Battle of Formigny
Hundred Years' War · Formigny, Normandy (France)
Summary
On 15 April 1450 near Formigny in Normandy, Charles VII's French, initially outnumbered, won a decisive victory thanks to the arrival of Arthur de Richemont's Breton cavalry. The English field army in Normandy was destroyed; reconquest of the duchy accelerated.
Historical context
In 1450 continental English possessions were critical. Charles VII, after rapprochement with Burgundy, accelerated reconquest: Pont-Audemer, Lisieux, Rouen, and Harfleur fell between June 1449 and January 1450. The English, divided by struggles leading to the Wars of the Roses, could not coordinate defense.
Tactics
Clermont kept his army out of range of English archers and advanced two culverins that devastated the archers. Kyriell did not launch a general attack; Richemont charged from the south with 2,000 men and delivered the coup de grâce to the English army.
Consequences
Formigny ended English ambitions in Normandy and accelerated the fall of remaining strongholds. Caen, Vire, Bayeux, and Cherbourg were retaken in 1450. Three years later Castillon ended the Hundred Years' War in the south. Normandy was definitively reunited with the kingdom of France.