Late Middle Ages · Europe · War

1453

Battle of Castillon

July 17, 1453

French gunners under Jean Bureau wiped out John Talbot's English army and the old earl himself near Bordeaux. It is considered the war's final engagement. After one hundred and sixteen years, the Hundred Years' War ended with the English holding only Calais. France began the long arithmetic of reconstruction. The battle proved the age of the mounted knight was yielding to the gunner, reshaping European warfare and aristocratic culture.