medieval-atlas/events-from-about-850-to-1460/115

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Scotland and Europe As the English conquest of northern France proceeded from mid1417 onwards, the Dauphin Charles sought the help offoreign troops to resist the invader. Sir John Stewart of Darnley was among the first Scots mercenaries to enter his service in October 1418. Large contingents of an army sent officially by the governor and the estates of Scotland followed from the end of 1419, using La Rochelle as the port ofentry, led by John, earl of Buchan and Archibald, earl of Wig town. Wigtown was replaced by his father the fourth earl of Douglas in 1424. The Scottish component of the Dauphin's forces in the early 1420s may have at times comprised as many as 6000 men. The places on the map are those where Scottish troops are known to have been stationed or to have taken part in operations against the English and their Burgundian supporters between 1418 and the capture of Joan of Arc in 1430. (A few individual Scots also accompanied the Dauphin on his journey to Toulouse and Carcassonne in the south ofthe country in the early months of 1420.) The major engagements in which they took part (underlined on the map) were at Fresnay on 3 March 1420, Bauge on 22 March 1421, Cravant on 31 July 1423, Verneuil on 17 August 1424, Rouvrey +Derval Vallet ('the battle of the herrings') on 12 February 1429 and Patay on 18 June 1429. Some were present at the coronation of the Dauphin as King Charles VII at Rheims on 16 July 1429. Scottish leaders were awarded with grants of castles and lands from the French royal domain, since the Dauphin had notoriously little cash athis disposal. Such grants are marked in italic type on the map. It is hard to know how effective they were, for there were often other claimants with conflicting rights. The earl of Douglas certainly held the duchy of Touraine for four months in 1424 before he was killed at Verneuil; but his heirs had no success in retaining these French lands. Wigtown was granted the county ofLongueville in 1421, and Stewart ofDamley the county ofEvreux in 1427. Both areas were under English control, and neither man ever took possession. The county of Saintonge was promised to King James I in 1428 as part of an agreement over further military help from Scotland: but the grant was not effective, for with the advent of Joan of Arc in 1429, the tide of war moved quickly in favour of King Charles and soon a large Scottish contingent in his army was no longer needed or welcome. Only a small Scots Guard was retained thereafter. Reim;T ~ontargis Auxerre Mehun +. +st Algnan vtSf Martm d'Auxigny +Melay Loches CIiSSO# + Bourges ~evers Thouars+ + Chafillon Issoudun + Dun-le-rot Monfreuil-Bonnin Fontenay-Ie-Comte + Niort+ The Scots in France in the 1420s DERW 115

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