Battle of Pontlevoy

On July 6, 1016, Fulk III of Anjou rushed from Langeais with an incomplete host to rescue the fortress of Montrichard besieged by Odo II of Blois. His initial shock fails and he is thrown off his horse, but the intervention of Knight Goscelin allows him to get back into the saddle. While the Blesois knights pursue the Angevins in dispersed order, the column of Herbert I of Maine emerges from the wooded edges and strikes from the flank. Caught between Fulk' counterattack and the arrival of these fresh reinforcements, the Blesois ost collapsed; several Champagne barons perished there and Odo had to abandon the battlefield.

Since the 990s, the Middle Loire has been disputed between the rival counties of Anjou and Blois. Fulk Nerra surrounded Touraine with castles (Langeais, Montrichard, Montbazon) to contain the expansion of Odo II, heir to a territorial block which extended from Chartres to Champagne. Taking advantage of an Angevin campaign in Poitou, Odo brings together his Champagne and Beauceron vassals and attempts to break the castle belt by besieging Montrichard. Alerted, Fulk recalls his supporters and calls Herbert of Maine, traditional ally against Blois, in order to preserve the fragile balance that King Robert II tries to maintain between the great princes of the kingdom.

Fulk combines a lightning attack and a feigned withdrawal: his heavy cavalry charges the Blésois camp to break the siege, but then retreats towards a bocage chosen in advance, dragging the pursuers into disorder. Meanwhile, Herbert du Maine arrived in a tight column and struck the right flank of Blois. The coordination between this lateral charge, Fulk' counterattack and the use of wooded cover transformed the melee into a partial encirclement, causing the moral collapse of the Blésois ost.

The Blesoise rout decimated Odo's aristocracy: Stephen I of Troyes and several Champagne knights died, permanently weakening his military cadres. Odo renounced any offensive in Touraine for several years and had to tolerate the reconstruction of the Angevin fortresses. Fulk Nerra consolidates his domination over the Loire valley, increases his prestige with Robert II and can continue his policy of castles and expiatory pilgrimages. This victory inaugurated a decade of Angevin advantage which prepared the future ascension of the Plantagenet lineage.