Overview:
The Duke of Bedford defeated an allied force of French and Scottish soldiers.
In the summer of 1423, when two armies, one English, one Burgundian, gathered at Auxerre to meet a Dauphinist army marching into Burgundy for Bourges. This French army contained a large number of Scots under the Sir John Stewart, who was given command of the entire force, and the two sides met at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne on 31st July 1423.

The Dauphinists, numbering perhaps 10,000, were drawn up on to the Eastern bank, the Anglo-Burgundians, totalling perhaps 4,000 men, under the Earl of Salisbury, who had continued to command the English field army after the death of the Duke of Clarence at Baugé, on the Western one.

Neither army was willing to attempt an opposed river crossing, although the Yonne is quite shallow at this point, but after three hours Salisbury ordered the advance and, waist-deep in the water his army begun to cross. The river was just over 50 yards wide and the English archers gave covering fire while the men-at-arms crossed. Meanwhile, another English force under lord Willoughby forced a passage through the Scots across the only bridge and cut the Dauphinist army in two. The Dauphinist fronts soon begun to crumble but the Scots refused to flee and were cut down by the hundred.

Over 3,000 of them fell by the bridge or on the river bank and over 2,000 prisoners were taken, including John Stewart and the commander of the Dauphinist forces, the Count of Vendome. The Dauphinists fled back to the lorie, leaving many prisoners behind and over 6,000 dead. Flushed with victory, the English and Burgundians looked forward to conquering the rest of France.

Battle of Cravant
The Battle of Cravant was an encounter fought on July 31, 1423, during the Hundred Years War between English and French forces, a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies. After the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, the English king was permitted to occupy all the country north of the Loire. In 1422, with Henry V suddenly dead and an infant King Henry VI of England, hostilities recommenced.

In the early summer of 1423, two allied armies, one English, one Burgundian, rendezvoused at Auxerre to counter an army for the Dauphin's cause that was marching into Burgundy, headed for Bourges. This French army also contained a large number of Scots under Sir John Stewart, who was commanding the entire mixed force. The two sides met at the village of Cravant in Burgundy, at a bridge and ford on the banks of the river Yonne, a right-bank tributary of the Loire, southwest of Orléans.

The Dauphin's forces drawn up on one bank outnumbered the English and Burgundians on the opposite bank more than two to one. The combined English and Burgundian forces, numbering some 4,000 men, were led by Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury.

For three hours the forces stared each other down, neither willing to attempt an opposed river crossing. Salisbury finally took the initiative and his his army begun to cross the waist-high river, some 50 meters wide, under a covering hail of arrows from English archers. Meanwhile, another English force under Lord Willoughby de Eresby forced a passage through the Scots across the narrow bridge and divided the Dauphin's army. When the French ranks began to withdraw, the Scots refused to flee and were cut down by the hundreds. Over 3,000 of them fell at the bridgehead or along the riverbanks, and over 2,000 prisoners were taken, including John Stewart and the commander of the Dauphin's forces, the Comte de Vendome. The Dauphin's forces retreated to the Loire, leaving many prisoners behind and over 6,000 dead. The success at Cravant began the peak of English arms in the Hundred Years War.

Extraordinarily, a battle was fought on the same field in the Franco-Prussian War, December 8, 9, and 10, 1870. It is usually referred to as the Battle of Beaugency-Cravant. The opposing forces were under the Freiherr von Mecklenberg-Schwerin and General Antoine-Eugène Chanzy, commander-in-chief of the Army of the Loire

Date: July 31, 1423
Location: Cravant, France
Outcome: English victory


Principal Combatants.
English Leadership: Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury
English Strength: 4,000
English Casualties: 600

French Leadership: John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan
Louis, Count of Vendôme
French Strength: 8,000
French Casualties: 6,000