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The Battle of the Herrings, also called the Battle of Rouvray, was a military action near the town of Rouvray in France, just north of Orléans, which took place on 12 February 1429, during the siege of Orléans in the Hundred Years' War. The immediate cause of the battle was an attempt by French and Scottish forces, led by Charles of Bourbon and Sir John Stewart of Darnley, to intercept a supply convoy headed for the English army at Orléans. The English had been laying siege to the city since the previous October. This supply convoy was escorted by an English force under Sir John Fastolf and had been outfitted in Paris, from whence it had departed some time earlier. The battle was decisively won by the English.

According to Régine Pernoud, the supply train consisted of "some 300 carts and wagons, carrying crossbow shafts, cannons and cannonballs but also barrels of herring". The latter were being sent since the meatless Lenten days were approaching. It was the presence of this stock of fish which would give the somewhat unusual name to the battle.

The battle

thumb|Journée des Harengs (from Les Vigiles de Charles VII by [[Martial d'Auvergne, written c. 1477–84, held by Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)]]

The field of battle was an almost featureless, flat plain. The French army, numbering between 3,000 and 4,000, confronted the much smaller English force who had set up defensive positions by drawing up the supply wagons into a makeshift fortification. The entire defensive formation was then further protected by the placement of sharpened wooden stakes all around to prevent the French cavalry from charging, a tactic which had been employed with great success at Agincourt. The French attack began with a bombardment using gunpowder artillery, a relatively new weapon for the time and one whose proper usage was not well understood although it was damaging to the wagons and caused English casualties.), Joan gave out the information that "the Dauphin's arms had that day suffered a great reverse near Orléans". When, several days later, news of the military setback near Rouvray did in fact reach Vaucouleurs, de Baudricourt, according to the story, relented and agreed to sponsor her journey to the Dauphin in Chinon. Joan finally left Vaucouleurs for Chinon on 23 February 1429.

Polish fantasy writer, Andrzej Sapkowski described the battle in his novel, Lux perpetua. The novel is part of the Hussite Trilogy, which takes place in 15th-century Silesia, during the Hussite Wars. The short description of the battle is not connected with the main plot. Sir John Fastolf is shown as a comical figure who wins the battle thanks to rumours he may have heard about the Bohemian heretics and their commander, Jan Žižka. Fastolf, feeling hopeless in the face of the enemy, forms his wagons into a wagenburg and surprisingly wins.

The Battle of the Herrings also appears as a vignette in Robert Nye's novel, Falstaff, told through the eyes of the English commander himself.

See also

  • Hundred Years' War
  • John Fastolf
  • English claims to the French throne
  • Cod Wars

Notes

References