand de Liocourt and his chapter V has images of 16 horses shoes. Four are from St Sigismond, others on the route to Lignerolle and several closer to Patay. To my non-archeologically trained mind, the find distribution pattern by itself does not make a compelling case for his proposed location. Liocourt describes the location like this: “Fastolf prit alors la decision d’accepter la bataille. Il designa pour prendre le dispositive de combat en herisson habituel aux Anglais un movement de terrain couronne de haies (hedge)… situe a une lieue a sud de Patay, appele le ‘lieu des Coynee’ ou des Cognees, une des ailes appuyee a fort moustier (eglise fortifee) probablement a l’extremite sud de village de Lignerolles.” He has Talbot deploying his “archers d’elite … a hauter du village de St Sigismond.” This location would make the initial contact south of the traditional site. Burne notes that the French stopped at St. Sigismond for lunch in their pursuit on the 18th. It is not hard to image the horse shoes were lost during the stop and not as the result of combat. The descriptions of the fight indicate very minimal French casualties, and I’d image minimal horse casualties.

Fastolf managed to escape in what was widely perceived as a cowardly flight, so was disgraced. Thomas de Scales and other English captains were also captured. The result of this battle was the destruction of the English army. Casualty estimates run the gamut. They range from 2 – 100 killed on the French side with something in the range of 2000 killed on the English side.

Momentum in the war was now on the side of the French.

There is a monument to the battle in the vicinity. It is on the D955 SE of St. Peravy-la Colombe and marked on IGN 2119 E as 'Cr. Faron.' It does not mention the leaders of the attack but gives Jeanne d'Arc prominent mention. She was not in the vanguard or the main body with Alencon but rather in the rear guard. This region celebrates itself as Jeanne d'Arc territory and there are a number of sign post references to her in the area. In addition to the text presented here, there is an older and some what illegible marker at the foot of the cross (restored in 1912).

**


Sources

Barker, J., Conquest, Abacus, London, 2009

Battle maps: http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/patay.htm

Battle images: Wikipedia.fr and stejeannedarc.net

Broad geographic maps: : http://www.stejeannedarc.net/histoire_wallon/appendice26.php

Burne, A., The Agincourt War, Wordsworth Editions, London, 1999

France, A, The Life of Joan of Arc, translated by W. Stephens, Bodley Head Limited, London, 192518 June 1429

Gondoin, S.W., Jeanne d'Arc sur le chemin de la Victoire: di siege d'Orleans a le bataille de Patay, Histoire et Collections, Paris, 2010

IGN Carte Randonee 2119 E

Liocourt, F., La Mission de Jeanne d’Arc, 1981, Paris: http://books.google.fr/books?id=eiEqr0gvn4cC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=liocourt+patay&source=bl&ots=xV8m03Q_j4&sig=AIaka-a4OHxqgdu-q7fdy-Aw1Kg&hl=fr&ei=UMhNTfv_H4bGlQeGuKjiDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

La bataille de Patay, par Martial d'Auvergne, enluminure issue de l'ouvrage Vigiles de Charles VII, Paris, France, XV seicle.

im-patay: La bataille de Patay, illustration des Chroniques de Charles VII

map-patay-environs: http://www.stejeannedarc.net/histoire_wallon/appendice26.php