Qualla: Battle of Jargeau

Battle of Jargeau: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny, Public domain. A stone projectile struck Joan of Arc's helmet and knocked her to the ground. She got back up. It was June 12, 1429, and the seventeen-year-old who had arrived at the French court just three months earlier was leading her first offensive assault, storming the walls of Jargeau, a small fortified town ten miles east of Orleans on the southern bank of the Loire. The battle lasted two days. When it ended, the English garrison was destroyed, and the Loire Campaign that would reshape the Hundred Years' War had begun in earnest.

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Image: Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny | Public domain

Battle of Jargeau: A River Held Hostage

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit carte postale, Public domain. By late 1428, the English and their Burgundian allies controlled nearly all of France north of the Loire. Strategic bridges along the river had been seized one by one, and Orleans, the last major city still in French hands, was under siege. If the English secured the entire Loire...

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Image: carte postale | Public domain

Battle of Jargeau: The Town on the Bank

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit L. Garnier, CC BY-SA 3.0. Jargeau was no great fortress, but it was well defended. Walls ringed the town, punctuated by towers and fortified gates. A ditch ran just outside the walls. Suburbs had grown up beyond the defenses, and a single fortified bridge crossed the Loire to the north bank, making the to...

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Image: L. Garnier | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Jargeau: Two Days of Violence

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain. The French struck the suburbs first on June 11. English defenders poured out from the walls to meet them, and the French fell back. Joan rallied the troops using her banner, and the English retreated behind their fortifications. The French spent the night lodged in the captured s...

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Image: AnonymousUnknown author | Public domain

Battle of Jargeau: The Campaign That Changed Everything

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain. Jargeau was the first domino. In the weeks that followed, French forces swept the Loire valley, recapturing bridge after bridge. Sir John Fastolf, who had left Paris on June 8 with a reinforcing army of several thousand, arrived too late to save the English position. The Loire Ca...

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Image: AnonymousUnknown author | Public domain