Association de Sauvegarde du

CHATEAU DE GAVRAY

BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH

The end of the Navarrese occupation

Charles V had taken over all the places  in the Cotentin, with the exception of Cherbourg, which Charles II of Navarre  had just ceded for three years to the King of England in exchange for military aid in Navarre.For months, Du Guesclin tried to retake the city, but in vain and the king then decided to proceed with the "grand vuidement" of the Cotentin. The entire north of the peninsula became, for nearly 15 years, a desert. It was a period of great misery and one can imagine the difficult life in Gavray, at the foot of the ruined castle, with all this population coming from the north and the bands of looters who ransacked the little that had been preserved.

Charles III of Navarre, son of the Bad who died in 1387, maintains good relations with the King of France. In 1378, he took part in the French reconquest of his father's places and in 1381, Charles VI, as soon as he came to power,  appointed him:

There were no more Navarrese possessions in Normandy.                                          
      
Gavray found himself for a short time under the direct authority of the King of France.

The English Invasion

The civil war is unleashed in France around King Charles VI whose mental health is deteriorating.  The English made frequent incursions into the region; It's all looting and burning. In 1415, the situation was even more serious for France: French chivalry was crushed at Agincourt on 25 October.

Two years later, the English began a veritable war of conquest in Normandy: first Caen, where the King of England established his headquarters, then Bayeux, Argentan, Alençon, Falaise and Vire. In the Cotentin, Saint-Lô fell in March 1418, followed by Carentan, Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Hambye, Coutances... Only Cherbourg at first, and Mont Saint-Michel definitively, resisted. (2)

The English occupation of the Château de Gavray

We know nothing about the conquest of Gavray, but the English settled there as they did throughout the region. The double demolition of 1378 and 1390 probably explains why they took possession of a castle in 1418 that was once so strong. It was a period of great military activity since, occupied by the British, it was in a frontier position facing the French. Many men-at-arms were concentrated there, and accounts show incessant comings and goings in the fortress.

The troubled period soon prompted them to undertake the restoration of the fortress, whose ancient fame was still alive among them. Under the leadership  of Thomas Scales, seneschal of Normandy, who spent considerable sums on it, the details of which appear in part  in the "Rolls of the Exchequer of Normandy", the fortress was quickly in a condition to withstand a siege.
At the same time, the forest  of Gavray seems to have served as a refuge for armed gangs, some of whom are not known whether they were brigands or resistance fighters to the British occupation. (3) Montaigu-les-Bois was home to a band around 1425. In Gavray, brigands are known and feared. (4) In 1426, the wood of Tronquait sheltered a well-organized band, which made an expedition in two days and two nights to Gavray, and brought back a large booty. (5)

Some insurgents obtained the help of French troops, as was the case in 1435, when the Duke of Alençon, with the help of resistance fighters, laid siege to Avranches. A complete failure, he lifted the siege in a hurry:
 "The Duc d'Alençon left so quickly only because the English troops, concentrated for a few days at Cérences and Gavray, had marched on Avranches with the intention of enveloping the French." (6)

After the death of Joan of Arc in 1431, English rule waned on all sides. The English in Normandy, sensing the growing hostility to which they were subjected, had recourse to measures which made them hated more: "the Sire de Cantepie, raised fifty thousand malcontents who were distinguished by a white cross on their clothes". After gaining some advantages, they were exterminated by the Earl of Arundel, who was feared for his cruelty.

The King  of France, Charles VII reorganized his forces and the finances of the kingdom with the help  of Arthur de Richemont, Constable of France, Jean d'Orléans, Count of Dunois and Mortain and Jacques Coeur. Militarily, bands of mercenaries and occasional levies of knights were replaced by permanent troops. The reconquest begins.

In 1436, the occupying forces had to face a popular uprising led by a certain Boschier. Rumours spread that the French were going to intervene in the region of Mortain or Avranches: the whole region was on alert. Hue Spencer, squire and bailiff of the Cotentin from 1432 to 1446, moved to Gavray in mid-March while Lord Scales, seneschal of Normandy, moved to Vire. They took Boschier in a vice at Saint-Sever and crushed his troops. The purpose of this crushing was to avoid a general uprising of the population in the path of the French, which would undoubtedly have happened if Boschier's maneuver  had succeeded. (7)
In 1437, the castle of Saint-Denis-le-Gast, recaptured from the English, was once again in their possession thanks to the Count  of Arundel, who defeated the French at Champrepus, then razed to the ground, as well as the castle of Saint-Pierre-Langers and the fort of Granville.

In 1443, the Count  of Sommerset landed at Cherbourg at the head of eight thousand men. A French army commanded by Arthur de Richemont entered Lower Normandy where the people everywhere rose up against the English

The reconstruction of the castle

 In 1439, Lord Scales, seems to have been put in charge of the defence of  Gavray, although he was not appointed as captain, he fortified Gavray. (8) A Norman exchequer document dated 10 April 1441 refuses to pay part of the salaries of his personal retinue, which included 20 men-at-arms and 60 archers for the period from March to September 1440. In fact, he had only partially carried out the order addressed to him to send his men to the siege of Barfleur. He had kept part of it for the defence of Gavray.  The situation in the region must have been a cause for concern for refusing to comply with such an order. (9)

In 1443, we find Hue Spencer in Gavray. It was a question of retaking Granville, which had been occupied by the French. The war effort was enormous on the part of the British throughout the frontier area. A mandate from Simon Morhier, king's councillor (...), treasurer and general governor of his finances in France and Normendie addressed to Jehan de Semilly, receiver general of the bailiwicks of Caen and Costentin, concerning:

He expressly commanded that the wages of the men-at-arms should be paid without delay, for fear of defection. Compared to previous centuries, the numbers are enormous:
-86 mounted lances and 370 archers under Thomas, Sire de Scales  and Guillaume Lucy: "both the people of his conduct and the garrisons of Dompfront, Vire, Essay, and other people not estans of any garrisons and retainers."
-79 mounted lances and 262 archers, under Mathieu Goth: "non-estan people of no garrison retained."
-13 + 30 under Laurent Reynfford: "no garrisons or detentions".
-9 + 27 under Richard Pontdesey: "  of the garrison of Falaise".
-19 archers under James Heyd: "of the  retention of the bailiff of Caen".
-20 archers under Christophe Aystow: "same restraint".
-20 archers sous Hue Spencer.
-7 + 40 under Guillaume Portier (10).

On 5 June, Hue Spencer's archers were found  at Gavray. Henry VI instructed the treasurers and governors-general of his finances to pay their wages and gave the reason for their presence in Gavray :

The pressure was mounting in 1443, and the garrisons were constantly reinforced:
On 6 October, 21 men-at-arms and 60 archers from the garrison of Domfront were assembled at Gavray,  where they had been ordered to proceed under the command of Lord Scales, with other detachments (12).

-on December 12th, it's the watch of

List of troops in question:- 29 men-at-arms on horseback (personal detention of Scales),- 3 men-at-arms and 9 archers, in place of those missing in the Cherbourg detachment,- 1 + 10, for those missing from Bayeux,- 1 + ?, for those missing from Caen,- 1 + 10 from the garrison of Carentan,- 17 + 43 from the garrison of Vire,-  5 archers from Pont-d'Ouve,- 10 archers from Saint-Lô (13).

It is not known how long these troops stayed in Gavray, where the comings and goings were incessant. It can be assumed that a lot of development work took place during this period of occupation given the state of ruin in which the fortress must have been when the English arrived and the influx of soldiers. Only one mention in the texts concerns the chapel which has just been restored in 1443.

In 1444, the fortifications of 1439 were completed by a new keep. A letter  from Henry VI, dated 10 January 1444, relating to the levying of the sum of 1,100 livres tournois from the inhabitants of the bailiwick of the Cotentin, "to be converted and used in the works, buildings and perfection of the keep of the place and stronghold of Gavray".  This is the massive square building whose base can be seen today and which the excavation has made it possible to identify

In May 1444, lengthy Anglo-French negotiations resulted in a general truce, valid until 1 April 1446, the Truce of Tours. The new contracts for garrison captains reflect this truce. Hue Spencer was confirmed as captain  of Gavray for a year from 29 June, with a reduced force consisting of a man on horseback, 8 infantry and 27 archers. (14) In November 1446, the watch of the garrison  of Gavray was made under the command of Thomas Chiseval, a man on horseback. It consisted of 7 infantrymen and 24 archers, all English. (15) In 1447, the new captain was Andre Trolopp, who held this post until the French reconquest. War was felt again in 1448. From 19 September to 28 March 1449 (at least) Trolopp received 10 more horsemen-at-arms and 30 more archers. (16)

The siege of the Château de Gavray

The arrival of the Constable, with new troops, revived the energies and a general attack was launched without much more success than the previous ones, with the exception of the capture of the "boulevard", the first line of fortifications. Negotiations then began, which ended with the surrender of the English garrison in exchange for the delivery of letters of remission.

Jacques de Luxembourg, lieutenant of the Constable, took the place of captain-governor of the castle  of Gavray in place of the lord of Trolopp.

A few days after the surrender of the castle  of Gavray, the King of France Charles VII made a solemn entry into Rouen.

The following year, on 15 April, there was the Battle of Formigny, followed by the fall of Vire, Bayeux and Caen in June. Finally, in August, the surrender of the last English places: Falaise, Domfront and Cherbourg.La Hundred Years' War came to an end and the Château de Gavray definitively entered the French domain.

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