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Date: 12 October 1428-8 May 1429.
Location: On the banks of the river Loire
War and campaign: The Hundred Years’ War; the Campaign of 1428-9.
Object of the action: The English forces were attempting to take this important city, but Joan of Arc was equally determined to raise the siege.
Opposing sides: (a) The Earl of Salisbury, succeeded by the Earl of Suffolk, (b) Dunois and Joan of Arc commanding the relief force; de Goncourt leading the garrison.
Forces engaged: (a) 4,000 English; 1,500 Burgundians; approx. 50 cannon. Total: 5,500. (b) 2,400 French; 3,000 armed citizens; 72 cannon. Total (prior to relief): 5,400.
Casualties: English; 4,000 French; 2000+
Result: The English were compelled to raise the siege; in consequence, French morale greatly improved.
The successful defence of the city of Orléans was the turning point in the long struggle between England and France which dominated the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. General Weygand once described the great siege as ‘the Verdun of the Hundred Years’ War’, and its progress was watched with the greatest contemporary concern for it was widely considered that the ultimate fate of the city would reveal that of France.
Following their long series of successes dating from Agincourt in 1415, the English were confident of their ability to capture Orléans. After occupying Paris in July 1428, it was logical that they should next move against the great city on the north bank of the Loire, some 60 miles away, for it lay midway between Paris and the French Dauphin’s temporary capital at Bourges, and the river marked the boundary dividing the two armies’ spheres of influence.
In the weeks preceding the opening of the siege, the Earl of Salisbury took considerable pains to capture Beaugency and Meung to the west and Jargeau to the east of the city, thus precluding any possibility of relief by water. Then, in the words of the historian Villaret, ‘Salisbury, with the audacity that proclaims assurance of success, attacked the ancient city, the final hope of the poor King of Bourges and the last rampart of his power.
The citizens of Orléans had long anticipated such an emergency. Under the guidance of the Governor, the Sire de Goncourt, they had improved the defences of the 5 gates and the many towers and long curtain walls, besides mounting no less than 72 ‘bombards’ along the fortifications, some allegedly capable of firing stone cannon-balls weighing 190 lb. The great bridge of 19 arches spanning the river was guarded at its southern end by a fort with two towers called ‘Les Tourelles1′, further strengthened by an earthen barbican or outwork. The garrison was large and well supported by the citizens.
On 12 October 1428 the English army—initially some 4,000 strong—appeared at the southern end of the bridge after marching from Jargeau, and pitched camp in the suburb of Olivet. There they were joined by 1,500 Burgundians to complete their array. For several days the English bombarded the Tourelles and the town beyond—the first time that artillery was extensively used in a major siege—and induced the forward garrison to abandon both the barbican and the fort and to retire within the city on 23 October after destroying two arches of the bridge behind them. The English jubilation at this success was, however, short-lived. The Earl of Salisbury, looking out from the top of one of the captured towers towards the main French defences, was mortally wounded by a chance shot—fired, according to contemporary accounts, by a young boy trespassing on a battery while the gunners were away at dinner. Eight days later the English general died at Meung.
The new commander-in-chief was the Earl of Suffolk—a cautious soldier—who constructed a fort called ‘Les Augustins’ to the south of ‘Les Tourelles’ and then ordered his troops away into winter quarters. Anxious, no doubt, for the men’s health in the razed suburbs of the city which offered little shelter, he left only a small garrison of 500 to hold the forward positions. Orléans, meanwhile, was reinforced by the arrival of Dunois, the ‘Bastard of Orleans’, who assumed command of the garrison, but nothing was done for three weeks to harass the outnumbered besiegers. Indeed it was the English who unexpectedly returned to the attack in December, the reason for this unwonted and unseasonal burst of energy being the arrival of the fire-eater John, Lord Talbot to share the command with the wary Suffolk and Lord Scales.
It was decided to open regular siege lines against Orleans— but as it was clearly impracticable to cover the whole 2,000- yard perimeter of the walls with the resources available, the besiegers concentrated their efforts on the western side of the city, for it was from this direction that any attempted relief from Chinon could be expected. A large base-camp called ‘Bastille St. Laurent’ was constructed on the north bank of the river, supported by a string of 4 forts, while several miles away on the eastern side of the city, a single fort—’St. Loup’ —was established to watch the Burgundian Gate. However, the townsfolk and garrison remained free to move about in the woods to the north-east of the city, and even to receive limited supplies from that direction.
In the meantime a relief army under the Count of Clermont was approaching from Blois, but on 12 February 1429 this force ran into an English convoy of 300 wagons escorted by Sir John Falstolf and 1,000 mounted archers or ‘hobelars’ near the village of Janville. The carts contained salted fish, intended for the use of the besieging army during Lent, and this fact gave the action that followed its name—’The Battle of the Herrings’. The doughty Sir John formed his wagons into a laager, and eventually routed the vastly superior French forces. The Count of Clermont abandoned his attempt to reach Orleans, and Falstolf successfully brought his convoy into the English lines. This success vastly encouraged the besiegers, and the spirits of the beleaguered city reached their nadir.
By early April the western forts and ‘Bastille St. Loup’ were complete, but the intention of the English generals to extend their works to block the eastern approaches to Orleans was frustrated by the sudden departure of the Burgundian mercenaries. Meanwhile a new French army of relief was being collected. The peasant girl Joan of Arc visited the Dauphin’s court and persuaded him to produce another force, and on 27 April the Duc d’Alençon marched from Blois at the head of 4,000 men accompanied by the Maid. Her effect on the morale of this army was immediate and startling, and by the last day of the month a convoy of food barges had successfully run the gauntlet of Forts ‘St. Jean’ and ‘St. Loup’ and Joan herself was within the city. The rest of the army and a further column of food wagons reached Orléans on 4 May. That very day the Maid inspired an attack on Fort ‘St. Loup’ which proved completely successful, for Talbot, stationed at his headquarters in Fort ‘St. Laurent’, was too far away to intervene in time to save the post. This French success was the turning point of the siege.
Two days later, accompanied by the Maid, 4,000 troops sallied out of the city and crossed the river to the south bank by way of He St. Aignan. The English abandoned Fort St. Jean and fell back on ‘Les Augustins’ and ‘Les Tourelles’. The battle for the forts continued throughout the 6th and 7th; during the bitter struggle Joan was wounded in the shoulder by an arrow, and the English joyfully called out, ‘The witch is dead’. However, she soon recovered and returned to the fray, to the dismay of her superstitious opponents. On the evening of the second day the English garrison was forced to surrender after losing more than two-thirds of its strength and after being taken in rear by a body of armed citizens who repaired the gap in the bridge with planks. The Maid rode triumphantly back into the city to receive a rapturous welcome.
Now it was the turn of English morale to plumb the depths. The ordinary soldiers were convinced that Joan of Arc was supernatural, and their generals had to admit that they had lost half of their laboriously constructed forts and that they were seriously outnumbered and outgunned by the reinforced garrison. Simple prudence dictated the abandonment of the siege, and on 8 May Suffolk and Talbot gave the order. The English burnt their forts and stores, but before they marched away they offered battle in No Man’s Land. For all their numbers, however, the French were not eager to risk an open conflict against the victors of Agincourt, and so the sullen English army retired unhindered towards Paris. Orléans was saved, and in the Maid a weary France found new strength and a portent of future victory. To this day the anniversary of the city’s deliverance is fittingly commemorated.
