Dover Castle, regarded as the 'Key to England' and a lynchpin of the Angevin Empire, was besieged twice by Prince Louis of France during the First Barons' War, with the two phases sometimes treated as a single siege separated by a truce. The first siege began in May 1216, when Louis moved to encircle the castle and his naval forces cut off the defenders' access to the sea. He constructed a siege tower, deployed artillery including perriers and mangonels, and began undermining the walls. The defenders under Hubert de Burgh made repeated sorties to disrupt the besiegers. In August, Louis' knights stormed the timber palisade of the outer barbican following successful undermining, and the Capetian position was further bolstered when Alexander II of Scotland arrived to do homage to Louis and reinforcements came from France. In September, undermining created a breach in the walls which the besiegers promptly stormed, but they were repulsed by the defenders, who barricaded the breach. Louis agreed a three-month truce with de Burgh on 14 October and withdrew to London, where he received news of the unexpected death of King John.
The second phase began after the truce broke down when de Burgh, having repaired the damage to the walls, led an unexpected sortie attacking Capetian reinforcements in the port of Dover. Louis' army returned on 12 May 1217 and settled in for another siege, deploying a trebuchet in what is recorded as the first use of such a weapon in England. His prospects worsened when an Angevin naval force under Phillip d'Albini arrived and cut off the flow of supplies and reinforcements from France. On 20 May, Louis' second army under Thomas, Count of Perche suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Lincoln, and when news reached Louis on 25 May he broke the siege and retreated to London, recognising that he had lost his superiority on land and that Angevin naval forces controlled the coast. Peace negotiations followed, and after a Capetian fleet was defeated at the Battle of Sandwich in August, Louis was compelled to renounce his claim to the English throne and returned to France in September 1217.
The most dramatic moment of the siege came in September 1216 when Louis' besiegers, having successfully undermined the walls, created a breach and stormed it; the defenders under Hubert de Burgh managed to repulse the assault and immediately barricaded the gap, denying the French a foothold inside the castle that had been described as the very 'Key to England'. This repulse effectively ended the first phase of the siege, compelling Louis to accept a three-month truce and withdraw to London.
Not recorded in the sources.
Besieging Anglo-French forces under Prince Louis of France, equipped with perriers, mangonels, and (in the second phase) a trebuchet, supported by naval forces. The castle was defended by a garrison under Hubert de Burgh.
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