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= Siege of Brest (1342) =
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Introduction
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The siege of Brest took place in 1342 during the Breton Civil War.
When John III, the duke of Brittany, died childless in 1341 the title
was contested by Charles of Blois and John of Montfort. Charles was
the nephew of the French king, Philip VI (), who supported him with a
large army. Charles invaded Brittany, making good progress and taking
John prisoner. John's wife, Joanna of Flanders, took up the
Montfortist cause and fought on. As France and England had been
fighting the Hundred Years' War since 1337 Joanna appealed to Edward
III, the English king, for military assistance, which was promised.
The assistance was slow in coming and the Montfortist forces were
pushed back across Brittany. By July 1342 Joanna was besieged in
Brest, the last Breton fortification held for the Montfort cause, by
Charles and a large army. The town was blockaded from the sea by 14
mercenary Genoese galleys. On 18 August an English fleet of 260 ships,
commanded by William of Northampton, sailed into the Brest Roads and
overwhelmed the galleys, burning 11. The English ships carried only
1,350 fighting men, a force far smaller than that of the French army.
But seeing so many English ships crowded into the Brest Roads and the
English vanguard disembarking onto the beach, the French anticipated
an attack by a vast host. Charles promptly broke off the siege and
withdrew, abandoning western Brittany. The historian Jonathan Sumption
describes this reaction as extraordinary. The English were reinforced
over the next two months and held Brest until 1362. The Breton Civil
War continued until 1365, the Hundred Years' War until 1453.
Background
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Brittany was a province of France, and although the dukes of Brittany
were vassals of the French kings, they governed the duchy as
independent rulers. Nevertheless, when the Hundred Years' War broke
out in 1337 between France and England the Duke of Brittany, John III,
fought alongside his feudal lord the king of France, Philip VI. John
III died on 30 April 1341, leaving no children and a disputed
succession; both his niece, Joan of Penthièvre, and his younger
half-brother, John of Montfort, a senior Breton nobleman, claimed the
dukedom. If Joan's claim was upheld her husband, Charles of Blois, a
well-connected and militarily oriented French nobleman who was also a
nephew of the king of France would succeed John III as duke. On John
III's death John of Montfort acted quickly and installed friendly
garrisons in most of the towns and castles of Brittany by August.
Philip initially disregarded the situation until correctly suspecting
that John was negotiating with the English, he had Charles declared
the rightful heir on 7 September. Philip found the idea of having a
relative as the duke attractive: it would bring the traditionally
semi-autonomous province more firmly under royal control. He was
willing to commit considerable military resources to achieve this and
sent an army to support Charles.
The French army overran all of eastern Brittany except Rennes and took
John prisoner. John's wife, Joanna of Flanders, was in Rennes when
news of John's capture arrived. She acted decisively, recalled the
field army from western Brittany, took command and moved to Hennebonta
small but strongly walled town with access to the sea. From there
Joanna retained control of most of western Brittany and set up her
two-year-old son, also named John, as the faction's figurehead and
heir to his father's claim to the duchy. She despatched her senior
counsellor, Amaury of Clisson, to Edward III of England with the ducal
treasury to encourage English military intervention and waited on
events.
On 21 February 1342 Edward sealed a treaty to support the Montfort
cause, as an extension of the war with France. Edward saw the
opportunity to set up a ruler in Brittany at least partly under his
control; this could provide access to Breton ports which would greatly
aid England's naval war and give ready entry to France for English
armies. English reinforcements took a long time to arrive and the flow
of events went against the Montfortists in the face of Charles's huge
military superiority. In May 1342 Rennes fell and Hennebont was
besieged as Charles pushed his area of control westward. A force of
French and mercenary galleys cruised off the north Breton coast, but
there was so little English naval activity that they were beached and
their crews went ashore to fight as infantry. A small English force,
234 men, arrived under Sir Walter Mauny in May. Edward planned to land
in Brittany himself in June with a substantial force, but extreme
difficulty gathering sufficient shippingdespite draconian measures
taken by Admiral of the North Robert Morleyand then contrary winds,
caused this date to be repeatedly put back.
French siege
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Charles was strongly reinforced in July and his advance continued. By
July Joanna was besieged in the western port of Brest, the only
remaining fortified place held by the Montfortists, by Charles of
Blois and a large army. Brest was little more than a village,
militarily significant only for its castle and its advantageous
position on the north shore of the large, sheltered expanse of the
Brest Roads (the Iroise Sea) close by its narrow exit to the sea (the
Goulet de Brest). The historian Michael Jones describes the castle as
a key ducal stronghold.
In late July ships carrying an English force of 110 men put into a
port in western Brittany while sailing to English-held Gascony. Their
leader, Hugh Despenser, was so concerned that the Montfortist cause
was on the verge of collapse that he stayed in Brittany with either
part or all of his force and reinforced the garrison of Brest. The
reinforcements Charles received in July gave him the opportunity to
put his galleys back to use. He sent 14 foreign galleys commanded by
Carlo Grimaldi and John D'Aurea to blockade Brest from the sea. These
anchored close to the castle, near the mouth of the small River
Penfeld, between Brest and its only access to the sea. Charles was
aware that part of the English fleet was on the verge of sailing and
so sent 21 French vesselsgalleys and other oared vesselsto trap them
in Portsmouth.
Opposing navies
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Galleys had long been used by the Mediterranean powers and the French
adopted them for use in the English Channel. These galleys were
warships and had little transport space for men or equipment: a large
galley might carry 150 men, of whom only 25 would be able to fight at
sea. Being shallow-draught vessels propelled by banks of oars they
could penetrate shallow harbours and were highly manoeuvrable, making
them effective for raiding and ship-to-ship combat in meeting
engagements. The French galleys were supplemented by galleys hired
from Genoa and Monaco. Operating the galleys was a specialist activity
and called for highly trained crews.
The English did not have a purpose-built navy; Edward owned only three
warships. The King relied on requisitioning the merchant vessels of
English traders: these were largely vessels known as cogs. Cogs had a
deep draught, a round hull and were propelled by a single large sail
set on a mast amidships. They could be converted into warships by the
addition of wooden forecastles and aftercastles at the bow and stern
and the erection of crow's nest platforms at the masthead. Cogs were
able to carry many fighting men. Their high freeboard made them
superior to the oared vessels in close combat, and arrows or bolts
could be fired into or stones dropped onto enemy craft alongside.
However, they were slow-moving in comparison to galleys and more
difficult to manoeuvre.
English relief
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William of Northampton was supposed to sail from Portsmouth on 8 July
in command of the first contingent of the English army, 1,350 men. But
on that date not a single requisitioned ship was present. Morley
applied a heavy-handed policy of threats and confiscations which was
successful; by mid-August 140 transports were assembled, with 120
warships to escort them. The warships were largely converted cogs but
included an unknown number of galleys from Bayonne, an
English-controlled town in south-west France which owed fealty to
Edward. This fleet sailed for Brest on 14 and 15 August. The French
squadron despatched by Charles arrived off the Solent a little later,
losing their chance of trapping the English fleet. Instead they razed
Portsmouth and devastated the area around Southampton.
The English fleet took just three days to reach western Brittany,
where Brest was on the brink of surrender. The English sailed through
the Goulet, taking the Genoese galleys by surprise. The galleys were
so close to the entrance of the Goulet that by the time they had
prepared for battle the slow-moving and unhandy English ships were
almost on top of them. This meant that Grimaldi's squadron had lost
its main combat advantage: the speed and manoeuvrability to execute
hit-and-run tactics. His captains realised this, and with their only
passage to the open sea filled with yet more English ships, they fled.
Three of the Genoese ships reached the safety of the Élorn river and
fled upstream. The other 11 and a collection of smaller support craft
made for the Penfeld. The water at its mouth was too shallow even for
galleys and they all grounded. Their crews hastily abandoned them and
waded ashore. When the English came up to the beached galleys they set
fire to them and those of the other small ships and barges which had
also grounded.
The English transport ships carried only 1,350 soldiers, who started
to disembark onto the beach. This force was far smaller than that of
the French besieging Brest but, seeing so many English ships crowded
into the Brest Roads and the English vanguard forming up on the beach,
they miscalculated how few troops 260 ships could carry and
anticipated an attack by a vast host. Charles promptly broke off the
siege and withdrew, abandoning western Brittany. The historian
Jonathan Sumption describes this French reaction as extraordinary. The
French army retreated 120 km along the north coast of Brittany to
Guingamp.
Aftermath
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Northampton was reinforced and marched on Morlaix, a town on the north
coast with strong fortifications and a secure harbour 50 kilometres
(30 mi) from Brest, and besieged it. Charles was now aware that his
force greatly outnumbered the English and he attempted to relieve
Morlaix but was defeated on 30 September at the battle of Morlaix.
Edward III landed in Brest with a large force on 26 October, only to
agree the Truce of Malestroit on 19 January 1343. Hostilities did not
recommence until June 1345. Northampton's successes at Brest and
Morlaix restarted the Breton Civil War when it was thought nearly
over.
Brest remained in English hands for 30 years; as the Hundred Years'
War continued it was used to support forces guarding the passage of
English ships to and from Gascony and to facilitate descents on the
French-held south coast of Brittany. The Breton Civil War continued as
a disjointed and inconclusive series of sieges, skirmishes and truces,
frequently as part of the Hundred Years' War. The eastern and southern
parts of Brittany were mostly held by the French, who continued to
strongly support Charles of Blois, while western and northern Brittany
continued to be largely Montfort- or English-controlled. Charles of
Blois was killed in 1364 at the battle of Auray and his army
decisively defeated. The next year his widow, Joan of Penthièvre,
signed the Treaty of Guérande, recognising John of Montfort's son as
Duke of Brittany, which ended the civil war. The Hundred Years' War
lasted until 1453.
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