The battle swiftly turned into a massacre, with every Englishman on a horse fleeing while the infantry, mostly composed of longbowmen, were cut down in droves. On hearing the news of the English position, about 1,500 men under captains La Hire and Jean Poton de Xaintrailles, composing the heavily armed and armoured cavalry vanguard of the French army, immediately attacked the English. However, at Patay the English archers inadvertently disclosed their position to French scouts before their preparations were complete when a lone stag wandered onto a nearby field and the archers raised a hunting cry. This prevented cavalry charges and slowed infantry long enough for the longbows to take a decisive toll on the enemy line. The standard defensive tactic of the English longbowmen was to drive pointed stakes into the ground near their positions. Fastolf, John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir Thomas Scales commanded the English. The English excelled at open battles they took up a position whose exact location is unknown but traditionally believed to be near the tiny village of Patay. Retreating defenders from Beaugency joined them. The French had taken only the bridge at this location, not the neighboring castle or the town. The English reconnoitered with remaining defenders at Meung-sur-Loire. The French, in the belief that they could not overcome a fully prepared English army in open battle, scoured the area in hopes of finding the English unprepared and vulnerable. The French had moved swiftly, capturing three bridges and accepting the English surrender at Beaugency the day before Fastolf’s army arrived. At Patay, the French army took advantage of this critical weakness.Īn English reinforcement army under Sir John Fastolf departed from Paris following the defeat at Orléans. Longbowmen had a serious weakness, however: due to their light armor (or complete lack thereof), they were at a distinct disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat when faced with armored men-at-arms. The large number of longbowmen the English could field as a result of this policy gave them a great military advantage during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In order to ensure a sufficient number of skilled longbowmen, the English government required yeomen and peasants to train with their bows regularly. Although the weapon itself was relatively inexpensive to produce, it was difficult to amass a large pool of trained bowmen: years of constant practice were required to develop the skills and muscle power needed to use the longbow effectively. No other country in Europe used the longbow as extensively as England. However, in the Battle of Patay, the French knights were finally able to catch the English unprepared. These tactics called for having extensive numbers of longbowmen defended by sharpened stakes driven into the ground in front of their army, the stakes slowing and hampering a cavalry assault while the longbowmen massacred the enemy. In this battle, the English attempted to use the same tactics it had in the victorious battles of Crécy in 1346, Poitiers in 1356, and Agincourt in 1415. The Battle of Patay took place the day after the English surrender at Beaugency.
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