Battle of Verneuil The Battle of Verneuil ( occasionally ' Vernuil ' ) was a strategically important battle of the Hundred Years ' War , fought on 17 August 1424 near Verneuil in Normandy and a significant English victory . It was a particularly bloody battle , described by the English as a second Agincourt . Altogether some 7262 French and allied troops were killed , including 4000 Scots . English losses were 1600 , including two men - at - arms and " a very few archers " . The Scots army , led by Archibald , Earl of Douglas and John Stewart , Earl of Buchan ( both of whom were killed ) , was almost destroyed . Many French noblemen were taken prisoner ; among them the Duke of Alençon , Pierre , the bastard of Alençon , and Marshall Lafayette . After Verneuil , the English were able to consolidate their position in Normandy . The Army of Scotland as a distinct unit ceased to play a significant part in the Hundred Years ' War , although many Scots continued to serve in France . Background . The black time . France had scarcely recovered from the disaster at Agincourt , and most of the northern provinces were in the hands of the English following Henry V ' s conquest of Normandy . The civil war between the factions of Armagnac and Burgundy showed no sign of ending . The Dauphin was recognised in the south of the country as Charles VII , following the death of his father Charles VI in 1422 , but he remained uncrowned . The death of Henry V in the same year as Charles VI brought little relief as the continuing English war effort was effectively managed by John , Duke of Bedford , acting for the infant Henry VI . France desperately needed soldiers , and looked to Scotland , her old ally , to provide essential military aid . The Army of Scotland . The first large contingent of Scots troops came to France in the autumn of 1419 , some 6000 men under the command of John Stewart , 2nd Earl of Buchan . These men , supplemented from time - to - time with fresh volunteers , soon became an integral part of the French war effort ; and by the summer of 1420 the ' Army of Scotland ' was a distinct force in the French royal service . They proved their worth the following year , playing a large part in the victory at the Battle of Baugé , the first serious setback experienced by the English . The mood of optimism this engendered collapsed in 1423 , when many of Buchan ' s men fell at the Battle of Cravant . Buchan returns . At the beginning of 1424 Buchan arrived back , bringing with him a further 6500 men . He was accompanied by Archibald Douglas , 4th Earl of Douglas , arguably the most powerful nobleman of Scotland . On 24 April 1424 the army , comprising 2500 men at arms and 4000 archers , entered the Dauphin ' s headquarters at Bourges , helping to raise Charles ' spirits . March to Verneuil . In August the new army made ready to march into action to relieve the castle of Ivry near Le Mans , under siege by the Duke of Bedford . Douglas ( the newly created Duke of Touraine ) , and Buchan left Tours on 4 August to link with the French commanders , the Duke of Alençon and the Viscounts of Narbonne and Aumale . But before the army could arrive Ivry surrendered to the English . Uncertain what to do the allied commanders held a council of war . The Scots and some of the younger French officers were eager for battle ; but Narbonne and the senior nobility had not forgotten Agincourt , and were reluctant to take the risk . As a compromise it was agreed to attack the English strongholds on the Norman border , beginning with Verneuil in the west . The town was taken by a simple trick : a group of Scots , leading some of their fellow countrymen as prisoners , pretended to be English , and claimed that Bedford had defeated the allies in battle , whereupon the gates were opened . Bedford comes . On 15 August 1424 Bedford received news that Verneuil was in French hands and resolved to make his way there as quickly as he could . As he neared the town two days later the Scots persuaded their French comrades to make a stand , Douglas apparently having forgotten the lessons of Homildon Hill . He is said to have received a message from Bedford that he had come to drink with him and prayed for an early meeting . Douglas replied that having failed to find the duke in England he had come to seek him in France . The Battle . The Allied Franco - Scottish army deployed a mile north of Verneuil on an open plain astride the road leading out of the Forest of Piseux . Narbonne and the French division was situated on the left of the road , supported by wings of Milanese cavalry , while Douglas and Buchan were on the right supported by a similar wing of Lombard cavalry , recruited in northern Italy . Aumale was given overall command ; but this heterogeneous army defied all attempts at co - ordinated direction . On emerging from the Forest Bedford drew up his men in two divisions to match the disposition of the enemy , with the usual distribution of men - at - arms in the centre and archers on the wings . He also took the precaution of posting a strong reserve of 2000 archers to the rear to guard the baggage , tying the horses together to prevent flight . Bedford commanded the division facing the French , and Sir Thomas Montacute , Earl of Salisbury , that facing the Scots . A bloody day . At about 4pm , as if by some pre - arranged signal , the Milanese charged through the English archers . Once Bedford had taken his troops within arrow range he ordered a halt and the archers started to drive their stakes into the ground , a simple but effective device for snaring cavalry . The ground had been baked hard by the summer sun , and the stakes could be forced in only with difficulty . Seeing an opportunity the French began an immediate charge out of synchronisation with the Scots division . The archers on Bedford ' s extreme right were caught off balance ( the tough armour worn by the Lombards may also have compounded the threat ) , allowing the French cavalry to break through their ranks . They continued their charge away towards the baggage train to the north , while the men - at - arms in Bedford ' s division began a spirited attack on the French infantry to their front . Unable to withstand the onslaught , Narbonne ' s division broke and was chased back to Verneuil , where many , including Aumale , were drowned in the moat . Narbonne , Ventadour , Tonnerre were all dead . Having disposed of the French , Bedford called a halt to the pursuit and returned to the battlefield , where Salisbury was closely engaged with the Scots , now standing alone . The Lombard cavalry , anxious that their French counterparts were poised to take all the spoils , charged round the English left flank towards the baggage . By the time they arrived the French had been driven off by Bedford ' s reserve , soon to be followed by the Lombards . Having tasted blood the reserve decided on their own initiative to enter the main battle , charging on the unsupported Scottish right wing . The Battle of Verneuil reached its closing stages when Bedford wheeled from the south to take the Scots on the right flank . Now almost completely surrounded , the Scots made a ferocious last stand . The English shouted " A Clarence ! A Clarence ! " invoking Thomas , Duke of Clarence killed at the Battle of Baugé . A high price . Verneuil was one of the bloodiest battles of the Hundred Years ' War , described by the English as a second Agincourt . Altogether some 7262 allied troops were killed , including 4000 Scots . The English lost 1600 men including two men - at - arms , and " a very few archers " according to Bedford . Archibald , Earl of Douglas fought on the losing side for the last time , joined in death by the Earl of Buchan . The Army of Scotland had been severely mauled ; but it was not yet ready to march out of history . It did have the effect though , of greatly reducing any reinforcements from Scotland for future campaigns against the English in France . Amongst the prisoners were the Duke of Alençon , Pierre , the bastard of Alençon , and Marshall Lafayette . Greatly saddened by the catastrophe at Verneuil , Charles VII continued to honour the survivors , one of whom , John Carmichael of Douglasdale , the chaplain of the dead Douglas , was created Bishop of Orléans . Bedford returned in triumph to Paris : " he was received as if he had been God . . . in short , more honour was never done at a Roman triumph than was done that day to him and his wife " . Aftermath . The consequences of the victory at Verneuil were : The English captured all border posts of Lancastrian Normandy and La Hire withdrew to the east . The only exception was Mont Saint - Michel , where the monks resisted . Most people accepted the English occupation of France and capital in Paris as the Treaty of Troyes . A plot to take Rouen by mining was foiled due to Bedford ' s victory . In 1424 Humphrey , Duke of Gloucester started a quarrel with Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy that would end ultimately in Burgundian recognition of Charles VII as the rightful king of France . Literature and legacy . The French chronicles made long details of the reactions of the people of Paris under Burgundian rule . " The Bourgeois of Paris " and Enguerrand Monstrelet are major sources for this battle . In 1858 , Jean Chartier ' s chronicle of Charles VII corroborated the story of a complete English victory . The French writers bemoaned the loss of life to King Charles ' cause . Newhall ' s study of warfare in 1924 remains a reliable authority on the battle tactics and events . The Victorian Rev . Stevenson translated a French study into the noble families which suffered so much in the Hundred Years ' War , and is oft quoted . And similarly Simeon Luce also writing in 19th century was transcribing from what remained of original documents in the National Library . These secondary sources are all that are available as many of the original contemporary accounts were lost in translations . The English had the advantage later of Burgundian Jehan Waurin travelling with the army , but he had little to say on Verneuil . Alfred Burne ' s military estimates were near accurate ; his theory of Inherent Military Probability is making a comeback . Ultra modern accounts in the two volumes of Jonathan Sumption are complemented by an analysis of archery in Strickland and Hardy .