Siege of Harfleur, 1415

Henry V captured Harfleur on 22 September 1415 after a siege lasting more than five weeks. His invasion force had landed in Normandy on 13 August and soon moved against the town. Harfleur was a major port at the mouth of the Seine and its capture was central to Henry’s plans for the campaign. The port provided access to the Seine and a secure base from which the English could maintain their position in Normandy.

Harfleur depicted in a medieval chronicle. — Harfleur, depicted during the later French siege of 1449 in a fifteenth-century manuscript of Enguerrand de Monstrelet’s Chroniques. Source.

Harfleur was defended by its garrison and inhabitants, with additional French troops entering the town after the siege began. Henry attempted to force a rapid surrender through investment, bombardment, mining and assaults on the defences. The siege caused severe damage to the town, while disease caused substantial losses among the English army. Harfleur eventually surrendered on 22 September, allowing Henry to install an English garrison before beginning the march towards Calais that led to the Battle of Agincourt.

The Siege of Harfleur, 1415

Harfleur

Harfleur was a fortified port at the mouth of the Seine. Its position gave it considerable logistical importance. Goods and military supplies moving by sea towards the Seine could pass through the port before continuing inland towards Rouen and Paris. Capturing Harfleur therefore gave Henry V a secure base from which to operate in Normandy and a place where supplies and artillery could be landed.

The town was protected by substantial stone walls and towers, together with water defences. The inhabitants could flood the ground to the west of the town by opening sluices, adding another obstacle to an attacking army. Harfleur also possessed an arsenal of weapons, including guns and crossbows, while the gates were protected by outworks and fortified bulwarks.

The English Army Arrives

Henry V landed in Normandy on 13 August 1415 and moved towards Harfleur. The English army reached the town in the middle of August and began to establish positions around it. The Duke of Clarence was given responsibility for the eastern side, helping to complete the investment of the town and prevent the defenders from receiving assistance.

Henry called upon the inhabitants to surrender before the formal siege began. The demand was presented within the religious and political language of the period, including an assertion of Henry’s hereditary rights in Normandy. The defenders refused, and the English began preparations for a full siege.

Henry also issued ordinances regulating the behaviour of his army. Attacks on churches and women were prohibited, while the army was organised to maintain the investment of the town and bring the siege artillery into position.

Map of the 1415 Siege of Harfleur — The Siege of Harfleur, 1415: English siege lines around the town and French relief efforts.

The Siege Begins

The English attempted to surround Harfleur and prevent supplies and reinforcements from reaching the town. Artillery and other siege engines were brought into position, with trenches and wooden mantlets protecting the crews from missiles fired by the defenders.

The French defenders expected assistance from outside. On 18 August, approximately 300 men-at-arms under Raoul de Gaucourt entered the town from the east before the English positions completely closed the route.

The defenders also made use of Harfleur’s own military resources. Guns, crossbows and other weapons were employed from the walls and fortified outworks. The gates were protected by bulwarks, while the water defences could be used to flood the surrounding ground.

By 23 August, the defenders had sent a message to Charles, Sire d’Albret, Constable of France, who was at Rouen. They reported that Harfleur was cut off by land and requested assistance and supplies by sea. D’Albret sent Robert de Hellande, bailli of Rouen, to Paris to inform Charles VI, while French troops were being assembled in Normandy.

The Bombardment

Henry V brought substantial artillery and other siege engines against Harfleur. The English had prepared extensively for the campaign, including the purchase of large quantities of iron for guns and gunstones. Approximately 18,000 pounds of iron were purchased for guns and 10,000 gunstones were prepared.

An inventory of the royal official Gerard Sprong records at least five large guns associated with the 1415 campaign: Clysf, Fowler, Bristol, George and God’s Grace. The precise number of guns employed at Harfleur is not known.

The bombardment caused extensive damage to the town. The Gesta Henrici Quinti records that:

“really fine buildings, almost as far as the middle of the town, were either totally demolished or threatened with inevitable collapse”

The defenders responded with their own guns, catapults and other engines. They continued to repair the walls at night using timber, earth and stones. The Gesta Henrici Quinti describes them firing from “shattered openings in walls, and from other places where shelter would not have been thought possible”.

The bombardment was also remembered by John Lydgate in The Siege of Harfleur and the Battle of Agincourt. Lydgate presents the English guns as playing a game of tennis with Harfleur, with gunstones striking the walls. His account describes the destruction of the walls and buildings, but Lydgate was not with Henry’s army during the campaign and therefore was not an eyewitness to the siege.

Mining and Assaults

The English also attempted to undermine the defences. Mining operations were undertaken on the eastern side of the town, but the defenders countermined and conducted a sortie against the English positions. The operation was abandoned after the English suffered losses.

The English nevertheless gained control of part of the outer ditch and used stone-throwing engines against the town. On 15 September the defenders made another sortie from the main barbican and set fire to English defensive works.

The siege therefore combined several methods of attack. Artillery damaged the walls and buildings, mining threatened the foundations of the defences, and the English investment restricted the movement of supplies and reinforcements.

Disease and Attrition

The siege placed severe pressure on Henry’s army. Thousands of soldiers, horses and other animals were concentrated around Harfleur, creating unsanitary conditions. Disease spread through the English camp, with dysentery among the principal causes of illness and death.

The water defences around Harfleur contributed to the difficult conditions. The defenders flooded fields to the west of the town by opening sluices, while the concentration of men and animals around the siege created further opportunities for disease to spread.

Several important members of Henry’s army died during the siege. Richard Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich, became ill on 10 September and died on 15 September. Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, died on 18 September.

The losses from sickness reduced the army available for the next stage of the campaign. After Harfleur surrendered, Henry decided to send at least 1,500 sick men home rather than take them on the march to Calais.

The Surrender of Harfleur

By September the defenders were under increasing pressure. The damage to the walls made continued defence more difficult, while the expected relief had failed to break the English investment.

The defenders requested negotiations. A truce was granted while assistance was sought. When relief did not arrive, the defenders agreed to surrender the town.

The English agreed to terms under which inhabitants who accepted Henry V’s authority could remain temporarily in Harfleur. The leading defenders were detained under arrangements involving ransom.

The Gesta Henrici Quinti attributes the surrender to the effectiveness of the English artillery and the pressure created by the siege. Henry’s “faithful lieges” and the “strength and position of our cannon” are presented as factors which caused those inside the town to seek repeated negotiations.

Harfleur surrendered on 22 September 1415. Henry installed an English garrison and brought his artillery into the town.

John Lydgate’s poem also records the surrender. The defenders ask for a truce while assistance is sought, before the town’s captain returns with the keys and presents them to Henry. Lydgate then records the installation of an English captain and the removal of the inhabitants after the surrender.

After the Siege

The capture of Harfleur came at a heavy cost. Disease had reduced the strength of the English army, and many of the sick were sent home. Henry nevertheless decided to continue the campaign rather than remain at Harfleur.

The English army left Harfleur and began the march towards Calais. The route brought Henry into contact with the French army, culminating in the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415.

Harfleur and the Agincourt Campaign

The siege was therefore more than an isolated operation. It determined the condition of Henry’s army for the remainder of the campaign. The capture of Harfleur secured a major port and demonstrated the ability of the English army to conduct a prolonged siege, but the weeks spent outside the town also reduced the force available to Henry through sickness and death.

John Lydgate gives Harfleur a substantial place in his account of the 1415 campaign. The Harfleur episode occupies more than 130 lines of the poem before the narrative moves towards Agincourt.

Significance

The capture of Harfleur gave Henry V control of an important Norman port and a base from which the English could maintain their presence in the region. It also demonstrated the importance of artillery in a major siege.

The siege exposed the practical difficulties of medieval campaigning as clearly as it demonstrated the effectiveness of English siege operations. Bombardment damaged the defences, but disease inflicted major losses on the besieging army. When Henry began the march to Calais, the army was considerably smaller than the force that had landed in Normandy.

Sources and Evidence

The Gesta Henrici Quinti is one of the principal narrative sources for the campaign. Its account describes the English bombardment, the damage inflicted on Harfleur, the defensive measures taken by the inhabitants and the negotiations preceding the surrender.

John Lydgate’s The Siege of Harfleur and the Battle of Agincourt provides a different type of evidence. Lydgate did not accompany Henry’s army in 1415 and his account was based on information obtained from elsewhere. The poem therefore needs to be read alongside the contemporary chronicles and other evidence. Royer-Hemet also highlights its literary and political purpose, including its presentation of Henry’s campaign in support of the Lancastrian monarchy.