John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury

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John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (1384/90 – 17 July 1453) was an important English military commander during the Hundred Years' War.


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Family

He was second son of Richard, 5th Baron Talbot, by Ankaret, heiress of the last Lord Strange of Blackmere.

Talbot was married on 12 March 1406 to Maud Nevill, daughter and heiress of Thomas Nevill, 5th Baron Furnivall (and in her right summoned to Parliament from 1409) and had three children:

In 1421 by the death of his niece he acquired the baronies of Talbot and Strange.

He married, secondly, Lady Margaret Beauchamp, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and Elizabeth de Berkeley, on 6 September 1425 and had four children:

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Early Career

From 1404 to 1413 he served with his elder brother Gilbert in the Welsh war or the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. Then for five years from February 1414 he was lieutenant of Ireland, where he held the honour of Wexford. He did some fighting, and had a sharp quarrel with the Earl of Ormonde. Complaints were made against him both for harsh government in Ireland and for violence in Herefordshire. From 1420 to 1424 he served in France. In 1425 he was again for a short time lieutenant in Ireland.

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Service in France

So far his career was that of a turbulent lord of the Marches, employed in posts where a rough hand was useful. In 1427 he went again to France, where he fought with distinction in Maine and at the battle of Orléans. He fought at the battle of Patay where he was captured and held prisoner for 4 years.

He was released in exchange for the French leader Poton de Xaintrailles. Talbot was a daring and aggressive soldier, perhaps the most audacious Captain of the Age. He and his forces acted as a kind of fire brigade ever ready to retake a town and to meet a French advance. His trademark was rapid aggressive attacks. He won 40 battles and skirmishes in his efforts to sustain the English cause in France. Talbot's exploits were numerous. In January 1436 he led a small force including Kyriell and routed La Hire and Xaintrailles at Ry near Rouen. The following year at Crotoy, after a daring passage of the Somme, he put a numerous Burgundian force to flight. In December 1439, following a surprise flank attack on their camp, he dispersed the 6000 strong army of the Constable Richemont, and the following year he retook Harfleur. In 1441 he pursued the French army 4 times over the Seine and Oise rivers in an unavailing attempt to bring it to battle.

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The English Achilles

Talbot's reputation was high in France, where he was regarded with awe, being described as the "English Achilles" by French Chroniclers. The biographer of the Constable Richemont said that: "The English and their captains, above all Talbot had a well established reputation for superiority. Richemont knew them better than anyone".

He was appointed in 1445 by Henry VI of England (as King of France) as Constable of France. Taken hostage at Rouen in 1449 he promised never to wear armour against the French king again, and he was true to his word. He was defeated and killed in 1453 at the battle of Castillon near Bordeaux, which effectively ended English rule in the duchy of Gascony, a principal cause of the Hundred Years' War.

The victorious French generals raised a monument to Talbot on the field called Notre Dame de Talbot. And the French Chroniclers paid him handsome tribute:

"Such was the end of this famous and renowned English leader who for so long had been one of the most formidable thorns in the side of the French, who regarded him with terror and dismay" - Matthew d'Escourcy

Although Talbot is generally remembered as a great soldier, some have raised doubts as to his generalship. In particular, charges of rashness have been raised against him. Speed and aggression are key elements in granting success in war, and Talbot's numerical inferiority necessitated surprise. Furthermore, he was often in the position of trying to force battle on unwilling opponents. At his defeat at Patay in 1429 he was advised not to fight there by Sir John Falstaff, who was subsequently blamed for the debacle, but the French, inspired by Joan, showed unprecedented fighting spirit - usually they approached an English position with great circumspection. The charge of rashness is perhaps more justifiable at Castillion where Talbot, misled by false reports of a French retreat, attacked their entrenched camp frontally - facing wheel to wheel artillery and a 6 to 1 inferiority in numbers.

He is portrayed heroically in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part I: "Valiant Lord Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Created, for his rare success in arms"

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Reference

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