CHAP. XVIII.
AFTER THE CAPTURE OF VALOGNES BY SIR THOMAS KIRIEL, HE TAKES THE FIELD WITH A LARGE ARMY OF ENGLISHMEN.—HE IS MET BY THE COUNT DE CLERMONT, WHO ATTACKS AND DEFEATS HIM.
On the 12th day of April, in the year 1450, after Easter, sir Thomas Kiriel dislodged from Valognes, having with him the greater part of the garrisons of Caen, Bayeux, and Vire, and, crossing the fords of St Clement[79], advanced toward the country of Bayeux and Caen. Intelligence of this movement was carried to the french headquarters, and a detachment was ordered to pursue them, under the command of the count de Clermont, the count de Castres, the seneschal of Poitou, the lord de Montgascon and de Retz, admiral of France, and others, to the amount of five or six hundred spears and archers. Although they were so few in numbers, they continued their pursuit until they overtook them. Sir Geoffry de Couvran and Joachim Rohault had, some little time before, separated from them to seek if they could gain any information of the enemy, and luckily fell in with their track. Notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, they boldly and courageously made an attack on their rear-guard, and killed and wounded several. They then retreated, and sent notice of what they had done to the count de Clermont, who was not far off. He hastened to come up with the English, which he did near a village called Fourmigny, between Carentan and Bayeux, on the 13th of the same month.
The English, on perceiving the enemy, drew up in battle-array, and sent in haste to a captain, called Matago, who had that morning quitted them for Bayeux, but instantly returned to the aid of his companions.
The two armies remained drawn up facing each other for three hours, while a continual skirmish was going forward,—during which, the English made, with their swords and daggers, deep holes in their front, that those who should charge them might fall in with their horses: they were also very advantageously posted, for they had, within a bow-shot of their rear, a small river with gardens and orchards thick planted with fruit-trees, so that they could not be attacked on that quarter.
The count de Clermont, observing their situation, and considering that he had not an adequate force to combat them, dispatched a messenger in haste to St Lo, to require that the count de Richemont, constable of France, would come to his succour,—otherwise he and his men would have more work on their hands than they could accomplish, for that the English greatly outnumbered his force.
The constable, on receiving this intelligence, instantly set out, at three o'clock in the morning of the same day, the 18th, to his assistance, although he was but just arrived from Brittany without halting. He rode to Trevieres[80], accompanied by the lord James de Luxembourg, the count de Laval, the lord marshal de Lohéac, and from two hundred to twelve score lances and eight hundred archers. They advanced with great rapidity (for the English had already crossed the ford) until they came to the windmill above Fourmigny, where they drew up in order of battle in sight of the English.
The count de Clermont had begun the engagement with his army of a thousand to fifteen hundred men before the arrival of the constable, and had been sharply repulsed by the English, who had taken from them two culverines. The constable first marched his men to gain a stone bridge,—but no sooner did Matago and sir Robert Vere perceive this manœuvre of the constable than they fled with a thousand of their men from Caen and Bayeux. Kiriel and the remainder retreated toward the rivulet, and occupied the village that was hard by.
Part of the constable's archers, having dismounted at the end of the bridge, attacked the left wing of the English,—and many were killed and put to the rout. The constable now crossed the rivulet and joined the count de Clermont; when the grand seneschal of Normandy asked his permission to march his division toward the enemy's right wing, which being granted, the English were slain and defeated. The main body of the constable's men marched now in handsome order until they were near the village, and crossed the brook by the high road. The English were so much alarmed that they quitted the village, and advanced to the rivulet, where a well-fought engagement took place; but although the French were in all not more, according to the report of the heralds, than three thousand combatants, and the English from six to seven thousand, nevertheless, by the grace of God, the French defeated them. From the accounts of the heralds, priests, and credible persons, three thousand seven hundred and seventy-three were slain, and buried in fourteen deep trenches on the spot.
Among the prisoners were sir Anthony[81] Kiriel, sir Henry Norbery[82], sir Thomas Drieut[83], Thomas Kirby, Christopher Auberton, Arpel, Helix Alengour, Jannequin Vacquier, Gobert Caleville, and numbers of other captains, and english gentlemen bearing coats of arms. Conformably to the old proverb, of 'He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day,' did those act who fled and left their companions to bear the brunt of the battle, namely, Matago, sir Robert Vere, Henry Lons, master Meillan, and another captain who commanded thirty lances and five hundred archers. The prisoners taken at this battle were estimated at from twelve to fourteen hundred. Matago fled to Bayeux, and sir Robert to Caen,—and thus, by the favour of Divine Providence, were the English defeated.