The battle of Monstrelet

In early 1413 the Duke of Clarence set about recovering a host of towns and castles in the vicinity of Bordeaux, previously captured by the French. He was able to do this due to previous treaties with the Duke of Orléans and the Counts of Armagnac and Albret. Via these agreements, Clarence's French allies agreed to recognise Henry IV as rightful Duke of Guyenne. In exchange the English king promised not to support the Duke of Burgundy against Orléans.

Clarence quickly rolled back all the French conquests of the previous nine years. French agents hurried back to Paris to report that the English had encountered little resistance in Guyenne; they were persuading the duchy's inhabitants to recognise Henry's lordship 'as if they were securely ensconced in London surrounded by their compatriots'. When the spring came round, unless a large French army was dispatched at once to Guyenne, the English would not be stopped.

The Estates-General in Paris met on 30 January 1413. Here a barrage of abuse was directed at the incompetence and corruption of the government; the Count of Armagnac, it was said, had persuaded many other French lords to join Clarence. Unless something was done, these French traitors would 'destroy the kingdom'.

Under pressure, the government ordered the French marshal in Guyenne, Jacques de Heilly, to take action. We should feel pity for Jacques, one of history's fall guys. He had repeatedly warned the council in Paris that he was short of money and men, and could achieve little without reinforcements. Regardless, he was ordered to take action. Then, in April and May, Paris was engulfed by the 'Cabochien' uprising and the French court resumed its suicidal power struggle.

Jacques was left out on a limb. Despite his misgivings, he tried to do his duty and marched for the town of Soubise, in northern Guyenne, which was besieged by the English under Thomas Beaufort, earl of Dorset. When he heard of the French approach, Beaufort lifted the siege and turned about to confront the marshal in open battle at Monstrelet.

The result was the most complete English victory since the days of the Black Prince. News of Beaufort's triumph was sent back to England, though it arrived too late for Henry IV. He died in March 1413, and the battle was fought in August. The news was accompanied by a string of French prisoners: Jacques de Heilly himself, along with the seigneur de Morlet, the bastard of Clynton, the lord en le Sale de Mary, the Mayor of La Rochelle, the captain of Rions, and many others.

Beaufort's victory was celebrated in London, but the reception elsewhere in England was somewhat muted. By this stage many of the English regarded Guyenne, a distant province in southwest France, as not worth the candle. John Hardyng, however, was upbeat about the 'great honour' achieved by Clarence and his men, while the Polychronicon admitted that Clarence had set Guyenne 'at peace and rest'.

Otherwise the battle of Monstrelet is completely obscure. If one was a nasty, cynical sort of person, one might suspect the influence of Henry V in this. One of his first acts as king was to award Beaufort's esquire, sent to Westminster with news of the victory, a fee of £20. Yet the success of Clarence's expedition was a humiliation for the new king. Henry had been completely opposed to the pro-Armagnac policy of his brother and late father, and stayed at home while Clarence went off and saved Guyenne. His faulty judgement had been exposed, not a great start.

There is no evidence that Henry deliberately suppressed the memory of Monstrelet. Yet Beaufort's victory is completely crushed under the shadow of Agincourt, fought just two years later. When Henry returned from the Agincourt campaign, he was greeted in London with a carefully organised victory parade, reminiscent of the return of conquering generals in ancient Rome. As the head of an unstable usurper regime, Henry needed to ensure that all the military glory went to himself. Clarence could get back in line, and stay there.