Qualla: Battle of Verneuil

Battle of Verneuil: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Attributed to Philippe de Mazerolles, Public domain. The Earl of Douglas, one of Scotland's most powerful noblemen, had traveled to France to find the Duke of Bedford and fight him. According to the chronicles, Bedford sent word that he had come to drink with Douglas and prayed for an early meeting. Douglas replied that, having failed to find the duke in England, he had come to seek him in France. They found each other on 17 August 1424, on a sun-baked plain a mile north of Verneuil-sur-Avre. What followed was, in the words of medievalist Desmond Seward, "a hand-to-hand combat whose ferocity astounded even contemporaries" -- one of the bloodiest battles of the Hundred Years' War.

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Image: Attributed to Philippe de Mazerolles | Public domain

Battle of Verneuil: Scotland's Army Crosses the Channel

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrewrabbott, CC0. By 1424, France was fracturing. The disaster at Agincourt nine years earlier had gutted the French nobility, and England's Henry V had conquered Normandy before his death in 1422. The Dauphin Charles, disinherited by the Treaty of Troyes, controlled only the south of France and d...

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Image: Andrewrabbott | CC0

Battle of Verneuil: A Ruse Opens the Gates

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Flappiefh, CC BY-SA 4.0. The English, commanded by Bedford and the Earl of Salisbury, had been besieging the fortress at Ivry when the Franco-Scottish army assembled to relieve it. Before they could arrive, Ivry surrendered. Uncertain what to do, the allied commanders debated. The Scots pushed for battle...

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Image: Flappiefh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Verneuil: Steel Hooves Across Hard Ground

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Bedford ordered the advance. His soldiers shouted "St. George! Bedford!" as they crossed the field. After a brief and inconclusive archery exchange between English and Scottish bowmen, the 2,000 Milanese cavalry charged. The summer sun had baked the ground so hard that the Englis...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Battle of Verneuil: Forty-Five Minutes of Slaughter

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. But Bedford rallied his men-at-arms, who showed extraordinary discipline in reforming their ranks. The dismounted English and Franco-Scottish men-at-arms crashed together on foot in what contemporaries described as the most ferocious melee of the entire war. The chronicler Wavrin...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Battle of Verneuil: No Quarter Given

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. With the French routed, Bedford turned on the Scots, who stood alone. Surrounded on multiple sides, they made a ferocious last stand. The English cried "A Clarence! A Clarence!" invoking Bedford's brother Thomas, killed by Scots at Bauge three years earlier. No quarter was offere...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain