{{Short description|Part of the Hundred Years' War}} {{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Battle of Cocherel | partof = Hundred Years' War | image = 1364 Cocherel.jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = ''Bataille de Cocherel, 16 mai 1364'' (oil on canvas by Charles-Philippe Larivière, 1839) depicts Jean de Grailly surrendering to Bertrand du Guesclin | date = 16 May 1364 | place = near of Houlbec-Cocherel (Eure) | result = French victory<ref name="Cuttler2003">{{cite book|author=S. H. Cuttler|title=The Law of Treason and Treason Trials in Later Medieval France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVHPC_QVLB0C&pg=PA172|accessdate=5 May 2013|date=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52643-2|page=172}}</ref> | combatant1 = Kingdom of France | combatant2 = Kingdom of Navarre<br />Kingdom of England | commander1 = Bertrand du Guesclin | commander2 = Jean III de Grailly{{POW}} <br />John Jouel | strength1 = 1,500–3,000 | strength2 = 5,000–6,000<br>300 archers | casualties1 = Unknown | casualties2 = Unknown | notes = }} {{Campaignbox Hundred Years' War}} {{Campaignbox Caroline War}}
The '''Battle of Cocherel''' was fought on 16 May 1364 between the forces of Charles V of France and the forces of Charles II of Navarre (known as ''Charles the Bad''), over the succession to the Kingdom of France.<ref name=wagner102>Wagner. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. pp. 102–103</ref> The result was a French victory.
==Background==
The French crown had been at odds with Navarre (near southern Gascony) since 1354. In 1363 the Navarrese used the captivity of John II of France in London and the political weakness of the Dauphin to try to seize power.<ref name=wagner102/> Although there was no formal treaty, Edward III of England supported the Navarrese moves, particularly as there was a prospect that he might gain control over the northern and western provinces as a consequence.<ref>Ormod. Edward III</ref> There had been a peace treaty known as the Treaty of Brétigny in place between England and France since 1360. As England was supposed to be at peace with France the English military forces used to support Navarre were drawn from the mercenary ''routier'' companies, not the king of England's army, thus avoiding a breach of the peace treaty.<ref name=wagner102/>
==Armies==
The king of France's forces were led by Bertrand du Guesclin, though Jean, Count of Auxerre was the highest-ranking noble present. There were knights from Burgundy (f. e. Jean de Vienne), Breton, Picard, Parisian and Gascon people.<ref name=wagner102 />
The forces of Navarre were commanded by the Gascon chief, Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch and mainly consisted of 800 to 900 knights and 4000 to 5000 soldiers from Normandy, Gascony and England, including 300 English archers.<ref>André Castelot, ''Du Guesclin le vainqueur de Cocherel'' in ''Vivre au Moyen Âge'', Historia Spécial 1996.</ref> The most expert, with the largest company of men at arms and archers in his train, was an English knight, called Sir John Jouel. Sir John Jouel commanded the first battalion of English, which consisted of men at arms and archers. The Captal de Buch had the second battalion, which, one with another, was about four hundred combatants The English and Gascons consisted mainly of routier companies that had been operating in Brittany and Western France.<ref name=wagner102/>
==Battle== left|thumb|200px|Battle of Cocherel (painting between c. 1380 and 1392) The Anglo-Navarrese army was lined up in three battalions. It took up a defensive position, with the archers forming wedged divisions along the front, as had been a standard tactic for English armies of the period. In the past when the opposing army had advanced then they would be cut to pieces by the archers, however in this battle, du Guesclin managed to break the defensive formation by attacking and then pretending to retreat, which tempted Sir John Jouel and his battalion from their hill in pursuit. Captal de Buch and his company followed. A flank attack by du Guesclin's reserve then won the day.<ref name=wagner102 />
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Book of the Medieval Knight.'' London: Arms and Armour Press, 1985. {{ISBN|0-85368-715-3}} * {{cite ODNB |last=Ormrod |date=2008-01-03 |first=W. |title=Edward III (1312–1377) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8519 |url-status=dead |type=online |archive-url= https://archive.today/20180716023453/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8519 |archive-date=2018-07-16 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8519 |doi-access=free}} * {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Wagner|first=John A|title=Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport CT|year=2006|isbn=0-313-32736-X}} * {{commons category-inline|Battle of Cocherel}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocherel, Battle of}} Category:Battles involving France Category:History of Eure Category:1364 in Europe Category:1360s in France Category:Conflicts in 1364 Category:Military history of Normandy Category:Battles of the Middle Ages Category:Hundred Years' War, 1369–1389