Siege of Breteuil

featured Wiki of the Day

fWotD Episode 2983: Siege of Breteuil
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.
The featured article for Saturday, 5 July 2025, is Siege of Breteuil.
The siege of Breteuil was the investment (surrounding) of the Norman town of Breteuil, held by partisans of Charles II, King of Navarre, by French forces between April and about 20 August 1356. It was interrupted on 5 July when a small English army commanded by Henry, Earl of Lancaster, relieved and resupplied the town. The French king, John II, attempted to bring Lancaster to battle with the much larger French royal army, but Lancaster avoided this. John then renewed the siege of Breteuil.
The French force attracted praise for its splendour and the high status of many of its participants, but it made little progress as the town was well-garrisoned and had been left by Lancaster with food for a year. John attempted to mine under the walls, to no avail. Meanwhile, Edward the Black Prince, the son and heir of the English king, assembled an Anglo-Gascon army at Bergerac in south-west France. On 4 August this marched into French-held territory, devastating the countryside as it went. At some point in August an unusually large mobile siege tower was pushed up to the walls of Breteuil and an assault launched. The defenders set fire to the tower and repulsed the attack, inflicting many casualties. Taking Breteuil became a matter of prestige for John and he refused to take the army south to face the Black Prince.
Eventually, some time around 20 August, John gave the garrison of Breteuil free passage to the Cotentin in north-west Normandy and a huge bribe to persuade them to vacate Breteuil. All available French forces were then concentrated at Chartres to oppose the Black Prince. John and his army pursued the Black Prince's force, cut off their retreat and forced it to battle at Poitiers. The French were defeated with heavy casualties and John was captured.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Saturday, 5 July 2025.
For the full current version of the article, see Siege of Breteuil on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm generative Amy.