Page 53 - History of War - Issue 29-16

ohn
england’s forgotten warrior
J

duke bedford

of

WORDS TOM GARNER
Henry V’s younger brother continued the English conquest of France
with stunning success, winning a huge battle in 1424. However, his
greatest threat would come from a teenage peasant girl: Joan of Arc

n the early 15th century, an con ict, and his life was heavily in uenced by the rst time since Agincourt and a relief eet
outnumbered English army lined up two of the most famous people of the period: was not able to sail until August. Henry couldn’t
against a superior enemy force in Henry V and his arch-enemy Joan of Arc. take command, as he was negotiating an
northern France. Some 9,600 men alliance with the visiting Holy Roman emperor,
Istood ready to ght and die for King A sea fight off Harfleur Sigismund I, and instead sent Bedford to relieve
Henry of England, during the crown’s ongoing As the king’s brother, Bedford had been Har eur. Bedford was not an obvious choice for
struggle for control of France. With the help of assigned the task of administering England in command, as he had little military experience,
longbows, the English won a resounding victory, 1415, while Henry V pursued his campaign in and he would be facing perhaps 150 French
against all the odds. France, culminating in the victory at Agincourt.
However, at this point comparisons with the The king’s spectacular success had been
Battle of Agincourt end. The king in question preceded by the capture of the strategic port During the 1416 Battle of
the Seine, Bedford fought
was not Henry V, but his two-year-old son of Har eur on the coast of Normandy, but aboard his agship the
Henry VI and the year was not 1415, but the adventure had been costly in casualties. ‘Holigost’. Its wreck was
1424. The battle eld itself was near a town Henry’s overriding ambition was to complete found in the River Hamble
in England in 2015
called Verneuil, Normandy, and the English the conquest of France that had been
commander was Henry V’s younger brother started by his great-grandfather Edward
John, Duke of Bedford. His tremendous III. However, before 1415 the only English
victory at Verneuil was soon dubbed by base on the northern French coast was
contemporaries as ‘The Second Agincourt’. Calais. Holding on to Har eur was vital if
Bedford is an overlooked gure today, but Henry were to have an extra springboard
he was a talented general and politician who for a second campaign to subdue
successfully continued the English conquest Normandy and dictate terms.
of France during the latter part of the Hundred The French knew this and started
Years’ War (1337-1453) after the premature a naval blockade of Har eur
death of his older brother in 1422. in April 1416, with the
That he should be forgotten today is assistance of Genoese
something of a mystery as his military victories ships. The English had
were some of the most important of the entire lost the initiative for

“HIS TREMENDOUS
VICTORY AT VERNEUIL

WAS SOON DUBBED BY
CONTEMPORARIES AS

‘THE SECOND AGINCOURT’”

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