English Longbowmen Guerre Folle -The Mad War II

 English Longbowmen

Completed one of my English Mercenary longbowmen bases to add to the Breton army. 28mm Miniatures are from the Perry Miniatures Range.

Edward Woodville, known as Lord Scales, fought in the war of the roses supporting Edward IV, after Edwards death he fled when the Duke of Gloucester seized power and declared himself Richard IIIrd, his brother Anthony was executed being an ally and uncle of the two princes who later die in the tower. 

Edward Woodville flees to Brittany and along with the future King Henry VIII, he later returns to England and fights at Bosworth, leading the valiant vanguard. After Henry VIII became king he inherited his brothers estates which was confirmed in 1485 including the captaincy of the Isle of Wight and his castles at Portchester and Carisbrooke. 

Edward uncle of the Queen Elizabeth, approached Henry VIIth to raise an army to support the Bretons who had a long alliance with England, However Henry had been also supported by the French and the Bretons for his return to England, so he was undecided upon what action to take. 

On April 23rd 1488 two ambassadors of Francis II of Brittany arrived in England to plead with Henry VII, also partaking in the investiture of Sir Edward into the order of the garter due to his prowess at the battle of Bosworth. Henry VII is unconvinced by the Ambassadors  and he explicitly orders on the pain of death that no one from England was to get involved in the war in Brittany.

Edward departs for the Isle of wight with the two Breton Ambassadors and offers his services as a mercenary Captain as he had done previously for the Bretons in 1472 and the Spanish in 1475. The exact size of the company is unknown, some contemporary Breton accounts say 300 others as large as 800. I am leaning toward a mid range numbers due to the claim in the Breton financial accounts of 660 men. It is thought 400 archers, 40 knights and squires depart the Isle of Wight. Armed with pikes bows and arrows and dressed in white tunics with a red cross.

On May 20th 1488 Edward departed the Isle of wight with his company and arrived in Saint Malo a few days later(although accounts have him landing at Honfleur also, but that could be more english mercenaries ?). Edward and his company fight a small skirmish at Dinan against the comte de D'Aunay, losing 20 odd men (French accounts inflate this to 240). A further 200 odd english mercenaries arrive from Portsmouth on a Breton salt ship and a French ship captured in Portsmouth harbour along with an Ambassador of the Scots and his son, all of the 200 english men were veterans and had previously fought with Edward in Spain in 1487.

Edward arrives in Rennes on the 5 of June, they are welcomed by a reception committee, in their honour two red Bordeaux wine barrels are opened in rue Haute, and two barrels of white in place Bout du Cohue (next to medieval grand hall). A group of musicians and play and a young boy is doing tumbling tricks. A banquet is held for the officers in the ducal palace, a menu still exists and it consisted of one and a half vealers, two and a half sheep, three kids (goats), two hares, twenty eight rabbits, eight goslings, thirty six chickens, twenty-eight pigeons, one barrel of Bordeaux wine, one barrel of white wine, and seven estamaux (cauldrons) of hypocras (mulled spicy wine). The company and was the only available force in arms to protect the Breton Capital as a ceasefire was in effect and the remainder of the Breton Army was in Nantes and the Rennes muster had returned to their homes for the summer harvest. 

On May 27th Henry VII letter of apology  arrives in Paris informing Charles VIII of the rouge Edward Woodville, and that he had also seized other ships and men who were to join him.  (One knight and more men at arms were seized in Portsmouth)

The French were in a strong position and capture of the key Breton marcher fortresses of Ancenis, Chateaubriant, La Guerche and Redon in May of 1487 and Vitré, Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier and Dol-de-Bretagne in September left Brittany split into north and South and the French on and in the interior lines of the Breton Duchy.

On June 12th Francois calls the muster, but many men do not return to arms as the harvest is not complete, finally a army musters in early July and marches north to Rennes.

On the 6th of July the ceasefire ended and the French immediately advanced from Mayenne and sieged the largest castle in France on the border marches, arriving at the key northern Breton fortress of Fougeres on the 12th of July. 

The Breton Army departed Nantes on the 9th moving North and arrived in Rennes on the 25th of July. A council is called in Rennes on the 25th of July between the leaders of the Breton army and the mercenary contingents. On the 27th the Bretons then march to Andouillé-Neuville to gather the muster and join with the men coming from south western Brittany via Dinan, they are then inspected by Francois II and and Princess Anne. The army now numbering 7000 bretons 4500 mercenaries marches towards Saint Aubin du Cormier on the 28th of July. The Bretons felt they needed a phycological edge over the French and clothed two Breton mixed archer divisions with white tunics with the red cross badge of the English some 1700 men in total, giving the French impression that a large contingent of English were now with the army.

Fougeres, the greatest castle of Brittany had fallen after a six day siege on the 17th of July, the great French artillery train had breached the walls in three places and the garrison had surrendered with full honours so the city was saved from a pillage. 

The French army departed Fougeres on the route towards Rennes, the Breton capital, clashing with the Bretons on route in a field south of Ville Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier. 

I will complete an article about the forces and the battle next week.

cheers

Matt