Battle of La Brossinier

The Battle of Agincourt was a disaster for the nobility of Anjou and Maine: after it, the English regent Duke of Bedford , having appropriated the titles of Duke of Anjou and Earl of Maine, began a systematic conquest of the region, although not without resistance.

In September 1423, John de la Paul launched from Normandy with 2,000 soldiers and 800 archers in a raid on Maine and Anjou. He captured Segre and there gathered all the valuables, provisions and 1,200 bulls and cows, and also, before setting off to return to Normandy, taking the hostages as he went.

Queen Yolanda of Aragon , mother-in-law of Charles VII , learning about the plunder of her family lands, gave the order to the most valiant partisans of the French king to take revenge on the British. Ambroise de Lore , Jean VIII d'Arcourt and Andre de Laval-Montmorency gathered their troops, they were joined by the soldiers of the disgraced Baron Coulonge.

D'Arcourt arrived in Laval on Friday September 24th , but set off on Saturday morning to take a position on the road, follow the English and follow their maneuvers. He sent messengers to Guy de Laval , Louis Tremigon and Ambroise de Laura with the message that, according to him, the British would go through La Brossinier, following the main road from Brittany, next Sunday morning.

In total, the French army gathered under its banners 6,000 soldiers, both knights and commoners.

Two hours after the French troops were drawn up in battle order, the British scouts came across French shooters. The British attacked, but the French archers retreated to the position of the main forces, and the attackers were faced with the French cavalry of D'Arcourt.

The British moved with a long train, so that in case of danger the infantry could hide from the cavalry behind the carts. Tremigon, Laura and Coulonge hit the English infantry, but could not disperse it, then the French turned and attacked the English flank, which was hacked, and the soldiers were driven into a large ravine. At this moment, the French infantry hit the scattered English.

The result of the battle was a massacre in which from 1200 to 1400 Englishmen died on the battlefield, another 200-300 were killed in pursuit. John de la Poole, Thomas Auburg and Thomas Cliffton surrendered, in total 120 Englishmen were captured. On the French side, only one knight, Jean Le Roux, was killed in action, and an undetermined number of squires were killed. 16-year-old Andre de Laval-Montmorency , future marshal of France, was knighted on the battlefield by one of his comrades.

• Cousinot: Chronique de la Pucelle; ou, Chronique de Cousinot, suivie de la Chronique normande de P. Cochon, relatives aux règnes de Charles 6 et de Charles 7, restituées à leurs auteurs et publiées pour la première fois intégralement à partir de l'an 1403, d'après les manuscrits; avec notices, notes et développements par Vallet de Viriville (1859). http://www.stejeannedarc.net/chroniques/cp5.php
• "Bataille de la Brossinière," in Alphonse-Victor Angot, Ferdinand Gaugain, Dictionnaire historique, topographique et biographique de la Mayenne, Goupil, 1900-1910
• La Mayenne des origines à nos jours. Éditions Bordessoules. 1984
• Jean de Wavrin: A Collection of the Chronicles and Ancient Histories of Great Britain, Now Called England Volume 3, From AD 1422 to AD 1431 (trans Edward LCP Hardy), Cambridge University Press, 2012 ISBN 9781108048484
• Walsby, Malcolm (2007). The Counts of Laval: Culture, Patronage and Religion in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century France. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754658115 .