The Siege of Meaux was fought from October 1421 to May 1422 during Henry V’s final campaign in France. Situated on the River Marne, east of Paris, Meaux was a strategically important stronghold. Its capture helped Henry strengthen his position around Paris and remove a major centre of resistance. The siege lasted for about seven months and became one of the most prolonged and costly operations of Henry V’s French campaigns.
The Siege of Meaux, 1421–1422
The Strategic Prelude: Securing the Waterways
By 1421, Henry V’s government in France faced a serious strategic problem. Dauphinist forces held positions along important inland waterways, threatening the movement of goods and supplies into major population centres. The Seine, Yonne and Marne were particularly important to the transport network serving Paris and the wider economy.
Henry’s administration sought to remove Dauphinist forces from key river positions. In September 1421, Henry led an army from the Loire Valley towards Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. The town was reached on 22 September and surrendered five days later, on 27 September. Its capture helped secure the Yonne and formed part of Henry’s wider effort to reopen the waterways.
Henry subsequently brought additional English commanders into the campaign. Their next objective was Meaux, a fortified town on the River Marne whose position made it important to the struggle for control of the region around Paris.
The Siege Begins: October 1421
Meaux lies on the River Marne, approximately 35 miles east of Paris. Its defences posed a difficult challenge for the besiegers. The siege became one of the major military operations of the later Hundred Years War. The main part of the town stood on the northern bank of the river, while the Marché lay across a stone bridge. The Marché was protected by the Marne on three sides and a canal on the fourth, creating a formidable natural obstacle.
The town’s garrison has been estimated at around 1,000 men. Its capture was a priority for the English, not least because Dauphinist forces had taken Meaux almost unopposed in January 1421.
On 6 October, the Duke of Exeter led an attack that surprised and captured the northern suburbs. The English then turned their attention to the Marché. Jean le Févre, a Burgundian chronicler, described the English preparations around it as “an impressive thing to see”.
Henry V and the Earl of March soon arrived with reinforcements. The besieging army established positions around the town: Exeter and his men held the northern suburbs and controlled the bridge, Henry’s forces camped to the west, and the Earl of March positioned his men near the junction of the Marne and the canal.
Cannon and trebuchets were brought forward, while nearby villages were secured. The scale of the preparations demonstrated the resources committed to the siege. Meaux, however, proved much harder to take than anticipated.
A Protracted Siege
The siege became the longest major siege of Henry V’s French campaigns, lasting from 6 October 1421 to 10 May 1422. The English had established a substantial force around Meaux, but the defenders continued to resist. They rebuilt palisades, launched sorties and forced back parts of the English siege lines.
The fighting and the conditions in the besieging camp took a heavy toll. Thousands of men were encamped in and around the siege works, where disease spread rapidly. Sources suggest that by Christmas the English besieging force had suffered substantial losses through death and desertion. An estimate that around one-sixth had been lost provides a rough indication of the scale of the attrition rather than a precise figure.
The casualties included John Cornwall, a young kinsman of Henry V. According to the account associated with John Strecche’s chronicle, Cornwall was observing the siege operations with his father when he was struck and killed by a gunstone. His death is discussed in Frank Taylor’s study of Strecche’s chronicle.
The siege became a contest of endurance as well as military strength. The English could maintain a large army and siege apparatus around Meaux, but the defenders’ continued resistance prolonged the operation and increased the cost in lives.
The Assaults of March 1422
The pressure on Meaux intensified in March 1422, as assaults on the stronghold mounted. English casualties included Baron Clifford, who died on 13 March, and Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, who was wounded during the fighting.
Beauchamp was a veteran of Henry V’s campaigns in France. He had served in the 1418 Normandy campaign and remained close to the king, later receiving the title of Earl of Worcester. In 1421, he was among the nobles commanding English forces in France and joined Henry’s campaign against the Dauphinist threat to Paris.
The exact date on which Beauchamp was wounded is uncertain, although some accounts place it on 18 March. He died of his wounds at Meaux. His body was returned to England for burial at Tewkesbury.
Beauchamp’s death illustrates the toll the siege exacted on the English command as well as on the rank and file. He left an only daughter, Elizabeth Beauchamp, who inherited his estates and later married Edward Neville, son of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland.
The Fall of Meaux
Meaux eventually surrendered to Henry V’s forces on 10 May 1422. Its capture removed a significant Dauphinist stronghold from the region east of Paris and advanced Henry’s effort to consolidate his authority in France.
The surrender came after months of military effort and heavy losses through disease, desertion and combat. The capture of Meaux was an important strategic gain, but one achieved through a prolonged and costly operation.
Henry V’s Illness and Death
Henry V became seriously ill during the final stages of his French campaign. His condition later deteriorated to the point that he had to be carried to the royal manor at Vincennes. On 26 August 1422, Henry added a final codicil to his will. Four days later, when he pressed his physicians to tell him the truth, they reportedly warned him that he had little time left.
Enguerrand de Monstrelet recorded Henry’s final hours. The king called for his confessor, members of his household and priests, asking them to recite the seven penitential psalms. When they reached the words “muri Hierusalem”, Henry interrupted, explaining that he had intended, after establishing order in France, to undertake the conquest of Jerusalem if he had lived long enough.
Henry V died on 31 August 1422, months after the fall of Meaux. His death was not on the battlefield, but contemporary accounts connect his final illness with the French campaign. The cause of his death remains debated, as the evidence from the time is conflicting.
Before his death, Henry had also issued instructions for the government of his infant son’s kingdoms. The Duke of Bedford was designated Regent of France, with instructions not to agree to terms with the Dauphin that compromised England’s rights in Normandy. The Duke of Gloucester was named Protector of England. These arrangements were ratified by the three estates of English governance after Henry’s funeral.
The Consequences of the Siege
The capture of Meaux strengthened Henry V’s position around Paris and removed an important Dauphinist stronghold from the Marne. Yet the siege also exposed the costs of maintaining the English war effort in France. The prolonged resistance, casualties and spread of disease weakened the besieging army, while the death of Richard Beauchamp demonstrated the losses suffered among its commanders.
Henry V’s death in August 1422 transformed the political situation in both England and France. His infant son, Henry VI, inherited the crowns, while Bedford and Gloucester assumed the roles Henry had assigned them in governing the two kingdoms.
The Siege of Meaux was therefore both a major military operation in the struggle for control of France and a turning point in the final months of Henry V’s reign.
- Rémy Ambühl, “Henry V and the Administration of Justice: The Surrender of Meaux (May 1422),” Journal of Medieval History, 43, no. 1 (2017), pp. 74–88. Read the article via the University of Southampton repository.
- Boris Bove, “Deconstructing the Chronicles: Rumours and Extreme Violence during the Siege of Meaux (1421–1422),” French History, 24 (2010), pp. 501–523. Read the article via its DOI.
- Frank Taylor, “The Chronicle of John Strecche for the Reign of Henry V (1414–1422),” The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. 16, no. 1. Read the chronicle and editorial notes.
- James H. Wylie and William T. Waugh, The Reign of Henry the Fifth, vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1929), pp. 337–357. Read on archive.org.
- Enguerrand de Monstrelet, The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, translated by Thomas Johnes, vol. I, chapter CCLXII, “The Death and Burial of King Henry the Fifth” (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1867), p. 483. Read the digitised edition.
- Jehan de Waurin, Recueil des Croniques et Anchiennes Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, a present nomme Engleterre, edited and translated by William Hardy, vol. II (1399–1422), Rolls Series 39 (London: Longman, Green, and Reader, 1868), pp. 360–362. Find the volume in the HathiTrust catalogue.
- A Parisian Journal, 1405–1449, translated by Janet Shirley (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), p. 204. Read the digitised edition.