Battle of Castillon

Battle of Castillon
	Part of the Hundred Years' War
	; The death of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury at the battle of Castillon from Vigilles de Charles VII by Martial d'Auvergne (1484)
Date	17 July 1453
Location	Castillon-la-Bataille, Duchy of Gascony44°51′6″N 0°1′8″W / 44.85167°N 0.01889°W
Result	French victory End of the Hundred Years’ War;
Belligerents
Kingdom of France; Duchy of Brittany;	Kingdom of England; Duchy of Gascony;
Commanders and leaders
Jean Bureau; Peter II; Jacques de Chabannes	John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury †; John Talbot, Viscount Lisle †; John de Foix, Earl of Kendal (POW)
Strength
7,000–9,000; 1,000 Bretons; 300 guns	5,000–10,000
Casualties and losses
100 killed or wounded	4,000 killed or capturedThe rest of the army surrenders the next day
	Castillon-la-Bataille Location within current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

The Battle of Castillon was a battle between the forces of England and France which took place on 17 July 1453 in Gascony near the town of Castillon-sur-Dordogne (later Castillon-la-Bataille). On the day of the battle, the English commander, John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, believing that the enemy was retreating, led a relatively small advance force of his army in an attack on a fortified French encampment without waiting for reinforcements. Talbot then refused to withdraw even after realizing the strength of the French position, allowing the French artillery to successively obliterate his piecewise reinforcements as they arrived. Castillon was the first major European battle won through the extensive use of field artillery.

The battle led to the English losing nearly all their holdings in France, especially Gascony, which had been a possession of the Plantagenet kings for the previous three centuries. Political instability ensued in England.