Siege of Orléans (1428-1429): The Turning Point for France

The Siege of Orléans (12 October 1428 – 8 May 1429) was the English attempt to capture the city of Orléans on the Loire during the Hundred Years’ War. Its failure, after a relief force accompanied by the young Joan of Arc stormed the English siege forts in early May 1429, reversed years of English success and is widely seen as the turning point of the war for France.

Background: a divided France

By the late 1420s the French kingdom was split in three. After Henry V’s victory at Agincourt in 1415 and the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, the English and their Burgundian allies held Paris, Normandy and most of the north. The infant Henry VI of England was claimed as king of France, with his uncle John, Duke of Bedford, governing as regent.

South of the Loire, the Dauphin Charles, son of the late Charles VI, ruled from Bourges and Chinon. His enemies mocked him as the “King of Bourges”. He had not been crowned, his treasury was poor and his armies had suffered defeats such as Verneuil in 1424.

Orléans was the key to this frontier. It held one of the few fortified bridges across the Loire, and its capture would open the road into the Dauphin’s heartland. There was also a matter of honour: the city belonged to Duke Charles of Orléans, a prisoner in England since Agincourt. By the customs of the time, attacking the lands of a captive lord was considered dishonourable, and contemporaries noted the breach.

The siege begins

Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, arrived before the city with an English army on 12 October 1428. He concentrated first on the south bank, where a small fortress called Les Tourelles guarded the far end of the bridge. The English captured it on 24 October, but the defenders broke arches of the bridge to stop any advance across the river.

On 27 October Salisbury was struck by debris from a cannon shot while surveying the city from a window of Les Tourelles. He died of his wounds on 3 November. Command passed to William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, supported by John Talbot and Thomas, Lord Scales.

A loose blockade

The English never had enough men to encircle Orléans completely. Estimates for their force vary, but it probably numbered no more than about 4,000 to 5,000 men at its strongest. Instead of a continuous line, they built a ring of fortified posts known as bastides around the city, mainly on the west and north sides and on the south bank.

The eastern approaches remained partly open, and convoys of food and reinforcements slipped into the city during the winter. The garrison, led by Jean, the “Bastard of Orléans” (later Count of Dunois and half-brother of the captive duke), worked with the citizens’ militia to man walls equipped with numerous cannon. Both sides made heavy use of gunpowder artillery, and the siege is an important early example of it.

On 12 February 1429 a French and Scottish force under Charles, Count of Clermont, attacked an English convoy at Rouvray, north of the city. The convoy, led by Sir John Fastolf, was carrying salted herrings for Lent. Fastolf drew his wagons into a defensive enclosure and routed the attackers in what became known as the Battle of the Herrings. The defeat left morale in Orléans at a low point, and the citizens even offered to surrender the city to the neutral Duke of Burgundy.

Joan of Arc and the relief

In early 1429 a peasant girl from Domrémy, Joan of Arc, reached the Dauphin at Chinon, convinced that God had sent her to raise the siege and see Charles crowned. After an examination by churchmen at Poitiers, she was allowed to join a relief convoy assembled at Blois.

Joan entered Orléans on the evening of 29 April 1429, carrying her banner. Crowds greeted her with enthusiasm, and her insistence on attacking rather than waiting gave the defenders new confidence. Further troops reached the city in the following days.

The French offensive began on 4 May with the capture of the bastide of Saint-Loup to the east. On 6 May they crossed to the south bank and took the fortified former convent of the Augustins. On 7 May they assaulted Les Tourelles itself. Joan was struck by an arrow between her neck and shoulder but returned to the fight. In the evening the fort fell; its commander, William Glasdale, drowned in the Loire when a bridge collapsed beneath him.

On Sunday 8 May the English garrisons on the north bank came out and formed up in battle order. The French drew up opposite them, but neither side attacked. After about an hour the English withdrew, abandoning the siege.

Key people

• Joan of Arc (c. 1412–1431), the young visionary whose arrival transformed French morale.
• Jean de Dunois, the Bastard of Orléans, who commanded the city’s defence throughout.
• Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, the experienced English commander killed early in the siege.
• William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who led the English after Salisbury’s death.
• John Talbot, a renowned English captain, captured soon afterwards at Patay.

Consequences

The French followed up quickly in the Loire campaign of June 1429. They took Jargeau, where Suffolk was captured, then Meung-sur-Loire and Beaugency. On 18 June they defeated the English field army at Patay, where Talbot was taken prisoner.

The road to Reims was now open. On 17 July 1429 the Dauphin was crowned as Charles VII in Reims Cathedral, with Joan beside him. The coronation gave Charles a legitimacy his rival Henry VI could not match; Henry was not crowned in Paris until 1431.

The relief did not end the war. Joan was captured in 1430 and executed in 1431, and fighting went on for two more decades. Yet the momentum had shifted. The Burgundians made peace with Charles at Arras in 1435, Paris returned to him in 1436, and the English were expelled from Normandy by 1450 and from Gascony by 1453.

Myths and facts

Myth: Joan of Arc commanded the French army at Orléans. Fact: Formal command lay with experienced captains such as Dunois, La Hire and Gilles de Rais. Joan’s role was inspirational and advisory, though she was present in the fighting and pressed for attacks.

Myth: Orléans was completely surrounded and starving. Fact: The English blockade was incomplete, and supplies and troops reached the city several times during the winter, though conditions were hard.

Timeline

• 1428, 12 October: English army under the Earl of Salisbury begins the siege.
• 1428, 24 October: The English capture Les Tourelles at the southern end of the bridge.
• 1428, early November: Salisbury dies of wounds from a cannon shot; Suffolk takes command.
• 1429, 12 February: English victory at the Battle of the Herrings at Rouvray.
• 1429, 29 April: Joan of Arc enters Orléans with a supply convoy.
• 1429, 4 May: The French take the bastide of Saint-Loup.
• 1429, 7 May: Les Tourelles falls; Joan is wounded by an arrow.
• 1429, 8 May: The English abandon the siege.
• 1429, 18 June: French victory at Patay.
• 1429, 17 July: Charles VII is crowned at Reims.

Why it matters

The Siege of Orléans marked the moment the tide of the Hundred Years’ War turned in France’s favour. It made Joan of Arc a national figure, gave Charles VII the confidence and legitimacy to be crowned, and began the long French recovery that ended English rule in France. Orléans still celebrates its deliverance every May.