Battle of Cravant The Battle of Cravant was an encounter fought on 31 July 1423 , during the Hundred Years ' War between English and French forces at the village of Cravant in Burgundy , at a bridge and ford on the banks of the river Yonne , a left - bank tributary of the Seine , southeast of Auxerre . The battle ended in a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies . Background . After the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 , the English king was permitted to occupy all the country north of the Loire . In 1422 , with Henry V suddenly dead and an infant King Henry VI of England , hostilities recommenced . In the early summer of 1423 , the French Dauphin Charles assembled an army at Bourges intending to invade Burgundian territory . This French army contained a large number of Scots under John Stewart of Darnley , who was commanding the entire mixed force , as well as Spanish and Lombard mercenaries . This army besieged the town of Cravant . The garrison of Cravant requested help from the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy , who raised troops and in turn sought support from Burgundy ' s English allies , which was forthcoming . The two allied armies , one English , one Burgundian , rendezvoused at Auxerre on 29 July . Allied preparations . The allied commanders held a council of war in Auxerre Cathedral on the evening of 29 July . This led to the drafting an order of battle , covering a mixture of tactical and disciplinary matters . The army was clearly intending to fight a dismounted action , with horses taken to the rear , and archers were to prepare anti - cavalry stakes . That night the army was ordered to pray for victory . The march was to begin at 10 o ' clock the following morning . The armies . The allies . The combined English and Burgundian forces were led by Thomas Montacute , 4th Earl of Salisbury , with Lord Willoughby as second in command . The Anglo - Burgundian army mustered about 4 , 000 men , including 1500 men - at - arms ( 500 English and 1000 Burgundian ) , 2000 English archers , some Burgundian crossbowmen and pioneers and 40 " veuglaires " ( light artillery ) , manned by the citizens of Auxerre . The French . The French army was commanded by Sir John Stewart of Darnley with the Comte de Vendôme as second in command . The majority of the force were probably Scots . A sizeable French force was present with smaller forces of Aragonese and Lombard mercenaries . The Dauphinist army was larger than the Anglo - Burgundian force perhaps by two to three times . The Battle . The army marched throughout 30 July and that evening , four miles short of Cravant , sighted the enemy . The following day , having assessed the enemy position as too strong , they crossed the river Yonne and attempted to reach Cravant by another route . Approaching the town from across the river , the allies saw that the French army had changed position and was now waiting for them on the other bank . For three hours the forces watched each other , neither willing to attempt an opposed river crossing . Eventually , the Scots archers began shooting into the allied ranks . The allied artillery replied , supported by their own archers and crossbowmen . Seeing the Dauphinists were suffering casualties and becoming disordered , Salisbury took the initiative and his army began to cross the waist - high river , some 50 metres wide , under a covering barrage of arrows from the English archers . Meanwhile , another force under Willoughby attacked the Scots across the narrow bridge and divided the Dauphin ' s army . The French began to withdraw , but the Scots refused to flee and fought on , to be cut down by the hundreds . Perhaps 3 , 000 of them fell at the bridgehead or along the riverbanks , and over 2 , 000 prisoners were taken , including Darnley ( who also lost an eye ) and the Comte de Vendôme . The Dauphin ' s forces retreated to the Loire . On 2 August , the English and Burgundian armies withdrew separately from Cravant , the Burgundians marching to Dijon , the English to Montaigullon Aftermath . The success at Cravant was the first for a joint English and Burgundian army . Despite this success , the allies would rarely fight together again , usually operating separately from one another . The Dauphinists would be defeated again the following year at the Battle of Verneuil .