I realise, of course, that, in the course of the next week, others may try to offer gratuitous crowing about a certain event, but, in the interests of fairness, balance and typical Scottish impartiality, I just feel the need to tell you all what actually happened at Orleans in May 1429. Major Scottish victory against the forces of darkness/England, by the way.
We are, of course, in the third phase of the Hundred Years’ War at that time. Your boy Henry V, (Olivier or Branagh equally good, in my opinion) had seriously stuffed the Frogs at Agincourt in 1415. The French did what they do best – rolled over and gave in.
Couple of things saved them. Henry and his son both popped their clogs prematurely. In addition, an army of Scots arrived to show the benighted garlic-eaters how to fight. Stuffed the Southrons severely at the battle of Bauge in 1421 and saved France from being completely taken over by the AS.
The Jocks got gubbed themselves a few times themselves over the next few years but I personally put that down to the fact that we (sorry Brendano) were on the wrong side and could not trust our ‘ally’ to turn up most of the time, let alone actually fight.
Anyhow, and moving on, the French were more gracious in those days and actually thanked and rewarded the Scots for their efforts. John Carmichael of Carmichael, 3rd Baron, who had fought at Bauge, was made Bishop of Orleans and led the defence thereof during the siege. Many of the other defenders of the city were also Sweaties.
First serious attempt to raise the siege ended in disaster. A Franco/Jock army attacked a convoy commanded by the Sir John Falstaff which was bringing supplies to the English. The Scots had been been in France for too long by then and were seriously missing simple fare instead of the filthy foreign muck they were having to eat. Driven mad by the sight of barrels of salted fish and oatmeal, they hurled themselves against the English. The French failed to actually fight, as usual, and we (sorry yet again Brendano) lost most of of our army, including the Constable of Scotland. Google it, if you don’t believe me – the Battle of the Herrings.
Minor setback. Jeanne d’Arc came on the scene and was escorted to Orleans by a loyal band of Scots archers, in the absence of the French who were, as usual, too chicken to front up.
The rest is history.
Boadicea's Chariot 
If all of history would have been taught in this way by my honorable teachers, I may have turned into a scholar.
Thanks John 😉
History – Scots style – explains a great deal, but I doubt it will go down too well with the French contingent here!
One small historical error:
Henry V popped his clogs in 1422, aged 35, but his son, Henry VI (1421-1461 and 1470-1471) did not die until 1471, almost certainly murdered. But you are quite right to say he didn’t have much effect on the war since he was only 9 months old when he ascended the throne of England.
Nonetheless, Henry VI did became King of France when his grandfather, Charles VI, died in 1422 – according to the Treaty of Troyes of 1420. The terms of that treaty were confirmed by the Treaty of Amiens in 1423, when Burgundy and Brittany recognised Henry VI as King of France….
… so you Scots were meddling in English affairs that were really none of your business – again! 🙂
Thanks for that John. That was of course back in the days when Scots were men and didn’t hide under the frilly skirts of their London masters.
Initially most French didn’t really care much if the English were in France or not. The king was a distant image that was not much of a rallying cry whoever he was. The English became unpopular due to their pillaging of the countryside.
The initial English tactics of the longbowman protected by stakes driven into the ground was highly succesful at Crecy, Azincourt, Poitiers. But eventually the French rumbled that they had to attack the English by surprise when a good cavalry charge would cut the longbowmen down in droves. Patay, Bordeaux. The longbowman being difficult to train were not easily replaced once they had been beheaded by a cavalry charge.
As always we win in the end, sometimes not by the most obvious route.
Thanks for that lovely Caledoniacentric bit of history, JM. Just ignore the deluded “we” of madoforleans. He must be one reason the French prefer us Scots to the English.
Thank you, Boadicea, for your correction to a very garbled picture of history. I do so hate it when inaccuracy is promulgated as fact.
And thank you Zen… 🙂
Herrings with potato salad
Region: Paris
Rich herring fillets swathed in oil and served with potatoes make a classic bistro dish. The French smooth-skinned La Ratte is a good variety of potato to use as it holds its shape well on boiling, but any waxy variety such as Belle de Fontenay (also French) Charlotte or Pink Fir Apple would also be good choices.
Serves 6
Preparation: 25 minutes, plus 12 hours soaking and 12 hours marinating
Cooking: about 18 minutes
500g herrings, filleted
milk, to cover herrings
500ml grapeseed oil
1 clove
5g peppercorns
1 star anise
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
400g waxy potatoes
mustard vinaigrette, to serve
Soak the herring fillets in milk overnight or for 12 hours. Drain and discard the milk.
Lay the herrings in a shallow dish, pour over the oil and add the spices, bay leaves and thyme. Place the onion and carrot in a layer on top, cover and marinate in the fridge for 12 hours.
Cook the potatoes in their skins for 18 minutes or until tender, cool and cut into 1cm slices.
Serve the potatoes with a mustard vinaigrette spooned over and the marinated herring fillets.
I love that dish, healthy too.
Hi, zenrules.
Sorry if my intellectual rigour and historical research failed to live up to your high standards. I know that I got one thing wrong in re English kings of whom I wot not a lot, but the rest of it is mainly factual, in my opinion, even if allegedly ‘garbled’.
For the avoidance of doubt, it was meant to be a joke, you know.
It was much appreciated – I was not fully aware of the HUGE contribution that the Scots made to our (!) downfall in France… 🙂
Boa
There is actually a theory, which I have just made up, that The Maid of Orleans was, in fact, a Jockess.
As part of his thanks for saving the sorry arses of the French after Agincourt, the Dauphin gave John Stewart the Earl of Buchan, the titles of Constable of France and Duke of Aubigny. Many Scottish families settled in and around Aubigny.
It became clear to the Scots that their useless Frog allies were never going to amount to very much, if anything at all, in the struggle against the English unless they could be inspired by some sort of figurehead. The Sweatie spin doctors of the time hatched a cunning plan.
They found this wee Scots lass in Aubigny called Jean Dirk who was a natural at hearing voices. All of us Jocks have a certain aptitude in that direction, particularly after a night on the Buckfast tonic wine but she was seriously good.
They then created a convincing back story and planted her in Domremy.
The rest is, yet again, history.
In relative seriousness, there’s a lot of stuff out there on t’Internet that suggests that there was a strong link between the Maid and the Scots.
http://www.theroseline.co.uk/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=39
Probably mainly keech, but a wee thing diverting, in my opinion.
I like it John – now all you have to do is find somewhere to publish your theory on the internet and before long someone will be quoting your ‘learned’ dissertation!
All joking apart, I really had no idea just what a great part the Scots played in the final stages of the hundred years war…
The link was interesting… I can’t comment on its veracity, but there doesn’t seem to have been sufficient time for her to do to Scotland to be trained.