Mons-en-Vimeu 1421

[Erpingham]

Name and Date : Mons-en-Vimeu, 31st August, 1421
Protagonists : Burgundy (Philip the Good) v.French Dauphinist (unclear).
Numbers   : 500-Burgundian, 400-800 Dauphinist.  The Burgundian force is fairly certain, as the Ducal archives show they started the campaign with 541 men-at-arms.  Monstrelet overstates this force – he has half the Burgundian army flee then leaves the Duke leading 500 men.  His various figures imply a force of about 1000 men for the Dauphinists, and in the following chapter he states both they had 500-600 men-at-arms and 300-400 archers and that they were outnumbered.  The archers do not seem to have played any part in the action
Original source The chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet trans. by Thomas Johnes.  Published 1853 by H.G. Bohn,London . CHAPTER CCXLVI
The battle
On Saturday, the 31st of August, the two armies kept advancing with much courage, and halted about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, at three bow-shots' distance from each other. During this short halt, many new knights were hastily created on both sides. In the number was the duke of Burgundy, by the hand of sir John de Luxembourg, when the duke did the same to Philip de Saveuses ....On the part of the Dauphinois were, in like manner, created knights, .....

When this ceremony was over, the duke sent the banner of Philip de Saveuses, with six- score combatants, under the command of Sir Mauroy de Saint-Leger and the bastard de Roussy, across the plain to fall on the flank of the Dauphinois. Both armies were eager for the combat and these last advanced with a great noise, and fell on the division of the duke with all the strength of their horses' speed. The Burgundians received them well ; and at this onset there was a grand clattering of arms, and horses thrown to the ground in a most horrible manner on each side. Both parties now began to wound and kill, and the affair became very murderous ; but during this first shock of arms one-half of the duke's forces were panic-struck and fled to Abbeville, where being refused admittance they galloped on for Picquigny. The duke's banner was carried away with them ; for in the alarm the varlet who had usually borne it forgot to give it to some other person, and in; his flight had thrown it on the ground, where it was found and raised by a gentleman called John de Rosimbos, who rallied about it many of the runaways who had until that day been reputed men of courage and expert in arms. They had, however, deserted the duke of Burgundy, their lord, in this danger, and were ever after greatly blamed for their conduct. Some pretended to excuse themselves by saying, that seeing the banner they thought the duke was with it. It was also declared, on the authority of Flanders king-at-arms, that to his knowledge the duke was either killed or made prisoner, which made matters worse; for those who were most frightened continued their flight across the Somme at Picquigny to their homes, whence they did not return.

Some of the dauphin's forces, perceiving them running away from the duke's army, set out on a pursuit after them, — namely, John Raullet and Pierron de Luppel, with about six- score combatants, and killed and took a good many of them. They imagined they had gained the day, and that the Burgundians were totally defeated ; but in this they were mistaken, for the duke, with about five hundred combatants of the highest nobility and most able in arms, fought with determined resolution, insomuch that they overpowered the Dauphinois, and remained masters of the field of battle.

According to the report of each party, the duke behaved with the utmost coolness and courage ; but he had some narrow escapes, for at the onset he was hit by two lances, one of which pierced through the front of his war-saddle and grazed the armour of his right side ; he was also grappled with by a very strong man, who attempted to unhorse him, but his courser, being high-mettled and stout, bore him out of this danger. He therefore fought manfully, and took with his own hands two men-at-arms, as he was chasing the enemy along the river-side. Those nearest his person in this conflict were the lord de Longueval and Guy de Rely, and some of his attendants, who, though few in number, sup- ported him ably. It was some time before his own men knew where he was, as they missed his banner ; and when John Raullet and Pierron de Luppel returned from their pursuit of the Burgundian runaways, expecting to find their companions victorious and on the field of battle, they were confounded with disappointment on seeing the contrary, and instantly fled toward St. Valery, and with them the lord de Moy ; others made for D'Airaines.

The duke of Burgundy, on coming back to the field of battle, collected his men, and caused the bodies of those to be carried off who had fallen in the engagement, particularly that of the lord de Yiefville. Although all the nobles and great lords who had remained with the duke of Burgundy behaved most gallantly, I must especially notice the conduct of John Villain, who had that day been made a knight. He was a nobleman from Flanders, very tall and of great bodily strength, and was mounted on a good horse, holding a battle-axe in both hands. Thus he pushed into the thickest part of the battle, and, throwing the bridle on his horse's neck, gave such blows on all sides with his battle-axe that whoever was struck was instantly unhorsed and wounded past recovery. In this way he met Poton de Saintrailles, who, after the battle was over, declared the wonders he did, and that he got out of his reach as fast as he could.

When the duke had collected his men, and had caused the dead to be inspected and stripped, he returned to Abbeville, where he was joyously received, with those of the Dauphinois who had been made prisoners.... to the amount of one hundred and (recte to) six-score. There were left dead on the field, of both parties, from four to five hundred men ; but it was thought only from twenty to thirty were Burgundians ......

In this engagement, Sir John de Luxembourg, from his too great eagerness at the onset, was made prisoner by a man-at-arms called le Mouse, and carried away to some distance, but he was rescued by a party of his own and the duke's men. He was, however, very badly wounded on the face and across his nose. In like manner was the lord de Humbercourt taken, wounded, and rescued.

Commentary
Mons-en-Vimeu is the first personal victory for Philip the Good.  The account shows him being knighted before it begins.  It's little more than a cavalry skirmish really, but it is in battle in which Philip personally leads and fights like a true knight, making it a propaganda success.

What has happened before this is that the Dauphinist army is in two forces either side of the Somme and is trying to combine.  The Burgundians have abandoned their infantry at Abbeville and are in hot pursuit, trying to catch the Dauphinists before they can cross the ford at Blanchetaque (of Edward III fame).  The Dauphinists turn at bay and fight with the river behind them.  Only a small number of men have joined them from their other force, including Poton de Xantrailles (called Santrailles here), later to find fame as a mercenary leader and ultimately a Marshal of France.

The action is an all cavalry affair.  The Burgundians detach part of their force to try to turn the Dauphinist flank.  The Dauphinists charge, the Burgundian main body countercharges and the action becomes general.  The Dauphinists rout part of the Burgundians, including the Ducal banner bearer, who seems to have become separated from the Duke.  Part of the Dauphinist force pursue, most of the routers are killed or capture, though some rally to the ducal banner.  By this stage the Burgundians seem to have got the upper hand on the original battlefield and the remaining Dauphinists flee to the river.  A lot seem to be trapped there and are either killed or surrender (including two taken by Duke Philip personally).  By the time the Dauphinist pursuers return, it's all over.

Points to note are the cavalry fighting, where Duke Philip is struck by two lances in the charge and grapples with an enemy but gets out of trouble because he is well mounted.  He ends up supported by only a few of his entourage, others having fled.  Jean Villain creates mayhem in the melee with a two handed axe.  Poton de Xantrailles avoids unnecessary risks.  Jean de Luxembourg is badly wounded in the face and captured but is rescued.  This is a very fluid action.

The rout is interesting, in that here we have an army going on to win after a large part of it is routed.  It is clear inter alia the role of the banner in showing where the Duke is, and as a rally point.  How routed those who rallied were is, of course, open to discussion.  They may simply have been confused, separated and looking for someone offering continued resistance.  Certainly to true routers are those who fled all the way back to Burgundian territory.

Finally, we have the usual disparity between the dead of the two sides, though in this case Monstrelet must play down the Burgundian casualties, as he says many of the routers were killed or captured. It is possible the Dauphinist casualties are inflated by the unmentioned loss of their archers, if they were present.

[aligern]

Its also an intersting example of how a late mediaeval chronicler sees a battle. The major tactical moves are given, the flank attack,the rout, , continued resistance by the core of the Burgundians. However, if there are archers operating as such we really don't hear about them and the analysis of the win is limited to heroism. What is recorded are the deeds of  notable knights. One wonders if the heralds reports that are mentioned are a major source and thus skew the report towards individual actions.
Units, if they exist , are not mentioned except for the flank attack. Froissart's accounts are very similar. Of course, even modern battles have the same source citations, unit histories give a excessive weight to their unit's deeds (just like heralds, ) so we hear what the XYZ Light infantry did, but much less about the artillery that actually massacred the enemy and we get medal citations that are accessible and thus overweight individual heroism.

Roy

[Erpingham]

. What is recorded are the deeds of  notable knights. One wonders if the heralds reports that are mentioned are a major source and thus skew the report towards individual actions.
Units, if they exist , are not mentioned except for the flank attack. Froissart's accounts are very similar.

Roy

Monstrelet of course deliberately set out to continue Froissart' work and was very influenced from his style.  It's even more a list of the great and good in the original - I trimmed the lists of who was knighted, who captured and who killed.  However, like Froissart, Monstrelet is very interested in battles and what knights actually got up to in them, so we do get interesting anecdotes about what individuals did, with less interest in organisation, command and so on.  The absence of the archers is odd - it isn't standard practice in Monstrelet or other Burgundian school historians just to ignore the doings of non-chivalric troops even if they get less emphasis.

[Patrick Waterson]

This leads us to the question of how the respective armies thought they should act.  Evidently neither side espoused the usual English battlefield approach of an integrated force of archers and dismounted men-at-arms.  This presumably leaves them following what seems to have been the default French practice of a thundering mounted charge which may or may not have been supported by archery.  Unless someone was a) in charge of the archers and b) ordered to do something with them, they could quite easily have been reduced to spectators for much if not all of the battle.

Once more we have various unspoken questions about command and organisation floating around just below the surface actions of the battle.

Patrick

[Erpingham]

Evidently neither side espoused the usual English battlefield approach of an integrated force of archers and dismounted men-at-arms. 

Patrick

The Burgundians have had to leave their archers in Abbeville. They are presumably infantry and couldn't keep up with the pursuit force, which has to move fast to intercept the Dauphinists.  They certainly have a plan for a frontal assault with mounted flank attack (very early 15th century) but they may have dismounted their main body if the French had dismounted.  The dauphinists, however, have a balanced force and are trying to hold a defensive position, so a dismounted men-at-arms/archer deployment would seem to make sense.  Maybe there were good tactical reasons for the French not to want to surrender their mobility. You do get the feeling that both sides saw the opportunity for an old style charge and took it, though

[Erpingham]

I've made a slight alteration to my original piece - an embarassing misidentification had occurred.  la Hire and Poton de Xantrailles were frequent comrades in arms but were two different people

[Patrick Waterson]

Which shows how closely we all read the initial comments ...

I do think you are right about both sides considering this a superb opportunity for some proper traditional battlefield mounted action - follow my banner, messieurs: charge!