St. Aubin's Bay 1406 AD

[Erpingham]

Name of the Battle and Date: St. Aubin's Bay, 8th(?) October, 1406
Protagonists: Pero Niño and Hector de Pontbriant (Breton/Norman/Castilian) v. Receiver General of Jersey (English)
Numbers : Breton/Norman/Castilian  1000 men-at-arms, several hundred crossbowmen and auxiliaries, English 3000 militia, 200 cavalry
The title of original source. : Gutierre Diaz de Gamez : The Unconquered Knight A Chronicle of the Deeds of Don Pero Niño, Count of Buelna, Translated by Joan Evans, Boydell Press 2004 (original edition 1928), ISBN: 9781843831013 pp172-8

Text
Then the captain unfolded to them what they had to do, and how they must set about it. He chose out those who were to remain in the ships, and ordered the fashion in which the hosts should be drawn up, and the pavisade, and the crossbowmen, and the archers; and, how, if they won the day, they were to advance warily, in case there were ambuscades, and all the other matters which have to be foreseen on such occasions. ......
On the morrow, at break of day, everyone was up and ready. The tide was low. The trumpets sounded and they crossed over to the large island. Pero Niño set the men at arms in array according as it had been decided; he posted each man in the place where he should be, set his standard in the midst of them, and said to them: "Keep in the array in which I have set you, while I go to array the rest of my men. Let me have the archers and the soldier's boys, and I will set them where they can fight be stand have the most cover; and when I have posted them as they ought to be, I will come back to you. Meanwhile keep quiet, and let no one budge from the place where I leave him." The Bretons told him that in the name of God they would do what he thought best.
The captain gathered together all his archers and crossbowmen and his own men; he made two pavisades, each of sixty great shields, divided into two parts after the manner of wings, and he posted the archers and crossbowmen behind them. He gave them a standard of his arms which a brave man at arms of his bore; he put with them the soldiers' boys and those who were ill armed and to encourage them said: 'Well, my friends, you see how you are in the enemy's country. Look, there they are drawn up for battle, well armed and ready to come against us, just as we are to march against them. They are many, but they are neither so brave nor so strong as you. Look at the sea, you have it behind you; and as there is no one left in the ships, do not put your trust in them. See how you are betwixt two enemies, sea and land. Fight hard, do not let yourselves be beaten; be all firm and single-hearted, for you cannot escape by flight, you would all perish in the sea. Moreover, if you let yourselves be taken prisoners, you know how the English treat the Castilians, and how they are pitiless enemies. If you stand firm and fight well, you will have honour and much good booty. Look how rich and fair is this country! All that you see shall be yours if only you fight well. Make ready, and act like men of courage. Take good heed! let no man leave his place where I have set him: do not budge until the enemy have come to you. Call all upon St James, who is our patron of Spain, that he may help us."
The captain went away and left them thirty or forty paces forward, and came back to the men at arms. The knights formed a host in good array in the order in which the captain had left them, their ensigns close by the captain's banner, and under the banner as many men as could stand there. There were there both Normans and Bretons, and there may have been in that host of the captain's as many as a thousand men at arms, Castilians, Bretons and Normans. You can understand what a task it was for a single knight to array and command so many men, and he fully armed except for the head. There was not a single man at arms or foot soldier whom he did not touch to array him, speaking to each two or three times and telling him what he had to do.
The English, likewise, had their men well arrayed in hosts; there may have been three thousand men on foot, and up to two hundred on horseback. These latter came forward along the shore under the command of a knight of England, hoping to outflank our men; but the captain looked to it by turning some to face them, and they had such a reception that they had to withdraw. The English then began to move, and when they had come near, Pero Niño had the trumpets sounded; then the hosts advanced a little, marching slowly, and then he ordered them to stop. At this moment the English came against the hosts very sturdily, and attacked vigorously. They charged all together, except for a great host where there were at least a thousand men at arms who came behind on foot well in line. Those in the van were, on the other hand, in great disorder, and came very proudly to strike hard against the pavisades. The Castilians gave them a warm welcome with stones, and darts, and lances, and shafts, and arrows,so that in this first encounter many killed and wounded fell on the English side. However, the English obstinately strove to carry the position; but the Castilians defended it steadfastly and fought so vigorously that every moment it went worse with the English, so that in the end, much against their will, they shewed their heels. Then the English men at arms advanced; and as the men with the pavisades and the crossbowmen were already scattered in pursuit of the others who were fleeing, these men at arms came through the middle of the line and reached the captain's host, and the captain had them march against them. There were struck very fair blows with the lance wherewith many were hit on both sides and some even overthrown. Leaving the lances they grasped axes and swords and engaged in a rough mellay. There might you have seen helmets tom from breastplates, and arm and legpieces stripped off from some, and axes and swords fall from the hands of others; some come to grips one with the other or take to their daggers; some fall to the ground, others rise again, and blood flowing'abundantly in many places. The conflict was so desperate and the press such that even he who came out of it best had none the less hard enough toil. So brave were they on both sides, and so much obstinacy did they bring to it, that without a good discovery of Pero Niño's, in a few hours they would all have killed each other, or only a very few would have been left alive.
Pero Niño  looked and saw a white flag with the cross of St George which was kept upright, though many standards had been beaten down; he called the good knight Hector de Pontbriant and a few of his men at arms, those whom he knew, and the Normans who still surrounded him, and said to them: "Friends, so long as this flag flies, these English will never allow themselves to be beaten; let us do all we can to take it." Then the captain and Hector de Pontbriant with about fifty men at arms came out of the host and, wheeling swiftly beyond the hosts, reached the place where the banner stood. They had to fight very hard with those who were there, for they were very good knights; but in the first encounter our men slew their captain; they called him the Receiver-General, and I saw him lying at my feet. He was dying, and they could not bear him away, so close was the press of combatants. There died with him other Englishmen, and the colour was beaten down. When the English saw that matters were going so ill for them, they began to fly, each whither he could. To all this can testify he who bore the captain's banner, and they who bore the other standards, since they could not fight but could only look on and stay firm at their posts.
The English ran, throwing off helmets, armour and leather jerkins to fly the better; and the Castilians and the French were so weary and so many of them wounded that they could not pursue them. The place where this battle was fought was a flat shore of sand which stretched for half a league; it was scattered with jerkins, arms and shields which those who fled had thrown away. Then the rowers, the soldiers' boys and the crossbowmen ran scattered over the country, plundering and burning without fear. Before the battle the captain had ordered that if it befell that they won the day and discomfited the English, the host of the men at arms should at once form up again, for fear that there might be an ambuscade, or that more folk should come up and find our men in disorder. Pero Niño had more trouble now than he had had in the beginning to array the ranks; none the less he went on until in the end all the men at arms were gathered together.
And the captain ordered Gutierre Diez de Gamez,his standard bearer, to stay at his post with the banner in the midst of the host, while he himself and a few knights went to pick up those of their men who were scattered over the countryside in bad array. And the captain went with about fifty knights, mounted on horses they had taken in the battle. The country was close set with great woods, cut up with gardens and hedges of trees, and they went down the valleys, and could not be seen. The host of the men at arms stayed posted until the captain came back with his men, which was a good two hours. The captain then ordered everyone back to the galleys and the host of the men at arms stayed where they were until all the rest had gone aboard. Pero Niño had left men to guard the little island and to make ready food for all that should wish to eat. He crossed to the island with his men at arms, and the knights and many of the gentlemen supped with him there, and then they tended the wounded.

Commentary
Another battle described by a soldier/chronicler, this time a participant.  The action described takes place during a raid in force by a mixed bag of Breton, Norman and Castilian privateers on Jersey.  Diaz de Gamez emphasises the role of his hero as leader but Hector de Pontbriant was, according to French legal records, recognised as leader of the expedition.  There is no reason to doubt Pero Niño  was given command in the land battle though – he was a very experienced commander.

The account repays study as a classic description of command in a medieval battle.  Pero Niño  begins by briefing everyone on how the battle will be fought the night before – he also makes a number of other preparations which I've cut out here.  Then, on the day of the battle, the allies march out onto the beach at St Aubin's Bay and take up a position with the sea to their rear.  Pero Niño  supervises the deployment – he is quite literally hands on.  He makes a stirring speech to the lower ranks.  When the action starts, he detaches part of his force to cover a flank attack along the beach by the English cavalry.  During the action he's in the thick of it and, at the crucial time, draws together a group of men at arms to swing round the flank and attack the enemy commander, striking down the standard and causing the English to break.  When the English run, he rallies his men-at-arms under the standard and carries out a reconnaissance, to ensure the enemy have fled.  To de Gamez, Pero Niño is a paragon of chivalry and thus we can read this as how a medieval commander should fight a battle.

The fighting itself is straightforward.  A few points stand out.  De Gamez doesn't mention English archery.  Given he has described it in great detail in other battles earlier, this may imply the English weren't well provided with archers.  Whatever the reasons, it wasn't a significant factor.  Secondly, the description of how the men-at-arms fought is interesting, using lances in the initial clash, then reverting to swords and other sidearms. Thirdly, we see again the tactic of using a small force to attack and bear down the enemy standard to decide the battle.

Finally, we should note the author's description of his own role.  A certain chivalrous humility not to take away from the glory of the subject of the biography is expected in this literary form, but de Gamez makes it clear what the standard bearer is ordered to do throughout.  Elsewhere in the book, de Gamez allows himself a long digression on the role and character of the standard bearer(pp125-7).  It's his professional appraisal, not blowing his own trumpet, but clearly we are expected to note how well de Gamez fits this ideal.

[Mick Hession]

Thanks Anthony. That's a really interesting account, and as you say very different from the archetypal battle from the Hundred Years War.

Regards
Mick

[aligern]

And a very thoughtful and illuminating commentary.
Roy