Qualla: Battle of Pontvallain https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/0/2/p/battle-of-pontvallain-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Pontvallain https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain Battle of Pontvallain: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain/ Photo credit Loyset Liédet, Public domain. For more than thirty years, English armies had seemed unbeatable in open battle. Crecy, Poitiers, Auray -- the names read like a catalog of French humiliation. Then on 4 December 1370, in the quiet Sarthe countryside near the town of Pontvallain, a Breton soldier named Bertrand du Guesclin proved that the pattern could break. The newly appointed Constable of France led roughly 5,200 men on a forced overnight march, caught an English force of similar size completely off guard, and destroyed it. By day's end, England's aura of invincibility in France was finished.

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Image: Loyset Liédet | Public domain

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/0/2/p/battle-of-pontvallain-wp/u02p-battle-of-pontvallain-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Pontvallain: The Chevauchee That Lost Its Way https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain/ Photo credit Serial Number 54129, CC BY-SA 4.0. The battle grew from a familiar English tactic: the chevauchee, a mounted raid designed to burn and plunder its way across enemy territory, demoralizing the population and demonstrating the French king's inability to protect his subjects. In late 1370, Sir Robert Knolles led a la...

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Image: Serial Number 54129 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/0/2/p/battle-of-pontvallain-wp/u02p-battle-of-pontvallain-the-chevauchee-that-lost-its-way.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Pontvallain: A Night March Through the Sarthe https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain/ Photo credit Serial Number 54129, CC BY-SA 4.0. Du Guesclin learned that a substantial English column under Thomas Granson and several other captains was moving through the Sarthe region. He gathered his forces and set out on a forced march that continued through the night, covering the distance to Pontvallain with a speed the...

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Image: Serial Number 54129 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/0/2/p/battle-of-pontvallain-wp/u02p-battle-of-pontvallain-a-night-march-through-the-sarthe.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Pontvallain: Breaking the Myth of English Arms https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain/ Photo credit Hal Eksandr, CC BY-SA 3.0. The engagements at Pontvallain and Vaas were not large by the standards of the Hundred Years' War. Combined, the forces involved numbered perhaps ten thousand men. But their significance was psychological as much as military. Since the war's beginning in 1337, English armies had ...

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Image: Hal Eksandr | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/0/2/p/battle-of-pontvallain-wp/u02p-battle-of-pontvallain-breaking-the-myth-of-english-arms.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Pontvallain: The Breton Who Remade French Warfare https://qualla.com/battle-of-pontvallain/ Photo credit User:Otourly, CC BY-SA 3.0. Du Guesclin's approach at Pontvallain reflected a broader transformation in how France waged war. Born into minor Breton nobility, he had learned his trade in the brutal guerrilla conflicts of Brittany's civil war and the campaigns in Spain, where he fought for Henry of Trastamar...

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]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/0/2/p/battle-of-pontvallain-wp/u02p-battle-of-pontvallain-the-breton-who-remade-french-warfare.mp3 0:06 5 full