Siege of Rouen
- Date:
- July 31, 1418 - January 19, 1419
- Location:
- France
- Haute-Normandie
- Normandy
- Rouen
- Context:
- Hundred Years’ War
- Key People:
- Henry V
In his campaigns to capture Normandy during the Hundred Years’ War, Henry V of England besieged and took the city of Rouen. With more than 70,000 inhabitants, it was one of the most important cities in France, and its capture—carried out from July 31, 1418 to January 19, 1419—was a major success for the English army.
After his dramatic victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, Henry V returned to England. He spent the next year building up a powerful fleet to clear the English Channel of Genoese ships supporting the French, at the same time forming an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor, who was previously a supporter of the French king.
In 1417 Henry returned to France and in three campaigns captured all of Normandy except Mont-Saint-Michel. The highlight of these campaigns was the seizure of Rouen. Expecting an attack, the French had strengthened the city’s defenses, with a force of 25,000 soldiers within its walls. Those walls were studded with towers and lined with crossbowmen. Cannon were trained at the English army.
With only a small force at his disposal, Henry could not attempt to breach the walls and storm the city, so he settled down to a long siege with the object of starving the defenders into submission. The siege began at the end of July 1418. By December the inhabitants were reduced to eating dogs, cats, horses, and mice, if they could catch them. More than 12,000 poor people were expelled from the town to save food. Henry refused to allow them passage, so they were forced to huddle in defensive ditches recently dug around the walls. Two priests gave them food on Christmas Day, but that was the limit of English largesse. The French garrison tried to break the English siege on several occasions, but to no avail. In January 1419, the French surrendered, with an estimated 50,000 people having starved to death within the city during the siege. Henry imposed an indemnity of 300,000 crowns on the survivors, a sum that he doubtless knew could never be met and that was therefore seemingly intended as mere humiliation.
Losses: No reliable figures.