Siege of Orléans (1428–1429)

Lore & Background

The siege of Orléans occurred during the Hundred Years' War, an inheritance dispute over the French throne. Following a decisive English victory at Agincourt in 1415, England gained the upper hand, occupying much of northern France. Under the Treaty of Troyes of 1420, England's Henry V became regent of France and would succeed to the French throne upon the death of Charles VI, disinheriting the Dauphin Charles. Orléans, located on the river Loire, was the northernmost city loyal to the Valois French crown, and its position made it the last obstacle to an English campaign into central France.

The city held strategic and symbolic significance. The dukes of Orléans led the Armagnac faction, which rejected the Treaty of Troyes and supported the Dauphin Charles. The English regent John of Lancaster and his allies appeared on the verge of capturing the city for half a year. The English commander Thomas Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, swept through the countryside and cut off Orléans by October 1428. The French, under John of Dunois, prepared defenses, including a fortified complex at the bridge's southern end. The siege formally began on 12 October 1428 with an artillery bombardment.

Reader's Guide

The siege of Orléans is significant as a decisive turning point in the Hundred Years' War. At the time, English power was at its peak, and contemporaries believed that if Orléans fell, the English regent John of Lancaster would have succeeded in realizing Henry V's dream of conquering all of France. The city's association with the Armagnac party made it unlikely to be spared if it fell, as a city that resisted could expect harsh occupation and mass executions. The French relief of the siege, inspired by Joan of Arc, reversed the momentum of the war, allowing the French to regain the initiative and begin recapturing territories. The siege's collapse nine days after Joan of Arc's arrival marked the beginning of a French resurgence that ultimately ended English ambitions in France. The event also highlights the internal French political struggles between factions led by Arthur de Richemont and Georges de la Trémoille, which had paralyzed French efforts before the siege.

Did You Know?

• The siege lasted from 12 October 1428 to 8 May 1429, a period of nearly seven months.
• The English regent John of Lancaster later wrote that the siege 'was taken in hand, God knoweth by what advice,' suggesting it was probably the idea of the Earl of Salisbury.
• Orléans was the northernmost city loyal to the Valois French crown during the siege.
• The Duke of Orléans, leader of the Armagnac faction, was a prisoner of the English fourteen years after the Battle of Agincourt.

Strategic and Symbolic Stakes

Orléans sat on the Loire in north-central France, making it the last major obstacle between English-controlled territory and the heart of the kingdom. As the northernmost city still loyal to the Valois crown, it anchored the Armagnac faction's political identity. The dukes of Orléans had led this faction for two generations, rejecting the Treaty of Troyes and championing the disinherited Dauphin Charles. The city's association with that faction carried dangerous implications under medieval chivalric law: a town that resisted conquest could expect brutal reprisals, including mass executions, while one that surrendered without a fight was entitled to leniency. Because Orléans had escalated the conflict through its defiance, the English could justify harsh treatment of its citizens. Contemporaries widely believed that if the city fell, the English regent John of Lancaster would fulfill his brother Henry V's ambition of total French conquest. The stakes were thus not merely territorial but existential for the Valois claim.

French Paralysis and the Internal Fracture

The French military leadership was deeply fractured in the years leading up to the siege. After successfully forcing the lifting of the siege of Montargis in late 1427—a rare effective French action that emboldened uprisings in the Maine region—the court failed to press its advantage. The reason was a bitter power struggle between the constable Arthur de Richemont and the chamberlain Georges de la Trémoille, a new favourite of the Dauphin Charles. French commanders split into rival camps: John the Bastard of Orléans (later Dunois), La Hire, and Jean de Xaintrailles backed La Trémoille, while Charles of Bourbon, the marshal Jean de Brosse, and the Scottish commander John Stewart of Darnley sided with Richemont. By mid-1428, the factions were literally fighting each other in open fields. This paralysis gave the English a critical window to regroup, raise fresh reinforcements, and plan their offensive without meaningful French opposition.

The English Decision and Salisbury's Gambit

The siege of Orléans was not part of the English regent Bedford's original 1428 campaign plan. At a spring council of war, Bedford had committed the main thrust westward toward Angers to crush remaining Armagnac forces in the Maine. He had even secured a private understanding with Dunois to leave Orléans untouched, respecting the chivalric custom against seizing the possessions of a prisoner—Charles I, Duke of Orléans, was still held by the English fourteen years after Agincourt. The situation changed when Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, brought 2,700 fresh troops (450 men-at-arms and 2,250 longbowmen) from England in July 1428. Bolstered by Norman and Parisian levies plus Burgundian and Picardian auxiliaries, the force swelled to perhaps 10,000. Bedford later wrote that the siege "was taken in hand, God knoweth by what advice," strongly implying Salisbury, widely regarded as the most effective English commander of the era, drove the decision.

Collapse and the Turning of the War

The siege endured from 12 October 1428 to 8 May 1429, a span of nearly seven months during which the English and their Burgundian allies appeared perpetually on the verge of breaking through. For half a year, the city's defenders faced what contemporaries saw as the culmination of English power in the conflict. Yet the entire siege collapsed in just nine days after Joan of Arc arrived at the city. Her presence inspired the French forces to repulse the Anglo-Burgundian investment, and the initiative in the Hundred Years' War shifted decisively. France began recapturing territories that had been under English occupation since the Treaty of Troyes era. The siege thus marked the inflection point of a war that had raged since 1337, when Edward III first pressed his claim through his mother Isabella of France. What had been the high-water mark of English dominance became, within days of Joan's arrival, the beginning of a long French recovery.