page_title: Siege of Saint-Denis
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Saint-Denis / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Funérailles de la reine Isabeau de Bavière. Čeština: Smrt Isabely Bvaorské.
context_page_description: The siege of Saint-Denis was the last instance of cooperation between the English and their Burgundian allies in the Hundred Years' War. Saint-Denis, the traditional burial place of the kings of France, was located in the outskirts of English-held Paris, and had been captured by the French a couple of months earlier. The enemy presence there critically endangered the English position in the capital, and, aiming to retake it urgently, the English moved onto the town in August with a handful of Burgundian auxiliaries. The siege was undertaken during the peace congress of Arras, during which no end to the fighting was seen, as both sides struggled to gain ground around and over Paris. The English were victorious at St. Denis after the French garrison surrendered due to lack of external support.
  On 21 September 1435, halfway through the siege, the Duke of Burgundy concluded the treaty of Arras with Charles VII of France. The agreement definitely severed the alliance between England and Burgundy. The Burgundians who were fighting alongside the English at Saint-Denis stayed until the end of the siege.
  The English did not control of Saint-Denis for long.
context_section_description: Though the English had retaken an important area close to the capital, this was undermined by the French capture of Meulan, to the west of Saint-Denis, at night on 24 September. This blocked the main supply route from Normandy to Paris, and as a consequence food prices in the French capital rose dramatically. The Parisian population was also harassed by the recently released Armagnac garrison of Saint-Denis, who looted, pillaged, and kidnapped around the city.
  On 24 September 1435, the dowager queen of France, Isabeau of Bavaria, maternal grandmother of Henry VI of England, had died. The capture of Saint-Denis, the traditional place of burial for French monarchs, allowed her to be buried alongside her deceased husband Charles VI of France. It was still too dangerous to allow the funeral party to travel by land, and so her body was taken by boat down the Seine river.
  The defection of Burgundy proved catastrophic and nullified any English gains by the capture of Saint-Denis. Much of English-ruled France began to collapse; Pierre de Rieux, recently relieved from the siege, surprised and captured Dieppe in Normandy on 29 October 1435. Saint-Denis itself was retaken by the French on around February 1436, with an English relief army of around 800 men led by Sir Thomas Beaumont being almost destroyed. Paris was now blockaded from all sides, and food prices were now at famine levels. The citizens, who were primarily loyal to the Burgundians and not the English, opened the city gates to French forces on 13 April 1436. Among the commanders of the French force was Jean de Villiers, who had fought alongside the English at Saint-Denis only a few months previously.
caption: 15th century illustration (from Vigiles de Charles VII) of Isabeau of Bavaria being carried through the Seine to be buried at Saint-Denis
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