The Battle of Verneuil, 1424: A Second Agincourt for the Scots

At a glance

Date	17 August 1424
War	Hundred Years’ War (the Auld Alliance)
Where	Verneuil-sur-Avre, Normandy, France
Winner	England (the Duke of Bedford)
Loser	the Franco-Scottish army
Cost	the “Army of Scotland” destroyed

Background

Under the Auld Alliance, Scotland sent a large army to France to help the Dauphin. Following the Scots’ victory at Baugé (1421), a further contingent of some 6,500 crossed under the Earls of Douglas and Buchan and joined the French near Verneuil.

The battle

The allied Lombard cavalry broke through but rode off to loot instead of exploiting the gap; Bedford’s men-at-arms and archers then destroyed the allied centre. The Scots, reportedly refusing or denied quarter, were annihilated. The English called it “a second Agincourt.”

The numbers are the point to be careful with: the famous figures — “4,000 Scots dead,” “of 6,000 only 40 survived” — trace to Bedford’s own victory dispatch and to chroniclers, and vary widely by source; treat them as chronicle estimates, not record. What is agreed is that the loss was catastrophic and that the “Army of Scotland” ceased to be a force in the war.

Who fell

Killed included Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas (Duke of Touraine) and his son James, and John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, Constable of France — with Swinton, Home and Lindsay among the dead. This battle is in France, so it carries no HES designation and no marker is recorded.

The clans & people involved

Douglas and Stewart (Buchan) — both earls killed; with Buchanan, Swinton, Home and Lindsay.
John, Duke of Bedford, for England.

Sources

Battle of Verneuil — Wikipedia; contemporary chronicles (Wavrin).

📝 Kevin’s note: a photo from Verneuil-sur-Avre — add if we ever visit.

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