Siege of Caen (1450)
Who Fought
History & Significance
The siege of Caen took place in 1450 during the Hundred Years' War, as part of the Normandy campaign of 1449–1450, when French forces laid siege to Caen in the English-occupied Normandy following their decisive victory at the Battle of Formigny.
After Formigny, the remnants of the English Army under Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset withdrew to Caen, pursued by the much larger French army commanded by Arthur de Richemont, Constable of France. After three weeks of siege Somerset surrendered. English control of Normandy rapidly collapsed, ending with the loss of Cherbourg in August.
Following the collapse of the 1444 Truce of Tours, hostilities between France and England resumed in 1449 with the beginning of the reconquest of Normandy by the French. After the surrender of Rouen in October of that year, the city's commander Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, was able to withdraw with his garrison to Caen, where he awaited reinforcements promised by King Henry VI to his lieutenant-general. Occupied by the English since 1417, Caen, which was one of the main English strongholds on the continent, had seen its fortifications restored and completed.
On 15 March 1450, a 3,500-men expeditionary force led by Thomas Kyriell landed at Cherbourg with the task of joining the English troops in Falaise and Caen, where John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury had entrenched himself, and thus gathering a force capable of defeating the French in a pitched battle. On 15 April, the two armies clashed at the Battle of Formigny, in which the English were defeated.
The remnants of the English army at Formigny took refuge in Caen, where the garrisons of the last Norman strongholds, with the exception of Cherbourg, had also flocked. According to historian Victor-René Hunger, between 3,000 and 4,000 English troops were present in Caen before the siege began. Somerset focused on strengthening Caen's defenses, notably setting fire to and razing part of Bourg-l'Abbé — around the Abbaye aux Hommes, at the western entrance to Caen — and demolishing the Frileux Bridge, which crosses the Orne just south of the city, on the road to Rouen and Paris.
On the French side, Jean de Dunois and Arthur de Richemont, Constable of France, organized the siege and gathered considerable forces around Caen, accompanied by the powerful artillery of the brothers Gaspard and Jean Bureau. On 5 June, Richemont and Clermont established themselves in the outskirts of the Abbaye aux Hommes with around 8,200 men, while Dunois, soon joined by King Charles VII and 600 archers, massed his 5,000 men near the suburb of Vaucelles, on the right bank of the Orne. A third force positioned itself on the heights around the Abbaye aux Dames, northeast of the city, and a fourth on the heights north of the city, overlooking the Château de Caen. Adding the artillerymen, sappers, and carpenters needed for the siege, Victor-René Hunger estimated the number of besiegers at 20,000 men, including 15,000 combatants.
The ground they fought on
The site of Siege of Caen (1450) lies on Great Oolite Group, bedrock that formed in the Bathonian. The rock here is sandstone, limestone and argillaceous rocks.
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