Warmatrix

The Battle of Castillon, fought in 1453 CE, ended the Hundred Years' War between England and France. It also was one of the first field battles where guns played a decisive role.
The French had captured Bordeaux in 1451 CE, reducing English presence on the continent to Calais. But the people of Gascony had been under Angevin and English rule for several centuries and resented French rule. They appealed to king Henry VI and managed to convince him to come to their help. A year later John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury and veteran commander, took Bordeaux in a surprise attack. Then it was the turn of the French to go over to the offensive. They moved in the next year, marched into Gascony with three separate armies. One of these started to besiege the town of Castillon, east of Bordeaux on the Dordogne river.
Talbot, who had been reinforced from England and with Gascons to some 9,000 men, came from Bordeaux with a relief force. He led the vanguard, which consisted of 500 mounted men-at-arms and 800 archers, surprised a small group of French archers and swept them aside. The next morning he got reports that the French were retreating and rushed towards Castillon to prevent the prize from eluding him. There the English ran into the French guns, which were fortified with a ditch and an earthen wall with tree-trunks. This artillery 'park' was 700 meters long, 200 wide, shielded in the north by the river and packed with about 6,000 men and 300 guns of various sizes. The position was too far away from Castillon for a bombardment of the town; clearly it was set up to defeat the English relief force. What the scouts had seen was dust rising from French archers who had been evacuated from the French camp because they made it overcrowded.
When the English attack commenced, the French guns caused terrible losses among them. When the English main force arrived, maybe 4,000 strong, they ran to strengthen their vanguard and met the same fate. A few managed to reach the wall and engage in hand-to-hand combat, but were easily repulsed. After an hour the duke of Brittanny led a cavalry charge against their right flank and broke the last resistance. Talbot's own artillery had never reached the battlefield.
Castillon was one of the first battles where guns played a decisive role. These, combined with the field fortifications, won the day, much like the English longbows had done early in the war at Crécy. But the non-arrival of the English artillery also shows that early guns were cumbersome and could only be used from static positions. Cavalry was still needed to strike the killing blow and prevent the defeated enemy from simply retreating and licking their wounds.
The French lost only about 100 men. The English lost 4,000 men, their commander, their hold in Bordeaux and soon after the sanity of their king. Never again did they mount an invasion against France.