The Last Stand of Edmund Beaufort

In the autumn of 1449, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and England’s beleaguered lieutenant in France, faced an impossible choice. Trapped in Rouen with dwindling supplies and surrounded by French forces under King Charles VII, Somerset’s nightmare was only beginning. On October 20, he abandoned his bridgehead defenses. Three days later, with his strongholds under relentless assault, he sought terms from the French king—only to find Charles had raised his demands. The price for safe passage? The surrender of key fortresses, a crippling ransom, and the humiliation of yielding Rouen itself.

Somerset, stunned, refused. But by October 29, starvation and ammunition shortages forced his hand. The terms were brutal: the English would cede Caux, the strategic Seine estuary, and pay 50,000 saluts within a year. Eight high-ranking hostages—including the famed John Talbot—were taken. On November 4, Somerset slunk away to Honfleur, his reputation in tatters. He dared not return to England, where news of Rouen’s fall would ignite fury.

The French Triumph: Rouen’s Liberation

Charles VII’s reconquest of Rouen was swift—just three weeks—but decisive. The city’s populace, weary of English rule, actively aided the French. On November 10, 1449, Charles staged a triumphant entry through the same gate Henry V had used decades prior. Clad in ermine and riding a horse draped in fleur-de-lis velvet, he was met by roaring crowds. The English collapse was now irreversible.

Across Normandy, dominoes fell: Fougères surrendered to Brittany’s Duke François; Bellême capitulated to the Duke of Alençon; and by November 23, the last defenders of Château Gaillard marched out. Meanwhile, Charles’s armies pressed northward, besieging Honfleur and Harfleur. Though English garrisons held out stubbornly, French artillery—mastered by the Bureau brothers—shattered their walls. By January 1450, Honfleur fell, and with it, England’s last foothold in Upper Normandy.

The Battle of Formigny: England’s Agincourt in Reverse

Desperate, England scrambled to send reinforcements under Sir Thomas Kyriell. Landing at Cherbourg in March 1450, Kyriell’s 2,500 men aimed to relieve Somerset. But French forces, led by the young Count of Clermont and the grizzled Arthur de Richemont, Constable of France, intercepted them near Formigny on April 15.

What followed was a disaster for England. Kyriell’s longbowmen, though initially successful, were outmaneuvered when Richemont’s cavalry flanked them. The French deployed cannons—a rarity in field battles—to disrupt English formations. By dusk, Kyriell’s army was annihilated: 3,774 dead, 1,200 captured. The road to Caen was now open.

The Collapse of English Normandy

With Kyriell’s army destroyed, French forces overran Normandy’s last strongholds. Bayeux fell on May 16; Caen, after a brutal siege, capitulated on June 24. Somerset, signing his second humiliating surrender, was allowed to flee to Calais—but England’s century-long dominion in France was over. By August, only Cherbourg held out. Its fall in August 1450 marked the end.

Rebellion at Home: The Cade Revolt

As Normandy crumbled, England itself teetered. In June 1450, Jack Cade’s rebellion erupted in Kent, fueled by rage over wartime taxes, corruption, and the loss of France. Rebels marched on London, lynching hated officials like James Fiennes, Lord Saye. Though suppressed by July, the uprising exposed the Lancastrian regime’s fragility. The Duke of Suffolk, blamed for the French debacle, was murdered by a mob.

Legacy: The End of an Era

The fall of Normandy shattered England’s continental ambitions. The Hundred Years’ War, already winding down, now seemed unwinnable. For France, Charles VII’s victory cemented royal authority and began the nation’s rebirth. Meanwhile, England spiraled into the dynastic chaos of the Wars of the Roses—a conflict rooted in the failures of leaders like Somerset.

The lessons were stark: overextension, poor leadership, and a failure to adapt to gunpowder warfare had cost England an empire. For Somerset, the nightmare of 1449 never ended. His name became synonymous with defeat—a cautionary tale of ambition undone by hubris and circumstance.