Page 54 - History of War - Issue 29-16

JOHN, DUKE OF BEDFORD

and Genoese carracks. Genoese ships in ght of ve or six hours, victory was yielded to led to the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. This
particular had a fearsome reputation, but the English.” acknowledged Henry as the heir to the French
despite this, Bedford sailed to meet them with The Battle of the Seine was hard-fought throne and laid the foundations for a dual
a eet of about one hundred ships and on 15 because neither side could afford defeat. monarchy, but none of this would have been
August engaged in a erce ght at the mouth of The French, whose pride had been dented at possible without Bedford’s victory.
the River Seine. Agincourt, were determined not to lose control His conduct during the ght was praised by
Medieval naval battles were capable of of the English Channel and the English did not contemporaries who said, “No one had borne
replicating land warfare. The opposing ships want to forfeit their foothold in Normandy. The himself more bravely in that battle.” Emperor
would use grappling hooks to join together English victory was resounding and strategically Sigismund was moved to say to Henry, “Happy
and form a vast, oating, wooden battle eld. important. Although Agincourt had been a great are those subjects that have such a king, but
The English had used their superiority with tactical victory, it did not lead to immediate more is the king that has such subjects.”
longbows to successfully ght at sea before success in the war and Bedford’s victory cannot
and repeated this tactic in 1416. be overlooked. If Har eur had been recaptured, An unexpected regency
An anonymous English chronicler wrote: Henry would have had to restart his conquests In 1422 Charles VI of France died and Henry V
“Following an exchange of missiles… the fury from scratch, altering the course of history. should have succeeded to the throne as king
of the combatants had reached boiling point. The relief of Har eur enabled Henry to of both England and France. However, in one of
At last, after a long, drawn-out and most bitter conquer Normandy in 1417, which in turn history’s most fateful ironies, the warrior king
died of dysentery a few months before Charles,
“THIS ACKNOWLEDGED HENRY AS THE HEIR TO THE FRENCH aged 36, leaving his son Henry VI to inherit the
dual kingdom.
THRONE AND LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A DUAL MONARCHY” months old and the English administration
Unfortunately the new king was only nine-

Joan of Arc’s military successes
enabled the coronation of
Charles VII in Reims Cathedral
in direct de ance of Bedford’s
English regime

Above: After the battle at Verneuil the road lay open to
take Bourges, with this the whole of France could fall
under English rule

Above: John, Duke of Bedford pictured kneeling in front of
Saint George. As Regent of France Bedford continued his
brother Henry V’s conquests with great success

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