Battle of Castillon The Battle of Castillon was fought on July 17 , 1453 in Gascony near the town of Castillon - sur - Dordogne ( later Castillon - la - Bataille ) . A decisive French victory , it is considered to mark the end of the Hundred Years ' War . As a result of the battle , the English lost all landholdings in France , except Calais and the Channel Islands . Background . The term , " Hundred Years ' War " is problematic as the fighting between the English and the French during the period of 1337 to 1453 more represents a series of conflicts than a prolonged war . Thus , the conflict ( s ) can be examined from the vantage point of various stages . The breakdown of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes began the final stage of the Hundred Years ' War . This period from 1420 to 1453 is characterized by Anne Curry as the “ wars of the Treaty of Troyes ” for control of the crown of France . After the 1451 French capture of Bordeaux by the armies of Charles VII , the Hundred Years ' War appeared to be at an end . The English primarily focused on reinforcing their only remaining possession , Calais , and watching over the seas . However , after three hundred years of English rule , the citizens of Bordeaux considered themselves subjects of the English monarch and sent messengers to Henry VI of England demanding that he recapture the province . On October 17 , 1452 , John Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3 , 000 men . A feared and famous military leader , Talbot was rumored to be seventy - five or eighty years old , but it is more likely that he was around sixty - six at the time . With the cooperation of the townspeople , Talbot easily took the city on October 23 . The English subsequently took control over most of Western Gascony by the end of the year . The French knew an expedition was coming , but had expected it to come through Normandy . After this surprise , Charles VII prepared his forces over the winter , and by the spring of 1453 he was ready to counter - attack . Preparation . Charles invaded Guyenne with three separate armies , all headed for Bordeaux . Talbot received 3 , 000 additional reinforcements from his fourth and favorite son , Viscount Lisle . The French laid siege to Castillon on July 8 . Talbot acceded to the pleas of the town commanders , abandoning his original plan to wait for reinforcements at Bordeaux , and set out to relieve the garrison . The French army was commanded by committee ; however , it was Charles VII ' s ordnance officer , Jean Bureau who laid out the camp to maximize French artillery strength . In a defensive setup , Bureau ' s forces built an artillery park out of range from Castillon ' s guns . According to Desmond Seward , the park " consisted of a deep trench with a wall of earth behind it which was strengthened by tree - trunks ; its most remarkable feature was the irregular , wavy line of the ditch and earthwork , which enable the guns to enfilade any attackers " . The park included up to 300 guns of various sizes , and was protected by a ditch and palisade on three sides and a steep bank of the River Lidoire on the fourth . Talbot left Bordeaux on July 16 . He outdistanced a majority of his forces , arriving at Libourne by sunset with only 500 men - at - arms and 800 mounted archers . The following day , this smaller force annihilated a small French detachment of archers stationed at a priory near Castillon . Despite earlier plans to wait for reinforcements , Talbot pressed his men onward to the French camp , thinking his reinforcements would arrive soon . Main battle . Along with the morale boost of victory at the priory , Talbot also pushed forward because of reports that the French were retreating . However , the cloud of dust leaving the camp which the townsmen indicated as a retreat was created by camp followers leaving before the upcoming battle . The English advanced , but they ran into the full force of the French army . Despite being outnumbered and in a vulnerable position , Talbot ordered them to continue the fighting . Historian A . J . Pollard suggests this seemingly reckless behavior from Talbot may be due to the fact that his " pride and honour were at stake for he had already ordered his men to battle when he discovered the strength of the French position " . The only Englishman who remained mounted in the battle , he also did not wear armor due to previous agreements with the French when he was released from captivity in Normandy . According to David Nicolle , the battle itself was " highly characteristic of the period " with the strong field fortification of the French and the small - arms fighting of the battle . In many ways , this battle played out like the Battle of Crécy in " reverse " . The French guns decimated the advancing soldiers . It is reported each shot killed six men at a time . Talbot ' s reinforcements continued to arrive at the battle , only to suffer the same fate . Despite the odds against the English , the battle lasted over an hour until a thousand - strong Breton cavalry led by the Duke of Brittany crashed into their right flank , sending them into retreat . In the end , the French routed the English . Both Talbot and his son died in the battle . There is some debate over the exact circumstances of Talbot ' s death , but it appears as though his horse was killed by a projectile , its mass pinned him down , and then a Frenchman killed him with an axe . His death , and the subsequent recapture of Bordeaux three months later , effectively ended the Hundred Years ' War . Aftermath . With Talbot ' s death , English authority in Gascony eroded and the French retook Bordeaux on October 19 , 1453 . It was not apparent to either side , however , that the period of conflict was over . In hindsight , the battle clearly marks a decisive turning point in history , and is cited as the endpoint of the period known as the Hundred Years ' War . Henry VI of England lost his mental capacity in late 1453 , which led to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in England . Some have speculated that learning of the defeat at Castillon led to Henry ' s mental collapse . The English Crown lost all its continental possessions except for the Pale of Calais , which was the last English possession in mainland France , and the Channel Islands , historically part of the Duchy of Normandy and thus of the Kingdom of France . Calais was finally lost in 1558 . The Channel Islands have remained British Crown Dependencies . Weakened by the defeat and civil war , the English did not launch another attack in France until 1475 . A casualty after the battle of Castillon was Pierre de Montferrand , husband of Mary Plantagenet , illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Bedford and a granddaughter of Henry IV of England . On returning to France , after being exiled in England , Montferrand was arrested and taken to Poitier where he was tried by a commission . Having been found guilty he was beheaded and quartered , possibly on the orders of Charles VII , at Poitiers , in July 1454 . Montferrand was one of only a small number of nobles known to have been executed for treason during the reign of Charles VII .